Demonologist or dangerous and deluded?

On 13/03/16 the Daily Mirror featured a report  regarding one Kelly Angel, real name Bebbington, who purports to be a "demonologist" and "demon hunter" entitled "Meet the woman who sends demons back to Hell for a living after realising she could see ghosts" Stories such as this are ten a penny as are individuals making such claims, the reason this one caught my attention is the seeming disregard both Kelly and the Mirror seemed to show towards the dangers of propagating the harmful mythology of demons and exorcism.

Before tackling that, it's interesting to note that this isn't the first time the paper has featured Kelly. on October 29th, 2016 they ran a story entitled "'I work in Greggs by day but I'm a demonologist by night'" the title of which alludes to the fact that, at the time Kelly was dividing her time between banishing demons to hell and serving tepid baked bean and sausage slices in down market pastry shops.

The only seeming change in Kelly's story between these articles is the elaboration of her connection to the paranormal before discovering her gift. In October 2014, she states: "I was 19 when I discovered I had The Gift. A medium had told me I was very clever and suggested I got myself a set of tarot cards. It was the first time I'd been to see a medium and I'd only gone along with a friend. I've always been into spooky things so I decided to give it a try."-29th Oct 2014

As of March this year this interest in "spooky things" had become a full-blown ability to see the dead! All of which leads one to question why she needed the medium to tell her about her gift at all. Surely it should have been self-evident to Kelly?

"I was “taken” into demonology. As far back as I can remember, I’ve been interested in the world of spirits. I’ve always been able to see ghosts, but it wasn’t until I visited a medium when I was 19 that I realised I had this special ability."

That doesn't make much sense to me. There are likely to factors at play here: Most people who claim to have this kind of abilities tend to add new elements to the origin stories of their "powers" as time goes on. Kelly has probably ran through the tale so many times that she's failed to see her embellishments have resulted in a story that no longer makes sense. Another possibility is that the ever ethical journos at the Mirror have dragged the ghost element out of Kelly in order to enhance the "click-bait" strength of the piece.

In the article Kelly expresses her frustration in the article at those that don't realize she is a demonologist not an exorcist, the difference being, she says: exorcists remove demons from INSIDE people, whilst she removes demon attached to people's outsides!

So far so what... I'm sure you're are thinking Kelly sounds like something of a harmless crank. The first hint of irresponsibility from Kelly comes when she boasts of her lack of training:

"I didn’t need to read up on the subject, be trained or learn anything. I knew how it all worked because 80 per cent of my past lives have been connected to spiritual work, I have been a Satanist, and into Devil worship, which is how I got to know how Satan works and how the demons serve him. Because of that, I can now deal with them in my present life."

Perhaps this is the major difference between her and an exorcist for the Catholic Church, presumably, despite it being two forms of the same bullshit, they are at least trained! Kelly claims to have despatched with this thanks to experience in her "past lives". Imagine a doctor making such claims, unlikely you'd lie down on the operating table. It also separates Kelly from most so-called demonologists, who protest the title is more than just self-appointed. Kelly seems almost proud of this point.

Another major difference between Kelly and the Catholic Church, the latter have a strict selection process, not everyone who requests an exorcism is granted one. Kelly, on the other hand, sees demons and negative energy almost everywhere:

""I’d say nine out of ten houses are inhabited by bad energy, so I get a lot of work! And usually, once I start working on the person’s house, I can sense if the inhabitants have demons attached to them too...They usually do, as the bad energy sticks to people. It’s rarely just a building that is affected."

This reminds me of a quote Joe Nickell once made about Ed Warren which I'll paraphrase, like Ed, Kelly has probably never walked into a house she didn't think was haunted. But unlike Ed, she thinks the owners are likewise afflicted too.

All this leads to the same concerns I have with many paranormal groups, Kelly really doesn't seem to have considered the psychological effect of telling a believer, someone who is possibly quite afraid of such things, that they are literally surrounded by demons.

""It can manifest in several different ways," explains Kelly. "Many people feel tired and depressed – suicidal even."

The fact that Kelly makes above statement about the people she "helps" only makes it more damning that she has seemingly never considered the damage her bullshit could inflict in these people's lives. Kelly should not be dealing with people she feels are suicidal. She should be ensuring they get the correct help. There's nothing more disturbing than when people such as Kelly can't pull themselves out of the "paranormal hero" narrative long enough to see what might be harmless fantasy to her, could have serious ramifications for others with mental health issues that she interacts with.

Of course, Kelly spends a fair proportion of the article talking about the negative effects of her "work" on her:

"This is the scary bit because they then try to attach themselves to me. But I’m usually OK because I protect myself, using the help of my guides and various angels, well in advance.... I can get really sick and actually vomit. Once, I was violently sick for two hours. It’s caused by all the negative energy the demons hurl at me. Sometimes after a session I sleep for 24 hours; other times, I get insomnia and can’t sleep for days. If I do five or six clearances in a day, it’s pretty exhausting and I feel drained."

This focus on Kelly's problems in battling demons, I'm sure in her mind, mark her out as a self-sacrificing hero, but when I consider the plight of children killed during exorcisms all over the world, she seems naive and thoughtless.

And what about the journalists at the Mirror, why isn't someone at that paper putting two and two together. On February 26th, 2016 the same paper reported on the murder during exorcism of a baby boy by his mother, Irene Mbithe, who believed he was possessed by demons. Two weeks was all it took for the paper's editor to forget the terrible conotations of the last "demon" story they ran. The potential causal link was lost. Do the staff at the Mirror believe that the perpetuation of the demon/exorcism myth isn't connected to that death because it occurred in Nairobi? This sort of thing is happening increasingly in the west too, and the media have to consider responsibility.The propagation of ignorance, superstition and fear knows no geographical or cultural boundaries. I doubt that the staff at the Mirror believe demons exist, they are still feeding that dangerous belief to the vulnerable, susceptible and the mentally ill.

Kelly may be deluded and thoughtless, perpetuating this rubbish from a need for attention or self-worth. The Staff at the Mirror are positively callous. They perpetuate this horseshit for greed and advertising revenue.

Bashing the Bishop. Examining the Claims and activities of James Long.

Ever since I reviewed Destination America's "Demon Files" and found it to be one of the most exploitative, trashy pieces of schlock ever to be vomited onto a television screen, I've been inundated with requests* to review Destination America's other recent exploit into the "demonic" Exorcism Live. The truth is I haven't seen it and probably won't. I have recently taken a look into one of the show's participants Bishop James Long, who has participated in a few other paranormal shows, is an author, an educator and an investigator.

You may deploy your pinch of salt now.

 In addition to his Bishop and exorcist status, Long claims to be a demonologist, which as I've pointed out before is a title as meaningless as Fairyologist in the context that Long and others employ it. He is the founder of The Paranormal Clergy, a group that offers to cleanse and exorcise the homes of "demonic infestation". Their website offers advice on how you can tell if your home is occupied by a demon.



According to the group signs of demonic possession include amongst foul smells, growling sounds and badly behaved animals, knocking sound emanating from walls :

Wait.... Long and his group consider Poltergeist activity to be a logical explanation!

Perhaps not surprisingly the Paranormal Clergy's site contains not a jot of skepticism or room for doubt that demons actually exist. There is no attempt to even evidence the claim, the closest we get is this:

WOW... that is simply stated. Unfortunately to many people "Believe it because I've seen it" isn't a terribly convincing argument, especially considering the adage popularised by Carl Sagan "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence".

Let's say you are convincing by being TOLD what you should believe, in fact you are so convinced that you want to become a demonologist and fight evil, Long has great news for you! He operates his own ParaUniversity were you can study.

Before you enrol though there are a few thing Long thinks you need to know. First and foremost his definition of Demonologist:

Hmmm... so be a demonologist you have to research the field (well yeah), and devote your life to that study.... that's a bit vague. You also have to be appointed by your Church leadership to investigate demonic cases. So Long has been endorsed by the Catholic Church? Yes... not the Roman Catholic Church... of course. One of the other ones. The United States Old Catholic Church.

Now stop that. The United States Old Catholic Church is totally a legitimate Church! According to their own website anyway!

And its a good job because, as Long states in this interview, one has to have good knowledge of scripture if one wishes to be a demonologist. Just declaring oneself to be a Christian isn't good enough, and Being a pagan is certainly out, if a Pagan weilds a crucifix it won't to anything to a demon he states (watch from around twenty minutes in).

These statements lead to some fundamental inconstancies in Long's worldview: Firstly, his own knowledge of Scripture, or certainly his interpretation,  has been quite heavily criticised. Reverand Jack Ashcroft had these comments to make regarding Long's book "Through the eyes of an Exorcist":

"I've read many books on the subject of exorcism, spiritual warfare, angelology and demonology, yet none were as light on content and, in my opinion, demonstrative of the author's lack of theological knowledge.... Long starts off by telling us there are four types of spirit entities that interact with the living; Human, Inhuman, Elementals and Poltergeists. I can only assume this classification is an invention of the author, since it does not come from Christian theology, either Protestant, Catholic or Orthodox. Long writes of homes he claims are “haunted” by human spirits...the idea that the spirits of the dead are hanging around haunting people is Biblically fallacious. The Apostle Paul tells us that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. (II Cor. 5:8) There is no intermediate state wherein “ghosts” can stick around to bother the living. Beyond this, even if one were to take a different theological position on that matter, (On Long's use of smudging in Blessings) smudging would be out of the question. Smudging is a Native American animistic practice and as such would fall under the prohibitions of Deut. 18:10-12. The fact that Long either does not know this, or at best ignores these facts is quite disturbing considering his claim to be a Christian clergyman."

You can read the first part of the review which elaborates on Long's issues with scripture here.

Another of Long's inconstancies is his rejection of Wicca and paganism, in fact at 30:00 in the interview he positively rages at paganism and Wicca. But as Rev. Ashcroft points out above, Long uses smudging in his rituals- part of Native American paganism- at 33:00 Long specifically states he has no right performing Paganistic rituals... yet he does anyway! Long's philosophy seems to be a hodge-podge of what ever practices appeal to him.

Also if he rejects Wicca and Paganism what does that tell us about his own Paranormal Clergy team, which consists of two shamans! By Long's own standards it tells us we probably should be entrusting the exorcism of the family dog to them. The way Long rants in the interview one would suspect that he wouldn't trust a shaman to walk the family dog, never mind rid it of demons!

Also consider the symbol Long's team uses on the right here. Seems to encourage secularism right?
But on the very same site Long states his "theory" that exorcism rituals are being made too secular. This is a theory he is so proud of he puts a trade mark after printing it!

You can't trademark a theory you bloody idiot!

Add to these inconsistencies a charge of outright hypocrisy. At 37:00 minutes into the interviews he states that he went on Ghost Adventures to publicise the services his groups offers. "I just couldn't afford that kind of advertising" he states. He then goes on to rail about "attention seekers" on paranormal TV shows! According to his own profile on this website you've appeared on all of the following channels and shows.

Long states that this was to publicise endeavours that he does for free, but he blatantly solicits donations not for his Church, but for his personal ministry.

Also a course in Demonology at his ParaUniversity is anything but free! This is from man who explicitly states "I don't charge for anything." Sorry, that's an outright lie and to claim some moral superiority for doing everything for free when you know that you're charging $99 for your "expertise" is disgraceful. Long calls exorcists performing exorcisms via Skype "shysters" for charging for the service: I agree but how is he any better?

Also you'll notice that the required reading for this highly academic course are trashy shlock available from Amazon for $1.99! Here's a snippet you'll read from your first "textbook" as you embark on your "higher learning". Its highly complex so be prepared.

Taken from Dark Siege 1: A Connecticut Family's Nightmare.  Reprinted for purposes of criticism and review.

The book continues in this vain, like a poor horror novel that purports to be a "true story." How does this sample stack up with the course description offered by Long?

Hmmmm.... its hardly "research" or "data" is it?

If you want to examine Long's motivation for his work as a demonologist listen to that interview I posted from about 1 hour 4. Long complains for twenty minutes about not earning enough money. About receiving only a "twenty dollar donation" or at one point "lousy ten dollar donation" for a job he did.

Charming. One presumes that he didn't embark on his calling for financial reward? He sure as hell gives that impression in that interview.

Inconsistencies, hypocrisy, outright lies, greed, bitterness, anger..... If I thought my house was occupied by a demon, I'd be tempted to stick with rather than call in Long. The demon isn't the only thing giving off a foul smell.

There's a lot around Long that stinks.







*One request... well suggestion. What can I say, I'm easily inundated.