Idaho Exorcism Rates Soar As Population Booms


Idaho is a state in the midst of a population expansion, and in addition to all of the new people, businesses, and construction, Idaho is oddly seeing exorcism rates soar as its population continues to grow. According to Jeff Mason, founder of Apparitions Paranormal Investigations and self-proclaimed “exorcism expert,” people are increasingly calling his company with reports of paranormal activity in their homes and/or businesses in Idaho.

Mason says that he’s witnessed the reported paranormal activity himself and believes that there is definitely a demonic reason for the increase in exorcism requests in Idaho.

“We actually had the entity identify itself as a demon attached to a resident of one exorcism.”

Demon Exorcism
[Photo by udra11/Shutterstock]
According to pastor Mike Freeman, exorcism is a reality for many people but not generally people in Idaho. Freeman says that while many people doubt the demonic and therefore the need for exorcism and think of the subject as it’s (often laughably) portrayed in movies, to a lot of people, exorcism is a part of their daily lives. Particularly those living in or coming from Third World countries – which is why it’s a bit of an oddity to see the practice of exorcism suddenly blowing up in industrialized Idaho.

“You step into the Third World and it’s definitely a ‘We’re not in Kansas’ anymore moment. To assume our way of viewing reality as the only way is to limit ourselves.”

This isn’t the first time in recent months that Idaho has been in the news for what could be considered “backwards” religious beliefs. Idaho began making national headlines earlier in 2016 as a result of the state’s controversial “faith healing” laws, laws that could potentially be applied to an exorcism gone wrong. As The Spokesman Review reports, in the State of Idaho, there is a faith healing exemption from prosecution if such practices result in medical neglect or even the death of a child. In a nutshell, if parents or religious leaders in Idaho decide to turn their child’s medical well-being over to God and that child dies, neither the parents nor the religious leaders can be prosecuted.

Grave Marker
[Photo by Steve Mann/Shutterstock]
In many instances, Idaho’s religious leaders believe a physical ailment to be a symptom of a spiritual malady and may treat something that could be easily healed medically with something like an exorcism. In southwestern Idaho, many children have died needlessly due to easily treatable health problems, such as food poisoning and pneumonia. So long as their parents cite their religious beliefs in their deaths, they and their Idaho spiritual leaders are exempt from prosecution.

The majority of the children who have needlessly lost their lives have parents who belong to the Followers of Christ church. According to multiple reports, many of these children have been buried in a cemetery near the Snake River, leaving their parents and clergy free to pursue their religious convictions. There’s no word on whether or not exorcism may have played a role in any of the deaths.

Just as Idaho has an exorcism boom in common with Third World countries, so too does the state share high childhood mortality rates, particularly in certain communities.

Governor Butch Otter told Today that “he hopes” Idaho legislative leaders will look into making changes to the controversial faith healing exemption this summer, something that could slow the exorcism trend.

“I hope they will, so that we have a clearer path forward. I was sincere in my request. They were sincere in their initial response. I suspect that we will have such an interim group that’s going to look into it. We’ll know a lot more next legislative session.”

With summer fast approaching, no legislative work group has been formed to protect children from being killed due to the state’s religious exemptions from medical care. It seems unlikely that Idaho legislators will pursue laws that infringe on “religious freedom” during an election cycle and when conservative states are banking so much on preserving religious liberty. If changes are made to the Idaho law, there’s no way of knowing if those who perform exorcisms could end up being more liable for the results of exorcisms gone awry.

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[Photo by Leremy/Shutterstock]
If you’re a potential exorcist considering pursuing a career in exorcism, you can get some official training. The Vatican offers an exorcism training class that over 150 students took advantage of in 2015. The downside is that you have to go to Italy to attend.

Of course, most people who perform exorcisms in Idaho and around the world have no “official” Vatican training in the practice. Rather, the vast majority of Idaho exorcisms (as well as exorcisms performed around the world) are performed by self-taught laypersons.

[Image Courtesy Of udra11/Shutterstock]

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