The Exorcist

Chris tracks down Karras, remembering that Mary Jo once told her about a priest who worked as a psychiatrist. They tiptoe around the reason Chris wanted to meet, but eventually, Chris asks directly whether Karras will perform an exorcism for her. Though he is stunned, he realizes that she is serious. He mentions that exorcism might actually make the matter worse and that, before an exorcism takes place, the church must conduct an investigation. As Chris breaks down into tears, Karras wonders whether she needs his help as a therapist. He agrees to visit Regan. 

On the doorstep of Chris’s house, Karras hesitates, feeling a sudden chill. Chris leads Karras upstairs to Regan’s bedroom, showing him a photograph of Regan before the possession. As soon as Karras touches the doorknob, the sounds from inside stop. Inside, he smells “the pungent stench of moldering excrement” (138) and sees Regan’s bulging white eyes watching him intently. She asks Karras to remove her restraints and tells him that she is not Regan, but is in fact the devil. The devil refuses to allow Karras to talk to Regan, but through the litany of mocking demonic personalities inhabiting her body, he glimpses the terrified little girl for a second. The demon mocks Karras’s dead mother and then vomits on him. 

As he washes the vomit from himself, Karras suggests that Regan should be in a hospital. Chris cannot allow that, because Regan has “done something” (142) and Chris cannot risk anyone finding out what. Karras demands the truth, agreeing to do what he can for Regan. Chris explains the history of Regan’s condition, purposefully avoiding mentioning the murder of Burke Dennings. Karras grasps desperately for explanations, including telekinesis and split personalities. When Chris insists that Regan has changed completely, Karras asks for samples of her old voice, such as writings or recordings. He wants to gather evidence he can put forward to the church to authorize an exorcism. He hears animal noises from Regan’s bedroom as Chris gathers what she can, including the book on demonic possession. Kinderman watches them from an unmarked car. 

Karras stays up late thinking about Regan. He studies books from the church library, researching until the early hours of the morning. In many instances of historic cases of possession, the exorcists themselves eventually became possessed or were driven mad by their experiences. He seeks a scientific reason to explain why possession occurs, wondering whether Regan’s exposure to the book on the occult proved so suggestive that it led to her believing that she was possessed—many descriptions in the book resemble Regan’s possession. He works his way through her symptoms, seeking an explanation for each one. Memories of his mother begin to intrude on his thoughts. When he listens to the recording of Regan’s innocent voice, he decides that the “thing [he] saw in the that room wasn’t Regan” (154). 

The next day, as he delivers his lectures, Regan’s innocent voice fills his thoughts. Returning to his research, he plans how he can prove to the church that an exorcism might be necessary. He decides to sprinkle Regan with tap water but tell her that it is holy water—if she reacts, then her possession is not authentic. 

Willie leads Karras to Regan’s bedroom, where Regan shouts and screams. He asks Chris for a tape recorder. The bedroom is now more putrid than ever before. Inside Regan now is “a poor struggling demon” (157) rather than the devil himself. The demon asks Karras to begin the exorcism soon, claiming that it will bring him and Regan together. Bureau drawers fly across the room. Karl arrives and Regan calls him a “damned butchering bastard” (158) as he lays down the tape recorder beside Karras and retreats. The demon reveals that there are actually several forces possessing Regan; they appear and disappear at intervals. The demon refuses to co-operate with Karras’s suggestions and mocks his dead mother. Karras reaches for the vial of water, telling the demon that it is holy. As he sprinkles it over Regan, the demon cries out. Karras worries that this means that Regan’s possession is not authentic. But she begins to talk in a mumbled, strange language. He moves the recorder closer but the speaking stops. Karras leaves the room. 

Karras explains what he has just seen to Chris, including two new personalities inside Regan, one of which might be Burke Dennings as it speaks in a British accent. Karl drops a pan on hearing this and Chris tells him to go and see a movie. Once he leaves, Karras asks—based on one of the insults Regan threw at Karl—whether Karl has a daughter. Willie admits that they had a daughter who died many years ago. Karras explains his trick with the holy water—he is not hopeful that the church authorities will sanction an exorcism. Chris reveals other symptoms, including letters on skin that show up and disappear. Karras suggests a scientific explanation for this; he will share his recording with the languages department in his college in the hope that they will identify the words Regan spoke. Then, he asks to borrow Chris’s car. 

Just as he is about to get into Chris’s car, Karl stops him and requests a ride to the cinema. Karras asks Karl about the demon’s likeness to Burke. Karl admits that it seems real. Karl exits the car, catches a bus, and arrives at a crumbling tenement building. Inside an apartment on the second floor is a woman—his daughter. She warns Karl that her boyfriend is drunk, so he should not come in. Noticing the puncture marks on her arm, he hands her money. As she is about to disappear back into the apartment, Karl desperately pleads with her to visit a rehabilitation clinic in New York. She refuses. Dejected, Karl is intercepted by Detective Kinderman.