A Victim as Elusive as The Entity

The Entity, allegedly based on a true story, was written by Frank De Felitta and published in 1978. A horror novel in the scary company of other 70s-era novels like The Exorcist (1971) by William Peter Blatty, Carrie (1974) and Salem’s Lot (1975) by Stephen King, Interview with the Vampire (1976) by Anne Rice, Ghost Story (1979) by Peter Straub, and the other “true ghost story” blockbuster of the times, The Amityville Horror (1977) by Jay Anson. With a public ravenous for the unnerving and paranormal, The Entity became a worldwide bestseller. It told the story of a suburban single mother accosted by unseen forces.

Naturally, it would earn the Hollywood treatment, just a few years later. The film, directed by Sidney J. Furie (The Snake Woman and Superman: The Quest for Peace), starred Barbara Hershey as “Carla Moran.” The screenplay was written by the book’s author, De Felitta. The resulting movie is a truly harrowing one featuring stellar performances and extremely dark subject matter, answering the burning question affirmatively; can a ghost sexually assault a living person? Scheduled for release by 20th Century Fox in 1981, the movie ended up opening in Europe first in 1982 and eventually reached U.S. screens in February of 1983.

The delay may have been on account of marketing issues or perhaps the controversial scenes where Barbara Hershey is violently groped and violated by a horny poltergeist in graphic detail that audiences of the day will never forget and modern audiences still find disturbing and difficult to watch. This crucial scene was so well done; it’s often the thing viewers remember most about the film. The 1970s male demographic, in particular, were both shocked and titillated (no pun intended). Kudos to none other than Stan Winston, credited as “Special Makeup Effects Creator” for another iconic film sequence. The viewing experience went something like this, “Wow! It’s Barbara Hershey’s chest! Oh, they’re fake, wait! What’s happening to them?!” And, while the effect was fairly obviously a foam latex prosthetic body, the practical execution mixed with our suspension of disbelief, made for a pretty affecting scene. In it, we see the phantom, hand-shaped depressions appear to fondle Hershey’s breasts roughly. The false body was cast from Hershey’s and attached to her below the neck. The squeezing effect was accomplished with internal wires and mechanicals pulling on the foam rubber from within. Needless to say, in a more innocent era, the scene was the talk of the country, with teenagers sarcastically retitling the movie, The “En-Titty.” The filmmakers were laughing all the way to the bank as most of these kids were watching the film multiple times just for a glimpse at that taboo and sensational ghostly rape scene.

De Felitta’s novel and the resulting movie are supposedly loosely based on the real-life experiences of Doris Bither, who lived in California. Shortly after moving into 11547 Braddock Drive in Culver City, West Los Angeles, Doris heard a knock. She opened the front door to find an old Hispanic lady there who warned Doris that her house was an evil dwelling, the lady turned and left, never to return. Following this incident, Doris experienced a series of violent attacks from an invisible force.

The single mother of four was reportedly beaten and raped by three Entities, two smaller ones that held her down while the bigger one sexually assaulted her. These ‘Entities would terrorize Doris and her family, throwing pots and pans, and physically strike Doris and her children. In 1974 Bither decided to do something about this otherworldly terrorism when she overheard two men in a bookstore speaking of the paranormal. She introduced herself to the men and confided what had been happening to her. Those men were Dr. Barry Taff and Dr. Kerry Gaynor, both students studying parapsychology at UCLA.

On August 22nd, 1974, Taff and Gaynor visited the Bither residence to interview Doris and conduct research on what might be happening. Over the next few months, the researchers claimed to witness spectacles like unnatural light shows and poltergeist activity. They eventually called in Frank De Felitta, who arrived with a filmmaker friend to try and capture the phenomena on film. These events would become the subject of De Felitta’s novel (with a few embellishments here and there).

What actually transpired in that notorious house is still the source of mystery and debate. It seems that Doris Bither had a very turbulent upbringing throughout her teenage years, and it has been suggested she started dabbling with Ouija boards at that impressionable age. It is thought she claimed to have experienced some form of supernatural phenomena before moving to the Culver City home. We know her three sons and one daughter were all by different fathers, and she was known to be a heavy drinker. Other than that, her age, family, partners, or even children’s names are a mystery.

Researching Doris Bither turns up one contradictory story after another. There are very few photographs available, the most famous of these depicting an arc of light above her head with her face obscured by her hands.

There also exists a set of polaroid photos that were taken by the investigators when Bither indicated to them that the Entity was directly in front of her face. The polaroids show her body, but an orb of light masks her features. The only photograph of Doris Bither this writer dug up is the one included in this article, which was taken a right after the previously mentioned pics, at a time when the Entity was supposedly no longer present. A scratch across this last photo, presumably caused when it was ejected from the camera, gives it a haunting quality that only adds to the mystery. The fact that Doris’ eyes are closed creates even more distance and detachment between her and the viewer.

If UCLA students were earnestly conducting such a serious and exciting investigation, you would expect there to be more evidence and records of their findings. Surely such a case would have been heavily documented with not only photographs but recorded interviews as well as video footage. All this technology would have been available during that summer of 1974. Case in point, just a few years later in England, between 1977 and 1979, there is an extremely well-documented case of “The Enfield Poltergeist,” which is the subject of a Hollywood blockbuster directed by James Wan, The Conjuring 2. It’s rumored that Wan is gearing up for a film reboot of The Entity, to traumatize a new generation. The Enfield case is supported by photographs, recordings, and numerous documentaries, which actually interview the victims up to as recently as 2014. With the Doris Bither case, there is no such evidence. Barely a clue. For a case frequently labeled the most celebrated in U.S. supernatural history, it is odd that more hard evidence isn’t available to support what allegedly happened in the Braddock Drive house.

What happened to Doris Bither after leaving the Braddock Drive residence is a further collection of vague stories and rumors that have her moving from San Bernadino to Texas and back to San Bernardino. At one point, Bither reported getting pregnant by the Entity. As time passed, the occurrences subsided, and so apparently did Mrs. Bither’s communication skills. Author Felitta stopped hearing from her in the early ’90s, and by all accounts, she seemed to vanish from existence. Even paranormal expert Barry Taff, who allegedly kept in contact with her, was unsure of her whereabouts.

In another strange twist of events, Javier Ortega, who writes for the website Ghost Theory, and was working on an upcoming book about the Bither case, conducted an interview with a man named Brian Harris claimed to be Bither’s middle son. It seems Mr. Harris had been posting messages in online forums related to the case and offering his version of events. Mr. Harris wanted to set the record straight about some of the claims made by Barry Taff about his mother being an abusive alcoholic. The interview with Harris is also vague. At no point does it point us towards a satisfactory answer to what became of Doris? Harris said his mother died in 1995 of pulmonary arrest, though there are a few sources that state she died in 1999. Researching this fascinating case has raised more questions than answers. It isn’t over, as far as this writer is concerned. It will be interesting to learn what other buried secrets will be discovered as the public’s voracious appetite for the supernatural and interest in this legend demands that we continue to dig and explore.

If you’re out there somewhere, Mrs. Bither, we’re hoping you materialize. We want to talk to you…just give us a sign…