Original subtitles

- Aw, my boys.

- Sean was always

such a curious child.

Inquisitive, good-natured.

- Kind, caring. - Reliable, funny.

A class clown, bit of a show-off.

But mostly, Sean was fearless.

- He loved stories...

...he loved adventure,

he loved learning about the world.

Always asking questions.

Always with his nose in a book.

Always tinkering with stuff,

always tearing things apart. Like that alarm clock.

He was our own little miracle, our angel.

Sean was...

Sorry, it's hard.

It still feels unreal.

I just keep going over it again and again in my head.

Like, why didn't he say anything?

It's terrible and confusing

and I'm still trying to figure it out

and how I feel about it.

God gave him to us for only a moment...

and when the time came, God called him home.

Jesus, Tim, I don't know.

I mean... ...why does anybody do anything?

I mean, you can't know...

what somebody is going through

and why they do things that drastic.

And this little documentary,

it's not gonna help you figure it out.

It's gone, he took it with him.

When we were kids,

my brother Sean and I made movies together.

I won't tell you anything!

We already know everything, Mr. Torrance.

We are everywhere.

He was always willing to do whatever I asked of him.

No matter how silly...

You're out of bullets, comrade. You can't win.

Then I'll die a hero.

- No!

...stupid...

...or dangerous.

Tell me where you hid Alvarado's gold

or else you'll walk the plank!

Never!

- Sean? Sean!

I'll get help! Mom! Dad!

After the tree house incident,

I promised myself

that I'd be there for Sean no matter what.

But on September 27th, 2013,

at 09:33 p.m., I ignored a call from him

because I didn't feel like talking.

- An hour later, Sean was dead.

Please enter your pass--

You have one new voice message.

- First voice message.

One, two. Check, one, two.

I'm Tim, Sean's brother.

Tim, can you please rephrase

the question in your answer? It'll help with the edit.

Sure, yeah.

My name is Tim Wilson and I'm Sean's older brother.

Tell me about Sean.

- Just... - No? Okay.

- Please tell me...

...why you're making a documentary about him.

Because I wanna make one last movie with him.

Because I owe him, I owe Sean that much.

Why do you feel like you owe Sean?

Just...

Just ask me--

Tim, you have to answer these questions.

Ask me about the documentary, okay?

- Okay. Okay, fine. - Great.

So, you think Project MKHEXE is real?

His death doesn't make sense.

Look, if Sean was crazy or depressed or whatever,

there'd be some sort of precedent, right?

Some sort of sign.

People don't go crazy like that overnight, okay?

They just don't.

He found something, okay?

And I believe they killed him over it.

Don't you wanna find out the truth?

Don't you wanna find out who did this?

Of course, thank you.

- Oh!

Thank you for coming.

I was only supposed to film the funeral...

as a gift for my parents.

But I kept filming.

Would you put that thing down, Tim?

- You have friends here.

'Cause Sean's death didn't make sense.

It doesn't make sense.

We're just shocked, man, confused.

If Sean had issues or was upset or anxious

or whatever, why didn't he say something?

Didn't you guys hang out with him this summer?

Me and Jake were out of town, but we were still in touch

until Sean started ghosting us, man.

I reached out over and over again.

Trying to see him, trying to hang out, trying to...

But he wouldn't answer.

Did he need us? Did he need our help?

Did we let him down?

I'm sorry.

All right, guys. Grab your shots.

My friends, Owen and Steve,

decided to give Sean an Irish wake.

To Seanie, the best of us! To Sean!

To Sean!

They thought they were helping.

- Oh, yeah. Ooh!

- Listen, man. - Mm?

- Family sucks, okay?

But it's not, like, really their fault.

You know, every terrible, horrible thing.

It's in our genes, man.

It's like been coded since the dawn of time,

and we're all just spiraling through a world

that we did not create,

put in situations for which we have no control.

It's like we're all just souls

strapped to meat puppets, moving through time.

Yes, yes. We're space meat.

- So, it's not your fault...

...it's not Seanie's fault or your parents' fault.

It's just the bullshit we've all inherited, man.

- Okay?

- Oh, shit-- - Oh, dude!

Get the bucket, man!

Look at this fool!

He just threw up all over himself!

No! No! No!

Jesus, Sean.

- What the hell?

- Okay, that's weird.

- Okay.

We'll get it cleaned up.

It's so dirty.

We'll get everything straightened away, don't worry.

- It's all unclean.

My baby. My angel.

Don't think about that. Just relax.

All right, let's get back in there

- and take care of her.

One question echoed through my mind, "Why?"

Why did Sean have all this stuff,

why were my parents throwing it out,

and why didn't they give it to the police?

Sean's death was ruled a suicide in almost record time.

Police ignored what was right in front of them.

No one attempted to piece together

his final months.

No one even cared enough

to look on his computer, or his phone.

It took me four hours to unlock Sean's phone.

And what I found, confused and disturbed me.

- Damn it!

I guess this is test one.

It's working!

- Sean! Sean!

- Knock it off! - Sorry!

It worked! It works!

Damn it! Fuck!

I love you. Forgive me.

Two cameras. A redundant system.

Almost dawn. Hoping for a glimpse.

Did you... did you... did you see that?

It's real!

Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit!

Shit.

Shit!

Were you just filming me?

No.

I haven't heard from you.

Sorry?

What is all this stuff that you've got--

Time's running out, Nicole,

I've gotta stop it.

I have to.

- Sean, don't--

Don't do anything, okay?

- Okay, no-- No! Sean! Sean!

I watched Sean's footage again and again,

trying to make sense of it.

What was on Sean's computer?

What was that machine Sean built?

Who were those people at the tree house?

And what was that...

that thing in the circle of stones?

What happened to my brother?

And why was he so scared?

Mom?

Hi, dear.

Mom, what are you doing?

I'm cleaning, dear.

What do you want?

I'm-- I was just-- Is that Sean's computer?

Why are you filming me?

Mom, I need to know the truth

about what happened to him, about his last few days.

Tim, what happened to your brother was a tragedy.

It was a tragedy. All right? It's time for us to move on.

Your brother was an angel.

And God called him home.

- Dad?

Have a good night, Mom.

Sean was at the treehouse, at our treehouse.

But I couldn't find it, it wasn't where I remembered.

Desperate for answers, I reached out

to the only person I knew who saw Sean

on the day he died.

Okay, what am I doing?

Oh boy.

Hello?

- Hello? - Nicole?

Who the hell is this?

This is Tim. Tim Wilson. Sean's brother. Can we--

- Hello?

Why would you call me from a dead man's phone number?

- Please, we need to talk. - Not over the phone.

Tomorrow at 10:30, Warren G. Harding Park.

All right, can you say that again?

- Hello?

Let's see. Hey, thanks for meeting with me.

Sure.

And for going on camera.

- I appreciate it. - Yeah.

Are you doing a documentary on Sean?

I'm just filming for now.

I really think you should.

I don't think you know the full story

on what happened to him, to Sean.

My name is Nicole Martin.

I went to high school with Sean.

We were in the AV and film club together,

but we didn't really hang out much back then.

When did you guys start hanging out?

I met Sean again at a party in May or June

and seemed like there was a lot on his mind,

so, I went to talk with him.

He made me laugh.

Your brother was always very funny.

We got close for awhile.

And I started getting busy with classes.

Sean kinda started withdrawing,

spending more time at home, wouldn't come out,

wouldn't text back, and when he would text back,

it'd be about, I don't know, conspiracy theories

or urban legends.

Soon enough, Project MKHEXE,

and shadowy government conspiracies

were all Sean ever talked or texted about.

Eventually, Sean told me that it was

a secret government project about mind control,

or a quote, unquote, "Nightmare machine."

And he sent me links, but they didn't work.

And then he started to say stuff

- that was kind of scaring me. - Like what?

Like it wasn't safe to talk... or text,

like he was being watched.

Is that why you didn't want to talk

- over the phone? - I don't know...

I mean, that sounds crazy, right?

Sean, all of us, we're nobodies. We're no one important.

But then Sean showed me the MiniDV tape.

Sean and I hadn't spoken for a few days

because of... reasons.

And out of the blue, a call from Sean

said he needed help capturing it.

And you probably know, unless you have a MiniDV camera

or capture deck, you can't digitize it.

Sean asked if the college had one,

and if I had access,

I did, and I helped. We met up, went to my school.

We tried to capture it,

but the tape had, like, serious time code errors.

What was on the tape?

Fragments of some sort of experiment.

I had to get to class.

So, I left Sean there, and when I came back,

Sean was gone, and so was the tape deck.

And we got into a huge fight.

I said things that I shouldn't have said.

So did he, and that... that was the last time

I saw him.

- Until? - Until the day he died, yeah.

Do you think he was being followed?

Do you think he found something?

All I have are questions.

I mean, who wouldn't have questions about that?

If you are doing a documentary,

it would be easier to do it together.

I'm training to be a journalist.

I can help, and I have access to equipment.

I can edit. I mean, don't you wanna know

if there was anything we could have done to help Sean?

You know, he called me?

The day he died, right before it happened,

he left me the strangest...

At 09:33 p.m., he left me a voicemail.

- You wanna hear the crazy part? - Sure.

It's gone. I saved it, I backed it up just in case.

And today, when I went to go check my phone. Nothing.

And I swear to God, Nicole, I did not delete it.

And if I didn't delete it, someone did.

- But who?

And that's the thing, Nicole. Every time I look for MKHEXE,

every time I try to independently

verify my brother's...

his box of nightmares, every Google search,

I come across something for a moment,

and then it's gone.

Just disappears.

It's like someone's trying to delete every trace of...

of whatever this is, MXHEXE, off the internet.

It's like they're covering it up.

And Sean was afraid of someone. I mean, you said it yourself.

He was afraid of being watched, afraid of being followed.

I said Sean believed he was being followed.

Look, Sean left us a map.

He left us clues, his notes, his evidence, his research.

Let's see where it goes.

Let's see what he found.

Worse comes to worst, Sean found nothing, which...

...which would mean he...

What if he had lost his mind?

Sean wasn't crazy.

I knew him, I knew my brother. Smart? Definitely. Gifted? Sure.

A pain in my ass? You bet. But crazy? No.

I mean, look at what we have here.

You have this guy who compiles all this research,

all this evidence on some urban legend that doesn't exist,

about some secret government project.

He pieces it together, commits suicide, and then

every trace of it disappears off the internet?

Even off my phone? That doesn't make sense.

Sean wasn't crazy. Sean wasn't suicidal.

He found something, okay?

And I believe they killed him over it.

Don't you wanna find out the truth?

Don't you want to find out who did this?

- Of course. - Good.

Then let's find the bastards who...

- ...killed my brother.

Disappearing hitchhikers,

a hook-handed killer, alligators in our sewers.

Urban legends

are today's apocryphal fables and folklore.

But are they nearly modern day morality tales?

Or could they be true?

Join us as we take a detour towards the weird,

the bizarre, and the uncanny.

- Tonight on Uncanny Fables.

Sean's box of nightmares, 105 drawings, 87 printed pages,

26 disposable camera photos, 13 exposed, 13 overexposed,

three audio cassette tapes, a MiniDV tape, a hard drive,

a VHS tape, a notebook. The sum total of Sean's research

into an urban legend that doesn't exist,

Project mkhexe.

Urban legends are contagious.

They're stories that happen to a friend of a friend

or in the next town over,

making them feel real and truthful.

But more often than not, they aren't.

According to Sean's research,

this is the urban legend of Project MKHEXE.

After the political and civil unrest of the 1960s,

the United States government was looking for a way

to implement mass mind control

through combining hypnosis techniques,

subliminal messaging,

and the latest in broadcast technology.

This secret government program was called Project MKHEXE.

In the 1970s,

MKHEXE researchers conducted their experiments

in secret on American citizens at universities, hospitals,

and through late night broadcasts

in small towns across America.

Unfortunately, the experiments didn't work.

Instead of having their minds controlled,

MKHEXE test subjects were infected with nightmares

and insanity, leading to horrific, violent outcomes

that were covered up by the US government.

After a number of failures, Project MKHEXE was shut down.

Its technology abandoned and its research destroyed.

Except, many believe that Project MKHEXE

is still out there,

lurking in the darkest corners of the internet,

saved by an unseen group for reasons unknown.

Some say that if you go looking

for Project MKHEXE, you won't find it.

Instead, Project MKHEXE finds you.

Researchers and modern day historians

have rarely found the kernel of truth

at the heart of an urban legend.

And even if they are based on true events,

urban legends have a tendency to mutate in each retelling.

- Problem is,

Project MKHEXE does not exist.

Searches on the internet only lead to deleted pages,

broken images,

impressions indexed but incomplete.

It isn't mentioned in any history books

or news articles.

For all intents and purposes, Project MKHEXE does not exist.

And yet, somehow my brother, Sean,

a college freshman on his summer vacation,

compiled all of this evidence in only 106 days.

Sean's notebook,

a chronicle of his investigation into Project MKHEXE

and our guide into understanding

what exactly happened to him during the 106 days

between the first mention of MKHEXE on June 13th

and his death on September 27th.

But why and how did Sean become so obsessed

with an urban legend in the first place?

- That wasn't the Sean I knew.

To understand the truth about Sean,

we needed to interview those closest to him...

to find out what they knew...

and to remember him.

What's up, man? Thank you again

for taking the time to talk with me.

I'm not sure everybody's ready to talk about everything.

Please, Dad. For me.

- For Sean. - All right. Fine.

Tim, this is such a nice thing you're doing.

Remembering your brother.

- Remembering our Sean. - Here's a few things

you need to know about my brother, Sean.

- Sean was the best.

He had his issues.

Sean loved to argue. Sorry. He'd say he loved to debate.

He always put a high premium on logic, facts.

And you could never accuse Sean of being, like, a gentleman.

His farts could clear a room.

But Sean was great where it counts.

We went to prom together as friends.

He asked me out, to give me the experience.

Your brother was that kind of guy.

Sean was always talking about how me and the group of us

were going places.

He got me to dream of a better life and inspired me

to pursue my own dreams my way.

He always made good grades,

always kept us in the loop.

Never got the feeling he was hiding stuff from us.

I mean, after your experience in high school,

we were kind of worried, but--

Wait, wait, wait. What do you mean,

"After my experience in high school"?

Tim, you know you didn't make it easy on us.

At the beginning of the summer of 2013,

Sean returned home to the suburbs north of L.A.

He had just finished his first year of college

and was looking forward to a relaxing summer

with old friends.

Except, that didn't happen.

Sean came back into town early summer, maybe May or June.

We were able to hang out as much as I could.

Well, Sean did seem a bit bummed

that I wasn't coming back for the summer, but he got it.

I had an I-banking internship.

It was an opportunity, and I'd be stupid to say no.

I had spent the summer at my parents lake house,

even invited him out.

But Sean said he couldn't make it.

And I was in another shitty relationship

with another loser.

So, Sean and I hung out, as much as I could,

which wasn't really much, to be honest.

And I wasn't there for Sean either.

I had just graduated from college

and was trying to make it work as a freelancer in New York.

So, despite occasionally hanging out with Nicole...

We got close for a while.

...Sean spent most of his time at home...

with Mom and Dad.

Typical American family.

We wanted to provide a safe childhood

for you guys, and a nice environment.

I think we did that.

Christmas time! What'd Santa get you?

That's a dinosaur.

Dinosaur, awesome!

- A dinosaur?

- What about you, Tim?

It's a camera?

It's an underwater camera!

When did you guys decide to have another kid?

We didn't.

Sean was our own little happy accident.

Our miracle baby.

Sean decided to come about three weeks too early.

He was so tiny, so fragile.

And he was a fighter. Tough. Full of spirit.

Nothing ever slowed him down.

Although your brother did have a very strong spirit,

his body did fail him from time to time.

He was sick some. Every kid gets sick some.

But it was my job to take care of him

when that happened.

Your mom panicked over every little thing,

but there was no need to, he was fine.

We got to spend so much time together,

here at home, especially when he wasn't feeling well.

Is that why he was your favorite child?

Oh, Tim.

I loved you both equally.

I'm your mother--

You try to love your kids the same.

You try to raise 'em the same.

But the second time around, you're a different person.

The circumstances are different. The environment's different.

Your kids are different people.

Damn it, Tim!

- All right.

Catch! Oh, good try!

Good try, son.

I just wish you two had gotten along better.

You guys were always at each other's throats.

It was exhausting.

And your movies, when you included him,

oh, it was like Sean was walking on sunshine.

What we want, Mr. Robinson, is the truth.

The truth? I told you the truth. I didn't hurt no one.

They're taking all this so-called "evidence"

and they've woven a narrative.

But it's all just a flimflam. In this kangaroo court,

there are no facts, only interpretations!

Objection!

All right, where are we at Nicole?

Right, we've assembled and organized

- all of Sean's evidence in-- - In Sean's box of nightmares.

In the box of nightmares, yes.

And we've begun to establish a chronology of events

and his investigation.

And what's your reaction to it all?

It's a bit overwhelming.

The fact that Sean was able to gather so much

in such a short period of time. It's kind of... incredible.

So, do you think there's truth to Sean's thesis

that Project MKHEXE was more than just an urban legend

- or a conspiracy theory? - Maybe.

We talked about this, "maybe."

Tim, we said we weren't gonna--

- Come on! - Okay.

No wrong answers, okay? Just say what you're thinking.

Why?

All the evidence aside...

Sean's notebook. It doesn't...

It doesn't look like a sane person

would write that. I'm sorry, but it's--

- So, you think Sean was crazy? - No.

That's not what I'm saying. Anything's possible.

I mean, "An absence of evidence is not an evidence of absence."

- Sean's notebook.

June 13th, 2013.

His first entry on Project MKHEXE.

Maybe it was boredom that drew him in.

Maybe it was loneliness.

But either way, Sean began finding bits and pieces

about the MKHEXE urban legend all across the internet.

Newspaper clippings about strange

late-night broadcasts.

Blogs about secret government projects.

Articles on strange sound transmissions,

and online forms dedicated to conspiracy theories.

Evidence I could not find on my own.

Sean created a lost and found log

of every mention, every website, every version

of the urban legend he could find.

Until he couldn't, until they began to disappear.

Sometimes within days, sometimes hours,

sometimes even within minutes of finding them.

Websites would just vanish, as if someone was deleting

every trace of Project MKHEXE off the internet.

But who, and why?

In trying to answer these questions,

Sean created his own conspiracy theory.

But what about conspiracy theories?

- World events

shaped by sinister actors working in the shadows.

In some ways, it's easier to believe

that there's a man... or men behind the curtain,

than to accept that the world we live in

is one of chaos and confusion.

- The problem is,

Sean wasn't the kind of person

who believed in conspiracy theories.

He was always about science and facts.

He hated pseudo-scientific conspiracy theory bullshit.

Soon enough, Project MKHEXE

and shadowy government conspiracies

were all Sean ever talked or texted about.

Sean theorized that maybe Project MKHEXE

was related to another infamous Cold War secret program,

- Project mkultra.

Beginning in 1953,

Project mkultra was the CIA's attempt

to use mind control techniques to create the perfect spy.

The word MKHEXE follows the CIA's cryptonym pattern

with the letters "MK" designating projects

run by the CIA's Technical Services Staff,

the same people who ran MKULTRA.

But the meaning of "hex" or "heksa" is even stranger.

In English, a hex is a curse.

In German, "hexe" means witch or hag,

the folklore version of sleep paralysis.

This led Sean to wonder if Project MKHEXE

was somehow created by ex-Nazi scientists

from Operation Paperclip,

who combined ancient occult knowledge

with advanced hypnosis techniques,

to create the ultimate psychological weapon.

But why would Sean,

my left brained science-minded brother,

believe in any of this?

According to a recent study,

almost 50 percent of all Americans

believe in at least one conspiracy theory.

- Okay, everyone's super nice.

Okay.

- Hey, what's up, buddy? - What's up, man?

- Who's this? - Everyone,

- this is my friend, Nicole. - Hey.

I didn't know you guys would be filming.

Let's give 'em something to film, right?

Beers aren't gonna drink themselves.

- Urban legends?

Yeah, man, I think there's truth to some of those.

There's a little bit of truth to every story, right?

Conspiracy theories are such horseshit.

It's just a bunch of paranoid rednecks

trying to make sense of a world that just don't make sense.

Hell yeah, I think the government's watching us.

Ain't you seen that shit? That Snowden shit?

Life's...

way too complicated to worry about these kind of things.

When has learning anything secret

ever made anything better?

Seriously? You don't think

the government's listening on us right now?

They are totally watching us right now.

Yeah, I'm sure they really care what we're up to.

We're already living in, like, a boring dystopia, man.

You got politicians lying, robbing us blind,

on both sides of the aisle.

We still got mass brainwashing. Double speak, all that shit.

I mean, there's not much we can do about it anyways,

so, you know... fuck it.

They want us dumb and scared and divided.

My point is these tinfoil hat wearing dudes

assume there's someone in control,

when the truth is way, way scarier.

And what's that, Ashleigh?

That there's no one in control. That it's all just so random.

- Boom!

That ain't random! That's skill, baby.

Drink up! Whoo-hoo!

Conspiracy theories follow a circular reasoning

where evidence and the lack thereof

reinforce the truth of the conspiracy.

In conspiracy theories, there are no coincidences.

- June 27th, 2013.

A list of so-called relatively stable websites.

The Exoheretic Enclave,

a defunct conspiracy forum from the early 2000s

that seemingly fell apart

after its users began researching the urban legend.

JusticeforJudson.net,

a 1990s webpage about a man who went missing in the 1970s.

A source that, at first,

seemed completely unrelated to Sean's research.

And the Black Budget Compendium.

A folder directory with declassified files

on secret government projects.

Inside the MKHEXE folder,

Sean found photos labeled, "Subject 23"

and a memo on a "Subproject 1101D."

Sean had finally found actual photographic

and written evidence about Project MKHEXE.

But that wasn't enough for Sean.

Sean tried to post his findings online,

maybe in hopes that others would help him

in his quest to prove Project MKHEXE was real.

Except, every time Sean tried,

his posts were almost immediately deleted.

But someone noticed. Someone found him.

Belief in conspiracy theories,

known as, "conspiracist ideation,"

can become pathological,

leading the believer to become paranoid,

and even dangerous.

By the beginning of July,

Sean's investigation into Project MKHEXE

had become an obsession.

Sean kind of started withdrawing.

I do remember something weird.

Around, like, the 4th of July.

I was going to a barbecue and I wanted Sean to join me,

but he wasn't really answering texts.

So, I stopped by your parents' place.

But Sean didn't come to the door.

Your mom did. Your mom said...

Sean couldn't come out because he was sick.

The weird thing, man, is...

as I was walking back to the car,

I looked up at Sean's room and the blinds were shaking.

Like he had been there, watching me.

I texted him, but nothing. I didn't hear from Sean again.

Your brother had just had a stressful first year,

and he needed to relax, and to regain his strength.

But unbeknownst to anyone else,

Sean had begun to receive items in the mail

sent by a mysterious source.

Unfortunately, Sean never found out

who sent him the stuff or how they found him.

Maybe someone saw his posts online.

But how they traced those back

to our home address remains a mystery.

The only clue we have is a single catalog envelope

with a strange sigil as the return address.

On July, 3rd, Sean received a VHS tape

with a barely playable recording of an old video

of police interrogating

one Henry Baker Judson, the missing man

from the Justice for Judson website.

Thank you. Thank you, thank you.

- For what? - For...

For stopping me.

It would really help us, Henry,

to get an understanding as to what happened.

It's those dreams, man. It's those goddamn dreams.

You wanna talk to us about your dreams?

Missing time,

visions about those goddamned experiments, okay?

It's been following me, all right?

Look, I don't know

what you think I did to Allison and Brett and Tony,

but it was not my fault.

They got into my goddamned head, man.

Then, Sean began receiving strange drawings

throughout July, all seemingly similar,

despite being drawn by different hands.

- On July 6th,

Sean received 26 disposable camera photos

he described as, "Spring Break '99."

Thirteen were exposed, 13 were overexposed.

On July 9th, Sean received an audio cassette,

the first of three of what he called,

"The Tacoma Tapes," recorded by a man

who describes a recurring nightmare.

- On July 11th,

Sean received a MiniDV tape

with what he called, "The Chicago Experiments,"

recorded sometime in early 2007.

Sean and I hadn't spoken

for a few days because of reasons.

But then, Sean showed me the MiniDV tape.

Hello, my name is Miriam Yildiz.

Abstract, although controversial in modern science,

acoustic therapy through brainwave entrainment

has a long ancient history of--

Although, so-called Solfeggio Frequencies

have gotten the credit, this has been dismissed

and ridiculed by closed-minded scientists

unwilling to... blah, blah.

Remapping of the vibrations.

Remapping-- Remapping of the sensations

of the vibrating acoustic ecology of the world.

My conclusions show that maybe there can be...

There are applications of noninvasive

ultrasonic acoustic procedures that are...

I fear they'll see through my results,

and all this...

And on July 16th,

Sean received an old hard drive that was full of videos

made by a mommy blogger, circa 2010.

Hey there, Moms and Momettes. Vlog-A-Mama, Kim Eckles here.

And today we are talking about how important it is

for all of you active mothers out there

to catch some Z's.

See what I mean?

- At first,

Sean wasn't sure what these items had to do

with Project MKHEXE, but for the rest of July

and into August, as he started to make connections,

a narrative began to unfold.

What got into your head, Henry?

I was low on cash, so...

...I saw this flyer for some sleep study. Okay?

At least that's what it said.

There was this scientist, this ex-Nazi guy.

- A Nazi? - Yeah, man.

He had to be, okay? Doctor Teufel, I think.

He experimented on us,

experimented on me.

What kinds of experiments?

They subjected us to some weird shit, okay?

All right, they had these TVs that weren't TVs,

and films wouldn't actually be films.

One minute you'd be looking at the screen,

and then another minute, it's like you're waking up

from a bad dream. It wasn't even worth it.

Why is that, Henry?

Ah, the nightmares, man.

They infected my mind with nightmares.

- Was Henry's confession

proof that Project MKHEXE's experiments were conducted

in secret at universities across America?

Ahmet finally took me to the tunnels under the Reg

and we found something... something...

Old Cold War tunnels.

Hundreds of boxes, artifacts.

Including this machine, this...

computer type device. I'm talking about cathode tubes,

old-fashioned switches, huge speakers!

And, Ahmet...

Well...

So, I can't really trust him anymore.

But I know the way in now.

Wow.

- Hmm.

What?

Sean concluded that Meryem had found

Project mkhexe's fabled nightmare machine.

He now had videographic evidence

of the government's secret program.

But the mkhexe urban legend went beyond that.

There were rumors of strange late night broadcasts

in small towns across the country.

And Sean also believed that someone had uploaded

the Project MKHEXE video to the internet.

But who? And for what purpose?

I'll admit, it's been a rough few nights.

Weird thoughts and weird dreams.

And that stupid trickster and his dumb hypnosis video.

And then, there was evidence

that something even stranger was going on.

What did the MKHEXE video show its victims?

No one could remember.

One minute you'll be looking

at the screen, and then another minute,

it's like you're waking up from a bad dream.

I don't know why, but the universe

has given me a gift.

I need to document everything,

because when it turned on...

I can't quite remember.

I think what it sings...

it's hypnotic. That's the best way to put it.

Possibly an induced alpha state. Someone somehow got there first.

But that's not a problem. If it fills in the gaps...

My mind feels... open.

I am aware.

I see connections between things.

I see what I was missing in my research.

And I will go back.

- And for whatever reason,

the MKHEXE video couldn't be recorded.

23:45. February 7th, AV test 13.

Here we go.

February 13th, AV test 21.

AV test 34.

Test 55.

Test 89.

All attempts to visually record

neuromodular deployment mechanism

of Phobos Machine have failed.

As if something prevents it from going on tape.

Sound records successfully.

- Sean theorized

that the MKHEXE video

incorporated audio-based brainwave entrainment techniques

to hypnotize its viewers. But to what end?

Sound will be clearer, hopefully.

Repeating infrasonic expressions.

Here, one at 19 hertz, one at 12.

That seemed to induce not only an alpha,

but maybe even theta or delta state in the brain.

But then there's this.

If transferred to a Spectrogram...

Sean noticed that all of the MKHEXE victims

developed the same physiological and psychological symptoms.

Symptoms that seem to get worse with repeated exposure.

After the initial amnesia of the video itself,

the first symptom was an open mind.

- My mind feels open.

Next, victims experienced intense dreams and nightmares.

Weird thoughts and weird dreams.

They infected my mind with nightmares.

Sean wondered if everyone experienced

- the same shared dream.

He turned to the Tacoma Tapes for answers.

And for MKHEXE victims,

the dreams were followed by paranoia.

Today's vlog is going to be

a little different

because, Momettes, our house has been violated.

Someone intruded into my home.

I just don't know when.

I mean, I didn't hear anything last night, but, oh,

there is a lot of evidence

that someone was here, no matter what Carl says.

Oh, my God.

What?

Oh, my God!

And the strangest thing?

I mean, the strangest thing, Moms and Momettes,

is where I found the knives.

What the... ...is going on?

But it's fine, Moms and Momettes.

A den mama's gotta do what a den mama's gotta do

for her pups.

Am I right?

The victims would soon experience

missing time,

minutes and hours that they couldn't remember.

And then it would start to happen in the day,

the nightmares. One minute, I'd be in class or in the shop,

and then the next, I'd be in the nightmare.

So, nightmares made you do it?

I don't know. I don't remember how I was...

I don't know what exactly happened, okay?

There'd be missing time, there'd be gaps, okay?

The nightmares, they got worse.

They began to haunt me.

They began to follow me. If I walked by a TV,

I would hear that high-pitched whine,

and then broadcast, whatever, it would start playing.

Look, Brett was mad about the TV.

But I had to smash it, okay? I had to destroy it.

I had to, because if it infected me...

And as their minds decayed,

- their bodies soon followed.

There's a pattern. A repeating pattern.

A pattern of communication.

Perhaps one that can be sequenced.

Hey there, Moms and Momettes.

Vlog-A-Mama here.

Pups are fine. House seems fine.

No more intruders.

Everyone's safe... ...but Carl forgot to install

those damn Nanny Cams like I asked.

So, I stole his credit card.

Den mama's gotta watch the den.

Workers are coming to-mor-row.

I've been having the wackiest dreams about...

a forest.

Went to bed last night in my bed,

and I woke up here in front of the TV.

It's the weirdest thing. I've been testing out

a new makeup regimen for the "exhausted mom."

You know who you are, and hopefully, I--

- But the thing

that bothered Sean the most

was where these MKHEXE infections were heading.

Is that why you killed Brett?

No, no. That... Look, between that

and the nightmares, that's why I called 911.

That's why I wanted to talk with you.

I was worried something bad would happen.

Something bad did happen.

What has been bothering me

is why you arranged the bodies in this order

and why you painted Satanic symbols

on the walls in their blood.

I don't... I don't... I don't--

Don't give me that, "I don't remember bullshit!"

Look at this, Henry. Look at the photo, Henry!

And explain this so I can understand.

Don't you see that this...

- this... this has happened.

This is happening. This will happen.

The sacrifices, they open the gate,

and the nightmares will be born anew in this world.

Please believe me! Goddamn it, goddamn it!

Don't you see that every moment we are in here

is another moment they are out there? Please!

We have to stop them, please!

The Aberrants, they are coming! They are com-- The Aberrants--

Mommy? Mommy!

- Kim?

- Unfortunately,

we can't watch past this point.

Sean's notebook refers to box of nightmares videos

that we can't see.

The footage is there, but the files don't work.

It's like something is preventing us...

- ...from watching them.

And then a note from late August. "It found me!"

Sean killing himself doesn't make sense.

Where were the signs?

Aren't there usually signs for this kind of thing?

When did you notice that there was something wrong

- with Sean? - I didn't.

There was nothing wrong with Sean.

No difference when he came home from school?

No signs of anxiety, depression, nothing?

Nope.

Sean was just Sean.

I mean, he was around the house a little too much.

Told him to go out and get a job, find something,

get involved in life. "Get out of the house, son.

"Get off the computer, go do life."

After the, "It found me" note,

our timeline of Sean's investigation

completely falls apart.

The notebook's middle pages are torn out, missing,

and what follows are the disjointed

fragments of a story.

Did Sean find Project MKHEXE? I believe that he did.

And I believe that it infected him.

- Sean's mind was open.

He finally understood the purpose of Project MKHEXE.

And soon, Sean was having nightmares

of a forest under strange stars and a field of corpses

before an ancient pyramid.

- Sean's paranoia began to grow.

He was worried that he was being watched

and that he was being followed, but not by the government.

Sean was worried about someone else.

Over and over again,

Sean wrote about the Aberrants of Kzathguul.

The Aberrants, they are coming!

An ancient Akkadian cult focused

on the worship of a forgotten God, Kzathguul.

Sean was convinced that the Aberrants

were behind Project MKHEXE being out there.

That they were using the experiment

towards some unknown purpose.

The sacrifices, they open the gate,

and the nightmares will be born anew in this world.

Please believe me!

Was the cult using Project MKHEXE

to somehow summon Kzathguul?

And despite his worsening symptoms,

my little brother had a plan.

Time's running out, Nicole.

Sean built a machine, but its purpose eludes us.

Sean spent his last day on Earth

trying to put his plan into action.

- I gotta stop it. - Okay, no! Sean, Sean!

- And then, and then he...

- Who found him? - Your mother.

How did you find out?

I heard her scream.

Look, are you gonna ask your mom these questions?

Don't you think she's had enough?

What about the day he killed himself?

Tim, why would you ask me about that?

Why can't we talk about something nice?

Did Sean ever reach out to you and Dad for help?

What about Project MKHEXE? What's that?

- Did Sean mention that?

Did he mention that people were following him?

Did he mention that he felt unsafe? Anything?

Did Sean ever mention anything to you about a Project MKHEXE?

No. What is that?

What about Project MKHEXE?

No, what's that?

Is that some kind of rip off of MKULTRA?

Dad, what is Project MKHEXE?

I don't know. Look, I'm done with this.

Why were you guys throwing out

Sean's stuff in the middle of the night?

I have answered enough of your questions.

Your brother Sean was an angel.

- He was our miracle baby.

Do you blame yourself for Sean's death?

No!

That you didn't do enough to save him?

God gave him to us for only a moment.

And when the time came, God called him home.

I love you, son. I love you. But I dare you. I dare you.

We must live with that.

That is our burden.

- Mom, I-- - Now...

...if you'll excuse me,

I have to get back to cleaning.

'Cause this house is a mess.

Look, I'm done with this. Tim, I love you, son.

But that's enough, understand?

That's too far! That's too far!

- An open mind--

Am I just going over this again and again

because I just can't let Sean go?

Because I won't let myself feel it?

I mean, there's something here.

There's something right here. Sean was onto it.

And nobody helped him.

Even if he was sick, nobody helped him.

Not Mom, or Dad, or Nicole, or his friends.

Or me. I mean, those people in the videos

had to have come from somewhere, right? But...

God, a nightmare machine?

- Really?

What now?

- Mom?

All this glass.

What a mess.

Dad, what's wrong with Mom?

Your mother's fine if you'd stop bothering her.

Excuse me? Bothering her?

Have some respect and turn that thing off.

Right?

All right.

So, where are we at with the documentary, Tim?

I don't know anymore.

- Sean was building a machine... - Mm-hmm.

...apparently based off Meryem's experiments.

Some sort of sound device, why? Sean mentioned seeing

and hearing parts of these videos

that we can't seem to watch.

Half of the Vlog-A-Mama video files are corrupted.

Trying to play the Chicago experiment's videos

freezes the computer,

trying to capture the last moments of the tape,

shuts the computer down.

The last Tacoma Tape? Mostly static.

And half of these Spring Break photos are blown out.

Sean also filmed those experiments

on your family's Hi8 camera,

- so, let's-- - Yeah, and where's that?

Where's that, Nicole? Because that's missing too!

Can you just take a breath really quick?

Like a real one?

- Okay.

Now what's your concern?

Besides having half a story?

Yes, besides having half a story.

- Apophenia. - What?

Apophenia.

Seeing patterns and connections where there aren't any.

Maybe Sean had apophenia or whatever,

and maybe he's been dragging us into his messed up worldview

because we wanted there to be something,

anything to explain his... his...

At first, I didn't know what to believe,

but lately, I have been leaning towards the idea

that Sean was actually onto something.

I believe that there's something there,

and that scares the shit outta me, okay?

So, let's see what we can do

for the documentary, for Sean, for us, and just...

no matter where it leads to, like we promised, okay?

Fine.

Mom, what happened to your hands?

Oh, these? Oh, it's just the winter, dear.

I miss your brother with all that I am,

but it's... it's not my place to question God's will.

So... I make do, the best I can.

Looking after you two

and making sure the house is clean.

But I do worry about your father.

And why is that?

Because Donald's

been drinking again.

I didn't know you drank.

Yeah, well...

So we're trying to put together

some missing pieces about Sean's last month.

Is there anything that you...

Didn't we already talk about this?

Sean was a ghost.

Hung out in his room a lot. Always at home,

but... just teenager stuff.

I mean, nothing... nothing to be worried about.

Some little... trollop...

broke my angel's heart.

And so he returned to me.

He returned to his mother, who loved him best.

Mom.

This is Sean's journal.

There's a note in here from late August

and he said that he spoke to you

or that he wanted to speak to you.

- Here, look at it. Okay?

When he told me he was in trouble, when...

When he came to me for help, I...

I just did what any mother would.

I helped him.

Mom took Sean to a psychiatrist.

Yeah. Filled him with a bunch of pills.

'Cause that's what we do in this country, right?

Got a problem? There's a pill for that.

Damn quacks.

And you don't think that medication

had anything to do with Sean's suicide?

No.

Mom, what kind of drugs did you give him?

I... I don't know, dear.

Just whatever the doctor prescribed.

Were they antidepressants?

They were whatever my Sean needed.

Because you know that antidepressants

can increase the risk of suicide, right?

What are you implying, Timothy Andrew Wilson?

- Mom, I'm not implying-- - How dare you!

Mom, we need to look into all possible--

Please, just...

How about a family history of mental illness, Dad?

- How about that?

That's great. Unbelievable.

What?

That you would find a way to blame that,

- the death of our son, on us. - Well, if the shoe fits--

Sean was my son! My son!

I loved him more than anything. Your mom too.

- Just like we love you.

Well, you have a hell of a way of showing it.

- Tim!

- I was wrong. - Huh?

I thought we'd raised you better,

but I was wrong. You're selfish.

You always have to have somebody to point the finger at.

I'm doing this for Sean, for the truth--

No, Tim. No, you're doing it for you.

You're trying to make you the center of this story.

That's what you always do.

I need to get dinner ready... ...and to...

- and to clean this kitchen now. - Okay.

- Now. - Okay, Mom.

Now!

Now!

Now!

We're done.

Go have another beer.

Cheers. Get the hell outta my house.

So, after interviewing your parents,

what do you think?

What do I think?

I think they lied to me.

I think everyone lied to me. They lied to me!

Sean was clearly sick.

He was clearly undergoing some sort of mental episode.

I mean, they took him to a goddamn shrink!

Your mother took him to a hospital.

And how do we know that didn't make him worse?

That him going to this hospital,

seeing this doctor and taking this medication

didn't tip him over the edge and make him suicidal?

I mean, Mom and Dad practically admitted

our family is cursed.

We are cursed. We are cursed with mental illness.

Dad's secret alcoholism and depression.

Mom's Munchausen-by-Proxy doting, all of it.

I saw what I wanted to see.

I just didn't want to face the facts.

Okay, and what are those facts?

What are the facts for you?

That my little brother, Sean,

he lost his mind...

and then he came in this garage, and he...

and he killed himself right here.

His investigation, his obsession,

it was just an unwell mind

seeing connections where there aren't any.

What about the evidence, the things

- sent by a mysterious-- - Sent by a mysterious source?

Who saw Sean's posts online?

Nicole, did you ever think for a moment,

maybe, that someone was playing a prank on him?

That they were just fucking around with him, huh?

You're the journalist, the student journalist.

Did that miss your scope of relativity

- or whatever you call it? - Okay, me being

a student journalist has nothing to do with this.

This is... this is just a waste of time.

This is all... this is all bullshit!

It was just waiting,

lurking, just... in his genes, in our genes.

Just waiting for that perfect moment

to grab him and just...

You.

What?

- What? - You did this.

What?

Mom said...

- What'd your mom say? - Cut the tape.

- No, what- - I said cut the goddamn tape!

Tim, I wasn't!

Tell me how you met my brother, Sean.

We met in high school. We went to high school together.

I meant this summer. Tell me about this summer.

Yes, we met at a party again this last summer.

And you guys got close, right?

Yes.

Jesus, Nicole, please rephrase the question--

Yes! Okay, Sean and I got close this last summer.

- How close? - Close.

We were friends. We were new, close friends.

Just friends?

Just friends.

But you guys texted every day all the time, correct?

We texted as often as friends text.

Did you guys ever go out on a date?

We hung out.

Would you consider those "hangouts" dates?

- No. - Why?

No, I would not consider those dates

because we both split the bill at the end.

That's your definition of a date?

- The guy paying? - Yes! Yes, sure it is.

Whatever, okay.

Did Sean ever try to make a move?

Nicole, did Sean ever try to make a move on you?

- Okay, Tim, that's-- - Just answer

- the question! - No, Tim, you were just the one

that were saying you were making connections

that weren't actually there.

Did Sean ever make a move?

Yeah.

- Why? Where? How? - I don't... I don't know.

Think, try to remember.

- Why? - Just do it, please!

Okay, sure. Yeah, fine. Sean made a move

maybe around the middle or the end of June.

I don't remember. I mean, we were hanging out.

We went to the movies and then dinner,

we took a walk around the block. And then he...

he tried to kiss me at my door, but I said no.

Why did you say no?

Because we were friends.

Because... because we were just friends, okay?

Sean was just lonely, and I was,

I was taking school.

I was too busy with school, okay?

And frankly, I wasn't looking for a boyfriend,

and I just wasn't that attracted to him!

Is that what you wanted to hear?

Nicole,

Why did you push to make me make this documentary?

You've gotta be kidding me!

- Why?

Just tell me the truth, Nicole.

Tim, don't do this, please.

Was it because you felt guilty?

Tim, that was not the reason

- that I wanted to make-- - Was it because

you knew that your rejection pushed Sean over the edge?

Or were you so desperate for a goddamn story

that you used me? That you used my pain,

my family, my dead brother, for what?

A class project? Your amusement?

- What, Nicole? - You know what?

I got what I needed, so thank you.

You're just an opportunist, Nicole.

You use people. You're a liar! You're just another liar!

Two months.

Two goddamn months.

I don't know if I want this to be Sean's last adventure.

- Heads, I finish.

Tails, well...

Mom? Mom, what are you doing?

What is all this?

It's for our documentary.

It's such a mess.

It's such a mess. Everything is so unclean.

Mom, Mom, that's Sean's.

- Mom, stop it!

- No! - Mom, please!

- It must be purged! - Mom, please!

- Please! Please! - Can't you see?

For us, we must be cleansed! We must become clean!

Leave your mother alone!

Dad, do you see what she's doing?

She's throwing everything out!

Jesus Christ, Tim! You know what?

I think we've had about enough of your bullshit.

- Wait, what? - You haven't changed a bit!

You're just as selfish as ever!

- Are you serious? - You come back here,

you live off of our generosity! You take advantage of us!

You dig through our garbage! You're upsetting your mother!

Dad, she's sick, she needs help!

We have given you everything!

And you're ungrateful and you're selfish!

I think it's time for you to get out!

- You're serious? - Yeah, I'm serious!

I am serious, out!

Sean's dead, I'm all you got left.

- Honey, what are you doing?

If we're clean, we can start again.

Mom?

Baby, baby, baby, baby, baby.

Come over here, come over here. Come over here.

Come over here, come over here.

Baby, baby, baby, baby. You okay?

No. No.

Calm down, calm down. Calm down, calm down.

Calm down. It's okay. It's okay. It's okay. It's okay. It's okay.

No, it's not okay. It will never be okay.

I want you out. Out!

You were so right, Owen.

There are, like, these huge, massive forces

that are way beyond our control,

controlling us, controlling everything.

It's all coded.

It's all predetermined in our goddamn genes

and in history and shit.

I mean, who the hell do we think we are?

There's no choices. There's nothing we can do.

There's nothing we can ever do.

There's just nothing we can ever do.

There's nothing we can do.

It's a pattern.

It's a pattern.

Sean just called me.

- I don't know how.

He's calling back.

Hello, Sean?

I can't hear you, Sean.

What? The song?

Oh, what is happening?

What the...?

Oh, shit.

- Alvarado's gold.

Okay, okay. Okay, it was here.

Last night it was... it was right here, but...

I found it.

I was there. I was at the tree house.

I somehow ended up back here, but I was there.

I found Sean's tape.

I have the footage.

Jesus, I'm not crazy. Sean wasn't crazy.

Mkhexe does ex-

Of course, I doubted it. How could I not?

I mean, any sane person would doubt it.

It's just one of those things that you have to see to believe.

And I saw it. I can't articulate what it is I saw.

You know, it's like I...

there's this blank space in my brain

whenever I try to think about it.

I just-- I can't... I can't find the words, or...

- or the thoughts.

I had a nightmare.

I had the goddamn nightmare.

I have it.

Merry Christmas, Mom.

Oh, shit--

...fucking way!

Nicole.

Nicole, we need to--

Listen, I told you to leave me alone.

Nicole, please, please, we need to talk.

- Just go away, Tim, please! - Look, I know I screwed up.

I know I was an asshole, but this is important,

- I really need-- - Listen, I don't want to talk

to you anymore, and I've made that very clear.

- So please just leave me alone. - I found it!

I found it.

Nicole, please. I'm-- I... I don't know who else.

- I found it. - Is that bullshit?

Come on!

We gotta get to the car! Come on!

So you saw MXHEXE?

Yeah, and what do you think?

I don't remember it.

I... I... I don't remember what it's like, or...

how I got home or what happened to the tree house.

I... I just... I don't know.

But you saw my footage, right?

You saw that the tree house was there?

Yes.

Okay, good.

Good.

- Nicole? - Yeah?

- I'm-- - It's ready.

- What? - It's ready, are you?

Yeah. Yeah, let's do it.

- I will build the key.

I will open the gate.

We offend It. We shall be punished.

Ya ir harmur!

Ya r'luhhor Kzathguul!

- We can't-- - No, we need to go

to the police. We need to tell somebody--

Nicole, you saw the sign that Sean filmed--

Okay, there are groups out there

and they might be able to help you.

Who knows who could be infected?

Nicole, I... I'm scared, okay?

I've been dreaming.

Tim, we need to get you help.

No, we can't. We gotta get out of here.

It isn't safe. And I don't know how much time I...

- Tim? Tim?

Look, we're just gonna go in,

we're gonna get the box, the drives, all of it.

Then we're gonna get out, okay?

Okay.

All right, let's go.

- You ready? - Yeah, in and out.

Hey, guys?

Steve?

Owen?

You guys okay?

Just grab the box, Tim.

Tim, grab the box. Grab the box!

- Are you okay? - I'm fine.

Okay, let's go, let's go, let's go!

No, no, no, get the stuff! We gotta get the stuff!

- Hurry! - It's all wet!

What the hell was I supposed to do?

Go, go, go!

- Is that everything? - It better be!

Come on. Come on, we gotta go, we gotta go!

Go, go! Go, go, go, go, go! come on, come on!

You wanna explain that thing?

Yeah, I thought since you've been exposed to MKHEXE

that it'd be good to chronicle your symptoms.

- Insanity? - Your symptoms, just in case.

We're gonna find a way out of this, okay?

No, I still think we should get out of here

and get out of town, just go, run.

Tim, I'm worried that if we go,

your symptoms are only gonna get worse.

Oh, God.

I was wrong.

Sorry?

I was wrong, Nicole.

I'm... I'm sorry.

Just get some rest, okay?

Nicole? Nicole?

Ew!

Wow.

So I've been looking through everything

and I think I found something.

Tim won't come in here. Something about the monitor.

Listen to this.

There's this scientist, this ex-Nazi guy.

A Nazi?

Yeah, man, he had to be, okay?

Doctor Teufel.

Teufel or Teufel, I think I've heard that name before.

The so-called Subproject 1101D memo,

"Sincerely, Dr. Viktor G. Teufel,

"Lead Scientist, Propaganda Division, T.S.S."

Tim said he wasn't able to find anything on this guy,

but surprise, surprise,

I think things are changing because I found him, Dr. Teufel,

or at least one Viktor Gerhardt Teufel

at an assisted living center a few hours away from here.

Dude.

You don't like this song?

What is this?

You don't listen to this?

I don't know how you can eat that shit.

What do you mean? It's delicious.

- It's nasty! - No.

It's fake cheese.

I don't care if it's fake cheese.

- Oh, come on, grab more. - I'm grabbing.

- I've done that a lot. - What?

Like, let fear run my life, make choices for me.

You, the fearless journalist in training?

- Say it ain't so.

Why?

You've never been afraid of whatever?

I am now.

Yeah.

"What we fear, we create." Sean wrote that too, right?

Yeah, he did.

Have you ever heard of the law of attraction?

What, that hippie new age bullshit

about believe it and make it so, that stuff?

Yeah, but more like positive thoughts

lead to positive outcomes, whereas negative thoughts--

Lead to negative outcomes, yeah. What of it?

"What we fear, we create" kind of sounds like that, right?

It's a version of it.

Sure, maybe. I guess.

Anyways, people used to believe in the power of names,

like old taboos, things you couldn't say like,

we've forgotten the name for the word "bear."

- You, you just said it. - No, no, its real name.

"Bear" just means "brown."

Slavic people were afraid to say its name,

its real name in fear that it would conjure it.

"What we fear, we create." It just, it sounds like--

- Tim!

His heart's racing a mile a minute.

We gotta get a doctor.

Whoa, Henry, Henry!

It's coming, it's coming!

There's a pattern. A repeating pattern.

- Phobos language test one.

- It found me.

- Don't take my babies. - This is for the best.

- Trust me,

this is for the best.

You're not stealing my children!

You crazy bitch!

No, no, no!

- Ya r'luhhor Kzathguul. - Baby?

Ya r'luhhor Kzathguul!

Are you okay?

Where... where are we?

Okay, we're at the closest police station I could find.

What's your passcode?

- What? - Your phone passcode?

84-44.

Why... why are we at a police station?

Because we need help, Tim. Okay? you need help.

They're not gonna help us.

Tim, we're gonna go, okay?

How long... how long was I out for?

Just come here for a second.

- Ready? - Yeah.

Can I help you?

Yes, we need to talk to a cop,

police officer, detective.

Are you here to report a crime?

- Yeah, sure. - What kind?

Murder. Conspiracy to commit murder.

We need to talk to an officer now.

Okay, okay. You need to fill out forms.

We don't.

Is he okay? Do you need medical attention?

No, no, he's not all right.

Okay, please just let us talk to someone who matters.

- Okay. - Now, please,

- thank you.

Bullshit! I know my rights!

I know the birds aren't real.

They're brainwashing our dogs!

Okay.

So you're here to report a homicide?

Yes, yes, potentially several.

- Several? - Yes.

And we have evidence, we have videos, photos,

written evidence about these murders.

And we have reason to believe that there will be more.

Okay, so let's slow down and begin at...

at the beginning.

Tell me about this first supposed homicide.

- It was my brother. - Your brother was murdered?

Yes.

Was that tonight? Is that what that blood is?

- No. - No, in... in September.

- Sean wasn't-- - In September?

You guys said he was, it was a suicide.

He, he was murdered. He didn't kill himself.

Okay, so who killed him?

If we tell you, it will kill you.

- Really? - Okay, yeah, what Tim means

to say, I think, is that we have video evidence of these people,

of Sean, his brother acting suspicious the night he died.

- Yes, exactly. - Not to mention

- questions about how-- - Let me just stop

- you right there. - No,

but I haven't even gotten to where I'm trying to say-

I know, but I know where you're going.

Look, we've been getting this a lot recently, okay?

The guys around the station are calling it the,

hey, Chuny, What are they calling that thing?

- True Crime, Sarge. - Yeah,

the true crime effect.

- Have you heard of this? - What?

It's all the podcasts and the documentary shows.

You guys watch Uncanny Fables?

It's not bad, it's not bad. We watch it here at the station.

Look, because of that,

we've got every armchair sleuth and keyboard warrior

coming in here telling me how to do my job.

True, what? We... we have an...

we have evidence of a murder.

- A whole goddamn box. - Look, look!

Ma'am, I'm gonna need to ask you to calm down right now.

I'm calm, I'm calm. I'm calm, okay? I'm just scared.

Scared of what?

I'm scared of the people

who have been following us,

of the people who may or may not have killed his brother.

- Who's following you?

- We don't know! - Excuse me?

You need to believe us.

- Please listen. - Okay.

- Please. - Here's what's gonna happen.

You two are gonna go see Officer Chuny over there.

You're gonna fill out a report.

- Close your eyes! - What?

Close your eyes! Come on!

- Come on! Let's go! - Tim! Tim! What's happening?

You're all right. You're okay.

- Go!

- Shit!

- Come on!

We gotta get to the car! Come on!

Tim, Tim, Tim, Tim!

There's more! There's more coming!

Go, go, go, go, go! Go!

We're gonna get you to the hospital, okay?

- You're gonna be all right. - No, no.

No, no, you have to go to a hospital.

No, no, no. Just take me to the college.

- You're bleeding! - Please!

We're gonna broadcast it.

We're gonna tell the world.

- Push down. - Okay

- You ready? - Yes, yes. Just, just...

One last interview for old time's sake.

Nicole, we don't have to do this.

Huh? Tim, I've got this, okay?

Just the world needs to know.

Hi, America.

My name is Nicole Martin,

and you need to know your government is lying to you.

During the Cold War,

the government tried to create some kind of mass

mind control device, project mkhexe.

- Nicole. - No, no, no, no, no, no.

I've gotta finish.

Okay, okay. Project mkhexe.

The government failed to control minds

in the way they wanted to.

Instead, they created a nightmare machine.

- Nicole.

No. They opened a door to something.

- Something unbelievable.

Something that wants us dead. Something that is using MKHEXE--

- Nicole! - Damn it, Tim!

- Won't you let me just finish! - Don't look, don't!

Nicole?

Nicole?

Hey, hey, Nicole. Hey, wake up.

Nicole?

No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Please, Nicole.

I would never hurt her.

I would never do anything like that.

Ya r'luhhor Kzathguul!

Mom?

There, there my baby. There, there my child.

It's okay.

Why don't I make you a sandwich?

- Okay?

- Yeah. - Okay?

Thanks, Mom.

Mom, I love you and I love Dad.

And I love you guys.

Oh, we love you too, honey.

Now go in and put your feet up, okay?

Okay.

He needs to see someone.

Do you think a shrink is gonna know our son

better than we do? His parents?

Maybe a therapist can help him.

Lord knows we've tried.

He doesn't do anything but,

but sit in that room and play on the internet.

Well, if you hadn't babied him so much.

- Yeah, here we go again. - I'm serious, Gloria.

The kid's fragile, he's soft. I didn't make him that way.

He's your son too. You are just as guilty as I am.

Look, I'm just trying to say that maybe a therapist is...

is the kind of doctor who could help him with whatever--

- Our son's not crazy.

You don't need to be crazy to see a therapist.

We just need someone to talk to the kid

because he sure as hell ain't talking to us.

You're right.

It might help figure out what's going on and...

and it could help him plan for what's next.

Because where he is right now, honey, I fear for him.

- I do too. - We need to try.

He's our angel.

- Ya r'luhhor Kzathguul!

- No!

Oh, no, my God!

- Are you okay? - No.

Please don't!

Oh, God.

Oh, God.

No, no, no, no. No, no, no.

- Oh, hi dear. - What are you doing here?

- You killed him. - Excuse me?

You killed Sean!

Don't do anything stupid, son.

- Tim? Tim?!

- Over here!

Tim!

- You did it! - Tim!

Sean is not sick. He's not crazy.

Look, you don't have to be crazy to see a therapist.

We just need someone to talk to the kid.

Because he sure as hell ain't talking to us.

I know.

It might help figure out whatever's going on.

It could help him plan for what's next.

Because where he is right now, honey, I fear for him.

I won't. I will not.

I... I am in control.

You offend me!

Let's go to bed.

- Oh, I know that look. - What look?

Why don't you go warm up the bed for me?

'Cause somebody has to take out the garbage.

- I can do that. - No, no. I've got it.

Sean?

Sean!

Oh, no, oh, God!

Oh, my God!

Mom. Dad.

No, no, stop hearing, stop hearing!

Stop seeing, stop hearing!

Stop hearing, stop seeing!

Dawn approaches, I can feel it.

They kept me here all night. They want me to finish it.

They want me to broadcast it.

We're gonna broadcast it.

So that others hear the song too.

I'm sorry for everything. I take the blame,

even though it was inside me, I did this.

I climbed the pyramid. I gave them the key.

And It needs more.

"What we fear, we create." Don't believe this.

Don't believe any of it.

Don't listen to this! Don't listen to this!

Don't give It life! Don't! Stop listening!

Just stop!