[ManInKhakiExorcist]

I’ve always been uder the impression that Jomo (child killer) was also the murderer of the soldiers in the church, and that someone else attempted Francis’ murder.

Since Francis was shot by arrows (and arranged a la St. Sebastian), it was probably another possessed Turkana tribesman. And so the same conclusion can be reached with Jomo as the killer of the soldiers; we see him make his way toward the church, and we later see how the soldiers’ corpses are re-arranged as Christian imagery; Jomo would surely have done the same with Francis and the kids had he not been interrupted and killed mid-murder rampage. Since he dies, the Devil has another tribesman pick up where Jomo left off, killing Francis later in the film.

Francis and Merrin are under the impression, after the church murders, that it was the soldiers who did it to themselves, “some kind of acrobatic ritual suicide murder”, to paraphrase Granville. I think it’s even more compelling if a non-white, non-Christian was the culprit. Jomo was overtaken and possessed on different occasions by the Devil or one of his minions. More believable than the soldiers managing their rather-tricky-if-just-them murder-suicide. Or maybe all three were responsible. Thoughts?

M.I.K.E.