| “ | He opened a gateway, you know. Friedkin did. He took the real world and the spirit world and he smashed them together. Then he tore a hole in the building and went right through it. | ” |
— Sean Rogerson speaking of Dr. Arthur Friedkin's occult practices at Riverview Hospital
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Dr. Arthur Friedkin is the primary antagonist of both Grave Encounters and Grave Encounters 2. He is portrayed by Arthur Corber in both films.
Dr. Friedkin, a once-renowned neurologist turned malevolent practitioner, delves into the occult, conducting harrowing secret experiments within the walls of Riverview Hospital. His dark pursuits inadvertently tear open a gateway to the spirit world, ensnaring the souls of the living and the dead within the hospital's ominous confines. This catastrophic event sets the stage for the haunting and twisted narrative of the two films.
Biography[]
Born in 1890, Dr. Arthur Friedkin emerged as a formidable figure in the realm of neurology after graduating from Harvard University. His career, marked by the controversial practice of lobotomy, peaked at Riverview Hospital in 1937. Renowned for his unyielding and often cruel approach, Friedkin’s dark legacy extends beyond medicine into the occult. Engaging in secret Satanic rituals within the hospital's walls, he conducted horrifying sacrifices involving patients and infants to appease demonic entities. His life met a brutal end on August 15th, 1948, when he was stabbed to death by six patients who escaped from their rooms while under his care, his body being found by a nursing attendant the next morning. His death coincided with that of Babe Ruth, overshadowing his demise in the press.
The Baltimore Sun Newspaper Excerpt[]
Noted Doctor is Killed by Patients
Dr. Friedkin's murder as reported by The Baltimore Sun.
Tragedy Strikes Collingwood Hospital in Bizarre Case
[Special to The Vancouver Sun] Ryerson Valley - Dr. Arthur Friedkin, 58, was found dead early yesterday morning, his death the result of an attack by six men. Friedkin was the head physician of the Collingwood Psychiatric Hospital. He had gained notorietry in 1942 for his work in neurology. The involved assailants were all current patients under his care, and broke out of their rooms sometimes after midnight the veening prior. Police have still not released their names. Friedkin's body was discovered at 7:06AM in a hallway off the second floor by Brenda Campbell, a nursing attendant.
Grave Encounters (2011)[]
Dr. Arthur Friedkin after being murdered by his patients in 1948.
The spirit of Dr. Friedkin finding Lance, before lobotomizing him.
Introduced as a sadistic head doctor by local historian Morgan Turner in the beginning of the film, it is eventually revealed that Dr. Arthur Friedkin's malevolent spirit, along with countless others, continues to haunt the corridors of Collingwood Psychiatric Hospital decades after their deaths.
In the climax of the film, sole surviving member of the Grave Encounters crew Lance Preston uncovers Friedkin’s clandestine operating room, a chilling sanctuary filled with sinister medical tools, ghastly experiment records, and demonic symbols. The room, adorned with a satanic sigil, an altar, and eerie paraphernalia, becomes the stage for a terrifying encounter. Friedkin, alongside two ghostly nurses, is seen performing a gruesome lobotomy on an unseen patient, their demonic nature unveiled as they confront Lance. The scene culminates in Lance's apparent lobotomy, leaving his fate hauntingly ambiguous as he films one last unnatural sign-off before the footage cuts out.
Grave Encounters 2 (2012)[]
Dr. Friedkin temporarily spotting Alex and Jennifer hiding in a locker.
Dr. Arthur Friedkin’s ominous presence intensifies in the sequel. Trapped for nearly nine years, Sean Rogerson (formerly Lance Preston) warns the new protagonists, Alex Wright, Jennifer Parker, and Trevor Thompson, of the peril that lies within Friedkin's domain - the surgical ward. As Alex and Jennifer navigate the treacherous tunnels of Riverview Hospital, the true name of the hospital revealed in the sequel, they inadvertently stumble upon Friedkin’s lair. Hiding in a nearby locker, a horrifying ritual unfolds before them, featuring a lobotomy and a blood-curdling infant sacrifice. After the ritual concludes, Jennifer knocks some bottles over, resulting in a nurse confronting them before contorting into a demonic visage, giving chase to the duo.
Their discovery leads to a harrowing escape, culminating at the enigmatic red door, a symbol of the hospital's unyielding grasp on reality and the supernatural.
Trivia[]
- Dr. Friedkin is one of only three characters to physically appear in both films, with the others being Lance Preston and Jerry Hartfeld.
- Dr. Friedkin is seemingly inspired by real-life American physician Walter Jackson Freeman II, who specialized in lobotomies, inventing the transorbital lobotomy procedure, which involved placing an icepick under the patient's eyelid and striking directly into the brain. This cheaper procedure was met with intense criticism, even from Freeman's own partner, Dr. James W. Watts, who ended his partnership with Freeman. The procedure took the lives of over 100 patients with a 15% mortality rate.
- In Dr. Arthur Friedkin's room, there is a book on a table; the book is just one page of runes that is repeated. The runes in the book are an old script used by the Norse (Vikings). The runes can be translated directly into the English language, and the words clearly read out a parody of "I've learned" written by an unknown author. The parody reads as follows: "Steamy a relationship is at first, the passion fades, and there had better be a lot of money to take its place. I've learned that sometimes the people you expect to kick you when you're down will be the ones who do. I've learned that we don't have to ditch friends because their dysfunction. They are more fucked up than you think."