As I mentioned in Part 1, the story of Burke’s death changed when Detective Kindermann arrived with a totally different account of Burke’s death than the one Chris knew. Originally…

1. Sharon left to get the Thorazine
2. No one else was home, Chris having gone to visit the doctor
3. Karl and Willie were also not present
4. Sharon had Burke come over to the house to keep an eye on Regan
5. Regan was thoroughly sedated
6. For some unknown reason, Burke, being drunk, walked outside, leaving Regan alone, and then fell down the Stone Stairway.

And that story held…until the detective showed up.

Does your daughter, perhaps, remember if Mr. Dennings was in her room that night?

Ok, so there is a clear Time Distortion…an expression I’ve coined to describe when we walk into the middle of something and don’t know what preceded it. In this case, the detective has arrived, and he and Chris are having coffee. We don’t see the coffee drinking begin. And clearly the conversation about the night of Burke’s death is well under way by the time we begin to hear it.

Why do you ask?
Might she remember?
No.

That is a problem. You can’t say she doesn’t remember if you don’t ask her. If it becomes apparent that Burke was in Regan’s room…then it would seem prudent to ask Kiddo if she remembers him being there. And Chris will later make the statement that Burke would have had no reason to be in Regan’s room. Following this line of thinking, the most ready explanation, if Burke had been in Regan’s room, is that Burke had something nefarious in mind. However, that explanation would only be true if Burke had simply gone upstairs without anything actually prompting him to do so. Still, Chris realizes…from the very first time we see the expression on her face at the beginning of the scene. Remember the Time Distortion…before we sit down for a cup of coffee, Kindermann has been feeding Chris with information that is very important to the story, and we don’t know what it is. Feeding? Hmm. I must add that I am still looking for Marybelle. Well, I suppose she’ll show up when she gets hungry…assuming there are no more dogs in the neighborhood.  And I noticed that Darla doesn’t quite have the best eating habits. So I decided that she should eat more nutritionally, if that’s a word. I don’t mind her drinking coffee, though she won’t be invited to any coffee drinking session sponsored by Chris and Detective Kindermann. But those two don’t know how to drink coffee properly! They missed something very important…something that is rarely to be said about this film. It’s funny how Darla never seems to be hungry at breakfast…she never touches the scrambled egg whites I make for her.

Well, I’m sure I’ll figure it out soon. Decaf only, if you please!

Why do you ask?
Might she remember?
No.
No…she was heavily sedated.

That is not exactly true. We know that once Sharon arrived, then Chuck, and then Chuck left…Regan came crawling down the stairs. So she wasn’t too sedated…so Chris has already begun to lie about what she knows.

It’s serious?
Yes, I’m afraid it is.
May I ask…
We still don’t know.

Watch out for drafts. A draft in the fall when the house is hot is a magic carpet for bacteria.

 Ok, that is somewhat ridiculous. I don’t, or so I suppose, think that Kindermann means…

…Steppenwolf’s hit song. And what makes this so interesting…Kindermann’s Magic Carpet and Steppenwolf’s Magic Carpet Ride…is that, despite the release date printed on the single in the image above, the album that included the song…Magic Carpet Ride…was released in 1968. Why is it that the year 1968 rings a bell? Oh, yes! That was the year when the story that would become The Exorcist novel…came into being. Now, I must add that it would be nice if there were no interruptions in this essay, although I do know that Adrasta has been on some images. I’ve told her explicitly, not to mention…clearly, to not inter…

Apparently, Adrasta has too much time on her hands. Getting back to what I was saying before…never run out of color unless…wait, that wasn’t what I was saying. I can’t remember…yes I can!

But what seems both odd, and yet highly suggestive, is the fact that during certain times of the year, there are dramatic swings in temperature within a short period of time. It is fairly common for an outbreak of colds or flu…which are not caused by bacteria…they are caused by viruses. That is why anti-biotics will do nothing for colds or the flu. However, pneumonia is caused by a bacterial infection, but is often the result of already having a weakened immune system or due to something like the cause of Nasal Cannula Regan’s pneumonia…persistent exposure to the cold. But his big tell is that kids with a cold, or a flu, or even a…

…Bacterial Magic Flying Carpet in their room…usually aren’t sedated. When I go to the doctor with an infection, she never gives me Valium. If I have a cold…no Nembutal is forthcoming. Sedation is used for pain, severe insomnia, and for psychiatric disturbances of many kinds…so when Chris says…sedation…the detective, well aware of what that means and what it’s for…makes an absurd observation. As nice as the detective appears to be, he is not playing by the rules. He often lies and he will proceed to attempt to do here what he attempts to do somewhere else…entrapment. Chris hasn’t been warned that she may want to speak to a lawyer before talking to a…patrolman? Perhaps a…

…deep-undercover-investigative law enforcement official weeding out people who don’t use their blinker when making right turns, or operating a Magic Flying Carpet without a license. And I’ll tell you, sometimes I just hate Angelicus…mom always liked her best. Still, most people will never speak with Detective Angelicus. So who is Kindermann? Oh, right…a Homicide Detective! Most of us will talk to a cop at least once in our lives…and being the mother of Adrasta and Marybelle, not mention the step-mom of Darla…I speak to the cops all the time. But almost none of us have coffee with a Homicide Detective! Not to mention…donuts. The comment about drafts and Detective Kindermann’s Bacteria-Laden Magic Carpet is an attempt to lull Chris away from the thought that should be rattling around in her head…talk to a lawyer first. He is attempting to be charming and disarming…in order to get Chris to relax and not see him as anything other than a nice, concerned Bacterial Rug Specialist. He is setting her up to take her off guard. He will try that again in a few moments, and Chris…an actress…and therefore able to tell when someone is acting…will see through it. Now an important shot…

Excuse me, madam, anything else?
No Karl we’re fine…thank you.

So Karl lingers, ignoring Chris’s first directive to leave.

It’s alright, Karl.

Why does Karl have to be told twice? Madam should only have to it say it once!

…not that kind of madam! So…why does…

…I thought I said…not that kind of madam! Don’t you understand whatever language it is that Marybelle speaks?

Apparently not. If I might continue! Why did…

…hold it right there! I’ve been in Chris’s attic before…there’s nothing like that Up There! There’s weird stuff, but I didn’t see a miniature cat-house. And as an Up-Thereologist…you can take my word for it. I did locate…

…an old treasure chest, probably left up there by a previous renter...possibly a retired pirate. And I did find some odd coins…

Madam Eva? Madam Dotty? Madam Stella!!! Madam Lillie? This isn’t exactly the Wild West. Toward the bottom, a word used with apparent precision, I found…

…this isn’t exactly Roman times either. I will stop digging around in the Nefarious Treasure Chest, and continue…forgetting all about madams as well.

But why did Karl linger? In earlier essays published on this website, the theories taken in them have been chucked aside in very dramatic ways, I suggested that Karl is being protective. I no longer think that’s the case. I think Karl is nervous…and is worried about what will come up in the ensuing conversation…as it concerns his role in what happened. And he has every right to be worried. Sort of…but in a way that it is really Chris who will be at risk. The detective will indicate that Burke had been at the house for twenty minutes before inexplicably walking out of the house, riding a Metaphorical Magic Carpet that dumped him down the Stone Stairway. Kindermann could only have received that information about twenty minutes earlier from…Sharon, indicating that he has spoken to Sharon already. I think his attempt to entrap Chris shows that the detective has spoken to Karl as well…and has established his alibi. Kindermann saved the best for last…Chris. I noted in Part 1 that the detective’s request for Chris’s autograph was, in fact, an illegal means of obtaining a hand-writing sample. And I noted that the detective’s timing…managing to arrive at the house just after Regan has been discharged from Berringer…indicates that he has been tipped off. That tip, in a letter, stated, among other things, that Burke was murdered in Regan’s bedroom…pushed out the window…and all this was done by Regan herself. But the detective is not prepared to accept a 12 year-old girl as the murderer…or…murderess. But! If we took his position on this…then we would have to conclude that the writer of the false tip is probably behind Burke’s death and is simply attempting to frame Regan. The handwriting in the letter is that of a woman…but Sharon would be the first, excellent suspect. I am willing to assume that Kindermann has checked her handwriting against that in the letter. She’s in the clear. And Sharon and Chuck have excellent alibis…Chris herself. But Chris has no alibi…nor does Regan. Chris will have to admit that she was in the house alone with Stinker…at around the time of Burke’s death. And Chris has a woman’s handwriting! So Kindermann will obtain her handwriting in an illegal way. If her lawyer were present, she would have been cautioned to not give a handwriting sample without a court order. And that would involve Kindermann having to say why he needs it. Despite the fact that Karl has been alibied, he suspects that he will come up in the conversation…specifically…or by implication. It’s the latter that’s true. What we need to take away from Karl’s lingering is that he knows the detective is there for Chris…and that means that he may become involved. And he will.

Why are you asking all of this?

It’s strange…the deceased comes to visit, and stays only twenty minutes. And leaves, all alone, a very sick girl. And speaking plainly, Mrs. MacNeil, it isn’t likely that he would fall from a window. Besides, a fall wouldn’t do to his neck what we found…except one chance in a thousand. No, my hunch…my opinion…is he was killed by a powerful man…Point One. And the fracturing of his skull…Point Two…plus the various other things we mentioned…would make it very probable…probable, not certain, that the deceased was killed and then pushed from your daughter’s window. But nobody was in the room except your daughter…so how could this be? It could be one way; if someone came calling between the time Miss Spencer left and the time you returned.

And then!

…who knew Chris was a Judas Priest fan? I’m one…I saw them in concert! And actually…I think they’re a good band to bring up at this point. Why? They would interest a law enforcement officer…

Well, at any rate, Chris has her Judas Priest Moment…

Judas Priest…just a second.

Detective Kindermann is not Judas Priest! I bet he can’t even play guitar. What has just happened? Oh, yes…

Ok, Regan appears to be more of a Charlie Brown kind of girl than a Mickey Mouse kind of girl. But the principle holds true. What the detective’s lying little speech has done is to bring something important to mind. And Kindermann has noticed this…that Chris’s response has something to do with timing, and the question as to whether someone arrived at the house between Sharon leaving and Chris’s arriving.

The servants…they have visitors?

I’m no actress, but that is the look of a woman who has just realized something terribly disturbing.

Not all.
You were expecting a package that day…some delivery?
Not that I know of.
Groceries…cleaning…a package?
I really wouldn’t know…you see Karl takes care of that.
I see.
Would you like to ask him?
No, never mind…it’s very remote. No, never mind.

I think that originally, Kindermann was attempting to entrap Chris by getting her to implicate…Karl. What Chris doesn’t know is that Kindermann knows about the clash between Karl and Burke at the party…and Karl threatening to kill Burke. And although she doesn’t know Kindermann knows, she remembers it all too well. He throws out the claim that Burke was killed by a powerful man, he then refers to the servants. What I think he is doing is throwing out some Metaphorical Bait…he is giving Chris, the Metaphorical Fish… the opportunity to implicate Karl. And if Kindermann, like I believe, has alibied Karl, then by implicating him, she would clearly be the guilty party. But he also offers her another way out…if she agrees about a delivery guy bringing groceries, dry cleaning, or a package…the company doing the delivering would be easy to track down, then it would certainly be established that no delivery guy had been at the house, Chris would again appear to be the guilty party. The inanity of the delivery-guy-questions shows just how deceptive Kindermann is being. I wonder how many murders are committed by delivery guys. Well, Burke is a pizza after all. No. There is a clear record of what employee was on what delivery at what time. But there’s more. The Stupidest Delivery Guy Who Ever Lived wouldn’t have metaphorically arrived at the house to carry out a robbery…which is hard to do when the delivery van with the big company logo on the side of it is parked out front, and the Guy Who Would Certainly Go To Prison has begun his shift by clocking in, and was then assigned a specific delivery at a specific time with the specific address on file. And nothing was taken. And if the delivery guy was a powerful man, rather than some guy as little as Burke, then after Burke signed for the package, he pushed past him and raced up the stairs. So the delivery guy is a pedophile rapist, who strangely knows that a 12 year-old girl is upstairs, and even, so it would seem, where her bedroom is located. Burke raced after him, both men ending up in Regan’s bedroom. And! Had he killed Burke downstairs…there would be no witness. But instead, he let Burke chase him upstairs, drawn to Regan’s bedroom as if it were a powerful magnet and he a pile of iron shavings, then decided…now I should kill the adult male. So I’ll do it here! And maybe Kiddo will wake up and be a witness. She’s sedated…you might say. We know that…but how would the dry-cleaning delivery guy possibly know that? Perhaps if he were a delivery guy for a pharmacy! No, scratch that. Sharon went to get the prescription, so he couldn’t be a Thorazine Delivery Guy. It is a rather pathetic attempt to get Chris to desperately blame someone else. But if Chris was the killer, and she gets very anxious and desperate…she might chomp down on the bait. Then Kindermann would just need to reel her in…to continue the metaphor. Still, the detective is not interested in asking Karl because he knows Karl had nothing to do with what happened. Chris should be suspicious of Kindermann’s lack of interest in questioning Karl. Now he will show his hand…

What he is doing is simple…he has certainly given Chris the impression that he suspects her. She didn’t implicate Karl, or some stupid delivery guy who brought Sharon’s Metaphorical Chinese Food Order, or Regan’s Metaphorical Nightdress, freshly laundered, to the house. Now he gets up, walks over to a piece of furniture, and begins admiring it. Hah! Kindermann does like magic carpets and antiques…this shot proves it! Chris will see through this…

He has given Chris the impression that he suspects her…by revealing himself to be an Admirer of Antiques, and not just Bacterial Magic Carpets, he is giving her a moment to think. If she is guilty, that moment can seem like forever…so she might become more and more nervous and throw something out that…implicates herself. But Chris is an actress, and she recognizes that Kindermann is acting.

So what is Chris’s…

…Judas Priest Moment? Well, the band’s first single…

…Rocka Rolla…now that’s clever! Sort of. Sure, Cola rhymes with Rolla. But Coca doesn’t rhyme with Rocka. Still, it wasn’t released until 1974, so it couldn’t be one of the broken records lying, along with a shattered copy of Steppenwolf’s Magic Carpet Ride, on the floor of Regan’s bedroom in just a few short minutes later. A classy lassie! Indeed. I think that Chris’s Heavy Metal Moment consists of this…she believed much of Kindermann’s recasting of the story of Burke’s death. She accepts that Burke was murdered…she accepts that Burke was in Regan’s room that night…she accepts that Burke was killed in Regan’s room and was pushed out the window. She did not, however, believe that there was a powerful man who just so happened to…

…materialize in Regan’s room…my how crowded was Regan’s bedroom that night! A sedated Kiddo…Burke, for some reason…and a powerful man.  A too-powerful man. Was the whole world in Regan’s bedroom on that night? In fact, there is something very important within the Time Distortion…

Besides, a fall wouldn’t do to his neck what we found…except one chance in a thousand. No, my hunch…my opinion…is he was killed by a powerful man…point One. And the fracturing of his skull…point Two…plus the various other things we mentioned…would make it very probable…probable, not certain, that the deceased was killed and then pushed from your daughter’s window.

So we know he told Chris something about Burke’s neck. What? That’s obvious…Chris will see it in a matter of minutes…

…and Chris supposedly hears Regan speaking in Burke’s voice. Does that mean that the hapless Burke has become the…

…sixth demon in the Anneliese Michel Diabolical Pantheon? Of course not. What the guys who made the movie have done is to hide something very important from the viewer…the head-spin gimmick has nothing to do with a demon…it was a key element floating around in the Time Distortion…Chris is highly susceptible to suggestion…the detective described the condition of Burke’s…

…head and shoulders problem. I just love a short and sassy hair-style! And it works! So does conking a guy on the head, twisting his head all the way around on his dandruff-free shoulders, and shoving him out the window…if you’re a Powerful Pizza Delivery-Guy who got angry at the lousy tip Burke gave you…trying to kill him. But the viewer cannot see the Time Distortion itself, much less figure out what is in it…so the head-spin appears out of nowhere…and the only way to conceive of it is as a demonic vulgar display of power. Now, the detective has lied…to say that a crushed neck, for a guy pushed out of a window and sent tumbling down…

…these stairs…you can see someone at the top in case you need a better perception of the scale of these stone stairs…his neck would have been pulverized…and very little of his skull would have been left intact. It would be bad enough to simply stumble at the top of the stairs, and then tumble down them. In our case, Burke would first have taken a very precipitous drop from the window before setting off on his bone-crunching short-cut to M Street. I venture to say that no one should buy into Kindermann’s position that the condition of Burke’s neck and head would be better explained by the Bionic UPS Man twisting Burke’s head completely around, having hit him over the head first…then threw him out the window, and that Burke’s Helluva Death was not due to the ghastly amount of bone-crushing impacts the dynamics suggest. Kindermann’s assertion is absurd, but meant to reinforce his lie about a powerful man being in Regan’s room that night. He is offering Chris the opportunity to deflect attention from herself by implicating Karl…who has already been alibied. One thing is coincidentally true…Burke was hit over the head before being shoved out the window. So what is Chris’s Rocka-Rolla moment? One year in advance! She realized that since she now knows that Burke was in Regan’s room when he was killed, that he was stunned with a blow to the head, and then pushed out the window…and that there was no powerful man, green grocer, Nightdress Dry Cleaning delivery, or mystery package arriving that night…and believing that Sharon was at the pharmacy picking up the Thorazine…there were only two people in the house at the time Burke was killed…Burke, of course, and Regan. So if Chris now knew what she now knows…assuming I now know what she now knows but doesn’t know I now know…there is only one explanation as to what happened to Burke. True, Chris will moments later tell the detective that Burke had no reason to be upstairs in Regan’s bedroom, she is simply deflecting Kindermann away from the truth.

Before Kindermann arrived at the house, he poked around at the base of the Stone Stairs. In short, he visited the scene of what the anonymous letter made clear is actually the second half of a murder scene. He found this…

This is a Little Clay Beastie…exactly like Regan makes…a Clay Critter that Regan…made. So the question arises…how did it get all the way down the Stone Stairs? If you go back and look at the shots of Regan’s Killer Window…there are never any Clay Art Projects sitting on the window ledge that would have been knocked through the window along with Burke Dennings. In fact, the guys who made the movie dropped subtle hints to that very thing…

I had to apologize to Chris for Adrasta making her look like a hideous monster with no face. Regan’s room was very dark, and I had to turn the light on. After all, there is madness to my madness! Do you see the Apparent Clay Dinosaur in front of the closet to the left of the window?

Thankfully, it is daytime, so I don’t need to mess with the contrast. In the Crucifix scene he is still there. But now, there is another Little Clay Thing on the little bench under the window, though…

…not for long. The presence of the dinosaur is an example of Argument To the Negative From The Positive…the existence, not to mention staying-power, of the little clay dinosaur…the positive…is meant to illustrate the negative…there was never a clay critter on the actual window ledge itself. And that means that there is only one way the thing found by Kindermann could have possibly ended up at the bottom of the Stone Stairs…it rode down with Burke…in his pocket. What could be more important? And no! I’m not a Pocketologist…no matter what Darla says. And please don’t mispronounce that word! I’m not one of those either. There are only two possibilities…either Burke put it in his pocket…or Regan put it in Burke’s pocket shortly before he was pushed out the window. I am now of the opinion that Regan woke up and went downstairs. Mom wasn’t there…Sharon wasn’t there…Karl and Willie weren’t there…there was only one other person in the house…Burke. Well, as far as Regan knew. We know that Sharon and Mary Jo Perrin were in the attic, and it was their rummaging around that woke up Regan. So she went downstairs. And there he was! The guy who wouldn’t go away! Regan sounded out her mother’s feelings toward Burke in the Pink Nightdress Blue Pillowcases scene…and learning that Chris would always love Regan’s daddy, and that Burke was merely an undelivered pizza, Regan was satisfied that her Most Desired Status Quo…Chris and Howard married but separated, so that nothing interfered with Regan’s possession of her mother, was intact…making Burke an irrelevant undelivered pizza with under-cooked dough. But when she overheard her mother raging about Howard when he failed to call on Regan’s birthday…she didn’t give a shit if Howard didn’t give a shit about her birthday…the word…DIVORCE…spun around in Regan’s head. Now Burke has become a threat again. And there he was…sitting in the study drinking Chris’s good gin. And as far as Regan knew…the house was otherwise devoid of human beings. So it was an excellent time to finally fix her Burke-Dennings-Problem. She told Burke about the noises over her room…and asked if he would go upstairs and listen for himself. Burke, very drunk, agreed. Regan got Burke over to the window, obviating the need to drag Burke to the Portal of Death…and the guys who made the movie chose a very small man to play Burke…a very small man who was habitually smashed. Regan then smashed smashed-guy over the head with something other than an empty gin bottle after having got him over to the window…stunning him. But! She couldn’t leave it there. As far as she knew, someone would figure out that Burke was pushed out of her window before bouncing down the Stone Stairs to M Street. Apparently, Burke didn’t think to grab Regan’s Magic Carpet as he fell through the window. Perhaps he didn’t want to get an infection.  And believing the house to be empty, and her window being the window in question…suspicion would fall directly upon her. And that meant murder! Unless, it could be made to look like something else. And my…isn’t Regan a smart little girl! Her original plan was this…after stunning Burke, and before pushing the drunk little guy out the window, she hid the Magic Carpet and stuck a Clay Beastie in his pocket. Then she gave him the Ole’ Heave Ho! She would then tell her mother and anyone else that she awoke from her Thorazine Daze to find Burke, who had been left alone in the house, molesting her. He had pocketed a clay animal from somewhere in the room as a souvenir of his crime…a trophy to allow him to mentally relive his conquest later. But she struggled! And Burke was very drunk…and the fight ended up at the window…and out Burke went…to break his crown…King Burke! Alas, poor King Burke…I knew him well. Her ace in the hole of Burke’s pocket was the little clay sculpture. She figured that the police would search Burke when they reported to the scene and its discovery would provide the perfect proof of her story. Then hearing mom arrive, she laid face down in the bed…pretending to be knocked out, and temporarily hiding the fact that in the struggle with Burke, she got hit in the face, hence the blood seen at the end of the Spider-walk. But once Chris left Stinker’s room, she sat up and watched her mother head off into Sharon’s room…making a right turn without using her blinker. Then the front door opened…she heard Sharon talking with mom. And it was just about showtime! Time to go downstairs and sell the whole Burke Was Sexually Molesting Me story. Then Chuck arrived, and gave Chris the first version of Burke’s death. When Regan began crawling down the stairs to show Chris who the better actress was…it suddenly dawned on her that the whole Burke Was Sexually Molesting Me story was no longer necessary. Now…Burke was drunk, walked out of the house, and fell to his death. That’s what the grown-ups said. So now all a girl need do is to come the downstairs growling and howling…with a little blood to help intensify Chris’s reaction and Substitution of Facts…flipping her daughter tummy up and backside down. The original Spider-walk started out this way, but before Chris could see it, Regan flipped around so her tummy was down and her backside was pointing in the right direction. As it worked out, the Clay Animal wouldn’t be found in Burke’s pocket because it fell out during his fall. And since Burke’s death was originally believed to be an accident, and not a homicide…the Clay Animal was missed by the cops who worked what they believed to be an accident scene…a drunk little guy who tumbled down the Stone Stairs to his death. In reality, Sharon and Mary Jo, being in the attic above Regan’s room, something unknown to both Regan and Burke, heard the whole thing. The lights were still flickering when Chris arrived at the house not too long after. Their first reaction was to call Chuck, who hurried over to the house. What should we do, Chuck? Well, are you sure Burke’s dead? Why didn’t we think of that? So the three run down the Stone Stairs to check on Burke. But by now cops are there…and we see a patrolman stop the three before they get to the bottom of the stairs. But being covered with a sheet and pools of blood on the ground are very much signs that the guy is dead. We know who did it…and how she did it! But who will believe that a 12 year-old girl could pull that off? Besides, what motive could a 12 year-old possibly have? Homicide detectives will always look for motive, means, and opportunity. For most people, those things together, but the first thing alone, couldn’t apply to a 12 year-old. So Regan will be eliminated from the get-go if the cops investigate a murder…and remember that Chuck, Sharon, and Mary Jo know it was a murder and so became trapped in their Own Factual Contextualization. That means Sharon stands to be the one left holding the bag. But Chuck was seen too. Yes, along with Mary Jo Perrin, but Chuck was known to be Burke’s assist, and would stick out like a Metaphorical Sore Thumb. So, and all of this is on the fly with almost no time to give it any detailed thought, it was decided that the three would return to Mary Jo Perrin’s house. Sharon would call the phone in Chris’s house, and let it ring until Chris answered it. When she did, Sharon hung up and darted out of Mary Jo’s house and through the front door of Chris’s house. She gave Chris the story about the Thorazine, and misplayed her part when she showed no surprise that Burke wasn’t in the house, something that betrayed the fact that she knew he wasn’t. Chuck would then arrive shortly after Sharon. But! Too shortly after Sharon…indicating that they had been virtually in the same place at the same time before arriving at Chris’s house. Chuck made three more errors…he not only knew about Burke’s death too soon…he also knew the cause of Burke’s death too soon, and he strangely knew that Burke had been at Chris’s house. How would he have known that? Or any of this? Chris became Sharon’s alibi, and Chris and Sharon became Chuck’s alibi. But! Chuck wanted more! He wanted a disguise. Mary Jo had some men’s clothes in a closet somewhere…Chuck put on a second coat…a dark coat…over his tan coat. And he put on dark pants…pants which had belonged to a man much shorter than Chuck. If the cops asked, he not only had two alibis…if anyone said anything about a man appearing toward the bottom of the steps…it would be a man with a tan coat and tan pants. But Chris saw him with a dark coat and dark pants. Sometime later, Regan attacked the psychiatrist, and so she was hospitalized for her violent behavior. This allowed Sharon and Mary Jo considerable freedom to search the attic, since Regan wasn’t in the room below. But then the Berringerites figured out that Regan’s problem was epilepsy…not a mental illness…and discharged her. Yet, Sharon and Mary Jo hadn’t found what they were looking for…give us time! With Regan soon to be back in her bedroom, searching the attic would be more difficult, and I suspect that Sharon, at some point, figured out that…you’re gonna die up there…showed that Regan knew what Sharon was about, and was making a threat. If Regan could be kept out of that bedroom a little longer, maybe the two gal pals would find what they were looking for. And so a clever plan! Write an anonymous letter to the cops…Kindermann in particular…stating that Burke was murdered in Regan’s bedroom, and that Regan herself had done it. Include the date and time that Regan would be coming home. Surely Kindermann would arrive, take Regan into custody, and throw her in clink. Now there was more time to search. She did make a mistake…

The picture with the purple animals appears in two other scenes…the scene where Regan unveils her version of the Orange Scottish Bagpiper on the box in the attic, and the scene where Karras visits Regan for the first time, and ends up in the basement as Chris cleans his shirt…

So the picture was there at the beginning of the film, then made it up to the area in the kitchen where Sharon works, and was put back Down There in the basement by the time Karras was admitted to Regan’s Art Gallery. If you look at the image at the top of my latest Sooper-Dooper Kolum, you will see a picture of a cow’s head just above the face of the blonde girl wearing an orange hat.  In the scene with Karras, it is missing. There are other alterations to the original scene, including the moving around of clay sculptures. Sharon had been searching Down There as well as Up There, and forgot to put some of the artwork back in the basement where she found it before the detective arrived. Later, she remembers not to forgot remembering to put the Purple Animals Painting back, but did remember to forget putting back the Cow’s Head picture. And the hoped for Clink Tossing was not to happen. Alas. Kindermann didn’t believe that a 12 year-old girl killed Burke. First he verified Karl’s alibi…then Sharon’s…then decided that the writer of the letter was the culprit. I think Mary Jo wrote the letter. Kindermann suspected it was Chris, and so he obtained a sample of her handwriting. Chris now learned about the murder, and the various details pertaining to it. And she reached the conclusion that her 12 year-old daughter did it. My! What a giant leap to take! How could Chris have really believed what turned out to be the truth…Regan killed Burke? I can think of only one reason…Regan had made threats about killing Burke should her mother become involved with him.  Those threats…hidden in a Time Distortion…seemed like hyperbole at the time…the words of an angry child…but not now. In the novel, Howard feared the overwhelming intensity of Regan’s anger. Chris knew that only Regan and Burke were in the house at the time of the murder…and she realized that there was only one person on God’s Green Earth with a motive to kill Burke…Regan. Chris had found Regan’s crucifix, which Regan stole from the Berringer Clinic. Chris took it downstairs and put it on the little table in the foyer. When the conversation between the detective and Chris moved into the kitchen, Regan came downstairs, stood outside the kitchen, and listened to the conversation. And Chris betrayed her. How? Think about it from the perspective of a very angry, disturbed child. Had her original plan been implemented, Regan would have to sell the story about Burke molesting her in her room. It would come down to what position Chris would have taken…what Regan is saying must be true. But Chris might just as readily have said…Burke would have no reason to be up in her room at all, thereby indicating…directly or indirectly…that Regan was lying. That would have meant defending Burke and betraying Regan. And that would be treachery! That plan wasn’t implemented…but she heard her mother tell the cop that which, in its originally-intended-contextualization, would have been defending Burke and calling Regan a liar…i.e., Burke would have had no reason to be up in her room. Regan grabbed the crucifix, went back upstairs and fell asleep. Sharon realized that the detective would not be taking Regan with him. She climbed up into the attic, waking Regan, triggering an epileptic event that included a Temporary State of Psychosis. When Chris appeared, Regan played a little game of…I’ll Punch Mom’s Face, and then ran over, pushed the chair in front of the door, and attempted to kill her mother by trying to push a heavy oak dresser over on her. But she wasn’t strong enough. Then Chris saw Regan’s head do exactly what the detective told her Burke’s head had done, and then hears her daughter speaking in Burke’s voice…

Do you know what she did? Your cunting daughter?

Burke speaks from the grave! Does that make Chris a necromancer? A necromancer with a Ouija board in her basement? Surely it beats being a gastromancer! All that requires is a wine-skin or a Whoopie Cushion. Was Chris the second-coming of…

…the Witch of Endor? Without a wine-skin to make fart noises with? And Darla says that fart noises are funny! Still, Chris had no intention of letting Regan go down for the murder of Burke Dennings. But she knew her daughter was guilty…what if Kindermann started putting it together? Sometimes 2 + 2 actually adds up to…five! Wait, I mean…four. Darla! Please pay more attention to your math lessons! You could take the risk that he wouldn’t figure it out…but there’s lots of time…and there’s no statute of limitations on murder. If Kindermann did figure it out…you could have Regan plead not-guilty by reason of insanity. But while that keeps you out of prison…it means being in a lunatic asylum with very, very dangerous people. And whereas a prison sentence is just that…you get a ten-year sentence, you serve ten years…less if you get early parole for good behavior...but not more than ten years. However, not guilty by reason of insanity leaves you in the lunatic asylum until the doctors say that you’re cured. Possibly longer than the ten years minus the amount of years you actually served in prison if you had just been found guilty of murder. And, of course, Regan wasn’t an adult, and there were doctors and medical records that would document that she had been ill. But it is certainly the case that Chris wouldn’t know where Regan would ultimately end up if Kindermann figured it out. Not to mention the fact that less than 1% of criminal cases in the U.S involve an insanity plea. So none of these risks were acceptable as far as Chris was concerned. Wouldn’t it be great if you could be sort-of-insane, better-than-insane, theologically-insane, for a very short period of time, and then in one evening, now you’re in your well-adjusted right mind? And with no theological problems? Chris sought the advice of Father Dyer and they came up with a way that could make that happen…assuming the execution was perfect. And while it’s true that no one’s perfect…”no one” had at her disposal a man as disturbed as Father Karras…and if he were played just right…the execution of a daring plan might just prove to be perfect enough. Perfect? Not really…but life is full of less-than-perfect people. And less-than-prefect is good enough for me…for what that’s worth. Songs, or so I suppose, are a lot like some movies…not perfect…but perfect enough to set the soul free to fly…metaphorically, of course. And that’s good enough for me too. It seems to me that a particular song could have been written for a certain someone in The Exorcist. I’ve quoted it before, and it bears quoting yet again…

When you reach the part where the heartaches come…the hero would be me.

And the song is right…heros often fail. But not always. And we all know who plays parts…Angel parts, not Three Farces of Eve parts…not even a part in an old time movie “bout a ghost from a wishing-well.” Perhaps the lead part in the movie Crash Course links in a round-about way to the Crash Course Burke took on the night he had the misfortune to be sitting all alone in Chris’s house, except for the otherwise unknown Attic Rummagers, when the 12 year-old Diabolical Executive Producer came downstairs to cast Burke in his role in the Crash Course movie she was making. So thus ends my reconstruction of the Murder of Burke Dennings. Many times in past essays I have argued that Regan did not kill Burke. What a fool I was to believe Detective Kindermann, dealer in flying carpets and assorted antiques! Actually, it was Darla’s fault. Yes…Regan murdered Burke Dennings…in cold blood…with a very specific motive that was wholly an illusion created in the mind of an angry, desperate, disturbed child. Also a very clever child…and cleverness would be needed if a case of Theological Flu Strangely Caused By A Bacterial Magic Carpet could be pulled off. Perhaps with some Religious Antibiotics added to the mix, Karras would prove to be the best chance of it working…Father Merrin was an unknown entity. So a certain someone who usually plays parts, but now must play producer and director...a tragically flawed hero to be sure…will have a tough movie to make.