Skeptical Updates

Bronwyn Rideout - 1 September 2025

While I’ve been reviewing the Telepathy Tapes there have also been updates to some of the other stories I’ve either covered recently (Cryonics [parts 1, 2, and 3] and Annabelle the doll), have ongoing investment in (International School of Temple Arts or ISTA), or haven’t been touched in a while (The Campbells)

Southern Cryonics gets its second and third patients; David Farrier interviews Alcor CEO

In just over a month, Australian cryonics firm Southern Cryonics (SC) has increased its patient count by two. The second patient was a Melbourne woman whose suspension process took place between July 4th and 5th, 2025. According to SC’s social media, staff kept vigil with the woman’s family and friends until she died; this allowed them to commence the cooling and perfusion process immediately, with support from the local funeral home in transporting the body to SC’s facility in New South Wales. SC is touting this suspension as a success due to their advance planning and notice.

The same could not be said for the third patient, whose August 13th death was unanticipated. The case summary doesn’t go into specifics, but due to timing SC employed a straight-freeze approach after consulting with experts overseas (the identity of these experts is unclear, whether they were from Alcor or the Cryonics Institute). Interestingly, the summary implies that it was the next of kin driving the process, and that funding had not been prearranged. Again, it is unclear whether patient 3 was a cryonaut and just hadn’t had the time to get their affairs in order, or if this decision was made on their behalf, a la the brains being stored by Oregon Brain Preservation. I shudder to think that it may have been the latter, and hope that SC starts publishing long-form case studies soon to clear up such perceptions.

Annabelle doll gets a new caretaker

In the aftermath of Dan Rivera’s death, there were ongoing rumours that the demonically possessed doll Annabelle had done a runner. But on August 5th, comedian Matt Rife went public with the announcement that he had recently purchased Ed and Lorraine Warren’s home. The property is also the location of the Warren museum, which normally houses Annabelle, but Rife is clear that he and co-owner Youtuber Elton Castee do not own any of the items in the museum. Instead, they will serve as caretakers of the items for the next five years. The items are still property of the Warrens’ daughter and her husband, Tony Spera.

To note, this isn’t the only Warren-related property on Rife and Castee’s real estate wish list. They are also trying to purchase the Rhode Island house that was the inspiration for the first installment of The Conjuring franchise.

In the meantime, the GoFundMe for Dan Rivera’s funeral costs is ongoing. Elton Castee has donated $2,500 towards the campaign’s $12K goal. I’ve come across rumours online that Matt Rife has donated as well, but as of 31/8/25, no public donations have been made by Rife or NESPR to Rivera’s family. It’s possible that this has happened privately. But if you think death would get in the way of profit, NESPR is continuing to tour Annabelle. The next stop will be in Maine at the end of the week.

Campbell family update

Michael Tait performing with Newsboys at Parachute Festival in 2013

The second connection to New Zealand has to do with the Campbell family. Both the owner of the Newsboys, Wes Campbell, and their manager, Wes’ brother Stephen, are the sons of Nancy and Colin Campbell. The Campbell family is from New Zealand (Palmerston North to be exact). Nancy is particularly infamous as the grandmother of the Quiverfull/Trad wife movement via the publication of her magazine, Above Rubies, which she started from her home in Palmerston North. I wrote about the Campbells for the NZ Skeptics, and Fundie Fridays also had a separate video about them, which I cannot find atm.

Anyways, the Fundie Fridays video on Tait revealed (via the Roys Report) that the Campbell family is in a heap of trouble. Not only have Wes and Stephen been accused of covering up Tait’s wrongdoing, but several members of their family, including Colin and Nancy, are being sued for $5.4 million by a former pastor of their home church.

According to the Christian Post, the Campbells have led a church on their property in Tennessee called Hilltop Fellowship since 2021. In 2022 Randall Schrum became an elder and, at some point, he and other members of the leadership accused the Campbells’ eldest daughter, Evangeline, of improper conduct relating to her marriage and benefitting from membership in the church despite no longer attending. The leadership recommended disciplinary action, and despite agreeing to similar measures for other members, Colin rejected the ruling when it related to his daughter. Then, in March 2024, 16 members of the Campbell family disrupted a Sunday service to confront Schrum. The next day most of Hilltop’s leadership resigned, and about 70 members left to form a new congregation.

Roys provides a copy of the complaint, and Schrum’s alleged financial contribution to both the church and to the Campbells directly is nothing to sneeze at, as it includes $12,000 to Colin to purchase a used car, $4,000 in HVAC services, $5,000 in plumbing services and parts, a $6,000 kitchen reno, and other assorted contributions and services. The Campbells are also accused of retaliatory behaviour, including defamation, false reporting to child protective services, trespassing, and damaging private property.

No one comes out great on either side. It seems to me that Evangeline should be able to do what she likes in her personal life without church interference, and, superficially, one could applaud the Campbells for supporting their daughter. However, the “rules for thee but not for me” attitude demonstrates that the Campbells’ church is likely toxic to its core.

ISTA/Highden temple

Is there a class action lawsuit against ISTA in the offing? Possibly.

News is that Carol Merchasin, a U.S. attorney, is researching ISTA and the harm that has occurred in the USA. It is unknown whether she is accepting inquiries at the moment, as she is just in the research phase. I’ll be ready with any updates on this as soon as they become available.

In a post that Robert “Baba Dez” Nichols cites as being the final part of his public accountability process, Bruce Lyon and fellow New Zealander Rex Rafiq McCann get called out both by Dez and in the comments by former facilitator Frank Mondeose (Whose comments no longer appear for me). Dez writes:

In 2022, the ISTA accountability team started to call in faculty members for an accountability process. Three faculty started to address and integrate the complaints compiled by the team. Lead faculty, Bruce Lyon and Rex Rafiq McCann, who actually had more numerous ethics and boundaries violations, used their power and influence to avoid accountability. Last year Bruce left ISTA, rather than face public accountability. Rex continues to avoid the opportunities to role model responsibility and humble leadership as other men in the first round of ISTA accountability had bravely done.

At the end, Dez calls for the ISTA community and connected communities to boycott (his words) ISTA and Dark Temple Trainings until responsible leadership can be demonstrated.

Amidst the heart and prayer emojis, ex-supporters have come out of the woodwork to push back and demand even more accountability from Dez. From one commentor:

Ah, come on, there were huge issues from the very beginning … And I was pointing them out in that initial Advisory Board/Founders Board before ISTA went international properly.

[I still have the emails from those days -if necessary or for ideas for future books.]

There is a reason I clashed immediately with the Lion Cub (Bruce). I have been clashing with bullies and (usually) destroying them since earliest childhood. Some of us have this Guardian capacity way too developed. I could not figure out at the time why you let the Lion Cub dominate the whole of this amazing project of yours, i.e. ISTA. And I see you still have not gone near these issues of yours despite the years and decades or therapy, coaching and related.

Another:

Hi Dez, I have a very long connection to ISTA starting with Daka -Dakini training in 2009. I have participated in and assisted on about six trainings. From the early days it was clear that you and the three or four other men who were teaching were adamant that the power difference between trainers and students did not prevent free choice around intimacy. As an experienced psychotherapist, I always disagreed with this but it was clear that nothing would change that predominant view. Unsurprisingly , it led to many instances of trauma. Consequently I stayed on the edge of ISTA and eventually got fed up with the way that assistants were exploited and the cliquey way that ISTA operated. I very much appreciate your creativity and drive in creating ISTA.

There are two other posts that may be of interest to those following this part of the ISTA/Highden story: August 7th, in which Dex reposts a story from ex-ISTA facilitator Philippe Lewis, and more explosively on August 30th, where he allegedly posts anonymous feedback received regarding Rex McCann. The latter definitely ignited more negative feedback and calls for better accountability from Dez. Ohad Pele has also posted in the past fortnight, stating that lies have been written about him in the press and in social media, but he is deliberately choosing not to file a libel suit (although he is collecting screenshots). A quick search of Google News reveals that the most recent news reports about Ohad have been negative, including pieces by The Cut, RNZ, and Haaretz, suggesting that this is likely related to the accusations of sexual assault against him that were published.