Witchboard (2025) Timeline Explained – Every Event in Order

The spirit initially posed as David, a harmless ten-year-old boy, to gain Linda's trust and manipulate her into continuing contact. The Ouija board sessions were a gateway for the actual malevolent entity, Carlos Malfeitor, to establish a connection with Linda. By helping her find the ring, the spirit created a false sense of safety and legitimacy, making Linda more willing to engage with subsequent sessions.

Foreshadowing: Earlier in the film, Jim insults David during the first session, which immediately provoke a retaliatory response, showing the spirit's true hostile nature.

• engagement ring
• Ouija board
• david
• spirit communication
• manipulation

Carlos Malfeitor was a notorious axe murderer from the 1930s who was shot and executed by police inside the very house where Brandon, Linda, and Jim now live. He was not the boy David Simpson who drowned in the lake, David was simply a cover identity the spirit used. Malfeitor's spirit has been trapped in the house for decades, using the Ouija board as a portal to communicate with the living and eventually possess Linda.

Foreshadowing: The spirit initially claimed to be a ten-year-old boy named David, but Zarabeth's séance only confirmed this without questioning whether it was true.

• carlos malfeitor
• axe murderer
• 1930s
• house spirit
• possession history

Zarabeth was researching the spirit's true identity and getting close to uncovering the reality behind the communications. Her death served as a warning to stop investigating and eliminated someone who posed a threat to Malfeitor's growing influence over Linda. Her throat was slashed and she was thrown through a window onto a sundial, a violent message meant to silence her permanently.

Foreshadowing: Zarabeth channeled David during the séance, but her investigation afterward led her to discover information the spirit wanted hidden.

• zarabeth
• séance
• psychic medium
• death
• investigation

Brandon was killed by Carlos Malfeitor with a hatchet during the confrontation at the lake. When Jim and Brandon used the Ouija board to contact David, they inadvertently summoned Malfeitor, who revealed his true identity as the axe murderer. While Jim was knocked unconscious by falling fishing barrels, Brandon was murdered by the malevolent spirit.

Foreshadowing: Earlier events showed Malfeitor's ability to physically harm, his spirit had already killed Zarabeth and possessed Linda.

• brandon
• death
• lake
• hatchet
• carlos malfeitor

Linda became the primary target because she had the strongest spiritual connection through multiple Ouija board sessions. The more she communicated with the spirit, the more vulnerable she became to possession. Malfeitor needed a living host to fully manifest his power, and Linda's repeated contact made her the perfect vessel for his evil.

Foreshadowing: Linda's symptoms of nausea and distress began after her first sessions with the board, showing the spirit's early influence on her.

• possession
• linda
• Ouija board
• vulnerability
• spiritual connection

Jim destroyed the Ouija board, which served as the portal allowing Malfeitor to exert his influence. When Linda (possessed by Malfeitor) tried to manipulate him into killing himself, Jim refused and shot the Ouija board through a window instead. This act broke the spiritual connection and forced Malfeitor out of Linda, ending his hold on her.

Foreshadowing: Throughout the film, the Ouija board is repeatedly shown as the gateway for all supernatural communication and possession.

• jim
• Ouija board
• destroy
• portal
• final confrontation

After Jim and Linda leave, their landlady Mrs. Moses finds the discarded Ouija board and watches as the planchette mysteriously moves to "yes" on its own. This ending implies that Malfeitor's spirit or some residual evil remains active and is simply waiting for a new opportunity to contact someone else. The cycle of supernatural terror is not truly over.

Foreshadowing: The film's narrative consistently shows the Ouija board as a persistent portal that continues to connect the living with the spirit world.

• mrs moses
• ending
• Ouija board
• planchette
• evil remains

Lloyd's death at the construction site was caused by falling drywall, but it was actually orchestrated by Malfeitor, not David as initially suspected. When Linda contacted the spirit about the accident, it denied involvement, further establishing the spirit's deceptive nature. The death was meant to escalate the terror and draw Jim deeper into the supernatural conflict.

Foreshadowing: The spirit's immediate retaliatory action against Jim (slashing car tires) after being insulted showed its capacity for causing real-world harm.

• lloyd
• construction site
• death
• drywall
• accident

Linda experienced nausea and other distressing symptoms that led her and Jim to suspect pregnancy. These physical symptoms were actually early signs of Malfeitor's spiritual influence and impending possession, not a actual pregnancy. Doctors later confirmed she was not pregnant when they examined her at the hospital after her attack.

Foreshadowing: Linda's increasing vulnerability to supernatural influence coincided with her physical deterioration throughout the film.

• pregnancy
• nausea
• symptoms
• linda
• hospital

Lieutenant Dewhurst investigated the incidents because of the violence and deaths surrounding the group. After Zarabeth's death and the attacks at Jim and Linda's home, Dewhurst suspected Jim might be responsible for the murders, particularly Brandon's death. His intervention during Linda's possession led to him being assaulted by the possessed Linda.

Foreshadowing: The escalating violence and mysterious deaths naturally drew police attention to Jim as the surviving male in the group.

• lieutenant dewhurst
• police
• investigation
• suspect
• murder