Rhoda's father brings her home but during a thunderstorm in the middle of the night, Rhoda sneaks out. Christine regains consciousness and begs her husband for forgiveness. The doctor has said she will recover. Rhoda arrives at the lake, determined to retrieve the medal. She uses a metal pole to probe the water, but a bolt of lightning strikes her, sending her body into the water and putting an end to her evil, ironically proving true Leroy's prediction that she would be electrocuted for killing Claude. This is the film's sanitized ending. In March's 1954 novel, Christine dies of her self-inflicted gunshot wound, and the noise alerts Monica who gets help for Rhoda in time and the girl survives, free to kill again.