Christopher Neil-Smith

Who is Christopher Neil-Smith?

Christopher Neil-Smith was an Anglican priest originally from Hampstead best known for his practice of exorcism and parapsychological interests.

A vicar at St. Saviour's Anglican Church in North London, he performed more than three thousand exorcisms in Britain since 1949. In 1972, the Bishop of London authorized him to exorcise demons according to his own judgement.

Neil-Smith wrote Praying for daylight: God through modern eyes as well as The Exorcist and the Possessed in which he detailed his experiences and beliefs about exorcism. In the latter, he claimed that evil should be treated as an actual force rather than an abstract idea.

Appearing on radio and television programs, he became notable as an authority on the subject of exorcism when Peter Blatty's The Exorcist was released in 1970. According to biographer Trevor Beeson, the media coverage coverage he gained "emphasized the more dramatic elements in his ministry, and encouraged him to extravagances which he later regretted." Neil-Smith died at the age of 75. He was married, and had two sons.