Tears of the Silenced

by Misty Griffin

"When Misty was six years old her family started to live and dress like the Amish. Misty and her sister were kept as slaves on a mountain ranch where they were subjected to almost complete isolation, sexual abuse and extreme physical violence. Their step-father kept a loaded rifle by the door at all times to make sure the young girls were too terrified to try to escape. They also knew that no rescue would ever come because only a couple of people even knew they existed and did not know them well enough to care. When Misty reached her teens, her parents feared she and her sister would escape and took them to an Amish community where they were adopted and became baptized members. Misty was devastated to once again find herself in a world of fear, animal cruelty and sexual abuse. Going to the police was severely frowned upon. A few years later, Misty was sexually assaulted by the bishop. As Misty recalls, "Amish sexual abusers are only shunned by the church for six weeks, a punishment th…