Spells, readings and exorcisms are a swipe away now — WitchTok has passed forty billion views. I wanted to understand why so many people believe, so I went to Liverpool to spend time with Molly Simpson, who talks to demons, clears haunted houses for £270, and is known to her friends as the Ghostbuster.
I followed her into an exorcism. I met the people who pay her. I let her examine my own soul, which was a stranger experience than I'd prepared for.
I went in thinking I knew what kind of story this was. By the end — between how she told me she became a witch, and where that story goes — I wasn't sure any more. I'm not trying to prove or debunk anything here. I want to understand what people believe and why they believe it.