Carl (Insidious)

"You can't be afraid of her, alright? You're stronger than her. You're alive."

- Carl giving Elise advice in Chapter 3.

Carl is a psychic medium, demonologist and an old friend of Elise Rainier. He appears in Insidious: Chapter 2 and makes an appearance in Insidious: Chapter 3.

Past
In 1986, Carl, along with Elise, went to Lorraine Lambert's home to investigate what was terrorizing her son, Josh Lambert. Convincing Josh to lead her toward the entity through a game of Hot or Cold, Elise makes her way to his bedroom closet. Despite Josh pleading for her to get out of there, she proceeds to reach into the closet and is cut along the arm by the thing hiding inside. As a result, Lorraine, Carl and Elise agree that making Josh forget his astral projection abilities is the best thing to do.

Present
After seeing a white figure in her house, Lorraine visits Elise's colleagues Specs and Tucker to seek an explanation behind what is going on. In doing so, they call upon Carl, who listens to Lorraine's story and attempts to contact Elise on the other side. Carl's method is to use dice, which the spirits can spell out words with when he drops them. Through the dice, they are told to find answers at the "Our Lady of Angels" hospital, which Lorraine used to work at until it was abandoned. They discover that the Bride in Black is really a deranged serial killer named Parker Crane, who had "befriended" Josh with the intention of stealing his body. They also discover that it wasn't Elise that spoke to them, but Parker's mother.

Carl plans to visit the Lambert household and tranquilize the possessed Josh with a syringe while Specs and Tucker monitor from their van parked outside. However, Josh reveals that he knows about Carl's dice and pressures the latter into asking said dice what was behind Josh's back. Instead, Carl asks what Parker Crane has behind his back. The answer was "Knife". Parker attacks Carl, prompting Specs and Tucker to run inside to intervene. Tucker pulls out a taser and uses it on "Josh", but in return, Josh turns around and sticks the syringe into Tucker's leg. In the end, their plan fails, as all three are knocked unconscious.

Carl inadvertently travels to The Further and finds the real Josh, who bears the bad news that Carl is dead. They eventually find Elise, who says they must find the residual haunting of Parker's mother, Michelle Crane, and destroy her. The idea is that if they succeed in doing this, the Bride in Black will be destroyed as well. Therefore, Parker Crane will forget all about his life as a serial killer and his desire to have Josh's body thus setting his soul free.

Eventually they succeed in doing this, and Elise discovers that Carl is actually still alive. She, on the other hand, was now and forever dead so she could not go with them on their way back to their bodies. When they exit the house and run into the darkness, thousands of mindless damned spirits of the Further surround them. Just then, Dalton runs up to them and leads them towards their destination by following the string of a tin-can phone.

The next morning, Carl hypnotizes Dalton and Josh to forget their astral projection abilities and everything that happened with it. This was for the best, as they just wanted to be a normal family again. His further fate is left unknown as he does not accompany Specs and Tucker at their next house.

Insidious: Chapter 3
Carl appears in the film when Elise is afraid to use her abilities and seeks advice from him. Carl tells her that there aren't many other people out there who know what to do in Quinn Brenner's situation and if Elise does nothing, vile things could happen to the poor girl. Carl also tells her that the living are stronger than the dead, so she has one huge advantage over the Bride in Black. Lastly, he reminds Elise about the time they helped Josh to forget his abilities. This talk makes Elise more confident and she goes back to the Brenner's house to help Quinn. After that, Carl is not seen again throughout the movie.