Original subtitles

These stories are inspired by the actual case files of the Office of Scientific

Investigation and Research.

Relax, man.

We made the pitch. We just have to wait to see if the client bites.

Jump altitude has been reached, gentlemen. 6,800 feet.

Are we ready?

Excellent.

It'll blow our minds.

Come on, Pete.

Let's do it.

Annie, I don't think I can.

I'm feeling kind of... What was the checklist again?

Arch thousand, two thousand, look thousand, pull thousand. You've learned

all that, Pete. Come on, Pete. You promised you'd either ask Wendy out or

you'd jump with us. And we haven't had any debriefing on any day with Wendy.

Let's just do it.

I'm not jumping. I'm not jumping. No, no. Instead, you're going to pay 200

bucks to sit in the airplane and be a big wuss. I'm not jumping.

Well, I am.

Look, Pete, come on, all right? You came all the way up here.

Look, I've done it a hundred times, all right? Live a little. You want to sit in

front of a computer for the rest of your life?

Skydiving. It's described by enthusiasts as an exhilarating release from all

worries and concerns.

Skydivers know that the law of gravity governs all objects and bodies in our

world. That's why they wear parachutes.

But this law didn't hold true in the case of Peter McGrattan.

For in the midst of seeking to overcome his own personal insecurities, he

discovered that he was an incredible exception to one of life's universal

rules.

File number 47129, case manager Curtis Rollins. Log in for number one.

After being contacted by Dr.

Leslie Stafford of St. John Hospital, the OSIR has begun an investigation into

the reported phenomenon experienced by Peter McGratton.

I was on call when he was brought in. He had already regained consciousness and

he seemed perfectly lucid.

I ran some basic tests as a precaution.

May we see Mr. McGratton's chart?

Yes, of course.

And you found nothing unusual?

No. Aside from slightly elevated blood pressure, Mr. McGratton was in perfect

health. Dr. Stafford, how do you account for McGratton's explanation of what

happened? Well, I thought it was a joke. But his friends insisted it was true.

And you believed them?

No, of course not.

Who would believe something so ridiculous?

Then why call us?

Because the second time...

I saw it myself.

You witnessed a second jump? One of the nurses told me that he was going to jump

again. I was concerned for Peter that he was suffering from a head injury, a

subdural hematoma or diffuse axonal injury.

He'd been... You see, he'd been in a strange state of exhilaration.

I went out there to stop him.

And what exactly did you see?

I was too late.

I didn't see him...

jump from the plane, but I was able to follow his descent as he got closer to

the ground.

It was... It was... Amazing.

It's absolutely amazing.

I mean, Pete's always been a bit of a... I mean, sort of a guy who's happy to

play second string goalie on the hockey team.

And a guy who's always pushing the pull door, you know?

So, my buddy and I, we bet him.

Either he asks the receptionist out or he goes skydiving with us, right?

When I saw him plummet right by me, I thought, oh, man, we're going to be

scraping this guy off the tarmac, you know?

And then he lives.

I mean, think about it, man.

Both the guys' shoots fail.

He lives.

And then he goes out the next week and he does it again?

Well, to tell you the truth, I think he really changed after that first jump.

It's like two different people, the before and after Pete.

He's, I don't know, more passionate about things, just more focused, more

assertive, which has been great for him, but I think I kind of miss the old Pete.

Hey, Wendy.

New tie?

Congratulations, Pete.

It's a great pitch, man.

Clients are loving it.

Excellent.

So, um, keep Saturday open? Oh, yeah, I wrote it down in my book.

I really want you to be there to see it. It's like nothing you've ever seen

before, believe me.

Are you here to see someone, sir?

I don't know.

We're here to see Mr. McGrath.

It's a feeling unlike anything I've ever felt, Dr. Rollins.

Have either of you ever jumped?

Yes. Then you know what I'm talking about.

Not exactly. I've always landed with the aid of a parachute.

You don't believe me.

Mr. McGratton, what we're proposing is a full series of tests that may help to

verify and explain the phenomenon that allegedly occurred.

Allegedly?

I'm not fooling around here, Dr. Rollins.

Something incredible has happened to me. It's like I've been given this power.

Well, has anyone else, anyone that you're not acquainted with witnessed

this feat?

Just the guy who shot the videotape.

Now, I admit it's not of broadcast quality.

Look, why don't I just do another jump, and you guys can do all the tests you

want.

Well, let us examine your tape and run some preliminary tests first.

Deal?

Is that a promise?

I'll take that as a yes.

Case number 47129, day four.

Peter McGratton has completed a series of physiological tests covering all

perceptual and neurological factors.

McGratton is in perfect health. No extreme or unexpected conditions were

found. Rollins out.

Well, McGratton wasn't lying about the quality of the videotape.

Too many stops and starts, poor image quality, tape glitches. Even with

digital enhancement, the distance is too far from the subject to make out that

it's McGratton. Not to mention that the landings are secured by trees.

High probability of a hoax. There are a few documented cases of individuals

surviving free fall.

But not with that significant injury.

And McGratton's as healthy as a horse.

Lindsay, I'd like you to conduct a follow-up test with Mr. McGratton.

Sandor, send the tape back to HQ to see if it's been doctored. And let me know

the results of your environmental analysis as soon as you can. For both

jump sites.

What about McGratton's request that he jump again?

I can't sanction a test jump until we've gathered enough data to substantiate his

claim. That's a catch-22.

Can you set up a controlled environment to approximate free fall? I'll get on

that immediately.

What were you thinking when the parachutes failed?

I was thinking how my therapist told me to face my fears directly.

I actually thought it was over. I was trying to figure out how I am going to

survive.

Then what happened?

I'm rushing towards the ground, thinking that these are my last moments alive.

And then this total relaxing euphoria, this total high, overcomes

me.

Then it goes, and I try to remember it.

But you can't?

Anything like that ever happen to you?

But you jumped again.

Why?

I had to.

To make it mine, you know what I mean?

What made you think that you could repeat this event?

I just knew.

In here, I knew.

You must feel that about something.

What does your therapist think about this change, about this newfound

confidence?

I don't see my therapist anymore.

What are you doing?

You weren't decelerating. You know, this harness thing isn't working.

It doesn't feel right. I know there's no danger.

Look, why don't we just go do a real jump? You guys must have a plane.

We're not risking your life.

All right, then why don't we just up the stakes a bit?

All systems normal.

Do you think McGratt and psychodynamics are normal?

What do you mean?

I wonder if this isn't the result of some kind of Superman complex.

He thinks he's invincible.

Could be. Could be the source of the phenomenon itself.

Then again, it's also entirely possible that the psychological complex developed

as a result of the event.

Chicken or the egg, which came first, the mental complex or the phenomenon?

If there was a phenomenon.

I have a hunch there may be something more going on here than masculine

bravado. His heart rate's accelerating.

Dr. Rollins would like both of you to report to the test site.

It's a 35-foot jump. We've removed his inhibitors.

This is as close to free fall as we can simulate under these conditions.

You wouldn't get me up there.

Miss Donner, here we go.

Mr. McGratton claims he needs a sense of danger to recreate the phenomenon.

Or a sense of suicide.

Okay. Let's do it, kids.

All right, everyone.

Stand by.

No deceleration at all. Your results show anything?

Nothing. Typical fluctuations in biostats. No abnormalities whatsoever.

What do you think?

These findings don't support a story in the least.

I understand your frustration.

No, I don't think you do.

These tests, they're rinky-dink. The whole thing. You're not going to get

anything useful under these conditions.

We'll have to see what the test results turn up.

Why don't we just go out and do it?

You and I both know that's the only way.

I have the ability to defy gravity.

I don't really care why.

Now, you said you were going to do some preliminary tests. Well, I have been

poked and prodded and wired from head to toe. I think we're past preliminaries.

With the results of these tests, we should be able to rule out a wide

spectrum of possibilities.

What if you turn up a wide spectrum of nothing?

And what if, in the meantime, my ability disappears?

Then you lose, I lose, everybody loses.

Look, go home, relax, get a good night's sleep.

We'll get back at it tomorrow morning.

Deal?

What happened to the last deal?

Hey, fly boy.

Hey, Wendy.

There's a note here from Andy Aspen.

Yeah, I had a long day.

Oh, listen, I'm really sorry. I can't make it Saturday.

Okay.

Hang on, let me explain.

Hang on, I gotta buzz you out.

Oh, okay.

So, what's it like anyway, skydiving?

What was it like?

Only a feeling of intense joy.

Then you can't remember what it was like.

A few moments where I was reminded of why I wanted to be alive.

You know, I'm not sitting behind some desk shuffling papers and telling

clients what they want to hear, you know what I mean?

You ought to try it sometime.

Yeah, I think I'd like that.

You have a good weekend, Wendy.

And, um, yeah.

I'm gonna do it again.

The data's clean. As you can see from the skew-t diagrams, the findings show a

stable atmosphere over both jump-site locations.

Stable now, but none of this tells us what the conditions were like during

Peter's freefall.

No, unfortunately, that specific information won't be available without a

test job.

He's moving from terminal velocity, 55 meters per second, to zero velocity in

one and a half seconds.

Where would that kind of energy come from if he really did it?

Okay. I'd like to open this up to speculation.

Lindsay, you feel the phenomenon could be the result of some sort of PK

gravitational distortion induced by the subject.

It's a possibility, yes. As we've seen in other PK ability cases, the subject's

emotional state could trigger the phenomenon.

The hypothesis being that McGratton's high level of endorphins during free

fall triggers the PK shift.

Exactly. I just don't see how we can accurately test for it in a controlled

environment unless we... Unless we throw him out of a plane from 10,000 feet.

Tell McGratton we're going to let him jump.

Don't change your mind, Doctor.

I know you'll jump again sooner or later.

I'd rather not have your death on my conscience.

I think he just wanted to see the main event up close.

You'll be rigged with total remote biostat monitoring.

We'll be jumping with you.

And you will wear a parachute.

Is all this clear?

Morning, Miss Dollar.

Yeah, Chris is clear, Doc.

Well, let's do it.

Everything okay?

I want you and the rest of the team out at the landing site.

Run the environmentals and bio-scans simultaneous to the jump.

Stay in constant radio contact the entire time.

How long since your last jump, Doctor?

Long enough.

Doesn't it just blow your mind?

What say we keep our minds on the task at hand?

Ah, but can you think of a better way to go?

Huh? You want to die, Mr. McGrattan?

This is Rollins. Comp check.

Donner here. I copy.

We have the visuals registering.

We'll commence testing as you jump.

Approaching the drop film.

10,000 feet.

Jump in 30 seconds.

Are you ready to witness the miracle, Dr. Rawlings?

At 2,800 feet, pull your ripcord.

By then, we'll have all the data we need.

All right.

Let's be on the ground. No less than 2,800 feet.

Whatever you say, Doc.

Here they come.

What is he?

Oh, my God.

He's taking off his chute.

Peter!

Terminal velocity reached. Curtis, you're below 1,000 feet. Pull your

chute.

Slowing down.

Curtis, he's decelerating.

No atmospheric abnormalities, no energy fields present. Tasha?

Tasha?

Elevated heart rate.

All of the biofunctions are normal as per free fall.

And you didn't believe me. I told you I could do it.

That wasn't totally irresponsible of you. Oh, you people get over it. It

worked. He could have gotten Dr. Rollins killed. Look, he's alive, I'm alive, you

all got your data. Everybody got what they wanted, and that's all that

matters.

There's no denying what we all witnessed.

Any theories?

Maybe McGratton experienced some kind of anomalous geophysical gravitational

surge. We have no geophysical or environmental evidence to support such a

hypothesis. What if McGratton, as he passes the vortex of the search, could

he be affected on a cellular level, briefly altering his body weight

composition?

If we had medical or physiological data to back that up, isn't this consistent

with other studies of Pecandy's phenomenon?

The hard data just isn't there.

At the end of the day, all we have is... A miracle.

Case number 47129.

Final log entry.

All tests are inconclusive.

Due to Mr. McGratton's violation of OSIR procedure and his irresponsible actions,

all on-site investigations will be discontinued. Yeah, I understand. You

gotta do what you gotta do. I gotta do what I gotta do. Which is to keep

jumping without a parachute.

Not today.

Hi again.

Hey, Wendy, you ready?

Ready as I'll ever be.

You are gonna use that, aren't you?

Word of advice, Mr. McGratton. Yeah, shoot.

We don't know what caused your ability.

It could disappear without warning.

Be careful.

Or it could last forever.

I'll be careful, Dr. Rollins. You know, and you can stand to be a little less

careful from time to time.

Deal? Deal. I think that's all right.

Good luck.

Thanks.

Everything's packed up.

Well, there's the co-worker.

Wendy.

Peter and Wendy.

Haven't I heard that somewhere before?

Were unknown external forces the cause of this amazing phenomenon, or was it

generated from within Peter McGrattan?

The limits of human potential have yet to be fully explored. In fact, we're

just beginning to realize the innate powers which lie within ourselves in all

our capacities.

Only the OSIR knows whether Peter continues to tempt fate, or whether he

became a small headline in a local paper.

Shoot failure ends in tragedy.

for crying out loud.

Mom, it's here again.

Oh, honey, it's just you and me, kiddo. You were sleepwalking again.

No, it's back, Mom.

It's back, I swear.

Well, honey, I'll clean up after we get you back to bed, okay? Come on. Come on.

Come on.

Come on. Come on. Oh, I know.

The family home, ideally a place where parents create a sanctuary from the

uncertainties and turmoil of the world outside.

Jeremy Stansky, a happy, healthy eight-year-old, had every reason to

expect that his home was a safe refuge from danger and strife.

His mother Debbie and his father Kevin believed that their own diligent efforts

had made this family home the loving, comfortable haven their child deserved.

Yet despite Jeremy's expectations, under cover of darkness, a mysterious

intruder, entered their refuge, violated its tranquility, and created a

nightmare. A nightmare the Office of Scientific Investigation and Research

was brought in to dispel.

In here?

Yes.

It's stronger here.

Yes, that's right.

Your neighbor was right to call me.

There is an entity here.

Uh, uh, right now?

I'm picking up... bitterness...

discord!

Unquiet spirit, here is no place for you!

Go on!

Oh!

As soon as I told Sally Burchill what had been happening, she got right on the

phone to him.

He's part of some special psychic hotline.

Or something.

Unquiet spirits in your home? Dial 1-800-FLAKES.

Kevin, you haven't been here.

I don't know what the heck's going on, but whatever it is, it's scaring the

hell out of me. Okay, look, I saw the damage, too. I don't know what caused it

either. Daddy?

I'm scared.

I know, son, I know.

Everything's all right.

Okay,

look, why don't we start by talking to somebody who knows what they're doing.

File number 92109, day 1, 0930 hours.

Connor Doyle, case manager.

On-site inspection, circumstantial assessment, preliminary interviews

underway.

I've confirmed with the subjects that the final objective of this operation is

to locate and identify the phenomenon.

I could tell by her emotions that she had encountered an active malevolence.

It surrounded her aura.

My partner and I responded to the Stansky home on several occasions

recently. Each time we found evidence of destructive activity, but no intruder,

no sign of forced entry.

I don't think they were responsible for any of the damage.

Look, I know that something's going on.

I don't know exactly what it is, but I can tell you it's not some kind of

vengeful spirit like that nutcase said.

At this point, I believe in ghosts or poltergeists or whatever it takes to get

rid of it. I even had a plan to dispel it until you people showed up.

You know, so I have this buddy of mine. He works over at the University of

Washington, and he put me in touch with you guys.

I mean, I'm frightened. My little boy is frightened. He's terrified.

He refuses to sleep in our house.

It came once, and after that, there was a long gap before I saw him again.

And it just stared at me, and it was going to eat me right there.

But then my mom came down and scared it away.

I just want to figure out, like, what's going on here.

I'm really scared.

It's going to come back.

I know it.

Case file update, 1150 hours.

Obvious circumstantial causes such as loose shelving or vibrations from low

-flying aircraft have been eliminated.

A comprehensive range of physiological and psychological tests will be run on

family members as soon as we finish preliminary interviews.

Is that your cat, Jeremy?

Triple. He's everyone's cat.

Oh.

You know, I had a cat when I was little.

Jeremy, your mom said that you said something the other night.

She told me you said, it's back.

Could you tell me what you were talking about?

I don't remember.

Are you sure?

All right.

It was Mr. Grimshaw.

Happy now?

Who is Mr. Grimshaw, Jeremy?

Mr. Grimshaw the bear.

Don't you know anything?

He did it, all of it.

Oh.

Oh, I know. He doesn't want to talk to us about it either.

Yeah, which is strange, because usually it's the other way around.

When did the sleepwalking start?

I don't know, about two months ago or so.

Yeah, yeah, something like that.

Now, I was talking to my friend who's a doctor, and she said that it wasn't very

common in children, but not to be too concerned, hopefully it's not the phase.

I see.

Dr. Corliss, do you really think that Jeremy could be responsible for all that

damage? Now, I've heard that children can sometimes generate poltergeists, you

know, talk with spirits. Maybe.

Maybe not.

We really can't come to any conclusions until we've got all the data in.

Right. So you have no idea what he saw?

I'll have a better idea once I've regressed Jeremy using hypnosis.

Jeremy?

Can you hear me?

Yes.

We're going to fly back in time now.

Remember, nothing can hurt you.

Okay? Just tell me the story of what you see.

We're in your living room. Yes.

Are we alone?

No, it's here.

I want you to go back to the last time you saw it. Can you do that for me,

Jeremy?

All right.

Now, where are you?

I'm in the kitchen.

It's night.

What do you see?

I hear it breathing.

Breathing how?

I don't want to see his eyes.

Red eyes.

Red eyes going at me.

Red eyes.

Red eyes.

Jeremy, take that picture. Breathe it in your mind. Who's looking at you?

It's a monster.

The monster!

Come back now. Come back with me.

Okay.

We'll try again later.

You're safe.

The family's psychodynamics are fairly normal, given the circumstances.

Mr. Stansky's work forces them to travel a great deal, so it could be causing a

certain degree of anxiety in Jeremy.

Did the hypnosis reveal anything about the incident?

Only that he has a vivid imagination.

Or he really saw something outlandish that night.

It's difficult to gauge his perceptions because of his youth.

He's still learning to separate the real from the imagined.

Could he have possibly caused the damage?

I doubt it. He's only eight years old. It would have come out in the

regression.

Peter, you want to bring us up to speed on your analysis?

We've run environmental scans on the house and surrounding area, and baseline

readings are all well within the normal range.

There's no toxic gases, there's no contaminants in the water, the food, and

there's no abnormal concentrations of energy fields.

Establish full surveillance.

Let's see if anything turns up.

Ripple?

Here, kitty.

Poe, where are you?

Jeremy, sweetheart.

Mom, I can't find Ripple.

I'm sure he's around somewhere. Come wash up for dinner.

Ripple, Ripple, I can't find him.

Ripple's fine. Come wash up for dinner.

Case file update, 20-30 hours.

Surveillance monitoring is being established throughout the house and

surrounding property.

Standard biophysical monitoring units have been deployed on family members to

facilitate real-time transmissions of pertinent biostats.

Blood pressure, heart rate, galvanic skin response.

Next log update in 12 hours.

Hold on.

Biostats rising in Sector 7.

Yeah, poor kid.

Set it up for 20-minute sweeps of the frontage. We'll pick it up

as Sector 3A.

Mr. Doyle, can I talk to you?

What's the problem, Mr. Stansky?

The problem is that my kid is a mess.

He doesn't eat, he's exhausted, he's talking about monsters all the time,

and, uh...

I think he's about ready to snap.

I realize he's in some emotional distress. We learned that much from our

assessment.

Mr. Stansky, is there anything that could have precipitated his condition?

Anything we might have missed? I don't know. I don't know.

He's going through an awfully tough phase right now.

I mean, if he even sees an ad on TV for a horror film, he doesn't sleep for

weeks. Sounds like he has quite an active imagination.

Well, it's overactive, actually.

Look, I'm, uh...

I'm a little bit worried with all this stuff going on in the house and all the

people and the investigations. A big break from his routine, you know?

Plus, he's convinced that there's some evil thing lurking in the house.

I understand your concern.

I've noticed Jeremy's behavior's become a bit erratic since our arrival.

Maybe what he needs is some stability.

Mr. Doyle, you need a break.

What do you propose?

Time away from here.

All of us, just to relax and get Jeremy away.

We could consider moving you out temporarily.

Try a different approach to monitoring the house.

Please, just for a few days.

We'll move you out tonight.

Case file update day four, 030 hours.

In order to test the possibility that the family itself is influencing the

occurrences... We're sealing off the house and relocating the Stanskys to a

neighbor's home.

Unbroken audio and video surveillance will be maintained for an additional 72

hours.

HQ is considering discontinuing the investigation.

I'm not surprised.

How do you care to proceed?

I'm undecided.

My sense is that we should stick around a little while longer. If anything, to

help Jeremy come to terms with whatever it is he's experiencing.

Peter, what's your take on the situation?

Don't ask me. We've been here a week, and as of yet, no observable phenomenon

has been detected.

Agreed. But let's not discount the accuracy of each individual story under

DEP testing.

I want to return the Stansky family to their home to maintain environmental

surveillance.

What about headquarters?

Leave that to me.

Get you ready for bed.

Come on, little man. I'm not tired.

Okay, come on. Upstairs. Come on.

Please note, someone's altered the environment.

Temperature differential at minus 15 degrees.

Just wanted to make sure Jeremy was all right.

He's been so upset by this whole thing.

I can tell.

Oh, Jeremy.

Must be so frightened.

Kids are resilient, Mrs. Stansky.

You'll be fine.

Thank you.

Now it is, once you let your imagination get the better of you.

If we had any reason to believe that your family was in any kind of danger,

you wouldn't be here.

We'll be monitoring you constantly from the mobile unit.

Oh, great.

I'll be sleeping like a baby knowing that 15 scientists are watching me.

Oh, that's just the heat coming on.

It's only a theory so far, but it certainly points towards a rational

explanation for the boy's story. A composite memory.

I still have to run some tests to confirm it, but hypothetically the boy

saw something while in a sleepwalking state.

This half-imagined image got mixed up with two other sense impressions from

the kitchen.

The sound from the heat vent and the red lights from the microwave.

And we have our demon.

Exactly. Nice and neat.

But what did the actual damage?

Something moved.

Where? Monitor 3, sector 12. Just a flicker of a vibration.

Something knocked the camera over.

Invert thermal imaging.

All equipment online.

Should have visuals on it.

Up there.

Final case log entry.

Our monster has turned out to be a giant green python.

Python Malurus bivetatus.

Originally kept as a pet by a couple on the next block.

When they moved out and abandoned it, the snake must have found its way into

the local sewer system.

The whereabouts of the family cat remain unknown.

And then your imagination kind of played a trick on you.

Because it made you think like there was a monster in the house, right?

And there was something there.

But it wasn't a monster.

So there's nothing to be afraid of now.

Kay?

Kay.

The intruder that violated the Stansky home was neither a malevolent

poltergeist, a grotesque monster, nor a mysterious undiscovered force of nature.

It was just a very ordinary and very earthbound abandoned reptile.

After the Python was moved to the local zoo, the Stansky family experienced no

further nocturnal visitations and resumed their normal lives undisturbed.

Jeremy's sleepwalking phase eventually passed.

Though the explanation secured by the OSIR was ultimately a simple one,

nevertheless, a family's sanctuary had been violated.

Simple reason or not, the Stanskys feel a great debt to the Office of Scientific

Investigation and Research for restoring their home as the shelter and refuge.

It is supposed to be.

I'm Dan Aykroyd for SciFactor.