Religious Narcissism: Inside Chad Daybell's Belief System | Spiritual Abuse Psychology

Chad Daybell kept spreadsheets.

Not business records. Not finances. Lists of people — family, friends, his own children — each assigned a "light and dark rating" on a scale he invented.

Everyone who dropped below a certain number was declared a "zombie." Everyone declared a zombie ended up dead.

This is Part 2 of "The Chosen Ones," Hidden Killers' 5-part psychological examination of spiritual abuse and religious trauma through the Vallow-Daybell case. Today we focus on Chad Daybell: the gravedigger who claimed to see visions, the author who said his fiction was prophecy, the man who built a high control religion that justified murder.

We examine the psychology of the charismatic leader — specifically, the type who isn't obviously charismatic. Chad Daybell wasn't magnetic. He was available. He found a community hungry for visions and end-times urgency, and he filled that void.

According to testimony, Chad Daybell taught that demons could enter bodies after death. That some people had been "taken over" and were no longer themselves. That killing these "zombies" wasn't murder — it was mercy.

Tammy Daybell. Charles Vallow. Tylee Ryan. JJ Vallow. All rated "dark." All dead.

If you've experienced religious narcissism from a spiritual authority — or watched someone you love fall under that influence — you'll recognize these patterns.

Chad Daybell was convicted and sentenced to death in 2024.

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This publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice.

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