Dr. McGlashan

Dr. McGlashan is a character only mentioned in a note in FAITH: Chapter I.

Biography[]

Very little about this character is known, due to only being mentioned once in a note.

September 22nd, 1986[]

A day after the botched exorcism, John and Amy have been admitted into the Yale Psychiatric Institute. They were likely sent there instead of police custody due to how mentally unwell and unstable they are. Although this is speculation, Dr. McGlashan assigns Dr. Spinel to take care of John to check his mental status and to give a narrative to the police and the Martin Family attorneys to solve the case behind Bob, Cindy, and Father Allred's deaths. Dr. Spinel makes a new patient intake form and performs an initial consultation with John.

September 23rd to October 23rd, 1986[]

John begins getting treatment from Dr. Spinel for the next thirty days, which includes counseling sessions and prescription to combat his anxiety. Dr. Spinel comes to find out that John is an unreliable narrator since he insists demonic activity occurred and can't be consistent in his story. For example, John says that Amy was in the basement then later in the attic, as if she can magically teleport.

October 23rd, 1986[]

It's been a month ever since John began getting treatment from Dr. Spinel. He writes a letter to Dr. McGlashan to be released from the institute, going on to say that his nightmares have ceased and has come to terms as to what truly happened back in September. John says that nothing demonic occurred, rather that Amy was driven to kill her parents due to how controlling they are and Father Allred for using old church rituals that are supposed to drive out evil. He says that he wishes to be released in exchange for future appointments with Dr. Spinel.

October 31st, 1986[]

Although Dr. McGlashan never openly writes or says anything within the series, it seems like they accept John's request. On this day, Dr. Spinel releases John from their care, believing John's treatment and counseling was a success and can return back into society. It's unknown if John continued with follow-up appointments with his doctor, but either way this is the last time these two were mentioned.

Trivia[]

• The editor doesn't really know if Dr. McGlashan is the person in charge of either the psych ward or the institution in general. It can be assumed that they play an important role regardless because John had sent a letter to them specifically to be released rather than Dr. Spinel or any other person.
• The date John sent his request letter was changed when The Unholy Trinity was released. When Chapter I (and its Deluxe Edition) was initially released, it was dated December 30th, 1986. But now, it is October 23rd, 1986.
  • The reasoning might be a continuity error, because before it implied that John was restrained within the institute for a prolong period of time despite Dr. Spinel releasing him from his care on October 31st. It just didn't match right. This series' plot has been altered slightly between Chapter I, II, and III, so tweaking some crucial details were done.

Theories[]

• It's heavily implied that John was traumatized during his time at the institute.
  • We know that John still believes that Amy was possessed since we see him return back to the Martin House in Chapter I. John likely had to fake that he was getting better in hopes of being released sooner. The flashback we see in Chapter III where John is stuck in a room with a straitjacket, it's likely that unethical methods were used to detain him and repeatedly pushed the idea that nothing supernatural occurred on September 21st. Notes related to John's time at the institute appears when he's about to hallucinate (opening a door covered in crucifixes in Chapter III) or giving into his evil urges (the process to fight the Mirror Demon, the Pentagram Demon, and getting the "Initiation" ending of Chapter II), correlating despair with the institution.
• Maybe the reason why Amy was accused of killing her parents and Father Allred and not John could be through fingerprinting. Dr. Spinel and others might've suspected him of doing the killing.
  • We already know that John didn't kill them, and since Amy strangled her parents with their own intestines, her fingerprints were probably all over the bodies. It seems like at first John was accused of killing them since he is an adult male, they're typically stronger compared to a teenage female, which might be why Martin Family attorneys were mentioned in the first place. Essentially, they probably wanted to trial him but is unfit to do so because of how delusional he sounds, can't give a reliable narrative, and his DNA isn't found on the bodies.