Dr. Joseph Mercola is a well-known and top-grossing figure in the anti-vaccine conspirituality space. In 2021, he was named (along with his good pal Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.) as one of the Disinformation Dozen by the Center for Countering Digital Hate for spreading COVID and anti-vaccine misinformation during the beginning of the pandemic. The Center for Countering Digital Hate provides this very brief bio of Mercola:
Joseph Mercola is a successful anti-vaccine entrepreneur, peddling dietary supplements and false cures as alternatives to vaccines. Mercola's combined personal social media accounts have around 3.6 million followers . . .
This Mercola article included in our sample of URLs posted in anti-vaccine Facebook Groups claims that "hydrogen peroxide treatment can successfully treat most viral respiratory illnesses, including coronavirus" has been shared on Facebook 4,600 times.
Over the last year, it has come to light that the not-so-good doctor has been receiving guidance from a spiritual entity named "Bahlon," who is supposedly being channeled by a man who goes by the fake name Kai Clay. Clay's real name is Christopher Johnson and he was the former CEO of a New York City-based branding agency called The Whitehorn Group, which no longer exists but that previously worked with clients such as CNN, MasterCard, and Pepsi. Clay has, through the spirit "Bahlon," advised Mercola on business ventures, staffing decisions, health (mis)information, and much more.
Journalist Rick Polito broke the story in February 2024, writing for Natural Products Insider. More recently, Jonathan Jarry from McGill University's Office for Science and Society has provided some terrific reporting on the latest events.
For a year and a half, Mercola and Clay held daily Zoom meetings, which were recorded and leaked by a whistleblower employee within Mercola's company. Jarry watched 50 of the 200 total hours of meetings, and in this terrific article (and this mind blowing documentary that features lots of clips from the recordings), he provides an overview of what he learned from watching these "Mercola Tapes," including that Mercola uses self-administered carbon dioxide rectal enemas to help his gut microbiome. We also learn that the supposedly channeled spirit, Bahlon, speaking through Clay, flatters Mercola, comparing him to "the new Jesus," telling him he's a genius, and encouraging his plans to create a series of global wellness centers, to use ChatGPT to create a series of books—one every week!—based on the health "wisdom" provided by Bahlon, and to create cheese factories to sell non-toxic cheese.
Jarry sums up some of the revelations in the Mercola Tapes:
They reveal innumerable grandiose ideas being fed to Mercola by Clay under an alleged trance. Mercola now believes he will earn more Nobel Prizes than anyone in the world; that he will create an infrared-light-emitting device that will one day end up in a museum like the first Apple computer; and that he will bring about a chain of international wellness clinics, restaurants, hotels, and farmer's markets. He has also decided that carbon dioxide will feed the bacteria in his gut and is blowing the gas up his bum regularly, one and a half litre at a time, claiming that it creates a force field around him. He also confesses in the Tapes that he could get committed for appearing "delusional."
While most of this stuff seems more wacky than harmful, unfortunately, the tapes also promote violence, as they include some very disturbing anti-Catholic rhetoric, positioning the Catholic Church as "the heart of the Global Cabal." In the tapes you can also hear Mercola discussing a plan to "destroy the veterinary industry." Jarry explains:
His spiritual guides apparently shared with him the plan he needs to enact: "We make this a campaign. I don't know what the campaign is, but whatever it is. We employ tens of millions, maybe even more than that, maybe 70, 80 million people, and they are full-on on board to protect our pets from the damage that's been inflicted upon by this industry. They will march with weapons on these creatures." Johnson as Bahlon not only agrees, but he directs Mercola to also pay attention to "the industrial side," presumably meaning the livestock industry.
This is truly frightening stuff, and after watching the documentary and seeing the footage of Mercola, I can only conclude that something is seriously wrong here. It's absolutely true that Mercola has long been a huckster—he's reportedly worth 300 million dollars and has sold everything from supplements to $500 anti-EMF tents to raw dog food. He's also been responsible for causing real harm via spreading mis- and disinformation about COVID, vaccines, and much more. Indeed, Jarry explains that "it is hard to overstate both his reach and the breadth of the connections he has made over the years, which could earn him a spot in Trump's White House under a Department of Health and Human Services spearheaded by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.." While I typically have no patience, I watched the tapes and must admit that I feel bad for Mercola, because he does not seem to be doing well. And the present irony is that Mercola is the one being conned here. He seems like a true believer in these tapes, and is paying Clay paid $1.2 million a year to channel a spiritual guide. The whole thing is just entirely messed up in so many ways–and the tapes will continue to haunt me.
This is one of the strangest and most disturbing stories I've heard emerging from the "alternative wellness" realm recently—and that's saying a lot. To learn more, watch Jarry's documentary here and read his piece here. And the folks over at the Conspirituality Podcast also just released an episode about the Mercola Tapes, where they interview Johnathan Jarry and provides a terrific overview. Listen here.
