Pat Pulling dead?

[afsi...@hotmail.com]

IIRC Pat Pulling (#1 critic of D&D) died a few years ago. I seem to
recall a respectful obituary to her in Dragon Mag.

Is she indeed deceased? Can someone with the actual copy of Dragon or
the Dragon CR-ROM confirm this?

Thanks,

~ Alexander ~

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[Håvard Haagenrud]

<afsi...@hotmail.com> wrote in message news:8pig7e$1c8$1...@nnrp1.deja.com...

> IIRC Pat Pulling (#1 critic of D&D) died a few years ago. I seem to
> recall a respectful obituary to her in Dragon Mag.
>
> Is she indeed deceased? Can someone with the actual copy of Dragon or
> the Dragon CR-ROM confirm this?
>

Without actually having any of those sources at hand, I do remember the
short obituary in Dragon. It was a goodish while ago.

--
Håvard Haagenrud
"All religions are equally sublime to the ignorant, useful to the
politician, and ridiculous to the philosopher."
-Lucretius

[Gaiamancer]

The obituary is in the "Current Clack" section of the December 1997 issue
(page 120, then continues on page 119).
I was able to find it thanks to the search function available with my copy
of the Dragon Magazine Archive.
To save everyone the trouble of finding it, the text follows. Standard
disclaimers apply (no, it's not mine, it's TSR's, used without permission,
etc., etc.):

Pat Pulling Dies at 49

Patricia Ann Pulling, 49, founder of the organization Bothered About
Dungeons & Dragons (BADD), died of cancer October 15 in Richmond, VA. When
her son, Irving Lee “Bink” Pulling II, committed suicide in 1982, Pat
Pulling became convinced his RPG hobby was responsible. In her book The
Devil’s Web: Who is Stalking Your Children
for Satan?, in testimony at murder trials, and on more than 200 radio talk
shows, she linked RPGs with Satanic worship
and the ’80s epidemic of teen suicide. Along with Dr. Thomas Radecki of the
National Coalition Against Television
Violence, and Larry Jones, who produced a newsletter called File 19 for
Christian police officers, Pulling belonged to the
key triumvirate fomenting the “Satanic panic” of the ’80s.
For most of a decade, BADD controlled public perceptions of roleplaying,
until designers Michael Stackpole, Loren
Wiseman, and others began systematically refuting all accusations. The panic
lost vigor in the late ’80s when insurance companies started refusing injury
claims of “ritual Satanic abuse.” In 1992, Radecki surrendered his license
to practice medicine, in response to charges of unprofessional conduct.
Jones’s current whereabouts are unknown. Pulling became a real-estate agent
in Glen Allen, VA, where she was active in Republican politics. She is
survived by her husband and four daughters.
“She was obviously very driven, very concerned about the welfare of
children,” says Stackpole. “Her methods were not quite the sort of thing I
was taught in college—she did a lot of damnation-by-headline-[but] she was
clearly very dedicated to her cause. I firmly believe she went to her grave
‘knowing’ that games killed her son.”
Though Pat Pulling caused lasting damage to this hobby’s image,
Stackpole credits her with “forcing the industry to grow up. She shined one
hell of a light on us, so we had to learn how to deal with the outside
world. Without that, we might not have had the strong growth of the late ’
80s and early ’90s. Without the groundwork we laid then, we might not have
had the later success of Wizards and Magic.”

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