Ghost Whisperer s03e02 Episode Script
Don't Try This At Home
Tube socks or crew socks.
What are we in the mood for tonight? Why are we using the royal we? I wonder if the post office keeps records of people's address changes.
I mean, detectives track people down.
How do they do it? All right, it's official.
I've been on the night shift too long.
We're talking to ourselves like the other one's not there.
I'm sorry, did you say something? What did you say about a detective? Something about your dad? Yeah, I can't track him down anywhere.
And until I do, I won't know how he lived all these years.
Or how he died.
Well, maybe he'll find you.
Like he found you in that dream.
- I could sure use his help.
- What for? Well, you know that ghost I was telling you about, the one at the City Hall archives? Yeah, the one who acts like he's guarding the place.
Yeah, he made all those weird threats about, you know, there being angry spirits down there and some serious darkness in Grandview.
All right, wait a minute.
You're not really worried about us, like we're in danger.
Definitely not with Jim Clancy out there in his uniform.
Go to work and don't come back until people are healthy and safe.
Go to work.
Sleep well.
Hey, Al, there's a clear mirror over here.
Yeah, thanks.
See you.
No.
No.
No.
No! - Hey.
- Hi! They told me you'd be up here.
Are you ready for breakfast? I'm buying.
Thanks, but can I show you something first? Yeah, sure.
What is it? We brought this girl in with amino acid, catecholamines flooding her neurals, and that result is acute catatonia.
That would have been really interesting had it been in English.
Yeah, but see, it sounds a little crazy to say in English that I think I think this girl was almost scared to death.
- How? - Washing her face in the bathroom.
All right, according to one of her friends, before she lost consciousness the last words out of her mouth were "Bloody Mary.
" Bloody Mary, like the drink? No, like, Bloody Mary, the ghost.
You mean, Bloody Mary, the urban myth.
I don't know.
You're the expert.
You tell me.
Can you see us? - What really happened? - Nobody saw.
They're going to run tests, but the tox screens could take days.
Look at her face, something scared her.
Bloody Mary.
What's the legend again? Well, you stand in front of a mirror, you call out her name, "Bloody Mary," turn around a few times, and then she comes through the mirror and scares you to death.
Hey, what do you think? I don't know what to think.
Tell me everything you know about Bloody Mary.
Are you kidding me? You're like the 100th person that's asked me about Bloody Mary today.
- All right, well, news travels fast.
- Yeah, all over campus.
It's like a full-blown mania.
I have students clamouring to get into my class, and I have offered a little extra credit for anyone that does the Bloody Mary ritual.
And the first kid that dies, I'm giving an automatic A.
Well, that's a little ghoulish, don't you think? No, I'm just riding the cyberwave.
Cyberwave? What's a cyberwave? Okay, I know you live in the world of antiques and dead things and dead people, but us, normal people that live in the land of the living, we have this little invention that we like to call Ready? The Internet.
And Bloody Mary is all over it.
Wait, so there are whole sites devoted to one urban myth? Yeah, there's Bloody Mary sites all over the world.
Whatever area the myth takes place in Well, you change the myth to fit local lore.
So, what's the Rockland U version? It starts the usual way, you look into a mirror, you say her name a few times over and over and over again, and then all of a sudden, Bloody Mary appears behind you, very scary.
But then here's where the Rockland U students, who I normally mock because their brains are tiny, mushy and unformed, they got very creative on me.
According to RUBloodyMary.
Com, you go into some sort of suspended state, where you can't talk, you can't move, for about four days.
And day after day, Mary appears to you until you go mad.
And then on the fourth day, you die.
You're dead.
And this is what they think will happen to the girl who collapsed yesterday? Well, here's a hint.
Hi, excuse me.
My name is Melinda.
I'm so sorry to hear about Allison.
Could I talk to you guys for a second? Who are you? My husband is the paramedic who brought her in.
Okay, what do you want to know? Well, anything that you can remember.
Did somebody hear her say "Bloody Mary" right before she lost consciousness? Well, we weren't there, so we don't know anything.
We just came when we heard that Allison That she got sick.
Well, you can talk to me.
I'm not one of the police and I don't work for the university, so But we don't have anything to say.
We weren't there, so we don't really know She heard the noise.
What noise? I know that this may sound strange, but if you're scared of, well, anything, I think that I might be able to help you.
But you have to help me.
I need to know more about Allison.
Like, did anyone around her die recently, like family or close friends? What does that have to do with anything? - That's hard to explain.
- Okay, I don't mean to be rude, but unless you're a doctor or a family member, you need to leave us alone.
Okay, see, that is the thing about Bloody Mary.
There are so many legends that you can have two in one town.
So there's the Rockland U version and now there's a Grandview version also? Yes, but technically, the Rockland University version derives from the town version.
I mean, that's why my students went so crazy when they found out they had their own local ghost.
I mean, they Are you sure you don't want to light candles? This story is way better with atmosphere.
- Positive.
- It would go a lot better - with your new decor.
- Get to it.
It's kind of dark.
Okay, look, Mary lived in Grandview about 150 years ago.
She was a teenager, she got a disease, she goes to the doctor after slipping into a coma.
The doctor declares her dead.
You know where this is going? To the end of the story? Anyway, Mary goes into the ground.
And they tie a string around her hand, runs up to the surface, which is attached to a bell on top of the ground.
That way, if she ever wakes up, because she's not really dead, - then she's - A "dead ringer.
" Melinda Gordon, you listen! I like that about you.
Okay, so, Mary's parents are so grief-stricken, they really tie one on that night.
And I don't mean tie one on, like a string around the hand.
They get hammered.
They wake up the next morning, they look at the bell, they see that the bell is, as the kids say, off the hook, huh? What are they gonna do? They have to dig her back up.
They open the coffin lid, except now, it's way too late.
She's really, really dead.
And, get this, on the inside of the coffin there's bloody scratch marks inside the coffin lid.
That's it? You just go back to your IMing? You're like my students.
Okay, so, then it all makes sense.
All the blogs started out by saying that a bell would ring and then Bloody Mary would appear, which must be what Allison's friend in the hospital meant when she said that Allison heard a noise.
Ipso ghosto, you seem to be saying.
Okay, so I do agree that it might have something to do with a ghost.
I did see something in Allison's hospital room.
But I definitely don't think it has anything to do with Bloody Mary.
Why would a century old ghost show up and terrorise co-eds? Maybe she's tired of getting her bell rung.
Whatever is or isn't haunting Allison is about her.
But I'm not going to know what she saw until she wakes up.
You mean if she wakes up.
That myth does not prove that anything is going to happen.
Jen, you gotta get real.
If people are dumb enough to believe in ghosts, then guess what? You know, it's like they deserve to get scared out of their minds.
It's like they basically asked for it.
Allison did not ask for that.
She's not in a coma 'cause she saw Bloody Mary.
Please.
Would you please not say that name? Jen, come on.
No.
Please, don't do this.
Please.
Please.
Give us some room, please.
Hey, I'm not an expert on this, but I'm pretty sure that's what I would look like if I saw a ghost.
How did you hear about this so fast? I mean, is it already on the net? I came back to my office.
And you know me, I hear an ambulance, I come running.
I'm pretty sure you told me this wouldn't happen again.
No? Yeah, just show me where it happened.
I'm paid to be a sceptic.
I'm just running out of reasons to doubt the myth.
Well, here's a reason.
I see ghosts, other people don't.
Okay, but you're forgetting about the one element that runs through all versions of the myth and that's the mirror.
I'm not forgetting it.
I'm ignoring it.
The bell, the rest of it, it all makes a good story.
It doesn't make it real.
Excuse me, sir, that car's being examined by campus security.
It's okay.
I'm Rick Payne, Anthropology of the Occult.
I'll take it from here.
- Where are we going? - This is it.
We're here.
This is where Jenna was found.
And while we're on the subject of things you don't know, let me give you my condensed lecture on mirrors and their place throughout history in the supernatural.
The first Queen Elizabeth, she had her own personal magician who would use a mirror to scry the future.
And the Greeks.
Don't even get me started on the Greeks.
This is the condensed version? Yes, but you just made it a little bit longer.
The Greeks thought that any reflective surface would do.
They even believed that unsuspecting souls could be pulled underwater by evil spirits lurking underneath the water.
Why? - Did you just do a flourish? - I guess I did.
I'll tell you why.
Because cultures throughout space and time have always believed that mirrors are sort of a veil between our world and others.
A portal, if you will.
Okay, so, let's say that Bloody Mary uses mirrors as portals.
One problem.
Where's the mirror in here? Saved by the bell.
Wow.
Okay, who's opening whose mind now? Who are you gonna call the next time you have a ghost plugging up your works? Who I should've called all along.
Okay.
We could do this face-to-face, but if mirrors are your thing Bloody Mary.
Bloody Mary.
Bloody Mary.
Mel, are you down here? Hey, what do you want to do with this great art nouveau clock? Are you okay? You look like you just saw a Nothing.
Nope, didn't see a thing.
I thought so.
You were calling her, weren't you? That ghost of Bloody Mary.
How do you know about her? Are you kidding? Every time I go to check my e-mail, my son's got the browser on that page.
All his friends are into it.
So ridiculous.
Why do these kids want to do this? What, scare themselves? It's like going on a roller coaster, I guess.
You face something that feels like death, you come out the other side, and then suddenly you feel so alive.
- I found you.
You were lying.
- What? Wait, it's the comment page.
They're all talking about what happened to Jenna.
Look at what this person says, "Stop it! You people are making it worse.
"Who else has to get hurt before you learn?" Signed, S.
A.
Now if I go to Jenna's web page, check out her BFF's.
Allison, some girl named Claire, and Sloane Alexander.
The friend from the hospital who told me she didn't know anything about Bloody Mary.
And here's Sloane's website.
Whoa.
Did you see that? - See what? - I gotta get down there.
Yeah? Who It's you.
This is gonna sound strange, but I know a few things about ghosts.
You're not laughing.
I'm so sorry.
I'm not used to that.
I have two friends in the hospital.
I'm probably next.
You were saying? Okay.
Well, first of all, most of the things that people are saying about Bloody Mary are very unlikely.
Ancient spirits don't usually jump out of mirrors and try to kill people.
Number two, ghosts can scare you, but they can't do more than that unless you let them.
We can stop this together, but you have to help me figure out who she is and why she would want to be doing this to For a second there, I actually believed you.
- I actually thought I might be okay.
- You will be okay.
You just have to help me find the connection.
Why should I help you? You don't know what you're talking about.
You're wrong about everything.
The legend is all true.
Every detail.
You call Bloody Mary, you hear the bell, she comes through the mirror, and then you die.
Yeah, but no one has died.
It's just a story.
You're wrong.
Rachel died.
I was there when it happened.
Rachel? Who's Rachel? She was one of Jenna's suite-mates.
Just before semester break, we were talking about blogs and stuff, what kids were saying about Bloody Mary.
She's real.
She Allison, though, she was like, obsessed.
Especially when she heard that the real Bloody Mary had actually lived in Grandview, and her parents were founders of the college.
And Allison swore a roommate of her ex-boyfriend's had actually seen the ghost.
And when he looked up in the mirror, Bloody Mary was, like, staring right back at him.
Shut up.
You are such a liar.
- I swear it.
- Prove it.
I dare you.
Go on.
- What? You go do it.
- Are you kidding me? I'll do it.
We were kind of impressed, actually.
Good luck.
Rachel was the only one who had the guts.
The rest of us couldn't get out of the bathroom fast enough.
Bloody Mary.
Bloody Mary.
Bloody Mary.
Rachel went into a coma and four days later, she died.
- I've never heard any of this.
- Well, it was last spring, and the university doesn't exactly advertise unexplained deaths on campus.
For a while, people thought maybe it was a drug overdose.
- But you knew better.
- We were so scared.
We made a pact never to tell anyone how it happened.
But then when we came back after semester break, all this weird stuff started to happen.
It was like Mary knew we were back, like she was watching us.
There were all these weird noises, there was stuff we thought we were seeing in mirrors.
And you think all this happened because you called out a ghost's name? Well, Rachel called her, but it was our idea.
And now Mary's coming for everyone there who helped wake her up.
Look, I understand how you feel.
No, you don't.
You don't understand anything.
Okay, maybe I don't.
But will you at least let me help you? You don't have to do this alone.
No, it's too late now.
My best friends are gone and I'm probably next.
And anyone I told would think I was nuts.
Sloane, please don't do this.
I'm sorry, I need you to go.
Okay, well, if you change your mind - Good morning.
- Hey.
Hey, you know, it turns out everything Sloane told you about Rachel checks out.
She was picked up in Kirkfield Hall, unresponsive, transferred to Mercy, declared comatose, and she died four days later.
So, what was the cause of death? Complications from heart failure.
Is it really possible to be scared to death? Yeah, sure, if it's bad enough.
You get this flood of chemicals to your heart that creates a shock some people can't survive.
- Now, that's just delightful.
- It gets worse.
Look, also my buddy at the hospital told me Jenna is showing exactly the same symptoms as Allison, just a day later.
And we haven't had a single test positive for any medical cause for their catatonic states.
Well, all the rumours online are getting crazy.
It's like this thing has a life of its own.
Look, babe, I don't want to tell you your job, I won't do that.
But we've got the two girls in the hospital, they're serious, there's no other explanation.
Is it possible it could be the myth? Yes.
Yes, of course.
Anything is possible.
And if anything, my job has taught me that.
But I'm sorry, I don't believe it.
You don't believe it, or you don't want to? What does that mean? All it means is if it's true, there's a whole lot more to this ghost world than you've got a handle on.
You know, if it's true, maybe your ghost down in the archives is telling the truth.
What, that there's some kind of darkness in Grandview? Yeah.
Hey.
Remember me? I need to do some research on a girl who might have been buried in Don't tell me.
Bloody Mary.
Well, if that's actually who she was, then, yes.
For the ten-thousandth time today, there are no such records I know of, so kindly look elsewhere.
- No.
- No? No.
This is public property, those are public records and I'm the public.
So unless you want to declare martial law, I'm going to be going this way.
You're plucky.
You're gutsy.
Those are excellent traits in a person who wants to get badly hurt.
Yeah, you told me that before.
Now, you heard what I just said to the archivist.
What do you want to tell me? You can't just leave the dead to rest, can you? I'll let them rest when they let me rest.
Do you know something or not? She's real.
But not everything you've heard is true.
Some of the most interesting details are missing.
- Such as? - Well, I'm sure you've heard that the doctor wrongly pronounced Mary dead, but do you know who the doctor was? He was Mary's own father.
They lived in the big house on Oak Shadow Lane.
It's empty now, but it was once the home of Dr Horace Mumford, his wife, and their only child, Mary.
Poor Mary had diphtheria, which was incurable in those days, not to mention extremely contagious.
Dr Mumford felt that he had to bury his daughter right away.
With the chance that the bell might ring, Mary's mother would not leave the grave.
Well, the good doctor knew that she would die of exposure if she didn't come inside.
Luckily, he had some morphine.
Well, you know the rest.
By the time he got to Mary, she was dead.
By the doctor's own hand.
- You're right.
I shouldn't have asked.
- Wait.
You'll miss the best part.
See, when they finally got Mary up, her hands were so bloody, they missed it at first.
Mary's nails were gone.
They were stuck in the lid of the coffin.
Mary? Are you here? I just want to talk to you.
Don't you want to talk to someone after all these years? - Hello? - Are you catatonic yet? Practically.
I was wondering if you were ever gonna call me back.
- Did you get me in? - Well, as it turns out, Bloody Mary's ancestral home is one of Grandview's registered historic buildings, and the Preservation Society is run by the chair of our architecture school, who is a very bad poker player and he owes me $ 138.
By the way, the combination to the key box is K-E-Y.
- So, I guess now I owe you a favour? - Yeah, and $ 138.
Mary? Why won't you show yourself? I know you're here.
I know that we've been in the same room before.
Okay, if these are the rules Bloody Mary.
Bloody Mary.
Bloody Mary.
Do you know what happened to you? Do you know why you're here? Why aren't you looking at me? I don't believe it.
You actually saw Bloody Mary? The real thing? Well, I don't know if I believe it, either.
I mean, I was at her family home, I said her name three times, she appeared, her hands were bloody - But what? - She had all her fingernails.
Maybe the archive ghost got his facts wrong.
Yeah, maybe, but there's something else.
The bell, it sounded off.
You know, like, it didn't sound like a 100-year-old bell.
Well, honey, I don't think cast iron bell technology has changed much.
No, it didn't sound real.
You know, clipped, like it was a recording.
I don't think this is a century-old ghost.
All right, you're back to believing the ghost is someone who knew the girls, someone who died, someone who had unfinished business.
- Yes.
- Yep.
- No.
- No.
Not someone who knew the girls, one of the girls.
Look, four girls played Bloody Mary that night.
Two are catatonic, one is convinced that she's next, but only one girl died.
The first one.
Rachel.
You're saying that our daughter, Rachel, died from playing what? Well, it's kind of a ghost story that was spread and now has taken on a life of its own.
- I'm sorry, Miss - Melinda.
We sent our daughter to college.
We let her live in a dorm, even though we were a half-hour drive away, - and which I knew was a big mistake - Bill, please.
And the first time we go to pick her up, we're sent to a county morgue.
I wouldn't ask you to remember any of this if it weren't for her friends at the hospital.
- They need your help.
- What can we do? I don't know.
I was hoping to find out more information about their relationship.
Well, she never mentioned any of those names.
Jenna, Allison.
No.
Rachel had a hard time making friends.
And why was that? My wife will tell you that that was my fault.
Well, that's not Rachel was different from other kids.
- How? - Her heart.
She had a VSD.
It's a septal defect, a hole between the chambers.
- And she knew about that? - From the time that she was a child, which was why we could not allow her to play sports.
She had to be home-schooled, we took every precaution.
I don't mean to pry, but did your daughter, by any chance, - wear a heart monitor? - Absolutely.
Twenty-four hours a day.
And how did it work? When her heart got too stressed, it would emit a sound.
- What kind of sound? - You know, like an alarm.
Sloane? What are you doing here? I can help you now.
It doesn't matter.
I'm leaving school.
My parents are driving from Maine, they're picking me up tomorrow.
Yeah, but you don't have to do this.
Bloody Mary is not after you.
The ghost is Rachel.
- What? - I called her, she came.
I heard the bell, I saw the bloody hands.
I saw what Jenna and Allison saw, and I'm still here to talk to you about it.
- You're gonna be dead in four days.
- No.
That's how long Rachel was in a coma before she died, and there's a reason for that.
Rachel had a heart condition and the excitement or the fear, or whatever it is that happened in that bathroom, it was too much for her body to take.
But I heard the bell.
No, what you heard was her heart monitor.
She had a condition, and the scare is what killed her.
Oh, my God.
That's why she did it.
That's why she did what? That's why she came for us, that's why she's saving me for last.
When Allison said she knew someone who'd seen Bloody Mary, I thought she was just lying to scare us.
So why not return the favour, right? But I figured Allison or Jenna would take the dare, but I'll do it.
then it was Rachel.
She was so quiet.
You know, I barely even knew her and then, just out of nowhere, she just steps up.
Okay, I'm bored already.
I'm gonna go to bed.
- Whatever.
- Whatever.
Bloody Mary.
Bloody Mary.
Bloody Mary.
Allison and Jenna didn't even know what I'd done, but I didn't I didn't mean to hurt anyone.
Yeah, but Rachel didn't know that.
So, I did this.
I killed her.
It was an accident and I know that, but we have to make sure that Rachel knows that.
She needs your help to move on.
You say that like - Is she here? - No.
But I think I know where she might be.
Where did it happen? In the hall bathroom.
Come on.
Sloane.
I can't.
Rachel, I know who you are and how you died.
Please, let me help you.
Rachel, stop it.
Stop it.
They killed me.
You took a dare that went wrong, that's what happened.
Left for dead.
By you.
Sloane didn't know that you were going to take that dare.
None of them did.
You have to forgive them.
It doesn't matter now, they called my name.
Your name is Rachel.
You're not Bloody Mary.
She was a different girl, buried alive by her parents.
So was I.
Wait, I don't see her.
Is she gone? Is it over? Not yet.
But I think I know where I can find her.
I can't find it.
Where is it? Your grave's not here.
Rachel, this was never your home.
You have to remember who you really are.
You have to remember how this all started.
Look at your hands.
You were holding a glass, and it broke in your hand.
Your heart stopped because you were scared.
I couldn't breathe.
It felt like an empty, cold box in my chest and I saw her.
Sloane.
I saw how I scared her.
How I scared them all.
That fear that they felt, I knew that feeling so well.
And they look at me now, and they're the ones who are frozen in fear.
You mean Allison and Jenna.
I'm with them all the time.
I can go anywhere, do anything.
I never have to rest.
And my parents, they can't stop me any more.
So, that's why you understood Mary.
You knew what it was like to be buried alive.
But somewhere along the way, you lost who you really are, and who you were to everybody who really loved you.
I can help you, but you have to let Mary go.
I know it's hard to accept.
I don't care if you think that you can see spirits or UFOs.
I've heard enough.
Tell him I drove his snowmobile into a tree.
She wants you to know that she drove your snowmobile into a tree.
Oh, my God.
She was only 13.
Lisa, what's she talking about? There was a blizzard.
Dad said I couldn't go outside, but Mom could tell I was just dying, watching all the snow pile up.
So she made me promise never to tell.
She let me drive the snowmobile around the yard.
That was a bad idea.
There was a snowstorm and I let her drive your snowmobile.
I thought she'd be sitting, and her heart would be safe.
This is going to sound really lame, but I think that was the best day of my life.
She wants to thank you for that day.
Yeah, and I suppose that she's grateful that we let her live in the dorm, too.
Tell him safety is overrated.
She said that safety is overrated.
Sometimes it's better to let things go, no matter what happens.
I let go, Rachel, and look what I got.
Tell him that he gave me the best gift he could ever give me.
My freedom.
She knows you miss her, but she wants you to understand how happy you made her.
I didn't want her happy.
I wanted her alive.
And I was.
Thanks to them.
She was alive.
You gave that to her.
She's right.
Listen to Rachel.
Is she here? Is it safe now? This is Sloane.
She went to school with Rachel.
She looks just as scared as I was.
Is that how you want her to stay? She forgives you.
Do you see this? This light.
Are you feeling this? No.
It's just for you.
What is she saying? She's saying she's free now.
She's saying goodbye.
Okay.
Hey.
I hope you're happy.
Are you happy? Generally, yes.
Why? 'Cause those comatose girls have now woken up because of you, and RUBloodyMary.
com gets like five hits a day, mostly from me.
And the crickets have returned to my classroom.
I'm doing my lectures for nobody, practically, okay? And the stark raving terror that had this town in its grips is now just gone all because of you.
Well, I'm so sorry.
I should have known how it would affect you.
You know, I was thinking of letting you skate on that $ 138 you owe me, but now I've changed my mind, so pay up.
Sorry, no cash, but you can take your payment in-kind.
What, something from here? Some of this junk? Do I have blue hair? Do I live at the end of the block with fifteen cats? Forget it.
You owe me $ 138.
This is me leaving disgruntled.
- Hiya, Jim.
- Hey.
- What time is our reservation? - 8:00.
We're good.
You know what? I think maybe we are.
What are we in the mood for tonight? Why are we using the royal we? I wonder if the post office keeps records of people's address changes.
I mean, detectives track people down.
How do they do it? All right, it's official.
I've been on the night shift too long.
We're talking to ourselves like the other one's not there.
I'm sorry, did you say something? What did you say about a detective? Something about your dad? Yeah, I can't track him down anywhere.
And until I do, I won't know how he lived all these years.
Or how he died.
Well, maybe he'll find you.
Like he found you in that dream.
- I could sure use his help.
- What for? Well, you know that ghost I was telling you about, the one at the City Hall archives? Yeah, the one who acts like he's guarding the place.
Yeah, he made all those weird threats about, you know, there being angry spirits down there and some serious darkness in Grandview.
All right, wait a minute.
You're not really worried about us, like we're in danger.
Definitely not with Jim Clancy out there in his uniform.
Go to work and don't come back until people are healthy and safe.
Go to work.
Sleep well.
Hey, Al, there's a clear mirror over here.
Yeah, thanks.
See you.
No.
No.
No.
No! - Hey.
- Hi! They told me you'd be up here.
Are you ready for breakfast? I'm buying.
Thanks, but can I show you something first? Yeah, sure.
What is it? We brought this girl in with amino acid, catecholamines flooding her neurals, and that result is acute catatonia.
That would have been really interesting had it been in English.
Yeah, but see, it sounds a little crazy to say in English that I think I think this girl was almost scared to death.
- How? - Washing her face in the bathroom.
All right, according to one of her friends, before she lost consciousness the last words out of her mouth were "Bloody Mary.
" Bloody Mary, like the drink? No, like, Bloody Mary, the ghost.
You mean, Bloody Mary, the urban myth.
I don't know.
You're the expert.
You tell me.
Can you see us? - What really happened? - Nobody saw.
They're going to run tests, but the tox screens could take days.
Look at her face, something scared her.
Bloody Mary.
What's the legend again? Well, you stand in front of a mirror, you call out her name, "Bloody Mary," turn around a few times, and then she comes through the mirror and scares you to death.
Hey, what do you think? I don't know what to think.
Tell me everything you know about Bloody Mary.
Are you kidding me? You're like the 100th person that's asked me about Bloody Mary today.
- All right, well, news travels fast.
- Yeah, all over campus.
It's like a full-blown mania.
I have students clamouring to get into my class, and I have offered a little extra credit for anyone that does the Bloody Mary ritual.
And the first kid that dies, I'm giving an automatic A.
Well, that's a little ghoulish, don't you think? No, I'm just riding the cyberwave.
Cyberwave? What's a cyberwave? Okay, I know you live in the world of antiques and dead things and dead people, but us, normal people that live in the land of the living, we have this little invention that we like to call Ready? The Internet.
And Bloody Mary is all over it.
Wait, so there are whole sites devoted to one urban myth? Yeah, there's Bloody Mary sites all over the world.
Whatever area the myth takes place in Well, you change the myth to fit local lore.
So, what's the Rockland U version? It starts the usual way, you look into a mirror, you say her name a few times over and over and over again, and then all of a sudden, Bloody Mary appears behind you, very scary.
But then here's where the Rockland U students, who I normally mock because their brains are tiny, mushy and unformed, they got very creative on me.
According to RUBloodyMary.
Com, you go into some sort of suspended state, where you can't talk, you can't move, for about four days.
And day after day, Mary appears to you until you go mad.
And then on the fourth day, you die.
You're dead.
And this is what they think will happen to the girl who collapsed yesterday? Well, here's a hint.
Hi, excuse me.
My name is Melinda.
I'm so sorry to hear about Allison.
Could I talk to you guys for a second? Who are you? My husband is the paramedic who brought her in.
Okay, what do you want to know? Well, anything that you can remember.
Did somebody hear her say "Bloody Mary" right before she lost consciousness? Well, we weren't there, so we don't know anything.
We just came when we heard that Allison That she got sick.
Well, you can talk to me.
I'm not one of the police and I don't work for the university, so But we don't have anything to say.
We weren't there, so we don't really know She heard the noise.
What noise? I know that this may sound strange, but if you're scared of, well, anything, I think that I might be able to help you.
But you have to help me.
I need to know more about Allison.
Like, did anyone around her die recently, like family or close friends? What does that have to do with anything? - That's hard to explain.
- Okay, I don't mean to be rude, but unless you're a doctor or a family member, you need to leave us alone.
Okay, see, that is the thing about Bloody Mary.
There are so many legends that you can have two in one town.
So there's the Rockland U version and now there's a Grandview version also? Yes, but technically, the Rockland University version derives from the town version.
I mean, that's why my students went so crazy when they found out they had their own local ghost.
I mean, they Are you sure you don't want to light candles? This story is way better with atmosphere.
- Positive.
- It would go a lot better - with your new decor.
- Get to it.
It's kind of dark.
Okay, look, Mary lived in Grandview about 150 years ago.
She was a teenager, she got a disease, she goes to the doctor after slipping into a coma.
The doctor declares her dead.
You know where this is going? To the end of the story? Anyway, Mary goes into the ground.
And they tie a string around her hand, runs up to the surface, which is attached to a bell on top of the ground.
That way, if she ever wakes up, because she's not really dead, - then she's - A "dead ringer.
" Melinda Gordon, you listen! I like that about you.
Okay, so, Mary's parents are so grief-stricken, they really tie one on that night.
And I don't mean tie one on, like a string around the hand.
They get hammered.
They wake up the next morning, they look at the bell, they see that the bell is, as the kids say, off the hook, huh? What are they gonna do? They have to dig her back up.
They open the coffin lid, except now, it's way too late.
She's really, really dead.
And, get this, on the inside of the coffin there's bloody scratch marks inside the coffin lid.
That's it? You just go back to your IMing? You're like my students.
Okay, so, then it all makes sense.
All the blogs started out by saying that a bell would ring and then Bloody Mary would appear, which must be what Allison's friend in the hospital meant when she said that Allison heard a noise.
Ipso ghosto, you seem to be saying.
Okay, so I do agree that it might have something to do with a ghost.
I did see something in Allison's hospital room.
But I definitely don't think it has anything to do with Bloody Mary.
Why would a century old ghost show up and terrorise co-eds? Maybe she's tired of getting her bell rung.
Whatever is or isn't haunting Allison is about her.
But I'm not going to know what she saw until she wakes up.
You mean if she wakes up.
That myth does not prove that anything is going to happen.
Jen, you gotta get real.
If people are dumb enough to believe in ghosts, then guess what? You know, it's like they deserve to get scared out of their minds.
It's like they basically asked for it.
Allison did not ask for that.
She's not in a coma 'cause she saw Bloody Mary.
Please.
Would you please not say that name? Jen, come on.
No.
Please, don't do this.
Please.
Please.
Give us some room, please.
Hey, I'm not an expert on this, but I'm pretty sure that's what I would look like if I saw a ghost.
How did you hear about this so fast? I mean, is it already on the net? I came back to my office.
And you know me, I hear an ambulance, I come running.
I'm pretty sure you told me this wouldn't happen again.
No? Yeah, just show me where it happened.
I'm paid to be a sceptic.
I'm just running out of reasons to doubt the myth.
Well, here's a reason.
I see ghosts, other people don't.
Okay, but you're forgetting about the one element that runs through all versions of the myth and that's the mirror.
I'm not forgetting it.
I'm ignoring it.
The bell, the rest of it, it all makes a good story.
It doesn't make it real.
Excuse me, sir, that car's being examined by campus security.
It's okay.
I'm Rick Payne, Anthropology of the Occult.
I'll take it from here.
- Where are we going? - This is it.
We're here.
This is where Jenna was found.
And while we're on the subject of things you don't know, let me give you my condensed lecture on mirrors and their place throughout history in the supernatural.
The first Queen Elizabeth, she had her own personal magician who would use a mirror to scry the future.
And the Greeks.
Don't even get me started on the Greeks.
This is the condensed version? Yes, but you just made it a little bit longer.
The Greeks thought that any reflective surface would do.
They even believed that unsuspecting souls could be pulled underwater by evil spirits lurking underneath the water.
Why? - Did you just do a flourish? - I guess I did.
I'll tell you why.
Because cultures throughout space and time have always believed that mirrors are sort of a veil between our world and others.
A portal, if you will.
Okay, so, let's say that Bloody Mary uses mirrors as portals.
One problem.
Where's the mirror in here? Saved by the bell.
Wow.
Okay, who's opening whose mind now? Who are you gonna call the next time you have a ghost plugging up your works? Who I should've called all along.
Okay.
We could do this face-to-face, but if mirrors are your thing Bloody Mary.
Bloody Mary.
Bloody Mary.
Mel, are you down here? Hey, what do you want to do with this great art nouveau clock? Are you okay? You look like you just saw a Nothing.
Nope, didn't see a thing.
I thought so.
You were calling her, weren't you? That ghost of Bloody Mary.
How do you know about her? Are you kidding? Every time I go to check my e-mail, my son's got the browser on that page.
All his friends are into it.
So ridiculous.
Why do these kids want to do this? What, scare themselves? It's like going on a roller coaster, I guess.
You face something that feels like death, you come out the other side, and then suddenly you feel so alive.
- I found you.
You were lying.
- What? Wait, it's the comment page.
They're all talking about what happened to Jenna.
Look at what this person says, "Stop it! You people are making it worse.
"Who else has to get hurt before you learn?" Signed, S.
A.
Now if I go to Jenna's web page, check out her BFF's.
Allison, some girl named Claire, and Sloane Alexander.
The friend from the hospital who told me she didn't know anything about Bloody Mary.
And here's Sloane's website.
Whoa.
Did you see that? - See what? - I gotta get down there.
Yeah? Who It's you.
This is gonna sound strange, but I know a few things about ghosts.
You're not laughing.
I'm so sorry.
I'm not used to that.
I have two friends in the hospital.
I'm probably next.
You were saying? Okay.
Well, first of all, most of the things that people are saying about Bloody Mary are very unlikely.
Ancient spirits don't usually jump out of mirrors and try to kill people.
Number two, ghosts can scare you, but they can't do more than that unless you let them.
We can stop this together, but you have to help me figure out who she is and why she would want to be doing this to For a second there, I actually believed you.
- I actually thought I might be okay.
- You will be okay.
You just have to help me find the connection.
Why should I help you? You don't know what you're talking about.
You're wrong about everything.
The legend is all true.
Every detail.
You call Bloody Mary, you hear the bell, she comes through the mirror, and then you die.
Yeah, but no one has died.
It's just a story.
You're wrong.
Rachel died.
I was there when it happened.
Rachel? Who's Rachel? She was one of Jenna's suite-mates.
Just before semester break, we were talking about blogs and stuff, what kids were saying about Bloody Mary.
She's real.
She Allison, though, she was like, obsessed.
Especially when she heard that the real Bloody Mary had actually lived in Grandview, and her parents were founders of the college.
And Allison swore a roommate of her ex-boyfriend's had actually seen the ghost.
And when he looked up in the mirror, Bloody Mary was, like, staring right back at him.
Shut up.
You are such a liar.
- I swear it.
- Prove it.
I dare you.
Go on.
- What? You go do it.
- Are you kidding me? I'll do it.
We were kind of impressed, actually.
Good luck.
Rachel was the only one who had the guts.
The rest of us couldn't get out of the bathroom fast enough.
Bloody Mary.
Bloody Mary.
Bloody Mary.
Rachel went into a coma and four days later, she died.
- I've never heard any of this.
- Well, it was last spring, and the university doesn't exactly advertise unexplained deaths on campus.
For a while, people thought maybe it was a drug overdose.
- But you knew better.
- We were so scared.
We made a pact never to tell anyone how it happened.
But then when we came back after semester break, all this weird stuff started to happen.
It was like Mary knew we were back, like she was watching us.
There were all these weird noises, there was stuff we thought we were seeing in mirrors.
And you think all this happened because you called out a ghost's name? Well, Rachel called her, but it was our idea.
And now Mary's coming for everyone there who helped wake her up.
Look, I understand how you feel.
No, you don't.
You don't understand anything.
Okay, maybe I don't.
But will you at least let me help you? You don't have to do this alone.
No, it's too late now.
My best friends are gone and I'm probably next.
And anyone I told would think I was nuts.
Sloane, please don't do this.
I'm sorry, I need you to go.
Okay, well, if you change your mind - Good morning.
- Hey.
Hey, you know, it turns out everything Sloane told you about Rachel checks out.
She was picked up in Kirkfield Hall, unresponsive, transferred to Mercy, declared comatose, and she died four days later.
So, what was the cause of death? Complications from heart failure.
Is it really possible to be scared to death? Yeah, sure, if it's bad enough.
You get this flood of chemicals to your heart that creates a shock some people can't survive.
- Now, that's just delightful.
- It gets worse.
Look, also my buddy at the hospital told me Jenna is showing exactly the same symptoms as Allison, just a day later.
And we haven't had a single test positive for any medical cause for their catatonic states.
Well, all the rumours online are getting crazy.
It's like this thing has a life of its own.
Look, babe, I don't want to tell you your job, I won't do that.
But we've got the two girls in the hospital, they're serious, there's no other explanation.
Is it possible it could be the myth? Yes.
Yes, of course.
Anything is possible.
And if anything, my job has taught me that.
But I'm sorry, I don't believe it.
You don't believe it, or you don't want to? What does that mean? All it means is if it's true, there's a whole lot more to this ghost world than you've got a handle on.
You know, if it's true, maybe your ghost down in the archives is telling the truth.
What, that there's some kind of darkness in Grandview? Yeah.
Hey.
Remember me? I need to do some research on a girl who might have been buried in Don't tell me.
Bloody Mary.
Well, if that's actually who she was, then, yes.
For the ten-thousandth time today, there are no such records I know of, so kindly look elsewhere.
- No.
- No? No.
This is public property, those are public records and I'm the public.
So unless you want to declare martial law, I'm going to be going this way.
You're plucky.
You're gutsy.
Those are excellent traits in a person who wants to get badly hurt.
Yeah, you told me that before.
Now, you heard what I just said to the archivist.
What do you want to tell me? You can't just leave the dead to rest, can you? I'll let them rest when they let me rest.
Do you know something or not? She's real.
But not everything you've heard is true.
Some of the most interesting details are missing.
- Such as? - Well, I'm sure you've heard that the doctor wrongly pronounced Mary dead, but do you know who the doctor was? He was Mary's own father.
They lived in the big house on Oak Shadow Lane.
It's empty now, but it was once the home of Dr Horace Mumford, his wife, and their only child, Mary.
Poor Mary had diphtheria, which was incurable in those days, not to mention extremely contagious.
Dr Mumford felt that he had to bury his daughter right away.
With the chance that the bell might ring, Mary's mother would not leave the grave.
Well, the good doctor knew that she would die of exposure if she didn't come inside.
Luckily, he had some morphine.
Well, you know the rest.
By the time he got to Mary, she was dead.
By the doctor's own hand.
- You're right.
I shouldn't have asked.
- Wait.
You'll miss the best part.
See, when they finally got Mary up, her hands were so bloody, they missed it at first.
Mary's nails were gone.
They were stuck in the lid of the coffin.
Mary? Are you here? I just want to talk to you.
Don't you want to talk to someone after all these years? - Hello? - Are you catatonic yet? Practically.
I was wondering if you were ever gonna call me back.
- Did you get me in? - Well, as it turns out, Bloody Mary's ancestral home is one of Grandview's registered historic buildings, and the Preservation Society is run by the chair of our architecture school, who is a very bad poker player and he owes me $ 138.
By the way, the combination to the key box is K-E-Y.
- So, I guess now I owe you a favour? - Yeah, and $ 138.
Mary? Why won't you show yourself? I know you're here.
I know that we've been in the same room before.
Okay, if these are the rules Bloody Mary.
Bloody Mary.
Bloody Mary.
Do you know what happened to you? Do you know why you're here? Why aren't you looking at me? I don't believe it.
You actually saw Bloody Mary? The real thing? Well, I don't know if I believe it, either.
I mean, I was at her family home, I said her name three times, she appeared, her hands were bloody - But what? - She had all her fingernails.
Maybe the archive ghost got his facts wrong.
Yeah, maybe, but there's something else.
The bell, it sounded off.
You know, like, it didn't sound like a 100-year-old bell.
Well, honey, I don't think cast iron bell technology has changed much.
No, it didn't sound real.
You know, clipped, like it was a recording.
I don't think this is a century-old ghost.
All right, you're back to believing the ghost is someone who knew the girls, someone who died, someone who had unfinished business.
- Yes.
- Yep.
- No.
- No.
Not someone who knew the girls, one of the girls.
Look, four girls played Bloody Mary that night.
Two are catatonic, one is convinced that she's next, but only one girl died.
The first one.
Rachel.
You're saying that our daughter, Rachel, died from playing what? Well, it's kind of a ghost story that was spread and now has taken on a life of its own.
- I'm sorry, Miss - Melinda.
We sent our daughter to college.
We let her live in a dorm, even though we were a half-hour drive away, - and which I knew was a big mistake - Bill, please.
And the first time we go to pick her up, we're sent to a county morgue.
I wouldn't ask you to remember any of this if it weren't for her friends at the hospital.
- They need your help.
- What can we do? I don't know.
I was hoping to find out more information about their relationship.
Well, she never mentioned any of those names.
Jenna, Allison.
No.
Rachel had a hard time making friends.
And why was that? My wife will tell you that that was my fault.
Well, that's not Rachel was different from other kids.
- How? - Her heart.
She had a VSD.
It's a septal defect, a hole between the chambers.
- And she knew about that? - From the time that she was a child, which was why we could not allow her to play sports.
She had to be home-schooled, we took every precaution.
I don't mean to pry, but did your daughter, by any chance, - wear a heart monitor? - Absolutely.
Twenty-four hours a day.
And how did it work? When her heart got too stressed, it would emit a sound.
- What kind of sound? - You know, like an alarm.
Sloane? What are you doing here? I can help you now.
It doesn't matter.
I'm leaving school.
My parents are driving from Maine, they're picking me up tomorrow.
Yeah, but you don't have to do this.
Bloody Mary is not after you.
The ghost is Rachel.
- What? - I called her, she came.
I heard the bell, I saw the bloody hands.
I saw what Jenna and Allison saw, and I'm still here to talk to you about it.
- You're gonna be dead in four days.
- No.
That's how long Rachel was in a coma before she died, and there's a reason for that.
Rachel had a heart condition and the excitement or the fear, or whatever it is that happened in that bathroom, it was too much for her body to take.
But I heard the bell.
No, what you heard was her heart monitor.
She had a condition, and the scare is what killed her.
Oh, my God.
That's why she did it.
That's why she did what? That's why she came for us, that's why she's saving me for last.
When Allison said she knew someone who'd seen Bloody Mary, I thought she was just lying to scare us.
So why not return the favour, right? But I figured Allison or Jenna would take the dare, but I'll do it.
then it was Rachel.
She was so quiet.
You know, I barely even knew her and then, just out of nowhere, she just steps up.
Okay, I'm bored already.
I'm gonna go to bed.
- Whatever.
- Whatever.
Bloody Mary.
Bloody Mary.
Bloody Mary.
Allison and Jenna didn't even know what I'd done, but I didn't I didn't mean to hurt anyone.
Yeah, but Rachel didn't know that.
So, I did this.
I killed her.
It was an accident and I know that, but we have to make sure that Rachel knows that.
She needs your help to move on.
You say that like - Is she here? - No.
But I think I know where she might be.
Where did it happen? In the hall bathroom.
Come on.
Sloane.
I can't.
Rachel, I know who you are and how you died.
Please, let me help you.
Rachel, stop it.
Stop it.
They killed me.
You took a dare that went wrong, that's what happened.
Left for dead.
By you.
Sloane didn't know that you were going to take that dare.
None of them did.
You have to forgive them.
It doesn't matter now, they called my name.
Your name is Rachel.
You're not Bloody Mary.
She was a different girl, buried alive by her parents.
So was I.
Wait, I don't see her.
Is she gone? Is it over? Not yet.
But I think I know where I can find her.
I can't find it.
Where is it? Your grave's not here.
Rachel, this was never your home.
You have to remember who you really are.
You have to remember how this all started.
Look at your hands.
You were holding a glass, and it broke in your hand.
Your heart stopped because you were scared.
I couldn't breathe.
It felt like an empty, cold box in my chest and I saw her.
Sloane.
I saw how I scared her.
How I scared them all.
That fear that they felt, I knew that feeling so well.
And they look at me now, and they're the ones who are frozen in fear.
You mean Allison and Jenna.
I'm with them all the time.
I can go anywhere, do anything.
I never have to rest.
And my parents, they can't stop me any more.
So, that's why you understood Mary.
You knew what it was like to be buried alive.
But somewhere along the way, you lost who you really are, and who you were to everybody who really loved you.
I can help you, but you have to let Mary go.
I know it's hard to accept.
I don't care if you think that you can see spirits or UFOs.
I've heard enough.
Tell him I drove his snowmobile into a tree.
She wants you to know that she drove your snowmobile into a tree.
Oh, my God.
She was only 13.
Lisa, what's she talking about? There was a blizzard.
Dad said I couldn't go outside, but Mom could tell I was just dying, watching all the snow pile up.
So she made me promise never to tell.
She let me drive the snowmobile around the yard.
That was a bad idea.
There was a snowstorm and I let her drive your snowmobile.
I thought she'd be sitting, and her heart would be safe.
This is going to sound really lame, but I think that was the best day of my life.
She wants to thank you for that day.
Yeah, and I suppose that she's grateful that we let her live in the dorm, too.
Tell him safety is overrated.
She said that safety is overrated.
Sometimes it's better to let things go, no matter what happens.
I let go, Rachel, and look what I got.
Tell him that he gave me the best gift he could ever give me.
My freedom.
She knows you miss her, but she wants you to understand how happy you made her.
I didn't want her happy.
I wanted her alive.
And I was.
Thanks to them.
She was alive.
You gave that to her.
She's right.
Listen to Rachel.
Is she here? Is it safe now? This is Sloane.
She went to school with Rachel.
She looks just as scared as I was.
Is that how you want her to stay? She forgives you.
Do you see this? This light.
Are you feeling this? No.
It's just for you.
What is she saying? She's saying she's free now.
She's saying goodbye.
Okay.
Hey.
I hope you're happy.
Are you happy? Generally, yes.
Why? 'Cause those comatose girls have now woken up because of you, and RUBloodyMary.
com gets like five hits a day, mostly from me.
And the crickets have returned to my classroom.
I'm doing my lectures for nobody, practically, okay? And the stark raving terror that had this town in its grips is now just gone all because of you.
Well, I'm so sorry.
I should have known how it would affect you.
You know, I was thinking of letting you skate on that $ 138 you owe me, but now I've changed my mind, so pay up.
Sorry, no cash, but you can take your payment in-kind.
What, something from here? Some of this junk? Do I have blue hair? Do I live at the end of the block with fifteen cats? Forget it.
You owe me $ 138.
This is me leaving disgruntled.
- Hiya, Jim.
- Hey.
- What time is our reservation? - 8:00.
We're good.
You know what? I think maybe we are.