Paranormal Witness (2011) s03e16 Episode Script
The Coven
These old Southern homes There's so much more to them than just a house.
There was a tension, like somebody was watching.
I knew this house contained secrets.
What Pandora did they just unleash? There was something in this house, and it was trying to kill me.
[Suspenseful music swelling.]
[Yelps.]
Y'all be careful in this house.
[Screams.]
It's full of death.
_.
[Voice whispering indistinctly.]
[Reflective instrumental music.]
_.
year for our family.
My stepfather was in insurance sales, but work had dried up.
And it dried up very quickly.
I felt that I needed to look beyond what I'd been doing.
I decided to study to be a preacher and to go to Seminary.
I was very supportive of his decision, but I knew it wouldn't be easy.
We'd have to take a cut in pay, and we needed to relocate.
I didn't really want to move.
I was gonna have to go to a new school.
Being uprooted as a teenager is a painful thing sometimes.
We pulled into the driveway And it was really gorgeous, an old Southern farmhouse From, like, the 1750s Hi.
With the wraparound porch and the rocking chairs.
It had been let go down by the family that owned it.
So it was in our budget to rent; It was cheap.
Welcome to paradise.
The realtor met us there when we pulled up.
Come on.
Come on, everybody.
Yeah.
To our surprise, the previous tenants were still there.
They were in the process of moving out, but they weren't finished.
Come, come, come.
Come on.
Come on, come on.
Come right in.
Couldn't get it out of my mind that there was a reason for this house to be cheap.
There was a padlocked door.
Didn't make any sense to have a padlocked door inside the house.
The realtor was taking me around the house and letting me know What the rules were, so she said Please, this rug here in this room, the owners would like you to leave it there.
It's really old and fragile.
It was a rose-colored large rug that filled the room pretty well.
No problem.
It's kind of a lovely rug.
The lady was coming out, and I asked her Excuse me.
What's behind this door? She had kind of a shocked look on her face.
She said, that was my Uncle's room.
He committed suicide in there.
Oh.
Out of respect for him, please keep it locked.
This is creepy.
A man died in this room.
[Ominous music.]
[Door slams.]
Ah, we got to do something about that roof.
[Eerie voices whispering.]
Hey! She said, do not for any reason Remove that rock from the door.
Do not let the children play in there.
I really didn't know what the reason was, but I was like, okay, this is a great place.
It's got lots of land for the kids to play on.
Why would they need to be in there? Anyway, I I just noticed the roof.
To speed things up, I decided to give the old tenants a hand, help them move out.
- Thank you for your help.
- No worries.
As she was walking away, she paused and turned back and looked at me, and she said Y'all be careful in this house.
It's full of death.
And she jumped in her truck, and they were gone.
[Echoing.]
Full of death How do you react to something like that? That's a bomb dropped on you.
[Ominous music.]
I couldn't sleep that night.
I was kind of wound up from what she said when she was leaving.
[Metal squeaking.]
I could see the doorknob turning.
This was very late at night.
Everybody was asleep.
[Metal squeaking.]
[Latch clicks.]
[Door clangs.]
Bam! The door came flying open But it stopped.
This was not natural.
So I'm sitting there in my bed thinking something's about to come around the door.
Something's about to come around that corner.
And nothing did.
[Unsettling music.]
So I got up out of bed And I was terrified.
I was absolutely terrified.
I knew something was gonna be around that corner.
There was nothing there.
[Soft creaking.]
And then I had this sinking feeling It's behind me now.
[Suspenseful musical flourish.]
What was going on in this house? Do I really tell my family? They're gonna think I'm crazy.
So at that point, I just decided to keep it to myself.
[Ominous music.]
[Baby wailing.]
- When's Daddy coming home? - He's coming.
He's coming.
[Baby wailing, child laughs.]
At the time, I had seven children Five younger ones and the two older.
I had my work cut out for me with those five little children.
[Baby wailing.]
[Child laughs.]
It was just a lot of chores, a lot of dishes to wash.
There was no dishwasher in the house.
That was me.
[Laughs.]
I would go outside and play with my brother.
We really loved it because there was a lot of space outside.
[Eerie music.]
I saw the ball go in a hole in the outhouse.
It seemed the thing to do was to go in the outhouse and get the ball.
[Knocking.]
Ken, don't move that.
He didn't know that she had told me not to move that rock.
And I said, honey, honey, don't move that rock.
[Knocking.]
Don't move that rock.
Ken! Don't move the rock.
Let it be.
We'll get another ball.
Don't move the rock! It struck me as being mighty odd because it required a lot of struggle.
[Wind roaring.]
This gust of wind came out.
We couldn't believe it.
[Music.]
Don't move the rock! [Eerie music.]
_.
Ken! [Wind roaring.]
It just knocked me back.
And this thing's going down the hallway and out the front door.
[Eerie voices whispering.]
It wasn't like a gust of wind.
It was like a ball of wind.
It was a beautiful day.
The weather was very still.
This was definitely Something that was beyond normal.
What Pandora did they just unleash, out of that outbuilding? [Mysterious music.]
Something was just not right that night.
[Soft creaking.]
I went to check the front door.
Oh, my God.
I just couldn't believe my eyes.
[Discordant musical flourish.]
There was a man hanging in the tree right in front of the house.
I must be seeing things.
I open the door And it was gone.
What have I just seen? What was that? I was really beginning to worry about the place.
And I didn't want to tell anybody about it.
It just really upset me.
[Baby wailing.]
Once I'd started the course of studies, sometimes I'd have 11 or 12 hours in the day when I was tied up with school.
[Indistinct conversation.]
It felt like the family, at that time, became second priority to his life.
Honey, I I'm sorry.
I got to go.
He really needs to be changed right away Wait, wait.
Mom, Mom.
Mom, I got this.
Let me help you.
It's fine.
I got it.
My relationship with Matt was rather trying.
There was lots of tension in that.
See you later.
In the South, it's kind of an unwritten rule that When the father of the home is away.
The eldest child fills the void.
The weight of that comes down on you, and you realize that, wow, I am now kind of the man of the house.
We were cleaning out the house and cleaning out closets.
[Eerie music.]
Oh, my God.
It was really creepy.
There were skeletons and different little critter pieces.
I didn't feel good about them.
There seemed to be just something that was going on That just didn't feel right.
[Eerie whispering.]
As I walked to the house and I look up I see a little girl standing in the window.
She's waving.
I thought it was my sister, so I waved back.
I didn't really think a lot of it.
But there's my sister.
[Suspenseful musical flourish.]
It was like I'd been just slapped in the face.
Who was that that I'd just seen? As I'm going up the stairs, I'm thinking, what am I gonna find? [Dark, unsettling music.]
I grab the doorknob There's nobody there.
I'm a little freaked out because I know I saw somebody in there.
[Ominous music.]
I was the only one who knew this house contained secrets.
I thought, all right.
I've got to get to the bottom of this.
I have this very close friend named James, and we decided it was time to get in that room.
James and I were the only ones in the house.
The latch was not very well placed.
They had left the screws completely exposed.
I took my multi-tool and removed the screws that held the latch on the door.
We don't know what's on the other side of this door.
The gruesome thoughts that go through your mind is, a man died in here.
- Did you get it? - Yeah, I got it.
[Exhales.]
Are you serious? [Sighs.]
We kind of looked at each other like, okay, here we go.
[Suspenseful music swelling.]
[Door creaks.]
[Ghostly breathing.]
This rush, whoosh! Came over us of cold air Which just didn't make any sense because it was hot outside.
I was hesitant to go into the room after I opened it.
It was like a time capsule.
There was still a dresser.
There was an iron bed.
James and I looked at each other, and we were like, is this where the guy died? Are these the sheets that he died in? [Sniffs.]
Do you smell that? I did notice a very peculiar smell.
Cigarettes.
This was fresh cigarette smoke, and this door had been locked for God knows how long.
And nobody in the house smoked.
[Loud thud.]
And we heard this loud crash, this loud bang.
What was that? It was from upstairs.
I was terrified, because I know we're the only ones in the house.
I look at James, James looks at me, and we're like, we're going upstairs.
[Music.]
_.
_.
I didn't know what we'd find.
All of the doors were closed.
We never keep these doors closed.
We always leave these doors open.
That's how the heat radiates through the house.
It was probably just a draft, and it sucked one of them shut.
I'm a very scientific guy.
I approach things as there is normally a, you know Cause, a reason behind something that happened.
You spooked yourself.
Come on.
[Loud thud.]
Same sound, same loud crash.
[Eerie music.]
[Suspenseful music swelling.]
The doors were all open.
How is that possible when I just saw them all closed? I just could not come up with a valid explanation.
I had a terrible realization.
Perhaps that lock was not to keep people out of the room.
But to keep something inside.
After I got the children to bed, it was my habit To go and just have some quiet time.
But it was always kind of edgy, and it wasn't relaxing Especially as Ken's working hard at college and I'm by myself.
There was a tension Like somebody was watching.
I smelled smoke, but no one was allowed to smoke inside the house.
[Mysterious music.]
I could tell it was coming from upstairs.
[Thrilling music swelling.]
It was in my room.
[Gasps.]
[Pants.]
There was a man standing, looking out the window, smoking a cigarette.
[Breathes heavily.]
I look back to flip the switch on And he was gone.
[Breathing heavily.]
[Gasps.]
Mom? I know I was running off of very little sleep.
But I know I saw someone.
[Ominous music.]
I didn't want to tell you, but when I was upstairs, I saw a man smoking in my bedroom.
When she said that, my jaw practically hit the floor.
I'd smelled smoke in the padlocked room.
- You smelled it too? - Yeah.
I told my Mom everything.
I don't understand what's going on, Mom.
The girl Matt had seen in the window The hanging man, the smoking man [Sighs.]
We knew there were ghosts in the house.
[Glass shatters.]
What was that? This jar comes flying off the counter.
What is going on? [Yelps.]
These things are flying across the room.
[Shouts.]
Like someone was just throwing them.
Bang.
Boom.
We're under attack.
[Music.]
[Yelps.]
_.
I felt like my children and my family were under attack.
[Eerie voice whispers.]
That night, I had just terrifying nightmares.
[Eerie voice whispers.]
This was something beyond scary dreams and imaginary monsters under the bed.
[Eerie voice whispering.]
In my dreams, there was an older lady with kind of whitish-gray hair.
[Eerie voice whispering.]
[Screaming.]
Mom! Mom! I was more terrified than I can ever remember being at any other point in time in my life.
[Breathing heavily.]
Did you have a bad dream? It had gotten past the point of just a little incident here or there.
It had become really dark And it wasn't just for me.
It was for my little children and for Matt too.
[Sniffles.]
I realized that my Mom's not supermom.
She's scared.
She needs support.
And I'm the oldest here.
I was never much of a believer in ghosts.
I had been taught that all along that if you When you died, you went to one of two places, either heaven or hell.
What had happened in our house? I searched through years and years of the local newspaper.
Hoping to find an explanation.
Just as I was losing hope, I found something.
A man hung himself in the front yard.
[Eerie voices whispering.]
I started to dig some more.
And then I found another article, our house again.
Another unnatural death.
A young girl that had fallen down the stairs and broken her neck.
Could that have been the same girl that I saw waving at me? This next article sent cold chills through my entire body A recent death.
Another suicide.
Could this have been the Uncle of the previous tenants? [Eerie voice whispers.]
How could there be so many accidents and suicides in this one home? This can't be a coincidence.
Was there some sort of curse on this house? [Unsettling music.]
All: Surprise! I was completely floored.
Happy Birthday.
They throw me a surprise birthday party.
[Laughs.]
- Happy Birthday.
- Thanks.
How's it going, man? - Come here.
- Long time, no see, right? With all the bad stuff that was going on in the house, this was just what the family needed.
It was really nice to have just some time off from classes, off from studying.
But when I found out what was going on What was happening in the house How it was affecting my children and my wife I was worried about it.
I was the man of the house, and I couldn't be there all the time when they needed me.
It made me feel guilty.
Happy Birthday, Matt.
But I saw a lot of development in Matt during that time Real heart to help others.
A man's razor.
[Ominous music.]
Later that night, I was standing at the sink, getting ready to shave.
[Eerie voice whispers.]
I looked down in the sink, and I noticed something moving.
This huge spider came out of the drain.
Not a little spider this is huge, furry.
Looked like a tarantula.
I don't like spiders.
And there's more in the toilet.
And there was another one.
They're just continuing to come out of this drain.
It's a flood of spiders.
This is freaking me out.
I was trying to scream but couldn't make a sound.
Where are they coming from? This isn't normal.
[Thrilling musical flourish.]
[Music.]
_.
_.
[Unsettling music.]
What am I going to do? I'm literally terrified at this point.
I just couldn't help feeling there was something in this house, and it was trying to kill me.
[Eerie whispering.]
Now I was convinced that this was not just ghosts.
There's something else here that is trying to get at us Just like it got at the rest of those families that had lived here.
I'm thinking to myself, I could walk away from everything, just to go and live with my father.
But I knew that if I did that, no one would be there to help take care of the family.
I felt an enormous responsibility come over me.
It was time for action.
Pastor Jimmy explained to me that I needed to anoint this house.
And he handed me a small bottle of oil.
He entrusted me as Someone who was mature enough to do this.
And that made me feel proud But also very nervous.
[Haunting music.]
Preacher Jimmy had told us we had to anoint each other before we anointed the house.
We have to do every point of entry on this house He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most high shall abide under the shadow of the almighty.
I will say of the Lord Every door, every window, every surface, every point of entry.
He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust.
His truth shall be thy shield and buckler.
Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night And then we moved to the roof Because we were gonna anoint the chimneys.
Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked.
Because thou hast made the Lord.
I got the first chimney.
I anointed it.
There shall be no evil befall thee; Neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling, for he shall give his Angels I crawled across the peak of the roof to the other chimney.
As I'm doing this, I can feel a pressure He that dwelleth in the secret place Like everything is closing in around me Like I've got hands crushing in around me.
He is my refuge and my fortress.
My God, in him will I trust.
Surely he shall deliver [gasps.]
from the snare [Insects buzzing.]
And all of a sudden, I look down, and there's a hornet on my arm.
And the next thing I know, there's hornets everywhere.
[Hornets buzzing.]
They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against I was terrified because I know how allergic he is to stings.
Thou shalt tread upon This could kill him.
They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot And I'm swiping.
I'm trying to keep them off of me.
They were stinging him all over Thou shall tread His face, his neck, his arms, his chest.
Feels like somebody punching you.
I'm starting to slide down a little bit.
The lion and the dragon And I realized this house could've killed me.
I could have been its next victim.
[Ominous music.]
It's physically attacking the children.
I'm like How much more can we do? I knew it was time to go.
We had to had to leave there.
It just wasn't safe.
We took the kids, we packed up our things And we were out of there.
She vowed never to return to that house again But she wanted Ken and I to go and clean it up and make sure it was presentable When we gave it back to the owners.
And that made me feel very nervous.
I was in the room that had the great big rug in it.
[Eerie music.]
I pulled the corner of the rug back, and I see some strange markings and some writing underneath the rug.
[Eerie voices swelling.]
You could see markings and symbols.
Wait.
Can you help me over there? [Eerie voices whispering.]
[Music.]
_.
Wait.
Can you help me over there? We revealed this humongous Pentagram.
[Eerie voice whispering.]
We knew this was a sign of witchcraft.
We didn't even finish cleaning that room.
We just got out of there.
A few minutes later, a shiny silver Cadillac pulls up into the driveway.
We had not yet met the landlord.
I was expecting some old You know, grumpy old man to come showing up to get the keys.
The door opens up.
She was so beautiful, it just seemed unnatural.
[Eerie voice whispering.]
And she walked past me and hardly acknowledges us.
I look back, and two other women got out of this car.
The blonde lady comes back through the screen door.
She was just fuming.
She demanded What have you all done with this house? There's nothing here anymore.
She said, there are no spirits here.
They've all left.
There's no spirits here.
They've all left.
They've all gone.
She said to the other two, we'll have to have a seance to bring them all back.
What's going on here? [Unsettling music swelling.]
This is weird.
It seemed like she had aged.
I was mind-boggled.
I didn't know what to think.
Y'all be careful in this house.
Was I looking at the last tenants? Hey! Was I looking at the realtor? This was clarification for me.
These women had been practicing witchcraft.
Perhaps these are the people who have always owned the house.
Had they created accidents and unfortunate suicides Filling the house with spirits? [Engine revving.]
I realized I'd never see them again.
You're driving.
[Reflective instrumental music.]
The experiences that you go through as a teenager, traumatic or terrifying Are what changes you and molds you as an adult.
Those four months in that long, hot summer made me the person I am.
It set me up for everything that life could throw at me.
_.
There was a tension, like somebody was watching.
I knew this house contained secrets.
What Pandora did they just unleash? There was something in this house, and it was trying to kill me.
[Suspenseful music swelling.]
[Yelps.]
Y'all be careful in this house.
[Screams.]
It's full of death.
_.
[Voice whispering indistinctly.]
[Reflective instrumental music.]
_.
year for our family.
My stepfather was in insurance sales, but work had dried up.
And it dried up very quickly.
I felt that I needed to look beyond what I'd been doing.
I decided to study to be a preacher and to go to Seminary.
I was very supportive of his decision, but I knew it wouldn't be easy.
We'd have to take a cut in pay, and we needed to relocate.
I didn't really want to move.
I was gonna have to go to a new school.
Being uprooted as a teenager is a painful thing sometimes.
We pulled into the driveway And it was really gorgeous, an old Southern farmhouse From, like, the 1750s Hi.
With the wraparound porch and the rocking chairs.
It had been let go down by the family that owned it.
So it was in our budget to rent; It was cheap.
Welcome to paradise.
The realtor met us there when we pulled up.
Come on.
Come on, everybody.
Yeah.
To our surprise, the previous tenants were still there.
They were in the process of moving out, but they weren't finished.
Come, come, come.
Come on.
Come on, come on.
Come right in.
Couldn't get it out of my mind that there was a reason for this house to be cheap.
There was a padlocked door.
Didn't make any sense to have a padlocked door inside the house.
The realtor was taking me around the house and letting me know What the rules were, so she said Please, this rug here in this room, the owners would like you to leave it there.
It's really old and fragile.
It was a rose-colored large rug that filled the room pretty well.
No problem.
It's kind of a lovely rug.
The lady was coming out, and I asked her Excuse me.
What's behind this door? She had kind of a shocked look on her face.
She said, that was my Uncle's room.
He committed suicide in there.
Oh.
Out of respect for him, please keep it locked.
This is creepy.
A man died in this room.
[Ominous music.]
[Door slams.]
Ah, we got to do something about that roof.
[Eerie voices whispering.]
Hey! She said, do not for any reason Remove that rock from the door.
Do not let the children play in there.
I really didn't know what the reason was, but I was like, okay, this is a great place.
It's got lots of land for the kids to play on.
Why would they need to be in there? Anyway, I I just noticed the roof.
To speed things up, I decided to give the old tenants a hand, help them move out.
- Thank you for your help.
- No worries.
As she was walking away, she paused and turned back and looked at me, and she said Y'all be careful in this house.
It's full of death.
And she jumped in her truck, and they were gone.
[Echoing.]
Full of death How do you react to something like that? That's a bomb dropped on you.
[Ominous music.]
I couldn't sleep that night.
I was kind of wound up from what she said when she was leaving.
[Metal squeaking.]
I could see the doorknob turning.
This was very late at night.
Everybody was asleep.
[Metal squeaking.]
[Latch clicks.]
[Door clangs.]
Bam! The door came flying open But it stopped.
This was not natural.
So I'm sitting there in my bed thinking something's about to come around the door.
Something's about to come around that corner.
And nothing did.
[Unsettling music.]
So I got up out of bed And I was terrified.
I was absolutely terrified.
I knew something was gonna be around that corner.
There was nothing there.
[Soft creaking.]
And then I had this sinking feeling It's behind me now.
[Suspenseful musical flourish.]
What was going on in this house? Do I really tell my family? They're gonna think I'm crazy.
So at that point, I just decided to keep it to myself.
[Ominous music.]
[Baby wailing.]
- When's Daddy coming home? - He's coming.
He's coming.
[Baby wailing, child laughs.]
At the time, I had seven children Five younger ones and the two older.
I had my work cut out for me with those five little children.
[Baby wailing.]
[Child laughs.]
It was just a lot of chores, a lot of dishes to wash.
There was no dishwasher in the house.
That was me.
[Laughs.]
I would go outside and play with my brother.
We really loved it because there was a lot of space outside.
[Eerie music.]
I saw the ball go in a hole in the outhouse.
It seemed the thing to do was to go in the outhouse and get the ball.
[Knocking.]
Ken, don't move that.
He didn't know that she had told me not to move that rock.
And I said, honey, honey, don't move that rock.
[Knocking.]
Don't move that rock.
Ken! Don't move the rock.
Let it be.
We'll get another ball.
Don't move the rock! It struck me as being mighty odd because it required a lot of struggle.
[Wind roaring.]
This gust of wind came out.
We couldn't believe it.
[Music.]
Don't move the rock! [Eerie music.]
_.
Ken! [Wind roaring.]
It just knocked me back.
And this thing's going down the hallway and out the front door.
[Eerie voices whispering.]
It wasn't like a gust of wind.
It was like a ball of wind.
It was a beautiful day.
The weather was very still.
This was definitely Something that was beyond normal.
What Pandora did they just unleash, out of that outbuilding? [Mysterious music.]
Something was just not right that night.
[Soft creaking.]
I went to check the front door.
Oh, my God.
I just couldn't believe my eyes.
[Discordant musical flourish.]
There was a man hanging in the tree right in front of the house.
I must be seeing things.
I open the door And it was gone.
What have I just seen? What was that? I was really beginning to worry about the place.
And I didn't want to tell anybody about it.
It just really upset me.
[Baby wailing.]
Once I'd started the course of studies, sometimes I'd have 11 or 12 hours in the day when I was tied up with school.
[Indistinct conversation.]
It felt like the family, at that time, became second priority to his life.
Honey, I I'm sorry.
I got to go.
He really needs to be changed right away Wait, wait.
Mom, Mom.
Mom, I got this.
Let me help you.
It's fine.
I got it.
My relationship with Matt was rather trying.
There was lots of tension in that.
See you later.
In the South, it's kind of an unwritten rule that When the father of the home is away.
The eldest child fills the void.
The weight of that comes down on you, and you realize that, wow, I am now kind of the man of the house.
We were cleaning out the house and cleaning out closets.
[Eerie music.]
Oh, my God.
It was really creepy.
There were skeletons and different little critter pieces.
I didn't feel good about them.
There seemed to be just something that was going on That just didn't feel right.
[Eerie whispering.]
As I walked to the house and I look up I see a little girl standing in the window.
She's waving.
I thought it was my sister, so I waved back.
I didn't really think a lot of it.
But there's my sister.
[Suspenseful musical flourish.]
It was like I'd been just slapped in the face.
Who was that that I'd just seen? As I'm going up the stairs, I'm thinking, what am I gonna find? [Dark, unsettling music.]
I grab the doorknob There's nobody there.
I'm a little freaked out because I know I saw somebody in there.
[Ominous music.]
I was the only one who knew this house contained secrets.
I thought, all right.
I've got to get to the bottom of this.
I have this very close friend named James, and we decided it was time to get in that room.
James and I were the only ones in the house.
The latch was not very well placed.
They had left the screws completely exposed.
I took my multi-tool and removed the screws that held the latch on the door.
We don't know what's on the other side of this door.
The gruesome thoughts that go through your mind is, a man died in here.
- Did you get it? - Yeah, I got it.
[Exhales.]
Are you serious? [Sighs.]
We kind of looked at each other like, okay, here we go.
[Suspenseful music swelling.]
[Door creaks.]
[Ghostly breathing.]
This rush, whoosh! Came over us of cold air Which just didn't make any sense because it was hot outside.
I was hesitant to go into the room after I opened it.
It was like a time capsule.
There was still a dresser.
There was an iron bed.
James and I looked at each other, and we were like, is this where the guy died? Are these the sheets that he died in? [Sniffs.]
Do you smell that? I did notice a very peculiar smell.
Cigarettes.
This was fresh cigarette smoke, and this door had been locked for God knows how long.
And nobody in the house smoked.
[Loud thud.]
And we heard this loud crash, this loud bang.
What was that? It was from upstairs.
I was terrified, because I know we're the only ones in the house.
I look at James, James looks at me, and we're like, we're going upstairs.
[Music.]
_.
_.
I didn't know what we'd find.
All of the doors were closed.
We never keep these doors closed.
We always leave these doors open.
That's how the heat radiates through the house.
It was probably just a draft, and it sucked one of them shut.
I'm a very scientific guy.
I approach things as there is normally a, you know Cause, a reason behind something that happened.
You spooked yourself.
Come on.
[Loud thud.]
Same sound, same loud crash.
[Eerie music.]
[Suspenseful music swelling.]
The doors were all open.
How is that possible when I just saw them all closed? I just could not come up with a valid explanation.
I had a terrible realization.
Perhaps that lock was not to keep people out of the room.
But to keep something inside.
After I got the children to bed, it was my habit To go and just have some quiet time.
But it was always kind of edgy, and it wasn't relaxing Especially as Ken's working hard at college and I'm by myself.
There was a tension Like somebody was watching.
I smelled smoke, but no one was allowed to smoke inside the house.
[Mysterious music.]
I could tell it was coming from upstairs.
[Thrilling music swelling.]
It was in my room.
[Gasps.]
[Pants.]
There was a man standing, looking out the window, smoking a cigarette.
[Breathes heavily.]
I look back to flip the switch on And he was gone.
[Breathing heavily.]
[Gasps.]
Mom? I know I was running off of very little sleep.
But I know I saw someone.
[Ominous music.]
I didn't want to tell you, but when I was upstairs, I saw a man smoking in my bedroom.
When she said that, my jaw practically hit the floor.
I'd smelled smoke in the padlocked room.
- You smelled it too? - Yeah.
I told my Mom everything.
I don't understand what's going on, Mom.
The girl Matt had seen in the window The hanging man, the smoking man [Sighs.]
We knew there were ghosts in the house.
[Glass shatters.]
What was that? This jar comes flying off the counter.
What is going on? [Yelps.]
These things are flying across the room.
[Shouts.]
Like someone was just throwing them.
Bang.
Boom.
We're under attack.
[Music.]
[Yelps.]
_.
I felt like my children and my family were under attack.
[Eerie voice whispers.]
That night, I had just terrifying nightmares.
[Eerie voice whispers.]
This was something beyond scary dreams and imaginary monsters under the bed.
[Eerie voice whispering.]
In my dreams, there was an older lady with kind of whitish-gray hair.
[Eerie voice whispering.]
[Screaming.]
Mom! Mom! I was more terrified than I can ever remember being at any other point in time in my life.
[Breathing heavily.]
Did you have a bad dream? It had gotten past the point of just a little incident here or there.
It had become really dark And it wasn't just for me.
It was for my little children and for Matt too.
[Sniffles.]
I realized that my Mom's not supermom.
She's scared.
She needs support.
And I'm the oldest here.
I was never much of a believer in ghosts.
I had been taught that all along that if you When you died, you went to one of two places, either heaven or hell.
What had happened in our house? I searched through years and years of the local newspaper.
Hoping to find an explanation.
Just as I was losing hope, I found something.
A man hung himself in the front yard.
[Eerie voices whispering.]
I started to dig some more.
And then I found another article, our house again.
Another unnatural death.
A young girl that had fallen down the stairs and broken her neck.
Could that have been the same girl that I saw waving at me? This next article sent cold chills through my entire body A recent death.
Another suicide.
Could this have been the Uncle of the previous tenants? [Eerie voice whispers.]
How could there be so many accidents and suicides in this one home? This can't be a coincidence.
Was there some sort of curse on this house? [Unsettling music.]
All: Surprise! I was completely floored.
Happy Birthday.
They throw me a surprise birthday party.
[Laughs.]
- Happy Birthday.
- Thanks.
How's it going, man? - Come here.
- Long time, no see, right? With all the bad stuff that was going on in the house, this was just what the family needed.
It was really nice to have just some time off from classes, off from studying.
But when I found out what was going on What was happening in the house How it was affecting my children and my wife I was worried about it.
I was the man of the house, and I couldn't be there all the time when they needed me.
It made me feel guilty.
Happy Birthday, Matt.
But I saw a lot of development in Matt during that time Real heart to help others.
A man's razor.
[Ominous music.]
Later that night, I was standing at the sink, getting ready to shave.
[Eerie voice whispers.]
I looked down in the sink, and I noticed something moving.
This huge spider came out of the drain.
Not a little spider this is huge, furry.
Looked like a tarantula.
I don't like spiders.
And there's more in the toilet.
And there was another one.
They're just continuing to come out of this drain.
It's a flood of spiders.
This is freaking me out.
I was trying to scream but couldn't make a sound.
Where are they coming from? This isn't normal.
[Thrilling musical flourish.]
[Music.]
_.
_.
[Unsettling music.]
What am I going to do? I'm literally terrified at this point.
I just couldn't help feeling there was something in this house, and it was trying to kill me.
[Eerie whispering.]
Now I was convinced that this was not just ghosts.
There's something else here that is trying to get at us Just like it got at the rest of those families that had lived here.
I'm thinking to myself, I could walk away from everything, just to go and live with my father.
But I knew that if I did that, no one would be there to help take care of the family.
I felt an enormous responsibility come over me.
It was time for action.
Pastor Jimmy explained to me that I needed to anoint this house.
And he handed me a small bottle of oil.
He entrusted me as Someone who was mature enough to do this.
And that made me feel proud But also very nervous.
[Haunting music.]
Preacher Jimmy had told us we had to anoint each other before we anointed the house.
We have to do every point of entry on this house He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most high shall abide under the shadow of the almighty.
I will say of the Lord Every door, every window, every surface, every point of entry.
He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust.
His truth shall be thy shield and buckler.
Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night And then we moved to the roof Because we were gonna anoint the chimneys.
Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked.
Because thou hast made the Lord.
I got the first chimney.
I anointed it.
There shall be no evil befall thee; Neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling, for he shall give his Angels I crawled across the peak of the roof to the other chimney.
As I'm doing this, I can feel a pressure He that dwelleth in the secret place Like everything is closing in around me Like I've got hands crushing in around me.
He is my refuge and my fortress.
My God, in him will I trust.
Surely he shall deliver [gasps.]
from the snare [Insects buzzing.]
And all of a sudden, I look down, and there's a hornet on my arm.
And the next thing I know, there's hornets everywhere.
[Hornets buzzing.]
They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against I was terrified because I know how allergic he is to stings.
Thou shalt tread upon This could kill him.
They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot And I'm swiping.
I'm trying to keep them off of me.
They were stinging him all over Thou shall tread His face, his neck, his arms, his chest.
Feels like somebody punching you.
I'm starting to slide down a little bit.
The lion and the dragon And I realized this house could've killed me.
I could have been its next victim.
[Ominous music.]
It's physically attacking the children.
I'm like How much more can we do? I knew it was time to go.
We had to had to leave there.
It just wasn't safe.
We took the kids, we packed up our things And we were out of there.
She vowed never to return to that house again But she wanted Ken and I to go and clean it up and make sure it was presentable When we gave it back to the owners.
And that made me feel very nervous.
I was in the room that had the great big rug in it.
[Eerie music.]
I pulled the corner of the rug back, and I see some strange markings and some writing underneath the rug.
[Eerie voices swelling.]
You could see markings and symbols.
Wait.
Can you help me over there? [Eerie voices whispering.]
[Music.]
_.
Wait.
Can you help me over there? We revealed this humongous Pentagram.
[Eerie voice whispering.]
We knew this was a sign of witchcraft.
We didn't even finish cleaning that room.
We just got out of there.
A few minutes later, a shiny silver Cadillac pulls up into the driveway.
We had not yet met the landlord.
I was expecting some old You know, grumpy old man to come showing up to get the keys.
The door opens up.
She was so beautiful, it just seemed unnatural.
[Eerie voice whispering.]
And she walked past me and hardly acknowledges us.
I look back, and two other women got out of this car.
The blonde lady comes back through the screen door.
She was just fuming.
She demanded What have you all done with this house? There's nothing here anymore.
She said, there are no spirits here.
They've all left.
There's no spirits here.
They've all left.
They've all gone.
She said to the other two, we'll have to have a seance to bring them all back.
What's going on here? [Unsettling music swelling.]
This is weird.
It seemed like she had aged.
I was mind-boggled.
I didn't know what to think.
Y'all be careful in this house.
Was I looking at the last tenants? Hey! Was I looking at the realtor? This was clarification for me.
These women had been practicing witchcraft.
Perhaps these are the people who have always owned the house.
Had they created accidents and unfortunate suicides Filling the house with spirits? [Engine revving.]
I realized I'd never see them again.
You're driving.
[Reflective instrumental music.]
The experiences that you go through as a teenager, traumatic or terrifying Are what changes you and molds you as an adult.
Those four months in that long, hot summer made me the person I am.
It set me up for everything that life could throw at me.
_.