Poltergeist: The Legacy (1996) s01e19 Episode Script

[Mapes]
Do a lot of research
for the Army, Doc?
[David]
Only when something odd
turns up.
I've got a contract to survey
the old tracks and tunnel
out here
for anything strange.
[Mapes]
Well, this is where we've
had the magnetic anomalies.
The old Powder Wash
train station.
Ooh, man.
What a dump.
[Mapes]
You got it.
-I'll unload the truck, sarge.
-Okay.
[Mapes] Not much to look at,
but my orders are
for you to bunk inside
while you survey the tunnel.
Okay, how do you
wanna handle this?
First we'll set up your gear
in a station.
Then we'll
survey the tunnel.
Okay, because I can't
calibrate my equipment
until you tell me how much
that tunnel has shifted.
So if you want to go on ahead,
I'll set up my equipment
by myself.
-Okay, holler if
you need a hand.
-All right.
[Mapes]
Soldier, got the maps ready?
Ready to go, sergeant.
[bird caws]
[wind howling]
[door creaks]
[wood creaking]
[metal clangs]
[tapping]
What the
[bells ringing]
A train?
[bell ringing]
[train honks faintly
in distance]
Sergeant Mapes?
[echoing]
Hello?
[train whistle blares]
-[man] David?
-[gasps]
[unearthly echoing]
David?
You've got to
throw the switch.
Can't you
hear me?
What's wrong?
What's the matter?
Hey, you. Wait!
[button clicking]
Wait a minute!
[in distance]
For God's sakes,
throw the switch!
What the hell is going on?
Hey, you.
Where'd you go?
Hello?
[Mapes]
Secure sector seven now.
[Mapes murmuring]
Sergeant Mapes?
[Mapes] Hey, Doc,
what do you need?
[unearthly moan]
[electricity crackles]
Uh!
Get off the tracks!
[screams]
Ugh!
Oh, no.
[Mapes]
Who cut the power cable?
-Did you see the light?
-What light?
Go use the radio in the truck,
I'll stay here with him.
Right outside! First the bell
went off in the station,
then a guy
ran into the tunnel, hurt.
He had to have passed you.
Nobody was here but us.
There was a danger light,
Sergeant.
Not a chance.
Get to the truck,
radio for a chopper.
Move, man!
[narrator]
Since the beginning of time,
mankind has existed between
the world of light and
the world of darkness.
Our secret society
has been here forever,
protecting others
from the creatures
who inhabit the shadows
and the night.
Known only to the initiated
by our true name,
The Legacy.
[theme music playing]
[bell echoing]
[train rumbling]
[man 1]
Praeger, get off the tracks!
[man 2]
For God's sakes,
throw the switch!
[ticking]
[keyboard clacking]
[Derek]
The University of Merida
is faxing a translation
of the Mayan
beating-heart ritual.
The Mexico City House
will take it from here.
Anything else?
The U.S. Army's doing some
interesting work in Colorado.
What's interesting about it?
Dr. David Praeger.
Praeger? So the two of you
finally managed
to, uh, bury the hatchet?
[scoffs]
Not likely.
We'll never ever be able
to iron out our differences,
but I can't help keeping
an eye on his work.
If the poor man only knew
that you were watching him,
like watching a barometer,
waiting for a storm.
He's a consultant for what's
called the Powder Wash Project.
What is it, an incinerator?
Yeah, it's very high-tech.
It's used for burning chemical
weapons from the Cold War.
I read about it.
Praeger's a psychic debunker.
What's he doing messing around
with, uh, nerve gas?
I don't know.
But the point is
I've been having
dreams about him.
It's ague,
just a sensation of jeopardy.
I mean, I've had plenty of
arguments with this man before,
but I've never
dreamed about him.
-So you ran a search?
-Yes.
And his name finally came up
in an obscure article
on defense research.
I couldn't get any details,
though.
Only where he's working.
[Nick]
I still don't understand why
the Army would pull in Praeger.
Unless it was to kill some kind
of a rumor about a sighting.
The man is virtually
impossible to convince
about supernatural phenomena.
I mean, he's based
his entire career on it.
Well, whatever he's doing,
it's bound to have
some supernatural connection.
I've got a gut feeling
about this, Derek,
that's very unsettling,
and I think we should
check it out, and soon.
Powder Wash opens
for business
in three days.
Okay, I admit,
it's only a hunch, but
No, no, no, no, no.
Trust your instincts.
If this project
is somehow haunted,
what could be worse
than an accident
with nerve gas?
You should go
to Powder Wash, Alex.
[bird caws]
Hello? Anyone there?
David?
Praeger?
David?
Praeger.
David.
Whoa!
Sorry.
[stutters]
I just wanted
to say hello.
-It's me. Alex.
-Yeah, Alex.
Last time we saw
each other was, uh,
in New Orleans, right?
-Uh, that psi study group
at Loyola?
-Right.
-Yeah.
-I left there in '92.
I live
in San Francisco now.
Oh.
What are you doing
in Colorado in the sticks?
Well, I read
somewhere
you were doing work
for the Army,
and I got curious.
About mywork?
You used to be thoroughly
underwhelmed by my work.
What's changed all of a sudden?
I never criticized
your work, David.
Only your refusal
to possibly see
another point of view.
To see it isn't to prove it,
a distinction
you generally ignored.
You need a hypothesis,
experiments,
empirical evidence, Alex
You can't prove
everything, David.
Okay, I'm sorry. Let's just
not rehash all this, okay?
Tell me about Powder Wash.
What are you doing here?
-I'm redecorating.
Can't you tell?
-[giggles]
Powder Wash Station.
Built 1891,
abandoned three years later.
Heh.
I'm surprised the old place
hasn't fallen down.
We're the first people
working here since
before the age of flight.
It's taken two weeks for me
to complete my redecorating.
You should have seen it.[chuckles]
[rings]
[exhales]
So, what are you studying
exactly?
Straight physics.
At the moment, I'm
measuring magnetic fields.
The Army has me
looking for oddities and
What's it all about?
They've Well,
we'vehad some problems.
For one thing, the magnetism
fluctuates wildly around here.
I haven't
pinned down the cause.
Not yet.
But I send the Army my reports,
and they think
it's safe enough to go ahead.
But you don't buy that,
I gather.
You're still testing.
Let's just say
I never give up
on a puzzle.
That's what makes
perfectly reasonable people
become physicists.
-God.
-[bell rings]
It's not your usual work.
I mean, this is
pretty far afield
from psychic debunking.
Some smart-ass labeled me,
"The man who measures
the unmeasurable."
But when you're looking
for elusive energies,
it all comes down to physics.
I don't suppose
you heard this bell?
The bell?
No.
[bell clanging]
[train whistle screeches]
What do you see?
[Alex]
The tracks, the tunnel.
What am I supposed to see?
A man has been walking
out of that tunnel
and waving at me.
You said a man.
Do you know who he is?
I, uh
A railroad employee.
A signalman, maybe.
He's hurt.
His face is Is bloody.
He walks out the tunnel,
and he
And he waves at me.
He shouts,
"Throw the switch."
He puts his arm over his face,
and he backs into the tunnel.
He's done it three times
exactly the same way.
Never explains
himself, and
I can't find him.
[Alex] I
I don't see anything,
David.
It's It's not something
I can explain.
Not yet.
But you're hearing things.
Seeing this man.
I believe they're real for you,
proof or no proof.
[Derek]
Alex called. Praeger seems
to be seeing an injured man
appear and disappear
repeatedly.
[grandfather clock rings]
Now, take a look at this.
From 100 A.D.
[speaks in Latin]
The Chronicles
of Saint Evaristus.
What's the connection
to Praeger?
When the Holy City burned,
Evaristus was trapped
in his cell.
The Rome House coined the term
"crisis apparition,"
a dying specter which gives
vague warnings to one person.
Or Praeger may simply
be delusional.
Alex had clairvoyant dreams
about Praeger's ghost.
It gives the situation
some credence.
She dreamedabout him?
I don't know, Derek.
You know how empathetic she is.
She may have
a big personal conflict here.
We have to take a chance.
A crisis apparition
foretells a catastrophe,
Rachel.
The Holy City fire
killed 7,000 people.
But Powder Wash is just
100 miles away from Denver.
If a cloud of gas
gets loose,
it could easily kill
seven million.
[Praeger]
Here's a sketch
of the signalman.
It'll give you
a general idea.
But I left the blood
off his face.
And he always says,
"David, throw the switch.
Can't you hear me?"
Yeah. Don't ask me
what it means.
I have no idea.
David, if this is so hard
for you, why do you stay?
You know,
I've spent my whole career
proving phantoms don't exist.
And now I've got one
I can't disprove, and
-Uh, you want some?
-No.
[scoffs]
Look at me,
drinking like a fish.
A little white wine
usually suits me,
and then only
at faculty parties.
[bell rings]
Do you hear it now?
I left this unit
exactly how I found it,
and measured it
for a fraction of a decibel.
Nothing.
[tapping]
And no electrical current
to the telegraph key,
because the rats made a meal
of the original power cables
over a hundred years ago.
Now the light's flashing.
But that's impossible.
[bell clanging]
David, can you hear me?
They're coming, David!
You have to make it right!
It's him.
Don't you hear him?
David, what do you see?
What's there?
There he is.
Kill him!
He's the one.
Shoot him.
[guns cock]
No. No!
[screams]
David.
-Hey.
-Hi.
You look better.
Uh, I had a shower.
Doctors gave me something
to help me sleep, finally.
They go over these
with you?
No physical damage.
Not a mark on me.
But, ah, it sure felt like
I had been shot.
I've never felt anything
so agonizing in my whole life.
I believe you.
And what matters here
is that the manifestations
you sense are real for you.
[scoffs]
Too real.
I must be losing it.
Are you?
I told you,
I saw soldiers in old uniforms.
Turn of the century,
the same era as the signalman.
This adds a whole new element.
We're not dealing with
just one entity.
I wonder why they closed
the tunnel in 1894.
What made these spirits
so agitated?
Forget 1894.
I need to know if anything's
gonna happen
in that tunnel now.
I know.
And these hauntings
are the key.
[Nick]
Derek left for Colorado
an hour ago.
He's worried about Alex.
And in the meantime, I've
mapped out all the information
that we have
on Powder Wash.
But it
isn't much.
It's no coincidence they hid it
in Colorado's empty corner.
The question is,
why did they hide it?
Well, I guess if you're gonna
burn nerve gas,
you're not gonna
do it in Manhattan, right?
Got that right.
The old rockets and bombs
will travel by train
through the tunnel,
where Praeger's working,
to the incinerator.
The Army even opened
up an old Northern Union track.
It closed in 1894.
First train is scheduled
in two days.
These are what the Army
calls "events,"
mostly small accidents.
So, what is
this electrical symbol
near the mouth
of the tunnel?
Well, that's where that man
almost bought it,
the one that Praeger
helped save.
Because the first ghost
warned him.
But last night,
when more of them appeared,
they tried to kill Praeger.
And Derek's counting
on us to find out
who they are
and what they want.
We're not gonna do it
this way.
Too much of the Army's
information is classified.
Isn't it always?
No kidding.
Even the report on why
the tunnel was
originally closed
was made top-secret
over 100 years ago.
Is there any way
you can get access to it?
Maybe through
the Freedom of Information Act.
But it's gonna
take a while,
and that train starts
running in two days.
[heart monitor beeping]
[gasps]
[birds cawing]
Hello?
Hello?
Hello?
-Hi, Alex
-[gasps].
Jeez, Derek.
What the hell
are you doing here?
How's Praeger?
He's sleeping at the clinic.
You don't think
I can handle this.
[Derek] I believe
there are supernatural
forces at work here.
Come on, Alex. Let me support
what you're trying to do.
Oh, look at this.
Praeger said he found it
under the station
when he was cleaning up.
Looks genuine.
Did you taste it?
[laughs]
Are you kidding?
He was drinking
some last night,
but he wasn't drunk.
Whatever's going on
isn't so easy to explain.
Well, whenever you
eliminate the impossible,
whatever remains,
however improbable,
must be the truth.
Is that one of
your golden rules?
No, not me.
Sherlock Holmes.
Praeger's ghost shot him
in this direction, right?
Yeah.
Pretty close. Why?
A hunch.
Look at this.
A bullet.
If shots were fired
from the gun last night,
that's exactly where it
would have hit the wall.
No.
No, this is not
from last night. Look.
The lead is all tarnished.
This is from the days
when the station was open.
-Can I see that?
-Here.
[gasps]
[bell ringing]
[gasps]
[signalman]
Can you hear me?
For God's sakes,
throw the switch!
Alex!
Can you hear me?
[gunshots]
[screams]
[gasping]
What did you see?
What did you see?
I saw him.
I saw the signalman.
For God's sakes
He was here.
[stutters] The bullet.
It shocked me.
I heard a bell and I
I saw light.
I tasted whiskey.
For some reason
whiskey's part of what
he's trying to warn us about.
They noticed his room
was empty about an hour ago.
Now, where
would he go?
I tasted whiskey.
Yeah, but you could
have smelled whiskey.
The bottle was
right there.
No, I didn't smell it,
I tasted it.
I know where he is.
[ghastly breathing]
Hey, Praeger.
Been spending too much time
out there by yourself.
Looking a little rank.
You might want to
ease up a little.
How about I buy you
a cup of coffee?
Are you listening to me?
[signalman whispering]
David, throw the switch.
Are you listening to me?
Doc.
-David, what are you doing?
-Don't do it, Doc.
-What are you doing?
-Get him out of here.
[Mapes]
I'm filing this with HQ,
Doctor.
They've been wondering why
you're still out there in that
fallen-down shack
when they paid you off.
Who's your friend?
My name is
Derek Rayne.
Alex and I
work together.
Listen, let us take you back.
I mean, you're in no condition
to go anywhere.
Besides, all your gear
is back at the station.
Huh. That's not all.
I know what was there.
I saw him.
He's real,
and so are the others.
Now, you're the one
who's getting the warnings.
Don't you wanna know why?
I can live without it.
[Derek] I doubt that,
Dr. Praeger.
You cannot simply walk away.
-[train whistling, chugging]
-You need to know,
and so do we.
[Alex] David?
What's wrong?
Praeger?
Praeger.
Praeger?
[train whistles]
[Alex] David?
[signal man]
You've got to throw the switch,
David.
[voice distorts]
[brakes screeching]
No, you've had enough of that.
We should test this.
Frontier whiskey was infamous
for lead content.
Lead poisoning
doesn't happen overnight.
It takes years.
Everything Alex has
been through
bears out what Praeger says.
How's she doing?
[Derek]
Well, Alex seems in control,
and he's beginning
to confide in her.
I need you two to follow-up
from there as well.
I need any information
you can find out
about this place.
[Nick]
All right. You got it, Derek.
We'll get right back to you.
[hangs up]
[bird caws]
Look, let's approach this
scientifically.
Usually there's a pattern.
Are there any family stories
about ghosts or hauntings?
Not that I know of.
My mother died
when I was two,
so I don't know much
about her side of the family.
And on my father's side,
I can only trace it
as far back as
my great-grandfather,
Douglas Praeger.
He's buried in Denver.
What about your two uncles
and three aunts?
I did my research.
Very scientific,
but nothing supernatural.
Until you.
You were drawn here.
Compelled.
Somehow, you feel
responsible.
Maybe.
It's almost like I came here
for some special reason.
[door closes]
How do you feel about
free will versus destiny?
Destiny, wow.
I don't know.
I've seen a lot of things
that would be hard to explain
any other way,
but it's difficult to accept
we don't have free will.
Oh, I think we have free will,
but now I realize I made
a lot of decisions
that led me right here.
I mean,
I could have gone to MI
instead of Cal Poly.
Huh. The floor's
loose back here.
Look at this,
an old pocket watch.
Okay, folks, the 8:00 train
from Wyman is due in.
Please take all your luggage
and bags out on the platform.
That's the eight o'clock train
from Wyman.
All aboard.
[Alex] David?
You folks have a good day.
That's right,
just take your bags
and head out on the platform.
Have a wonderful trip.
[Alex] A secret drawer?
[bell ringing]
[train whistling]
[tapping]
[ghastly moan]
Folks, get back in the station.
Folks
get back in the station!
Folks.
[Derek]
Mr. Praeger.
-[groaning]
-David.
Let me help you.
[brakes screeching]
No!
Stay with him,
I'll get a light.
David!
-David.
-They're trapped.
They need help.
David.
Oh, my God.
They're all dead.
[grunting]
Stop it, David. Stop it.
[ghastly moaning]
[whimpering]
[Alex]
Oh, my God.
Where did he go?
The Army has search parties
looking for Praeger.
Do you think we should
tell them about this journal?
David found it just before
he ran out of the station.
It's his great-grandfather's.
No, they're not in the mood
for ghost stories.
The remains we found
have been removed,
the tunnel is being prepared.
They plan to run the trains
on schedule.
First one is in the morning.
Well, I think they should
know what's in here.
Take a look at this.
Stationmaster Douglas Praeger.
It's David's great-grandfather.
He was here,
that was his station.
This is his journal.
Look.
"May 10, 1894.
Telegraphed those idiots
in Denver.
Told them we'd lose one
from Wyman sure as hell.
They say that's
what I'm there for."
Uh
"July 6. Four nights now.
Can't sleep. Drank till dawn
hoping the whiskey
would blot out the sound
of how it will be.
A hundred tons
driven into that tunnel
like a steel cork
slammed into a bottle."
He tried to warn them,
but he failed.
He was worried about a crash.
"Lose one from Wyman."
Praeger mentioned
Wyman today.
I bet you that's
where we'll find him.
Yeah, this, uh,
fax that Nick sent.
He got the Army's
classified report
on the Powder Wash
catastrophe, 1894.
A troop train lost its brakes
and crashed in the tunnel,
July 7, 1894, 8:00 a.m.
Forty-two men were lost.
The Army covered it up.
Claimed the crash
never happened.
But we found them.
We gave them their last rites.
They should be at rest now.
But they aren't
the only ghosts at work.
The spirit of Douglas Praeger
has also returned.
And it's warning us
for a new crisis.
-So it could happen again?
-Yeah.
With a train full of nerve gas.
[Nick]
This is the tomb of
the soldiers at the bend
halfway through the tunnel.
The accidents start here,
but as time passes,
they spread outward.
Toward the mouth
of the tunnel.
They've reached out
from the grave for a century.
An unconsecrated grave
forgotten,
in unhallowed ground.
God, Nick, how much vengeance
does it take
to repay a hundred years
of torment?
[Alex]
Wyman is 11 miles
from Powder Wash.
This is where Praeger
might be headed.
This has gotta be Wyman, Derek.
We've gotta be close.
Well, maybe we just
weren't meant
to find him.
This seems to be
David's destiny.
"I do not believe in a fate
that falls on men
however they act,
but I do believe in a fate
that falls on them
unless they act."
More Sherlock Holmes?
No. My father.
Quoting G.K. Chesterton.
It's how he taught me
about The Legacy's destiny.
There he is.
-[Alex] David.
-[Derek] What's wrong?
David.
Where Where
have you been?
Just walking.
This This looks
fairly flat,
but it
It's actually
six percent downhill grade
toward the tunnel.
I worked out
the math.
Six percent doubles
the train's momentum
every half-mile.
Okay, well, let's
explain it to the Army, okay?
A lot they know.
They They feel sure
that their trains
can make the bend
in the tunnel.
Not like the old days.
Those old steam engines
their brakes used to overheat.
New trains
don't even feel it.
So So it's not
a problem then.
Look, you've lost
a lot of blood.
I think you should
You should go back.
-I'm not--
-Oh!
There's no time.
Time for what?
What's the problem?
The bend in the tunnel.
It's no coincidence that's
where I found the corpses.
But you said the train
can make it.
If the brakes work.
But those soldiers' corpses
their souls
they want to pay 'em back.
I found a letter
at the station.
It's a bank draft from
the railroad to his widow,
my great-grandmother.
Her hardship
allowance.
Her hardship allowance
because he was killed
on the job.
Douglas was shot,
just like you
relived it.
The survivors hunted him down
and killed him on the tracks.
[ghastly moaning]
Can't you hear that, Alex?
Listen.
Hear it now?
Let her go, Praeger,
or I'll bring you
back to the clinic--
Don't be ridiculous.
We're out of time. Listen.
-Let her go.
-You're not trying!
You're not trying!
I don't hear anything, David.
[ghastly moaning]
[David]
The spirits in that tunnel
are gonna destroy the train.
[Derek]
The nerve gas shipment
is on its way.
We've gotta stop the train.
[sentry]
Sergeant Mapes.
Stop right there.
This is off-limits.
Hold it there.
You found him.
How bad is he?
You've gotta stop the train
before it hits the tunnel.
The chance of an accident
is just too great to risk.
I wouldn't worry about it.
[soldier over speaker]
Man your posts.
Double the guards
Take him out of here
and clear the area.
That's an order.
We just cleared Wyman.
We're on the downhill grade.
ETA, five minutes.
Conditions normal.
Speed within the limits.
[train whistles]
Delta Company reporting.
Train is clear.
I'm serious.
You can't come in here.
[phone rings]
Yes, sir.
This is Sergeant Mapes.
All secure.
Yes, sir,
we're set.
Call them back
and stop the train.
That was a full-bird
colonel, lady.
Colonels start trains,
sergeants don't stop them.
It's going through that tunnel
at 8:00, on time.
[train whistle blares]
[soldier]
Hey, we're picking up speed.
Check the speedometer.
[conductor]
I'm checking it.
Hold on.
My brakes are failing.
This guy is never
gonna to listen to us, Derek.
[Derek]
Well, he can get on the radio
and convince his officer
that he caught two terrorists.
How do you know that
we aren't planning some
act of sabotage, sergeant?
[conductor]
Emergency. I've got
a bad situation here.
Speed building.
Revise ETA, four minutes.
Slow us down.
Do something, man.
I can't!
[brakes screeching]
[grunting]
[bell ringing]
-[tapping]
-Do you hear that?
That's what Praeger's
been hearing.
You've been through
signalman's basics.
You can read code.
Runaway?
What runaway?
It's not even connected.
What have you and Praeger
rigged up here?
[Derek] Nothing.
If you've jigged the tracks
or planted a bomb
Not a bomb. Not us.
The dead soldiers who have
been left in that tunnel
for over a century.
It's their revenge.
History is about to
repeat itself.
How can that be?
That's crazy.
Oh, you want to
take a chance?
If that train slams
into the mountain,
then those old nerve gas bombs
will blow apart.
[Alex]
There will be a lethal cloud
over the whole state.
Stop the train now!
It's up to you,
sergeant.
[whistle blares]
[brakes screech]
[Mapes]
You, halt. Praeger!
I won't warn you twice.
Keep off the tracks.
[Alex] David
you've done
all you can do.
David. David.
That thing hasn't moved
since they boarded
up the station.
This was his job.
Switch a runaway
train
away from the tunnel.
[grunting]
So that it would
miss it.
Because the Army
overloaded it.
But the siding is gone.
It doesn't exist.
The Army's gonna
stop their train.
[Praeger]
They can't do it.
It's up to me!
[screams]
No one is going to
interfere with that train.
Leave him alone, sergeant!
[groans]
Whiskey.
My God. I taste whiskey.
The stupid bastard was drunk.
[train whistle blares]
How could he?
For God's sakes,
pull the switch.
Can't you
hear me?
You've got to throw
the switch, David.
It's gone.
What should I do?
Can you hear me?
[ghastly moaning]
Get off the tracks,
David, please.
[train whistle blares]
[signal man] You've got to
throw the switch, David.
You'll get killed.
Hit the warning light.
Get off the track!
[whistle blows]
Alex
I gotta stop
this train
for all those soldiers
he killed,
so they can
rest in peace.
Please.
Please. Let me do it.
[whistle blaring]
Alex! Get away
from him!
[soldier]
Prepare to fire.
Praeger!
Get off the tracks!
[whistles blows]
Shoot him.
-No.
-[Mapes] Shoot him!
Leave him alone!
-[gunshots]
-[grunts]
[Alex] No.
[mouths] No.
[brakes screeching]
[steam hissing]
My brakes
wouldn't hold.
[soldier]
I've never seen anything
like this before.
[Mapes]
Check under the train.
[conductor]
It was like a big hand
pulling the train.
There's a bend in that tunnel
that would have
killed us all.
Where's
David Praeger?
I saw the poor SOB
go under the wheels.
Where's his body?
You saw someone
named Praeger, sergeant,
but I don't think
it was David.
Alex, I'm sorry.
Like he said,
he was born to do so.
It was his fate, Alex.
But we brought him
back here to die.
It was our fate.
Because of David Praeger,
50 men are finally at peace,
and a million are spared.
If it was our fate
to help him,
we have no choice
than to accept it.
[theme music playing]