American Horror Story s06e10 Episode Script
Chapter 10
1 (crowd cheering) Their nightmare was our dream.
Ladies and gentlemen, are you ready for the cast and producer of My Roanoke Nightmare?! (cheers and applause) TRIXIE: Shelby, what was it like seeing yourself portrayed by someone else? Um, it was weird, at first, but then somehow cathartic.
(cheers and applause) WOMAN: We love you, Shelby! Oh, thank you.
That's really sweet.
Are you sure it's not me you love? (cheering wildly) (snorting, squealing) Sidney James, My Roanoke Nightmare was one of the most successful television shows of all time.
(cheers and applause) A ratings phenomenon.
Thank you.
Can we expect a second season? Well, that story has been told, but we have some ideas.
(cheering) Well, I would love to come back because I think we've just only scratched the surface of what makes The Butcher tick.
Well, The Butcher seemed to have scratched everybody's surface.
(laughter) (cheers and applause) Especially me.
The bitch impaled me! (laughter) HANSEN: We can take some questions from our audience.
This question is for Rory.
(girls cheering wildly) Um, what's your favorite color? Hey, I see the world in the full spectrum of colors, you know? (cheering) Rory, can I get a hug? You bet your sweet little ass! (cheers and applause) What about me? Do I not get no love?! (cheering) My name Bristol Windows and I flew all the way out here from London.
(cheering) No shit.
It's been a really hard year and My Roanoke Nightmare is the only thing that's kept me going.
I need to say I totally identify with Lee, who I feel has had some really nasty and unfair things said about her online.
Lee, I made you something.
I'd love to give it to you.
(cheering and applause) Oh (cheering continues) (cheering) (cheering and applause continue) All right, so it's been a year since the end of series one of My Roanoke Nightmare.
Everything's just gone to shit.
You know, I-I thought the second series was just really exploitative, turning what was a real artistic achievement into something quite crass.
And yes, I know, okay, Three Days in Hell was even more popular and got bigger ratings, with reddit threads that went on for ages about was it real or was it not, or were the spirits faked? Did anybody really die? They did die, didn't they? Now they want to put Lee on trial for murder.
I mean, why'd you have to go back, Lee? Why? Courts won't do shit.
Polk family ain't never got justice in all our history.
(sniffs) She took my babies.
Killed my kin.
Well, if the law won't deal with her I sure will.
(laughing) NARRATOR: Lee Harris.
Decorated police officer, loving wife, devoted mother.
She was a woman who had it all, until she cracked.
(glass shatters) NARRATOR: Lee Miller was a shy girl, gifted.
She had big dreams, and in the fall of 2005, it felt like all of her dreams were coming true.
Lee fell madly in love with a charismatic engineer named Mason Harris.
And soon after came Lee's greatest joy, Flora.
But little did Lee know that her happy life was about to spiral out of control.
A custody battle a kidnapping, a murder.
A hit TV show.
Millions of Americans met Lee Harris in 2015 Can we stop for a moment, please? when a sleeper hit, My Roanoke Nightmare, first premiered.
She was a woman of many secrets.
Dangerous.
Deadly.
Put down the gun! The police long suspected that Lee was responsible for the death of her husband, Mason, but the evidence was purely circumstantial.
Well, we have no smoking gun, but I knew, without a shadow of a doubt, Lee Harris killed her ex-husband in cold blood.
(reporters clamoring) PHILLIPS: So I had to wait and watch while this murderer became a celebrity We have the pleasure to sit down with Lee Harris PHILLIPS: profiting from her crimes.
It's shameful.
NARRATOR: The prosecution didn't have to wait long.
The following year, the next installment of the series aired, setting an all-time ratings record.
Lee committed not one but multiple homicides.
On camera.
(screaming) (grunting) We had her.
Monet Tumusiime's sister sat in the front row every day of that trial to remind me that my job was to speak up for the victims.
NARRATOR: But the defense had a plan up their sleeve to render the mountain of evidence irrelevant.
The strain of marijuana recovered from the Polk residence was highly unusual.
It tested positive for hallucinogenic properties.
It was obvious that that magic pot was messing with her brain.
She was seeing things.
NARRATOR: They played on the jury's emotions, forced them to watch the recording from the Polk farm in its entirety.
The guy pickled her ear, at chunks out of her body, carved her up like a Christmas ham.
(Lee screaming) No wonder she thought everybody was after her.
I would have lost my damn mind.
Hallucinations, trauma, extreme duress-- this is the textbook definition of diminished capacity.
She didn't know what she was doing.
She knew exactly what she was doing.
(camera shutters clicking) NARRATOR: In a stunning turn of events, Lee Harris was acquitted of all charges.
PHILLIPS: It was an abomination.
There was no way I was gonna stand by and watch this woman elude justice-- not again.
So I played the only card I had left.
Went after her for her original crime-- the murder of Mason.
I killed Daddy.
That's on me, and me alone.
No one else helped me.
It's nobody's fault except mine.
PHILLIPS: I had her on tape, confessing.
We had Matt's security footage clearly revealing Lee leaving that house at 10:13 p.
m.
And phone records revealed a call between Lee and Mason at 10:19 p.
m.
that lasted six minutes.
And it was our contention that Lee Harris was arranging a rendezvous with her ex-husband.
And the reason we thought that The prosecution calls Flora Harris.
(excited murmurs) We had an eyewitness.
You were in the woods a long time.
That must have been scary.
Now, when you were out there, did you see anything strange? Yes.
Who'd you see? Mom and Dad.
And what were they doing? They were fighting.
FLORA: It was about me, as usual.
My dad, he said my mom kidnapped me at school, and she was hiding me.
So he wanted to tell the cops.
So your father threatened to involve the police.
What'd your mom do next? He walked away and she picked up a rock.
And what did she do with the rock, Flora? She hit him.
(gallery murmuring) FLORA: He fell, and she hit him again, until he stopped moving.
You killed Daddy.
(gasps, murmurs) (gavel bangs) Flora, did your mom or your dad ever see you that night? No.
I was hiding.
No further questions.
(whispering indistinctly) STEPHANIE: Your father thought your mother was hiding you.
But that wasn't true, was it? You chose to go out into the woods, didn't you? Yes.
Why didn't you go to your mother and father? Because I didn't want them to find me.
Why not? Because I felt safe.
You felt safe? Alone? In the woods? I wasn't alone.
I was with Priscilla.
Priscilla.
The ghost girl from the TV show.
Yeah.
(excited murmuring) (gavel bangs) STEPHANIE: You felt safer in the woods with a dead girl's spirit than you did with your own parents? I was much happier with Priscilla than I ever was with you.
(shocked murmuring) (buzzer sounds) STEPHANIE: The words of an imaginative girl, from a broken home.
Her mother an addict, her father an angry man with an explosive temper.
Is it any surprise that this poor child Gotcha! invented a friend with whom she felt safe? Where'd she go? STEPHANIE: Lee's taped confession.
I killed Daddy.
An obvious attempt by Ms.
Harris to stop the abuse of her kidnapper.
For all we know, Flora, this impressionable child, may have seen that tape and built false memories around it.
Her testimony may condemn Ms.
Harris as a mother, but it does not prove that she is a murderer.
NARRATOR: It was 16 days before the jury reached a verdict.
WOMAN: We were split, on Flora's testimony.
JUDGE: I understand the jury has reached a verdict.
What say you? JUROR NUMBER FIVE: I know the Roanoke show was a popular show.
We find the defendant But I couldn't send a woman to jail based on ghost stories.
not guilty.
(excited clamoring) (gavel banging) (indistinct chatter) PHILLIPS: Well, I'll tell you one thing.
Lee Harris must be one damn good actress.
Maybe even better than the woman who played her.
You know, in my entire legal career, to this day, that verdict was the hardest to swallow.
(camera shutters clicking, reporters clamoring) Flora Flora.
Just talk to me, please.
Flora? PHILLIPS: You know, it's easy to break this kind of thing down to winners and losers.
But nobody won here.
I mean, sure, Lee Harris dodged a sentence.
I think she lost a lot more.
(glass shatters) Lee Harris.
Equally reviled and celebrated.
She is one of the most provocative and polarizing figures of our time.
Lee endured and survived a harrowing experience that would've destroyed most people.
She rose from the depths of her torture and wrote a bestselling book, became a highly-paid speaker, but some would say Lee never escaped.
That in fighting monsters, she became one herself.
I killed Daddy.
That's on me, and me alone.
No one else helped me.
It's nobody's fault except mine.
The murder trials of Lee Harris captured the hearts and minds of an entire nation.
And when it was time to announce the verdict, it seemed as though the whole world stood still.
It was the second time Lee successfully navigated a journey of horrors.
Acquitted of all charges, exonerated by a jury of her peers, and yet questions remain.
It is for this fascinating woman, that I have come out of retirement.
Lee Harris has agreed to do an interview to tell the world her side of an extraordinary story, unedited, unfiltered, live on television.
Welcome to The Lana Winters Special.
Lee.
Thank you for agreeing to this interview.
There are so many questions I want to ask, so much everyone is dying to know.
I will start with the most important question first.
How are you? You had me there.
Well, I honestly want to know.
You have been through hell and back, and so many people would've simply given up.
This I know.
To what do you attribute your resilience? Well, it's good to have a goal in mind, Mm-hmm.
something to hope for.
Mm-hmm.
For me, that's Flora.
Your daughter.
It's always been about her.
At my darkest times, she kept me alive.
The thought of Flora being alone in the world, the joy of seeing her again, and to watch her grow up.
It's kept me going.
How is your relationship with your daughter today? At the moment, spare.
I can only imagine how painful that must be for you now.
Having to go back into a courtroom yet again, this time to fight for custody.
Mason's family have decided that I'm not a good influence on my own daughter.
Even though I've been acquitted of all charges.
You have to admit, those horrible images remain.
The public will always associate Lee Harris with the deaths of three innocent people.
Not to mention your husband.
Flora's father.
And by acquitting you, the jury, and basically half of America, are calling Flora-- your daughter-- a liar.
I did not come here to be put on trial again.
But why are you here, Lee? Why did you agree to this interview? What do you mean? Well, I know for a fact that you turned everybody else down.
Diane Sawyer.
Barbara Walters.
Because of you.
Because of who you are.
And what you've been through.
I mean, Jesus.
You killed your own son.
Bloody Face.
I killed a psychopathic murderer before he could kill me.
I did what I had to do.
Exactly.
You know there are extenuating circumstances in every action you take.
Of course.
That's why I agreed to talk to you.
Well, It's not really me you came here to talk to, is it? Your daughter has refused to speak to you since your acquittal, isn't that right? I'm praying she's watching, and that she'll somehow see this so I can tell her what she needs to know.
Well this is your chance.
Tell her.
Flora, I'm gonna tell you something that maybe you already know.
But you need to hear it from my heart.
I love you, baby.
And I'm never gonna give up.
Never stop, until we are together again.
You feel better? Yeah.
Where is she, Lee? What? Flora.
Where is she? Is that some sort of trick question? Flora Harris was reported missing by her grandparents an hour before we went on the air.
Where is she? Lee? What are you talking about? I know that our viewers will understand the desperation of a mother separated from her daughter, but if you have abducted her again, Lee, now is the time to come clean before things spiral out of control.
(whispers): My God, Jesus.
Lee.
Please sit down.
I have to find my daughter.
(automatic gunfire in distance) (people screaming in distance) MAN: What the hell was that? LANA: That's a goddamn assault weapon.
(automatic gunfire continues) LANA: Lee, sit down.
Sit down, goddamn it! (shouts, gunshots) Oh, God.
(grunting) LEE: Oh, my God.
It's Lot.
LOT: I bet you I'm the last (bleep) guy you expected to see.
Please, please, please, please.
Please.
My name is Lana Winters.
Do not do anything you regret.
You are on live television.
I could give a shit about your TV.
What I'm about to do is justice.
LANA: No, this is not justice, this is revenge.
She killed Jether.
It's her fault my mama's dead.
The world is watching you, young man.
Millions of people.
You have an opportunity to tell your truth.
I can see the pain you're in.
I know that pain.
I know what it's like to so desperately want to correct an injustice that you are driven to violence.
You loved your mother.
She was everything to me.
Killing Lee will not bring her back.
It won't ease the burden on your soul.
Put the gun down.
Put it down.
(crew gasps, body thuds on the floor) She talks too much.
Time's up, Lee.
(gunshots) (sustained tone) NARRATOR: Tonight, an extraordinary special edition of Spirit Chasers.
We investigate the Roanoke house, the disturbing location of the deadliest paranormal phenomenon in America.
Was The Butcher real? Were the settlers just a fabrication? Man, I haven't been this freaked out since we were in that asylum.
(door slams shut) Whoa, whoa! NARRATOR: The Chasers are joined by Ashley Gilbert, the star of My Roanoke Nightmare.
His familiarity with the house will guide our team to capture evidence of spectral visitations during the cycle of the blood moon.
Yo, I'm Bob Kinnaman.
And I'm Dave Elder, the hosts of Spirit Chasers.
The Roanoke house is the Holy Grail of spectral phenomenon.
It's either the greatest modern day proof of paranormal activity Or the biggest fraud since Bernie Madoff.
Every show on TV wanted to do a segment on location here.
60 Minutes.
Good Morning America.
They all got the same answer we did.
Permission denied.
In fact, they put up a steel fence around the entire property to keep the riffraff out.
So we came up with a new strategy.
We don't ask, dude.
Not only are we here without any authorization, but we're here in the middle of the blood moon.
Dave, are we insane? To tackle the Roanoke House We needed backup.
ASHLEY: You called, and here I am.
(laughs) Ashley, welcome to the show.
Y'all ready to catch some ghosts? (beeps) We spared no expense, rigging the house with full spectrum cameras, capturing ultraviolet to infrared images.
They'll be the most helpful in the dark.
(door opens) BOB: We're here.
You're back.
You were excellent in My Roanoke Nightmare.
Why weren't you involved with Return to Roanoke? Sidney James did not deign to ask me to participate.
And as it turns out fortunately so.
NARRATOR: Everything is in place as the Spirit Chasers await nightfall and the arrival of the blood moon.
But what they find takes everyone by surprise.
I've never seen a reading like this before.
It's off the charts.
I can feel the hairs standing on the back of my neck.
BOB: There was trauma here.
Look at the blood stain on the wall.
This is where Rory died.
(rumbling, loud whoosh) That was crazy.
The air is completely still.
(slams shut) (gasps): Oh, shit! What was that? Look! I almost peed my pants.
(slams shut) (screams) Whoa, whoa! (softly): Whoa.
The energy change from day to night is unbelievable.
Oh, I mean it's intense.
It almost feels like I'm standing next to a Tesla coil.
Oh, my God.
I've seen this before.
A bonnet.
Like the one we had on the show.
But this is the real McCoy.
I can sense in the fabric the desiccation and pain.
BOB (whispering): There's something outside.
ASHLEY: I don't see anybody.
(startled shouts) Lee? That was totally unexpected, but so awesome.
I was so psyched.
To have Lee Harris show up at the house in the middle of the night? What? What the hell are you doing here? With all this crap? Are you people crazy enough to be shooting another show here? I could ask you the same thing.
I'm looking for my daughter.
And I'm running out of time.
I can sense it outside, the blood moon is rising.
The others will be here.
That's so perfect! You stupid (bleep).
You deserve to die.
ASHLEY: Lee, what would make you think Flora's here? I've been searching everywhere for two weeks.
This is the last place I want to be.
But I saw Priscilla come in here.
She took Flora from me before.
I found that on the floor.
DAVE: Lee! What happened to you after the Lana Winters thing? Why the (bleep) would I tell you? BOB: Come on, Lee, let us help you find Flora.
We got all this equipment here just waiting to be used.
We can work together to contact the spirits.
Believe me! They will find us! And if you had any brains at all, you would get out of here now, because this house has a strange way of ripping that frat boy smile right off your face! (crashing) (gasping) ASHLEY: Oh, dear! DAVE (quietly): Oh, my God.
(Bob gasps) Spectacular! What is it? That's a thermal capture.
You see that blue? Whatever made the cabinet fall is colder than everything else in the room.
The Chens.
I recorded an audio file from the master bedroom.
(child's echoing laughter) (gasps) That is creepy.
That's Priscilla.
Listen to me.
You still have time.
Leave all your shit and get out now.
(laughs): Are you kidding? Ch-Chasers don't run.
Follow them! Priscilla? (child's faint, echoing laughter) (child's faint laughter) (echoing slam) (child's faint laughter) She's there! Straight ahead.
(Tracy gasps) DAVE: Did you see her? She was right in front of you.
(Piggy Man snorting, squealing) (screams) (snorting) Croatoan! Go! Go! Go! Go.
Go.
Go.
(gasping) Go! (whispers): It's okay.
We're okay.
(growling) (Tracy screaming) No! No! (echoing screech) No! (child's faint laughter) (whispers): Where did she go? Did you see where she went? (gasping breaths) Let's get out of here.
Let's get We're done, we're let's (stammering) Get the (bleep) out of here! Go! We have to get out of here! We have to get out of here! Go! (wailing sirens approaching) We've got to get out of here! (siren wailing) (Tracy gasping) TRACY: Oh, thank God! Help us! Over here! Help us! (siren stops) Tracy! (screams) (grunting) BOB: No! (Bob groans) (body thuds) Get back in your car! Get back in the car! Something (bleep) is going on! Take it easy.
There's LEE: Flora? I just want to keep you safe.
Mama? FEMALE REPORTER: It is hour 14 of Lee Harris's standoff here at what may be the most famous, or should I say infamous house in the country.
We are currently considering this a hostage situation.
Uh, we have several conflicting reports saying that she has her daughter and another child in there.
Maybe our negotiator can make some progress.
When you look at what's happening, can you tell us, what do you know about her? What's she like? Uh, well, you know, we worked together.
Uh, a quick hello at the premiere was our only interaction.
I remember she wears Shalimar.
(chuckles) You decided not to go back to the reality show-- Return to Roanoke.
Yeah, I mean, I was asked, of course.
I want that on record.
There's have been a lot of conflicting reports out there, but you know, I have the e-mail chain.
Well, if anyone can give us a better sense of who Lee Harris is, it's the last person who interviewed her.
And we have her here exclusively, for her first interview since she was brutally attacked by Lot Polk.
National treasure, Lana Winters.
Lana, let me be the first to say it's good to have you back on the air with us.
Looks like you're home from the hospital, resting comfortably.
Yes, indeed.
You and Lee Harris are two women who are extremely hard to keep down, apparently.
If this is a doubles match, trouble is losing badly.
Well, in many ways, I understand Lee Harris.
We are two women for whom trouble just seems to walk alongside.
Which is why I think your rather crude analogy is actually quite true.
Both Lee and I have the capacity, or the curse, depending on how you look at it, to be singular of thought.
"Dogs with bones," as they say.
When we latch onto something, it becomes our destiny and we will do anything to see it through.
And what is that thing for Lee? Her daughter, of course.
It's always been about Flora.
(distantly): Flora Flora, Flora, Flora (distant siren wailing) (siren fades) LEE: If those settlers didn't want anybody bothering them they shouldn't have chosen such a pretty place to make their home.
Can I have another bar? Sure.
You must be starving.
What did you eat out in the woods all that time? Priscilla showed me stuff.
Berries.
(distant siren wailing) You know when you're drawing a cat or a house and you picture that cat or that house in your mind and it looks so perfect but you just can't get your hand to live up to that picture in your head? That's what it's like to be a parent.
You picture how you want to be and it's so wonderful and flawless but you can't ever live up to that picture you imagined.
You killed Daddy.
With a rock.
I saw you.
He was gonna take you away from me.
A girl needs her mother.
Your daddy never understood that.
I am so sorry for the things I've done, but I am your champion, Flora.
I don't care what the world thinks about me.
To tell you the truth, the only damn thing I have to live for is to look after you.
So please, Flora, walk out of here with me.
Give me a chance to make that perfect picture with you.
I want to stay here, with Priscilla.
She needs me.
That's not gonna work, baby.
What are you gonna do for shelter? You can't grow big and strong off of a few berries.
I can if I'm like her.
I could keep her safe from The Butcher.
Burn this place to the ground.
No, you can't do that.
You have to come with me.
In time you'll understand.
No! Never! Flora! Flora! I won't let you do that; you have to live your life.
With or without me.
I made a great big mess of my life, but those are my sins, not yours.
Why won't anyone listen to me? This is what I want.
What do you mean why won't anyone listen to you? Priscilla won't do it; she's afraid, but I told her it's okay.
I'm gonna get one of the other ones to do it.
No, you will not.
I am still your mother, do you hear me? And I forbid it.
I don't care! I'm gonna do it and you can't stop me.
What if I stay and look after Priscilla? I fought off The Butcher twice.
I could do a much better job of protecting her.
The Butcher would get you eventually.
Not if I'm like her.
Not if Priscilla did to me what you want her to do to you.
You can go live with your grandparents.
I know you like them.
Priscilla needs a mommy.
Let me do that for her, and for you.
You can come visit us when it's not the blood moon.
And in time, you may feel differently about me.
Please, let me do that for you.
What do you think? (indistinct radio transmission) CAMERAMAN: Shit, smoke! (siren wailing in distance) (indistinct radio transmission and static) OFFICER: Shit, I smell a gas leak! Get back! Get back! (explosion) (yelling, fire roaring) It's gonna be okay.
(gunshot) (explosions) (glass shattering) (debris clattering) (indistinct radio transmission) (siren wailing) (car engine starting)
Ladies and gentlemen, are you ready for the cast and producer of My Roanoke Nightmare?! (cheers and applause) TRIXIE: Shelby, what was it like seeing yourself portrayed by someone else? Um, it was weird, at first, but then somehow cathartic.
(cheers and applause) WOMAN: We love you, Shelby! Oh, thank you.
That's really sweet.
Are you sure it's not me you love? (cheering wildly) (snorting, squealing) Sidney James, My Roanoke Nightmare was one of the most successful television shows of all time.
(cheers and applause) A ratings phenomenon.
Thank you.
Can we expect a second season? Well, that story has been told, but we have some ideas.
(cheering) Well, I would love to come back because I think we've just only scratched the surface of what makes The Butcher tick.
Well, The Butcher seemed to have scratched everybody's surface.
(laughter) (cheers and applause) Especially me.
The bitch impaled me! (laughter) HANSEN: We can take some questions from our audience.
This question is for Rory.
(girls cheering wildly) Um, what's your favorite color? Hey, I see the world in the full spectrum of colors, you know? (cheering) Rory, can I get a hug? You bet your sweet little ass! (cheers and applause) What about me? Do I not get no love?! (cheering) My name Bristol Windows and I flew all the way out here from London.
(cheering) No shit.
It's been a really hard year and My Roanoke Nightmare is the only thing that's kept me going.
I need to say I totally identify with Lee, who I feel has had some really nasty and unfair things said about her online.
Lee, I made you something.
I'd love to give it to you.
(cheering and applause) Oh (cheering continues) (cheering) (cheering and applause continue) All right, so it's been a year since the end of series one of My Roanoke Nightmare.
Everything's just gone to shit.
You know, I-I thought the second series was just really exploitative, turning what was a real artistic achievement into something quite crass.
And yes, I know, okay, Three Days in Hell was even more popular and got bigger ratings, with reddit threads that went on for ages about was it real or was it not, or were the spirits faked? Did anybody really die? They did die, didn't they? Now they want to put Lee on trial for murder.
I mean, why'd you have to go back, Lee? Why? Courts won't do shit.
Polk family ain't never got justice in all our history.
(sniffs) She took my babies.
Killed my kin.
Well, if the law won't deal with her I sure will.
(laughing) NARRATOR: Lee Harris.
Decorated police officer, loving wife, devoted mother.
She was a woman who had it all, until she cracked.
(glass shatters) NARRATOR: Lee Miller was a shy girl, gifted.
She had big dreams, and in the fall of 2005, it felt like all of her dreams were coming true.
Lee fell madly in love with a charismatic engineer named Mason Harris.
And soon after came Lee's greatest joy, Flora.
But little did Lee know that her happy life was about to spiral out of control.
A custody battle a kidnapping, a murder.
A hit TV show.
Millions of Americans met Lee Harris in 2015 Can we stop for a moment, please? when a sleeper hit, My Roanoke Nightmare, first premiered.
She was a woman of many secrets.
Dangerous.
Deadly.
Put down the gun! The police long suspected that Lee was responsible for the death of her husband, Mason, but the evidence was purely circumstantial.
Well, we have no smoking gun, but I knew, without a shadow of a doubt, Lee Harris killed her ex-husband in cold blood.
(reporters clamoring) PHILLIPS: So I had to wait and watch while this murderer became a celebrity We have the pleasure to sit down with Lee Harris PHILLIPS: profiting from her crimes.
It's shameful.
NARRATOR: The prosecution didn't have to wait long.
The following year, the next installment of the series aired, setting an all-time ratings record.
Lee committed not one but multiple homicides.
On camera.
(screaming) (grunting) We had her.
Monet Tumusiime's sister sat in the front row every day of that trial to remind me that my job was to speak up for the victims.
NARRATOR: But the defense had a plan up their sleeve to render the mountain of evidence irrelevant.
The strain of marijuana recovered from the Polk residence was highly unusual.
It tested positive for hallucinogenic properties.
It was obvious that that magic pot was messing with her brain.
She was seeing things.
NARRATOR: They played on the jury's emotions, forced them to watch the recording from the Polk farm in its entirety.
The guy pickled her ear, at chunks out of her body, carved her up like a Christmas ham.
(Lee screaming) No wonder she thought everybody was after her.
I would have lost my damn mind.
Hallucinations, trauma, extreme duress-- this is the textbook definition of diminished capacity.
She didn't know what she was doing.
She knew exactly what she was doing.
(camera shutters clicking) NARRATOR: In a stunning turn of events, Lee Harris was acquitted of all charges.
PHILLIPS: It was an abomination.
There was no way I was gonna stand by and watch this woman elude justice-- not again.
So I played the only card I had left.
Went after her for her original crime-- the murder of Mason.
I killed Daddy.
That's on me, and me alone.
No one else helped me.
It's nobody's fault except mine.
PHILLIPS: I had her on tape, confessing.
We had Matt's security footage clearly revealing Lee leaving that house at 10:13 p.
m.
And phone records revealed a call between Lee and Mason at 10:19 p.
m.
that lasted six minutes.
And it was our contention that Lee Harris was arranging a rendezvous with her ex-husband.
And the reason we thought that The prosecution calls Flora Harris.
(excited murmurs) We had an eyewitness.
You were in the woods a long time.
That must have been scary.
Now, when you were out there, did you see anything strange? Yes.
Who'd you see? Mom and Dad.
And what were they doing? They were fighting.
FLORA: It was about me, as usual.
My dad, he said my mom kidnapped me at school, and she was hiding me.
So he wanted to tell the cops.
So your father threatened to involve the police.
What'd your mom do next? He walked away and she picked up a rock.
And what did she do with the rock, Flora? She hit him.
(gallery murmuring) FLORA: He fell, and she hit him again, until he stopped moving.
You killed Daddy.
(gasps, murmurs) (gavel bangs) Flora, did your mom or your dad ever see you that night? No.
I was hiding.
No further questions.
(whispering indistinctly) STEPHANIE: Your father thought your mother was hiding you.
But that wasn't true, was it? You chose to go out into the woods, didn't you? Yes.
Why didn't you go to your mother and father? Because I didn't want them to find me.
Why not? Because I felt safe.
You felt safe? Alone? In the woods? I wasn't alone.
I was with Priscilla.
Priscilla.
The ghost girl from the TV show.
Yeah.
(excited murmuring) (gavel bangs) STEPHANIE: You felt safer in the woods with a dead girl's spirit than you did with your own parents? I was much happier with Priscilla than I ever was with you.
(shocked murmuring) (buzzer sounds) STEPHANIE: The words of an imaginative girl, from a broken home.
Her mother an addict, her father an angry man with an explosive temper.
Is it any surprise that this poor child Gotcha! invented a friend with whom she felt safe? Where'd she go? STEPHANIE: Lee's taped confession.
I killed Daddy.
An obvious attempt by Ms.
Harris to stop the abuse of her kidnapper.
For all we know, Flora, this impressionable child, may have seen that tape and built false memories around it.
Her testimony may condemn Ms.
Harris as a mother, but it does not prove that she is a murderer.
NARRATOR: It was 16 days before the jury reached a verdict.
WOMAN: We were split, on Flora's testimony.
JUDGE: I understand the jury has reached a verdict.
What say you? JUROR NUMBER FIVE: I know the Roanoke show was a popular show.
We find the defendant But I couldn't send a woman to jail based on ghost stories.
not guilty.
(excited clamoring) (gavel banging) (indistinct chatter) PHILLIPS: Well, I'll tell you one thing.
Lee Harris must be one damn good actress.
Maybe even better than the woman who played her.
You know, in my entire legal career, to this day, that verdict was the hardest to swallow.
(camera shutters clicking, reporters clamoring) Flora Flora.
Just talk to me, please.
Flora? PHILLIPS: You know, it's easy to break this kind of thing down to winners and losers.
But nobody won here.
I mean, sure, Lee Harris dodged a sentence.
I think she lost a lot more.
(glass shatters) Lee Harris.
Equally reviled and celebrated.
She is one of the most provocative and polarizing figures of our time.
Lee endured and survived a harrowing experience that would've destroyed most people.
She rose from the depths of her torture and wrote a bestselling book, became a highly-paid speaker, but some would say Lee never escaped.
That in fighting monsters, she became one herself.
I killed Daddy.
That's on me, and me alone.
No one else helped me.
It's nobody's fault except mine.
The murder trials of Lee Harris captured the hearts and minds of an entire nation.
And when it was time to announce the verdict, it seemed as though the whole world stood still.
It was the second time Lee successfully navigated a journey of horrors.
Acquitted of all charges, exonerated by a jury of her peers, and yet questions remain.
It is for this fascinating woman, that I have come out of retirement.
Lee Harris has agreed to do an interview to tell the world her side of an extraordinary story, unedited, unfiltered, live on television.
Welcome to The Lana Winters Special.
Lee.
Thank you for agreeing to this interview.
There are so many questions I want to ask, so much everyone is dying to know.
I will start with the most important question first.
How are you? You had me there.
Well, I honestly want to know.
You have been through hell and back, and so many people would've simply given up.
This I know.
To what do you attribute your resilience? Well, it's good to have a goal in mind, Mm-hmm.
something to hope for.
Mm-hmm.
For me, that's Flora.
Your daughter.
It's always been about her.
At my darkest times, she kept me alive.
The thought of Flora being alone in the world, the joy of seeing her again, and to watch her grow up.
It's kept me going.
How is your relationship with your daughter today? At the moment, spare.
I can only imagine how painful that must be for you now.
Having to go back into a courtroom yet again, this time to fight for custody.
Mason's family have decided that I'm not a good influence on my own daughter.
Even though I've been acquitted of all charges.
You have to admit, those horrible images remain.
The public will always associate Lee Harris with the deaths of three innocent people.
Not to mention your husband.
Flora's father.
And by acquitting you, the jury, and basically half of America, are calling Flora-- your daughter-- a liar.
I did not come here to be put on trial again.
But why are you here, Lee? Why did you agree to this interview? What do you mean? Well, I know for a fact that you turned everybody else down.
Diane Sawyer.
Barbara Walters.
Because of you.
Because of who you are.
And what you've been through.
I mean, Jesus.
You killed your own son.
Bloody Face.
I killed a psychopathic murderer before he could kill me.
I did what I had to do.
Exactly.
You know there are extenuating circumstances in every action you take.
Of course.
That's why I agreed to talk to you.
Well, It's not really me you came here to talk to, is it? Your daughter has refused to speak to you since your acquittal, isn't that right? I'm praying she's watching, and that she'll somehow see this so I can tell her what she needs to know.
Well this is your chance.
Tell her.
Flora, I'm gonna tell you something that maybe you already know.
But you need to hear it from my heart.
I love you, baby.
And I'm never gonna give up.
Never stop, until we are together again.
You feel better? Yeah.
Where is she, Lee? What? Flora.
Where is she? Is that some sort of trick question? Flora Harris was reported missing by her grandparents an hour before we went on the air.
Where is she? Lee? What are you talking about? I know that our viewers will understand the desperation of a mother separated from her daughter, but if you have abducted her again, Lee, now is the time to come clean before things spiral out of control.
(whispers): My God, Jesus.
Lee.
Please sit down.
I have to find my daughter.
(automatic gunfire in distance) (people screaming in distance) MAN: What the hell was that? LANA: That's a goddamn assault weapon.
(automatic gunfire continues) LANA: Lee, sit down.
Sit down, goddamn it! (shouts, gunshots) Oh, God.
(grunting) LEE: Oh, my God.
It's Lot.
LOT: I bet you I'm the last (bleep) guy you expected to see.
Please, please, please, please.
Please.
My name is Lana Winters.
Do not do anything you regret.
You are on live television.
I could give a shit about your TV.
What I'm about to do is justice.
LANA: No, this is not justice, this is revenge.
She killed Jether.
It's her fault my mama's dead.
The world is watching you, young man.
Millions of people.
You have an opportunity to tell your truth.
I can see the pain you're in.
I know that pain.
I know what it's like to so desperately want to correct an injustice that you are driven to violence.
You loved your mother.
She was everything to me.
Killing Lee will not bring her back.
It won't ease the burden on your soul.
Put the gun down.
Put it down.
(crew gasps, body thuds on the floor) She talks too much.
Time's up, Lee.
(gunshots) (sustained tone) NARRATOR: Tonight, an extraordinary special edition of Spirit Chasers.
We investigate the Roanoke house, the disturbing location of the deadliest paranormal phenomenon in America.
Was The Butcher real? Were the settlers just a fabrication? Man, I haven't been this freaked out since we were in that asylum.
(door slams shut) Whoa, whoa! NARRATOR: The Chasers are joined by Ashley Gilbert, the star of My Roanoke Nightmare.
His familiarity with the house will guide our team to capture evidence of spectral visitations during the cycle of the blood moon.
Yo, I'm Bob Kinnaman.
And I'm Dave Elder, the hosts of Spirit Chasers.
The Roanoke house is the Holy Grail of spectral phenomenon.
It's either the greatest modern day proof of paranormal activity Or the biggest fraud since Bernie Madoff.
Every show on TV wanted to do a segment on location here.
60 Minutes.
Good Morning America.
They all got the same answer we did.
Permission denied.
In fact, they put up a steel fence around the entire property to keep the riffraff out.
So we came up with a new strategy.
We don't ask, dude.
Not only are we here without any authorization, but we're here in the middle of the blood moon.
Dave, are we insane? To tackle the Roanoke House We needed backup.
ASHLEY: You called, and here I am.
(laughs) Ashley, welcome to the show.
Y'all ready to catch some ghosts? (beeps) We spared no expense, rigging the house with full spectrum cameras, capturing ultraviolet to infrared images.
They'll be the most helpful in the dark.
(door opens) BOB: We're here.
You're back.
You were excellent in My Roanoke Nightmare.
Why weren't you involved with Return to Roanoke? Sidney James did not deign to ask me to participate.
And as it turns out fortunately so.
NARRATOR: Everything is in place as the Spirit Chasers await nightfall and the arrival of the blood moon.
But what they find takes everyone by surprise.
I've never seen a reading like this before.
It's off the charts.
I can feel the hairs standing on the back of my neck.
BOB: There was trauma here.
Look at the blood stain on the wall.
This is where Rory died.
(rumbling, loud whoosh) That was crazy.
The air is completely still.
(slams shut) (gasps): Oh, shit! What was that? Look! I almost peed my pants.
(slams shut) (screams) Whoa, whoa! (softly): Whoa.
The energy change from day to night is unbelievable.
Oh, I mean it's intense.
It almost feels like I'm standing next to a Tesla coil.
Oh, my God.
I've seen this before.
A bonnet.
Like the one we had on the show.
But this is the real McCoy.
I can sense in the fabric the desiccation and pain.
BOB (whispering): There's something outside.
ASHLEY: I don't see anybody.
(startled shouts) Lee? That was totally unexpected, but so awesome.
I was so psyched.
To have Lee Harris show up at the house in the middle of the night? What? What the hell are you doing here? With all this crap? Are you people crazy enough to be shooting another show here? I could ask you the same thing.
I'm looking for my daughter.
And I'm running out of time.
I can sense it outside, the blood moon is rising.
The others will be here.
That's so perfect! You stupid (bleep).
You deserve to die.
ASHLEY: Lee, what would make you think Flora's here? I've been searching everywhere for two weeks.
This is the last place I want to be.
But I saw Priscilla come in here.
She took Flora from me before.
I found that on the floor.
DAVE: Lee! What happened to you after the Lana Winters thing? Why the (bleep) would I tell you? BOB: Come on, Lee, let us help you find Flora.
We got all this equipment here just waiting to be used.
We can work together to contact the spirits.
Believe me! They will find us! And if you had any brains at all, you would get out of here now, because this house has a strange way of ripping that frat boy smile right off your face! (crashing) (gasping) ASHLEY: Oh, dear! DAVE (quietly): Oh, my God.
(Bob gasps) Spectacular! What is it? That's a thermal capture.
You see that blue? Whatever made the cabinet fall is colder than everything else in the room.
The Chens.
I recorded an audio file from the master bedroom.
(child's echoing laughter) (gasps) That is creepy.
That's Priscilla.
Listen to me.
You still have time.
Leave all your shit and get out now.
(laughs): Are you kidding? Ch-Chasers don't run.
Follow them! Priscilla? (child's faint, echoing laughter) (child's faint laughter) (echoing slam) (child's faint laughter) She's there! Straight ahead.
(Tracy gasps) DAVE: Did you see her? She was right in front of you.
(Piggy Man snorting, squealing) (screams) (snorting) Croatoan! Go! Go! Go! Go.
Go.
Go.
(gasping) Go! (whispers): It's okay.
We're okay.
(growling) (Tracy screaming) No! No! (echoing screech) No! (child's faint laughter) (whispers): Where did she go? Did you see where she went? (gasping breaths) Let's get out of here.
Let's get We're done, we're let's (stammering) Get the (bleep) out of here! Go! We have to get out of here! We have to get out of here! Go! (wailing sirens approaching) We've got to get out of here! (siren wailing) (Tracy gasping) TRACY: Oh, thank God! Help us! Over here! Help us! (siren stops) Tracy! (screams) (grunting) BOB: No! (Bob groans) (body thuds) Get back in your car! Get back in the car! Something (bleep) is going on! Take it easy.
There's LEE: Flora? I just want to keep you safe.
Mama? FEMALE REPORTER: It is hour 14 of Lee Harris's standoff here at what may be the most famous, or should I say infamous house in the country.
We are currently considering this a hostage situation.
Uh, we have several conflicting reports saying that she has her daughter and another child in there.
Maybe our negotiator can make some progress.
When you look at what's happening, can you tell us, what do you know about her? What's she like? Uh, well, you know, we worked together.
Uh, a quick hello at the premiere was our only interaction.
I remember she wears Shalimar.
(chuckles) You decided not to go back to the reality show-- Return to Roanoke.
Yeah, I mean, I was asked, of course.
I want that on record.
There's have been a lot of conflicting reports out there, but you know, I have the e-mail chain.
Well, if anyone can give us a better sense of who Lee Harris is, it's the last person who interviewed her.
And we have her here exclusively, for her first interview since she was brutally attacked by Lot Polk.
National treasure, Lana Winters.
Lana, let me be the first to say it's good to have you back on the air with us.
Looks like you're home from the hospital, resting comfortably.
Yes, indeed.
You and Lee Harris are two women who are extremely hard to keep down, apparently.
If this is a doubles match, trouble is losing badly.
Well, in many ways, I understand Lee Harris.
We are two women for whom trouble just seems to walk alongside.
Which is why I think your rather crude analogy is actually quite true.
Both Lee and I have the capacity, or the curse, depending on how you look at it, to be singular of thought.
"Dogs with bones," as they say.
When we latch onto something, it becomes our destiny and we will do anything to see it through.
And what is that thing for Lee? Her daughter, of course.
It's always been about Flora.
(distantly): Flora Flora, Flora, Flora (distant siren wailing) (siren fades) LEE: If those settlers didn't want anybody bothering them they shouldn't have chosen such a pretty place to make their home.
Can I have another bar? Sure.
You must be starving.
What did you eat out in the woods all that time? Priscilla showed me stuff.
Berries.
(distant siren wailing) You know when you're drawing a cat or a house and you picture that cat or that house in your mind and it looks so perfect but you just can't get your hand to live up to that picture in your head? That's what it's like to be a parent.
You picture how you want to be and it's so wonderful and flawless but you can't ever live up to that picture you imagined.
You killed Daddy.
With a rock.
I saw you.
He was gonna take you away from me.
A girl needs her mother.
Your daddy never understood that.
I am so sorry for the things I've done, but I am your champion, Flora.
I don't care what the world thinks about me.
To tell you the truth, the only damn thing I have to live for is to look after you.
So please, Flora, walk out of here with me.
Give me a chance to make that perfect picture with you.
I want to stay here, with Priscilla.
She needs me.
That's not gonna work, baby.
What are you gonna do for shelter? You can't grow big and strong off of a few berries.
I can if I'm like her.
I could keep her safe from The Butcher.
Burn this place to the ground.
No, you can't do that.
You have to come with me.
In time you'll understand.
No! Never! Flora! Flora! I won't let you do that; you have to live your life.
With or without me.
I made a great big mess of my life, but those are my sins, not yours.
Why won't anyone listen to me? This is what I want.
What do you mean why won't anyone listen to you? Priscilla won't do it; she's afraid, but I told her it's okay.
I'm gonna get one of the other ones to do it.
No, you will not.
I am still your mother, do you hear me? And I forbid it.
I don't care! I'm gonna do it and you can't stop me.
What if I stay and look after Priscilla? I fought off The Butcher twice.
I could do a much better job of protecting her.
The Butcher would get you eventually.
Not if I'm like her.
Not if Priscilla did to me what you want her to do to you.
You can go live with your grandparents.
I know you like them.
Priscilla needs a mommy.
Let me do that for her, and for you.
You can come visit us when it's not the blood moon.
And in time, you may feel differently about me.
Please, let me do that for you.
What do you think? (indistinct radio transmission) CAMERAMAN: Shit, smoke! (siren wailing in distance) (indistinct radio transmission and static) OFFICER: Shit, I smell a gas leak! Get back! Get back! (explosion) (yelling, fire roaring) It's gonna be okay.
(gunshot) (explosions) (glass shattering) (debris clattering) (indistinct radio transmission) (siren wailing) (car engine starting)