Original subtitles

Child: ♪ la la la, la la la ♪

narrator: For some, their hauntings from the past...

[ scribbling, creature growling ]

...Still haunt them today.

It's right there! Mom!

I didn't know what to do.

I had nowhere to go, nowhere to hide.

[ screams ]

it was hard. Very hard.

Chris: I was being attacked.

That was the scariest night of my life.

Man: Hi, lisa.

I was being hunted. I was in danger.

[ woman screams ]

[ child screams ]

ida: My name is ida, and this is my story.

♪♪

my relationship with my family growing up was amazing.

My grandmother, she was fantastic.

She was the typical italian grandmother

that cooked and told me stories.

My parents were amazing.

♪♪

sarah: Ida was always attached to me wherever I was.

She was always a mama's girl.

♪♪

ida: As a child, I loved to draw, especially in my diary.

I loved it.

Every little thing I saw,

everything I felt, smelt, and dreamt

was always in my diary.

I would tell all my secrets to my diary.

♪♪

narrator: One of ida's secrets is very unsettling.

I started to see spirits when I was a young girl.

♪♪

[ high-pitched ringing, voices whispering ]

the first time, I was downstairs by myself.

[ indistinct whispering ]

I heard whispering.

I couldn't make out the whispers.

[ girl giggles ]

and a cackle

that I can just hear till this day.

[ scraping, girl giggling ]

and then I heard my name. ♪ ida ♪

♪ ida, ida ♪

hi, ida!

And I turn around, and I see this lady.

♪♪

she looked like a witch. She was extremely scary.

I remember just seeing her face,

her -- her eyes, her skin, just the horror of her.

♪♪

she had really, really long fingernails.

They were like just claws ready to get me.

[ cackling evilly ]

yeah.

[ breathing sharply ]

I closed my eyes, and I did the sign of the cross,

and then she was gone.

Yeah.

♪♪

[ woman cackling evilly ]

♪ ida ♪

I ran to my mom.

-Mom! -What's wrong?

[ indistinct shouting ]

she just looked at me like,

"okay, I'm going to comfort you, my daughter."

[ breathing rapidly ]

sarah: Ida was very scared.

Can you imagine a child seeing a witch?

I believed her because the fear I saw on her face.

That's when my skin started crawling.

She was really scared.

[ woman cackling ]

it's right there! Mom, it's right there!

Ida: I would see her in various locations.

She would terrorize me with fear.

It's right there! Mom!

It's right there! It's right there! Look!

♪♪

[ hyperventilating ]

hey! Let me see you! You come to me!

I used to say, "let me see you.

Let me see you. Come to me."

♪♪

[ sighs ] it never happened.

I never saw anything.

♪♪

narrator: But ida sees her all the time.

[ woman cackling ]

ida: She was everywhere.

It's like she wanted to be a part of me.

I didn't know what to do.

I had nowhere to go, nowhere to hide.

♪♪

my mom would always keep holy water beside my bed

to give me a type of comfort.

♪♪

I would say to myself, "the house has been blessed.

Everything's okay. Go on with my day."

Her visits continued until about 13 years old.

But after that came more.

♪♪

one night, I was asleep in bed.

♪ ida ♪

[ woman cackling ]

♪ ida ♪

narrator: Something jolts ida awake.

I felt real, real negative energy.

It could throw anybody off. Anybody off.

[ voices whispering ]

I heard whispering.

All, like, secret conversations.

Narrator: The atmosphere in the room becomes threatening.

The energy was...

Suffocating.

I knew that something negative or not of this world

was around me.

[ voices whispering ]

I was overcome by fear.

[ voices whispering ]

[ screams ]

and they just appeared to me.

Three big, tall men,

it looked like to me.

[ gasps and screams ]

[ screams ] what's happening?

♪♪

they were all shaped the same,

and they all had what was almost like horns.

[ voices whispering ]

there's no way they can be human.

[ voices whispering ]

♪♪

you could feel it's demonic.

[ breathing rapidly ]

[ screams ]

this trio was evil.

[ screaming ]

♪♪

mom! Mom!

[ gasps ]

one of these entities had literally grabbed me.

Mom! [ gasps ]

when I would yell and scream for my mom,

right away they would disappear.

What's wrong? What's happening? Are you -- what happened?

It grabbed me!

She didn't want to be by herself anymore.

She was scared. She was scared.

But how can I help her? What can I do?

Ida: I felt very alone

when these things started manifesting.

I was the only one who saw them.

Sarah: She was sad. She was mad.

She had so many emotions

because of what was happening in the house,

and she was scared to go out.

Narrator: And when ida thinks it can't get any worse, it does.

The weeks went by,

and one night my mother was washing the dishes,

and I was with her.

[ deep growling ]

♪♪

I heard a very deep growl.

[ deep growling ]

♪♪

[ growling continues ]

♪♪

[ growling ]

and I look over, and I see this gargoyle

perched underneath the table just staring at me.

♪♪

[ growling ]

its size and what it looks like

was definitely not of this world.

It had animal characteristics

but also very, very, very demonic.

[ growling ]

[ screams ]

[ screams ]

ida: I screamed, and my mom turned around,

and she saw it.

What is that?!

She pointed it out to me. My hair stood up.

You know, it was frightful.

My worst fear as a mother

was seeing the fear on her face and her eyes.

[ growling ]

ida: And that's when my mom is like, "okay.

Now we got to do something. Now we've got to get help.

Because this is a little bit ridiculous."

♪♪

where did it go? Where did it go?!

♪♪

thinking back...

It was hard.

Very hard.

Narrator: Sarah is desperate to get help for her daughter.

Ida: My mom sought out a witch doctor.

I did it to save my daughter.

♪♪

this doctor was supposed to help me

to get rid of all these spirits.

♪♪

he was just coming around with sage,

and he was going over me and praying.

♪♪

[ gasps ]

♪♪

and then all of a sudden, he stops,

and he looks at my mother, and he says,

"did you know that your daughter was born

with witches by her side?"

sarah: They said that she was born

was seven witches attached to her.

That really scared me.

He prescribed this herbal tea.

-Drink this tea. -Thank you.

It'll help you to forget.

Says, "you drink this tea, and it will relax you,

and you won't be seeing things."

[ speaking indistinctly ]

♪♪

it didn't work. I found that out.

♪♪

within I think about a month,

that's when things started up again.

♪♪

it was nighttime in my childhood home.

I remember it so vividly.

We had a big bay window,

and I walked in front of the window.

♪♪

and I saw her.

♪♪

there is a nun standing right in front of me.

I can see the color.

I can distinguish the white and the off-white

in what she was wearing, in what the nuns wear.

♪♪

when we locked eyes, she made me realize

that she was there to terrorize me.

[ speaking in tongues ] ida.

♪♪

[ speaking in tongues ] ida.

♪♪

[ speaking in tongues ] ida.

[ vocalizing ]

[ screams ]

♪♪

mom. Mom!

There was, like, a nun! A nun in the window!

-There was a nun? -Yes, it was a nun!

My mom said to me, "was she dressed all in white?"

and I said, "yeah, that's her."

and my mom looks at my grandmother and said,

"oh, my god."

[ breathing heavily ]

calm down. Calm down.

This will all be okay. It's gonna be okay.

"sit down. We need to have a talk."

and that's when I found out my family had been cursed.

♪♪

my grandmother told me

that when she was a young girl in Italy,

there was a man who desperately wanted her love,

and my grandmother would politely decline.

He turned to my grandmother and said...

"you deny me love?

I will make sure that you and your children

and your children's children will never prosper."

♪♪

and he worked at a convent in Italy.

And that's when I put two and two together.

He must have sent this nun to us.

I have also seen the nun.

I only saw it once when I was about

12, 13 years old.

And then she saw it at that age, too.

♪♪

the nun appeared to different family members over time

because she wasn't limited to space or time.

She wasn't bound to it, so she could appear

and create fear in all of them.

♪♪

ida: I had quickly realized that all these entities

that I have seen in my childhood leading up to that minute,

it was all part of this curse.

Somebody had sent and opened a door

specifically aimed at me and my family

to let all these different types of entities come through,

but specifically attack us

in every way, shape, or form.

Narrator: Ida takes precautions to ward against the curse.

Ida: The best thing that I can do to protect myself

and my family is the power of prayer.

I sprinkle my entire house with holy water --

my room, my son's room, every entrance, every doorway,

the four corners of my property.

I try to make sure that nothing can get through.

And I will always continue to protect me and my family

until hopefully this curse is lifted.

♪♪

I am looking for ways to still try and lift this curse.

♪♪

chris: My name is chris. This is my story.

♪♪

[ indistinct conversation ]

♪♪

when I was young, I was always active.

We were always out having fun.

Me and my brother were really close.

All right.

Sean: As a child, chris was very outgoing.

He had a lot of friends.

He was always very happy-go-lucky. He was very fun.

♪♪

narrator: Chris loves being outdoors.

But inside his house, it's a different story.

♪♪

some odd things happened there.

♪♪

narrator: At first, it's just minor disturbances.

Chris: Some of the strange things that would happen --

I'd be in a room by myself.

[ click, static ]

[ channels changing ]

[ static ]

tv would turn on, and I'd be looking at the remote

sitting on a table in front of me.

[ static ]

[ click ]

♪♪

[ click, static ]

♪♪

lights would flicker.

♪♪

lights would turn on and off by themself.

♪♪

[ click ]

-mom! -Yeah?

-Did you see that? -See what?

Everything just keeps turning on and off by itself.

♪♪

it's probably just that there's ghosts!

Muha-ha-ha-ha!

My mom would always joke about it,

but there was no real explanation

for how they're happening.

♪♪

ducheneaux: In my experience, hauntings will begin

with lights going on and off, because these are things

that are easy to manipulate for a spirit or an entity.

Narrator: Whenever chris mentions

the strange activity around the house,

no one seems to take it seriously.

Hey, sean! Come here!

♪♪

what?

Chris had mentioned stuff that happened.

Everything just keep turning on and off.

I never really had anything happen to me.

Yeah, sure.

I just kind of thought he was just making something up

at the time and so on.

♪♪

chris: It was tough to, like, sort of live with that --

not having someone to talk to about it.

♪♪

[ static ]

♪♪

when I was young, I always used to have a sketchbook.

My sketchbook was always with me.

And that would be how I'd let all my thoughts

and all my emotion out.

♪♪

narrator: The bizarre experiences continue,

making chris more and more uneasy when he's alone.

♪♪

[ creaking ]

♪♪

is anyone there?!

[ deep exhale ]

first time I remember really feeling anything,

I was walking up the stairs.

♪♪

I kind of started feeling scared.

It felt like something was there.

Narrator: And on this night,

things get frighteningly physical.

♪♪

[ gasps ]

chris: And then something caught my ankle

as I was walking up the stairs.

Something's trying to trip me on purpose.

♪♪

gotta say it definitely freaked me out.

Sean: I remember chris mentioning that he felt uneasy

and he felt grabbing on his ankles

going up and down the stairway.

He felt just some kind of uncomfortable presence

on that stairway.

Chris: The force on the stairs always tried to trip me.

All of this was really confusing as a kid.

Maybe there was a ghost.

[ gasps ]

♪♪

♪♪

narrator: This incident is very upsetting.

Soon after, he moves in with his grandparents.

You've gotten so big.

It just kind of gave me an opportunity

to get into a different city.

Narrator: Chris hopes his troubles will end here.

♪♪

at first, everything is fine.

What are you working on there, chris?

It's a portrait. Of you.

Chris: My grandparents' house was definitely an older house.

You could tell it was easily over 100 years old.

Narrator: There's one particular area

that captures chris' attention.

Chris: There was a door just off the side of the house.

It was always closed.

♪♪

what's in there?

He told me it was the ghost room.

I thought he's just joking. It was just --

the way he said it was joking.

But, of course, I wanted to see what he's talking about.

♪♪

[ rustling ]

sounded like something moving in that room --

like maybe a box moved or something fell over.

[ clicking ]

and then I heard some footsteps.

[ clicking ]

[ rattling ]

when I saw the door handle jiggle, I jumped right away.

[ rattling ] whoa.

It sounded like someone was trying to get out.

Maybe there was a ghost locked in that room.

Narrator: But whatever's in that room might not be locked in.

♪♪

a few nights later, he's forgotten about the basement.

Chris: I was just drawing in my sketchbook.

♪♪

I noticed, like, a lavender sort of perfume smell.

♪♪

I thought, "something is really weird here."

instantly, I kind of got a heavy feeling.

♪♪

woman: Chris.

I heard my name.

♪♪

woman: Chris.

And that's when I saw this woman.

She was definitely creepy, scary.

She was older.

She was wearing, like, an 1800s style dress.

Just kind of standing there staring at me.

♪♪

I was definitely scared.

Chris.

Who are you?!

First thing I said was,

"what's going on? Why are you here?"

and soon as I said something... Chris.

...She floated across the room towards the bedroom door

and just faded away through the door.

♪♪

after that night, I wondered, is she going to come back?

Is next time going to be worse?

Is there going to be something that's...

Really going to harm me?

Narrator: He gets his answer the following night.

♪♪

I could smell, like, a lavender perfume again.

Woman: Chris. Chris!

♪♪

chris!

♪♪

chris.

Chris: Right away, I see the same woman.

Like, same clothes, everything.

[ gasps ]

♪♪

she's standing literally right beside me.

The look on her face, it was that look of anger,

and I definitely didn't like the way she was looking at me.

♪♪

I was scared. I was terrified.

[ grunts ]

my instant reaction was to swing at her.

And nothing was happening. [ laughing ]

I was just going through this person that was standing here.

♪♪

but I wasn't really prepared for what it was going to do next,

and that was when it got really crazy.

♪♪

she had her hands on my throat... [ laughing ]

...And she was definitely choking me.

I was being attacked.

[ woman laughing ]

I'm choking. Like, I can't breathe.

[ woman laughing ]

♪♪

she let go of me and faded away.

[ breathing rapidly ]

[ grunts ]

♪♪

that was the scariest night of my life.

♪♪

jensen: When a spirit is aggressive,

they are trying to make it very well known

that they are a force to be reckoned with,

and they use children

because they're easier to manipulate and to scare.

♪♪

narrator: Scared and confused,

chris decides to tell his family.

The story of the old lady sounded terrifying.

Just knowing that the experience had happened to chris,

I didn't feel like I wanted that to happen to me.

I believed what he had said.

♪♪

narrator: His grandfather is skeptical

but decides to search the forgotten room.

Chris: Me and my grandfather went down to the room

just off the side of the house...

♪♪

...Curious to find if that woman was in there.

What is this?

When we opened that room,

we made a pretty terrifying discovery.

♪♪

it looked like a dungeon or some sort of, like, cells

where you would hold somebody.

There was something there that we just

didn't feel comfortable.

Like, there was definitely that look of

people were locked up in this room in the past.

We definitely shocked.

We thought...

What's the rest of the story to what happened in this house?

Narrator: They don't stick around to find out.

♪♪

woman: Chris.

♪♪

we moved out a few months after that.

After we moved out,

definitely felt a lot better.

I never saw that woman again

and never really was able to come up

with a reason why or what her story was,

but I definitely feel

she is part of the history of that house.

♪♪

everything that I went through, like, as a kid and teenager,

I definitely believe a lot more.

It opened my mind a lot more

to the possibility of the paranormal,

that there's ghosts, that there's spirits out there.

Lisa: My name is lisa, and this is my story.

♪♪

I grew up in a great neighborhood.

As a child, I was just like anybody else my age.

We played sports. We played tag.

Whoo!

-Whoa! -Whoa!

[ laughter ]

my mom was my biggest confidant. We were very close.

Okay. We're gonna go inside.

Okay. Hey! Gonna catch you!

[ laughter ]

-get you! -[ laughs ]

[ creaking ]

narrator: Lisa shares everything with her mother,

including the uneasiness she starts to feel in the house.

♪♪

it all began when I moved my bedroom to the attic.

♪♪

I was around 9 years old.

During the day, I was fine with the room,

but at night, I always felt like something was watching me.

♪♪

you ready to open your new night light?

-Yeah. -Okay.

Narrator: Lisa's mother does her best

to alleviate her daughter's worries.

Ohh! It's so pretty!

It's a little angel to protect my little angel.

When I was a child, the biggest thing that brought me comfort

and made me feel safe was a night light.

That was an angel.

♪♪

there was part of me that believed

that that angel was real and that I was protected.

♪♪

narrator: Even with her guardian angel,

some nights, lisa can't help but feel uneasy.

♪♪

♪♪

I was always afraid of the bedroom closet at night.

It didn't have a door. It just had a curtain.

And if that curtain was open

even the slightest bit on either side,

I felt like I was being stared at in my bed.

♪♪

♪♪

I just felt like I was being watched,

and it was very, very uncomfortable.

♪♪

♪♪

narrator: Soon, lisa starts hearing things, too.

♪♪

girl: Hello?

I remember the first time I heard a little girl's voice.

It was always from the top of the stairs.

Hello?!

♪♪

girl: Hi, lisa!

♪♪

I would hear someone speaking to me,

and then you'd look, and there was nobody there.

Girl: Hi, mommy.

And I heard clear as day, "hi, mommy!"

being called "mommy" was very confusing

because I was also a child.

I didn't understand why she was saying that to me.

Hi, mommy.

♪♪

♪♪

narrator: Lisa hears voices calling to her every night.

[ voices whispering ]

[ children laughing ] girl: Hello?

Lisa: Most of the time, they would just be saying hi or hello.

I wondered what they wanted from me.

I wondered what they were trying to tell me.

Hi, lisa!

An entity will appear as a child to another child

to gain trust in interaction with them.

This is always a sign of a demonic entity.

♪♪

hi, lisa!

♪♪

lisa: It happened to me so often,

it just became something

that I experienced on a regular basis.

♪♪

it just became part of my norm.

Narrator: But what lisa can't get used to

is how she feels when she's alone in her room.

And one night, she has a real reason to be afraid.

[ hiss ]

♪♪

♪♪

I woke up with the bed shaking.

[ distant laughter ]

♪♪

it was consistent, and it was rapid.

Man: Hi, lisa.

I heard an adult voice, and then I started to see it manifest.

This spirit was a male,

and he felt very dangerous to me.

I was absolutely terrified.

What's going on?!

Hi, lisa.

So I really didn't know what to do.

I was hoping that he would just go away.

Narrator: Lisa turns to her guardian angel.

Lisa: I totally believe that --

that there was a real angel tied to that light.

I felt that that light

represented an angel that watched over me.

I felt like I could call on her and she would protect me.

♪♪

after a few minutes, it stopped and went away.

It was scary. Absolutely it was scary.

I didn't talk about it, you know, until I was an adult.

Parker: She told me about her experiences,

the shaking of the bed with her in it.

I think my mom chose to tell me

to kind of prove to me that you just have to learn

how to control the situation.

Narrator: For many years, young lisa

seems to have that situation under control.

With her angel by her side, the activity stops.

I thought the bed shaking was done.

I thought the spirit in that room had gone away.

♪♪

narrator: But whatever's haunting lisa isn't quite done with her yet.

It lies dormant until she turns 16,

waiting for her where she least expects it.

♪♪

lisa: One night, my friend had invited some friends over for dinner

and to play cards and to hang out.

[ laughter ]

I wasn't planning on staying the night that night.

Two. I win.

I got sleepy before everybody else did.

Good night, guys.

-Good night. -Good night.

Lisa: I was just tired and ended up drifting off to sleep.

♪♪

narrator: But not for long.

♪♪

[ distant laughter ]

lisa: I woke up because the bed was shaking.

It surprised me because it hadn't happened to me in years.

But, you know, the memory came back.

[ evil laughter ]

narrator: And this time it's much worse.

[ growling ]

♪♪

lisa: It felt like the activity was amping up.

[ evil laughter ]

who's there?!

Man: Hi, lisa.

[ screams ]

the same spirit was actually in the room with me staring.

♪♪

♪♪

I felt him in the room.

And he was between me and the door,

and I was actually afraid to get out of bed.

I was in danger.

I felt like I was being hunted.

♪♪

[ screams ]

I got up, and I ran for that door.

♪♪

narrator: But she can't escape.

♪♪

[ screams ]

[ coughing ]

[ screams ]

♪♪

[ evil laughter ]

[ sobbing ]

narrator: Lisa manages to break free

and locks herself in the bathroom for hours.

♪♪

my angel of god, my guardian dear,

to whom his love commits me here...

Lisa: I prayed my way through the night.

I just had a feeling that if I closed my eyes and fell asleep

that I was making myself vulnerable to him

and that he was going to hurt me.

I needed to stay awake.

♪♪

[ rattling ]

♪♪

♪♪

[ creaking ]

♪♪

lisa. Are you okay?

I actually told my friend what I had experienced.

I need out of here!

[ sobbing ]

♪♪

they actually ended up having a psychic come out

to the house to investigate.

The psychic said there was a male presence in the house

and he wasn't good.

He targeted me because he knew

that he would be able to get through to me.

He wanted to do me harm. And that's scary.

Narrator: Years pass, and lisa never sees the spirit again.

However, her son is not so lucky.

-Good night, dear. -Good night.

[ chuckles ]

♪♪

there is one distinct memory

from my old house that we used to live in.

I was extremely young at the time, and I was in bed,

and I can hear, like, something right above my head.

[ evil laughter ]

and then I saw something.

I saw a male spirit.

I just remember being scared, and it really freaked me out.

[ evil laughter ]

♪♪

mom! Come here!

Shh.

[ evil laughter ]

mom!

[ laughter fades ]

♪♪

♪♪

what is it?

Mom, t-there's like -- t-this thing...

Narrator: Parker's description of the spirit

sounds frighteningly familiar.

Lisa: The spirit that I had the experience with came back.

It wasn't over. He was still there.

When I was a little girl, I saw the same thing.

Parker: When my mother told me about her experiences,

it made me feel relieved.

I'm not the only one that's going through it.

Narrator: Lisa teaches her son how to protect himself.

If you're having experiences that are scaring you,

you can ask them to go away.

You can tell them to leave you alone.

You do have control.

You're not completely helpless

when something like that is going on.

And I also told him he's got me.

Narrator: And he has his mom's guardian angel.

♪♪

parker: She has taught me methods of calling on the angels,

calling on faith to help protect me from

any beings that are out there to potentially hurt me.

You have the power to call in your guardian angel, the light

any time that you're afraid.

Parker: After that night, I did not see the male spirit

that was in my room anymore.

Narrator: Looking back, they've come out of their ordeal stronger.

I would definitely say these experiences

have made my mom and I closer.

Lisa: We have survived it,

and that alone, going through something like that,

is empowering in itself.

♪♪

I always believed that the light was stronger than the dark

and that angel would watch over us

and bring that in and keep us safe.