The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It featured true story details about the story of Arne Cheyenne Johnson, who claimed he was possessed by a demon when he murdered his landlord Alan Bono. While the film embellished certain aspects of the court case, cushioning the story with an occultist and another, fictional, case, The Conjuring 3 saw Arne reading the bible despite being possessed. However, there is a reason why he was able to accomplish this at all. 

Following the murder of his landlord (whose real name was changed to Bruno Sauls for the film), Arne is arrested and subsequently visited by Ed and Lorraine Warren while in jail and awaiting trial. However, while Arne claims to have been possessed when committing his crime, he can somehow read verses from the bible with no problem. It’s a strange revelation considering those who have been possessed within The Conjuring universe have been unsuccessful in reading any of the words in the bible before. After all, the holy book is meant to shun all evil spirits, demons included. 

Related: The Conjuring 3 True Story Explained: What Happened To Arne Johnson?

However, Arne is able to read the bible after killing Bruno because he is no longer possessed at the time of the occurrence. The witch’s totem the Warrens found beneath the Glatzels’ home was used to summon a demon to possess David Glatzel before Arne asked it to take him instead. The curse itself hinges upon the demon’s host killing someone — stabbing them 22 times, to be exact — before moving on. And so when Arne read the biblical words, the demon possessing him had already fled his body. There was no longer anything for the demon to react or latch onto, so Arne reacted like any human normally would while reading. By this point, he had accomplished exactly what the demon (and The Occultist who called it) wanted by killing Bruno, fulfilling the curse that called upon three people to commit murder. 

Arne no longer being possessed at the time he reads from the bible makes his defense of demonic possession that much more complicated in the film. The Warrens could have easily drawn out the demon if the demon was still possessing him after the murder, which would have probably been proof enough that he was under the influence of a supernatural entity. This situation is the exact opposite of what happened with David during the exorcism in the opening scene of The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It. The young boy had yet to commit a crime, which left the demon still possessing him twitching and reacting violently when the Warrens read from scripture.  

The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It gets a bit tricky because, while Arne is technically no longer possessed when he reads the bible, The Occultist isn’t yet done using him. Arne attempts suicide while in prison, though it has nothing to do with a demonic possession and everything to do with The Occultist’s curse. It’s a fine line to walk between possessions and curses, but the fact is Arne was only possessed after inviting the demon inside and up to his murder of Bruno, which challenged the Warrens to dig deeper.  

Next: Everything The Conjuring 3 Leaves Out About The True Story