Eleanor Gordon Smith

A little.

What was that like to feel like there's this thing that you've been so certain of for so long that you felt like you had resolution of with Dr. Corwin and seeing those tapes?

And then to have it be the subject of doubt again, what did that do to you?

Nicole started changing her mind back and forth, over and over.

Some days she thought she'd been abused.

Other days she thought she'd lied about it.

I have to say, as someone who spent months looking into Loftus' article, it is really hard to work out the responsible thing to think.

When I first read it, I remember thinking, game over, there's no way Nicole's mum abused her.

But as I looked into each claim Loftus made, what had seemed like a nine on the convincingness scale turned out to be more like a four.

Like Loftus found a report from another psychologist who'd interviewed young Nicole, who said she sounded mechanical and rehearsed when she talked about abuse.

Loftus told me that was the evidence that impressed her most.

But I don't know.

He says, quote,

He could mean Nicole's lying.

Or he could just mean she's been asked to tell it too many times.

And Loftus interviewed Nicole's stepmum, a woman who'd been there for the custody battle.

She told Loftus that she and Nicole's dad had tried to win custody with what she called the sexual angle.

Loftus heard that as sinister.

But did she accidentally reveal that she'd had an agenda?

Or did she just use sexual angle as an unfortunate shorthand?