The Encyclopedia Of Demons And Demonology

82 Exorcist, The
Linda Blair, as the demonically possessed Regan, suffers at the hands of demons in The Exorcist (1973). (AUTHOR’S COLLECTION)
Frantic to find out what torments her daughter, Chris
takes Regan from one doctor to another, abandoning her
career. The doctors test Regan for everything but find no
physical reason for her troubles. Under hypnosis, one
psychiatrist tries to talk to what he sees as Regan’s other
personality. The personality—or demon—identifies himself
as Nowonmai, from Dogmorfmocion. Although an
agnostic, perhaps an atheist, Chris believes more firmly
that her daughter has become possessed and needs a
Catholic exorcism.
Meanwhile, in a parallel plot, the psychiatrist priest
Father Damien Karras also lives in Washington, D.C.,
at Georgetown University, counseling the seminarians.
Someone has desecrated the nearby Catholic Church;
there is excrement on the altar cloth, a huge clay phallus
has been attached to the statue of Christ, the statue of the
Virgin Mary has been painted to resemble a harlot, and a
Latin text describing Mary Magdalene as a lesbian is left
on the altar. Father Karras suspects SATANISM—sexual
gratification through blasphemous acts—but his training
as a doctor prevents him from fully believing the Devil
is about.
Besides, Father Karras has become mentally exhausted
with his work, burdened not only with the troubles of his
patients but with his own overwhelming guilt. He fears
he does not love his fellow man as he should, scorning
those who are poor or ignorant. He anguishes over his
mother, who died poor and alone in a New York slum tenement.
Through the movie company, Father Karras meets
Chris and Regan. He is tantalized by the evil present in
Regan and agrees to help rid her of her demons.
Before Father Karras can obtain permission for an
exorcism, Burke Dennings, left alone in the house with
Regan, dies mysteriously by falling out the girl’s secondstory
bedroom window and over a steep cliff below. His
head is turned completely around, an injury that is practically
impossible, even in a severe fall. The demons in
Regan eventually admit killing Dennings, explaining
that turning his head around was common practice in the
murder of witches.
As Regan’s condition worsens, she exhibits all the classic
signs of true possession. Besides the terrible contortions,
foul smells, horrible voices, obscene behavior, and
poltergeist phenomena (shaking bed, moving furniture,