Emmerdale fans certain that Celia has killed again – despite being dead herself

Ding dong, the Emmerdale witch is dead!

Although ‘witch’ might be too soft a term to describe a woman who traffics drugs, enslaves the most vulnerable people in society, forces young and vulnerable teenagers into sex work and both tortures and kills people. No Celia Daniels (Jaye Griffiths) is certainly far worse than a witch.

As the dark tendrils of her sickening criminal empire wrapped around village like those gross Stranger Things vines, ensnaring and trapping several residents and rendering them desperate, broken and traumatised, it seemed her reign of terror would never end.

Celia was a predator, pure and simple. She possessed an uncanny ability to zero in on somebodies weak point and mine it for all it was worth. Whether lavishing someone with love and kind words or threatening torture and death, she instinctively knew how to manipulate just about everybody and always managed to escape unscathed.

Well, almost always…

Ray Walters (Joe Absolom) stabbed his adoptive mum, seemingly to death after she dangerously miscalculated a situation. Celia poked far too hard and failed to realise the affection he’d grown for Bear Wolf (Joshua Richards) when she taunted her son with the fact she’d killed Bear.

Ray was a monster entirely of Celia’s creation. It can be presumed that Celia played a similar game with him that she did with April Windsor (Amelia Flanagan) and boyfriend Dylan Penders (Fred Kettle). By adopting him and ‘saving’ him from the streets, a debt was created, and he’d continue to pay it for the rest of his life.

With Celia confirming to Rhona Goskirk (Zoe Henry) that she’d been involved in crime since she was April’s age, it’s clear that Ray also grew up in the very same world; one of pain, violence and treating other people like property – to be profited off until they’re no longer useful, and then discarding them.

While Celia’s humanity had long since been locked in a box and forgotten about, she underestimated Ray’s propensity for guilt and desire for a crime-free life. When he fell in love with Laurel Thomas (Charlotte Bellamy) and let April go after Celia’s orders to kill her, the two came head to head, and Celia was left dead on the floor…

…or was she?

‘I said she wasn’t dead, I think she killed Ray’ Julia Goodhall posited on Facebook.

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Yup, not long after Ray sunk a knife into mummy dearest, he also turned up dead, stiff as a board and colder than the other side of the pillow.

With a week of episodes dedicated to unravelling the mystery of how Ray ended up dead and discarded in a depot truck, several suspects have been announced by Emmerdale.

Rhona, Laurel, Marlon Dingle (Mark Charnock), Paddy Kirk (Dominic Brunt) and Ross Barton (Michael Parr) have been named as the official line up. Marlon and Rhona were tortured by Ray and Celia as they desperately tried to free April from their clutches.

Paddy’s dad, Bear, became a victim of their trafficking and slavery racket, while Ross also wanted to protect both April and Moira Dingle (Natalie J Robb), who Celia had worked incredibly hard to implicate.

But what if Celia didn’t die? She’s survived similar bladed attacks – actress Jaye confirmed that Celia always wears a cravat to hide a scar she got when an enemy tried to behead her – and with how deeply ensconced she is in organised crime, attempts on your life must just be a downside of the job.

Other viewers agreed. ‘No one has found her body since Ray stabbed her, so maybe she is alive’ Nick Burke theorised, while Anita Quilty added: ‘Didn’t think that was the end of her’, with Carol Gibbs confirming: ‘I don’t think she is dead’

We know that baddies have a terrible penchant for rising from the dead. Michael Myers, Leatherface, every baddie from every Scream film…the list is endless.

Maybe Celia did get up after Ray’s attack and, now knowing there’s no going back when it comes to her son, took him out and stashed him in one of the vans they’d used to transport drugs and slaves.

It’s just so Celia, isn’t it? To kill Ray and let somebody else goes down for the crime, more than likely somebody she’s terrorised as a final act of malice.

I guess we’ll have to wait and see…