during his reading, the movie flashes back roughly 200 years to a religious service, where a child shows up and reports the location of bardella. then by the leadership of the pastor, hysteria breaks out and the congregation sets out to find and kill the witch. however, one of the villagers warns the others against killing the witch, as he explains the count must exorcise the witch first, lest she will not die and will linger on as a curse for generations to come.