That’s quite an agenda for a Friday, now, isn’t it?

Hi readers! I hope the two of you are having a great day today. Guess what? My last post mentioned the phenomenon of demonic infestation, and wouldn’t you know it, one of my favorite podcasts, Southern Demonology, recently released a two-part episode that discusses this very topic. It’s riveting stuff, and very much reminds me of the paint-covered woman my daughter dreamed about.

In the podcast, the show’s guest, Anna Maria Manalo, describes what she believes was a demonic infestation that focused on her father and ultimately destroyed him. She recounts how he may have inadvertently invited this presence into his life and how it made itself known to him. It’s a compelling story, and it involves a very scary apparition that hung out outside of his office window. Yikes! See? I wasn’t completely overreacting about my daughter’s dream.

Now, these episodes were released a couple of weeks ago, but I am behind on the podcast. Darn it. Had I been caught up, I could have woven them beautifully into my last post. But you know what? My motivation for publishing this blog is to consistently produce good stuff, not to sporadically produce perfect stuff. Steinbeck wrote, “Now that you don’t have to be perfect, you can be good.” Loud and clear, Johnny. Loud and clear.

A word on overthinking my writing; it’s a big problem for me. I swirl around the drain of “I need to link to an informative and credible source” or “I need to know more about this before I post about it” and before you know it, ten years go by and not a word gets written. One of my favorite tools of procrastination is watching Hoarders. I like it both in a voyeuristic sense and for the psychological perspective I get on the disorder. Hoarding runs in my family, and the show has actually made me more compassionate and less judge-y. I’ve heard it mentioned more than once that those with hoarding disorders are actually struggling with perfectionism. Maybe I’m hoarding content.

Any of you—or, I should say, either of you–ever deal with this? Anyone else out there become paralyzed in the pursuit of perfect posts? Or amazing alliterations? Get it? Because that was an amazing alliteration?

So sorry.

Aaaaanywho, I will go ahead and turn this into my first recommendation. Southern Demonology is an amazing podcast. As I’ve mentioned, I am interested in the supernatural and the spiritual, so I have done some reading about this topic on my own. I found this podcast in its infancy by chance (or by algorithm, but that’s far less whimsical) a couple of years ago and have enjoyed seeing the show grow and the content get better all the time.

JJ Johnson hosts Southern Demonology, and I am there just as much for this guy as I am for the show’s subject matter. Dude is smart, ok? His Podchaser bio says it all. He approaches the subject of God, angels, demons and biblical history from an academic viewpoint, but with a totally approachable and ordinary-guy-talking-about-football-or-fishing kind of tone. Well, as approachable and ordinary as one can be when referring to the Pseudepigrapha. Yep, I had to look it up. Worth it.

JJ also shares personal supernatural experiences, interviews fascinating people and recommends horror movies (do check out Under the Shadow). He has also cultivated a lovely community on Discord. The members there are just as friendly and conversational as JJ is on his show.  Each episode contains a warm invitation to join him on any of his platforms, and you will get the sense that he will actually be overjoyed to have you there. JJ lures you in with offers of warm comradery, then plunges you into terror as he exposes the sinister forces that move around us, unseen. It’s fun.

So where to start? Well, you could start at the beginning or get right to the best stuff. I really loved episode 11, “The Giants of Antiquity”. What the hell, Sunday school? Why didn’t you tell me about the Nephilim? That’s how you keep butts in seats. Forget Noah and his well-behaved menagerie. Give me the good stuff.

JJ’s interviews are just as fascinating. You could jump right into the most recent episodes with Anna Maria Manalo, therapist and author of Portal, a book that discusses demonic infestation and how it led to her father’s death. The second half of the interview gets into a chilling tale of a Thai creature that steals infants. What could be better listening that that?

I hope you give Southern Demonology a listen. It’s worth 30 minutes of your time, especially if you love supernatural horror. Plus, you can always scrub a toilet while listening to a podcast, so if it turns out not to be your cup of tea at least your toilet is clean. Tell me what you think!