The Confessionals

Joe’s encounters don’t just blur the line between myth and reality, they obliterate it. In this episode, he recounts the night he came face-to-face with a Dogman and made a split-second decision that ended the creature’s life, an act that still follows him years later. But that moment was only one chapter in a much larger pattern that includes repeated Bigfoot encounters, territorial aggression in the woods, and intelligent creatures that seemed to understand weapons, intent, and fear. Joe describes behavior that goes far beyond animals, strategic movements, government intimidation displays, and moments that felt deliberately personal. As the stories stack up, a disturbing question emerges: what happens after you cross the line from witness to participant? This conversation explores the cost of survival, the reality of predatory entities in the wilderness, and why some encounters don’t end when you leave the woods, they follow you home. Please pray for Tony's wife, Lindsay, as she battles breast cancer. Your prayers make a difference! If you’re able, consider helping the Merkel family with medical expenses by donating to Lindsay’s GoFundMe: https://gofund.me/b8f76890 Become a member for ad-free listening, extra shows, and exclusive access to our social media app: theconfessionalspodcast.com/join The Confessionals Social Network App: Apple Store: https://apple.co/3UxhPrh Google Play: https://bit.ly/43mk8kZ The Counter Series Available NOW: The Counter (YouTube): WATCH HERE The Counter (Full Episode): WATCH HERE Tony's Recommended Reads: slingshotlibrary.com If you want to learn about Jesus and what it means to be saved: Click Here Bigfoot: The Journey To Belief: Stream Here The Meadow Project: Stream Here Merkel Media Apparel: merkmerch.com My New YouTube Channel Merkel IRL: @merkelIRL My First Sermon: Unseen Battles SPONSORS SIMPLISAFE TODAY: simplisafe.com/confessionals GHOSTBED: GhostBed.com/tony CONNECT WITH US Website: www.theconfessionalspodcast.com Email: [email protected] MAILING ADDRESS: Merkel Media 257 N. Calderwood St., #301 Alcoa, TN 37701 SOCIAL MEDIA Subscribe to our YouTube: https://bit.ly/2TlREaI Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/theconfessionals/ Discord: https://discord.gg/KDn4D2uw7h Show Instagram: theconfessionalspodcast Tony's Instagram: tonymerkelofficial Facebook: www.facebook.com/TheConfessionalsPodcas Twitter: @TConfessionals Tony's Twitter: @tony_merkel Produced by: @jack_theproducer OUTRO MUSIC Tony Merkel - The Forest Woke

On today’s Christmas Day special episodes we bring on Lauren to share her dramatic experiences with demonic entities that posed as “spirit guides” when she was in the New Age religion. They were loving and helpful beings until she started the slow transition to becoming a Christian. She started to experience them becoming more hostile towards her until she was actually possessed by these entities. She shares how this took a toll on her marriage and how her husband had to perform an exorcism on her as these things became more and more invasive in her life. Please pray for Tony's wife, Lindsay, as she battles breast cancer. Your prayers make a difference! If you’re able, consider helping the Merkel family with medical expenses by donating to Lindsay’s GoFundMe: https://gofund.me/b8f76890 Become a member for ad-free listening, extra shows, and exclusive access to our social media app: theconfessionalspodcast.com/join The Confessionals Social Network App: Apple Store: https://apple.co/3UxhPrh Google Play: https://bit.ly/43mk8kZ The Counter Series Available NOW: The Counter (YouTube): WATCH HERE The Counter (Full Episode): WATCH HERE Tony's Recommended Reads: slingshotlibrary.com If you want to learn about Jesus and what it means to be saved: Click Here Bigfoot: The Journey To Belief: Stream Here The Meadow Project: Stream Here Merkel Media Apparel: merkmerch.com My New YouTube Channel Merkel IRL: @merkelIRL My First Sermon: Unseen Battles SPONSORS SIMPLISAFE TODAY: simplisafe.com/confessionals GHOSTBED: GhostBed.com/tony CONNECT WITH US Website: www.theconfessionalspodcast.com Email: [email protected] MAILING ADDRESS: Merkel Media 257 N. Calderwood St., #301 Alcoa, TN 37701 SOCIAL MEDIA Subscribe to our YouTube: https://bit.ly/2TlREaI Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/theconfessionals/ Discord: https://discord.gg/KDn4D2uw7h Show Instagram: theconfessionalspodcast Tony's Instagram: tonymerkelofficial Facebook: www.facebook.com/TheConfessionalsPodcas Twitter: @TConfessionals Tony's Twitter: @tony_merkel Produced by: @jack_theproducer

A bizarre statue in Joshua Tree has gone viral, with many claiming it’s opening a real spiritual portal in the desert. In this episode, we dig into where this story came from and why Joshua Tree has repeatedly appeared in portal and gateway encounters shared on The Confessionals over the years. We examine the symbolism surrounding the statue, the idea of spiritual gateways, and the patterns that suggest certain locations act as access points to the unseen realm. The conversation expands into music, Hollywood, and live performances, exploring whether lyrics, imagery, and mass participation events are being used to open spiritual doors—intentionally or not. As the lines between art, ritual, and belief continue to blur, this episode asks a pressing question: are these portals real, and if so, who is opening them? Please pray for Tony's wife, Lindsay, as she battles breast cancer. Your prayers make a difference! If you’re able, consider helping the Merkel family with medical expenses by donating to Lindsay’s GoFundMe: https://gofund.me/b8f76890 Become a member for ad-free listening, extra shows, and exclusive access to our social media app: theconfessionalspodcast.com/join The Confessionals Social Network App: Apple Store: https://apple.co/3UxhPrh Google Play: https://bit.ly/43mk8kZ Tony's Recommended Reads: slingshotlibrary.com If you want to learn about Jesus and what it means to be saved: Click Here My New YouTube Channel Merkel IRL: @merkelIRL My First Sermon: Unseen Battles Bigfoot: The Journey To Belief: Stream Here The Meadow Project: Stream Here Merkel Media Apparel: merkmerch.com SPONSORS SIMPLISAFE TODAY: simplisafe.com/confessionals GHOSTBED: GhostBed.com/tony CONNECT WITH US Website: www.theconfessionalspodcast.com Email: [email protected] MAILING ADDRESS: Merkel Media 257 N. Calderwood St., #301 Alcoa, TN 37701 SOCIAL MEDIA Subscribe to our YouTube: https://bit.ly/2TlREaI Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/theconfessionals/ Discord: https://discord.gg/KDn4D2uw7h Show Instagram: theconfessionalspodcast Tony's Instagram: tonymerkelofficial Facebook: www.facebook.com/TheConfessionalsPodcas Twitter: @TConfessionals Tony's Twitter: @tony_merkel Produced by: @jack_theproducer

Josh’s encounters in the Ozarks begin with a towering black silhouette gliding out of the tree-line when he was fourteen, a creature radiating such hatred he knew instantly it wasn’t just an animal. But the experience that shattered everything came years later, when a massive shaggy white beast, identical to other sightings across the Ozarks, leapt over the hood of his car in a single, impossible step and vanished down a ravine without leaving a track. That moment unlocked every buried memory: the earlier black creature, the second sighting in a shell pit, his father’s UFO pacing their vehicle, and even the demonic presences Josh faced later as a police officer dealing with spiritually influenced criminals. As he compares the white monster to regional legends like the Ozark Howler, and recalls a dogman witness whose torment only ended when he turned to Jesus, a chilling pattern emerges: the Ozarks are alive with entities that aren’t bound by normal physics. And Josh believes he’s crossed paths with the same intelligence, changing shape, aging, and reappearing across decades. Please pray for Tony's wife, Lindsay, as she battles breast cancer. Your prayers make a difference! If you’re able, consider helping the Merkel family with medical expenses by donating to Lindsay’s GoFundMe: https://gofund.me/b8f76890 Become a member for ad-free listening, extra shows, and exclusive access to our social media app: theconfessionalspodcast.com/join The Confessionals Social Network App: Apple Store: https://apple.co/3UxhPrh Google Play: https://bit.ly/43mk8kZ The Counter Series Available NOW: The Counter (YouTube): WATCH HERE The Counter (Full Episode): WATCH HERE Tony's Recommended Reads: slingshotlibrary.com If you want to learn about Jesus and what it means to be saved: Click Here Bigfoot: The Journey To Belief: Stream Here The Meadow Project: Stream Here Merkel Media Apparel: merkmerch.com My New YouTube Channel Merkel IRL: @merkelIRL My First Sermon: Unseen Battles SPONSORS SIMPLISAFE TODAY: simplisafe.com/confessionals GHOSTBED: GhostBed.com/tony CONNECT WITH US Website: www.theconfessionalspodcast.com Email: [email protected] Josh Smith's YouTube MAILING ADDRESS: Merkel Media 257 N. Calderwood St., #301 Alcoa, TN 37701 SOCIAL MEDIA Subscribe to our YouTube: https://bit.ly/2TlREaI Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/theconfessionals/ Discord: https://discord.gg/KDn4D2uw7h Show Instagram: theconfessionalspodcast Tony's Instagram: tonymerkelofficial Facebook: www.facebook.com/TheConfessionalsPodcas Twitter: @TConfessionals Tony's Twitter: @tony_merkel Produced by: @jack_theproducer OUTRO MUSIC Joel Thomas - Spinning YouTube | Apple Music | Spotify

What if the most famous “miracle” in Catholic history wasn’t the Virgin Mary at all, but a UFO event the Vatican never wanted you to question? L.A. Marzulli joins Tony to expose the Fatima apparitions through eyewitness testimonies the Church buried: spinning silver discs, atmospheric distortions, mass paralysis, exploding windshields, and a craft hovering over the apparition site, nothing like the Mary of Scripture. As they unravel this “miracle” through the lens of modern UAP disclosure, the patterns match today’s sightings with chilling precision, revealing Fatima as a test run for the great deception. From there, the conversation turns to another suppressed mystery: the Shroud of Turin, the artifact skeptics dismissed until physics, forensic imaging, and radiant-energy theories began proving its authenticity. Together, these events form a single prophetic thread, supernatural phenomena the world is finally being primed to reinterpret. With disclosure accelerating, LA warns: if Fatima was the dry run, the real deception is next. Please pray for Tony's wife, Lindsay, as she battles breast cancer. Your prayers make a difference! If you’re able, consider helping the Merkel family with medical expenses by donating to Lindsay’s GoFundMe: https://gofund.me/b8f76890 Become a member for ad-free listening, extra shows, and exclusive access to our social media app: theconfessionalspodcast.com/join The Confessionals Social Network App: Apple Store: https://apple.co/3UxhPrh Google Play: https://bit.ly/43mk8kZ The Counter Series Available NOW: The Counter (YouTube): WATCH HERE The Counter (Full Episode): WATCH HERE Tony's Recommended Reads: slingshotlibrary.com If you want to learn about Jesus and what it means to be saved: Click Here Bigfoot: The Journey To Belief: Stream Here The Meadow Project: Stream Here Merkel Media Apparel: merkmerch.com My New YouTube Channel Merkel IRL: @merkelIRL My First Sermon: Unseen Battles SPONSORS SIMPLISAFE TODAY: simplisafe.com/confessionals GHOSTBED: GhostBed.com/tony CONNECT WITH US Website: www.theconfessionalspodcast.com Email: [email protected] LA Marzulli Website | YouTube MAILING ADDRESS: Merkel Media 257 N. Calderwood St., #301 Alcoa, TN 37701 SOCIAL MEDIA Subscribe to our YouTube: https://bit.ly/2TlREaI Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/theconfessionals/ Discord: https://discord.gg/KDn4D2uw7h Show Instagram: theconfessionalspodcast Tony's Instagram: tonymerkelofficial Facebook: www.facebook.com/TheConfessionalsPodcas Twitter: @TConfessionals Tony's Twitter: @tony_merkel Produced by: @jack_theproducer OUTRO MUSIC Tony Merkel - Brush Me With Your Light