About misty
Misty Griffin is the author of her best-selling memoir Tears of the Silenced. Misty wrote her memoir to raise awareness about child abuse and sexual assault cover-ups among the Amish and other strict religious groups.
Misty Griffin’s inspiring story takes you through her ordeal as a severely abused child and then her experiences as a young woman in an Amish community- a place where pedophilia was never reported or punished - and finally her escape and efforts to save her sister and bring the perpetrators to justice, all while adapting to a modern life she had never known.
Tears of the Silenced has sold approx. 500,000 e-book copies and has been at the top of Amazon's Top 100 Bestseller list 7 times. In 2022 Tears of the Silenced was adapted into a dramatic screenplay by 6-time Emmy award winner Elizabeth Page. Misty’s memoir is highly recommended by health professionals, social workers, law enforcement, and educators and has helped so many abuse survivors know they are not alone and what they endured was not their fault.
Now a Registered Nurse, happily married and with a child of her own, Misty has dedicated her life to save children from the hell she endured. She is the Consulting Producer on the documentary series about child abuse in Amish and other cloistered communities, premieried on Peacock in May 2022 as Sins of the Amish. She has also been to D.C, accompanied by her former Mennonite friend Jasper Hoffman and spoken personally to a member of Congress about sexual assault and child abuse among the Amish and Mennonites.
Misty hopes to pass legislation to mandate reporting of child abuse in cloistered communities such as the Amish and to extend Erin’s Law - which mandates age-appropriate sex abuse prevention education in public schools - to private schools and religious communities. Misty’s Child Rights Act Petition calls on Congress to take action.
TEARS OF THE SILENCED
a true crime memoir
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. Her 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 we existed or did not know them well enough to care.
When Misty reached her teens, her parents feared we would escape and took us 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 forbidden. A few years later, Misty was sexually assaulted by the bishop. As Misty recalls,”I knew I had to get help and one freezing morning in early March I made a dash for a tiny police station in rural Minnesota. When I refused to recant my police report I was excommunicated from the Amish and found myself plummeted into the strange modern world with only a second grade education and no ID or social security card. To all abuse survivors out there, please be encouraged, the cycle of abuse can be broken. Today, ten years later, I am a nursing student working towards my Masters degree and a child abuse awareness activist. This is my story.”
“A must read for everyone who has ever felt imprisoned by others as well as by their own beliefs.”
―Susyn Reeve, Heart Healing: The Power of Forgiveness to Heal a Broken Heart
“As a physician and having a close relationship with a sexual assault treatment center, this book illustrates very well the evils that are perpetrated on victims of sexual assault and abuse. Also, the addition of brainwashing makes the pain even greater. This book is a must read.”
-Marvin Eastlund, M.D.