This is no different than the 80's certainty in media that satanists were abducting, sexually abusing, and killing children by the millions. Despite the fact that not a single case ever came to light--ever--it was accepted as common knowledge.
Where would the frightened Christians right go, but to the same story they remember from their childhoods? At least they are using something that really exists, for a change, I'll grant them that. It's the same hype, the same tapping into public fear, the same tired story without the teeth of legitimate facts to support it.