At My Whit’s End: A Place of Wonder, Excitement, and Satanic Panic
(Photo: Focus on the Family, Courtesy of eBay user Boughtnowcommerce)
It all started with a warning.
Around 1995 I was first handed a cassette tape of Adventures in Odyssey (AIO.) As a kid raised on VHS tapes of Thomas the Tank Engine, Ninja Turtles, and Power Rangers, this should have been of no interest to me. A kid of the ‘90s listening to a radio drama? That’s so old-fashioned!
Maybe I would have thought so… Except the moment I hit play I was greeted with a warning.
(Audio: Castles and Cauldrons, I: Written and Directed by Paul McCusker, Sound Design by Bob Luttrell and Dave Arnold, Focus on the Family)
James Dobson: “I'm sure that many of you have heard about the so-called fantasy role playing games that are available in the stores these days. But the fact is, in order to play these games properly, you usually have to use magic and mysticism. Things that are clearly not Christian. And what's worse, some kids who used to be caught up in these games now say that their involvement led them into contact with demons and even Satan worship.”
The person who delivered that message? “Founder and president of Focus on the Family, Dr. James Dobson.”
For context, I grew up attending a Methodist church every week. I went to Sunday school. I had a poster of all the books of the bible. From my earliest memories I considered myself a “Christian.” But I had no idea who this Dobson guy was and I’d never been taught to fear things like demons and Satan worship. His warning, which was intended to put me on edge, did the opposite. I got excited. This didn’t sound scary, it sounded AWESOME!
Castles and Cauldrons: Episodes 122 & 123
Good kid Jimmy Barclay is visited by his older cousin, Len, who’s brought a role-playing fantasy game, Castles and Cauldrons (C&C.) Len’s a massive fan and entices Jimmy to play.
Castles and Cauldrons is clearly supposed to be AIO’s take on Dungeons & Dragons (D&D), but unlike that game, Jimmy and Len don’t sit around a table rolling dice. Instead Len, known in the game as “Luthor the Magician,” and Jimmy, now “Jondel the Apprentice,” are out in the woods with plastic swords.
Len encourages Jimmy to really get into it, imagining their swords are real. That they’re being attacked by “the Black Monks,” who are giant, “vicious barbarians.” The more Len describes them the more Jimmy starts to see them. Not just in his imagination, but as if they’re real.
(Audio: Castles and Cauldrons, I: Written and Directed by Paul McCusker, Sound Design by Bob Luttrell and Dave Arnold, Focus on the Family)
Jimmy: “I hear it! Luthor, I hear it!”
Len: “Quickly Jondel, the Black Monks are attacking, they must be vanquished!”
Jimmy: “Vanquish the Black Monks!”
-the two proceed to fight-
So. First off. The “Black Monks” are described as barbarians “who take what they want in order to increase their own power.” They also have “veiled faces” and uh, are also CONTINUOUSLY called “BLACK monks.” So you know, that’s pretty racist.
As a kid though, what I focused on was how vividly Len was able to lay out a role-play scenario with just his words. It’s so compelling that Jimmy believes it’s real. The sound design to convey that role-play coming to life is incredible, bringing the listener into the story just like Jimmy is being led into the game.The soundscape in scenes like this are a huge part of why this franchise has gone as long as it has.
It makes C&C seem like the coolest game ever. What’s wrong with role-playing games again? If this is what D&D is like, sign me up! I know in-story Len is supposed to be the bad guy but so far he’s just helping Jimmy use his imagination. There’s nothing wrong with that. Even James Dobson agrees, as he explained his intro,
“There's certainly nothing wrong with using your imagination.”
However, just as Dobson warns in his intro, that’s not all that C&C involves. To lock the Black Monks away, Len instructs Jimmy to kneel and perform a victory incantation. Jimmy, who believes in God, isn’t sure.
Suddenly, a glass shatters.
We’re now at an ice cream parlor/discovery emporium, Whit’s End. (Ron Howard voice: hey, that’s the name of the blog.) Mr. Whittaker, the owner of the shop, dropped the glass after feeling a wave of dread washed over him. He prays to God,
(Audio: Castles and Cauldrons, I: Written and Directed by Paul McCusker, Sound Design by Bob Luttrell and Dave Arnold, Focus on the Family)
Mr. Whittaker: “I feel weighted down. Oppressed. Something in the very core of my spirit is disturbed. I hate to even say it, but it's something dangerous. Something evil.”
The music, sound effects, and Hal Smith’s performance as Mr. Whittaker makes it clear that the role-playing game Len has brought Jimmy into isn’t just “evil” in an abstract way. There’s something truly otherworldly going on here.
This starts to become clear as Len continually steamrolls Jimmy’s doubts and pushes him deeper into the game. We also get this genuinely hilarious back and forth that serves to illustrate another critical point of what made this show so successful.
(Audio: Castles and Cauldrons, I: Written and Directed by Paul McCusker, Sound Design by Bob Luttrell and Dave Arnold, Focus on the Family)
Len: “There are things in this world we can't understand.”
Jimmy: “Well, algebra for one.”
Len: “Are you going to take this seriously, or not?”
Jimmy: “Sorry, go ahead.”
Len: “There are worlds within our world. Places beyond our sight. Powers beyond our senses.”
Jimmy: “Gotcha, The Twilight Zone, of course.”
Len: “No, Jimmy. I'm talking about something very real, very magical.”
If you didn’t grow up on Christian media for kids you won’t understand that this level of writing, acting, and production was unheard of. Christian kids, frankly, were served slop and expected to treat it like ice cream.
Most Christian kids shows were low grade direct-to-VHS trash. They looked like they were filmed by a couple of pastor dads in the church worship hall. The morals were basic. Music was preschool nursery rhyme level. The acting was atrocious.
These productions were solely created to hit a quotient of “Jesus,” “Lord,” and “Saved.” Things like effort and budget weren’t important.
Adventures in Odyssey was a revelation. It had jokes! Genuine Hollywood actors. Kids that could act. Immersive sound design. The show’s rare quality made it so engaging that you’d not even notice its questionable execution of its Christian messaging.
When Len talks about the powers that Jimmy can obtain through C&C he lists off,
-Do things you couldn’t dream of doing normally.
-Visions.
-Get rid of people that get on your nerves.
-Your life will change.
Again, this is supposed to be the show’s idea of leading Jimmy down a dark path but uh… This just sounds like the sales pitch I got for how God will change your life. At church I’d hear things like-
-Through God all things are possible.
-The Lord will show you the way.
-You’ll be part of the Lord’s army.
-Your life will never be the same.
C&C’s just Christianity with extra swords and spells! Huh, you know, in isolation? This has the basis for a rad as hell story. Jimmy has to come to grips how the messaging of his religion and “evil” people are terrifyingly similar. How can he tell the difference? What’s right? What’s wrong?
Of course that’s not what this story does and I wasn’t thinking about anything like that as a kid, I was just enthralled. As the first part of the story ends it’s heavily implied Len used “magic” to control a cat to rip the arms off a doll that belongs to Jimmy’s sister.
Dobson, this isn’t scary. It’s radical! I wanna play a game where I gain magical powers that I can use on my cat. Maybe he’ll finally snuggle in my lap which he’s never done and WHY DON’T YOU LOVE ME, MY PRECIOUS CAT SON.
My god, my God, why have you forsaken me?!
Ahem, Part 2 begins with some revelatory backstory for Len. Len briefly meets Mr. Whittaker but prevents Jimmy from telling him about the game. He refers to his cousin as, “a small town kid,” thus implying Len is from the city and thus a coastal elite and by the transitive property EVIL. It’s a framing that’s solidified when Jimmy’s dad lays out the real reason Len came to visit.
Jimmy’s Dad: “(Len’s parents) tell me he's changed over the past few months, and they don't know why. He started hanging around a questionable group of friends. (His parents are) just worried about him. They think he might be drinking or even doing drugs. You've been with Len most of the time since he's been here. What do you think?”
Jimmy: “He hasn't done any of that stuff with me, Dad. No drinking or drugs. I don't think he even smokes. We've just been playing, that's all.”
… So. AIO is equating role-playing games with drinking, drugs, and smoking. Huh. Combined with Len’s status as an evil coastal elite, I was going to call this a massive racist dog whistle until I checked the original cassette box art and saw that Len is drawn to be noticeably not white with black curly hair.
(Photo: Focus on the Family, Courtesy of eBay user Boughtnowcommerce)
(Despite Jimmy being drawn as white in all other official art I ALWAYS assumed Jimmy was the not white kid in these images.)
Welp, that’s not a dog whistle anymore. That’s just racist! I called this backstory revelatory not just because we learn more about Len but because it demonstrates the evil (not role-playing game evil, that’s cool) thought process of the people behind the scenes making AIO.
I hadn’t even noticed the racism until writing this very entry. For years I’ve been talking about Adventures in Odyssey as the “good” piece of Christian media and sure, it has a higher level of quality than its contemporaries. But that quality is being used to deliver not so subtle racism.
Well, that and obvious Satanic Panic propaganda. SPEAKING OF WHICH.
After his run-in with Len, Mr. Whittaker’s been doing some research. He shares it with fellow lead character, Connie, a teenager who works at Whit’s End. She’s voiced by Katie Leigh, who just five years earlier played Sheila, the Thief in the animated Dungeons and Dragons series. Do you think she got grilled about that before recording this episode? That might explain Connie’s attempts to defend role-playing games with Mr. Whittaker.
Connie: “A few of my friends at school mess around with them. They're always calling each other by these weird names like Hildreth and BeanSpread. It seems silly to me.”
Well yeah, Connie, because those are objectively terrible names for D&D characters. Obviously.
Mr. Whittaker allows that some role-playing games may be silly and harmless but that’s where any attempt at defending them ends. He explains the core position of this story, that certain role-playing games consume the players life. You become the character you’re playing. Sometimes, “becoming violent and even involving an intense use of magic.”
Source: (Audio: Castles and Cauldrons, II: Written and Directed by Paul McCusker, Sound Design by Bob Luttrell and Dave Arnold, Focus on the Family)
Mr. Whittaker: “I’m talking about magic that involves rituals and rites. Witches and warlocks. Though they might not call them that.”
Connie: “You’re joking.”
Mr. Whittaker: “I wish I were.”
Connie: “But my friends at school aren’t like that.”
Mr. Whittaker: “That you know of. And not all kids will be like that. But sometimes people don't understand what they're dealing with. We play around with things that seem harmless but are just the opposite. There are evil spiritual forces at work in this world, Connie, and often we don't realize the doors we’re opening to let them loose in our lives.”
Connie: “This is scaring me, Whit.”
Mr. Whittaker: “I’m glad. There are some things it’s good to be afraid of.”
What I find most intriguing is that this isn’t just bog standard “don’t allow yourself to be devoted to anything other than Jesus.” I heard that plenty of times. No idols before God and all that. Even the “evil spiritual forces” thing is, while more literal than what I grew up with, pretty standard Christian worldview.
But no, what Mr. Whittaker lays out here?
Magic? Real.
Witches? Real.
Warlocks? Real.
I was never taught that growing up. My youth pastor once asked me for advice in hosting a Magic: The Gathering tournament at our church (it wasn’t a trap, I think.) The closest thing I’ve ever heard to that was years ago when I was working on a TV pilot about forest spirits and was warned by a religious facebook friend that,
“Demons are real and can really mess you up.”
I laughed it off then. Not anymore. This episode was produced to make kids and their parents aware of a very real, not figurative, danger. As James Dobson stated in his warning intro,
“In order to play these games properly, you usually have to use magic and mysticism.”
Which, uh, this finally allows me to bring up that no one making this episode had any idea how D&D games work. In real life, D&D is just a bunch of people sitting around a table, acting out roles. They aren’t cosplaying 24/7 and talking in medieval slang, unless you’re attending a rad as hell weekend LARPing session. If you did that in real life, the nerds would be the ones shoving you in a locker. No one is playing these games to gain real magical powers. No DM has a real book of spells. Even those who describe themselves as witches in real life know the magic in D&D isn’t real. It’s just a game.
AIO assumes that if you, just once, play a role-playing game? If you roll a single dice on a licensed piece of cardboard with a dragon on it? If you so much as dare to have one friend who plays them? You’re going to get sucked into an actual world of warlocks and demons.
What’s even wilder is that it’s implied this isn’t the first time Mr. Whittaker has faced evil like this.
Which… Okay, look, I listened to this show for over ten years. I know Mr. Whittaker’s real backstory (and it’s stupidly complicated.) But if you were like me and this was your starting point? You’d listen to these two episodes and note that, throughout, Mr. Whittaker-
-Senses evil.
-Owns books to research “evil” witches and warlocks.
-At one point tells Connie, “I haven’t felt anything like it for quite awhile.”
You’d assume that Mr. Whittaker is some kind of grizzled old demon hunter for Jesus. Does he like, hurl crosses like shurikens into warlocks? Man, this would make an AWESOME spin-off.
I Was The Owner of An Ice Cream Parlor and Now I’m Fighting Demons For The Lord!
Come on, AIO. The siren song of the isekai genre calls to you.
This makes the rest of the episode seem even more ludicrous. Jimmy and Len become locked in a spell that can only be broken with a ceremony to summon Shalman, an extremely strong wizard. Len’s displeased by Jimmy’s lack of conviction and we get a speech that’s supposed to be the ultimate insight into his evil but reveals something much deeper.
(Audio: Castles and Cauldrons, II: Written and Directed by Paul McCusker, Sound Design by Bob Luttrell and Dave Arnold, Focus on the Family)
Len: “Everybody wants power, you can't survive if you don't have it. Ask your dad about the company he works for. Who makes it? The guys who are powerful. Who has the best time at school? Who gets what they want whenever they want it? The ones who have power. Don't you want it? Well, you can have it.”
To me? This paints Len as someone with genuine frustrations about the world. A teenager who can’t understand why the system is the way it is. Why doesn’t he have control over his life? I’d guess Len’s been through some serious trauma. The way he’s so vindictive to those with power? That’s not someone who wants to make a pact with a demon. It’s someone who’s been wronged by the world and is desperately seeking an outlet.
Len’s reasons for role-playing isn’t dissimilar to the reasons I wrote self-insert fanfiction as a teen. He’s escaping into fantasy to avoid the horrors of the world. Finding a community of fellow players/writers to fill the gap of what you’ve lost.
That or Len just wants to destroy capitalism with spells. Which uh, honestly? Same, man.
But of course, AIO isn’t telling a story like that. It’s not concerned with a traumatized kid looking for a community or even just a nerd who maybe likes D&D a little too much. No, he’s going to summon the mega wizard demon “Shalman” by using a Ouija board (called a “Board of Talismen”), the doll with severed limbs, dice that must be rolled to the number 6, and Jimmy’s blood.
This is where Jimmy finally makes a firm stand to back out of the game. Len brandishes a knife.
(Audio: Castles and Cauldrons, II: Written and Directed by Paul McCusker, Sound Design by Bob Luttrell and Dave Arnold, Focus on the Family)
Len: “Your hand, your hand. For the blood covenant we need to cut our thumb!”
Jimmy: “No way!”
Len: “It’s the only way to seal the ritual, you have to.”
Jimmy: “No, let go of me!”
Len: “We’ve come this far, Jondel. Hurry.”
Jimmy: “No! Get off!”
Len: “You have to!”
Jimmy: “Get away!”
Len: “The game, Jimmy, for the game!”
Jimmy: “No! Get. OFF!”
It’s horrifying. Jimmy truly sounds like he’s being physically abused. I can’t imagine what it takes for a young performer to create that real a performance. I’m shocked I wasn’t scared out of my mind because of it as a kid but I don’t think I took it as literally as the episode intended. But make no mistake, that was the intention. As Dobson said in his intro,
“It's not that we want to scare anybody. We just believe that drama is a good way to let you know about it. One of these days, somebody, maybe it'll be one of your best friends, might ask you to play one of these games. And when that happens, I hope you'll think back to this special adventure and know the right thing to say.”
This is Scared Straight stuff. Jimmy has to nearly get his thumb cut open in the story to make you, the child listener, afraid of Dungeons and Dragons. It’s all fear based. And it’s not over.
Otherworldly groans and horrifying moans drift in from the forest. They grow louder and louder. Jimmy cries out that he won’t believe it. Len’s convinced that Shalman has come even without Jimmy’s blood. He calls out to Shalman but someone much worse is about to pay them a visit.
Mr. Whittaker.
He’s brought Jimmy’s dad and the two stop the game. Mr. Whittaker doesn’t wait to hear an explanation from Len. Over his furious protests, Mr. Whittaker judo chops the Ouija board in half. For Jesus, you understand. As Jimmy’s dad drags Len away, Mr. Whittaker ominously proclaims he’s going to “take care of” Len’s Castles and Cauldrons materials. AKA destroy it.
(They don’t elaborate on how so I just imagine Mr. Whittaker has to go through a whole anime arc that ends with him full on drop kicking the C&C book into a volcano, as Jesus dumps Gatorade on him. Gatorade blessed by the Pope, obviously.)
This extreme measure from Mr. Whittaker is far more terrifying than what Len did to Jimmy. You could argue Len summons an actual demon that Whit saves them from but that’s not based in any kind of reality. What is reality is Whit refusing to listen to Len and destroying the tools of his favorite game. And hey, RPG supplies are expensive! What’s a core rulebook running these days, $50? Add on the branded Ouija board, plastic swords, and other materials, and Mr. Whittaker’s just cost Len well over well over $200.
Shouldn’t Whit at least have kept the book to try and learn more about it? In a better story he’d read it himself to try and understand Len’s devotion to the game and confirm that real blood is called for in the game’s instructions. If so, that would be something to be genuinely concerned about. But no, the game is a tool of Satan and thus Mr. Whittaker has to dunk that sucker in flame and send it back to hell. Or well, basically this.
Len doesn’t appear again in the episode or the series, unless the upcoming 1000th episode features the return of Len, now a Christian, wanting to role-play the Crusades with an adult Jimmy. I’m sure Mr. Whittaker would love that. The only update we get at the end of the episode is Jimmy’s dad who got an update from Len’s father.
Jimmy’s Dad: “(Len) is doing much better. He’s getting counseling from a pastor who knows about this kinda thing. Whole family is working toward a change. It won’t be easy though.”
Mr. Whittaker: “It rarely is.”
In the demon-filled world of AIO this pastor who “knows about this kinda thing” is probably some kind of exorcist who’ll use the exploding five-finger strike of the lord to banish the demons from Len. In reality however I know exactly what Len’s being put through. Despite his father’s insistence that he’s “doing better” I’m sure this pastor is viciously berating and physically abusing Len in order to “cast out” a demon. Just like some Christians do to queer people!
No attempt is made to understand Len because, by the logic of this episode, Len allowed demons into his family by playing Castles and Cauldrons. It’s all his fault and the “change” his family is working toward will likely isolate Len from the rest of society or shove him in some kind of religious center for “troubled kids.” If his parents are willing to do things like that, it’s no wonder Len turned to a community of friends who played C&C. They were probably much better than his family.
(I also need to point out once again that Len is shown to be not white, yet is Jimmy’s cousin. The only other person in Len’s family we hear from is his father, who is the brother of Jimmy’s dad, and thus I would assume is also white. We never hear from Len’s mom. Interesting, that.)
Our episode ends with the lesson hammered into us by AIO’s narrator, who instructs kids, “don’t tamper with things that may be evil and against sound Christian teaching. If you’re not sure, check to see what the bible says about it, and always talk with your parents.”
Ah, so don’t try and learn about anything new in the world that could make you question your religion. Don’t seek out new groups of friends that could introduce you to new ways of thinking. Always be on the lookout for the ways actual demons are preying upon you. Only associate with “good” Christians who will always show you the right way. Isolate yourself from everything.
Isolate yourself. Just like I was isolated by being a huge fan of Adventures in Odyssey. A franchise I was obsessed with that no one else knew about. My whole life I’d bring it up and just get blank stares, driving a wedge, between myself and others. It’s as if, long after I abandoned Christianity, AIO itself would come to me in those moments and whisper, “don’t you want friends who know about your favorite franchise?Come back to Church and talk with them about it. Jesus misses you. He knows every word to the ‘Communicate!’ rap.”
I thought talking about the first episode(s) I ever listened to would help explain what Adventures in Odyssey is. It didn’t. I’m left with the same problem from my first blog entry. This isn’t what AIO was always about. It wasn’t always Satanic Panic and Mr. Whittaker: Demon Hunter. Because Mr. Whittaker isn’t a demon hunter for the rest of the series. That’s dropped after this episode. Probably.
Look, even though these are episodes 122 and 123? It’s still early in the show’s lifetime! I had to hunt down these episodes through internet rabbit holes because I don’t own the cassette tapes anymore. I’m sure the people behind AIO are embarrassed by it. They probably never rereleased or even mention it-
(Text: “The Complete Guide to Adventures in Odyssey”, 1997, by Phil Lollar, Focus on the Family Publishing.)
Oh. Well, that guide book was in 1997. Way out of date. Surely they wouldn’t have released an updated guide book in 2012 that-
(Text: “Adventures in Odyssey: The Official Guide 25th Birthday Edition” 2012, by Nathan Hoobler, Tyndale House Publishers Inc.)
Okay. But in 2024 it isn’t-
Photo: (focusonthefamily.com.)
….Well, okay, but who’s gonna-
Photo: (Adventures in Odyssey Club App)
Wait, there’s a paid app for AIO that still has Castles and Cauldrons available in 2024? How?! Why?! I guess D&D has seen a resurgence in the last few years so it’s still topical. But… GAH.
This still doesn’t sum up Adventures in Odyssey. The show isn’t ALWAYS like this… I think.
I… I’m going to have to revisit this show from the beginning. And I don’t mean Episode 1. I don’t mean the proto-AIO series, Family Portraits. I have to go back to where it all started.
James Dobson and Focus on the Family. After all, if it wasn’t for him, Castles and Cauldrons wouldn’t exist. As The Complete Guide to Adventures in Odyssey explains,
“Around the fall of 1990, the Focus leadership became concerned about the influence of daytime television on kids… This was a concern because these youngsters can turn on the tube and, unsupervised, see immorality at its worst. To address this problem, Dr. Dobson requested that all the communications divisions at Focus on the Family—including Adventures in Odyssey—hit the issues of the day and present the godly response to them.”
AIO was Dobson’s way to get his message out to the world. And his message with Castles and Cauldrons, as so eloquently put by Jimmy actor Dave Griffin in 2022, was,
“HOW DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS WILL TURN YOU INTO A SATAN WORSHIPPING DEMON FUCKER. YOU WILL NEVER STOP HAVING SEX WITH DEMONS IF YOU LISTEN…”
Yeah, I need to learn more about Dobson. I wonder what else he wanted them to cover? Let’s see what The Complete Guide to Adventures in Odyssey has to say.
“Programs that first dealt with issues of general morality, then proceeded with environmentalism, bigotry, illiteracy, and abortion.”
…My Adventures in Odyssey experience did start with a warning…