Have You Heard About The Doomsday Mother

A true-life horror story.

I kept seeing this true crime book in various places, including Goodreads, so I finally decided to check it out.

It is written by bestselling author and journalist John Glatt. It reads much like a newspaper report. I found the first half slow. The middle intense and unable to put down. The third section bogged down with legal stuff.

Before this book, I knew nothing about the Doomsday Mother. The story that first broke in December 2019. Old news for some. But not for me, and maybe not for you.

I also missed out on the whole second coming of Jesus Christ’s predicted return on July 22, 2020.

There is also a Lifetime film Doomsday Mom: The Lori Vallow Story. In case you’d rather watch than read. I watched it and it focuses on her later life when everything turned bad. So, if you want a more detailed story of her life story, the book is your best bet.

The book follows the journey of Lori Vallow, throughout her five marriages. Though her many marriages is not what makes her stand out. It is her involvement and planning of murdering those closest to her.

It is a shocking and sad story. Hard to imagine. But it goes to show that when our thinking becomes so distorted, we can become capable of just about anything. That’s genuine horror.

As a teen, I used to read a lot of horror stories. As I grew older, I realized real horror is found in real life.

I knew nothing of the self-proclaimed prophet Chad Daybell (her fifth husband) or his books or how his public appearances and podcast angered Mormon church leaders.

Besides Chad writing his own books, he was a publisher who focused on near-death experiences and visions of the end-times. He became an important voice for certain Latter-Day Saints prepper communities.

I didn’t know about Preppers either — those preparing for the Second Coming.

Latter-Day Saints AVOW (Another Voice of Warning) is a website which teaches how to prepare for the end times. (Its motto is “if ye are prepared, ye shall not fear.”) But I think it’s really fear that makes them prepare.

Supposedly, God will choose only 144,000 sacred to survive the end times and witness the second coming of Jesus Christ. Not many when you consider the world population.

I also didn’t know that the Latter-Day Saints faithful believe civil marriage is finished at death, but a couple sealed in the Temple remains married for eternity.)Guess that’s why five marriages didn’t matter so much.

God and second comings are one thing, but Lori and Chad’s beliefs went far beyond what I ever imagined Christians could believe.

Far beyond possessed people. Their souls taken over by dark spirits, just like in a horror novel.

How Lori, as a mother, couldn’t believe this about her children is mind-boggling. It’s clear her sense of reality was gone.

Lori thought her dead sister was reincarnated as her daughter, Tylee, and that she communicated with her. This was all part of the concept of multiple probations and continual reincarnation until achieving perfection. Sounds much two complicated for me.

They believed spirits from behind the veil, the state after death, could communicate with the living.

Later, these beliefs became worse. To the point, Lori could justify killing.

I couldn’t believe it, but the story got even stranger.

Before Chad, Lori and her then husband Charles adopted nine-month-old J.J. in 2013. J.J. had autism and needed special care and medication. By all accounts, Lori had been a devoted loving mother.

Though there were clues to her dark capabilities, especially between her and her brother. A foreshadowing of what would come and how drastically things would change when Lori met Chad.

Chad made a detailed list of which people, including celebrities, were dark or light. Oprah Winfrey, according to Chad, had the darkest spirit of all.

These beliefs are ridiculous to an outsider like me. They are up there with many other conspiracy theories.

It’s hard for me to comprehend such irrational beliefs.

Cult expert Rick Ross studied Chad Daybell’s light/dark spirit document and believes he used it to brainwash Lori. According to Ross, it is a classic example of “thought reform,” which many cult leaders use on their followers.

Lori and Chad were on a mission to rid the world of evil spirits. Zombies, as Chad, referred to them.

They officially excommunicated Chad Daybell from the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

Worldwide publicity surrounded the missing children.

Eventually, the bodies of Tylee and J.J were found. A very sad ending.

Whether their mother will come to her senses and realize the part she played in it all, well, who knows?

How many other people have similar thoughts such as Chad and Lori? That is what is truly frightening.

That is true horror.

BARBARA CARTER is a visual artist and writer with a focus on healing from childhood trauma, alcohol addiction, and living her best authentic life.

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