Original subtitles

Narrator: 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.

When the Johnsons moved to a small town in new england,

they disturbed the peace of a dormant presence.

Lost souls inflict fear upon the living,

shatter rational beliefs.

With the help of a team of witches,

an embattled family fights the unknown

to take back their home and their sanity.

Sean!!

Between the world we see and the things we fear,

there are doors.

When they are opened,

nightmares become reality.

Captions by vitac... www.Vitac.Com

captions paid for by discovery communications

nestled between the majestic green mountains

and the fertile river valleys of southern Vermont

lies the town of Chester,

the birthplace of thousands of young soldiers

whose lives were tragically cut short in the civil war.

Today, local legends chronicle

centuries-old accounts of untimely deaths.

And every now and then,

the agonizing cries of these young souls

can still be heard, echoing from beyond the grave.

The year is 2005.

Look at that place. That is a beaut.

Are you serious?

Libby and Sean Johnson, along with their two daughters,

7-year-old grace and 5-year-old Willa,

search for the perfect home.

This place is a classic.

Having moved from ft. Lauderdale, Florida,

nearly a year ago,

they believe that Chester, Vermont, is a town of promise.

We could restore it.

Libby: We really liked the pace of life here in new england.

We thought living in a small, rural town

would be a nice place to raise our children.

What do you think? All you need's a little imagination.

Narrator: The Johnsons have been living

in a small two-bedroom apartment for over a year

while looking for a place of their own.

Hi, this is Sean Johnson.

I'm over at the house on school street.

I was wondering if we could see it today.

Libby: The house needed, probably,

$200,000 worth of general construction

to get it to be livable.

Sean was the eternal optimist and was so excited.

It's got great bones.

What?

The house. It's solid...

As a rock.

I, on the other hand, was thinking,

"I could never live in this house.

It needs so much work."

I don't know about this, Sean.

Sean: She wanted a finished product.

She didn't want to live through construction.

We could do this.

Narrator: Sean, who runs a car dealership from home,

offers to oversee the renovations.

I could look after the girls, too.

Libby figures she can use this opportunity

to go back to work...

Something she's always wanted to do.

Libby: So, we thought we'd give it a shot.

Okay.

[ Chuckles ]

Narrator: Over the next few months,

Sean continues to assist with the construction

and manage his business from the apartment...

while Libby takes a job as a secretary

at the local elementary school.

Finally, after 10 months of construction,

the renovations are nearly complete.

Hey, Freddie. How's it going?

One afternoon, Libby checks on the workers

during her lunch hour.

I just wanted to see how you guys were doing.

Great. Moving on.

Oh!

This is incredible.

She discovers dozens of old family photographs,

letters, and documents dating back to the civil war.

Yeah, you never know what you're gonna find

once you start tearing down these old walls.

I want to keep these. Could you hand me a...

Let me know if you find any more of these, okay?

Sure, no problem.

Libby: I was very excited to find those documents

just to learn a little bit more about history

and the people that lived here.

It's just interesting

to think about how people lived in new england

with no hospitals and grocery stores

and atms and cars.

Narrator: In march of 2006,

the Johnsons finally move into their new home.

The renovations are not completely finished,

but Sean and Libby can wait no longer.

All right, get it while it's hot.

Libby: My husband and I were so excited

to be moving into the house.

It had been a year of blood, sweat, tears,

and lots of money trying to renovate this house.

Sean: And... For you.

The kids, on the other hand...

Were not as excited.

I don't like it here.

It's big and scary.

You're gonna love this house.

Okay, kiddo?

Okay.

Narrator: The girls sleep with their parents

while the floors in their room are refinished.

Get away, get away, get away!

It's all right, honey. Just wake up... it's okay.

It's okay, honey, wake up. It's just a dream.

Sean: Grace, wake up.

It's okay. It's all right.

There was someone coming after me.

She saw a person come into the room

with strange-looking eyes

and was coming toward her.

It was just a dream, Gracie.

Hey, you want to sleep in our bed tonight? Come on.

Sean: I just thought it was her nerves

from being in a new place.

She just was scared.

[ Door slams ]

W-What was that? Did you...

I thought I heard the door shut.

Sean: I heard a door slam.

[ Door slams ]

And then I heard another door slam.

[ Door slams ]

[ Door slams ]

[ Slamming continues ]

My ears are hearing the doors slam,

but I'm not seeing doors slamming,

and I can't figure it out.

[ Slamming continues ]

[ Door slamming ]

[ Slamming stops ]

Sean: It didn't make sense to me

to run around the house and test all the doors

and this and that because I knew it wasn't that.

But you don't know what to do.

[ Footsteps approach ]

So?

Nothing. I didn't see anything.

I don't get it.

It must have been the wind.

Narrator: Sean downplays the incident

because he doesn't want to worry Libby any further.

Great.

[ Sighs ]

Don't you think it's weird the girls never woke up?

[ Sighs ]

The next morning.

Morning, ladies. How are you?

I'm telling you, Sean, it's not normal.

I didn't say normal.

I'm saying there must be a logical explanation.

How can there be a logical explanation

for something that's completely not logical?

So, what are you saying, we have ghosts?

Libby: I have never been a believer in the supernatural,

ghosts, anything like that.

What are you saying... That we have a haunted house?

[ Laughing ] Stop.

I'm very scientific.

I don't have faith in a lot of things

that I can't feel and touch.

What if it is haunted?

Think we can get our money back?

[ Sarcastically ] Yeah, right.

All right, girls, let's go.

Mommy's got to go to work. I love you.

Have a nice day.

Let's go.

All right, y'all... have fun.

[ Laughs ]

Narrator: The following week,

the girls' room is finally complete.

[ Children laughing ]

[ Laughing continues ]

[ Echoing ] Ring around the Rosie,

pocket full of posies,

ashes, ashes,

we all fall down.

[ Laughing continues ]

I heard little girls laughing and giggling.

[ Laughing continues ]

And as soon as I opened up our bedroom door,

the voices stopped.

"Well, I must have left the TV set on."

And then everything was quiet.

I thought, "well, maybe I was just dreaming that."

Narrator: The following morning.

Grace, Willa... come on, girls.

You're gonna be late for school.

Hey, what's this?

I don't know.

Okay, come on. Zip up.

Get downstairs. Daddy's got breakfast waiting, okay?

Okay.

[ Chuckles ] Go on.

Love you.

Scoot. Love you, too.

Hey.

Sleepyhead... Rise and shine.

Hey.

Hey, what's this puzzle doing over here?

I thought you hated puzzles.

Grace: The fairies wanted to do it.

What?

There were two fairies here.

[ Children laughing ]

We played all night.

Well, that sounds like a wonderful dream.

It wasn't a dream!

Okay.

Well, what did these fairies look like?

They had white dresses, white stockings,

and they had ribbons in their hair, too.

Where do these fairies live?

They live under a tree in the yard.

Well, that sounds wonderful, honey.

Libby is puzzled.

Why don't you go brush your teeth

and wash up, get dressed, okay?

She can't remember grace's dreams ever being so vivid

and knows it's unlike her daughter to make up stories.

Libby: Part of me really wanted to believe

that she just had a very overactive imagination.

Narrator: In the days that follow,

Libby manages to forget about these strange incidents

and settles into a normal routine.

[ Children laughing ]

Grace, Willa, are you in here?

Libby: I could hear young children giggling.

[ Laughing continues ]

It made me feel really uncomfortable.

I didn't really know what to think.

Grace? Willa? Are you guys up here?

[ Laughing continues ]

Were you girls just upstairs?

No, we were right here.

Grace, what is this? What is this a picture of?

It's our house, and that's the fire.

Libby: Grace had drawn our house on fire.

This was very alarming to me.

Grace, honey...

Why would you draw a picture like this?

I'm afraid you and daddy are gonna die in a fire.

No, honey.

Mommy and daddy aren't gonna die in a fire.

The fairies' mommy and daddy died in a fire.

Grace, honey, that was just a dream.

The fairies aren't real.

But it wasn't a dream! They're real!

It was interesting to me

that she was so adamant that it wasn't a dream.

I'm beginning to wonder, maybe,

if there's something coming into play that isn't natural.

We've had too many things happen in the house

to just write them off as random events.

Narrator: Libby is beginning to believe

that her house may be haunted.

She hopes that history can shed some light

on what has been happening.

Hey, what are you doing up here? What's that?

Stuff the workers found when they were up here renovating.

Libby: I decided to try and figure out,

you know, if these two "fairies" that grace is talking about

happened to be little girls that used to live here,

if there was a fire in the house at some point.

I'm sure you're over-thinking this whole thing.

There were many moments

when Sean tried to talk me out of believing

that something paranormal was happening.

We both really wanted it to be something natural.

But whatever it is,

I think we should keep the whole thing quiet.

Sean: Being the new people in town,

I was concerned about airing too much.

Look, I'm just trying to figure this out.

I'm starting to think I'm going crazy.

I'm going to take the girls for a walk. Do you want to come?

No. No, you go ahead. I've got some errands to run.

Okay.

Narrator: Libby takes the old photographs and documents

to the Chester historical society.

It says here that that old house

was used as a barracks during the civil war.

I was actually wondering

if there was any record of any fire.

Unfortunately, Libby doesn't receive

the answer she's looking for.

The director finds no evidence of a fire on her property.

I've seen any evidence of a fire.

What about these photographs?

Do any of these people look familiar to you?

I don't know. Let me take a look.

Oh, look at that.

There seems to be something stuck here.

Let's see.

Oh.

Same time.

He tells Libby that this is an early 20th-century photograph

of Chester's civil war veterans.

A picture of the 50th anniversary

of the gettysburg battle.

Who are the girls?

Well, I don't know,

but they certainly don't seem to belong there.

Libby: It's strange, because these girls match, to a "t,"

a description of the fairies that grace kept talking about

that would go into her bedroom.

[ Children laughing ]

Narrator: Libby remains calm for her family.

Will you give me a kiss good night?

Yes. Come here.

Mwah!

Now, go on.

Okay.

Hey, honey, can I show you something for a second?

Just pop over there.

I want you to do something for me, okay?

I'm gonna show you this picture,

and I want you to tell me

if you see anybody in it that you recognize.

The fairies!

Libby: I was not surprised that grace said that.

I just knew that those little girls who were in the photograph

had something to do with the house.

Hey, grace, come on.

Why don't you go upstairs and get ready for bed, huh?

I'll be right up in a minute.

[ Footsteps depart ]

[ Sighs ]

There is an explanation.

She's just a child.

Well, you heard the girls giggling

in the middle of the night.

That was a dream.

Narrator: Sean cannot come to terms with the fact

that the house could be haunted.

Sean: I couldn't explain it...

so, therefore, I was a little conflicted on what it could be.

All these things were happening

that were pointing to something other than normal.

She's been playing "ring around the Rosie"

with two little fairies who happen to look

exactly like the little girls in this picture.

I never taught her that song.

Maybe she picked it up at school.

No, I talked to her teacher.

She said they never sing it there.

Did you know that that song is about the plague?

It's a song about death, Sean. She is obsessed with death.

"Ashes to ashes, we all fall down."

What do you want to do... move?

No, of course not.

We've put more money into the house

than it even cost to buy,

so it just wasn't an option to sell the house.

Grace wasn't afraid.

It wasn't so scary at that point

that I felt that we were in danger.

Libby: Sean, when you heard the door slamming,

did it wake you up?

Narrator: Libby begins a record of her experiences.

When you heard the door slamming,

were you awake, or did it wake you up?

I don't know.

Man: Now rock's into the motion.

Sean.

Fly to center field.

I was asleep. It woke me up.

Okay, well, what about when you heard the girls giggling?

Libby: I wrote down the time, the weather,

what was going on in our family, if anyone was sick,

if there was any kind of unusual tension or stress.

I really wanted to make it as scientific as possible.

Sean!

Geez, Libby, come on! Can I just watch the game?

As we take a look on this date in baseball history,

we go back to 1962.

[ Thud ]

Did you leave the window open upstairs?

No, I did not.

Libby: I felt like I was being watched

and like there was a presence in the room.

Sean!!

Sean!!

Are you okay?

No, I'm not okay.

There is something in this house.

It's not alive. It's not like you and me.

It moved as fast as I've ever seen anything move.

You know it as well as I do,

and you're gonna have to face it.

I saw something... A black figure.

I-I was at the window, and...

And I felt something behind me.

And I turned around,

and I saw this black thing standing in front of me.

It darted under the bed, but it was right there.

I saw it. It's real.

Narrator: Libby no longer believes the ghosts are harmless

and searches the Internet for a way to remove the spirits.

And I just thought, you know, "why is this happening?

Should we really believe in this?"

Narrator: She learns she can remove the spirits

by smudging the house with sage.

"Smudging" is a native-American ritual

where sage is burned to cleanse a space of negative energy.

Libby: It sounded a little far-out,

but at this point, I was feeling really like,

"well, what can it hurt? It's got to help."

Narrator: That day, Libby finds a local store that sells sage.

Libby: Excuse me.

Hi. May I help you?

I was actually wondering if you have any sage.

Libby: I was a little bit embarrassed

by the whole sage-smudging idea.

It's just not something I would normally try.

Okay, did you want a bag, or did you want smudge sticks?

Smudge sticks... two, actually.

They're gonna be $5 a piece.

Thank you.

Narrator: That afternoon,

Sean keeps the girls occupied so Libby can perform the smudging.

Stay on the sidewalk, all right?

Don't get too far ahead of me.

You sure you don't want me to stay with you?

No, I'll be all right. You go ahead, okay?

All right.

Bye. All right.

Hey!

Girls...

We mean you no harm.

Please leave this house in peace.

I walked around the house with burning sage

and said a little wish in every single room.

[ Sighs ]

Please leave this house in peace.

Narrator: After the smudging,

things return to normal for several weeks.

Libby is relieved that the spirits have finally left.

Then, one night, grace suddenly falls ill.

What's up, kiddo?

She doesn't feel so hot.

Oh, what's the matter?

She has an upset stomach.

Do you want to sleep with mommy tonight, sweetheart?

I decided to have her sleep in my bedroom with me.

Me too. I want to sleep in your bed, too.

All right, all right.

I guess I'm sleeping in grace's bed tonight.

[ Laughs ]

Good night. Good night.

I want to sleep next to mom.

Grace: No, I want to.

Okay, I'll get in the middle.

Good night, dad.

Good night. Good night, Willa. Good night, grace.

Girl: Where is she?

Girl #2: She's not here.

Where's grace? Where's grace?

Sean: The sheets got really tight,

like they were holding me down.

Who are you?

Where's grace? Where's grace?

She's not here. She's sick.

I tried to get up, and I couldn't move.

Where's grace? Where's grace?

Get away!

Leave us alone! Please!

Please, leave us alone! Get away!

Get away! Leave us alone!

[ Indistinct screaming ]

Get away! Please!

Sean?

Sean, I heard you shouting. Are you all right?

There's something in this house.

Sean was finally starting to come around

and not be completely in denial that something was happening.

[ Breathing heavily ]

I think they're here.

Narrator: Libby contacts Isis investigations,

a team that specializes in helping people

who are experiencing paranormal activity.

God, I hope we're doing the right thing.

Whatcha looking at?

Okay, who wants to get some ice cream?

Me! I do, I do!

Okay, come on. Leave that.

You're doing good. We'll come back to it.

Narrator: As a safety precaution,

Sean takes the girls out of the house during the investigation.

The members of the Isis team are all followers of wicca,

a new religion of life and nature

which finds its roots in ancient ways.

Patricia gardner

is the co-founder and director of the group.

Gardner: "Wiccan" is another word for witchcraft.

Everything that we do is geared to the protection of the earth

and the creatures that live on it.

Hello. You must be Libby.

I'm Patricia.

Thank you so much for coming.

Narrator: Along with Angela Kaufman,

co-director dayna winters, and Justin staley,

each member is a gifted psychic.

What are they doing?

It looks like they've sensed something.

It was a little startling to me that the first thing they did

was to head over to this tree

that I had never even mentioned before.

[ Children laughing ]

Narrator: Angela feels a peculiar sensation

coming from the tree.

Kaufman: I noticed a very strong,

abnormally warm feeling coming from it,

and it seemed to be a center of activity.

Let's go inside. I'll explain everything.

Narrator: Angela, a psychic sketch-artist,

uses art to re-create images in her mind's eye.

Kaufman: What I'm trying to do

is to use myself as an instrument

to mirror what's going on in the room.

There was a lot of spiritual activity

going on in the house.

I did get a couple of specific impressions...

one being this figure in a civil war uniform.

[ Child crying ]

Narrator: The final sketch is uncanny.

It's the perfect illustration of the two girls

from the photograph found in the attic.

[ Children laughing ]

Kaufman: I got the sense

the two little girls' spirits were kind of mischievous.

They were just looking for someone to communicate with.

Narrator: Angela feels the impact of several spirits.

Kaufman: The left part of my head started to hurt.

My first thought was

that something is present in the room,

and it doesn't like us,

that it's trying to make us feel uncomfortable.

This is my daughter's room.

Narrator: Patricia and dayna immediately pick up

on the presence of the two little girls.

[ Meow ]

We assumed that it was the girls playing with the cat

to let us know that they were in the room with us.

[ Meow ]

Libby: That's so odd.

That toy's been broken for months.

[ Meow ]

[ Children laughing ]

Narrator: Libby hopes that Patricia can reveal

why the spirits are haunting her house.

Gardner: These are interesting.

This was the one that held the most interest to me.

This is the one I was telling you about...

The one with the two little girls.

Oh.

This is amazing.

Patricia runs her hands over the images on the photograph.

As her fingers pass over the two girls,

she senses a change in temperature.

[ Children laughing ]

The warm feeling I'm sensing...

Oh, it means that they're still earthbound.

Well, who are they?

What do they want with my daughter?

Patricia believes the girls once lived in the house

and don't know how to cross over.

But the presence of a fire remains a mystery.

There are others...

So many others.

[ Sighs ]

Did you do a lot of renovations?

Patricia believes that renovations

must have awakened the dormant spirits in the house.

We basically started from the bones and rebuilt it.

Gardner: When you renovate things,

even if something has been asleep for a hundred years,

that's the best way I know of to wake it up,

because they want to know what you're doing to their property,

because, in their minds, it still belongs to them.

We need to perform a ceremony

which will help some of the spirits here

move on to another plane.

Okay. What do we need to do?

We'll perform what we call a magic circle

and then a crossing ceremony.

Narrator: The wiccans begin the crossing-over ceremony

by casting a magic circle.

A magic circle is what witches use

to protect themselves before rituals.

Ye gods of the watchtowers of the east...

Narrator: In wicca,

guardians, known as "watchtowers," are called upon

to protect the four directions of the circle.

We call upon you to protect this sacred space.

Ye gods of the watchtowers of the west,

we call upon you to protect this sacred space.

All: Ye lords of the watchtowers...

Narrator: During the ritual,

incense is offered to the guardians

in exchange for their protection.

Gardner: We can all close our eyes now.

Narrator: Now protected by the magic circle,

they begin the crossing-over ceremony.

Kaufman: We open a doorway

so that the spirits can cross over

to where they are supposed to be.

For some of them,

you pick up on their sadness or their fear.

[ Door slams ]

[ Gasping ]

[ Door slams ]

[ Gasping, moaning ]

I think they've gone.

Narrator: Afterwards, a feeling of calm and peace

envelops everyone in the room.

Most of them have left.

Gardner: That's it.

Patricia tells Libby

she believes that most of the spirits

have moved through the open door to the west

to a place called the summerlands...

A wiccan version of the afterlife.

[ Indistinct conversations ]

Things have returned to normal for the Johnson family,

but they will never forget

how their lives were touched by the supernatural.

Libby: This whole experience

absolutely changed the way I think about things.

I do believe in a soul now,

which was a huge revelation for me.

I think it's really been sort of a gift to our family.

[ Rustling ]

Narrator: Recently,

the Johnsons removed the old tree in the backyard

to make room for an addition.

[ Clank ]

Libby, come here.

You might want to take a look at this.

Truce.

What is it?

Looks like there was a fire here.

Libby: He found an old brick foundation

that had been all burned out.

There's even burnt clothes in the ground.

Narrator: Black ash, charcoal-covered wooden beams,

and burned clothing

indicates the presence of a devastating fire long ago.

Grace was right.

There really was a fire.

No human remains were ever found beneath the tree.

And whether or not anyone actually died in the fire

may remain a mystery forever.

Where's grace? Where's grace?