How is regan possessed

Strange and catastrophic occurrences surrounded The Exorcist as well, which led many to believe the film itself was cursed. While The Exorcist has gotten its share of sequels and even a television series, the original is timeless for many reasons. Part of this is due to the fact that, beyond being incredibly scary, it features rich, demonic lore and tells an incredible story.

He takes the amulet with him as he continues his travels, sees a much larger statue of the same figure, and recognizes that it holds some sort of greater significance, though the film doesn't get into much detail about it at the time. Later, the statue comes into play during Regan's possession when it conjures the demon Pazuzu. Though the film is vague, it leads audiences to question whether it was Father Merrin's digging up the amulet that may have conjured the demon, or even whether the amulet may have contained the demon, as has been explored in other films like Annabelle.

Father Merrin doesn't meet Regan for the first time until after she is already possessed, as he is asked to exorcise her by her mother, Chris Ellen Burstyn , so it's likely that she wasn't initially possessed by Pazuzu. In the book, it is confirmed that Regan was possessed through use of a Ouija board. Pazuzu comes into play when Regan is using the Ouija board. Pazuzu refers to himself as Captain Howdy. Later, Pazuzu takes up residence in Regan's house. The demon wasn't physically in Iraq, or at least not confined to Iraq: it's a spirit; it's everywhere.

Response by poster: I did ask why and how. What I do mean is the "how. But how come that relic was at the bottom of the stairs to M street when Burke died? And who desecrated the virgin Mary in the church? That's basically how I interpreted it. That particular demon had a long-running battle with Father Merrin, and used the entire exercise to finally kill him.

Best answer: I'd like to say that you could find out the answer to this, and many other Exorcist questions, by watching the prequels: Exorcist: The Beginning and Dominion: Prequel to The Exorcist. The two films are essentially different versions of the same script, as this IGN article explains.

Unfortunately the films don't really shed a great deal of light. The backstory involves an evil buried deep underground in an ancient church in Africa, plus some Holocaust guilt, and a conflict over whether or not to face evil. Father Merrin is definitely put at the centre of it all. I am fairly certain that was done by an undeveloped plot device; I can't find a copy of the book to double-check but I think it's equally vague there.

The point, I think, was either that this was bigger than just Regan, who couldn't have done it, or that the demon might have been victim-shopping, or it was just supposed to give Det. Kinderman a better excuse for his "rogue priest" scenario so he'd have a reason to talk to Father Karras. Alternate theory: Karras did it, knowingly or not. The demon wanted his showdown there in Georgetown because the author lived there, but that's not a very good reason , and Merrin was on retreat in upstate New York.

Karras was chosen as the go-between because of his crisis of faith and geographical location, and the demon needed something really big and nasty to get the plot moving, but having even a fictional priest do something like that wasn't going to fly in print, and so it's left very vague.

It's possible that this point is cleared up in one of the subsequent books or screenplays, I can't remember anymore. Messing with ouija boards and such opens up doors to demonic oppression in general, so perhaps for the movie that was assumed knowledge.

I'm pretty sure it was Regan. She then became angry when he almost dropped her crossaint. This results in further and more complicated testing, where it cannot be found where there is anything wrong with her medically, culminating in a point where some of the world's most prominent medical men convene. It steers towards the spiritual when one psychiatrist suggests demonic possession and recommends seeking the services of a priest.

Damian Karras, a priest who has studied psychology, is reluctant to approve exorcism. After a study of Regan, he agrees to it. His bishop authorizes the exorcism on the basis that he must be under the oversight of a more experienced priest, so he is aided by Lankester Merrin.

A prolonged battle between Pazuzu and Karras ensues, including briefly transforming Regan into his deceased mother. After some time, Pazuzu looks for a new host, leaving Regan's body. Regan is returned to normal with no apparent memory of her possession.

However, in the penultimate scene of the first movie where Chris is given a friendly greeting by two priests, Regan gives one of them a kiss on the cheek, suggesting she has some memory remaining of Merrin and Karras and wished to give a posthumous thanks. In the sequel Exorcist II: The Heretic , which takes place four years after the events in The Exorcist, Regan is 16 years old, living in New York City and undergoing psychiatric therapy, claiming to remember nothing about her plight in Washington, D.

While her psychiatrist believes her memories are only buried or repressed. As the story progresses, Regan is revealed to have psychic healing powers the reason why the demon attacked her previously.