The Dead Files (2011) s02e06 Episode Script
Final Curtain Call
A lot of sadness here.
People here didn't want them.
They were, in life, unwanted brats.
Did it scare the kids? Oh, yeah.
They were frightened.
There was something I saw that scared me.
You could see what looked like a head peeking out.
If you had a kid, would you let them come here? Probably not.
Things are really messed up.
There's something down there.
My name.
.
Is Amy Allan.
A lot of dead people are here.
I see dead people.
This is not good.
I speak to dead people.
He is very pissed off.
And they speak to me.
The house is angry.
But there's only one way to know if my findings are real.
He's killed people.
I rely on my partner.
I'm Steve Dischiavi.
I'm a retired New York City homicide Detective.
He got shot at his house? And I know every person, every house has secrets.
Aren't you terrified, being here? It's my job to reveal 'em.
That sounds like something out of The Exorcist.
But Steve and I never speak.
.
We never communicate during an investigation.
.
Until the very end.
.
That's bad.
When we uncover if it's safe for you to stay.
.
I'd like some answers.
Or time to get out.
Amy and I work independently from one another.
It's my job to sort fact from fiction with interviews, research, and hard evidence.
When Amy and I do meet, hopefully our findings can help shed some light on our client's problems.
I received a call from a woman named Rebecca who works at the Slocum House Theatre in Vancouver, Washington.
Apparently, there's some strange things going on in the building.
But her biggest concern is the kids.
They come there to see a theater show, and apparently, she thinks they're in danger.
I'm gonna try to find out what's going on.
As I approach this location, before I even open and invite the dead to communicate with me, I begin to get images flashing through my mind.
Before Amy enters, I remove anything that could influence her investigation.
This theater contains a lot of information that could be leading.
I take my time to remove everything so the building is ready for tonight's walk.
A lot of sadness here.
A lot of sadness here.
Things are really messed up.
Um.
.
Uh, there's, like, chil.
.
A lot of children.
Every medium has something that just creeps them out.
And for me, it's dead children.
Sometimes I try to tune them out, but there are just too many in this place to avoid them.
They're running around and being happy and happy.
Everything's fine and, uh.
.
But it's not.
It's really not.
And it's all.
.
Um, really messed up.
The Slocum House is Vancouver's oldest community theater.
And after 20 years of being the company's vice president, Rebecca's grown very concerned about the safety of the children.
So I'm going to meet with her and see how Amy and I can help out.
Why do you need me and Amy to come in? We've noticed that the activity has increased recently.
And, uh, mostly when the kids are here.
And I think it's frightening the kids.
We usually have two classes of kids in the summertime, and this year we didn't have any sign up at all.
And I think they're just frightened to be here.
Uh, what kind of things are going on? We've had apparitions, um, voices, um, things being moved.
You know, a little bit of everything.
Okay.
Are you ever frightened when you're here? Yeah.
Why would you stay here? It's my job.
Okay.
But your concern is for the kids.
Absolutely for the kids.
It dramatically increases when the kids are here.
- Okay.
- That's my main concern.
I want the children safe.
Okay.
There's a lot of kids here.
I don't like that if they're dead.
Mm-hmm.
Like, how many kids? And are they all from the same period? - Like, are they all interacting and.
.
- Yeah, yeah.
They're just being loud and running around, kind of torturing the adults here.
They're just acting crazy.
Uh, so, Rebecca, this is the theater? Yeah.
Okay, what happens here? We were doing a show, and just as we were going for a curtain call and bowing, there was a vase of flowers on a bookshelf, and it flew off and landed center stage.
But was anybody there? Nobody was there.
We were all up front bowing.
So I guess the audience sees this.
Yeah, the audience did see it.
What else happens in this room? There was this one time where the children were here, and we turn off all of the lights and they recite their lines to make sure they know them.
And as they were doing that, they were looking on the stage, and there were lights flying all over the place.
And what did it look like to you? Actually, it looked.
.
Kind of looked like fireflies or something.
And it had nothing to do with production lights or anything like that? No, no, no, it was totally dark in here.
We turned all the lights off.
Did it scare the kids? Oh, yeah.
They were frightened.
People here didn't want them.
Their families didn't like 'em either.
Mm-hmm.
They were, in life, unwanted brats.
They were.
.
Spoiled or, like, rotten, rotten.
Did they live here or did they just come.
.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I wonder why ** oh and, there's bunk beds.
Bunk beds.
Oh.
Why? Why would you do this? There's, like, six.
.
Six of them.
Six what? Girls.
Things are really messed up.
So, Rebecca, what happens down in here? Um, I've heard children laughing.
- In the basement here? - Yes, in the basement.
- Were there any kids in the building? - No, no.
This was late at night.
It.
.
It sounded like there was two or three kids in the corner.
And like they were playing a game and laughing with each other.
And I.
.
I looked.
Of course, there was nothing there.
So is there anything else you might have heard or seen down here? I was down here by myself and I saw something shoot across in the back corner as if it were trying to hide from me or something.
It looked like a younger teenage girl.
That's interesting.
Okay.
I hear someone running.
A girl running down this hallway.
There's a young girl, uh, and she's yelling at another girl.
They're teenagers.
She wants her to leave her alone, and she's a stupid [Beep.]
.
There's, like, three s.
.
Three sisters.
There's one in particular, um.
.
And she's probably, like, 18 or something, and blonde hair, brown eyes.
She's, like, 5'2.
.
And she's crying a lot.
What can you tell me about the house that could help me in my investigation? This is not the original location of the house.
The house was actually located about a block over and down a little bit.
And we had it moved here in 1966.
So we're really close to where it was.
Exactly, yeah.
What about this basement? At the old site, there was no basement.
This we did.
This was all underground.
Well, I guess.
.
Do this.
Oh, uh.
.
I don't like it.
What's wrong? I don't know.
I don't like it in here.
I, like, felt like I walked through a wall.
Oh.
And then I got scared, because I.
.
There was something I saw that scared me.
Someone here hates children.
Hates 'em.
There was something I saw.
.
That scared me.
And it went down.
It got sucked into the ground.
It was a big guy, I think.
A big guy.
Yeah, uh.
.
I don't like him, and that kind of made me nervous.
So the guy went in the.
.
Into the floor.
.
Uh, over in here.
And he's running because he doesn't want to be bothered.
He is kinda scary, this guy.
He's like 7 feet tall.
He's huge, and he's, like, really broad.
.
A big, broad guy.
Kim, thanks for meeting with me.
Uh, I spoke with Rebecca.
Uh, she told me what was going on and some of the concerns she has.
Have you experienced anything or seen anything? Yeah, um, mostly, I don't like coming down to the basement by myself, because it just makes me feel really nervous down here.
I was closing, uh, the cellar door, and a man, very distinctly, in a brown suit, short cut, steel-gray hair, kind of stocky, walking directly under there, and I said, "hey, what are you doing?" Because I thought it was somebody downstairs taking a tour.
And I looked around, and there was nobody down here.
Anything else that you've seen in the basement? There's a.
.
A.
.
An old air vent that's, um, right in the ceiling here.
And I cover it with a piece of paper when I'm doing a show because it makes me nervous.
It feels like, you know, things kind of seep up into it and mess with my lights.
Th.
.
Things don't work properly when, you know, when I'm up there.
This big guy, you know.
.
And, you know, if there's a sensitive, occasionally, they're gonna see him.
And he, uh, he was probably like 5'7.
.
But he was a pretty.
.
Pretty stocky guy.
In death, entities can project themselves the way they want to be seen.
The 7-foot man I encountered in the basement was really only 5'7 when he was alive.
He doesn't like children.
He might be aggressive.
And he, like, shakes 'em sometimes.
There's a really uncomfortable feeling up here.
The men's costume room right behind you, I always feel like there's a man in there or there's a male presence.
It's.
.
It's.
.
I just feel like I'm being followed.
Did you ever experience anything? Yes, one time during a show, um, we could hear what sounded like kids running, um, things getting knocked over, shoes dropping.
So we came up to investigate and we didn't see anybody up here, but the two other people I was with, um, were looking down the hall, and they could see what looked like a head, you know, peeking out.
Kim, I don't understand.
You're.
.
You're.
.
- Uncomfortable in the basement.
- Right.
- You're uncomfortable up here.
- Mm-hmm.
There's things going on in the theater level.
Why would you stay here? I.
.
I come here because I like doing what I'm doing.
And it's one of those pride things, you're not gonna let it beat you.
I'm getting really mad.
You're getting what? - Angry.
- Why? Because they're not being clear about.
.
What they want.
Shaun, I understand you were the stage manager here at some point.
That's correct.
Let me ask you a question about Rebecca and Kim.
I mean, are.
.
Are they legit? They crazy? What's the story? Nothing about them, to me, would seem crazy.
Okay.
Do you, uh, know, if, uh, when kids have been present, has anything happened once the kids are here? When the kids are here, it definitely wakes the house up.
Did you have anything happen here? I will hear my name being called, usually from this point, from the greenroom.
It won't be like a, "hey, Shaun.
" - It'll be.
.
- "Hey, Shaun.
" And there's nobody here.
What else happened? I've seen a man in the men's dressing room.
He's standing in the window, almost to greet you.
- Shaun, if you had a kid.
.
- Mm-hmm.
A young kid, would you let them come here? Probably not.
It's an old man.
Ooh.
He's old.
And he, uh, is tired of children, because he thought they were rotten.
All I know is that old man didn't like 'em.
He initially liked children.
And then he grew to hate them.
There's some mental illness here.
Yeah, crazy.
"Crazy" in big letters.
- What does that mean? - It's just "crazy" in big letters.
That's what I see.
"Crazy.
" Where do you see that? Like, just words written on a plaque.
"Crazy.
" There's some mental illness here.
Yeah, crazy.
"Crazy" in big letters.
"Crazy.
" There are plenty of crazy sightings at the Slocum Theatre.
But before I start digging into its past, I want to make sure there's nothing structurally wrong with the house.
That might cause things to just move on their own.
It's a long shot, but I've called in a building inspector to give the house a once-over.
Kurt, thanks for coming out to meet me.
Absolutely.
There's claims of objects moving from one side of a room to another, stuff falling off shelves for no reason.
What I need to find out, and I know it's a long shot, is if there's anything structurally in this house that would cause that.
For something to move all the way across a room, we'd have to have something pretty dramatic.
I would think we'd be able to find that if it's here.
With over 20 years on the police Department, I know that you have to rule out the obvious first.
Since the house was moved, I'm hoping that'll explain why things have been shifting around.
So, Kurt, what did you find out? Well, I didn't find anything that would justify the items falling off shelves or being moved from one side of the room to another.
We have some slight areas of unevenness that are not level, but nothing like you're describing.
So there's nothing extreme here.
Nothing extreme.
Now that I know the Slocum Theatre is structurally sound, I've gotta start digging into who lived and died here.
So I'm going to speak with a local writer who knows this town inside and out.
Jeff, thanks for taking the time to meet with me.
I appreciate it.
Uh, I know you've written several books, uh, about the Vancouver, Washington, area.
My interest is in the Slocum House Theatre.
I was wondering if you could help me out with that.
The Slocum House was built by Charles and Laura Slocum in the late 1870s.
You know, you can tell, they're obviously well-to-do people, and I can imagine them, when they first got married, being really, really happy together, buying that big, huge house lot, and then ten years later, starting to build their dream house for a whole bunch of kids and cousins and things.
And yet, as life went on, they didn't have any children.
Obviously, the house is built for a large family.
It.
.
It was.
And.
.
And Charles was gone a lot, and so she was really kind of stuck, and she more or less adopted all the neighborhood children as surrogates.
So there would be birthday parties all the time, and little plays for the children, and.
.
And I think any occasion she could find, she would bring the children in.
This one lady, she was.
.
She was trapped, um, and didn't like her life, and, uh, uh, there's like chil.
.
A lot of children.
I don't know if they're dead unwanted brats.
I'm hoping they're just residual.
Aren't the kids a part of this family here? Nope.
They come from somewhere else? Yeah.
Do you know what the reason was why they didn't have any kids? No, I honestly don't know, but they both started a little late.
He was almost 30, and she was in her mid 20s, which, for back then, that was pretty old.
Right.
Uh, but Charles was away a lot.
I mean, he had business interests all the way into Idaho, places like that.
This man, he just wants to be away, and so he goes away a lot.
He's unhappy that, uh, this is how his life turned out.
Now what I need to do is dig into the property's history before the Slocums were there.
I'm headed over to the Clark County historical museum.
Hopefully, I'm gonna get some leads over there.
In a case that dates back to the But I'm able to uncover two pieces of info.
A guy named Amos Short once owned the land where the theater sits.
And he was involved in a bloody land dispute resulting in two deaths.
They're putting bags on dead people.
And there's all these bugs.
And it smells because their bodies were rotting.
It was just really bad.
They're putting bags on dead people.
And, uh.
.
And there's all these bugs.
And it smells because their bodies were rotting.
I finally got some solid leads at the library.
It turns out that a man named Amos Short had a legal claim to the property that the Slocum Theatre sits on.
Some land developer called Hudson's Bay Company wanted him off.
Apparently, Amos wasn't having it, and he shot two of their guys.
Now I have to meet with a local historian to find out what led up to that incident.
I found out about Amos and Esther Short, that lived on the property where the Slocum House Theatre is.
Mm-hmm.
What do you know about Amos and Esther Short? Well, Amos and Esther Short came out on.
.
On the Oregon trail.
They eventually had, I think it was 12 children.
And they filed a land claim, uh, where that house is located now, but there were competing, uh, individuals and organizations for that land.
The Hudson's Bay Company was here, and they wanted the Shorts to leave.
And when he was gone, Esther was harassed.
It was an individual, Dr.
Gardner, and a Hawaiian gentleman from the Hudson's Bay Company.
They harassed her on a regular basis.
Uh, destroyed their agricultural fields, and they burned her cabin down three times.
I mean, there was a lot of harassment here.
There was someone here who was a Doctor at some point, and this educated man did not like women.
Didn't like them at all.
Gardner and his assistant, uh, come on to the property.
They have a confrontation with Amos, and then he gives 'em a verbal warning, asking them to leave.
And then the shooting happens.
And he winds up killing both of them.
Right, right, and.
.
And he's acquitted of self-defense.
So Amos Short killed the two men who tried to run him off his own land.
But I need to know what happened to Amos and his wife after that.
So I managed to track down a relative of Esther Short to see if she could provide me with more details regarding this case.
What's your relationship to Esther Short? I'm about, uh, five generations down from Esther Short.
This is, uh, Esther when she was a young woman.
Now when Amos wasn't around, did they try getting her off the land? Oh, yes.
I don't know how many times the Hudson Bay people, uh, put 'em on a raft and sent 'em down the river.
Probably three or four times.
- The kids.
.
- The kids.
- And her? - So it was in the middle of the winter.
One of those times, she was pregnant when she was put on that raft.
So these had to be pretty brutal men to do something like that to her and ten kids.
I mean, it was just like they didn't exist.
So Esther and Amos suffered some serious hardships.
Oh, yeah.
Amos was just determined he was gonna be here.
But he went to, uh, San Francisco with a load of potatoes, and then on his way back, the whole ship went down, there were no survivors.
Was it accidental? I do not know, but I suspect that had something to do with the antagonism.
There was a.
.
A big event.
Someone's lost and people are running all over.
Inside the house, there's a panic.
I feel like the person who's lost is a male.
Uh, they're scared because this male, uh, they would be lost, uh, without him.
Now what happened to Esther after Amos died? She had to take care of her kids.
She eventually ended up having two different hotels.
She ran those, and she did everything she could to make it succeed.
And I think she was tough enough and strong enough that she was absolutely determined that she was gonna leave a legacy for her kids.
I came across several dead people on my walk.
But I decided to have a sketch artist draw the most prominent one, the angry Doctor.
There was a male.
He had a heart-shaped face.
Um, what can you tell me about his nose? It starts pretty high.
The bridge is pretty high.
Did it look sort of like that roughly? Proportion-wise and everything? I think his nose is a little thinner.
A little thinner.
Okay.
Yeah.
What can you tell me about his eyes? They're deep set and they're a little bit far apart.
And what can you tell me about his hairdo? It came down pretty.
.
Pretty low.
Then it's all slick.
.
Slicked.
Sort of like that? Yes.
Amy and I work independently of one another.
Tonight we'll be discussing our findings for the first time.
Well, guys, it's good to see you again.
Uh, this is my partner.
.
Amy.
- Hi.
- Hi.
They run a theater show for the kids.
Correct.
Apparently, whenever kids are in the theater, activity in the house goes through the roof.
And it's a big concern for them.
They're worried about the kids and to see if they're safe.
So with that being said, I'm gonna turn it over to Amy and find out what happened on her walk.
Well, it was really interesting because I had, um, physical sensations that were a little unusual.
It felt like I was walking through walls.
And that was downstairs in the entrance to the changing area, I guess.
Like I hit the wall, and then it gave.
Uh, I don't like it.
What's wrong? And that kind of made me nervous.
The interesting thing is that there used to be a wall there.
We have recently redone that whole basement.
And there was another room down there that we actually got rid of completely.
Oh, wow.
Okay.
The house was moved in 1966 from where it originally was.
Mm-hmm.
And it didn't have a basement originally.
No.
So it was all dirt there.
- Really? - Yeah.
I also began to feel um, a real sense of despair and depression and loss.
And then I met this younger female who was feeling this way.
And it seemed to have a lot to do with her and her family.
She was missing her husband.
- He was always gone and traveling and.
.
- Hmm.
I think she really, really loved him a lot.
I got a picture of, uh, Charles and Laura Slocum.
They met here in town.
They got married.
They built that house.
Now obviously the house is big, and you would think they built a house that big because they were gonna have kids.
So they didn't have any kids.
We don't know really why.
Interesting.
A lot of sadness, very depressing, like nobody was ever really happy here.
He used to go away a lot on business and then come back.
She used to do a lot of events in the house for the kids in the neighborhood.
Apparently, uh, it filled the void of not having kids.
Once when I was in the theater, um, I was sitting there, and this apparition of this woman came walking past me.
And she had long hair, and she.
.
She didn't acknowledge me.
She just kept walking right past.
And you think it's her? I do.
I do think it's her.
So, Amy, what else did you see on your walk? I came into contact with residual imprints of children.
People here didn't want them because they were.
.
Spoiled.
They were, in life, unwanted brats.
And there were at least ten of them.
They were running, yelling and screaming and jumping and.
.
Any adult, they're like, on, and, um, wanting attention, and.
.
Yeah, it was kind of overwhelming, just, like, how much, how loud, how active these kids were.
We tend to hear noises, especially when kids are present, and, uh, Shaun and Rebecca saw what looked like a smaller head.
.
Kind of peeking around.
I just opened the door and said, "okay, you guys, knock it off.
" "We have a show.
We need you to stop making noise.
" And, uh, yeah, nobody was upstairs.
I also saw an elderly gentleman.
He traveled all the time.
Then I got the educated man.
He hated women and.
.
He didn't like children.
You know, I went back a lot further than the Slocums.
Uh, the land that house sat on was originally owned by, uh, Amos and Esther Short.
Uh, it wasn't even U.
S.
soil at the.
.
At the time.
And they were in a battle with the Hudson Bay Company.
They didn't want them here.
They claimed the land here, that it was theirs.
When Amos would go off on business, Esther was left alone with the ten kids.
Hudson Bay Company did everything they could to get rid of her.
They destroyed the crops.
They burned their cabin three times.
Even went as far as, two times, putting her and the ten kids in a boat and sticking them on the river with no oars.
What? "Take care.
" That's pretty sick.
Shaun, tell Amy about the guy you see in the window.
I'm wondering if he could be one of the three guys Amy saw.
Every time I walk into the side door of the theater, the men's costume room window, a man is standing there watching me.
And it's just this.
.
Wyatt Earp-looking man.
Amy, you sketched one of the men you saw, right? Yes.
Um, I sketched who I felt was the educated man.
He hated women and.
.
He didn't like children.
You know what? Let's take a look at the sketch.
That's who I see.
Amy, you sketched one of the men you saw, right? - Yes, I did.
- Okay.
I sketched who I felt was the educated man.
What do you think? Wow.
Yeah.
That's him.
That's the man that watches me in the window.
Everything about it is spot-on.
Oh, man, the hair is just ridiculous.
That's.
.
That's it.
The hair was very specific, so.
.
Yeah.
Well, there's a lot more to the story.
Um, as far as Amos goes, at one point, Amos was home, and.
.
Two men came again to try to get him off the property.
Ahh.
He told them, "don't come on my land" "or I'm gonna shoot.
" Gave 'em a warning shot.
They didn't listen.
Two more shots, and he killed both men.
And it happened right outside the door of the house.
- Oh, my gosh.
- Wow.
Now both of them worked for the Hudson Bay Company.
One guy was named Dr.
Gardner, and, uh, his assistant, a Hawaiian guy.
There was someone here who was a Doctor at some point.
He hates the girls, like, the teenage girls.
Just hates 'em.
Hates 'em so much.
Hates 'em.
Unfortunately, there is no photo of Dr.
David Gardner.
I don't know who this educated man that I saw was, but I do know that he hated women.
He died in 1850.
Hardly anybody's picture was taken back then.
But it's obvious that you and Amy saw the same guy.
That's him.
Yeah.
A Doctor is obviously an educated man, especially in the 1850s.
Now, Amy, you said this man hated children? Mm-hmm.
Yes.
Well, we many never know if it's really Dr.
Gardner who's scaring the children here.
But the most pressing question is, is it safe for those kids to come into the theater? That being said, I'm gonna turn it over to Amy.
Well.
.
In this case, there's.
.
Good news.
I feel it's safe for them.
But I have a problem with the 7-foot man.
He.
.
Is kinda scary, this guy.
And he's, like, really broad.
.
A big, broad guy.
So was he 7 feet tall, or was he just presenting himself.
.
- He was just presenting.
.
- Okay.
- In life, he was, like, 5'7.
.
- Okay.
But in death, he's 7 feet tall.
I think he needs a stern talking to because he is being a hypocrite.
He is saying he wants to be left alone, and yet, he's harassing.
.
People.
So that needs to stop.
I think you guys should talk about what each of you has experienced, what you want, what you don't want, write it all down, and then go down there as a group and read out the whole thing.
Be like, "that's your space, you hang out there.
" "We'll respect that if you respect us.
" "If you don't respect us, then you're gonna have to go.
" I'm certain the 7-foot-man was Dr.
Gardner's assistant.
He's chosen to stay in the theater, but needs to move on.
Amy, what do they do if, after they have this talk with this guy, and it doesn't stop? Well, then you're going to throw him out of the location.
Okay.
We'll keep in contact to see how this goes.
And if you have to make him leave, then I'll tell you what you need to do.
I mean, now that we know that it's not dangerous for the kids.
.
- Yeah.
- You know, I mean.
.
It kinda goes to the personality of the house.
It would be, you know, if he wants to stay and he's willing to follow the rules.
.
We don't have any hostility.
We just want kids to feel comfortable coming.
.
- So.
.
- Right.
Right.
- Mm-hmm.
- Thank you so much.
There are several dead people inhabiting the Slocum House, but only the 7-foot man presents any sort of danger.
As long as the employees of the theater follow the advice I've given them, they have nothing to worry about, and the children will remain safe.
People here didn't want them.
They were, in life, unwanted brats.
Did it scare the kids? Oh, yeah.
They were frightened.
There was something I saw that scared me.
You could see what looked like a head peeking out.
If you had a kid, would you let them come here? Probably not.
Things are really messed up.
There's something down there.
My name.
.
Is Amy Allan.
A lot of dead people are here.
I see dead people.
This is not good.
I speak to dead people.
He is very pissed off.
And they speak to me.
The house is angry.
But there's only one way to know if my findings are real.
He's killed people.
I rely on my partner.
I'm Steve Dischiavi.
I'm a retired New York City homicide Detective.
He got shot at his house? And I know every person, every house has secrets.
Aren't you terrified, being here? It's my job to reveal 'em.
That sounds like something out of The Exorcist.
But Steve and I never speak.
.
We never communicate during an investigation.
.
Until the very end.
.
That's bad.
When we uncover if it's safe for you to stay.
.
I'd like some answers.
Or time to get out.
Amy and I work independently from one another.
It's my job to sort fact from fiction with interviews, research, and hard evidence.
When Amy and I do meet, hopefully our findings can help shed some light on our client's problems.
I received a call from a woman named Rebecca who works at the Slocum House Theatre in Vancouver, Washington.
Apparently, there's some strange things going on in the building.
But her biggest concern is the kids.
They come there to see a theater show, and apparently, she thinks they're in danger.
I'm gonna try to find out what's going on.
As I approach this location, before I even open and invite the dead to communicate with me, I begin to get images flashing through my mind.
Before Amy enters, I remove anything that could influence her investigation.
This theater contains a lot of information that could be leading.
I take my time to remove everything so the building is ready for tonight's walk.
A lot of sadness here.
A lot of sadness here.
Things are really messed up.
Um.
.
Uh, there's, like, chil.
.
A lot of children.
Every medium has something that just creeps them out.
And for me, it's dead children.
Sometimes I try to tune them out, but there are just too many in this place to avoid them.
They're running around and being happy and happy.
Everything's fine and, uh.
.
But it's not.
It's really not.
And it's all.
.
Um, really messed up.
The Slocum House is Vancouver's oldest community theater.
And after 20 years of being the company's vice president, Rebecca's grown very concerned about the safety of the children.
So I'm going to meet with her and see how Amy and I can help out.
Why do you need me and Amy to come in? We've noticed that the activity has increased recently.
And, uh, mostly when the kids are here.
And I think it's frightening the kids.
We usually have two classes of kids in the summertime, and this year we didn't have any sign up at all.
And I think they're just frightened to be here.
Uh, what kind of things are going on? We've had apparitions, um, voices, um, things being moved.
You know, a little bit of everything.
Okay.
Are you ever frightened when you're here? Yeah.
Why would you stay here? It's my job.
Okay.
But your concern is for the kids.
Absolutely for the kids.
It dramatically increases when the kids are here.
- Okay.
- That's my main concern.
I want the children safe.
Okay.
There's a lot of kids here.
I don't like that if they're dead.
Mm-hmm.
Like, how many kids? And are they all from the same period? - Like, are they all interacting and.
.
- Yeah, yeah.
They're just being loud and running around, kind of torturing the adults here.
They're just acting crazy.
Uh, so, Rebecca, this is the theater? Yeah.
Okay, what happens here? We were doing a show, and just as we were going for a curtain call and bowing, there was a vase of flowers on a bookshelf, and it flew off and landed center stage.
But was anybody there? Nobody was there.
We were all up front bowing.
So I guess the audience sees this.
Yeah, the audience did see it.
What else happens in this room? There was this one time where the children were here, and we turn off all of the lights and they recite their lines to make sure they know them.
And as they were doing that, they were looking on the stage, and there were lights flying all over the place.
And what did it look like to you? Actually, it looked.
.
Kind of looked like fireflies or something.
And it had nothing to do with production lights or anything like that? No, no, no, it was totally dark in here.
We turned all the lights off.
Did it scare the kids? Oh, yeah.
They were frightened.
People here didn't want them.
Their families didn't like 'em either.
Mm-hmm.
They were, in life, unwanted brats.
They were.
.
Spoiled or, like, rotten, rotten.
Did they live here or did they just come.
.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I wonder why ** oh and, there's bunk beds.
Bunk beds.
Oh.
Why? Why would you do this? There's, like, six.
.
Six of them.
Six what? Girls.
Things are really messed up.
So, Rebecca, what happens down in here? Um, I've heard children laughing.
- In the basement here? - Yes, in the basement.
- Were there any kids in the building? - No, no.
This was late at night.
It.
.
It sounded like there was two or three kids in the corner.
And like they were playing a game and laughing with each other.
And I.
.
I looked.
Of course, there was nothing there.
So is there anything else you might have heard or seen down here? I was down here by myself and I saw something shoot across in the back corner as if it were trying to hide from me or something.
It looked like a younger teenage girl.
That's interesting.
Okay.
I hear someone running.
A girl running down this hallway.
There's a young girl, uh, and she's yelling at another girl.
They're teenagers.
She wants her to leave her alone, and she's a stupid [Beep.]
.
There's, like, three s.
.
Three sisters.
There's one in particular, um.
.
And she's probably, like, 18 or something, and blonde hair, brown eyes.
She's, like, 5'2.
.
And she's crying a lot.
What can you tell me about the house that could help me in my investigation? This is not the original location of the house.
The house was actually located about a block over and down a little bit.
And we had it moved here in 1966.
So we're really close to where it was.
Exactly, yeah.
What about this basement? At the old site, there was no basement.
This we did.
This was all underground.
Well, I guess.
.
Do this.
Oh, uh.
.
I don't like it.
What's wrong? I don't know.
I don't like it in here.
I, like, felt like I walked through a wall.
Oh.
And then I got scared, because I.
.
There was something I saw that scared me.
Someone here hates children.
Hates 'em.
There was something I saw.
.
That scared me.
And it went down.
It got sucked into the ground.
It was a big guy, I think.
A big guy.
Yeah, uh.
.
I don't like him, and that kind of made me nervous.
So the guy went in the.
.
Into the floor.
.
Uh, over in here.
And he's running because he doesn't want to be bothered.
He is kinda scary, this guy.
He's like 7 feet tall.
He's huge, and he's, like, really broad.
.
A big, broad guy.
Kim, thanks for meeting with me.
Uh, I spoke with Rebecca.
Uh, she told me what was going on and some of the concerns she has.
Have you experienced anything or seen anything? Yeah, um, mostly, I don't like coming down to the basement by myself, because it just makes me feel really nervous down here.
I was closing, uh, the cellar door, and a man, very distinctly, in a brown suit, short cut, steel-gray hair, kind of stocky, walking directly under there, and I said, "hey, what are you doing?" Because I thought it was somebody downstairs taking a tour.
And I looked around, and there was nobody down here.
Anything else that you've seen in the basement? There's a.
.
A.
.
An old air vent that's, um, right in the ceiling here.
And I cover it with a piece of paper when I'm doing a show because it makes me nervous.
It feels like, you know, things kind of seep up into it and mess with my lights.
Th.
.
Things don't work properly when, you know, when I'm up there.
This big guy, you know.
.
And, you know, if there's a sensitive, occasionally, they're gonna see him.
And he, uh, he was probably like 5'7.
.
But he was a pretty.
.
Pretty stocky guy.
In death, entities can project themselves the way they want to be seen.
The 7-foot man I encountered in the basement was really only 5'7 when he was alive.
He doesn't like children.
He might be aggressive.
And he, like, shakes 'em sometimes.
There's a really uncomfortable feeling up here.
The men's costume room right behind you, I always feel like there's a man in there or there's a male presence.
It's.
.
It's.
.
I just feel like I'm being followed.
Did you ever experience anything? Yes, one time during a show, um, we could hear what sounded like kids running, um, things getting knocked over, shoes dropping.
So we came up to investigate and we didn't see anybody up here, but the two other people I was with, um, were looking down the hall, and they could see what looked like a head, you know, peeking out.
Kim, I don't understand.
You're.
.
You're.
.
- Uncomfortable in the basement.
- Right.
- You're uncomfortable up here.
- Mm-hmm.
There's things going on in the theater level.
Why would you stay here? I.
.
I come here because I like doing what I'm doing.
And it's one of those pride things, you're not gonna let it beat you.
I'm getting really mad.
You're getting what? - Angry.
- Why? Because they're not being clear about.
.
What they want.
Shaun, I understand you were the stage manager here at some point.
That's correct.
Let me ask you a question about Rebecca and Kim.
I mean, are.
.
Are they legit? They crazy? What's the story? Nothing about them, to me, would seem crazy.
Okay.
Do you, uh, know, if, uh, when kids have been present, has anything happened once the kids are here? When the kids are here, it definitely wakes the house up.
Did you have anything happen here? I will hear my name being called, usually from this point, from the greenroom.
It won't be like a, "hey, Shaun.
" - It'll be.
.
- "Hey, Shaun.
" And there's nobody here.
What else happened? I've seen a man in the men's dressing room.
He's standing in the window, almost to greet you.
- Shaun, if you had a kid.
.
- Mm-hmm.
A young kid, would you let them come here? Probably not.
It's an old man.
Ooh.
He's old.
And he, uh, is tired of children, because he thought they were rotten.
All I know is that old man didn't like 'em.
He initially liked children.
And then he grew to hate them.
There's some mental illness here.
Yeah, crazy.
"Crazy" in big letters.
- What does that mean? - It's just "crazy" in big letters.
That's what I see.
"Crazy.
" Where do you see that? Like, just words written on a plaque.
"Crazy.
" There's some mental illness here.
Yeah, crazy.
"Crazy" in big letters.
"Crazy.
" There are plenty of crazy sightings at the Slocum Theatre.
But before I start digging into its past, I want to make sure there's nothing structurally wrong with the house.
That might cause things to just move on their own.
It's a long shot, but I've called in a building inspector to give the house a once-over.
Kurt, thanks for coming out to meet me.
Absolutely.
There's claims of objects moving from one side of a room to another, stuff falling off shelves for no reason.
What I need to find out, and I know it's a long shot, is if there's anything structurally in this house that would cause that.
For something to move all the way across a room, we'd have to have something pretty dramatic.
I would think we'd be able to find that if it's here.
With over 20 years on the police Department, I know that you have to rule out the obvious first.
Since the house was moved, I'm hoping that'll explain why things have been shifting around.
So, Kurt, what did you find out? Well, I didn't find anything that would justify the items falling off shelves or being moved from one side of the room to another.
We have some slight areas of unevenness that are not level, but nothing like you're describing.
So there's nothing extreme here.
Nothing extreme.
Now that I know the Slocum Theatre is structurally sound, I've gotta start digging into who lived and died here.
So I'm going to speak with a local writer who knows this town inside and out.
Jeff, thanks for taking the time to meet with me.
I appreciate it.
Uh, I know you've written several books, uh, about the Vancouver, Washington, area.
My interest is in the Slocum House Theatre.
I was wondering if you could help me out with that.
The Slocum House was built by Charles and Laura Slocum in the late 1870s.
You know, you can tell, they're obviously well-to-do people, and I can imagine them, when they first got married, being really, really happy together, buying that big, huge house lot, and then ten years later, starting to build their dream house for a whole bunch of kids and cousins and things.
And yet, as life went on, they didn't have any children.
Obviously, the house is built for a large family.
It.
.
It was.
And.
.
And Charles was gone a lot, and so she was really kind of stuck, and she more or less adopted all the neighborhood children as surrogates.
So there would be birthday parties all the time, and little plays for the children, and.
.
And I think any occasion she could find, she would bring the children in.
This one lady, she was.
.
She was trapped, um, and didn't like her life, and, uh, uh, there's like chil.
.
A lot of children.
I don't know if they're dead unwanted brats.
I'm hoping they're just residual.
Aren't the kids a part of this family here? Nope.
They come from somewhere else? Yeah.
Do you know what the reason was why they didn't have any kids? No, I honestly don't know, but they both started a little late.
He was almost 30, and she was in her mid 20s, which, for back then, that was pretty old.
Right.
Uh, but Charles was away a lot.
I mean, he had business interests all the way into Idaho, places like that.
This man, he just wants to be away, and so he goes away a lot.
He's unhappy that, uh, this is how his life turned out.
Now what I need to do is dig into the property's history before the Slocums were there.
I'm headed over to the Clark County historical museum.
Hopefully, I'm gonna get some leads over there.
In a case that dates back to the But I'm able to uncover two pieces of info.
A guy named Amos Short once owned the land where the theater sits.
And he was involved in a bloody land dispute resulting in two deaths.
They're putting bags on dead people.
And there's all these bugs.
And it smells because their bodies were rotting.
It was just really bad.
They're putting bags on dead people.
And, uh.
.
And there's all these bugs.
And it smells because their bodies were rotting.
I finally got some solid leads at the library.
It turns out that a man named Amos Short had a legal claim to the property that the Slocum Theatre sits on.
Some land developer called Hudson's Bay Company wanted him off.
Apparently, Amos wasn't having it, and he shot two of their guys.
Now I have to meet with a local historian to find out what led up to that incident.
I found out about Amos and Esther Short, that lived on the property where the Slocum House Theatre is.
Mm-hmm.
What do you know about Amos and Esther Short? Well, Amos and Esther Short came out on.
.
On the Oregon trail.
They eventually had, I think it was 12 children.
And they filed a land claim, uh, where that house is located now, but there were competing, uh, individuals and organizations for that land.
The Hudson's Bay Company was here, and they wanted the Shorts to leave.
And when he was gone, Esther was harassed.
It was an individual, Dr.
Gardner, and a Hawaiian gentleman from the Hudson's Bay Company.
They harassed her on a regular basis.
Uh, destroyed their agricultural fields, and they burned her cabin down three times.
I mean, there was a lot of harassment here.
There was someone here who was a Doctor at some point, and this educated man did not like women.
Didn't like them at all.
Gardner and his assistant, uh, come on to the property.
They have a confrontation with Amos, and then he gives 'em a verbal warning, asking them to leave.
And then the shooting happens.
And he winds up killing both of them.
Right, right, and.
.
And he's acquitted of self-defense.
So Amos Short killed the two men who tried to run him off his own land.
But I need to know what happened to Amos and his wife after that.
So I managed to track down a relative of Esther Short to see if she could provide me with more details regarding this case.
What's your relationship to Esther Short? I'm about, uh, five generations down from Esther Short.
This is, uh, Esther when she was a young woman.
Now when Amos wasn't around, did they try getting her off the land? Oh, yes.
I don't know how many times the Hudson Bay people, uh, put 'em on a raft and sent 'em down the river.
Probably three or four times.
- The kids.
.
- The kids.
- And her? - So it was in the middle of the winter.
One of those times, she was pregnant when she was put on that raft.
So these had to be pretty brutal men to do something like that to her and ten kids.
I mean, it was just like they didn't exist.
So Esther and Amos suffered some serious hardships.
Oh, yeah.
Amos was just determined he was gonna be here.
But he went to, uh, San Francisco with a load of potatoes, and then on his way back, the whole ship went down, there were no survivors.
Was it accidental? I do not know, but I suspect that had something to do with the antagonism.
There was a.
.
A big event.
Someone's lost and people are running all over.
Inside the house, there's a panic.
I feel like the person who's lost is a male.
Uh, they're scared because this male, uh, they would be lost, uh, without him.
Now what happened to Esther after Amos died? She had to take care of her kids.
She eventually ended up having two different hotels.
She ran those, and she did everything she could to make it succeed.
And I think she was tough enough and strong enough that she was absolutely determined that she was gonna leave a legacy for her kids.
I came across several dead people on my walk.
But I decided to have a sketch artist draw the most prominent one, the angry Doctor.
There was a male.
He had a heart-shaped face.
Um, what can you tell me about his nose? It starts pretty high.
The bridge is pretty high.
Did it look sort of like that roughly? Proportion-wise and everything? I think his nose is a little thinner.
A little thinner.
Okay.
Yeah.
What can you tell me about his eyes? They're deep set and they're a little bit far apart.
And what can you tell me about his hairdo? It came down pretty.
.
Pretty low.
Then it's all slick.
.
Slicked.
Sort of like that? Yes.
Amy and I work independently of one another.
Tonight we'll be discussing our findings for the first time.
Well, guys, it's good to see you again.
Uh, this is my partner.
.
Amy.
- Hi.
- Hi.
They run a theater show for the kids.
Correct.
Apparently, whenever kids are in the theater, activity in the house goes through the roof.
And it's a big concern for them.
They're worried about the kids and to see if they're safe.
So with that being said, I'm gonna turn it over to Amy and find out what happened on her walk.
Well, it was really interesting because I had, um, physical sensations that were a little unusual.
It felt like I was walking through walls.
And that was downstairs in the entrance to the changing area, I guess.
Like I hit the wall, and then it gave.
Uh, I don't like it.
What's wrong? And that kind of made me nervous.
The interesting thing is that there used to be a wall there.
We have recently redone that whole basement.
And there was another room down there that we actually got rid of completely.
Oh, wow.
Okay.
The house was moved in 1966 from where it originally was.
Mm-hmm.
And it didn't have a basement originally.
No.
So it was all dirt there.
- Really? - Yeah.
I also began to feel um, a real sense of despair and depression and loss.
And then I met this younger female who was feeling this way.
And it seemed to have a lot to do with her and her family.
She was missing her husband.
- He was always gone and traveling and.
.
- Hmm.
I think she really, really loved him a lot.
I got a picture of, uh, Charles and Laura Slocum.
They met here in town.
They got married.
They built that house.
Now obviously the house is big, and you would think they built a house that big because they were gonna have kids.
So they didn't have any kids.
We don't know really why.
Interesting.
A lot of sadness, very depressing, like nobody was ever really happy here.
He used to go away a lot on business and then come back.
She used to do a lot of events in the house for the kids in the neighborhood.
Apparently, uh, it filled the void of not having kids.
Once when I was in the theater, um, I was sitting there, and this apparition of this woman came walking past me.
And she had long hair, and she.
.
She didn't acknowledge me.
She just kept walking right past.
And you think it's her? I do.
I do think it's her.
So, Amy, what else did you see on your walk? I came into contact with residual imprints of children.
People here didn't want them because they were.
.
Spoiled.
They were, in life, unwanted brats.
And there were at least ten of them.
They were running, yelling and screaming and jumping and.
.
Any adult, they're like, on, and, um, wanting attention, and.
.
Yeah, it was kind of overwhelming, just, like, how much, how loud, how active these kids were.
We tend to hear noises, especially when kids are present, and, uh, Shaun and Rebecca saw what looked like a smaller head.
.
Kind of peeking around.
I just opened the door and said, "okay, you guys, knock it off.
" "We have a show.
We need you to stop making noise.
" And, uh, yeah, nobody was upstairs.
I also saw an elderly gentleman.
He traveled all the time.
Then I got the educated man.
He hated women and.
.
He didn't like children.
You know, I went back a lot further than the Slocums.
Uh, the land that house sat on was originally owned by, uh, Amos and Esther Short.
Uh, it wasn't even U.
S.
soil at the.
.
At the time.
And they were in a battle with the Hudson Bay Company.
They didn't want them here.
They claimed the land here, that it was theirs.
When Amos would go off on business, Esther was left alone with the ten kids.
Hudson Bay Company did everything they could to get rid of her.
They destroyed the crops.
They burned their cabin three times.
Even went as far as, two times, putting her and the ten kids in a boat and sticking them on the river with no oars.
What? "Take care.
" That's pretty sick.
Shaun, tell Amy about the guy you see in the window.
I'm wondering if he could be one of the three guys Amy saw.
Every time I walk into the side door of the theater, the men's costume room window, a man is standing there watching me.
And it's just this.
.
Wyatt Earp-looking man.
Amy, you sketched one of the men you saw, right? Yes.
Um, I sketched who I felt was the educated man.
He hated women and.
.
He didn't like children.
You know what? Let's take a look at the sketch.
That's who I see.
Amy, you sketched one of the men you saw, right? - Yes, I did.
- Okay.
I sketched who I felt was the educated man.
What do you think? Wow.
Yeah.
That's him.
That's the man that watches me in the window.
Everything about it is spot-on.
Oh, man, the hair is just ridiculous.
That's.
.
That's it.
The hair was very specific, so.
.
Yeah.
Well, there's a lot more to the story.
Um, as far as Amos goes, at one point, Amos was home, and.
.
Two men came again to try to get him off the property.
Ahh.
He told them, "don't come on my land" "or I'm gonna shoot.
" Gave 'em a warning shot.
They didn't listen.
Two more shots, and he killed both men.
And it happened right outside the door of the house.
- Oh, my gosh.
- Wow.
Now both of them worked for the Hudson Bay Company.
One guy was named Dr.
Gardner, and, uh, his assistant, a Hawaiian guy.
There was someone here who was a Doctor at some point.
He hates the girls, like, the teenage girls.
Just hates 'em.
Hates 'em so much.
Hates 'em.
Unfortunately, there is no photo of Dr.
David Gardner.
I don't know who this educated man that I saw was, but I do know that he hated women.
He died in 1850.
Hardly anybody's picture was taken back then.
But it's obvious that you and Amy saw the same guy.
That's him.
Yeah.
A Doctor is obviously an educated man, especially in the 1850s.
Now, Amy, you said this man hated children? Mm-hmm.
Yes.
Well, we many never know if it's really Dr.
Gardner who's scaring the children here.
But the most pressing question is, is it safe for those kids to come into the theater? That being said, I'm gonna turn it over to Amy.
Well.
.
In this case, there's.
.
Good news.
I feel it's safe for them.
But I have a problem with the 7-foot man.
He.
.
Is kinda scary, this guy.
And he's, like, really broad.
.
A big, broad guy.
So was he 7 feet tall, or was he just presenting himself.
.
- He was just presenting.
.
- Okay.
- In life, he was, like, 5'7.
.
- Okay.
But in death, he's 7 feet tall.
I think he needs a stern talking to because he is being a hypocrite.
He is saying he wants to be left alone, and yet, he's harassing.
.
People.
So that needs to stop.
I think you guys should talk about what each of you has experienced, what you want, what you don't want, write it all down, and then go down there as a group and read out the whole thing.
Be like, "that's your space, you hang out there.
" "We'll respect that if you respect us.
" "If you don't respect us, then you're gonna have to go.
" I'm certain the 7-foot-man was Dr.
Gardner's assistant.
He's chosen to stay in the theater, but needs to move on.
Amy, what do they do if, after they have this talk with this guy, and it doesn't stop? Well, then you're going to throw him out of the location.
Okay.
We'll keep in contact to see how this goes.
And if you have to make him leave, then I'll tell you what you need to do.
I mean, now that we know that it's not dangerous for the kids.
.
- Yeah.
- You know, I mean.
.
It kinda goes to the personality of the house.
It would be, you know, if he wants to stay and he's willing to follow the rules.
.
We don't have any hostility.
We just want kids to feel comfortable coming.
.
- So.
.
- Right.
Right.
- Mm-hmm.
- Thank you so much.
There are several dead people inhabiting the Slocum House, but only the 7-foot man presents any sort of danger.
As long as the employees of the theater follow the advice I've given them, they have nothing to worry about, and the children will remain safe.