D&D40 Bloghop: Day 17

Day 17: First time you heard D&D was somehow "evil."

I started gaming in the late 70s, early 80s.  So hearing D&D was "satanic" was part and parcel of the gaming experience then.  Especially in the ultra-religious town I grew up in.

I remember hearing it from one friend that his mom would not let him play because D&D was "from the devil".  And me being, well, me, told him how there is no devil in D&D...we killed him a few adventures ago.

Back in the early 80s we even had our own little satanic panic scare in town.  Someone had discovered "an altar" out in a cornfield near the high school.  Sent the school into a tizzy. People started wearing these inverted crosses with red line through them, Satan Busters. Like the Ghostbusters symbol.
Everyone was scared.  I thought it was hilarious.   I was a pretty hard core atheist already so I was fascinated by how panicked everyone was.  I DO remember being told not to bring my D&D books for a while.

I also had a copy of Jack Chick's infamous Dark Dungeons tract and I also did this, MST3k: Dark Dungeons.