Damien Echols

Damien Echols is an American author who first became known as one of three teenagers, the West Memphis Three, wrongly convicted of a triple murder in 1994. DNA evidence secured his release from death row in 2011, after which Echols authored several autobiographical and spiritual/magickal books. A New York Times bestselling author, Echols has appeared on countless news programs and podcasts and has been featured in documentaries, including the Oscar-nominated HBO premiere film Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory. Interviews with Echols have been featured in magazine and newspaper articles such as The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, The Guardian, and Vanity Fair. In 2020 he starred in Netflix’s Midnight Gospel. On death row, largely kept in solitary confinement, Echols studied and practiced Buddhism and was ordained in the Rinzai tradition of Zen by a Japanese Zen master. An avid reader, he became interested in ceremonial magick and spent his two decades in prison studying magick and esoterica. He lives in upstate New York with his wife Lorri Davis.