From all I’ve seen Mr. Carlson appears to be a man desperate for attention and willing to say or do anything, absolutely anything, that gets him fame, viewership and a monetary following. That said…

I’ve worked decades in rural villages abroad where interactions with evil spirits is common including demonic manifestations and possession. My closest friend came from a family of village priests where each succeeding generation invited the spirits to possess them. These men (and sometimes women) were the go-to healers and “spirit doctors” whom fellow villagers trusted to ward off greater evils. Interestingly, when my friend and his family turned to Jesus he reported it was the first time in generations that no one in the extended family was sick. As he said, “Even though we had some level of power over spirits, we were in bondage to them like everyone else.”

I’ve seen plenty of people possessed by demons, talked with plenty of people who were delivered of demons and have prayed deliverance for people who had demonic possession. Not a single person I’ve seen or talked to ever reported physical marks or blood from demonic interactions. That said, some under the influence of evil spirits have attacked others and drawn blood. If Mr. Carlson did interact with a demon it would be more than likely he clawed himself unawares.

I can attest that demons do bother people in their sleep as I’ve had this experience myself over the years. Not frequently but often enough that I know when it’s happening. Sometimes it feels like I can barely breathe. Other times it felt like dread coming into the room. When it happens I pray in Jesus name telling the entity to leave and it does.

NOTE: I rarely experience such visible demonic manifestations like this while in America. My observation is that demonic deception in Western countries manifests more through smooth & deceptive speech and misinformation. Which if you think of it, is the very medium Mr. Carlson employs to gain his fame. So perhaps his experience with a demon is not so surprising.

Gus,

“…the fact he has *four* dogs sleeping in his bed.”

Also, let’s not forget the even more obvious and likely… Tucker’s wife….

Benny S: “…the fact he has *four* dogs sleeping in his bed.”

Also, let’s not forget the even more obvious and likely… Tucker’s wife….

No kink-shaming here, please! 😉

But seriously: I think that living with such a man for prolonged periods of time could drive the most peaceful and mild-mannered woman to unleash her (consciuos or subconscious) aggression.

Fisher: My observation is that demonic deception in Western countries manifests more through smooth & deceptive speech and misinformation.

Proverb from my old D&D days:
“You can do more damage with one properly-placed Suggestion spell than with a dozen Fireballs.”

If demons could physically harm us, they could also physically prevent us from doing the work that Jesus called us to do.

In my only probable encounter (the “Fullerton Freakout” cited above), the hostile could only “hit me with a D&D Fear spell”, what psychics call an “Emotion-feed” or “E-Feed”, implanting an emotion — in that case, mind-killing absolute Fear and Terror (which faded away over 12-24 hours). Nothing physical. All an observer could see would have been me having an extreme terror attack coming out of nowhere. And it hit me with it in an apparent fit of rage, blowing its cover and exposing itself to counterattack.

My observation is that demonic deception in Western countries manifests more through smooth & deceptive speech and misinformation.

These Mighty Spiritual Warrior types think “Spiritual Warfare” (and I ate that term) is some sort of High-Level D&D LARP with themselves as High-Level Clerics and Paladins. In the real world it’s more like Cold War Intelligence Warfare – covert ops in the shadows, propaganda warfare, planting disinformation, manipulation to gain Influence, plausible deniability in a low-signal/high-noise environment. (The high-noise being superstition and Conspiracy Crackhead stuff confusing the issue and hiding/jamming any real signal.)

Some lore from unreliable narrators (like YouTube/Reddit accounts) suggest that these things have some sort of range limit, and that if you get out of range they can’t follow or hit you. The only mention of a “possession range limit” (of 400 meters) came from an apocryphal story of some off-duty soldiers fron “Fort Hoochy-Kooch” (Ft Huachua in southern Arizona) doing something with a Ouija board in Tombstone.

Carlson and all his devotees are as loopy as licorice.

Like Fisher, I spent a number of years overseas in a developing country where people both feared and dabbled in the demonic. I have no doubts at all that non-Christians that get too far into the demonic can be heavily influenced. However, I don’t believe that Christians can be possessed as we no longer belong to the kingdom of darkness but to the kingdom of light.

I’ve also worked around addicts and the mentally ill. Their behavior can often look at what we might think to be possession.

As to Tucker C, I have no use or respect for him. He is an attention seeker, especially since he is not as influential as he once was. He might want to keep an eye on his dogs. I have a cat that is allowed in my bedroom at night because he often mistakes my toes for sausages, and he bites them.

dee,

Invite me, please. I’ll bring snacks!

dee,

One example, my father-in-law, which is the most devoted Christian I know has seen demons walking in his house. Another person was attacked much worse than Trucker. Then there is the mental depression, the fear….I can go on and on. Anyone can be oppressed or attacked. The church is full of oppressed people. Just because someone is a Christian doesn’t mean demons wouldn’t do anything against you…..seems like it would be more reason to attack.

He sleeps with FOUR DOGS and he is shocked that he ONCE woke up with claw marks while the dogs were not alarmed?

Absolute stupidity knows no bounds. Either his own, or the stupidity of followers he is playing for fools.

Linn: I’ve also worked around addicts and the mentally ill. Their behavior can often look at what we might think to be possession.

And the two DO overlap.
There are those whose Addictive Drug of Choice is The Occult.
These guys can range from laughingstocks to seriously delusional to a worst-case of dumbass fanboy linking up with something REAL Paranormal/Supernatural and Hostile.

My writing partner (the burned-out country preacher) spent some time in Ecuador; he described the local Brujos/Brujas as end-stage Occult Addicts, as burned-out as any tweaker who’d been strung out on Crystal Meth for years. (We’re talking Gollum and his Precioussss country – any high long since gone, leaving only the tunnel-vision craving for more and more and more.)

Sandy: Absolute stupidity knows no bounds. Either his own, or the stupidity of followers he is playing for fools.

Remember holy Nincompoop Syndrome:
The more Stupid and Ignorant you are, the more Godly and Spiritual you must be.
(AKA “The Wisdom of God is Foolishness to Men” played backwards.)

Rosa Monroe: Those who bring truth on large scale can be attacked because they want them to shut up. They’re are many people who have been attacked in many different ways. Trucker is just one who is willing to say it out loud.

Or “Trucker” is lying to boost his reputation and/or get in good with the incoming regime.
Like that one big name whose name I can’t remember who went full Pentecostal by tonguing “Pookie-Poo!” faster and faster and faster.

Back when years AD had two digits there was this book called the Didache about the early church.
Over a third of that book is How to Recognize a Con Man in the pulpit.
That’s how far back it goes.

Or, it is possible Carlson is giving what is (sometimes in the sales game) called an IQ test to his viewers. As in, “I know most won’t buy this, but those who do are telling me something important about themselves. Something that I can use.” I believe this is conscious on Carlson’s part. I also believe a similar pattern goes on every day in abusive churches.

Believer: Or, it is possible Carlson is giving what is (sometimes in the sales game) called an IQ test to his viewers. As in, “I know most won’t buy this, but those who do are telling me something important about themselves. Something that I can use.”

Like the deliberately scammy and spammy scam emails (peddling 3% from some Nigerian prince’s millions and other get-rich-quick schemes) designed to weed out the vigilant and the suspicious, to concentrate on the remaining (smaller number of the) gullible.

Borgie: He definitely believed in demonic forces, but wisely counseled the listeners to consider physical causes before jumping to conclusions.

Unfortunately, too many Christians go for the Supernatural explanation first.
And the more Spectacular the Supernatural explanation, the better.

Headless Unicorn Guy,

Me too HUG. I never went looking for any of what I experienced regarding the demonic realm. It just happened because the societies where I lived gave time and energy to them. In America it seems like much of what gets passed off as demonic is really just people behaving badly.

having said that, i’ve experienced a few frightening things.

-in a hotel in Mendocino, CA next to a cemetary – my husband and I both felt a presence in the room at night, very spooky and disturbing

-in my teen years, one evening at home everyone in my family was getting mad at eachother for inexplicable reasons. it kept escalating.

we were all in the kitchen/family room and it reached some kind of crescendo….

the carved wooden “JESUS” in the shape of a fish that was hanging on our fireplace popped off the wall with force and broke.

i don’t necessarily ascribe “demonic” to these things. Paranormal things exist, involving energy of some kind.

our cat sleeps with us under the covers. sometimes i wake up with claw marks.

it was the cat.

elastigirl:
our cat sleeps with us under the covers.sometimes i wake up with claw marks.

it was the cat.

Makes sense.

Now about the guy with four dogs in his bed, claiming demons clawed him?

Maybe, not so much.

Gus,

Yes, Gus. Exactly like that. It can be very sophisticated. Think of the 100’s of emails I’ve received “from” President Trump! People believe that. Also, consider how many videos and courses are devoted to a new “Stock Trading formula” or something similar. Weak thinkers never consider that if you really had something like that, you’d not waste ONE MINUTE trying to train anyone else, you’d simply use it! But, the gullible keep lining up.

We don’t have any dogs; instead, we have Plush Bears. They sleep on the chest of drawers.

On an unrelated note, I’ve never woken up with claw marks.

I hope this is helpful.

dee,

I don’t follow, can you explain slightly less briefly please?

I can’t speak for Mr Carlson and have no idea what he did, or did not, experience; nor can I do more than speculate on what did, or did not, cause it. I lean towards being sceptical about his being attacked by a demon; well-known broadcasters who oppose abortionandhomosexuality are ten a penny, and they don’t all claim to be attacked by demons for the stand they’re making, true or otherwise. (Even I, by contrast, have recently been scratched by a dog. Though I was out running, not in bed, and the scratches weren’t even close to drawing blood.)

I have, however, spent much more time than is good for me in church settings where intensely physical spiritual experiences (so to speak) were celebrated and/or expected. Wartburgers over a certain age may remember the “Toronto Blessing”, and the church I was in at the time certainly jumped on that bandwagon quite bigly. During the 90’s I went to many church services * whose primary purpose was to enable people to fall over, jump up and down whilst bent double, roll on the floor barking like fish, or d) all of the above. I never once felt so much as a single goosebump in any of them. There is at least some biblical evidence that not everyone who fell over in Jesus’ presence was demon-possessed or part of a mob come to arrest Him, but even so I think most of this is learned behaviour.

I have, once, encountered a presence that I still think was demonic. This was a short encounter, and the tale would be unlikely to interest the YouTube algorithm.

* I had to, as I was in the band.

Jack: I worked in a mental hospital as psychiatric nursing aid for 8 years from 1988 to 1996. I worked on all wards including with some of the worst cases of schizophrenia you can imagine. And don’t think folks aren’t intelligent….they know what their mind is doing and they can’t stop it….I hope these men and women get a direct to heaven because they did their time in hell….no demons required.

(The bold was done by me.)

That.

researcher,

And for the record, my 1980 experience that fit the description but otherwise didn’t follow the script:

MY FULLERTON FREAKOUT

This happened some time in 1980; I’d been out of college for two years and was living in Monrovia, working in North Hollywood, and driving 30 miles to Cal State Fullerton on Saturday nights for my regular FRP gaming all-nighters. At the time it was mostly <i.RuneQuest instead of D&D, maybe other Chaosium games with occasional “I’ll try anything once” new releases by my regular game master Wayne Shaw. All at Cal State Fullerton, third floor Langsdorf Hall, just off the elevators.

Cal State Fullerton had its own oral history of the weird; there had been a lone-gunman mass shooting in the Library some years previously, the open balconies on the front of the 8-story Humanities Building attracted suicide jumpers, there was a poltergeist story connected to a convenience store the other side of the 57 Freeway, and Wayne told me there was a leftover orange grove on-campus he avoided because it looked REAL spooky at night.

Usual bunch of gamers that night (fandoms such as this attract some really odd types); I remember sitting in the corridor with a few other gamers going on about something from a real character I’d known at Cal Poly. The game session must have ended early (i.e. around midnight) because a lot of us decamped to Wayne’s place (a student apartment complex just north of the campus) for an after-meeting “recreational thinking skull session”. Wayne would have been “holding court” in bare feet with a big mug of Dr Pepper (Mountain Dew didn’t become the drink of gamers until years later) and we would have been yakking about just any subject.

THAT’s when things got Weird. At some point during the night I got the sensation that something was sizing me up. A “Behinder Effect” where I KNEW there was something watching me, but whichever way I turned it would always jump behind me so I could never see what it was. The feeling kept growing, until by the time we were at Wayne’s it was very intense.

I don’t remember the details, but I DID get some sort of direction on it — a few degrees east of north. Later I traced the direction on a map, and found a line in that direction would pass through Brea Canyon (reputation for anomalous car trouble), Cal Poly Pomona (where I went to school), and ending somewhere around Death Valley.

I remember making some sort of quick silent prayer (don’t remember exactly what, but at that time it would most likely have been evangelical-style with the ritual ending “In Jesus’ Name, Amen”). Immediately after the ritual ending my ears started ringing for a few seconds (a phenomenon I later found out from a very unreliable source was called “a psychic bell”), then It Hit Me from out of nowhere like flipping a light switch on. A sudden all-consuming wall of pee-your-pants FEAR. Utter TERROR. The only way to describe it is I got hit with a D&D Fear Spell and fumbled my saving throw. And it just kept up at full intensity.

I think Wayne and the others tried to talk me down from my obvious instant-onset near-breakdown. I vaguely remember him saying “You don’t know half the Weird Shit that goes on around here,” but don’t remember if it was then or afterwards. Around 2-3 Ayem I recovered enough to be able to drive home, but I sure didn’t get any sleep that night.

The next morning the Fear Spell had faded to where I could think in complete sentences again, and I got on the phone to two guys from the Cal Poly Gang: Jim Gass (my old dorm roomie), and Bob Atmur (both Christian, both fannishly weird) and told them what had happened. They both came over that night and we had some sort of prayer meeting around my kitchen table. Don’t remember the details (never been much of a praying man, so I know they did most of the talking), but I DO remember a sensation like sitting above a floor heater with warm air billowing around me. After which, we all went out for pizza.

A week or two later, I was back at Cal State for game night, keeping my mouth shut and my eyes and ears open. From various sources over the next few weeks:

* Larry (another gamer with a rep for being interested in paranormal things) was either in the hospital (with a sudden life-threatening staph infection) or had just been discharged (it responded to treatment — “next thing I know I’m in a quarantine ward with antibiotic IVs in each arm”).
* This may have been when Wayne told me the “You don’t know half the Weird Shit…” quote from above.
* General talk (don’t remember the sources) how the Weirdness that had been going on had stopped abruptly that Sunday after my freakout (the day Jim & Bob had that little get-together around my kitchen table).
* One of Wayne’s roomies (not the stoner but the other one whose name I can’t remember) much later related at some point that he’d had some weird experiences around that time. Once he claimed he woke up to find some sort of apparition dressed like a 17th Century Cavalier in his room who spoke to him; he thought this was most probably a waking dream. And once he said he saw Wayne in the living room making dome odd hand gestures at something on the ceiling like a spot of anomalous shiny mist moving around; he was sure this wasn’t a dream.

So that was it. Nothing like this happened before, nothing since, naturally no physical evidence unless you want to link Larry’s hospitalization, and the only apparent link was the timing. No Pagan Temple Screamers, no Operation Ice Castle, none of the usual Spiritual Warrior shticks. Just something that happened, got attacked, called in some Big Guns for a response, things shut down, nothing since.

Some 15 years later in 1994 I adapted the experience into an FRP game scenario for TriTac’s Stalking the Night Fantastic (contemporary-supernatural milieu where the player-characters are “Government-Sanctioned Ghostbusters”). Never saw print because the scenario pack project fell through.

And 40 years later, four things about the encounter, i.e. Intel analysis:

1) Whatever it was, it was HOSTILE.
2) The immediate ATTACK when I did that prayer in Wayne’s living room that night. Instantaneous fangs-out response from Whatever It Was. And that it only was able to mess with my head and emotions, nothing physical. Suggestion (and Emotional Trigger) instead of Fireball.
3) That messing with my mind seemed to be all it was capable of; NOTHING physical.
4) And if Whatever It Was hadn’t reacted with sudden blind rage, it could have continued on doing whatever it was doing; I would have just been a little creeped out by the Behinder Effect, but not enough to do anything. By hitting me in a blind rage it blew its cover and ended up getting counterattacked.

Headless Unicorn Guy: P.S. “Chesterfield”? You from the Great White North, eh?

The original Chesterfield, of course, is in the north-east of Englandshire. Famously, Chesterfield Parish Church has a wonky spire. (Wiki entry here: .)

Tucker Carlson….. 4 dogs……
I’m hoping his wife came to her senses, got fed up with him, pulled the covers back, drizzled gravy all over him, and sat back to watch the show.

Old Timer: Obviously he claims to see scratches and blood–and we have no explanation.

Yeah, the “four dogs” hypothesis seems like a stretch.
Let’s go with demons.

Headless Unicorn Guy,

then It Hit Me from out of nowhere like flipping a light switch on. A sudden all-consuming wall of pee-your-pants FEAR. Utter TERROR.
Old Timer,

“utter terror, especially at night. …a temporary inability to breathe.”
+++++++++++++

yes, same experience on 2 occasions (including the hotel in Mendocino). I didn’t go into detail, but now that you’ve mentioned it….

out of nowhere, totally unexpected – extreme terror landed on me

couldn’t breath, couldn’t move, couldn’t speak, until I somehow managed to vocalize a prayer invoking “Jesus”.

Then it left.

it was sort of like being “up” on defibrillator paddles for the longest time (15, 20 seconds at least?) and then suddenly released and and back down.

On the one hand, and then again on the other hand.

We have lived in cultures where idols were worshipped, and demons called up. Even had a child decide to dabble in Satanism, and all those young teens had follow up experiences that were verified or even seen by folks that were definitely not the kind to see demons under every bed. So yeah, it happens. Unmistakable physical manifestations witnessed by two or more people as they happened. Not seen by demon chasing nut cases, but by believers and even by unbelievers who were scared spitless at what they saw.

But on the other hand, I too am prone to sudden bouts of absolute gut wrenching terror where I am unable to move, call out, or do anything but pray. They happen either when I am falling asleep but not yet asleep, asleep and rousing but not quite awake, or when I first wake up. According to the docs our bodies naturally release a neurotransmitter that basically semi paralyzes us. We are seldom aware of that. But if we waken just enough at just the wrong time we cannot move, have difficulty breathing, and experience horrifying terror. Until, that is, the brain gets the signal we are waking and shuts off that neurotransmitter.

Eyewitness:
So I vote for combination of real dog scratches, dream, and telling the dream because he’s aware of how that is interpreted by many, making him a very.important.person with a very.important.heroic role to play.

I think the dream was nothing more than a daydream about all of the attention he used to get.
I think the poor baby is grasping at straws for ways to get attention, now……. and he probably thinks more people will believe him than not.

Nancy2(aka Kevlar): I think the poor baby is grasping at straws for ways to get attention, now……. and he probably thinks more people will believe him than not.

And Christians are the most gullible of all, the easiest of easy marks.
Just speak the proper Christianese cheat codes and they’ll swallow anything.

Nancy2(aka Kevlar),

Personally?
I think it’s a steaming pile of horse-malarkey.

I have not read all of the comments, so please excuse me if this has already been mentioned: Tucker has actually promoted the health benefits of “testicle tanning.”

Muff Potter:
I’ve never had a ‘supernatural’ experience, nor do I want one, good or bad.
I prefer to remain rooted in rational reality, no irrational denominators thank you very much.

Problem is, sometimes one of those “irrational denominators” finds You.

Headless Unicorn Guy: Woo.

Woo is right. Schwendener, fortunately, exited the cult. Just in time. Your summation of what the cult was offering him to stay is spot on. And very disturbing. The Promises of Power, Riches, and Etc. – just where have we seen that before…

Schwendener mentions Derek Prince. Prince was before my time, however, I’ve read some of his books. I had no idea Prince claimed to be an exorcist and practiced exorcism at his rallies – as a spectacle – among Christians. Seems like a stretch. Just who loves spectacles… not Jesus, that’s for sure. Could be the other guy.

Schwendener seems sincere. Unlike the Tuckdude.

Thx for reading the story and giving feedback. I was hoping someone would. Get another POV. Appreciated.

Ava Aaronson: I had no idea Prince claimed to be an exorcist and practiced exorcism at his rallies – as a spectacle – among Christians.

Whenevr3e I hear of such Charismatic Spiritual Warfare Spectacles, two things come to mind.
1) Voudun — Legba has opened de gate; de Loa mount their Horses and ride, ride, ride.
2) The priests of Baal hopping around screaming and slashing themselves with knives during their showdown with Elijah atop Mt Carmel. (You do know “Ba’al” can be translated as “Lord”, don’t you?)

Ateam: he scratched himself!!.

Four dogs
OR
For god

Divine intervention
OR
Canine intervention

I still believe in four dogs.

Ava Aaronson: And very disturbing. The Promises of Power, Riches, and Etc. – just where have we seen that before…

Some Rabbi from Nazareth rejecting a similar offer on the pinnacle of the Second Temple?

Headless Unicorn Guy,

“medical phenomenon called “sleep paralysis””
+++++++++++++

could be. in general, i like to prove supernatural hypotheses wrong.

…only because i know there are legit ones.

and i’m ever curious about everything.

researcher: in online my searches.

Oops….typo. 🙂 That should have read “in my online searches”.

Grumpy: He woke up wondering if there was a dog.

Dog is my picolot.

Given the dark turn in US Canada relations, I hope that Tucker and his friends (including the “Orange Crush”) are afflicted with demons, and constipation for that matter.

We will never join the United States either through “Economic Force” or other means.

Keep your demons south of the border and we’ll get along fine without you.

There’s plenty of other countries who will trade for our resources. Canada can join the dark side too…

Headless Unicorn Guy: Whenevr3e I hear of such Charismatic Spiritual Warfare Spectacles, two things come to mind.
1) Voudun — Legba has opened de gate; de Loa mount their Horses and ride, ride, ride.
2) The priests of Baal hopping around screaming and slashing themselves with knives during their showdown with Elijah atop Mt Carmel. (You do know “Ba’al” can be translated as “Lord”, don’t you?)

What I like about that bit about Elijah saying Ba’al doesn’t hear them because maybe is he off pinching a loaf.

Headless Unicorn Guy,

PS – “original language’does NOT mean Kynge Jaymes Englyshe.

Headless Unicorn Guy: And the Christians will Rejoice.

This is reality of Christian Nationalism. Manifest Destiny. When you are a mission from god, everything is on the table.

And if making a nation great involves the annexation and invasion of allies then Christian Nationalism will cost lives. History has borne that out from the Philippines to Vietnam to Iraq to Afghanistan to Ukraine – it never ends well.

But Christian Nationalism is what Americans wanted and that’s what they’ll get.

Given the existential threat to my homeland all of a sudden I don’t really care about Americans or their Christians.

Leaving now and this isn’t a hiatus.

Jack,

Manifest Destiny goes back all the way to the Massachusetts Puritans and their Live-Action Role-Play of the Book of Joshua. How they had fled pagan Egypt (Church of England) for a Promised Land flowing with Milk, Honey, and Righteusness (Massachusetts) complete with Heathen Canaanites squatting on Their Promised Land! Ask any Narangasset, Pequot, or Massachusett!

(Or don’t ask; all those indigenous tribes are as extinct as the Passenger Pigeon. Book of Joshua rules of engagement and all that.)

elastigirl: they wanted other things, but not this.

I really don’t know what Americans want.

The voters gave the incoming administration their mandate. No one can claim ignorance.

Right now Canadian water bombers and firefighters are helping with the California wildfires. I suspect many Americans would help us in similar circumstances.

Every country has the right to self determination and the Americans have a right to negotiate the best trade deal they can. Tariffs and hardball tactics, I can handle. Threats of annexation I cannot forgive or forget.

We have family and friends in the states. In my years of travelling there, Americans have always impressed me with their hospitality.

But ultimately my allegiance is to my country. We’ve cancelled our travel plans to the us and I will be actively campaigning among my circle of influence to cease cross border shopping and tourism. Where possible, we will not buy or shop at American owned businesses.

One thing appears certain, Canada is more unified now than we’ve been in years. It’ll hurt but we have the resources and capacity to go it alone.

There’s a lot at stake so hopefully cooler heads will prevail.

Either way, this changes things irrevocably.

Keep your demons south of the border. We’ll get along fine.

elastigirl: Jack,

“But Christian Nationalism is what Americans wanted and that’s what they’ll get.”

Remember the last scene of the original Left Behind dodecology?
Where the two viewpoint “characters”/Author Self-Inserts leave the Judgment Throne of Christ with their Crowns of Glory? They have been in the Timeless Halls, they have just received a new Arda (if not a new Ea) from the Hand of Eru Iluvatar Himself, and the last line of dialog from one to the other?
“Now we can finally have a Truly CHRISTIAN Nation.”

Jack: Final comms – Jack out.

Godspeed Jack