A Head Full of Ghosts

Several chapters in A Head Full of Ghosts are blog posts written by “Karen Brissette” (who readers find out later is really Merry). Chapter 2 is the first entry in her series on the Discovery Channel mini “reality” series The Possession. “Karen’s” blog posts are the only source of information for the reader describing in detail each of the series’ episodes. Tremblay intermittently features “Karen’s” posts as they correspond to Merry’s recollections so that events unfold concurrently.

The tone of all of “Karen’s” blog posts is conversational, informal, frenzied, and opinionated; she demonstrates considerable knowledge of the popular horror genre and provides thorough details in her summaries and observations of each of the episodes. “Karen” also interjects background information and speculation as a means of framing what a television audience might not know simply by watching The Possession, though the facts she presents are sometimes of questionable source origin.

“Karen’s” first post introduces the tone of the series, and the primary criticism she expresses is of the way in which she feels the series was edited to present John Barrett, “Dad” as the central figure of the events which are about to unfold. “Karen” believes that The Possession assumes an unjustifiable attempt at garnering sympathy for him—the unemployed, self-pitying, and largely ineffectual patriarch granting a kind of prominence for his plight not afforded to his wife and daughters until later in the series.

Merry reiterates that her memories have been compromised by trauma and contaminated by outside influences, and provides an example for Rachel. Merry recalls that when she was four her parents went away on a weekend retreat called “Marriage Encounter,” a religious workshop for couples looking to strengthen or repair their relationship. Merry was told that her mother left the workshop when Merry’s father declared in front of the entire assemblage that according to biblical decree, “a wife [had] to submit herself to her husband” (13).

Merry emphasizes that she doesn’t know whether this story is true, but that it sounds consistent with her father’s behavior and perspective. In sharing this story, Merry reveals that at the time of Marjorie’s exorcism, their father had only recently reinvolved himself with the Catholic church. Their mother had stopped attending church long before attending Marriage Encounter, and Merry struggles to understand why she would have agreed to go along with her husband given the centrality of religion in the curriculum. Merry’s father had similarly abandoned his commitment to attending church in the years since Marriage Encounter, and Merry and Marjorie Barrett themselves had not been to church in several years when their father secretly returned to his faith.

Merry recalls her childhood room, and the white cardboard playhouse into which she retreated to peruse her picture books, those by her favorite author Richard Scarry. Merry’s parents and teachers were worried about her academic progress, citing her book preferences as more appropriate for a younger audience. Merry created a ruse by carrying around age-appropriate books to deflect their concerns. Merry is eight years younger than Marjorie and is enamored of her. Marjorie has begun to set new boundaries around her time and personal space, and Merry is impatient and frequently defiant of her sister’s stipulations. Tensions escalate between them as Marjorie increasingly loses patience with Merry, resulting in tearful episodes on Merry’s part and their father’s verbal tirades.

One activity they still participate in together is integrating their own fictional stories into Merry’s picture books, drawing and writing in the pages. When Merry is invited into Marjorie’s room one morning, Marjorie confesses that she snuck into Merry’s room and took one of Merry’s books while she was sleeping. Marjorie apologizes, insisting that she felt compelled to commit a story to the pages. Marjorie tells the story before allowing Merry to see the illustrations, reiterating the events of the Great Molasses Flood in Boston in 1919, during which 21 people died.

Merry is distressed by the story’s dark and tragic tone when she learns that the events are true. She is frustrated when her sister will not admit that she heard it somewhere but instead insists that she woke up and the story was suddenly present in her mind in full detail. As she is leaving Marjorie’s room, Merry notices that the posters on her walls are all askew. Marjorie swears Merry to secrecy, claiming they rearranged themselves.

Merry is unnerved that Marjorie has been in her bedroom without her knowledge, by the molasses story, and Marjorie’s insistence that the details of the event came to her through precognition. Merry begins to fortify her room in anticipation of Marjorie’s next attempt to sneak in. She sets traps in her doorway, securing her doorknob with a belt so that the door cannot be opened from the outside, and sets a trap over the door so that an empty juice container will fall to the floor and alert her in case of an intrusion. She strategically places her cardboard house so that she can see the door, sheltering inside for most of the day.

Merry falls asleep in her bed. She is alarmed when she wakes up and finds a note from Marjorie on her chest. Another one of her books is missing and has been replaced with the one Marjorie had taken. Marjorie confesses in her note that she has been sneaking into Merry’s room for weeks. She invites Merry to come to her room in the middle of the night, promising a new story.

Merry begins disclosing the tension in the Barrett household. Dad frequently exasperates Mom by failing to come to the dinner table on time, and Mom includes Marjorie and Merry in putting pressure on him. The family eats spaghetti with marinara sauce multiple times a week—everyone but Merry, who prefers butter on her pasta. Dad claims he was delayed in joining them at dinner because he was checking his email to see if he had heard back from potential employers. Dad had worked for a toy company for 19 years, starting right out of high school; he failed to secure a new position in the 18 months since the factory closed.

Dad suggests they pray before dinner. It has been a while since religion played a role in their home, and Merry does not recall what “saying grace” means. Mom is perplexed about Dad’s motives, declaring that they should discuss saying grace another time. Marjorie states her opposition to saying grace, which results in Dad’s shouting that she will respect his beliefs.

Marjorie steers the conversation to her therapy session. Marjorie reveals that she asked her psychiatrist, Dr. Hamilton, how someone, if they went to heaven, could ever know that the relatives they reunited with are really their relatives and not a demon in disguise. She describes the horror that her father would hypothetically experience upon discovering that his deceased father was actually an evil entity masquerading as his father. No one speaks as Marjorie gets up from the table and retreats to her room.

When Merry sneaks into Marjorie’s room, Marjorie is agitated. She urges Merry to close the door, and asks if her bedroom looks different since the last time Merry visited. Merry confirms that nothing has changed. Marjorie confesses that she has started to believe that her room has begun rearranging itself on its own. Marjorie can’t be certain when or if these changes are happening, nor can she discern what the changes to the room are, but she is highly suspicious. Merry notes that her sister’s hygiene has changed—her hair is dirty, she smells of sweat, and her chin is still stained with marinara sauce from dinner hours earlier.

Marjorie has another one of her picture books in her lap. The pages are covered with green crayon squiggles. In Marjorie’s new story, humanity is rapidly overrun by an overgrowth of green vines, which cause destruction and societal unrest throughout the world. Marjorie narrows the scope of the story, focusing on a pair of sisters bearing their own names. The sisters live in the woods; their mother had disappeared; their story-father is not himself; and the character of Story-Marjorie is very sick, hears voices, and is physically weak. When the story-father leaves the house, Story-Merry goes to the basement for food, and discovers the story-mother’s body—the character of the father had poisoned her to death, and was doing the same to Story-Marjorie. As the family’s house is overtaken by the vines, a pounding begins on their wood cabin door, and Story-Merry asks Story-Marjorie what to do if it is their father outside.

Merry is terribly upset, and Marjorie stops telling the story. Marjorie begs Merry to remember the stories that she tells her, this one in particular. Merry runs from the room in fear instead of replying.