Paranormal Witness (2011) s02e06 Episode Script
The Apartment
I did not know what kind of hell I was in store for.
Is there really something going on in this apartment? Where are they? She thought I was the one doing it, but I wasn't.
- Mommy, it's your friend.
- What friend? I don't know what she's talking about.
Why am I dreaming such weird things? Why can't I get out of this dream? I saw the fright in her eyes.
Open the door! Stay awake.
Just stay awake.
Back in 1999, I was a single mom with a daughter named Hannah.
I decided to move to Chico, California.
Great! You're here! I felt it would be a really great place to raise my daughter.
And I also had some friends that lived in Chico as well.
Hi.
You remember Hannah, right? - Yeah! - Yeah? Go say hi.
Hi, guys.
And she was having just way too many problems in Montana, and I kept on asking her to come.
- Hi.
- Hey.
Hi.
And when she finally made it, we were so excited, you know? - Let me just pay the.
.
- Oh, no, no, no.
I got it.
I got it.
- Okay.
- How much? There you go.
I was really low on money.
I needed to find an apartment reasonable in price.
I came across Walnut Gardens, and the outside looked pretty inviting.
The neighborhood seemed nice and a place that you would want to raise a family.
Oh, and this is the apartment right up here.
There was an apartment available, apartment number 14.
Don't you have an apartment on the ground floor? I'd really rather prefer that.
I'm showing you the only apartment we have available.
We've got lots of children here.
Never lost one yet, as far as I've heard.
I had a daughter, and the thought of her accidentally falling kind of scared me.
This is what I'll do for you.
She mentioned that as soon as a downstairs apartment would come available, that I would be able to move into that apartment.
I do really like the place.
Is the railing secure? I was strapped for cash, and I didn't have any A whole lot of savings.
Okay.
So I decided to go ahead and take it.
The day I signed the rental agreement I had no idea my life was gonna turn into a living hell.
Now let's play the game.
You cannot come out here on your own.
It's not safe.
Look at those people over there, mom.
They're waving.
I was feeling a little bit anxious that I'm starting a new life with my daughter.
The first night in apartment 14 I had a terrible nightmare.
I witnessed a couple With clothing people would wear in the '70s.
There was a predatory nature to the dream.
They were searching for somebody.
This was so real.
I felt like I was a ghost to them, like they couldn't see me.
I kept seeing a large "H".
Who are these people? Why are they hunting someone? Hannah.
This was unlike any other dreams that I had had before.
I was so scared.
I thought that they were actually there.
It was frightening.
To calm myself down, I called Idie.
I was kind of half asleep.
At first, I thought, there's an emergency.
I mean, my mom, my family, something.
Hello? ¿Que esta pasando? And she's like What's going on? Why are you calling me? Did something happen to Hannah? You know, is she sick? And I'm like Idie, I'm freaking out.
There was a couple, and they came for Hannah, and I wasn't Okay, whoa, whoa.
Uh, if someone's there, you need to call the cops.
No, I was having a dream.
This is about a dream? You know, come on, Jodi.
Give me a break.
She was kind of angry with me.
Jodi, do you have any idea what time it is? No.
I'm sorry.
She rationalized it with me saying Jodi, nightmares sometimes happen when you're stressed out.
My subconscious was working out some sort of irrational fear about Hannah being hurt.
Hold on.
Keep going.
You're gonna fall off.
The next day, it was sunny out, so it was nice.
I just try to forget the dream and forget the incident and just go on with life as normal as possible.
Close in the middle.
Just touch your head.
But I had another dream about the same couple.
They walked down the hallway towards my apartment.
Everything seemed so intensely real.
I felt utterly vulnerable and helpless.
Look at those people over there, mom.
They're waving.
That couple They emanated pure evil.
I'm a mom, and I couldn't help my daughter.
All of a sudden, I just saw Help me.
This poor, innocent girl.
I screamed "Stop.
Don't take this girl!" I wake up at 3:37 in the morning again.
My heart was pounding really fast.
I was actually having a panic attack.
I felt like I needed to get a neighbor or somebody.
No answer.
Please open the door! I was feeling really alone, really frightened, really scared.
Jodi, there's nobody there.
There's nobody there.
It's fine.
You're okay.
The complex manager told me that there was going to be a downstairs apartment available.
I felt relieved.
It has a playground and everything.
Hannah would feel safe.
I wouldn't be always thinking she was gonna fall over the balcony.
This is gonna stop my nightmares, and everything should be fine.
Could be worse.
Really? I didn't care if the apartment was dirty.
I just wanted to get out of apartment number 14.
I had this really weird vibe.
I just felt this coldness.
I felt a presence of someone.
I actually thought that someone just passed me.
I felt nauseous in the apartment, but then I was pregnant.
So I was kind of like, am I getting morning sickness? Or is there really something going on in this apartment? It's not so bad, Idie.
A coat of paint, maybe some new carpet.
I didn't want to tell Jodi, because I didn't want to freak her out.
I didn't want to make her scared in the new apartment.
As I moved in 23, I thought it was my home, that I would be there for a while.
Today, when you were at school In Hannah's bedroom, we made it really cozy.
Of course, she's a little girl, so she wanted everything pink, pink and white.
- You want to see it? - Yeah.
Surprise.
She slept with me, so basically, it was a toy room with clothes.
What do you think? Wow, it's good, but, mom, you got all the toys wrong.
What do you mean? Hannah's favorite toy was a Sesame Street Sleep and Snore Ernie doll.
- I feel great.
- Because Ernie's always there.
It had a really special place on top of her dresser.
You got your very own drawing table.
It wasn't very long after we moved into apartment 23 that strange things started happening.
Where are my keys? I was very particular about having things handy and ready to go.
Hannah, have you seen my keys? They're not on the hook.
No, mom.
I haven't seen them.
What? What? Did I do that? Why would I leave the keys in the middle of the bed? Why would I do that? I just thought, it must be Hannah.
Hannah's probably moving things around because she's a little kid.
Hannah? Hannah, my keys were in the middle of the bed.
Did you put them there as some sort of joke? What type of joke would that be? I remember my mom getting, like, really mad at me, because she thought I was the one moving all her stuff.
Hannah, do you understand that everything needs to be put back in its place? I didn't touch your keys, okay, mom? But she just, like, kept getting mad at me and, like, upset.
She's like, you, like "You can't touch my stuff.
" - Hannah, are you lying to me? - No, mom.
Why would I lie about some stupid keys? She looked like she was gonna cry, because I was yelling.
I was mad at her, because I thought, you know, she's a little kid.
She's lying to me.
I didn't understand.
I didn't understand what was going on and why I'm seeing this happen.
And then I had another dream about the same couple.
And it's another one of those real dreams like I had up in apartment 14.
This time, they were driving a blue car.
They had driven by a girl who I saw walking.
Hey, honey.
You need a ride? No, thank you.
You're so pretty.
Let's go.
Where do you live? That was the exact same girl that I had been dreaming about before.
We've got a friend that lives over there Are you sure we can't give you a ride? I wanted to tell her "No, don't get in that car".
Don't worry.
We won't bite.
I could hear them chatter.
I'm Janice.
Nice to meet you.
I'm Marliz.
Marliz? Yeah, my name's Marie, but people call me Marliz.
Ooh, that's fun.
This is Cameron, my husband.
- Hi.
- Nice to meet you.
How long have you guys been married? What about you? Do you have a boyfriend? Yeah, I do, but we just had a fight.
Oh, that's terrible.
Should we go pick him up? Oh, no, that's fine.
He can just He can cool off.
But you've got someone at home, right? If you're upset? A roommate? No, no, I don't, but that's fine, though.
And all of a sudden, they speed off over onto the freeway.
They were driving down a neighborhood street in Chico.
I recognized it right away.
This is my street.
When they pulled up to my apartment complex, I was scared.
Well, I could use a pit stop.
"Can I use your restroom?" I could see the evil in their face.
I didn't know what to do.
Why am I dreaming such weird things? That's what happened in the previous apartment.
Why am I waking up at 3:37 in the morning? I don't get it.
These dreams took a real physical toll on me.
I was exhausted.
I felt like I hadn't gotten any sleep.
I do remember my mom being pretty stressed out, because, like, I think she's been having experiences herself, but she didn't want to believe it.
Here's your coat.
Put this on.
Hannah, where are your shoes? Hannah had a pair of little pink slip on shoes.
We always keep our shoes by the door.
- Where did you put them? - I don't know.
Hannah, don't play with me.
If you want to go outside and play, then we got to find your shoes.
Hannah, where did you put them? - Where are they? - I didn't Just tell me where they are right now.
She thought I was the one doing it, but I wasn't.
I didn't move them.
Hannah, I don't have time for this.
- Where are they? - I didn't move them.
Hannah, come on, this is the last time I'm gonna do this.
Right smack dab in front of me, there they are.
Hannah, what is on the bed? My shoes? Did you put the shoes on the bed? No, I didn't touch the shoes.
Hannah, don't lie to me.
I'm not gonna stand for it.
- Stop! - I'm sorry.
It was upsetting to see my mom, like, so upset.
I'm sorry.
You're right.
Hannah, did you see mommy put the shoes on the bed? No.
I started to think maybe I was losing my mind.
I felt like I just had to get out of the apartment.
I just wanted to pretend like everything was fine.
You're crazy! What's your problem? I was so overwhelmed with, like, anxiety.
Hey! Hey, gorgeous.
I wanted to feel safe.
I did not want to go to sleep.
I really felt an overwhelming sense of impending doom.
They walked up to my apartment, apartment number 14.
This is a really great place you got here.
Oh, thank you.
I just actually moved in recently, so I see the man put a couple drops of something from the little bottle on this handkerchief.
Like, why am I Why am I seeing all this stuff? I didn't get it.
Yeah, I actually work down at this photo shop.
And then it's almost like I was remembering the other dream.
Get out! Get out! They picked her up together and walked her over to the car.
If someone had seen her, she might have just looked like a drunk college kid.
It scared me because it seemed like it was happening for real, like I was really seeing somebody being taken away.
I was trying to rationalize it again in my mind.
But there were also things I couldn't explain, the strange occurrences in the house.
It started out with small things, moving keys, remote controls being moved into the bathroom, and then it ended up being Like, dining room chairs would move.
None of this made any sense whatsoever to me.
I really started to think that if it wasn't Hannah That it was me.
That I was doing these things.
I wanted to get to the bottom of it and figure out what's really going on here.
She thought, like, there was people in her house or something, you know, people moving her stuff, because it wasn't me.
Maybe someone was trying to get my attention.
But I didn't know if it was a person in the complex.
I just didn't know.
I thought about leaving the apartment.
However, I just didn't have enough money to move.
I didn't have a job yet.
I had to stay there.
I was really tired, and I was afraid to go back to sleep, because I didn't want to have another dream.
I thought, stay awake.
Just stay awake.
Oh, God.
Shut up.
In the dream, I was back with that couple again in the blue car.
Where are you taking me? Let me go! Oh, please! Please, I'm Let me go.
And he pulls out this contraption.
What is that? - No! - Get her head.
He rammed this thing over her head.
Gonna be quiet now? To see such fear and terror on her face scared the hell out of me.
This wasn't some random act of violence.
They had this all planned out.
I felt suffocated.
I got to get out of here.
Please, I want to wake up.
And I couldn't.
I could not wake up.
I didn't know where I was, where they were, but it seemed like their home.
I'm seeing weird stuff, like, something with chains on it.
- Oh, God.
Oh, God.
- Shh.
Whatever this is, I don't want to see it.
She was hung like this.
I'll do anything.
Please, let me go.
To be in a dream and witnessing it Please let me go! Let me go! And feeling like I want to do something, but I can't Is heart wrenching.
They started to touch her, like, in a disgusting, evil, sexual kind of way.
Stop.
No! Please don't! My parents have money.
They can give you anything.
Please, let me go.
Please, no! Please let me go! The woman just put her mouth on her and bit her.
And her eyes just conveyed Please help me.
And I couldn't.
I didn't know what to do.
I was just a ghost in a dream.
Wake up.
Mommy, wake up.
No! Wake up.
Mommy, wake up.
Are you okay? It's the most horrifying Disgusting thing to see, another human being torture someone like that.
That's someone's baby.
That's someone's child.
What if that happened to Hannah? I couldn't take another thing happening.
- Hold still.
- Ow.
Ow.
- Mommy, look.
- What? - Mommy, it's your friend.
- What friend? I don't know what she's talking about.
- There's nobody here.
- She's right there.
I look around, and Where? Maybe you scared her away.
Now here my child's seeing things.
Hannah? Hannah, I can't take this right now.
Don't make things up, okay? Stop playing games.
- Don't play games with mommy.
- Mom, I didn't make this up.
Okay, come with me.
That night, I had another dream.
The girl was in the bathroom.
- Let me go.
- Shh.
Please, you have to let me go.
I can't stay here.
I have to go home.
She kept begging for her life.
Please let me go.
She was pleading at this point.
Oh, my God.
If you don't shut up, he's gonna come in here! Will you shut up? And I see him take the knife and just Like, pull her neck back like this and then just I'm so scared and startled.
Please help me.
Her eyes meet my eyes, and right then, I knew she saw me.
I knew she saw me.
I saw her.
She saw me.
Help me, please.
And then, all of a sudden, she was gone.
They shoot up on their own.
The lights start flashing in the apartment.
Pssht! The TV turns on.
White static noise.
Now let's play the game.
Sleep and Snore Ernie doll is in the center of the living room screaming.
Now let's play the game.
Let's play the game.
Let's play the game.
I was so overwhelmed, and I couldn't take it any more.
At that point, I didn't want to be alone.
I was afraid now after having the nightmares and having the strange occurrences happen in the house.
- I missed you.
- Oh, you look beautiful, Misty.
Misty's a special girl.
She's actually deaf.
Seriously? I had known Misty for many years, and I trusted her.
She was a family friend.
Exams.
Hannah? I don't I don't I don't know.
I wanted to have someone there.
Surprise! I was hoping that it would all stop, that I could chalk it all up to stress, but that's not what happened.
Oh, Misty, I'm sorry.
Have you been waiting a long time? Ah, I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
I feel great.
I hear Hannah's Ernie doll.
Hannah, stop.
Hannah, stop.
I feel great.
I feel great.
- Stay here.
- I feel great.
- I'm really anxious - I feel great.
But I don't want to scare these little kids.
I feel great.
I feel great.
I feel great.
I feel great.
I feel great.
I feel great.
I feel great.
Ernie has a noose around his neck.
- Stay here.
- What happened to Ernie? She's signing to me, what is that? I don't know.
Nobody has the keys.
This is the first time I say, let's call the police.
At this point, I'm thinking, Misty witnessed something.
Hannah's talking about an imaginary friend.
Something is just not right here.
Somebody broke in.
I checked the windows and the doors, but there's no sign of a break-in.
But could you just send somebody? We're very upset over here.
- Is anything missing, ma'am? - No.
Has anything been moved since you discovered the crime scene? No Yes.
No.
I see.
So it all looks pretty much the same as a normal little girl's tidy room.
Yes, except for the fact that there's an Ernie doll with a noose around his neck.
Well, tell me, has Bert been acting suspicious lately? Or Elmo? Do you think it could have been Elmo? He just thought that I was some sort of a nutcase that needed to have some sort of police attention.
This is a busy town, lady.
Now who am I gonna call if something weird happens again? Misty had a school event early in the morning.
She needed to be at the bus stop at 6:00.
None of us wanted to be alone, because we were scared.
Help me.
Please.
We made sure that the clocks were set for 5:30 so that she could be at the bus stop by 6:00.
Help me.
Please.
I look over, and I see the time, and it says 6:00 in the morning.
We're already late.
Everything's going crazy.
I'm like, is this a dream? Am I in a dream? Why can't I get out of this dream? The Ernie doll was going off saying, I feel great.
I feel great.
I feel great.
I feel great.
I feel great.
I was like, what? Run.
Just run.
Go.
I just start I just start screaming at the top of my lungs.
Get out of my house! Get out of my house! Whatever evil spirit's in my house, in the name of Jesus, get out! It doesn't belong to you any more! I just want out of here, and I want my child to be safe.
Yeah, she's making trouble.
Yeah, I see it.
They offered me an apartment in a completely different apartment complex in downtown Chico.
Part of the agreement would be that I would not talk about the haunted apartment.
And I thought to myself, hey, whatever it takes, I'm going.
I just want out of here, and I want my child to be safe.
The day that I left Walnut Garden apartment complex, my life changed.
Three, two, one.
Woo! - Catch it, Hannah! - Hannah and I were excited.
We were happy.
I got a job, and I met a wonderful man.
His name is Joel.
My performance was quite good, but the girls were not very good.
- Hey.
- Hey.
We would spend time together, and I enjoyed, you know, the interactions that she had with my kids.
All right, let's see what you can do.
Let's go.
Lets go.
Woo! Catch it, Hannah.
Joel brought an enormous amount of stability and happiness to my life.
I wanted to put every single thing about the haunted apartment behind me and just completely move on.
Once in a while, I have a dream about her.
I did not feel scared of her, because I just thought she was one of my mom's friends, and, like, she was comforting.
Bake me a cake as fast as you can.
I felt like I could just, like, talk to her sometimes.
She said her name was Marliz, but I called her Myliz, because I don't think I could pronounce that.
Put it in the oven for Myliz and me.
What happened with your neck? Don't be scared.
Please.
She loves the water One day, Hannah and Idie's son were drawing.
She seems to have absolutely No, but he was the same way.
It just took a little bit.
All of a sudden, I saw her picture.
It was a startling image.
I was kind of taken back.
Hannah, what is this? Who is this girl? That's my friend, mom.
She's your friend too.
Hannah, is this the girl you saw in the mirror in the apartment? I told her, that's Myliz; That's my Angel.
Hannah, what is this? That's the people that are hurting her.
I just drew her hanging, I think, and she had tears on her face.
Where did you see this? I don't want my baby to experience What I had experienced in those dreams.
It's okay.
Okay, why don't you get the blue crayon, and why don't you finish that, okay? You okay? It brought everything flooding back.
Oh.
Oh.
There was a girl.
She did go missing.
She did go missing from my apartment.
When she first told me the stories, I didn't really know what to think.
- You don't think I'm crazy, do you? - No.
- You believe me? - Yes.
I can really see how this is affecting you.
I felt that they were signs.
I felt that there was a story here that wanted to be told.
And And she was The voice for this story.
I don't need this thing following me again.
So we went to the library, and we were going through old copies of a local newspaper called the Chico Enterprise-Record.
I'm gonna go check this.
Be right back.
I didn't even know what we were looking for.
We were hours and hours looking and getting a little discouraged, because we weren't finding much.
It's like looking for a needle in a haystack.
February 3, 1976.
And Joel finally found a teeny little article that said, local girl gone missing.
Girl is missing in Chico, California.
And then it says, gone missing from Parmac Road Walnut Gardens Apartment 14.
The exact apartment I lived in.
Right on the top was a photo.
I recognized her right away.
That was the girl that Hannah had seen.
That was the girl I was dreaming about.
Those experiences were real.
There was a real missing girl.
That's her.
Finally, I had a name.
Marie Spannhake.
After seeing that article, I started having more dreams.
I saw the couple Putting Marie's body in the back of their car.
She was dead.
This nagging feeling kept telling me that, you know what? You need to listen, and you need to follow this and investigate and see what this is really about.
And they took her back to I made an appointment with a crime reporter from a local newspaper.
It's not particularly unusual to have people call for information on specific criminal cases.
And hung her up.
She wasn't raving.
She was rather matter-of-fact, maybe a little sad.
She started screaming, and she wouldn't stop screaming.
Jodi and I are looking at each other all nervous, you know? Okay, now what? And he showed us these paper clippings.
The Spannhake case was connected to a case that had made the national news.
It was called the girl in the box case.
A couple, Cameron and Janice Hooker, had kidnapped a woman in Red Bluff named Colleen Stan.
The couple kept her in a box under their bed for seven years.
She was subject to every manner of abuse, but finally, she got free, and the police were brought in.
Do you have a photo of the couple? When I showed Jodi the pictures, her reaction was the kind of reaction I've gotten in the past when I told a family member about some terrible thing that had happened.
There they are in black and white Real people.
I saw the fright in her eyes.
This is the most distressed I've ever seen her.
So then they caught the couple? Yeah, there was a big trial, and the wife immediately agreed to testify against her husband.
She gave the police a lengthy interview in which she made reference to something that had happened a year before they had taken Colleen where they had kidnapped a woman off of the street.
Is it Marie? Janice told the police that the person they kidnapped was Marie Spannhake.
They took her to their home where she was tortured.
There was some very limited evidence and the woman's testimony, but no hard proof.
No body has ever been found.
So now it's making sense to me.
It's Marie Spannhake wanting justice And communicating that to me in my dreams.
I hear numbers.
Now I get it.
Now I get it.
I was dreaming of a location.
I felt it was important that she take this to the police, and her initial reaction was, they'll never believe me.
I'm calling because I have some information about the Marie Spannhake case.
She was a girl who went missing in Chico in 1976.
I know this might sound strange.
And he said, Jodi, why are you calling today? Can you tell me why you're calling right now? I had this overwhelming urge like I needed to call you.
You just gave me the chills.
I can't give you too many details.
But we are in the middle, right now, of doing something in regards to this case.
- Really? - This very day.
Within days, they sent down lead detectives on the case, and they interviewed me for hours.
This is the details you recall seeing from Cameron Hooker's appearance? Yes, it was his belt.
Every single detail.
On the buckle, there was a capital "H" in the middle.
Things I had seen in my dreams.
Yes.
Exactly like this.
The police can't confirm anything, because it's still an open murder case.
They asked me, so what's the 35.
76? I think it's the coordinates to where Marie Elizabeth Spannhake's remains rest.
I was getting frustrated, because I just wanted one thing to be confirmed, one thing that wasn't in the public domain Just for my own sanity.
So I got in contact with an investigative reporter.
So Marie Spannhake gives you all these clues to help try and solve the mystery of her disappearance From beyond the grave? It's a bit convenient, isn't it? The story, initially, I didn't know what to make of it.
Maybe you dreamt this up from magazines, or I need your help.
There's so much about it I just I still don't understand.
I just needed to know that there was one thing in my dreams that was absolutely, without a shadow of a doubt true.
Help me.
When I approached the Red Bluff police, they wouldn't speak to me about Marie's disappearance, but I was able to look through files at the Chico Police Department, because they had a missing persons file on her.
There were interviews with people that Marie had lived with, worked with, her boyfriend at the time.
And then there was the testimony of Janice Hooker.
I wanted to find something that Jodi didn't have access to to prove to me and to anybody else that her dreams were true, something that she wouldn't have been able to read in a book or the newspapers.
Late January 1976, we were driving into Chico, when Cameron spotted a young woman walking alongside the road.
We stopped and offered her a ride.
You're so pretty.
Cameron had some difficulty restraining her.
She made a lot of noise.
Please let me go! After she was tortured, she was brought upstairs to the bathroom.
Finally, I found it She was brought upstairs to the bathroom.
The one piece of information I'd been looking for.
Cameron decided to cut her vocal cords.
He used a knife to stop her from screaming.
It corroborated Jodi's story.
They cut her throat like that.
She described all of this in great detail.
Meredith had found buried in the Janice Hooker confession a detail that hadn't been revealed to the public.
As a journalist, this is the smoking gun that we're always looking for.
Wow.
I felt vindicated.
I felt that now I had Proof.
This has been a huge part of my life, of Hannah's life, of my friend's life.
I believe that it has been years of Marie Spannhake wanting justice to be served and communicating that to me.
Is there really something going on in this apartment? Where are they? She thought I was the one doing it, but I wasn't.
- Mommy, it's your friend.
- What friend? I don't know what she's talking about.
Why am I dreaming such weird things? Why can't I get out of this dream? I saw the fright in her eyes.
Open the door! Stay awake.
Just stay awake.
Back in 1999, I was a single mom with a daughter named Hannah.
I decided to move to Chico, California.
Great! You're here! I felt it would be a really great place to raise my daughter.
And I also had some friends that lived in Chico as well.
Hi.
You remember Hannah, right? - Yeah! - Yeah? Go say hi.
Hi, guys.
And she was having just way too many problems in Montana, and I kept on asking her to come.
- Hi.
- Hey.
Hi.
And when she finally made it, we were so excited, you know? - Let me just pay the.
.
- Oh, no, no, no.
I got it.
I got it.
- Okay.
- How much? There you go.
I was really low on money.
I needed to find an apartment reasonable in price.
I came across Walnut Gardens, and the outside looked pretty inviting.
The neighborhood seemed nice and a place that you would want to raise a family.
Oh, and this is the apartment right up here.
There was an apartment available, apartment number 14.
Don't you have an apartment on the ground floor? I'd really rather prefer that.
I'm showing you the only apartment we have available.
We've got lots of children here.
Never lost one yet, as far as I've heard.
I had a daughter, and the thought of her accidentally falling kind of scared me.
This is what I'll do for you.
She mentioned that as soon as a downstairs apartment would come available, that I would be able to move into that apartment.
I do really like the place.
Is the railing secure? I was strapped for cash, and I didn't have any A whole lot of savings.
Okay.
So I decided to go ahead and take it.
The day I signed the rental agreement I had no idea my life was gonna turn into a living hell.
Now let's play the game.
You cannot come out here on your own.
It's not safe.
Look at those people over there, mom.
They're waving.
I was feeling a little bit anxious that I'm starting a new life with my daughter.
The first night in apartment 14 I had a terrible nightmare.
I witnessed a couple With clothing people would wear in the '70s.
There was a predatory nature to the dream.
They were searching for somebody.
This was so real.
I felt like I was a ghost to them, like they couldn't see me.
I kept seeing a large "H".
Who are these people? Why are they hunting someone? Hannah.
This was unlike any other dreams that I had had before.
I was so scared.
I thought that they were actually there.
It was frightening.
To calm myself down, I called Idie.
I was kind of half asleep.
At first, I thought, there's an emergency.
I mean, my mom, my family, something.
Hello? ¿Que esta pasando? And she's like What's going on? Why are you calling me? Did something happen to Hannah? You know, is she sick? And I'm like Idie, I'm freaking out.
There was a couple, and they came for Hannah, and I wasn't Okay, whoa, whoa.
Uh, if someone's there, you need to call the cops.
No, I was having a dream.
This is about a dream? You know, come on, Jodi.
Give me a break.
She was kind of angry with me.
Jodi, do you have any idea what time it is? No.
I'm sorry.
She rationalized it with me saying Jodi, nightmares sometimes happen when you're stressed out.
My subconscious was working out some sort of irrational fear about Hannah being hurt.
Hold on.
Keep going.
You're gonna fall off.
The next day, it was sunny out, so it was nice.
I just try to forget the dream and forget the incident and just go on with life as normal as possible.
Close in the middle.
Just touch your head.
But I had another dream about the same couple.
They walked down the hallway towards my apartment.
Everything seemed so intensely real.
I felt utterly vulnerable and helpless.
Look at those people over there, mom.
They're waving.
That couple They emanated pure evil.
I'm a mom, and I couldn't help my daughter.
All of a sudden, I just saw Help me.
This poor, innocent girl.
I screamed "Stop.
Don't take this girl!" I wake up at 3:37 in the morning again.
My heart was pounding really fast.
I was actually having a panic attack.
I felt like I needed to get a neighbor or somebody.
No answer.
Please open the door! I was feeling really alone, really frightened, really scared.
Jodi, there's nobody there.
There's nobody there.
It's fine.
You're okay.
The complex manager told me that there was going to be a downstairs apartment available.
I felt relieved.
It has a playground and everything.
Hannah would feel safe.
I wouldn't be always thinking she was gonna fall over the balcony.
This is gonna stop my nightmares, and everything should be fine.
Could be worse.
Really? I didn't care if the apartment was dirty.
I just wanted to get out of apartment number 14.
I had this really weird vibe.
I just felt this coldness.
I felt a presence of someone.
I actually thought that someone just passed me.
I felt nauseous in the apartment, but then I was pregnant.
So I was kind of like, am I getting morning sickness? Or is there really something going on in this apartment? It's not so bad, Idie.
A coat of paint, maybe some new carpet.
I didn't want to tell Jodi, because I didn't want to freak her out.
I didn't want to make her scared in the new apartment.
As I moved in 23, I thought it was my home, that I would be there for a while.
Today, when you were at school In Hannah's bedroom, we made it really cozy.
Of course, she's a little girl, so she wanted everything pink, pink and white.
- You want to see it? - Yeah.
Surprise.
She slept with me, so basically, it was a toy room with clothes.
What do you think? Wow, it's good, but, mom, you got all the toys wrong.
What do you mean? Hannah's favorite toy was a Sesame Street Sleep and Snore Ernie doll.
- I feel great.
- Because Ernie's always there.
It had a really special place on top of her dresser.
You got your very own drawing table.
It wasn't very long after we moved into apartment 23 that strange things started happening.
Where are my keys? I was very particular about having things handy and ready to go.
Hannah, have you seen my keys? They're not on the hook.
No, mom.
I haven't seen them.
What? What? Did I do that? Why would I leave the keys in the middle of the bed? Why would I do that? I just thought, it must be Hannah.
Hannah's probably moving things around because she's a little kid.
Hannah? Hannah, my keys were in the middle of the bed.
Did you put them there as some sort of joke? What type of joke would that be? I remember my mom getting, like, really mad at me, because she thought I was the one moving all her stuff.
Hannah, do you understand that everything needs to be put back in its place? I didn't touch your keys, okay, mom? But she just, like, kept getting mad at me and, like, upset.
She's like, you, like "You can't touch my stuff.
" - Hannah, are you lying to me? - No, mom.
Why would I lie about some stupid keys? She looked like she was gonna cry, because I was yelling.
I was mad at her, because I thought, you know, she's a little kid.
She's lying to me.
I didn't understand.
I didn't understand what was going on and why I'm seeing this happen.
And then I had another dream about the same couple.
And it's another one of those real dreams like I had up in apartment 14.
This time, they were driving a blue car.
They had driven by a girl who I saw walking.
Hey, honey.
You need a ride? No, thank you.
You're so pretty.
Let's go.
Where do you live? That was the exact same girl that I had been dreaming about before.
We've got a friend that lives over there Are you sure we can't give you a ride? I wanted to tell her "No, don't get in that car".
Don't worry.
We won't bite.
I could hear them chatter.
I'm Janice.
Nice to meet you.
I'm Marliz.
Marliz? Yeah, my name's Marie, but people call me Marliz.
Ooh, that's fun.
This is Cameron, my husband.
- Hi.
- Nice to meet you.
How long have you guys been married? What about you? Do you have a boyfriend? Yeah, I do, but we just had a fight.
Oh, that's terrible.
Should we go pick him up? Oh, no, that's fine.
He can just He can cool off.
But you've got someone at home, right? If you're upset? A roommate? No, no, I don't, but that's fine, though.
And all of a sudden, they speed off over onto the freeway.
They were driving down a neighborhood street in Chico.
I recognized it right away.
This is my street.
When they pulled up to my apartment complex, I was scared.
Well, I could use a pit stop.
"Can I use your restroom?" I could see the evil in their face.
I didn't know what to do.
Why am I dreaming such weird things? That's what happened in the previous apartment.
Why am I waking up at 3:37 in the morning? I don't get it.
These dreams took a real physical toll on me.
I was exhausted.
I felt like I hadn't gotten any sleep.
I do remember my mom being pretty stressed out, because, like, I think she's been having experiences herself, but she didn't want to believe it.
Here's your coat.
Put this on.
Hannah, where are your shoes? Hannah had a pair of little pink slip on shoes.
We always keep our shoes by the door.
- Where did you put them? - I don't know.
Hannah, don't play with me.
If you want to go outside and play, then we got to find your shoes.
Hannah, where did you put them? - Where are they? - I didn't Just tell me where they are right now.
She thought I was the one doing it, but I wasn't.
I didn't move them.
Hannah, I don't have time for this.
- Where are they? - I didn't move them.
Hannah, come on, this is the last time I'm gonna do this.
Right smack dab in front of me, there they are.
Hannah, what is on the bed? My shoes? Did you put the shoes on the bed? No, I didn't touch the shoes.
Hannah, don't lie to me.
I'm not gonna stand for it.
- Stop! - I'm sorry.
It was upsetting to see my mom, like, so upset.
I'm sorry.
You're right.
Hannah, did you see mommy put the shoes on the bed? No.
I started to think maybe I was losing my mind.
I felt like I just had to get out of the apartment.
I just wanted to pretend like everything was fine.
You're crazy! What's your problem? I was so overwhelmed with, like, anxiety.
Hey! Hey, gorgeous.
I wanted to feel safe.
I did not want to go to sleep.
I really felt an overwhelming sense of impending doom.
They walked up to my apartment, apartment number 14.
This is a really great place you got here.
Oh, thank you.
I just actually moved in recently, so I see the man put a couple drops of something from the little bottle on this handkerchief.
Like, why am I Why am I seeing all this stuff? I didn't get it.
Yeah, I actually work down at this photo shop.
And then it's almost like I was remembering the other dream.
Get out! Get out! They picked her up together and walked her over to the car.
If someone had seen her, she might have just looked like a drunk college kid.
It scared me because it seemed like it was happening for real, like I was really seeing somebody being taken away.
I was trying to rationalize it again in my mind.
But there were also things I couldn't explain, the strange occurrences in the house.
It started out with small things, moving keys, remote controls being moved into the bathroom, and then it ended up being Like, dining room chairs would move.
None of this made any sense whatsoever to me.
I really started to think that if it wasn't Hannah That it was me.
That I was doing these things.
I wanted to get to the bottom of it and figure out what's really going on here.
She thought, like, there was people in her house or something, you know, people moving her stuff, because it wasn't me.
Maybe someone was trying to get my attention.
But I didn't know if it was a person in the complex.
I just didn't know.
I thought about leaving the apartment.
However, I just didn't have enough money to move.
I didn't have a job yet.
I had to stay there.
I was really tired, and I was afraid to go back to sleep, because I didn't want to have another dream.
I thought, stay awake.
Just stay awake.
Oh, God.
Shut up.
In the dream, I was back with that couple again in the blue car.
Where are you taking me? Let me go! Oh, please! Please, I'm Let me go.
And he pulls out this contraption.
What is that? - No! - Get her head.
He rammed this thing over her head.
Gonna be quiet now? To see such fear and terror on her face scared the hell out of me.
This wasn't some random act of violence.
They had this all planned out.
I felt suffocated.
I got to get out of here.
Please, I want to wake up.
And I couldn't.
I could not wake up.
I didn't know where I was, where they were, but it seemed like their home.
I'm seeing weird stuff, like, something with chains on it.
- Oh, God.
Oh, God.
- Shh.
Whatever this is, I don't want to see it.
She was hung like this.
I'll do anything.
Please, let me go.
To be in a dream and witnessing it Please let me go! Let me go! And feeling like I want to do something, but I can't Is heart wrenching.
They started to touch her, like, in a disgusting, evil, sexual kind of way.
Stop.
No! Please don't! My parents have money.
They can give you anything.
Please, let me go.
Please, no! Please let me go! The woman just put her mouth on her and bit her.
And her eyes just conveyed Please help me.
And I couldn't.
I didn't know what to do.
I was just a ghost in a dream.
Wake up.
Mommy, wake up.
No! Wake up.
Mommy, wake up.
Are you okay? It's the most horrifying Disgusting thing to see, another human being torture someone like that.
That's someone's baby.
That's someone's child.
What if that happened to Hannah? I couldn't take another thing happening.
- Hold still.
- Ow.
Ow.
- Mommy, look.
- What? - Mommy, it's your friend.
- What friend? I don't know what she's talking about.
- There's nobody here.
- She's right there.
I look around, and Where? Maybe you scared her away.
Now here my child's seeing things.
Hannah? Hannah, I can't take this right now.
Don't make things up, okay? Stop playing games.
- Don't play games with mommy.
- Mom, I didn't make this up.
Okay, come with me.
That night, I had another dream.
The girl was in the bathroom.
- Let me go.
- Shh.
Please, you have to let me go.
I can't stay here.
I have to go home.
She kept begging for her life.
Please let me go.
She was pleading at this point.
Oh, my God.
If you don't shut up, he's gonna come in here! Will you shut up? And I see him take the knife and just Like, pull her neck back like this and then just I'm so scared and startled.
Please help me.
Her eyes meet my eyes, and right then, I knew she saw me.
I knew she saw me.
I saw her.
She saw me.
Help me, please.
And then, all of a sudden, she was gone.
They shoot up on their own.
The lights start flashing in the apartment.
Pssht! The TV turns on.
White static noise.
Now let's play the game.
Sleep and Snore Ernie doll is in the center of the living room screaming.
Now let's play the game.
Let's play the game.
Let's play the game.
I was so overwhelmed, and I couldn't take it any more.
At that point, I didn't want to be alone.
I was afraid now after having the nightmares and having the strange occurrences happen in the house.
- I missed you.
- Oh, you look beautiful, Misty.
Misty's a special girl.
She's actually deaf.
Seriously? I had known Misty for many years, and I trusted her.
She was a family friend.
Exams.
Hannah? I don't I don't I don't know.
I wanted to have someone there.
Surprise! I was hoping that it would all stop, that I could chalk it all up to stress, but that's not what happened.
Oh, Misty, I'm sorry.
Have you been waiting a long time? Ah, I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
I feel great.
I hear Hannah's Ernie doll.
Hannah, stop.
Hannah, stop.
I feel great.
I feel great.
- Stay here.
- I feel great.
- I'm really anxious - I feel great.
But I don't want to scare these little kids.
I feel great.
I feel great.
I feel great.
I feel great.
I feel great.
I feel great.
I feel great.
Ernie has a noose around his neck.
- Stay here.
- What happened to Ernie? She's signing to me, what is that? I don't know.
Nobody has the keys.
This is the first time I say, let's call the police.
At this point, I'm thinking, Misty witnessed something.
Hannah's talking about an imaginary friend.
Something is just not right here.
Somebody broke in.
I checked the windows and the doors, but there's no sign of a break-in.
But could you just send somebody? We're very upset over here.
- Is anything missing, ma'am? - No.
Has anything been moved since you discovered the crime scene? No Yes.
No.
I see.
So it all looks pretty much the same as a normal little girl's tidy room.
Yes, except for the fact that there's an Ernie doll with a noose around his neck.
Well, tell me, has Bert been acting suspicious lately? Or Elmo? Do you think it could have been Elmo? He just thought that I was some sort of a nutcase that needed to have some sort of police attention.
This is a busy town, lady.
Now who am I gonna call if something weird happens again? Misty had a school event early in the morning.
She needed to be at the bus stop at 6:00.
None of us wanted to be alone, because we were scared.
Help me.
Please.
We made sure that the clocks were set for 5:30 so that she could be at the bus stop by 6:00.
Help me.
Please.
I look over, and I see the time, and it says 6:00 in the morning.
We're already late.
Everything's going crazy.
I'm like, is this a dream? Am I in a dream? Why can't I get out of this dream? The Ernie doll was going off saying, I feel great.
I feel great.
I feel great.
I feel great.
I feel great.
I was like, what? Run.
Just run.
Go.
I just start I just start screaming at the top of my lungs.
Get out of my house! Get out of my house! Whatever evil spirit's in my house, in the name of Jesus, get out! It doesn't belong to you any more! I just want out of here, and I want my child to be safe.
Yeah, she's making trouble.
Yeah, I see it.
They offered me an apartment in a completely different apartment complex in downtown Chico.
Part of the agreement would be that I would not talk about the haunted apartment.
And I thought to myself, hey, whatever it takes, I'm going.
I just want out of here, and I want my child to be safe.
The day that I left Walnut Garden apartment complex, my life changed.
Three, two, one.
Woo! - Catch it, Hannah! - Hannah and I were excited.
We were happy.
I got a job, and I met a wonderful man.
His name is Joel.
My performance was quite good, but the girls were not very good.
- Hey.
- Hey.
We would spend time together, and I enjoyed, you know, the interactions that she had with my kids.
All right, let's see what you can do.
Let's go.
Lets go.
Woo! Catch it, Hannah.
Joel brought an enormous amount of stability and happiness to my life.
I wanted to put every single thing about the haunted apartment behind me and just completely move on.
Once in a while, I have a dream about her.
I did not feel scared of her, because I just thought she was one of my mom's friends, and, like, she was comforting.
Bake me a cake as fast as you can.
I felt like I could just, like, talk to her sometimes.
She said her name was Marliz, but I called her Myliz, because I don't think I could pronounce that.
Put it in the oven for Myliz and me.
What happened with your neck? Don't be scared.
Please.
She loves the water One day, Hannah and Idie's son were drawing.
She seems to have absolutely No, but he was the same way.
It just took a little bit.
All of a sudden, I saw her picture.
It was a startling image.
I was kind of taken back.
Hannah, what is this? Who is this girl? That's my friend, mom.
She's your friend too.
Hannah, is this the girl you saw in the mirror in the apartment? I told her, that's Myliz; That's my Angel.
Hannah, what is this? That's the people that are hurting her.
I just drew her hanging, I think, and she had tears on her face.
Where did you see this? I don't want my baby to experience What I had experienced in those dreams.
It's okay.
Okay, why don't you get the blue crayon, and why don't you finish that, okay? You okay? It brought everything flooding back.
Oh.
Oh.
There was a girl.
She did go missing.
She did go missing from my apartment.
When she first told me the stories, I didn't really know what to think.
- You don't think I'm crazy, do you? - No.
- You believe me? - Yes.
I can really see how this is affecting you.
I felt that they were signs.
I felt that there was a story here that wanted to be told.
And And she was The voice for this story.
I don't need this thing following me again.
So we went to the library, and we were going through old copies of a local newspaper called the Chico Enterprise-Record.
I'm gonna go check this.
Be right back.
I didn't even know what we were looking for.
We were hours and hours looking and getting a little discouraged, because we weren't finding much.
It's like looking for a needle in a haystack.
February 3, 1976.
And Joel finally found a teeny little article that said, local girl gone missing.
Girl is missing in Chico, California.
And then it says, gone missing from Parmac Road Walnut Gardens Apartment 14.
The exact apartment I lived in.
Right on the top was a photo.
I recognized her right away.
That was the girl that Hannah had seen.
That was the girl I was dreaming about.
Those experiences were real.
There was a real missing girl.
That's her.
Finally, I had a name.
Marie Spannhake.
After seeing that article, I started having more dreams.
I saw the couple Putting Marie's body in the back of their car.
She was dead.
This nagging feeling kept telling me that, you know what? You need to listen, and you need to follow this and investigate and see what this is really about.
And they took her back to I made an appointment with a crime reporter from a local newspaper.
It's not particularly unusual to have people call for information on specific criminal cases.
And hung her up.
She wasn't raving.
She was rather matter-of-fact, maybe a little sad.
She started screaming, and she wouldn't stop screaming.
Jodi and I are looking at each other all nervous, you know? Okay, now what? And he showed us these paper clippings.
The Spannhake case was connected to a case that had made the national news.
It was called the girl in the box case.
A couple, Cameron and Janice Hooker, had kidnapped a woman in Red Bluff named Colleen Stan.
The couple kept her in a box under their bed for seven years.
She was subject to every manner of abuse, but finally, she got free, and the police were brought in.
Do you have a photo of the couple? When I showed Jodi the pictures, her reaction was the kind of reaction I've gotten in the past when I told a family member about some terrible thing that had happened.
There they are in black and white Real people.
I saw the fright in her eyes.
This is the most distressed I've ever seen her.
So then they caught the couple? Yeah, there was a big trial, and the wife immediately agreed to testify against her husband.
She gave the police a lengthy interview in which she made reference to something that had happened a year before they had taken Colleen where they had kidnapped a woman off of the street.
Is it Marie? Janice told the police that the person they kidnapped was Marie Spannhake.
They took her to their home where she was tortured.
There was some very limited evidence and the woman's testimony, but no hard proof.
No body has ever been found.
So now it's making sense to me.
It's Marie Spannhake wanting justice And communicating that to me in my dreams.
I hear numbers.
Now I get it.
Now I get it.
I was dreaming of a location.
I felt it was important that she take this to the police, and her initial reaction was, they'll never believe me.
I'm calling because I have some information about the Marie Spannhake case.
She was a girl who went missing in Chico in 1976.
I know this might sound strange.
And he said, Jodi, why are you calling today? Can you tell me why you're calling right now? I had this overwhelming urge like I needed to call you.
You just gave me the chills.
I can't give you too many details.
But we are in the middle, right now, of doing something in regards to this case.
- Really? - This very day.
Within days, they sent down lead detectives on the case, and they interviewed me for hours.
This is the details you recall seeing from Cameron Hooker's appearance? Yes, it was his belt.
Every single detail.
On the buckle, there was a capital "H" in the middle.
Things I had seen in my dreams.
Yes.
Exactly like this.
The police can't confirm anything, because it's still an open murder case.
They asked me, so what's the 35.
76? I think it's the coordinates to where Marie Elizabeth Spannhake's remains rest.
I was getting frustrated, because I just wanted one thing to be confirmed, one thing that wasn't in the public domain Just for my own sanity.
So I got in contact with an investigative reporter.
So Marie Spannhake gives you all these clues to help try and solve the mystery of her disappearance From beyond the grave? It's a bit convenient, isn't it? The story, initially, I didn't know what to make of it.
Maybe you dreamt this up from magazines, or I need your help.
There's so much about it I just I still don't understand.
I just needed to know that there was one thing in my dreams that was absolutely, without a shadow of a doubt true.
Help me.
When I approached the Red Bluff police, they wouldn't speak to me about Marie's disappearance, but I was able to look through files at the Chico Police Department, because they had a missing persons file on her.
There were interviews with people that Marie had lived with, worked with, her boyfriend at the time.
And then there was the testimony of Janice Hooker.
I wanted to find something that Jodi didn't have access to to prove to me and to anybody else that her dreams were true, something that she wouldn't have been able to read in a book or the newspapers.
Late January 1976, we were driving into Chico, when Cameron spotted a young woman walking alongside the road.
We stopped and offered her a ride.
You're so pretty.
Cameron had some difficulty restraining her.
She made a lot of noise.
Please let me go! After she was tortured, she was brought upstairs to the bathroom.
Finally, I found it She was brought upstairs to the bathroom.
The one piece of information I'd been looking for.
Cameron decided to cut her vocal cords.
He used a knife to stop her from screaming.
It corroborated Jodi's story.
They cut her throat like that.
She described all of this in great detail.
Meredith had found buried in the Janice Hooker confession a detail that hadn't been revealed to the public.
As a journalist, this is the smoking gun that we're always looking for.
Wow.
I felt vindicated.
I felt that now I had Proof.
This has been a huge part of my life, of Hannah's life, of my friend's life.
I believe that it has been years of Marie Spannhake wanting justice to be served and communicating that to me.