"Suddenly, one of the cameramen walked onto the set and started challenging me," Poolman recounted in the 2008 interview. "His anger was extensive."Instead of asking the guy what the fuck his problem was, like any normal person would do, Poolman decided to take the 20-year-old cameraman's hand and get the boy to say, "I forgive myself." That's when things started getting really weird. The kid's mouth began to gesticulate, as Poolman remembered it, but no sound came out.Then the cameraman began to convulse. His eyes rolled back in his head, and his hands balled into fists. Poolman assumed it was an epileptic fit. But at some point, somehow, Poolman came to the conclusion that the guy wasn't having just any old seizure—he was possessed by a demon. Poolman knew what to do. He grabbed the kid and held him."It's such a good thing, to forgive yourself," Poolman cooed.Finally, the seizure subsided, and the cameraman was able to croak out a sentence about how he forgave himself. Poolman took that to mean that his strategy worked—the demon had fled the guy's body. The film crew's cameras rolled the whole time, capturing every second of the encounter. Unfortunately, according to Poolman, the crew was so terrified that they destroyed every shred of film evidence. Today, Desteni followers' faith in this miracle rests solely on Poolman's word.Poolman wasn't blessed with good looks, but the man had determination. He also had more than a few crazy stories about killing demons.
Bernard Poolman defeating 300 demons at his home in Durban, South Africa. Illustrations by Matt Panuska
Clockwise from left: Rick Ross (no relation), cult deprogrammer; Zena Swanepoel, Poolman's former assistant; Anu, alien overlord and creator of Mankind; Jesus Christ; Hitler, king of the demon dimension; Esteni de Wet, Poolman's girlfriend; Sunette Spies, the interdimensional portal; Cameron Cope, Texan Desteni member and head of TechnoTutor; Andrea Rossouw, early Desteni follower; and Bernard Poolman, Desteni's mastermind.
A few years later, after severing all ties with Poolman and his business, Swanepoel ran into Esteni de Wet's parents.He was so good at making us feel like we were becoming deprogrammed from society's bullshit that [we didn't realize] he was programming us.
Sunette Spies—the interdimensional portal—channeling Hitler, Kurt Cobain, and Albert Einstein
