The Epstein story has kept the idea of elites sexually abusing children in the mainstream. But other conspiracy theories have been flourishing on the edges of the political right (or the ultra-populist edge) for a long time.

There was Pizzagate, and a lesser advertised Wayfair-conspiracy theory. Trafficking minors is associated with international institutions and plots guarded by the top players in society.

But the New York Times today has a report about the awful truth. It can be happening in the broken-down bunker next door.

In a rural stretch of Bibb County in central Alabama, past pine forests and gravel roads, deputies uncovered what a sheriff called the most disturbing child abuse case he’s seen in his 33 years of working in law enforcement.

Inside a concrete bunker near a home, at least 10 children were harmed as part of what the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office described as a criminal operation involving sex trafficking, torture and the theft of innocence.

Most of the victims were between 3 and 10 years old; one was 15, officials said.

It’s not elite, but some of the parents were trafficking their own children.