Darla said that she was sick and tired of me not writing about The Exorcist. The Devil Made Me Do It was simply getting boring…or so she said. I did find myself taking a second look at the Crucifix scene, and there is something that I missed. And when I found it, I was thrilled to death…though I got better…to answer one of my own burning questions that cast doubt on my reconstruction of what happens in the scene.

Regan, after attacking the hypnotist, was brought to the Barringer Clinic and Foundation, where her condition worsened.

It is here that Regan first shows signs of self-harm. However, how did she make the cuts on her face? It clearly wasn’t something from home. What did she use? That will become clear shortly.

Despite her dire condition, she was sent home. And that really is perplexing. She’s in bad shape and getting worse…so you discharge her? Unless, of couse, you’ve grown tired of her and want to free up the room. Then you admit defeat, tacitly. You want Regan out, so you tell Chris something bizarre…

It looks like a type of disorder that you rarely ever see anymore, except in primitive cultures. We call it a somnambular possession. Quite frankly, we don't know much about it except that it starts with some conflict or guilt that eventually leads to the patient's delusion that his body's been invaded by an alien intelligence; a spirit if you will.

Look, I'm telling you again and you'd better believe it, I'm not about to put her in a goddamn asylum! And I don't care what you call it! I'm not putting her away! Christ, eighty-eight doctors and all you can tell me is all of your bullshit!

There is one outside chance of a cure. I think of it as shock treatment. As I say, there is an outside chance...

Will you just name it, for God's sake? What is it?

Do you have any religious beliefs?

No. 

What about your daughter?

No, why?

Have you ever heard of exorcism?

Chris looks at him baffled.

It's a stylized ritual in which rabbis or priests try to drive out the so-called invading spirit. It's pretty much discarded these days, except by the Catholics who keep it in the closet as a sort of embarrassment. It has worked, in fact, although not for the reason they think, of course. It was purely the force of suggestion. The victim's belief in possession helped cause it; and just in the same way this belief in the power of exorcism can make it disappear. 

You're telling me that, I should take my daughter to a witch do

doctor? Is that it?

The Clinic Director nods and looks at Chris.

Ok, there’s a lot here. First, the term…somnambular…refers to sleepwalking, so I don’t know why this word is used here. There are no indications in the film that Regan walks in her sleep. Secondly, although it only becomes clear later, the root cause of Regan’s disorder, at this point, before it became more complicated, is…guilt. Thirdly, her disorder is based on the belief that the patient is possessed. Later on, Chris will use the idea of possession to accomplish her plans for Regan. But here, she first learns about possession. She is told that she should see a rabbi or a priest, both being witch doctors in Chris’s mind, and go through a mock exorcism. In reality, this would only make the problem worse. Why throw this out there? Chris has made the point that she would not send Regan to a psychiatric hospital, something Karras would also recommend. So, she can’t stay at the Berringer Clinic, but Chris won’t commit her. To get rid of her, the doctor brings up the issue of possession, directing her to a witch doctor. An exorcism can’t be carried out at the clinic, so Chris will have to…

…take Regan home. Of course, she doesn’t run out and find a witch doctor right away. It isn’t until after the Crucifix scene that she meets with Karras.

Time to…

…find the crucifix in Regan’s bed. This angers Chris, and she asks Karl, Willie, and Sharon whether any of them put it there. All deny it. And they’re telling the truth. A religious element to Regan’s condition, suggested by the crucifix, was only just made during the conversation between Chris and the doctors. I would suggest that the crucifix was taken, by Regan, from the Berringer clinic, probably taking it from the wall. It was what she used to…

…cut herself with, leaving a silverish residue in the cut below her left eye. When Regan decides something is hers, she will do anything to keep from losing it. She brought the crucifix home and kept it in her bed. But Chris found it and took it away. Yet, it suddenly reappears in Regan’s bedroom…with a vengeance.

Chris sets about attempting to find out who put the crucifix under Regan’s mattress, when suddenly Kindermann appears, and Chris goes to speak with him.

It’s very difficult to see, but Chris is putting the crucifix on a small table, with Karl standing directly behind her. Then he…

…appears again, asking if Chris needed anything from him. But he lingers, most likely because he is nervous about what might be said about him during the conversation between Chris and Kindermann. And…

…the crucifix is gone. I orginially believed that the crucifix appeared in Regan’s room because she snuck downstairs to take it back. I now believe that it was Karl who picked up the crucifix and brought it back to Regan’s room.

My what a coincidental man was Kindermann, whose German name means…man of children, making Regan easily fall within his remit. Indeed, Regan has been at the Berringer Clinic for some time and yet, oddly, Kindermann suddenly appears for the first at Chris’s door on that very day. Coincidence? I think not. I think he was tipped…an anonymous letter sent to the police, which was given to Kindermann to investigate. This is the reason why Kindermann asked Chris to…

…give him an autograph…a sample of her handwriting that could be compared to that on the letter. Why tip Kindermann? It wasn’t Chris, but my money is on Sharon. And it would seem that this letter named the person who was supposedly the one who put Burke through the window, and the detective may have believed it…

Burke was killed by a very powerful man, as Kindermann puts it. He’s clearly thinking that the person who murdered Burke was…Karl. The viewer is reminded of…

…the scene where Dennings makes crass accusations that Karl had been a Nazi during the war. That said, Karl was no doubt a suspect from the beginning. However, in the novel a physical fight does not take. And in the novel, Kindermann clears Karl of any suspicion…

Kinderman had checked Karl Engstrom's story regarding his whereabouts at the time of Denning's death. The show times matched, as did the schedule that night of a D.C. Transit bus. Moreover, the driver of the bus that Karl had claimed he had boarded by the theater went off duty at Wisconsin and M, where Karl had stated he alighted at approximately twenty minutes after nine. A change of drivers had taken place, and the off-duty driver had logged the time of his arrival at the transfer point: precisely nine-eighteen.

Kindermann had checked Karl’s alibi. But in the book, while Karl had an alibi, he lied about its nature. Karl has a drug-addicted daughter named Elvira, and he was bringing her money at the time of Burke’s death.

And the night of Burke’s death is complicated by the fact that at no point in the film is an alibi sought from Karl. In the book, he was at a movie. But in the film…where was he? There is no indication. But it is a question worth asking, because…

Chris MacNeil was propped in bed, going over her lines for the neat day's filming; Regan, her daughter, was sleeping down the hall; and asleep downstairs in a room off the pantry were the middle-aged housekeepers, Willie and Karl.

This arrangement is not clear in the film, and it is easy to forget that Carl and Willie lived in the house.

While Regan was at the Berringer Clinic, Sharon was free to continuing looking for the jewelry in the attic above Regan’s room. But with Regan home now…she wouldn’t be able to do so. Thus, Regan must be gotten out of the house to allow the search to continue. It is worth noting that the novel not only creates a connection between Regan and the attic, it takes it one step further, though executes poorly…

She went downstairs to Regan's bedroom, picked something up, brought it back to the attic, and then after a minute went back to her bedroon. Regan was sleeping. She returned her to her room, tucked her into her bed, then went back to her own bedroom, turned off the television set and went to sleep.

There is something in the attic that Regan wants, but Chris doesn’t want her to have. Of course, we aren’t told what it is, although in an earlier essay, I speculated that it was a stuffed animal that belonged to…

She'd recalled another flower. A son. Jamie. He had died long ago at the age of three, when Chris was very young and an unknown chorus girl on Broadway. She had sworn she would not give herself ever again as she had to Jamie; as she had to his father, Howard MacNeil.

 The item in the attic that Chris does not want Regan to have must be something that belonged to Jamie. I took as my cue somethat Regan said when referring to herself…

"Ah, there's my sow, yes, my sweet honey piglet, my Piglet, my---"

My what? I’m getting tired of unnamed things. If Chris is the sow, and Regan is the piglet…who is the person represented by the first person singular? I’ve taken the position in a previous essay is that the first person singular is…the ghost of Jamie. I will make the thing missing her more apparent…

"Ah, there's my sow, yes, my sweet honey piglet, my Piglet, my sister."

However, there is no trace of Jamie in the movie. The malevolent entity in the book is extremely angry at Chris, and attempts to hurt Chris by hurting Regan. Why would Jamie be so angry?

"Marc, can't you come out here and check her yourself?" Jamie. A lingering infection. Chris's doctor at that time had prescribed a new, broad-spectrum antibiotic. Refilling a prescription at a local drugstore, the pharmacist was wary. "I don't want to alarm you, ma'am, but this... Well, it's quite new on the market, and they've found that in Georgia it's been causing aplastic anemia in..." Jamie. Jamie. Dead. And ever since, Chris had never trusted doctors. Only Marc. And that had taken years. "Marc, can't you?" Chris pleaded

Jamie was dead, and, in his mind, this was Chris’s fault. She killed him. A very angry ghost of an very angry child could certainly find himself jealous of Regan. But this dynamic is not present in the film.

The big blow-up in Regan’s room was mistimed. It was supposed to happen while Kindermann was still in the house, since he would have rushed upstairs to the bedroom, and most likely, Regan would have been hospitalized. However, it started a few moments too late. Anyone upstairs wouldn’t be able to know just when Kindermann was planning to leave, so they took a chance. Nobody’s perfect. But it also seems inescapable that Karl was in on the plot along with Sharon and Mary Jo Perrin.

One of the biggest problem with my understanding of the crucifix scene is the two different voices heard as Chris runs up the stairs. There is clearly Regan’s voice, and the very deep, malevolent voice, that is usually viewed to be that of the demon. It is almost impossible for the latter voice to be that of Regan. But how many people were in Regan’s bedroom before the scene was over? The usual answer to this question is that three were present…Regan, Chris, and the demon. But there is no demon in the movie, leaving only Chris and Regan. Sharon and Willie…

…were not present…

But Regan pushed the chair in front of the door to keep them out, although one might think that the chair in question would not have kept two adults at bay. So we’re missing one person…Karl. If Chris was in trouble upstairs, Karl…a rather strong man…would have been the best fighter in Chris’s corner. So where was he? Earlier, he brought the crucifix upstairs to Regan, and told her to use it to masterbate. This view is consistent with what happens in the book…

Regan now, eyes wide and staring, flinching from the rush of some hideous finality, mouth agape shrieking at the dread of some ending. Then abruptly the demonic face once more possessed her, now filled her, the room choking suddenly with a stench in the nostrils, with an icy cold that seeped from the walls as the rappings ended and Regan's piercing cry of terror turned to a guttural, yelping laugh of malevolent spite and rage triumphant while she thrust down the crucifix into her vagina and began to masturbate ferociously, roaring in that deep, coarse, deafening voice, "Now you’re mine, now you're mine, you stinking cow!

We’re all adults here, so I feel no need to edit anything, after all…this isn’t Facebook. Karl would get Chris upstairs with the spooky voice. But the timing was off.

What we’re seeing in the film is what Chris saw…this extreme violence and gore are part of the exaggerated view of the scene as Chris saw it in her mind. There was a yet bigger problem with my view of the scene than the deep voice…a problem that is no longer a problem.

The curtains are blowing around without the windows being open. This is due to the opening and closing of the hatch that leads into the attic. But that does not explain the items being hurled at the window, books, records, stuffed animals, etc. Don’t worry! The aquarium survives the mayhem. I now have my explanation, which I can show with a screenshot of something that’s next to impossible to see…

…this is the shot of the room just before Regan begins pushing the dresser across the room in an attempt to kill Chris by pushing it over on her. Of course, she wasn’t able to do so. But the clue is in this shot, so I edited it…

…or even better…

Yes, the sole of Karl’s shoe. So now we know where Karl was. He brought the crucifix back upstairs, gave it to Regan, and told her what to do with it. As Chris entered the room, he threw various items at the window, and then fell down, pretending to be injured. Regan packs a wallop, but she hasn’t knocked anybody out, and it is obvious that she couldn’t have made such an impression on the strong, bulky Karl Engstrom. From the novel…

Frenzied, Chris raced for the stairs, toward the bedroom, heard a blow, someone reeling, someone crashing like a boulder to the floor with her daughter crying, "No! Oh, no, don’t! Oh, no, please!" and Karl bellowing--- No! No, not Karl! Someone else! A thundering bass that was threatening, raging! Chris plunged down the hall and burst into the bedroom, gasped, stood rooted in paralyzing shock as the rappings boomed massively, shivering through walls; as Karl lay unconscious on the floor near the bureau.

However, the story in the movie is not the story in the book. In the film, Karl lies down, as if he had been attacked, giving him the opportunity to claim that he went to Regan’s room when he heard the screaming, but was then knocked out. Karl brought the crucifix back to Regan, told her what to do with it, yelled out in the deep voice, threw items at the window just as Chris entered the room, and then fell to the floor to make it seem that he had been knocked out, and was therefore not responsible for what happened in Regan’s room. Regan gave her mother a punch to the head, and although it knocked her to the floor, it didn’t knock her out. It would not have knocked Karl out either.

Perhaps the most important element in the scene is that Regan had decided to kill Chris. For Regan, her mother belonged to her, and no one was going to take her away. Chris was the sow. In the book, Regan is the piglet. Regan saw adult males as a threat. Her father was safely away somewhere in Europe, leaving Regan and her mother. She perceived Burke to be a threat, so he was dealt with. When Regan saw the two doctors burst into her room with her mother, Regan offered herself to them to keep them away from the sow, who belonged to her. When she discovered the jewelry, it was instantly hers and only hers. Regan’s possessiveness was an element in the novel…

 Still, Chris was hesitant. Standing by the bedside and looking at Regan, she remembered an incident when her daughter was only three: the night that Howard had decided she was much too old to continue to sleep with her baby bottle, on which she had grown dependent. He'd taken it away from her that night, and Regan had screamed until four in the morning, then acted hysterical for days.

But if all that is true, then why try to kill her mother? The subject is a bit confusing, because of what immediately precedes it…

Chris and Regan have been fighting over the crucifix. And suddenly Regan grabs her mother and shoves her face in her bloody crotch, yelling…lick me! That is immediately followed by…

…we have a new world champion! Regan smashes Chris across the face, sending her crashing to the floor. She then attempts to kill her mother. So two sexual situations are encountered in the scene, followed by a very violent lashing out. This isn’t too hard to understand if we remain cognizant, as we should, of the fact that Regan is epileptic. If Regan is having an epileptic event, then two things are happening. First, the crucifix and Chris’s unfortunate face-plant can be attributed to what is called, and I’ve discussed it elsewhere…genital manipulation…inappropriate sexual behavior that can occur with seizures. This explains Regan’s behavior in both shots. The problem for Chris is that she made a mistake that others already have…she got too close.

Impulse-control problems are common among children with epilepsy. One of the most common forms of impulsivity is aggression. 

In the Sow is Mine scene, Regan goes into what is clearly an epileptic event, and the doctor got too close…

…ouch. The hypnotist got too close…

…and Regan left him singing soprano. Karras…

…not only gets too close, he turns his back on her…and pays the price. Even Merrin gets a little too close…

…and pays the price. He no doubt would have received a Chris-size smash in the face, but Regan’s wrists are bound, so she lashed out in the only way she could.

A small proportion of children with epilepsy may experience sudden outbursts of verbal or physical aggression. The aggressive behavior may appear with little or no provocation and can go on for some time. Supporting these children can be challenging for the family, school and health-care professionals.

It’s also called…intermittent spontaneous aggression.

Regan has clearly shown this throughout the film, and when her verbal outbursts occur, they are crassly sexual in nature. With some children, aggression can last for some time, as it does during the actual exorcism scene.

But even if there is any merit in these observations, and we know that Karl was in Regan’s bedroom at the time…why would Regan attempt to kill her mother? I’ve discussed before how obsessive she was about possessing her mother. So, what changed? Simple…

 Incidentally, just a chance in a million, I know; but your daughter - you could possibly ask her if she saw Mr. Dennings in her room that night?

Look, he wouldn't have any reason to be up there in the first place.

Being a sick twelve-year-old child, whose world was built around the idea that there would only be Regan and Chris…

…Keep away! The sow is mine!

Chris is, of course, the sow, and she belongs to Regan. But suddenly, there are two adult males in the room with her mother. And knowing that the bond between a man a woman is sexual…

…Fuck me! Given that her ownership of the sow is suddenly threatened, Regan responds by offering herself to the men in the room, thereby ensuring that neither can have Chris. The expression that this took was a form of inappropriate genital manipulation and verbal aggression, which also occurs in the crucifix scene. Yet, the threat posed by the two doctors was short lived.

The greatest threat to Regan’s ownership of the sow that had been eliminated, i.e. Burke. Karl told Regan about what Chris said to the detective, and Regan viewed it as a betrayal…her mother was defending Burke. And now it’s like Burke re-appeared in their lives…if Regan can’t have Chris, no one can. However, the attempt to push the dresser over to crush Chris failed. And from that point forward, Chris and Regan became allied once again. During the discussion with the detective, Chris figured out what happened to Burke. This is clear when Chris heard, or Regan actually said…

…do you know what she did? Your cunting daughter? However, Chris hears Regan speaking in Burke’s voice, though she really wasn’t, and thus Chris now made the connection between Regan and Burke. However, the word…cunting, and it should be noted that the word…cunt…doesn’t have the same taboo in England that it does in American culture. And not being English, one is tempted to see Regan’s words as sexual in nature. However, they are not.

And "cunting," like its cousins "fucking" or "motherfucking" is an intensifier that means "very much."

Burke used this term when insulting Karl…

Cunting Hun!

The term…Hun, is an insulting word for…German, and was used throughout the two world wars as a pejorative. But as Karl said earlier, he was Swiss, not German. As for Burke’s reference to Karl as having some connection to the Gestapo and Joseph Goebbels, there is, or so I think, an inside joke in the novel when Willie’s maiden name is said to have been…Braun.

One other element of the crucifix scene should be noted. When Karras slips into his alcohol-induced dream, it quickly turns into something altogether different. The various images in the Great Vision relate to different key people in the story. And one item that appears in the Great Vision links back to the crucifix scene…

I would suggest that the point of this is to allude to the St. Joseph medal ending up on the floor during the final scene of the movie.  

And should the detective put all of this together, or even some of it, Regan’s prospects for the future were very bad. And so, a daring plan suddenly emerged.