Original subtitles

In this world, there is real evil.

In the darkest shadows and in the most ordinary places.

These are the true stories of the innocent and the unimaginable.

At the Lake Club, every night is full of life.

But when the music ends and the crowds go home, the place is as cold as a

crypt.

An angry ghost stalks the employees and warns that one of them

is about to die.

Between the world we see and the things we fear, there

are doors.

When they are opened, nightmares become reality.

For decades, the Lake Club in Springfield, Illinois, has served as a

way station for gamblers and musicians.

But not all of them were simply passing through.

For one soul, the Lake Club was a trap.

And death was just the beginning.

In the summer of 1974, late club owners Philip Dean and Tony Barbato show the

club to a prospective renter named Bill Carmine.

Hey, Bill. Nice to meet you.

I had a construction business with my dad and brother.

Due to the energy crunch, the business failed.

We kind of pooled our money together and started looking for something that we

could invest in.

And we found out that the old nightclub was up for grabs.

I don't know if I mentioned this or not, but we've had some outstanding

entertainment.

The place first opened in 1941.

Here, legendary musicians like Nat King Cole and Ella Fitzgerald played to

crowds of up to 1,200 guests.

The club has been closed for the past six years.

But the owners have taken good care of their property.

The glasses were all there. The chairs were all there.

It was almost like a turnkey walk in and open up.

All Bill needs to reopen the nightclub is a liquor license

and a band.

Philip Dean finalizes the deal in a back office.

There you go.

Sir.

Bill notices a hole in the ceiling.

What's that there?

A water leak or something?

Dusty, you can fix that, can't you?

Yeah. That'll be good as new, no problem.

A couple days, good as new. Dean quickly reassures him that the caretaker, Dusty,

will fix the problem.

All right.

Each day, Bill spends long hours alone in the club, getting the place ready for

business.

One afternoon.

I could hear the piano playing in the back.

There was nobody there I know I heard that piano

I felt a little chill

It was like if you're walking down a dark street sometime and a dog runs out

at you and barks. You know, you get that hair on the back of your neck and you

feel needles all over your body.

Is there anybody out there?

Bill searches the building, but finds no one.

On the back of my mind, I kept wondering, did I really hear the piano

playing?

I couldn't explain it, so I just shrugged it off.

In the fall of 1974, the Lake Club opens under the management of Bill Carmine.

When the word finally got out and we opened the doors that night, we were

just completely overwhelmed.

They drank us out of beer, we were out of booze, we ran out of ice.

We made it through the first night and got a little better prepared for the

second night.

And it just kept on going like that for a while.

Bill quickly realizes that he can't run the club by himself.

He turns to musician Tom Blasco.

I first became involved with the Light Club when my band was hired there.

And I met one of the owners, and we became friends.

We got a report going with each other. I asked him if he wanted to invest.

Maybe manage the place.

It was an interesting scenario, so I jumped in on it.

Hey, I want to welcome everybody.

This is the Lake Club. We'd like to introduce all of you to... They've got

some different entertainment in there, and the place just went great guns.

I thought it was great.

Everybody got along good.

We had a good line of entertainment.

We had good patrons.

Everybody enjoyed themselves.

It was just a fun place to be.

In fact, I couldn't wait to get there every night.

After hours, the managers hold private parties for friends and employees.

Over time, co-workers become like family.

For waitress Barbara Lard, it seems like the perfect working environment.

I started working at the Light Club when I was 21 and a half, and I was very

young, very naive, and not...

in any way shape or form prepared for what would come in the future.

I was just suddenly surrounded by this cold chill.

It was a drafty cold and it would just go right through you, just engulf your

whole body.

Tom assumes that he's neglected to turn off one of the air conditioning units in

the basement.

It was like someone was right behind you.

Just very frightening. Very frightening.

One night after closing, Tom Blasco has a terrifying feeling that he is not

alone.

And

I became

extremely scared.

Ran out of the place and left the lights and air conditioner running.

This is something that you're kind of trying to rationalize is not happening.

When it is happening.

Tom decides

not to tell anyone about the experience.

Well, I thought sometimes when you tell people these stories, they'd look at you

like you're a little bit crazy, so I just opted to keep it to myself and see

what happened.

Later, Bill tells Tom that he's had some strange experiences inside the club.

Are you sure you didn't see anybody?

There was no one in there. I walked in there. The panel cover was down. I

walked around all over the place. There's nobody there, man.

I think the scariest thing was the unknown part about it. You didn't know

what was happening or who it was or what it was.

We can't let anybody know about this.

Tom and Bill don't want to frighten the employees or patrons.

You really don't want word to leak out.

Otherwise, people wouldn't want to come out and come to the business.

For weeks, Tom and Bill don't experience anything unusual.

Any time, you got to do me a favor. Yeah, what?

I got a real important meeting, if you know what I mean.

Can you do me a favor? Can you finish doing the money, the carpet seats, the

books, and all that?

Yeah, yeah, no problem.

All right, man.

I'll see you tomorrow.

One night, after business hours.

You could hear like a den of people talking.

You couldn't make out what they were saying, but you could hear

a conversation going on.

I started carrying a rosary because being a Catholic, I thought that would

protect me against any evil or bad things that were going on there.

That morning I come in to get set up for the next night

There's all the cash still out on the table and the safe was still open

What's

going on what happened in here I know what it looks like but um

look something really crazy happened last night what is it i walked down the

hall and i was looking everywhere for something i couldn't see anybody nobody

was around and somebody was there he said i just scared the hell out of him

he said he didn't really remember running out of there and leaving the

money you just know he wanted to get out of there

The strange events become more frequent, and the two managers share their

experiences with trusted employees like Barbara Lard.

Bill and Tom would talk about different small things that had happened.

I really didn't believe that there was really a ghost there.

It was something fun to talk about and something fun to laugh about, but

I didn't really truly believe.

one day before the club opens for business.

We heard a trombone playing in the back and it

was awfully early for the band to be here.

I didn't hear anybody come through.

Barbara is convinced that someone must have let a band member into practice.

A few hours later,

the band arrives.

Hey, you.

You're the trombone player, right? We said to the trombone player, did you

leave and come back?

No, that wasn't me.

No, I heard you playing about an hour ago up in the practice room.

It was pretty good.

Uh, no.

I don't think so. We just got here.

He said, I was never here.

The band leader tells Barbara that 30 minutes earlier they were all in a

restaurant eating dinner.

Their instruments were locked in the van.

We thought it was just a joke. He was just teasing.

He said, Barb, we are not kidding you. He was with us at supper.

Bill and Tom and all of the employees started talking.

Maybe there is something more going on here, because we've got all these weird

happenings.

People were scared.

The employees, the people that came in didn't really know anything that was

going on. But the employees who worked there, they were scared.

Even some of the bands that came in were starting to feel that there was

something not right with the place.

and they approached us about it everybody started agreeing that there's

something strange going on here yeah but the problem is nobody was there one of

those things again something's going on and we got to do something about it the

late club owners and employees try to keep the business running as usual

Hey, you got a nice place in here, man. Yeah, thank you. You can book a lot of

bands. Yeah, we're doing pretty well. One morning, a salesman visits the club.

I guess you're pretty busy then. So what I've got here is an automatic check

writing machine. I figured, well, okay, I'm going to let him do his bill, tell

him no. It's very simple. Everything's documented. It has checks written. You

don't have to worry about buying a checkbook.

Balance and all of that.

Your managers can write the checks.

And it really makes things a lot simpler.

You don't have to worry about the bookkeeping later.

It really simplifies life. It makes your business run much smoother, easier.

Your bookkeeping... It

scared the hell out of me.

Sorry about that.

I don't...

The violence of this latest event convinces Bill that he cannot ignore

what's been happening.

We were wondering what measures we should take.

You can't close the doors on the business because we got a problem there.

So we were kind of between a rock and a hard spot.

On this particular night, we were packed in the gills.

There was more people in there you could shake a stick at.

Bartenders and waiters were just going 90 mile an hour trying to keep up with

everybody. Unbelievable.

There's 12 women waiting in line up there in the restroom.

I've got to go.

Well, just go in my office. Here, go on. Go on. It's open. Just go ahead and use

it. It's not open. Come see me. I got you. Okay.

Thanks.

When I went back to the office, it was very, very uncomfortable.

I just was unsettled, and I

thought, oh, I'm just a little nervous because we've been so busy.

One of the owners.

They're gonna die.

They're gonna die.

At the Lake Club.

Waitress Barbara Lahr believes that she has just seen a ghost.

I just stood there.

And I was in a state of shock.

Barbara, what's wrong?

She was in terror.

And I'm like, Barbara, what's the matter?

I can't tell you. I can't tell you.

Are you all right? What happened?

She was just panicking.

And I told her, I said, well, you know, go back in the office and sit down.

Well, I'm not going back there. I'm never going back there again.

I told her, go ahead and take the rest of the night off.

She was in total terror.

And I'd never seen her like that before.

Hey, come on in.

Take a seat.

The next day, Barbara describes the man she saw in the back office.

That's what he said.

She said, I can't tell you.

Why can't you tell me?

One of the owners is going to die.

We can't help you out if you don't tell us what he said to you. We need to know.

I made the decision not to tell Tom and Bill.

I can't tell you. And that was very difficult.

I was so scared, and I didn't want it to weigh heavy on their minds.

Bill decides to seek answers from someone who knows more about the Lake

Club's history.

He pays a visit to Dusty, the club's longtime caretaker.

Everything good, right? No problem.

OK, so she was in the bathroom when she saw this guy. I mean, big guy.

Bill gives him Barbara's description of the ghost.

About 6'2", big head, big long mustache.

That sounds like Rudy, I mean. Rudy. Remember the guy I was talking about?

Remember?

Dusty says it sounds like a former bartender named Rudy Cranor.

Rudy. You mean the guy who used to bartend here?

He gives Bill a group of photos taken when Rudy worked at the club.

Bill

takes the

photos to Barbara.

And they said, do you recognize anybody?

This is him.

That's who?

This is the man that I saw. This is the man that I saw in your office.

This is him. OK.

Bill explains to the others what Dusty told him.

Cranor worked at the club in the days when Philip Dean and Tony Barbato ran

the business.

We're in a lot of trouble here. He made a small fortune in tips from well-heeled

patrons of the club's illegal casino.

Here's the deal. In December 1958, police raided the club and put a dent in

Rudy's earnings.

I'll take care of it. Take care of it. The financial stress of the following

years gave him excruciating stomach ulcers.

In 1968, Rudy was diagnosed with cancer.

There were also rumors that he had been accused of stealing money from the club.

After years of financial troubles and physical pain, Rudy finally snapped.

Dusty said that Rudy Cranor was a Catholic.

As a Catholic himself, Tom has a theory.

Since suicide was the worst sin a Catholic could commit, he might be

trapped between the planes of life.

Well, we found out it was Rudy.

He was the one perpetrating all this stuff around there.

And he was getting violent.

That scared me and Tom even more.

I don't know. I don't know, Barbara.

The violent way that he died...

He might turn right around and use that violence again on somebody that I knew.

And that thought just scared the hell out of me.

Calm down.

It's okay.

All right?

All right, calm down.

Bill is unaware that Barbara is harboring a terrible secret.

Sure? Yes, I'm sure.

Rudy's ghost told her that one of the club owners is going to die soon.

He's not alive, so.

During the secret of knowing

that something was going to happen really affected me.

It just weighed so heavy on my heart.

Because I just adored Tom and Bill both so much.

That was just almost more than I could comprehend, that I would lose either one

of them.

Hey, Bill.

Bill.

Bill.

For the two ambitious business owners, the future looks grim.

Be careful.

Whenever Barbara helps Tom or Bill close the club, she prays for their safety.

In the middle of a busy weekend night, the compressor in the beer tab suddenly

loses pressure.

All right, just calm down.

I gotta get upstairs from here. Everything's all right, okay? Bill goes

into the basement to fix it.

I want to go down and give it a swift kick to get it working.

And when I went down, the lights were all off down there.

A sudden blast of compressed air startles Bill.

Bill is convinced that the haunting is real, but he's embarrassed to discuss it

with his landlord, Philip Dean.

There you go, my friend.

Thank you.

All right?

Okay. See you later. Have a good night.

Yeah, I'll come by tomorrow again, okay? Good night, guys. Thank you.

Within weeks, Philip Dean suffers a fatal heart attack.

Because of Rudy's warning, Barbara doesn't know how to respond to the

sudden death.

I had sorrow for the family, but there was such great relief, too,

because it wasn't Tom and Bill.

And that may sound cold or cruel, but that's how I felt. It was like relief.

Barbara now feels that it's safe to share what the ghost of Rudy Craner told

her. How you feeling?

She's like, I can tell you what Rudy told me now.

He said one of the owners was gonna die.

And she was like, I was afraid to tell you because I thought it might be one of

you two.

God, that scared me. It still gives me the shakes.

Tom and Bill wonder if Rudy Craner has predicted Philip Dean's death.

Or... If the ghost somehow caused his death.

Did Rudy have something to do with it?

Did he have enough energy that he stopped the owner's heart?

If a supernatural entity did murder Philip Dean, Bill fears the same thing

could happen to him.

I thought maybe he's not going to draw the line at one owner.

We knew that something had to be done.

And Tom suggested getting a priest and blessing the place.

Tom asks an old high school classmate,

Gary Dilley, for help.

Dilly is a Roman Catholic priest.

Tom asks him if he thinks an evil spirit could be haunting the club.

I believe there's a spiritual realm we don't understand.

And I do believe the Catholic Church also teaches that these spirits can

communicate to us in different ways.

We in America don't like to believe in these things because we're rational

people who are highly educated, and that kind of belongs to the superstitious.

But I think it's far from superstitious. I think there's a reality there.

Within seconds, an ice-cold presence embraces Father Dilly.

Wait a minute. What is it?

You could feel expectations.

Then it felt like someone had left a door open to a walk-in freezer.

He says, you certainly have something here.

When you all wait here, I'd like to walk the rest of the way alone.

I started walking through the whole place on my own.

From the bottom of my feet to the top of my head, I knew there was someone with

me.

I could feel it.

Father Gary Dilley returns to the Lake Club with two colleagues to

perform a blessing, hoping to put the spirit of Rudy Cranor

to rest.

Father,

would you lead us?

The prayer that I used was a simple form of St. Michael the Archangel prayer.

We believe that St. Michael and Lucifer battled and we believe St. Michael is a

powerful source for us.

Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in the day of battle.

Be our safeguard against the wickedness and snares of the devil.

May God rebuke him, we humbly pray.

And do thou, O Prince of the Heavenly Host, by the power of God, cast into

hell Satan and all the other evil spirits who prowl through the world

seeking the ruin of souls.

Die.

The three priests move toward the back office where Rudy Cranor committed

suicide.

This is potentially the most dangerous area in the building.

May God rebuke him. Saint Michael, defend us in our time of battle. Be a

safeguard. May God rebuke him.

These prayers can make a spirit angry.

And when they get angry, you don't know what they're going to do.

Father Dilley knows that angry spirits can sometimes take possession of the

living.

They can attach on to a person that's in the room and try to invade their body

and take them over.

Father, we have to leave this room.

So he said.

Now that we've left the place, let's get way back away from the building.

I said, what, the building's going to blow up? He said, it could possibly

happen.

That freaked me out.

They wait outside for almost 30 minutes.

When

they

go back in, something has changed.

When I went back into the club, I didn't feel cold chills.

I didn't feel the hair go up on my neck.

I felt very comfortable there.

Tom, it's much more peaceful. Really? Yes. The building just became very, very

quiet, and the coldness was gone.

Well, thank you. Father Dilley believes that Rudy has heard their prayers.

Thank you, Father. I appreciate it. Rudy was stuck in time.

He wanted people to know he was there.

He didn't want to be forgotten.

And I think that through our prayers, he was able to let go of this earth and go

where he was supposed to be.

The blessing puts an end to the paranormal activity.

But the popularity of the club begins to wane.

We've made it for about another six months.

And then we closed down.

After the blessing, I felt much more at peace.

It was almost like, okay, now, Rudy can rest.

He will be at peace.

It changed my belief that there is an afterlife.

Certainly we don't know about it, and sometimes you don't think about it,

but... there is something that goes on after we die with what's ever left of

us.

Before all this happened, I never believed in a ghost.

But I'm a believer now.

And I don't care what people say.

I know it happened.