Pearce was born on 27 April 1956 and grew up in
Sheerwater, a suburb of
Woking in Surrey which he said was a "white, working-class ghetto"; his father worked as a courier for the military and had served in
World War II. Both of his parents were English, though his mother claimed
Scots-Irish ancestry. His father died of a heart attack at age 56, when Pearce was 14. He grew up in what he describes as "a very militaristic environment, surrounded by war"; he says that he "had a natural attraction to war". At the age of 18 Pearce left home, went hitchhiking around Europe and "came home a changed man". As a child, Pearce was exorcised by his parents for alleged
demonic possession, and after his father died, his mother and he would "muck around with a
Ouija board". Pearce believes in the
paranormal and
occult, and claims to have had contact with various entities saying "I believe in gods, demons, angels whether they're from the inner psyche, another dimension or whatever. I've heard them and I've seen them. I've even felt them touch me". == Career ==