The following article contains discussions of rape that some readers may find disturbing.
While not common, there are somehorror movies based on true storiesleading some to question ifThe Entity’s Carla Moran is a real person. Released in 1982,The Entityis a supernatural horror film directed by Sidney J. Furie. Its story of a woman terrorized by vicious unseen attackers sparked huge controversy whenThe Entitywas released, it received an X rating in the United Kingdom and didn’t make a huge splash in the US.
InThe Entity, when single mom Carla Moran (Barbara Hershey) is assaulted and raped by a poltergeist, no one believes her. Her psychiatrist, Dr. Sneiderman (Ron Silver), believes that she is hallucinating, and even Carla’s teenage son thinks it’s all in her head — at first. Eventually, Carla gets help from two parapsychologists who try to help her get rid of the dangerous entity. With shockingly graphic scenes of sexual violence, it may seem hard to believe that Carla‘s story is based on true events. However, what happened to her in the movie allegedly happened to a real person.
Carla Moran Was Based On Doris Bither
Bither Believed She Was Being Assaulted By Poltergeists In 1974
The character of Carla Moran may be fictional, but her story is inspired by an actual person. In the 1970s, a woman named Doris Bither lived in Culver City, California with her four children. In 1974, following a lecture at a local bookstore, Bither approached Dr. Barry Taff and Dr. Kerry Gaynor, two parapsychologists from UCLA.She told the men that she had been experiencing poltergeist activity in her home, including being sexually assaulted by a large invisible spiritwhile held down by two smaller ones.
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When they reacted to her tale with skepticism,Bither invited Taff and Gaynor into her home to witness the paranormal activity for themselves. Indeed, they experienced a series of strange events within the Bither home, including flickering lights, cabinet doors flinging open of their own accord, and pots and pans seemingly thrown across the room. They also experienced strange smells and cold temperatures, and they interviewed Bither’s children, who corroborated her story (viaGhost Theory).
With their curiosities now piqued, Gaynor and Taff returned to the Bither house with a group of student researchers, as well as a film and photography crew. They managed to acquire photographs of what was believed to be the haunting, including mysterious orbs of light and a seeming arc of light over Doris herself as she sat on her bed (viaMad Monster). However, a 2021 article by theSkeptical Inquirersuggests that these “lights” were simply hairs that were caught on the lens.
The Inspiration Behind The Entity
The 1982 Horror Film Is Based On A Frank Felitta Novel Of The Same Name
WhileThe Entitymovie isn’t a direct retelling of Doris Bithers case, it isadapted from Frank De Felitta’s 1978 novel of the same name, whichisinspired by Doris Bither’s story. De Felitta was reportedly one of the witnesses to the haunting at the Bither house, and had been brought in to film the events. Although he did not succeed in getting any hard evidence on camera, Bither’s terrifying experiences did inspire him to writeThe Entity, which went on to become a bestseller.
InThe Entitynovel, the protagonist is Carlotta Moran. Much like Bither, Carlotta is a single mother, and the book depicts graphic details of Carlotta being raped multiple times by the unseen force. But perhaps even more chilling is the fact that no one believes her.The story is not only ascary supernatural horror, but one that mirrors the truth of women not being believed when they claim to be sexually assaulted.
With the success of paranormal horror in the late ’70s and early ’80s, it was only a matter of time beforeThe Entitynovel would be adapted into a movie. Director Sidney J. Furie brought in author De Felitta as a consultant for the film, and he also wrote the screenplay.
What The Entity Changed From The True Story
The Film’s Parapsychologist Characters Conduct An Experiment That Didn’t Happen In Real Life
Besides the names of people being changed,The Entitymovie also fictionalized a lot of other things. For instance,the film added a new character, a man named Jerry Anderson (Alex Rocco), who is Carla’s boyfriend. Upon a visit to Carla, he witnesses her being assaulted by the invisible force and tries to stop it, only to be injured in the process. He later breaks up with her for fear of getting wrapped up in whatever evil is haunting her.
Another big difference in the movie from actual events is the experiment set up by the parapsychologists at the university. Headed by a woman named Dr. Cooley (Jacqueline Brookes), the department builds a controlled environment set up to look like the inside of Carla’s home. They then place Carla inside, hoping to summon the entity and attack it with tanks of liquid hydrogen. The plan backfires when the entity takes control of the mechanisms and attacks Carla with the hydrogen. Carla is saved by Dr. Sneiderman, and the entity ends up trapped inside the liquid hydrogen.
An important factor that the film touches on but doesn’t quite delve into is that Doris Bither had a reported history of alcoholism, and a strained relationship with her teenage sons. She was also allegedly sexually abused by a number of men in her life, and there was some speculation by paranormal experts that her past trauma, along with possible psychic abilities, could have manifested as this “entity.”
Where Doris Bither Is Now
Bither Passed Away Though There Are Conflicting Reports Of When & How
The text epilogue ofThe Entitystates that Carla Moran moved to Texas following the events of “the entity” haunting, and continued to experience strange phenomena, although to a lesser extent. This is partly true of Doris Bither, who moved from Culver City to Texas before eventually returning to California. Reportedly, Bither even claimed to have been impregnated by the entity, though this turned out to be false.
Harris related that the events in the Bither house, including the ghostly attacks on his mother and the children themselves, were all true, although much of what was depicted in the movie was made up.
In 2009, a man named Brian Harris, who claimed to be Doris’s son, agreed to an interview withGhost Theory’s Javier Ortega. Harris related that the events in the Bither house, including the ghostly attacks on his mother and the children themselves, were all true, although much of what was depicted in the movie was made up. Harris also argued against certain claims made by Dr. Barry Taff, such as the idea that Doris was not a victim of “spectral rape,” but instead suffered from her own psychic self-manifestation.
Harris was quoted as saying: “It wasn’t like Barry was there every single day. So for him to say that this could have been some sort of telekinetic thing that my mother was creating is all bull****.”
There are contradictory reports as to the date and cause of Doris Bither’s death.Some sources say she died in 1995, while others say it was 1999. She was either 58 or 59 years old. Possible causes of death have been listed as respiratory failure and pulmonary arrest, with no true certainty as to whether it was one or the other, or both.
The Entity
Cast
The Entity is a supernatural horror film directed by Sidney J. Furie, starring Barbara Hershey as Carla Moran, a woman who experiences terrifying assaults by an unseen force. The film, inspired by a true story, centers around Carla’s struggle to convince skeptics of the paranormal nature of her torment, seeking both psychological and scientific help.
