This from CinemaBlend who claim to have a man inside the post-production on The Dark Knight:

According to our very own caped crusader there have been recent secret screening of The Dark Knight going on in various locations around the country. This may be of no surprise a couple of months short of release, however, what is of interest and concern is a scene the scooper talks of, which due to the tragic death of Heath Ledger, may never see the light of day because of reactions in many of the screenings.

The scene involves Ledger’s Joker character pretending to be dead and being pictured in a body bag. Apparently the aftershocks of Ledger’s unfortunate death are such that many in the screening reacted rather badly to this moment and now execs are considering excising the scene altogether.

We’re torn as to if this is a good idea or not. On one hand, the film is a film as it stands right now, and if film doesn’t let us transcend real life then it doesn’t work as a movie.

On the other hand, if there are real test audiences who are reacting badly, one establishing shot of a dead-looking Joker can probably be tossed without sacrificing the plot point, and if there’s one thing that is noticeable about The Dark Knight from the press, it’s that the film is already pretty dark.

This isn’t studio execs cutting out a sequence, from what we understand, it’s a shot. It’s the World Trade Center getting cut out of Spider-Man promotions.

However, this reports is slightly suspect because we haven’t heard from or even of anyone who has seen The Dark Knight. Especially for a hot property that is still running a full Alternate Reality Game online, it seems like news that these “secret screenings” were occurring would at least make a tiny rumble on the landscape.