What’s the deal with Chris MacNeil’s Swiss helper, Karl? Up until Karras gets involved, there is heavy suspision towards Karl about Burke’s death, amongst other things. At one point, the detective tests the shavings off of Regan’s bird sculpture and of material found on a card that was present at some vandalisms done at the church and they match. Does that mean Regan left the house or that it was Karl? Did the demon act alone or would he need a body to inhabit? Also, Karl lies about where he was when Burke died. Karl just acts suspisious about a lot of things.
It’s been years since I read the book, but I do know that Karl hated Burke, and would have been a likely suspect in his killing. I think the thing that exonerated him was that Burke was a notorious paper-eater, and Chris found a book in Regan’s room that had had an edge of a page carefully torn off, in the style Burke tore paper intended for consumption.
William Peter Blatty has been asked about the statue in an interview, and he has confirmed that it was Regan who went to the church to violate the statue.
I’m going by memory as well, but I seem to recall that Karl secretly had a daughter that was a drug addict, which is something that he would have wanted to keep from Lt. Kinderman, thus the secrecy about this movements.
Well actually, it turns out that Karl and Willie have an adult daughter, called Elvira, who’s a junkie living in the slums of Washington. Willie believes her dead, but Karl often visits her and brings her money. He’s visiting her on the night that Burke is killed, and he lies so not to bring his wife pain. That’s why he acts so strangely, pretty much.
The bird sculpture shaving thing was weird…I don’t know, I sort of viewed it as a red herring. Or maybe just one of those weird mystical you have to interpret for yourself type things. I get that a lot with Blatty, that you have to think through things on your own.
I always just assumed that the demon did take possession of Regan and kill Burke that way. The torn book indicates that he was in her room, and she assumes his personalities at times. Can you tell I’m totally obsessed with this? 
Also…kind of off the subject, I sort of think that maybe it was Karras with the vandalism and the pornographic Latin story. They keep saying they think it’s a “sick priest”- and look what he’s been gong through. And at one point the Detective asked him for the card with the Latin story on it, to take fingerprints, and Karras tells him he’s been handling it on the inside as well as the outside. This could be a cover- maybe he’s already handled it, to type it? I don’t know, maybe it’s a really wild theory.
The vandelism of the church was done by Regan while possessed by the demon, not by Karras.
Well yeah I know that now, but personally I like to retain my wild ass guess.
I just realized that in the movie, the descecrations were made out the same material as the bird sculupture, I believe. That or it was just my imagination.
Another question, though! I know that Pazuzu (sp?) was the demon Merrin fought in Africa, the one that nearly killed him. But how (and why, I guess) did he get to Washington D.C. and how did he find Regan? Was it through the Ouija board?
He just knew, I think. There’s that scene where he looks at the statue of Pazuzu and it’s all like the final showdown.
Plus the people at Georgetown sent him a telegram. Which he didn’t read, but they did notify him because they wanted a more experienced priest to lead the exorcism as well as Father Karras.
I haven’t read the book in almost 20 years, so I don’t remember that part.
But that image it puts in my mind gives me the serious creeps.