Demonic Fascination by Chad Stambaugh

Over the years, the most commonly viewed subject that people talk to me by far and away, is the one on demonology. In one sense, I think that it's a positive thing. However, I am sometimes left to wonder what is the overwhelming curiosity with demons? In and of itself, that is understandable and even expected. It is a fascinating subject and an area many people sometimes foolishly get into. What bothers me is they don’t always heed the warnings that I give them about messing with this area of the paranormal. The reason I warn people to stay away from this subject is people are not trained to be able to rule out demons during an investigation, but alas, it appears to be on so many people’s minds these days and every investigation I hear about has demons involved.

Yet, there is such a fascination for the subject these days. I am somewhat at a loss to understand why this is so. I have had some people whole heartedly agree with me. I have had others tell me I’m maybe just over thinking it. Many have scoffed at the mere mention of demonology. One person said something that I fear may be true: Satan sells. He also smells but I won’t go there; I'm learning to deal with demons and the malevolent, so for me, demons comes with the territory. But why do others want to take that risk? Fascination is one thing; obsession is another. I receive many, many e-mails as part of what I do. What bothers me is that probably close to 90% believe they are possessed or knows someone who is. You have to write off some percentage to cover those who are mentally ill. I do not know how to calculate that number. Is it most of them? I just do not know. What is so disturbing to me is, that however you slice the pie, there are many out there who believe it. In truth, if they were indeed possessed, they would not be able to contact me, a priest or minister. It just is not going to happen. It is a problem that needs to be fixed and I will not insult anyone’s intelligence by saying I have the answer.

Is there a rise in possession? There is no way to calculate that either. The Catholic Church is not about to give out numbers and what we hear from “Deliverance Ministers” is so over the top as to lose all credibility. Don’t get me wrong here. I’m not trying to mock those who do work for God. I just get so annoyed when the number of “deliverances” performed, tally higher than the number of people who eat at McDonalds. However, I think we can safely say that there is a rise in the number of those demonically possessed. I cannot put a number to it, but with the rise in popularity or, maybe it is better to say there is a reawakening in things from the occult. Ouija boards, spell books, tarot cards and all the rest can cause problems. Certainly not everyone who uses an Ouija board finds themselves possessed. Ditto for the other things I mentioned. However, just imagine of the one percent of people who use them improperly have a problem. The numbers would be staggering. So we have some there. Look at the evil all around you. Rape, murder, robbery. Sure that has been going on since the dawn of time but you have to think, is some of this is demonic? The breakdown of morals is at an all-time high as well.

So am I speaking out of both sides of my mouth? You are saying it is almost impossible to come into direct contact with a demon, then you talk about why there is a rise of it. What I am saying is that it is still a rare phenomenon that most people will not experience directly in their life time, but there is a rise in it and frighteningly, also a rise in the mere fascination of it. It is that fascination that bothers me. If you look for something long enough, you are likely to find it. People do not realize that. I will soon be publishing a book about people who work in this field or I should say worked in this field. They have paid their dues and they have also paid the price. Some more dramatically than others. I would love to do an interview with some of them. Some of them declined because they did not want their names and experiences out there. Most refused to discuss the events at all for fear of making it happen again. Others just don’t want to get into it.

My hope going forward, is that the fascination with the world of the demonic will slow down but history suggests otherwise. For my end of it, I want my stuff read because I believe everyone should know what is out there. However, I really wish they would read the warnings and other articles instead of diagnosing themselves, especially when that diagnosis points towards possession.

So what do you all think?