Laurel Rose Willson (August 18, 1941 – April 8, 2002) was an American con artist. She authored books alleging Satanic ritual abuse (SRA), and later assumed the guise of a Holocaust survivor. Early life Willson was born in Tacoma, Washington in 1941 to Marrian E. Disbrow. She was eventually adopted as an infant by Frank Cole Willson and his wife, schoolteacher Rose Gray Willson. She had one sister, five years older, named Willow Nell. A gifted musician from a young age, Willson learned to play the piano, clarinet, and flute. After college, Willson worked as a public-school music teacher. She later resided in Bakersfield, California for a number of years, becoming known within evangelical Christian churches there as a vocalist and pianist. She made allegations that she was psychologically and physically tortured from the ages of four until her early twenties. According to her, at the age of six her adoptive mother allowed a laborer to rape her in lieu of paying for services, and by the age of eight she was supposedly forced into pornography and bestiality. Willson's older sister, in a signed affidavit, noted:My parents were devout Christians. They were both active members of the Bible Presbyterian Church in Tacoma. Both of them were fully committed to the Lord Jesus Christ. My sister and I were raised in a very sheltered, strict Christian home. There was no place in our home for anything remotely occult or pornographic. My mother continues as a dedicated Christian... Satanic ritual abuse allegations Under the name "Lauren Stratford", Willson wrote three books, the most infamous of which was Satan's Underground, purporting to tell a true story of her upbringing as a baby breeder (for sacrifices) in a satanic cult. Willson had also claimed to have first-hand knowledge of high-profile cases of alleged Satanic ritual abuse (including the child abuse cases in Kern County, where she resided), but her claims were dismissed by investigators as unreliable and fabricated. Willson, along with Michelle Smith (co-author of equally fictional Michelle Remembers), was featured on an episode of Oprah Winfrey's eponymous show in 1989, where Winfrey touted both stories as being unimpeachable fact. An investigation by Bob and Gretchen Passantino and Jon Trott in the Christian magazine Cornerstone discovered Stratford's real name and family background, and that her stories of abuse were false. In interviews with Willson's family and former associates, it was revealed that Willson had