Chris MacNeil: You show me Regan's double, same face, same voice, everything. And I'd know it wasn't Regan. I'd know in my gut. And I'm telling you that 'thing' upstairs isn't my daughter. Now, I want you to tell me that you know for a fact that there's nothing wrong with my daughter, except in her mind. You tell me for a fact that an exorcism wouldn't do any good. You tell me that!
Clinic Director: There is one outside chance for a cure. I think of it as shock treatment as I said, it's a very outside chance. Have you ever heard of exorcism? Well, it's a stylized ritual in which the rabbi or the priest try to drive out the so-called invading spirit. It's been pretty much discarded these days except by the Catholics who keep it in the closet as a sort of an embarrassment, but uh, it has worked. In fact, although not for the reasons they think, of course. It's purely a force of suggestion. The victim's belief in possession is what helped cause it, so in that same way, a belief in the power of exorcism can make it disappear.
Chris MacNeil: You're telling me that I should take my daughter to a witch doctor? Is that it?
Lt. Kinderman: Well, this desecration in the church. Do you think this has anything to do with witchcraft?
Father Damien Karras: Maybe. Some rituals use the Black Mass. Maybe.
Lt. Kinderman: And now, Dennings, you read how he died?
Father Damien Karras: In a fall.
Lt. Kinderman: Let me tell you how, and please Father, confidential. Burke Dennings, good Father, was found at the bottom of those steps leading to M Street with his head turned completely around facing backwards.
Father Damien Karras: It didn't happen in the fall?
Lt. Kinderman: Exactly. So on the one hand, we've got a witchcraft kind of murder, and on the other hand a Black Mass type desecration in the church.
Father Damien Karras: You think the killer and the desecrator are the same?
Lt. Kinderman: Maybe somebody crazy. Somebody with a spite against the church; some unconscious rebellion.
Father Damien Karras: A sick priest, is that it?
Lt. Kinderman: Look, Father, this is hard for you. Please, I understand, but for priests on the campus here, you're the psychiatrist. You know who was sick at the time, who wasn't. I mean, this kind of sickness. You'd know that.
Father Damien Karras: I think it might be helpful if I gave you some background on the different personalities Regan has manifested. So far, I'd say there seem to be three. She's convinced.
Father Damien Karras: Show me Regan and I'll loosen one of the straps.
Regan MacNeil: Can you help an old altar boy, Father? Your mother's in here with us, Karras. Would you like to leave a message? I'll see that she gets it.
Father Damien Karras: If that's true, then you must know my mother's maiden name. What is it? What is it? (Regan vomits onto Karras)
Father Damien Karras: Look, I'm only against the possibility of doing your daughter more harm than good. I can't do it. I need evidence that the church would accept as signs of possession, like her speaking in a language she's never known or studied. Look, your daughter doesn't say she's a demon. She says she's the devil himself. Now if you've seen as many psychotics as I have, you realize that's the same thing as saying you're Napoleon Bonaparte. You asked me what I think is best for your daughter. Six months, under observation, in the best hospital you can find.
Chris MacNeil: I'm telling you that that thing upstairs isn't my daughter. Now I want you to tell me that you know for a fact that there's nothing wrong with my daughter except in her mind. YOU TELL ME YOU KNOW FOR A FACT THAT AN EXORCISM WOULDN'T DO ANY GOOD! YOU TELL ME THAT!
Chris MacNeil: Someone very close to me is probably possessed and needs an exorcism. Father Karras, it's my little girl.
Father Damien Karras: The Catholic Church insists on proof that the devil is really in a person. Then that's all the more reason to forget about exorcism. To begin with, it could make things worse. Secondly, the church before it approves an exorcism conducts an investigation to see if it's warranted. That takes time. I need church approval and that's rarely given. I will see her as a psychiatrist.
Chris MacNeil: Oh, not a psychiatrist. She needs a priest. She's already seen every fu**ing psychiatrist in the world and they sent me to you. Now you're gonna send me back to them? Jesus Christ! Won't somebody help me. Can't you help her, just help her?
Chris MacNeil: How do you go about getting an exorcism?
Father Damien Karras: I beg your pardon? Well, the first thing I'd have to get into a time machine and get back to the 16th century. Well, it just doesn't happen anymore, Mrs. MacNeil since we learned about mental illness, paranoia, schizophrenia. Since the day I joined the Jesuits, I've never met one priest who has performed an exorcism. Not one.
Father Damien Karras: Mama, I could take you somewhere where you'd be safe. You wouldn't be alone. There would be people around. You know, you wouldn't be sitting here listening to a radio.
Karras' Mother: (speaks in Greek) You understand me? This is my house and I'm not going no place. Dimmy, you're worried for something?
Father Damien Karras: No, Mama.
Karras' Mother: You're not happy. Tell me, what is the matter?
Father Damien Karras: Mama, I'm all right, I'm fine, really I am.
Assistant Director: You haven't heard. Burke's dead. He must have been drunk. He fell down from the top of the steps right outside. By the time he hit M Street, he broke his neck.
Lt. Kinderman: It's strange. The deceased comes to visit, stays only 20 minutes, and leaves all alone a very sick girl. And speaking plainly, Mrs. MacNeil, it isn't likely he would fall from a window. Besides, a fall wouldn't do to his neck what we found, except maybe one chance in a thousand. Nope, my hunch, my opinion, he was killed by a very 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 can this be? It could be one way. If someone came calling between the time Miss Spencer left and the time you returned.
Dr. Klein: She's heavily sedated. She'll probably sleep through tomorrow.
Chris MacNeil: What was going on in there? How could she fly off the bed like that?
Dr. Klein: Pathological states can induce abnormal strength; accelerated motor performance. Now, for example, say a 90 pound woman sees her child pinned under the wheel of a truck. Runs out and lifts the wheels a half a foot up off the ground - you've heard the story - same thing here. Same principle, I mean.
Chris MacNeil: So what's wrong with her?
Dr. Klein: We still think the temporal lobe.
Chris MacNeil: Oh what are you talking about, for Christ's sakes? Did you see her or not? She's acting like she's fu**ing out of her mind, psychotic, like a split personality or...
Dr. Klein: There haven't been more than a hundred authentic cases of so-called split personality, Mrs. MacNeil. Now I know the temptation is to leap to psychiatry. But any reasonable psychiatrist would exhaust the somatic possibilities first.
Chris MacNeil: So, what's next?
Dr. Klein: A pneumoencephalogram, I would think. Pin down that lesion. It will involve another spinal.
Chris MacNeil: Oh, Christ!
Dr. Klein: What we missed in the EEG and the arteriograms could conceivably turn up there. At least, it would eliminate certain other possibilities.
Dr. Klein: It's a symptom of a type of disturbance in the chemical-electrical activity of the brain. In the case of your daughter, in the temporal lobe - it's up here - in the lateral part of the brain. It's rare, but it does cause bizarre hallucinations and usually just before a convulsion, the shaking of the bed. It's doubtless due to muscular spasms.
Chris MacNeil: Oh no. No, no. That was not a spasm. Look. I got on the bed. The whole bed was thumping and rising off the floor and shaking - the whole thing, with me on it!
Dr. Klein: Mrs. MacNeil, the problem with your daughter is not her bed, it's her brain.
Chris MacNeil: So, uh-hum, what causes this?
Dr. Klein: A lesion; a lesion in the temporal lobe. It's a kind of seizure disorder.
Chris MacNeil: Now look Doc, I really don't understand how her whole personality could change.
Dr. Klein: The temporal lobe is very common. It could last for days or even weeks. It isn't rare to find destructive, even criminal behavior.
Chris MacNeil: Hey, do me a favor will you? Tell me something good.
Dr. Klein: Don't be alarmed. If it's a lesion, in a way she's fortunate. All we have to do is remove the scar.
Father Merrin: Especially important is the warning to avoid conversations with the demon. We may ask what is relevant but anything beyond that is dangerous. He is a liar. The demon is a liar. He will lie to confuse us. But he will also mix lies with the truth to attack us. The attack is psychological, Damien, and powerful. So don't listen to him. Remember that - do not listen.
Father Damien Karras: There are no experts. You probably know as much about possession than most priests. Look, your daughter doesn't say she's a demon. She says she's the devil himself. And if you've seen as many psychotics as I have, you'd know it's like saying you're Napoleon Bonaparte.
A quote can be a single line from one character or a memorable dialog between several characters. Please make your quotes accurate. Quotes will be submitted for approval by the RT staff.
Example:
Luke: Alright. I'll give it a try. Yoda: No. Try not. Do or do not. There is no try.
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