CNA Staff, Aug 17, 2024 / 06:00 am
An immersive 3D audio docuseries telling the true stories of an exorcist and the people he has helped began its second season last month after topping podcast charts.
“The Exorcist Files,” hosted by Ryan Bethea and Father Carlos Martins, features dramatic reenactments of the case files of Martins, who is a Catholic priest, an official exorcist on two continents, and a leading authority on spiritual warfare.
The podcast experienced great success after its release in January 2023, racing to the top of the Spotify religion chart, where it remained in the top 10 on Apple and Spotify for most of the year. Season 2 of the podcast was released July 16.
Something that sets the podcast apart from others is the 3D binaural experience it provides, which means the podcast uses three-dimensional layering of sounds so that listeners feel as though the episode is unfolding around them — as though they are in the room with Martins as he speaks with the individual suffering from demonic oppression or possession and standing by his side as he performs the exorcism.
“I have always been fascinated with miracles and spiritual warfare. As a producer I thought this would make a fantastic story,” Bethea told CNA in an interview. “Not being a Catholic myself, when I learned about the miracle investigation process that accompanies canonization, I was astounded. And, of course, when it comes to spiritual warfare, the Catholic Church is the authority.”
After speaking with different connections about his desire to document the reality of supernatural events, Bethea was referred to Martins. He was given his phone number; he called him and was immediately turned down.
“He thought I was making the story up. Finally, when he heard that I had in fact been referred to him, we began discussions around what a show would look like,” he said. “I was very impressed at how quick he was to turn down Hollywood. He takes his job very seriously, and I knew I had to earn his trust. Ultimately, we both shared a desire to raise awareness about the rise in occult activity and the reality of evil. We both knew that leveraging modern-day entertainment mediums was the way to go about it.”
From there the two began to work together to create the podcast and decided to create it independently, using Kickstarter and crowdfunding to raise the funds needed to produce the show.
Bethea explained that while many think making a podcast only involves two people and some microphones, they treat “The Exorcist Files” like “a TV show.”
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“There is an enormous amount of research, dozens of professional actors, hundreds of pages of scripts, and of course the masterful audio and sound mixing and engineering that gives the show its signature sound,” he shared.
The Kickstarter campaign was a success, vastly exceeding their funding expectations, and they were able to completely fund the podcast.
Bethea believes the show has performed well because “it actually has something for everyone.”
“If you’re a Christian you will find yourself rejoicing in watching Christ demolish demonic strongholds and see people liberated from things that have baffled doctors,” he said. “If you’re a skeptic you will enjoy the fact that we bring on other experts to argue the other side and try and explain what happened. And if you just happen to be a fan of great stories, these are some of the wildest experiences I’ve ever heard about.”
When asked what he hopes people are taking away from listening to the podcast, he emphasized the fact that “spiritual warfare is a real thing and that you cannot take the words of Jesus seriously if you don’t account for the reality of evil.”
“The goal is not to scare people; it’s simply leaning on a human curiosity to highlight a reality. We take great pains to try and mirror the Church’s own process for dealing with the demonic. I was really impressed by how thorough Father Martins and his colleagues are before assuming something is demonic,” he added.
The podcast host also hopes that people can “celebrate and rejoice with the freedom these victims have found.”
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“Even if you listen and think this sounds insane, or that the healings are psychosomatic, that’s fine. At least you can rejoice in people finding freedom and getting healed. That’s something we can all get behind. There is something for everyone here.”
Another point Bethea emphasized was how special it has been for him to see “Protestants and Catholics dialogue together and grow closer in the shared war.”
“We’ve hosted evenings where I will gather lots of evangelicals and Catholics together and Father Martins will talk about the history of the Church, spiritual warfare, and I can’t tell you the number of Protestants who come out of these meetings and go, ‘Wow, I agree with so much of what he said,’” he shared.
“I have had many people tell me that they are now really exploring Catholicism for the same reason we do the show — we should all want the truth. Seeing 40 Catholics and Protestants gathered around a living room with a Catholic priest praying over them is an experience I am so grateful for,” Bethea said, adding: “There are of course significant theological differences, but there is a shared love of Jesus and a realization we have a common enemy.”
