All language subtitles for Lore.S01E04.WEBRip.x264-ION10

AARON MAHNKE: On the evening
of February 5, 1921...

Thomas Bradford,

an engineer and psychic,

completed a book
about the afterlife.

Then he tested it.

Weeks before, Bradford
had placed an advertisement

in a Detroit newspaper.

He was seeking someone

interested
in spiritualistic science.

Ruth Duran,
a 40-year-old woman

from one of Detroit's
oldest families,

answered Bradford's ad.

She did it out
of simple curiosity.

The plan was
as straightforward

as it was unsettling.

He would attempt
to speak to Ruth

from the other side.

[typing]

After Ruth left
for the final time,

Thomas locked
his boarding house door...

and sealed the room.

Then he blew out
the pilot light

and turned on the gas...

[gas hissing]

and began what he called
"The Great Adventure."

After his body
was discovered,

Ruth told a reporter,

"I believe he will make
his presence known to me."

A week later,
she said he spoke.

"I have not traveled far,"
the voice said.

"One feels full of
rapture and happiness."

What did Ruth actually hear?

Well, we'll never
know for sure.

She took that secret
to her own grave.

I'm Aaron Mahnke,
and this is Lore.

In 1843, life changed forever

for the Reverend
Eliakim Phelps.

With the passing
of his wife Elizabeth,

he was overwhelmed
by crushing sadness,

and it challenged everything

Phelps had been
taught to believe.

As a man of God,

the boundaries between
this world and the next

were clearly defined.

For him, the door
between life and death

was forever shut.

But Phelps lived in a time

when people were
beginning to experiment

with ways to communicate
with the other side

by repurposing the secrets
of ancient mysticism...

and through séances.

It was even rumored

that Mary Lincoln
had held a séance

in the White House
for her deceased son.

What began with
a handful of beliefs

turned into a movement.

It was called Spiritualism,

the belief that you
didn't have to be dead

to communicate with the dead.

The afterlife,
the other world,

whatever we want to call it,
it's right there.

We just need
to reach beyond the veil.

In spite of himself,

the Reverend Phelps
was drawn to the promise

the Spiritualist
Movement offered.

He tried to move on.

Two years after
Elizabeth's passing,

he married Sarah Nicholson,

a much younger woman,
recently widowed herself.

Phelps became stepfather
to Sarah's children,

and the new Phelps family
moved into a large home

in Stratford, Connecticut.

[thunder]

Yet Phelps couldn't let go.

He still longed
for his beloved Elizabeth--

for one final touch,
one final moment,

for a chance
to open that door.

It's a desire
we can all relate to.

But just because we want to
doesn't mean we should.

Some doors, you see,
are closed for a reason.

For the first two years
in their new home,

life was uneventful
for the new Phelps family.

But on March 10 of 1850,

as they return home from
the morning church service,

all of that changed.

[clatter]

The silver.

Nothing was taken.

Where's Henry?

Elizabeth?

Take Henry out.

Who would do this?

I do not know,

and I do not care.

No one was hurt.

No possessions were taken.

There appears to be
no further threat.

It was-- It was--

It's just a bluff.

Does everyone understand?
It's just a bluff.

All right.

Let's--

Let's return our house
to order,

have our lunch.

We'll go to church
for afternoon service.

Eliakim.

Give these
to Pastor Richards.

They will instruct him

on performing
this afternoon's service.

I will remain here
in case they come back.

[creaking]

[thumping]

[thumping]

[gun cocks]

[dishes clatter]

Who's in the dining room?

I have a gun.
I demand an answer!

[knocking]

[dishes clatter]

[knock]

[door opens]

[door closes]

[clatter]

[clatter]

The Reverend Phelps
took responsibility

for the figures
and the knocking.

He wondered if he'd
unknowingly invited them in.

When Dr. Isaac Bristol
had visited Reverend Phelps

a week before the first
incident occurred,

the two men may have
heard of Spiritualism,

perhaps even read newspaper
accounts of a séance.

But neither would
have known anyone

who'd participated
in such a ceremony.

I visited Austin
while I was in Andover.

He's been promoted

to Professor
of Scared Rhetorics

at the seminary.

Oh, I'm so proud
of my son Austin,

but he is ashamed
of his father

for marrying someone closer
to his own age than mine.

He despises me
for marrying Sarah,

as does her son Henry.

I fear the only person
that can reach him

-is his own father.
-Oh.

Difficult to reach him
six feet under ground.

I have read accounts
of scientific discoveries

regarding the use of mesmerism
as a bridge of communication

to those who have
passed on before us.

I have to confess to you

that I've actually thought
of attending a séance,

I believe it is called.

The chance to communicate
with his departed wife,

cross through the door

into the world that
Elizabeth now inhabited.

These were the desires
that Phelps shared

with a growing number
of believers.

Séances were becoming
ever more popular.

And in an era
when the laws of nature

were supplanting
the laws of God,

Spiritualists were convinced
that newly discovered forces,

still not fully understood,

governed the interaction
with the afterworld.

The ability
to channel a force

that could reach
from this life to next

found its origins
70 years earlier

in the work of Franz Mesmer.

Franz Mesmer, A German
physician in the late 1700s,

believed he'd identified
the vital force

that flowed through
all living beings.

He called this force
animal magnetism.

Mesmer believed

that when this force
could not flow freely,

people became ill.

He claimed he could
cure his patients

by removing this blockage.

He would send
the patient into a trance

by directing his own magnetic
energy into their body.

People were said
to be "mesmerized,"

a technique
that would later become

the basis for hypnosis.

His practice
became so popular

that in order to treat
many people at once,

he devised a device

that connected patients
to one another

by means of metal rods

so that magnetic energy could
be conducted between them.

Mesmer himself never claimed

to be able to communicate
with the spirits of the dead,

but the séance evolved
from his belief

that these unseen
forces could be harnessed.

The passing of energy

from one person to the other.

The power of
the trance state.

These were the aspects

of Mesmer's
scientific experiments

that the Spiritualist
Movement would rely on

to open the door
to the spiritual world.

Eliakim, you're a leader
in this town,

looked up upon,
a Christian minister.

When the Lord summons,

our souls are called
home to heaven

or banished to hell.

There are no ghosts of those
who once lived amongst us.

The only spirits that cross
from death to life

are demons offering
nothing but temptation

through doors which should
remain closed and locked.

And I would be willing
to open that door

and to look inside
that room, Isaac,

to see Elizabeth
one last time.

You risk scandal
and loss of your position.

Your congregation
would disown you.

To hear one last
word from her.

Wouldn't you like to speak

to your mother and father
again?

Wouldn't everyone in my
congregation understand?

Science is close
to proving definitively

the designs of God.

Science will prove God.

They are one in the same.

Eli...

these liberal
Christian theologies

that are bouncing
around New York City

will never be accepted
in a town founded by Puritans.

Through the revelations
of the orbits of planets,

astronomy is proving
the design of God.

Spiritualism may
provide its own answers

and unlock the door
into and out of heaven

as God intended, as science
is just now finding.

We look through glass
darkly, Isaac...

for now.

How does it work?

A séance? Do you know?

Only the accounts
that I've read.

In 1848, something odd
was happening

at the home of John
and Margaret Fox

in upstate New York.

That's when their daughters
Kate and Margaret

first made contact
with the dead.

They said it was
the spirit of Charles Rosna,

a peddler who'd been
murdered five years earlier

and who'd been buried
in their basement.

They spoke
with this unseen entity

through a series
of clicks and knocks.

[knocking]

Rosna was the first
to speak with them,

but it was soon clear
that the girls had a talent

for attracting
the spirits of the dead.

Word spread quickly

about what Kate
and Margaret Fox could do.

The sisters began
conducting séances

in which they would translate
these mysterious sounds

for anyone eager to hear
from a lost loved one.

It was a chance to say hello
again or a final goodbye.

And it was understandably
popular.

This hunger for communication
with the dead was so strong

that within a few years,

even those not normally given

to believing
in the spirit world

were open to accepting
its existence.

We need to join hands.

My first wife Elizabeth,
who died in 1843.

Elizabeth Phelps...

I need a sign from you.

Elizabeth...

I need a sign
that you're okay.

Elizabeth.

Elizabeth, are you with us?

Elizabeth, are you with me?

[knocking]

[knocking continues]

[knocking]

[knocking]

[knocking]

[knocking]

[knocking]

It's just the wind
knocking against the house.

Of course.

Reverend Phelps' longing
for his first wife

pushed him to question
what he longed believed.

And half a century later,

the pull of Spiritualism
would force another man

to question his own beliefs.

Harry Houdini
was the 20th century's

most famous magician
and stunt performer--

or, as he'd refer to himself,
mystical entertainer.

[applause]

But one of his most
popular roles

was as a skeptic
of Spiritualism.

It was part of his act,
but it was an attitude

that had sprung from
a personal experience.

Houdini had lost his mother
Cecelia in 1913.

He'd been utterly
devoted to her,

and he was so devastated
when she passed

that he gave up performing.

Spiritualist friends
urged him

to rethink his skepticism,

inviting him to reconnect
with her in a séance.

The medium began
to write out a message

from the other side.

But Houdini instantly knew
it was a cruel fraud.

The message was in English.

His mother spoke only

a mixture of
Hungarian and German.

Houdini was outraged

that they had tried
to exploit his grief.

He made it his mission
to expose spiritualists

as frauds, phonies,
and bunk artists,

skewering the Spiritualist
masquerade

in his stage shows.

After his own death in 1926,

Houdini's widow Bess
conducted a séance

every Halloween.

MAN (on radio):
Houdini, are you here?

Are you here, Houdini?

The world is listening.

And Bessie is here,
your Bessie,

pleading in her heart
for a prearranged sign.

Speak, Harry!

We are watching
and waiting, Harry.

MAHNKE: She would
make the attempt

every year for ten years.

MAN: Mrs. Houdini,
the ten years are up.

Have you reached a decision?

BESS HOUDINI:
Yes. My last hope is God.

I do not believe

that Houdini can come
back to me or to anyone.

It is now my personal
and positive belief

that spirit communication
in any form is impossible.

MAHNKE: But one
of Houdini's friends

refused to give up
on the spirit world.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle,
creator of Sherlock Holmes,

was an ardent believer.

I suppose I've sat
with more mediums,

good and bad and indifferent,

than perhaps
any living being.

Doyle, a physician
by training,

had read about
the Fox Sisters

and was convinced

that communication with
the dead was possible.

In the summer of 1919,
Doyle visited a psychic

and posed for a series
of portraits.

As he watched the first
photograph develop,

he was amazed to see

there was also someone
else in the picture.

Doyle recognized
the ghost of his son,

who died from wounds
suffered in World War I.

Doyle remained a staunch
defender of Spiritualism

his entire life.

I'm not talking
about what I believe.

I'm not talking
about what I think.

I'm talking about what I know.

There's an enormous
difference, believe me,

between believing a thing
and knowing a thing.

Leviticus
the 19th chapter...

Phelps wasn't certain

that the disturbances
from a month earlier

were caused by spirits,

but still he couldn't
shake the feeling

that they were somehow
connected to the séance

he'd held with his friend
Isaac Bristol.

[thumping]

If there were spirits
in his home, however,

they were challenging him,

daring him to ignore
their presence.

Anna! Henry!

Who wrote this?

-Who's responsible for this?
-Eliakim.

This letter that
appeared on my desk,

this bluff, this plague
signed by "Sam Slick."

I will not have
the name of the devil

in a Christian house.

I didn't do it!
Don't accuse me!

Oh!

Henry!

Henry.

Henry!

[knocking]

With Reverend Phelps being

a prominent figure
in the community,

it wasn't long before
word of the haunting spread

and his son Austin
and brother Abner

paid him a visit.

Eli, a little across
Fairfield County,

they are talking about
the Stratford knockings.

The Pennsyl--

Thank you, Anna.

The Pennsylvanian
is reporting

on the hauntings
at the Phelps' house,

how you are haunted
by Goody Basset,

a witch hung in the 1620s.

It is dishonorable
and scandalous

to your reputation
as a man of God

and the harm that you are
committing to our family name.

The faculty at the seminary
are asking me about

why parishioners are beginning
to leave my father's church.

"Is he involved
with necromancy?"

Since you have not
by any full chug

brought an end to the gossip,
we are here to do so

and be gone
as soon as possible.

And if I succeeded

in communication
with the other side.

If I communicated
with your mother,

I engaged in an act
of Spiritualism

in an effort
to see her once again.

Elizabeth is resting
at peace with the Lord.

And I'm suggesting that
the séance opened the door

for some other spirit.

There are no
spirits or demons.

Never again will
the dead have a part

in anything that
happens under the sun.

Saul told the Witch of Endor
that as the Lord liveth,

there would be no punishment
for raising Samuel.

The events in this house

are not demons
or angels or ghosts.

They originate
with your stepson.

Henry is angry that his
father was taken from him

and his mother remarried.

It must be the boy.

[thump]

[hissing]

[screaming]

[choking, screaming]

[screaming, coughing]

[screaming]

Aah! Ohh!

-Ohh!
-[Henry shouting]

Henry!

Abner!

[gasping]

[clatter]

[clatter]

-Henry.
-Oh, dear God.

-Henry.
-Henry.

Henry.

-Henry.
-Ohh.

-Ohh.
-Oh, God.

Oh, son. Oh, son.

Henry.

Henry.

Henry?

Ohh.

Henry.

Henry.

Oh, dear Lord.

Ohh.

Like they hung
the witch.

Goody Bassett.

The fear of the witch was
deep rooted in New England.

In the 17th century,
hundreds of young women

were accused of witchcraft...

then consorting
with the devil.

Goody Bassett of Stratford,
Connecticut, was one of them.

She was strong willed
and outspoken,

not shy about
criticizing the elders.

A woman so brazen

must be capable of sorcery.

Goody and her husband
had moved to Stratford

a few years earlier.

Shortly after their arrival,

many of the townspeople died
from an unknown illness.

Goody Bassett was suspected

of casting the spell
that caused it.

She was examined
for marks of the witch.

Goody was given
one last chance to confess.

But in 1651,

40 years before
the Salem witch trials,

Goody Bassett was hanged...

only a short distance

from where the Phelps'
mansion would stand

two centuries later.

I insist that you move
your family into my home

until this matter can be
explained and resolved.

And I appreciate
the invitation, Austin.

However, what kind of lessons

would I be teaching
my Christian flock

if I surrendered?

What is happening
in this house

has nothing to do
with my mother

or any other ghost or spirit.

Do not feel as if you
may eradicate some guilt

or correct some wrong done
to her by remaining here.

The dead do not return.

[clatter]

We live in a time

of rapid scientific
advancement, Austin.

A séance is another
such advancement.

I believe that
science will prove

once and for all, any day now,

that there exists
a life after this one

and that we can return.

Science cannot save
this house.

Or you.

I believe it was a séance

that brought the spirit of
Goody Bassett to this house,

and so it's my hope
of ridding us of her

that we perform
this séance tonight.

Please, everyone.

Let's join hands.

[sigh]

Let us pray.

We wish to speak with
the spirit of Ruth Paine.

You were known in this
life as Goody Bassett,

the witch who was
hung in 1651.

I believe I unjustly
called you from the beyond,

and I believe it is
your wish to go home.

And that's why we are
gathered here tonight--

to help you go home.

This house is not your home.

This house...is not yours.

And so it is time
for you to leave.

Goody Bassett,

if you are amongst us,
please knock once.

Elizabeth?

Elizabeth Adams Phelps,

who died in the year 1843...

are you with us?

Elizabeth.

You are welcome here.

We wish to help you
find peace.

[knock]

[knock knock]

[gasp]

Mrs. Combs, please,
please sit.

If this is Elizabeth Adams
Phelps, knock once.

If not, twice.

[knock knock]

This is not the spirit
of Elizabeth Adams Phelps?

[gasp]

Were you a member
of my congregation?

[thump thump]

Do you know someone that is
sitting here at this table?

[thump thump]

Help us know who you are.

[gasp] Oh.

[snarling]

[coughing]

[coughing]

[coughing, wheezing]

[retching]

Be gone from this house!

October 1st.

We will be gone October 1st.

In today's language we'd say

that the Phelps story
went viral.

It became wildly popular

after the account
was published

in newspapers, books,

and magazines of the time.

In 1888,

the sisters
who brought Spiritualism

to the mainstream

confessed.

Both Fox sisters
could rotate their ankles

and bend their toes in ways
that produced audible clicks.

Every séance they performed
had been a trick, a fraud.

But people
continued to believe.

[man murmuring]

Four years after the death

of Sir Author Conan Doyle
in 1930,

a mass séance
was held in London.

And unlike
his friend Houdini,

it's claimed
that Doyle did return

and his voice was recorded.

DOYLE'S VOICE:

Whether or not
you and I believe

that the dead can
communicate with the living,

Reverend Phelps believed

that something
had reached out

and spoken to him.

Yet his yearning

for a final reunion
with Elizabeth

was never fulfilled.

And so now
he no longer had any use

for a way to speak
to the other side.

But maybe there really is
something beyond the veil.

Perhaps we can open the door
to the afterlife,

or maybe not.

It's an impossible
question to answer,

which is why
we keep asking it.

[knocking]