I have had one, fairly creepy, thought about MM saying Sky was in the car. If Rougelatete's theory is true, that Sky died on or about 23 September that would give Julia plenty of time to plant some reality distortions in MM's mind. Specifically, what if Julia told her that Sky's blanket was Sky? If Julia went around the apartment holding the blanket as if it were a baby, talking to it as if it were a baby, etc, is it possible that Julia could have persuaded MM that the blanket was Sky? And then MM would be telling the truth: to MM, Sky was in the car that morning because the "Sky" blanket was there.
Rougelatete or any other expert in the field of mind, is this possible? Or have I read too many horror stories?
GrainneDhu ~ Thank you so much for breathing some fresh air into this thread!
I absolutely, 100% believe that Julia could have convinced MM of any number of things, including that Sky was in the car that morning. We have to remember that MM was under Julia's psychological control from Day One -- from the day MM was born. MM never knew any environment other than the incredibly stifling one that JB provided. Consider everything we've read from SM's account of what it was like to live with JB (not being allowed to use his own bathroom, not being allowed to sleep in his own bed -- let alone enter the bedroom, not being able to store food in his own home). SM was an adult and had lived in other environments prior to moving in with JB. So, he knew that this behavior was abnormal (and, frankly, he was able to leave it for periods of time while he went to work and was eventually able to leave it altogether).
But, MM was immersed in that sick, suffocating environment nearly all day every day for her entire life -- with no opportunity to leave because she DEPENDED on the very person who was destroying her. If JB could have the kind of psychological control over a grown man, her husband, like she did over SM (to the point of controlling where he slept, ate, and used the bathroom), imagine what kind of psychological control she had over her minor child whom she'd controlled from Day One and who needed her to provide life's basic necessities. Others (i.e. JB's own mother) have testified to JB's uncanny ability to control them and one must wonder about the bizarre video in which we saw her brother, SB's, blank, robotic responses while she was hiding out with him following the breaking of the case.
The kind of psychological control JB likely had over MM is almost unfathomable. She may not have even needed to have a doll or a blanket to 'convince' MM that Sky was in the car. She could have simply said every time they got in the car that Sky was always in the car, no matter what. She could have threatened MM (and those threats would mean a lot to a child who is brainwashed and dependent on their provider) or she could have promised something like food.
We also need to consider that MM
wasn't being fed and a brain and body starved for fuel and nutrition are not working properly at all. Additionally, consider how much MM's sense of reality was compromised. It's an educated guess, but I would wager that JB was often engaging in what the psychology-world refers to as a 'double-bind.' That is when a person (often a child) receives two or more messages that are conflicting -- and one message negates the other. The classic example of this is when a mother says "I love you" but then looks away in disgust. Double-binds really mess with a child's sense of reality. I could easily see MM telling her mother she is hungry and JB responding "I just fed you." MM knows she was not fed anytime recently but her mother's statement says otherwise -- and invalidates MM's belief that her body is telling her she is hungry. When a parent or caregiver frequently employs double-binds in their communication with a child, the child is unable to tell top from bottom, truth from lies, fantasy from reality -- about anything. I believe that happened with MM based on what we know from other testimony.
I hope that helps! And, I am grateful Sky's thread has been kicked up a notch in the past few days!!
Oh, and everything said here is strictly my own opinion.
. Ive been on a level 3 evacuation (if you go out,ya cant come back) notice for 4 days. Im not leavin my little house in the woods till the flames are knockin on my door! My dogs and I have been busy making a fireline around my house. Here I sit right smack in the middle of 4 wildfires... :hot:
