Original subtitles

Is there an explanation for everything

in the world?

There are some things that seem impossible,

yet we tell ourselves, there must be some explanation.

Beyond Belief, Fact or Fiction.

Hosted by James Brolin.

We live in a world where the real and the unreal

live side by side.

Where substance is disguised as illusion.

And the only explanations are unexplainable.

Will you be able to separate stories of truth

from fantasy, tonight?

To do so, you must break through the web of your experience,

and open your mind to things beyond belief.

A glass jar that has never been cut in any way.

And shoes that can't possibly fit through the opening.

Impossible, yet here it is.

Tonight's stories deal with the seemingly impossible,

yet some of them happened.

And of course, names, dates, and certain details

have been changed.

At the end of the show, we'll tell you

which ones have been inspired by actual events

and which ones are totally fiction.

Your challenge is to see if you can

figure out when we're fooling you

and when we've bottled the truth.

This is one of the most sophisticated tools

in the history of civilization, yet we're

just starting to learn what computers are capable of.

Is the computer screen a window to the world

or another tunnel through which we

may encounter the unexplained?

What mysteries are out there lurking in that strange world

we call cyberspace?

On the morning of March 15,

my boss was in his office in a meeting

with a very important client.

There you are, Ms. Burroughs, your signature

by the x and we're almost done.

Done?

You-- You mean that's it?

The money--

- will be wired to the firm's escrow account

by 5 o'clock, today.

Then we can issue you a check.

All of it?

The entire $500,000?

Yes.

That's the entire estate of your late uncle.

You two must have been pretty close.

Inseparable.

Excuse me, Mr. Goth?

A message for you.

It's urgent.

Mr. Goth loves

to play the role of the Big Shot with the explosive temper,

and I was prepared for the explosion.

It came in on the computer. It's an email.

I thought you'd want to see it right away.

Ms. Burroughs, would you excuse us?

Something's come up. - What?

Now?

But we're-- we're almost finished.

Look-- look, I have been waiting three

months for this whole probate rigmarole.

And I apologize that it's taken so long.

I don't want your apology.

I want the money.

Look, I have a plane to catch.

A plane?

Look, I'm sorry but there's been a problem with the bank,

and they won't be able to wire you money until tomorrow.

This is a total outrage.

Now, I will be back here tomorrow at 9:00,

and I want my money then.

Don't worry.

We'll straighten it out.

Well, it better or I will never do business with this law

firm again.

Look, Ms. Burroughs, please.

Ms. Burroughs?

Mrs. Burroughs?

Mrs. Burroughs.

The woman in your office is not my niece, Victoria.

She is an imposter.

Do not give her the money.

All right, Laurie.

Who's making these accusations?

And what do they have to back it up?

Who did you speak to?

I didn't speak to anybody.

It came on the computer.

It was an email.

Excuse me.

You didn't speak to anyone?

You didn't check this out?

It was an emergency.

Wait a minute.

You got a message telling me that the woman in my office,

about to receive a half a million dollars,

is an imposter.

And you didn't check to see who sent it?

I know who sent it.

It came from Big Biz.

Ah, Big Biz.

Yes.

Who is Big Biz?

It's what's called a computer user name.

It's like a nickname.

How do you know this isn't a prank?

I may lose a new potential client because of some prank.

I'm sorry Mr. Goth.

Sorry doesn't fix it, Laurie.

You screw up like this again, and you're fired.

Now, I've got a meeting.

Forward With my calls.

This time, I was gonna show

him he wasn't always right.

I was going to find out what this weird message

was all about, even if it meant I had to work all night.

Big Biz, huh?

OK.

I can do this.

There's got to be a way.

Search.

Member profile.

Search.

Profile for that member is no longer available.

How can that be?

I called our private legal hot line.

Customer Service.

Yes, I'm trying to figure out who sent me an email today.

I tried member search but it says, member

profile no longer available.

What's the name, ma'am?

Big Biz.

B-I-G B-I-Z.

Big Biz is no longer in use.

It was dropped from the service three months ago,

for an unpaid account.

Well, can you tell me who it was?

It's really important.

The name on the account was Edward Burroughs.

But that can't be.

Edward Burroughs is dead.

I don't know what else to tell you.

Big Biz is Edward Burroughs.

OK, thanks.

I have new mail.

You must find my niece.

Send reply.

Who are you?

Send.

Read it now.

It was too weird.

I couldn't really be communicating

with the dead man.

Find my niece.

She's in Brooklyn.

New name is Gourlay.

No.

Can not until you tell me who you are.

I'm not gonna lose my job over this.

I have new mail. Find her.

How?

How?

How do you want me to find her?

How could I be

getting instructions from a man who died three months ago?

But something told me just to go for it.

OK.

Victoria Gourlay, Brooklyn, New York.

Come on.

Bingo.

Victoria Gourlay, 1487 North Jeffers Road, Brooklyn,

New York 718-555-0153.

Huh.

1 7 1 8.

I'm very sorry for any inconvenience this may

have caused you, Ms. Burroughs.

I assume that everything is in order

and I can finally go on with my life.

Excuse me, Mr. Goth.

Good morning, Laurie.

We're in a meeting. Can this wait?

As I was saying, Ms. Burroughs, if we

can be of any service to you in the future,

please don't hesitate to call.

But, Mr. Goth, it's important.

Excuse me.

Laurie, I've just about had it with your antics.

As of this moment, you are fired.

Before you fire me, I think maybe there's

somebody you should meet.

You can come in now.

Mr. Goth, I'd like you to meet Victoria Gourlay,

formerly Victoria Burroughs.

She's Edward's real niece.

Well then, who's this?

Her name is Katherine Marston.

She was my uncle's nurse.

Isn't that right Ms. Marston?

Mr. Goth demanded to know how I did it,

but I didn't owe him any answers.

Besides, I didn't have one he'd ever believe.

Cyberspace holds mysteries most of us don't understand.

Or was it merely some prankster in the office?

Someone who knew the truth and chose this peculiar method

of revealing it.

Whatever the explanation, something bizarre

happened that night.

Maybe it's something that a logical mind can never compute.

The truth about this story

will be revealed in our final act.

Next, three college girls, spring break, and a tale

that's beyond belief.

We've all heard people say that getting there

is half the fun.

But that's not always true.

Sometimes getting there can be a living nightmare.

Take three college girls on spring

vacation driving to a party miles away from their home.

They'd never been to the area before,

and after this particular ride, you can bet

they will never return again.

I was the only one who got a Missouri

driver's license my first year at the U of M,

so I was elected to drive.

And I was determined to get there before the rain.

Shoot.

Whiner.

You guys, if I would known O'Donnell's party was

in the middle of the Ozarks, I would never have

agreed to go with you guys.

Will you chill out?

I kind of like it out here in the country.

Bunch of cows.

Moo.

What is that?

Oh, that's bad. - They call that music?

It's music.

That is bad.

It's not bad.

It's not that bad.

That's very bad.

All I can say is this party better be worth it

and there better be some yummy boys there.

Mm-mm, mm-mm, mm-mm. - Are you kidding?

Trust me.

We miss this party, we miss the rage of the year.

I heard Mike's brother's going to be there.

Oh. VANESSA: Oh, yeah.

Josie and I met him at homecoming.

Let me tell you, he's all that and a pint

of Haggen Dazs, right Jo?

Like I would know, 'cause you fully

dragged him in some corner as you walked in the door.

I'm no fool.

Trollops.

Shut up.

Just jealous.

Uh-huh, you wish.

Hey, is anybody else hungry?

I mean, I'm starved.

Do you think we could stop at the next exit or something?

You know what?

I really don't think this road has any exits, my dear.

What time is it, anyway?

I mean-- oh, my gosh.

We're gonna-- if the dip is gone,

before we get there, I swear.

Oh, Vanessa, do you have to?

You're gonna get out and walk if you

get that on my new seats.

That stuff stinks.

Don't worry, don't worry, don't worry.

It smells.

Oh, I met this guy on the net. JOSIE: Are you serious?

Who?

I don't know.

He said he was in politics.

So is this somebody high up?

Uh-huh, he said he's some sort of advisor or something.

Ah, advisor to who?

The president?

Oh ha ha.

Don't laugh.

I'm thinking of meeting him for a cup of coffee, in fact.

Hello?

Are you crazy?

Don't you know there are psychos out there?

I mean, don't you watch Hard Copy?

Man, there's nothing out there.

Josie, are you sure we're not lost?

Yes, I'm sure we're not lost, OK.

You know, I-- no, I don't know if we're lost or not, OK?

I knew I should have pulled over,

but I was young and stubborn.

I didn't really trust the area.

Josie, wake up! - What?

Uh. - Whoa.

I think we should stop and get some coffee.

Yeah. - You guys, I'm OK, OK?

I'm OK?

Accept, um, oh, my god, my eye makeup is a total disaster.

Well, look if we stop and get you a cup of coffee,

I can get something to eat, and you

can fix your makeup in the bathroom before the party.

Right, like we're really gonna find somewhere

around here that has anything.

Hey, check out that billboard.

I didn't see anything, you guys.

Come on, it said there's a restaurant a mile

up on the right.

Oh cool, let's stop.

I didn't care about the billboard.

I didn't want to turn off.

This whole trip was giving me the goosebumps.

I didn't want Vanessa and Lana to know it, but I was scared.

I had no idea where we were, the road was dark and twisty,

and I was getting tired.

All I needed on top of all this, was a rainstorm.

You got to be kidding me, you guys.

It's starting to rain.

Why don't we get stuck in the mud and die, then, huh?

Geez, will you just calm down?

Chill out.

This road goes nowhere.

It's a waste of time, you guys.

All roads go somewhere.

Even if-- it's a graveyard.

Stop it.

Professor Odem says, that history

shows that the journey's more important than the destination.

Lana, history is a drag.

Odem is a lech, and there's nothing down

this creepy road except--

oh, great.

What are we gonna do now?

So much for the diner.

Oh, no.

Three young girls alone

on a deserted rainy night.

It was like a horror movie.

What are we supposed to do now?

I don't know.

Evening, girls.

Need some help?

Uh, we're looking for a diner on this road.

Stop it

Ain't nothing down this road you'd want.

Oh, my God.

Go.

Oh, my God.

That was the scariest--

Oh, my gosh.

guy I've ever seen in my life.

Oh, God.

It was like he knew we were coming.

Like he was-- he was waiting for us or something.

No way. - You guys are freaking me out.

Stop it. - OK.

Let's just get out of here and get back on the highway.

You guys, I think

this is where we turned off.

I'm gonna try it.

Josie, how can you see anything?

Are you sure you're going the right way?

Yes, yes, yes, I am sure I am going the right way, OK.

I didn't care what way I was going,

I just wanted to get out of there.

Oh, hey wh-- what's that?

Wh--

Wh-- Oh, my God.

Who was this?

We were totally freaked out.

And I was not about to open the window for anybody.

Good evening, ladies.

Look the highway's closed up the road from a landslide.

You're gonna have to turn around.

Landslide?

Yeah, about a half an hour ago.

Couple of cars got buried.

If you were a few minutes earlier, you'd be one of them.

Lucky thing we were looking for that diner.

Diner?

What diner?

The-- the one on the billboard.

Lady, there's no billboards on this highway.

They're illegal.

What?

We'll never know what Lana really saw.

The turn off that the billboard told us to take,

took us exactly 30 minutes out of the way.

Exactly long enough to save our lives.

Three lives saved by an illusion.

The illusion of a billboard that didn't exist.

So what did Lana really see?

Was it a mirage?

Or perhaps the side of a barn with writing on it?

Or an abandoned drive in theater with an old marquee,

or simply the imaginings of her own mind?

Some might say it was a vision placed there to guide

the car away from disaster.

And some might say, we made up the entire story.

Fact or fiction?

We'll find out at the conclusion of tonight's show.

Next, activity inside a family tomb

that's clearly beyond belief.

It always seems unfortunate when

young people, especially teenagers,

seal themselves off from those around them.

Now Dori Stone was such a teenager.

She seemed filled with inner rage.

She didn't talk much around the house or at school.

And when she finally made the choice to run away from home,

it ended in her accidental death.

Well, the policeman called in to investigate found the beginning

of a new nightmare.

One that defied the benediction, "rest in peace."

I wasn't at the funeral,

I was called in later when all the weird things

started to happen.

The cemetery had been part of my beat for 10 years.

In all that time, I think I'd gotten eight or nine calls,

and always on Halloween.

What was about to happen here was something nobody

was prepared for.

This poor little dead girl, Dori Stone.

As sad as it was, at least you would have

thought her troubles were over.

But the troubles for her and her family

were about to start all over again.

And pursue me all the days of my life.

I will dwell in the house of the Lord, forever.

When a loved one passes away, especially when that loved

one is a beloved child, it's those who

are left behind that suffer.

We must all remember that Dori--

10 days later, Dori's mother had a stroke,

and she died in the ambulance on the way to the hospital.

I'm sure she would like us all to remember--

So for the second time in two weeks,

the family tomb was opened for another member

of the Stone family.

It was soon after that, I got the call

to come to the cemetery from the caretaker, Chuck Weber.

Jim. Jim.

Jim.

Chuck was all agitated about something.

You could tell that by the way his arms kept flying around,

and he was talking a mile a minute.

Chuck was kind of an excitable type,

but I'd never seen him like this before.

It made me wonder what happened that would

make him act like this.

I figured he must be thinking people would

blame him for whatever it was.

But I don't know how they done it.

Just show me where it is, all right?

There ain't no-- you know there--

Yeah, yeah. CHUCK:--the door's locked.

It's in here, Jim.

Now, this is just the way I found it.

That's how I found it.

Just like that.

I couldn't believe what I was looking at.

Hadn't this family suffered enough without this kind of

vandalism?

How'd they get in?

Wasn't there a lock on the door?

Well, yeah.

And the lock wasn't broken?

No, no sir.

Is there another way in here?

No, like I told you, Jim, there's only one way in

and it's through this front door here.

And that door was locked and I got the only set of keys.

Right there.

I don't like it when things don't seem logical.

Strange.

And I especially

don't like it in a graveyard.

A few days later, the father arrived.

Chuck had cleaned everything up for his arrival.

How about I give you a hand with that, Mr. Stone?

No, thanks, Chuck.

I got it, thank you. How are you?

Oh, I'm all right.

How about yourself?

Chuck was kind of anxious for Mr. Stone

to see the job he had done.

He had worked all night straightening up the damage.

Knowing Chuck, he was probably hoping for a tip

or at least a pat on the back.

He had no idea what they were about to see

when the door was opened.

There you are.

How much tragedy can one man

take in a short period of time?

My heart went out to Mr. Stone.

It was worse than the time before.

Angrier and more violent.

I showed up about 10 minutes later.

Look, you know I tell yeah,

I don't know what you call security here,

Chuck, but this-- this isn't working out, all right.

I don't know what kind of sick individual

would do something like this, Jim.

You know, there's four generations of my family

that are buried in that crypt.

I understand, sir.

Believe me when I tell you, we're doing all we can

to find out who's responsible.

You don't have any idea who might have done this, do you?

No.

Maybe somebody with a grudge?

You know, a personal vendetta?

No, no.

Nobody.

We'll be in touch.

Sometimes the worst part about being a cop

is when you let people down.

I didn't know what to do, but I was sure going to do something.

Whatcha doing Jim?

I'm setting a little trap, Chuck.

This way, if they come back, we'll get some footprints.

Not a single footprint.

Nothing.

I was turning the sprinklers off

and I heard all this ruckus coming from inside the tomb.

"Not here."

What the hell did that mean?

Now, how could they tear it up like this

and not touch the floor?

Or not break the lock?

Or have anybody see them?

Sergeant Keen?

Your office told me I'd find you here.

We need to talk.

Sure.

What I'm about to tell you violates a sacred privilege,

so you must promise to hold it in the strictest confidence.

I'm listening.

Mr. Stone found his stepdaughter's diary.

It revealed incidents of physical abuse,

beatings of Dori by her mother.

I had no idea.

But what does that have to do with what's happening, now?

Maybe Dori ran away from home to escape her mother.

Now, that her mother's back at her side,

her spirit can't rest.

Oh, come on.

Look, sergeant, there are mysteries I don't

even pretend to understand.

You're serious.

Yes.

Well, what does Mr. Stone want to do?

The next day, the coffin of the mother

who had made her child's life miserable,

was removed from the tomb.

And it was the damnedest thing.

All the strange goings on inside the crypt stopped.

And they never started again.

Don't ask me for answers.

All I have to go by are my police reports.

You can read them over 100 times--

and believe me I have--

they still don't explain a thing.

Can a spirit be so restless with anger and fear

that it provides energy from an afterlife?

Or is there a more worldly explanation for this story?

Perhaps the cemetery employee was causing the disturbances

and covering up his own tracks.

If so, why did all the activity stop when the mother's

casket was removed?

And here's something else to think about,

did this story really ever take place at all?

Was this story true or false?

We'll tell you in the final moments of tonight's show.

Next, the mysterious bond between a boy and his dog,

on Beyond Belief, Fact or Fiction.

Many people believe that pets can

lower blood pressure, fight depression,

even make you live longer.

All these concepts pale, however,

when it comes to the relationship

of a child and a dog.

And those who have experienced it

know it is one of childhood's sweetest pleasures.

But it can also lead to one of childhoods most

painful lessons.

How to say goodbye.

Yes, good boy.

Come on.

Yeah.

Come on, Wheezer.

Go home.

All right, Wheezer.

Yeah, good boy.

My son and his dog.

A regular sight on our block.

Let's go home.

Come on.

Ever since my husband passed away,

Zach and Wheezer had become so close.

I was grateful that Wheezer was there to make that first year

without Bill a little easier.

Of course, I had no idea what was still in store for us.

Good boy, yeah.

Hi, Zach. - Hi.

Hi, Wheezer.

What are you guys doing?

Me and Wheezer just went down to the rock quarry.

I like it.

You do?

What do you say Wheezer?

Here.

I can always get more.

Well, thanks, Zach.

Wanna play?

No, me and Wheezer we gotta eat lunch.

And then I promised my mom I'd clean my room.

Well, bye, Zach.

Bye.

Come on.

Here, Wheezer.

Go Wheezer.

Yay!

Run, run, go.

All right.

Go Zach.

Go Wheezer.

Go Zach.

Go Wheezer.

You get Wheezer and I'll get Zach.

OK, all right.

You're gonna go long

OK, ready?

Let's go.

Break.

One Mississippi, two Mississippi,

three Mississippi, four Mississippi, five Mississippi.

Get it, Wheezer. Go.

Gotta go long.

Go, go.

Run, run.

Yes.

All right, touch down.

All right.

Yes.

Good boy, Wheezer.

And as the Pumpkin heads turned their fiery, ragged grins

on us, Walker and I opened our mouths and screamed in terror.

Time to go to sleep, honey.

Lights out.

Oh, come on mom.

Just a few more minutes. - No, Zach.

You have a big day tomorrow.

We're going to the beach, remember?

Good night, Zach.

Good night, Mom.

Good night, Wheezer.

Sweet dreams.

Come on, let's pray.

This was the part

that always broke my heart.

Dear God, please, please make me big and strong

so I can be the quarterback for the Miami Dolphins.

And God bless grandma and grandpa and mom

and Wheezer, too.

Amen.

Nobody will

ever forget that next morning.

It started innocently enough.

Come on, Zach.

Let's go.

Hey, look it's Zach and Wheezer.

I still

see that truck in my dreams.

Wheezer, wait.

Wheezer, wait!

Wheezer!

Mom!

Wheezer!

Stop!

Quick, help!

Wheezer!

Wheezer, no!

Mom, mom, Wheezer.

Wheezer.

Stay here, OK.

Stay right here.

I'm sorry, ma'am.

I tried to stop.

Oh, Wheezer.

We all love you, Wheezer.

And we know you're up in heaven playing with your friends.

Want to say something, Zach?

Just that, well you're my best friend

in the whole world, Wheezer.

I never thought you would leave me.

I'll never stop missing you.

Good bye, Wheezer.

I remember

that when I was a girl, my parents buried

my first dog in our back yard.

It eased my pain back then, because I felt

the dog was always near me.

And sometimes just the act of saying goodbye

can be so helpful.

My Zach never got to do that with his dad.

Honey, I know how bad you feel.

We all loved Wheezer.

But I have an idea that might make

us all feel a little better.

How about tomorrow you and I go down to the pound

and get ourselves another dog?

I don't want another dog.

There'll never be another Wheezer.

And don't try to pretend everything's OK.

Honey, I know it hurts.

Look, we don't have to go to the pound if you don't want to.

Go to sleep now.

I love you.

Love you, too.

All night long, neighbors

had been stopping by to tell Zach how

sorry they were about Wheezer.

Some even brought him gifts.

We were expecting a visit from my brother,

but he always worked late and Zach had to get some sleep.

Then at 10 o'clock, there was a knock on the door again.

Zach went down to see who was.

Wheezer!

Wheezer, it's you.

Mom, look, it's Wheezer.

How you doing, boy?

Oh, I love you so much.

Wheezer, I knew you wouldn't leave me.

Mom, look, it's Wheezer.

There are thousands of dogs that look like Wheezer,

but they checked Wheezer's grave and found it empty.

Did Zach's mother bury Wheezer when he was still alive?

And if so, why wasn't there any dirt

all over the dog at the dog?

Maybe there is a deeper explanation,

one that defies logic and lies in the strength

of the mystical bond between a boy and his dog.

Or maybe we have you barking up the wrong tree.

Was this story real?

We'll find out at the end of our show.

Next, a dying patient slips into a world that's beyond belief.

As part of the Hippocratic Oath,

doctors pledge to do everything they can.

Quote, "For the good of my patients,

according to my ability and my judgment, and to never do

harm to anyone."

But does it's true meaning sometimes

get lost under the pressures of the medical profession itself?

Dr. David Sanders was an emergency room

doctor who held strongly to the ideals of the Hippocratic Oath.

And it was his first night at a new hospital.

A night he would remember for the rest of his life.

It was Dr. Sanders

first night at our hospital. - Nurse?

I was his head nurse.

Where do you file this after you ??

male found in an alley way.

CPR.

We had a small facility always

on the verge of going under.

There were lots of rumors that our emergency room would

be shut down by the end of the year

in order to keep our doors open.

But tonight we weren't thinking about the survival

of a hospital.

Tonight, we had to try and save a human being.

On three.

One, two, three.

Way to go.

OK, what's his name?

No idea.

Wallet's gone.

He's non responsive.

OK, old man.

Come on, you got to have ID on you somewhere.

All right, go in his pockets find something,

anything that will give us ID.

Well here's something doctor.

Looks like some kind of medal.

It was then that our head of medicine,

Dr. Kim O'Ferrell, walked in.

Hang in there.

What do we have here?

John Doe, 70s.

He's in heart--

OK, he's in v-tach. We're losing him.

Come on, pop. Come on back.

Defib, 250.

Here we go.

Charging.

Clear.

OK, 300.

Charging.

Clear.

Flat line

Got a name yet?

Nope.

Just another homeless guy.

We get this kind all the time.

No family, no friends, nothing.

He's not nothing, he's my patient.

And that makes him somebody to me.

10 cc's of epinephrine.

One amp of bicarb right away.

Sanders, you're new here but you'll catch on quickly.

Let me make it easy on you.

Off the streets, no insurance, no Medicare,

no heroic measures.

You mean it doesn't matter to you whether he lives or dies?

What matters to me, is that we don't waste

our resources on a man who's probably

not going to make it anyway.

Oh, he's gonna make it.

No, doctor.

He's not going to make it.

You have other patients waiting.

Take care of them.

No response.

Do you want to call it doctor?

Paddles, 250.

But Dr. O'Ferrell--

Paddles, 250.

He doesn't have a heart beat.

I heard a bip.

Didn't you hear a bip, Candelario?

Paddles, 250.

Lube me up.

Charging.

350.

Clear.

Chest tray.

Are

Doctor, it's not worth it--

Chest tray.

he's way past guidelines.

Chest tray, stat.

10 cc's epinephrine.

Do it now.

Thank you.

Here we go.

Come on, old guy.

Dr. Collin to radiology.

Sanders.

I will not tolerate insubordination in my hospital.

When I give you an order, I expect it to be followed.

Do you understand?

I thought I could bring him back.

Well, you didn't.

All you did was waste time and time

is a luxury that we don't have.

Good day, doctor.

What do you want me to do with this?

Oh, I'll hold onto it.

What is it anyway?

It's a St. Jude medal.

He's the patron saint of lost causes.

May I help you?

We're here to identify my father-in-law, Ray Whitcomb.

When was he admitted?

Last night.

Boy, those two last ones were rough.

Yeah, the first night is always the roughest.

Thanks.

You'll be all right.

Let me check for you and see what I can find.

He died of a heart attack, just check, please.

The paper said that he was brought here last night.

Whitcomb, W-H-I-T-C-O-M-B.

What's the problem?

But Dr. Sanders these people claim a family member

was brought in last night.

The obituary said that he collapsed on the street

and he was brought here last night.

The obituary?

What obituary?

Sir, only one person died in this hospital last night,

and his name hasn't been released to the papers.

Excuse me.

Could this-- could this belong to your father?

Daddy.

What brought them to our hospital?

There couldn't have been any obituary,

their father had only died hours before.

Yet here they were, and in their grief

they were giving value to the life of our John Doe.

A life that Dr. Sanders had valued all along.

These are just some of the newspapers

that the Whitcomb family contacted to find the obituary

they claim they read.

Now, the death notice was never found.

Could they have been reading some old paper left

behind months or even years ago that listed a similar name

in a similar hospital?

And if not, what was it that brought Ray Whitcomb's family

to Doctor Sanders' hospital?

Would you accept this as a life-affirming story

inspired by actual events?

Or do you only believe what you read in the papers?

Next, we'll find out which stories are inspired

by actual events, and which are fabrications on Beyond

Belief, Fact or Fiction.

This is the time on our show when we measure our ability

to separate fact from fiction.

Now, let's review tonight's stories

and discover which ones were inspired by actual events

and which ones were inspired only by a writer's imagination.

Our first plot was the story of e-mails

sent by a man who had passed away three months before.

OK, I can do this.

I have new mail.

Find her.

How?

How do you want me to find her?

OK.

Victoria Gourlay, Brooklyn, New York.

Come on.

Bingo.

Is it hard for you to believe that a story like this

actually happened to someone in real life?

It did.

And what about the three girls who

turned off the road for coffee because of a billboard that

didn't exist?

Why don't we just get stuck in the mud and die then, huh?

Geez.

Will you just calm down?

Chill out.

Professor Odem says, that history

shows that the journey's more important than the destination.

Lana, history is a drag, Odem is a lech,

and there's nothing down this creepy road except--

great.

What are we gonna do now?

Now was this an easy one to figure out?

Do you think it's a work of fiction?

Sorry, a similar story did take place.

Then there were the mysterious activities that took

place inside that family crypt.

Now this is just the way I found it.

That's how I found it.

Just like that.

How'd they get in?

Wasn't there a lock on the door?

Well, yeah.

And the lock wasn't broken?

No, no sir.

What are the odds that the basic facts of this

were inspired by actual events?

Pretty good.

It happened.

And what's your opinion of the story about the bond

between a boy and his dog that was so strong, the dog came

back from the grave?

Wheezer!

Wait!

Wheezer! Mom!

Wheezer, wait!

Wheezer, stop!

This story is a total falsehood, right?

Right.

It never happened.

And our last tale tonight examined

the anonymous patient whose death would not go unnoticed.

The paper said that he was brought here last night.

What's the problem?

But Dr. Saunders these people claim a family member

was brought in last night.

The obituary said that he collapsed on the street

and he was brought here last night.

What obituary?

Sir, only one person died--

Did you guess that this story

was made up by our writers?

Well, you guessed wrong.

A story like this did take place.

So was your perception on target tonight?

Four of our plots were inspired by real stories.

And only one was a total fabrication.

We've tried to challenge your preconceived notions

of fact and fiction.

Perhaps we fooled you, perhaps not.

But at the very least, you might now

have a broader view about what is false

and what might be a strange truth.

Good night.

Join us next time on Beyond

Belief, Fact or Fiction.

This is Don LaFontaine.