All language subtitles for Real.Fear.The.Truth.Behind.The.Movies.2012.1080p.WEBRip.x264.AAC-[YTS.MX]

[uneasy music]

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- I basically got involved
with the paranormal

because I grew up
in haunted houses.

My parents had a knack
for picking them out.

Doors slamming,
lights turning on and off,

things moving,
it was just always,

always a part of my life.

My great-grandmother,
their roots are from Ireland,

but eventually
the moved to Centralia,

and that's the side
of the family

that really has
these experiences.

It was very normal,

"Oh, so-and-so has a ghost
in that house."

Centralia
is a coal mining town

in the middle of Pennsylvania,

and in about 1962,
there was a fire

that wasn't put out correctly,

and it did inspire elements
in the movie "Silent Hill,"

but that's not the only true
story that inspired movies.

There's other ones like
"Amityville Horror,"

"Poltergeist,"
and "The Mothman Prophecies."

They've all hit
the big screen,

and they were all based
on true stories.

So I'm gonna take a couple
of my friends with me

on a little road trip,

and we're actually
gonna go meet

the real people
behind the movies.

[funky, edgy music]

♪ ♪

♪ Oh ♪
[echoing]

♪ Don't back down ♪

♪ Don't back
down ♪

♪ Don't back down ♪

♪ Oh ♪

[echoing]

- Every now and again

I kinda see hints of,

"Are we actually in danger
if we do this?"

and the truth of the matter
is there is crazy stories

out there where things
do follow people home,

and they do mess up
people's lives,

and people
are physically attacked,

and I can't promise them

that none of that would happen
to them if they do this.

- Can they physically hurt you?
- Demons?

- Yeah.
- Yeah.

[uneasy music]

"Amityville Horror"
is based off of

Jay Anson's bestselling novel.

It basically follows
the Lutz family,

who moved into this house
where six murders occurred.

After 28 days of living there,
they had to take off

because of all
the paranormal activity

that they were experiencing.

- "The Amityville Horror."

It's probably the most iconic
horror movie

in history.

It's the model of how to create
a good horror movie.

- "The Amityville Horror"

is something
that truly inspired me

to not only become a fan
of horror and horror fiction

but also to become
a writer of horror fiction,

and I've been guilty of taking
the drive down Ocean Avenue

and looking at the house

and using that as inspiration
for the house in my novel,

"Dead Souls."

- One of the parts that is
burned into my memory

from "the Amityville"

is those two little windows
in the house,

and, you know, every time I,
even to this day,

drive by a house that has them,
I just--I keep going.

- "Amityville Horror,"
for me,

I think they really
captured feelings

you would feel being
in that situation,

having this new family,
a beautiful house

in a beautiful,
quiet little neighborhood,

and then all of a sudden all
hell breaks loose--literally.

- All of the themes,
the horror themes

that come out of that movie
have become almost cliche...

[all yelling, screaming]

Right up to the very end

where they all bolt
out of the house at the end

before, I don't know, the
house eats them, I suppose.

I mean, you see this

in every single horror
depiction ever since.

You know, run out of the house
in the middle of the night,

like, pulling
an Amityville, I guess.

The question, of course, is

does it have
any relationship whatsoever

to the events
that happened at that house?

- Today we're actually going
to meet with one of the boys

who grew up in the house
during the actual haunting.

- Up until this point,
you've not heard

what really happened
in that house

or what happened after.

It wasn't just because
of the murders

that had taken place
in that house.

With what George was doing--

that's what triggered
the events.

That's why it followed us.

That's why nobody else has had
a problem in that house since.

The house was gonna be
a giant new playground.

What it turned into
was quite different.

- A lot of people believe that
Amityville was a demonic case.

The Lutzes move in.

They have the 28 days
of paranormal activity

that forces them to leave
their brand-new house.

What caused something to happen
to them to leave?

It's kind of what we call
a perfect storm--

the right family,

the right time,
the right conditions,

and that's what led
to their house being haunted.

[eerie music]

- My first thought
was I was just excited

to see the actual house,

and as we started to get
closer, I started to think,

"We're gonna be right
in front of that place."

I started to get
a little nervous.

[eerie music]

- Up top there,
that was my bedroom.

- Kind of weird and shocking
to finally be here

and to finally see the house.
The house looks so different.

I don't know. I'm kinda taken
back a little bit to be here

because it's such
a beautiful town, you know,

and when you read about it,
when you see the movie,

I mean, they make it
look so creepy.

I mean, you would never guess
that, you know,

30, 60 years ago

this family had to leave
in the middle of the night,

you know, because they were
hearing knocks and bangs,

and they were having
ghost problems.

You would never guess that
something like that would have

rocked this community
to make it national news.

- Changing my name,
that was my form--

my own form
of witness protection.

For my whole life--

this story's been out
for 35 years.

It's been told, retold.

This story's
never gonna go away.

It's a part
of American history.

It'll probably out-survive me.

You know, a lot of people
contest a lot of--about

whether or not anything
happened in that house.

- Mm-hmm.
- And I can tell you assuredly

that yes, things did happen.

They're not the way that
they were spoken of publicly.

When I read Jay Anson's book,
it had--

it had portrayed my stepfather

as though
he was a victim of this house

and a hero to our family.

Yet the real difference was
that they had omitted

that George was involved
in the occult,

calling up these spirits.

The fact that it was
in that house

is what created the storm.

- His stepfather was dabbling
in the occult very heavily,

much more than's been,

you know,
let known to the public,

and Christopher
strongly believes

that's why all
these things happened,

that it wasn't only his
stepfather dabbling in things

he shouldn't have
been dabbling in,

but he did it in a house
that just had six murders.

- Today police combed
the DeFeo's

handsome three-story house
for clues

while divers explored
the backyard swimming pool

for the still-unfound
murder weapon.

Few people in the neighborhood
knew the family well,

but those who did
described them as close-knit.

- They were just very sweet,
very religious people,

very family-minded people,

and that's about all I could
say, very good, very generous,

this type, you know,
very close with their children.

- There's one element in
the usual mass murder story

which seems to be missing
from this case--

no feeling of a mass murderer
on the loose.

People we talked to
seemed to feel

that whatever was the motive
for this crime,

it had something to do
with the family.

It's not something
that's going to return

to bother anyone else.

In Amityville, Long Island,
Phil Barno, NewsCenter 4.

- My parents had a priest
come in to bless the home.

He'd gone up into what
we called our sewing room,

and that room was the, uh,

the room
of the younger boys

of the DeFeo family

who had both been murdered
in that room.

It was the oldest son.
Shot his mother,

shot his father,
shot his two little brothers

and then two younger sisters,
all of them in their beds.

Nobody heard the shots.

[camera lens snaps]

[heavy music]

When we were first
buying the house,

we were down in the basement
with the real estate agent,

and it was my brother,
my sister,

myself, my mom, and my stepdad,

and the real estate agent
was there.

And I remember asking,

"Is this where they hid
the bodies?"

- I grew up on Long Island,

actually not too far
from Amityville,

and I remember
as a 12-year-old boy

delivering
the "New York Daily News."

I was a newspaper boy.

And I saw the headlines
of the DeFeo murder.

I'll never forget that.

It was chilling
and very disturbing.

- This morning DeFeo
appeared for arraignment

at the First District Court
in Hauppauge,

where he was ordered
held without bail.

As is standard practice
in a multiple murder case,

he was arraigned
in only one of the killings,

that of his 12-year-old
brother Mark.

The court agreed
to let a physician treat DeFeo

for injuries to his face,
but it refused to allow

a psychiatric
examination for him.

- I don't think
he presently understands

the nature of the proceedings,
and I don't think

he can therefore
properly assist in his defense.

- Simon says he'll continue
trying to get

the psychiatric examination
for his client,

and he has not ruled out
the possibility

that he may enter
a plea of insanity.

- The Lutzes brought a priest
in to bless the house

because of all the stuff
that happened there beforehand

with the murders
and everything,

and the priest's report
said he did hear a voice yell,

"Get out."

- To come home from school,
and they said, "We're leaving."

Towards the end,
there was no question

how terrified they were.

- So the original "Amityville
Horror" movie in 1979,

compare and contrast,
you know?

I mean, what was real?
What wasn't?

- Well, there's a lot that was
absolutely fictionalized.

There was no bleeding walls.

They took things that were
legitimate and overblew them.

- I was kinda sad to find out
that the bleeding walls

in the Amityville movie--

that was just Hollywood,

and I can't blame them,
you know?

They gotta sell the tickets,
so it makes for great theater.

- Christopher
claims there was activity,

but it was on
a much lower scale.

- For instance, when the priest
was in the room

to bless that room,
there were flies present.

Not the hundreds
that they show,

but yes, there was--there was
an unusual amount of flies

in the house for wintertime.

- But he wasn't being, like,
attacked or swarmed?

- No.

Look, I was just a little kid
when we lived there.

I had no say in how
the book was written,

and then for that movie to be
developed the way that it was,

or the other ones
that followed.

What really happened there
is much different.

What I witnessed in that house
still sticks with me today.

[eerie music]

[off-key notes]

[haunting music]

To see something materialize
at your bed

that appears like a man
that's as definite as a shadow

but not against the wall--

for a seven-year-old kid
to have to go through that,

I was petrified.
I couldn't move.

I was just, like, thinking,
"This thing's coming after me"

and I wanted to scream
for my mother,

yet I knew she couldn't

be there before
this thing could get to me.

- I can just
picture it right now,

him sitting up in bed
as a seven-year-old kid--

absolutely terrifying.

- Going back to the movie,
you know, a big tie-in,

it was a, you know,
Native American burial grounds.

Any truth to it?

- I can't verify for you
whether or not

that home is built directly
on the Indian burial ground.

- Mm-hmm.
- But history records do record

that white men...
- Mm-hmm.

- Mass-murdered
many Indians in this area.

- What you had there is
a fairly small population,

a very peaceful woodland
society of Native Americans

who run into greedy
Europeans with guns.

There was at least one man,
Captain John Underhill,

who was recruited
in the 17th century to go out,

and he had done
such a great job

in the Pequot Wars
up in New England,

wiping out thousands
of Indians there,

they said, "Well, come on down
to Long Island."

And he proceeded to kill
at least 100, probably more,

Native Americans
living in Long Island.

Horrific, horrific tragedies

that were taking place
at that time.

- So you think that maybe
there's a tie

in between the land,

between all these hauntings
here on Long Island?

- Something's making
something go on.

There's many stories
on Long Island of--

even in 1958,

the Herrmann case
not far from here.

- How far?

- Probably about
five minutes away.

- Small pieces of furniture

started flying
around the house.

- Got actually really scary.

- It definitely solidified
that you were a believer

in the events
that were happening

in the Herrmann house?
- Yes, it did.

- A local university uncovered
Native American bones

that they do believe
are a part of

some of the phenomenon
happening around here.

- So this doesn't seem like
a good idea to me.

- This is freaky.

- The Indian burial grounds
here are causing the activity?

- Yeah, yeah.

- It'll be like that scene
in "Poltergeist."

We're swimming among dead
Indian bodies.

- Oh, stop.

- You think we're standing
on bodies?

- I don't know.
It's kinda--it's kinda creepy.

[dramatic musical sting]

- So you think that maybe
there's a tie, then,

between the land,

between all these hauntings
here on Long Island?

- There's many stories
on Long Island.

Even in 1958, the Herrmann case
not far from here.

- How far?

- Probably about
five minutes away.

[uneasy music]

- Finding out Amityville
and the Herrmann story

were within 10,
15 minutes of each other,

it really kind of drove
it home to me

that it maybe wasn't just
each individual house,

and maybe the entire area
was...

was kinda dark.

- "Poltergeist" the movie
was released in 1982

and was a huge
box office success.

A lot of people believe

that "Poltergeist"
is actually based off of

the Herrmann case
in 1958 on Long Island.

- Seaford, Long Island,
the Herrmann family

starts experiencing some truly
inexplicable and bizarre

and frightening activity
in their house.

[dark music]

- Everything was very normal

until that day
in February, 1958.

My parents tried to keep
our life as normal as possible

when you have flying
objects in your house.

Small pieces of furniture

started flying
around the house--

figurines, lamps,
my brother's globe.

Finally my father said,
"Enough of this,"

and he said,
"I'm calling the police."

And that's why it became
a police case.

- Mm-hmm.
- Perhaps maybe

unlike the other cases,
ours was a police case.

- No crime had been committed.

What was happening gave no sign
of being a threat

to the physical wellbeing
of the Herrmann family.

Was this a legitimate matter
for the police?

The decision was yes,
and so on Tuesday,

February 11th,
Sergeant Joseph Tozzi

was assigned
to full-time duty on the case,

and here is Sergeant Tozzi.

Joe, suppose you outline
for us your exact procedure

just as soon as you
were assigned to the case.

- First, of course, I met
with the Herrmann family

and had a number
of talks with them.

I worked out the position
of every member of the family

at the time of every incident.

Then I took a sampling of
the bottles that were involved,

sent them to the police
laboratory for analysis.

- And their report?
- Negative.

- All of a sudden,
you'd hear this very strange,

loud noise like
a popping bottle sound,

and it was,
"Well, what is that?"

So you go running
towards the noise.

You look around
for one second,

and you see that things

are not where
they were supposed to be,

and then you would
eventually find a bottle

that was maybe 12 feet away
from where it was.

You went to the bottle,

and all the contents
inside of it

were completely gone
and evaporated,

and the bottle
was very hot to the touch.

- In the following month,

there were a number
of other incidents.

Tables moved. Lamps fell over.

Pictures turned off-balance.

A phonograph
smashed across a room.

Figurines
hopped from their places.

And there were strange noises
in the house.

The Herrmanns live in this
modest green-trimmed

ranch house in Seaford,
Long Island.

- Just about everything
that wasn't nailed down

decided it wanted
to fly all around.

- The phonograph flew from this
table across the room,

hit the shadow box,

and made a dent here,
and of course,

my brother and I miss playing
this phonograph very much,

and it landed on the floor
and broke.

There was a very large bookcase

that pr--weighed
a couple of hundred pounds,

and it lifted up into the air
and flew across the basement,

probably about 6 feet,
before it fell down

to the cement floor
of the basement.

- Is this the bookcase,
Mrs. Herrmann?

- That's right, Mr. Murrow,

and as you can see, it's quite
a heavy piece of furniture.

This made the loudest crash.

I thought
the whole house caved in.

- With the Herrmann case,
we're talking 1958,

conservative Long Island,

so here you have this family
saying, you know,

"Our bookshelves are moving,

and things are flying
across the room."

People are gonna raise
an eyebrow at that

and say it's gotta be
somebody faking it, right?

- This is Jim Jr.
- Evening, Jimmy. How are you?

- Good evening, Mr. Murrow.

- Look, just what happened here
in your room, anyway?

- Well, one of the things
that happened in my room,

Mr. Murrow, was this globe.

It flew off the top
of this bookcase

and right through my door
and into the living room

and crashed
onto the living room floor.

- The big turning point
in this case

was a writer from "Newsday,"
David Kahn,

actually came to Long Island,
stayed in the house,

because he was a skeptic
and didn't believe it,

and he actually experienced
the activity

that they were claiming
to have happen.

- There was a lot of suspicion
that the kid was doing it

or that there was some
hanky-panky going on,

and I wanted to see
what the actual situation was,

and they invited me over.
That was the night

I was positioning myself
in the living room

facing Jim Herrmann's room,
the boy's room,

and out from that room
flew a globe of the world.

- My brother and I went to our
regular routine, went to bed.

So did my parents.

Mr. Kahn sat up
in the living room

waiting to catch an event.

[quiet music]

[squeak]

Very late into the evening,

a globe that my brother
had in his bedroom

came flying
from my brother's bedroom

before it landed on the floor
in the living room.

- I immediately
dashed into the room

to see whether I could catch
Jim Herrmann doing it.

He was in his bed
with the covers pulled up.

- After that incident,

the stories that he wrote
for "Newsday,"

you know, he was--he was

a believer of our events
and not skeptical.

- It definitely solidified
that you were a believer

in the events

that were happening
in the Herrmann house?

- Yes, it did.

[heavy music]

- Lucille, how did you feel
about the strange things

that were happening
at your house?

- It was pretty scary.
I didn't like it.

- We opened our house to every
qualified investigator

who was interested--
scientists, engineers,

those who might come up
with a legitimate answer.

- They had paranormal
investigators come over

from Duke University

to observe all the activity
going on in the house.

- The Duke team,
like everyone else

who came to investigate this,

came away with the idea
that, yes,

this was
a legitimate phenomenon.

This was not a hoax.

A nd they hypothesized

that a lot of this
was revolving around the son,

who was, I think, 14 years old
at the time, James Jr.

The idea was floated
out there--

and I think this has become
a very common idea

in paranormal research now--

is that adolescents,
primarily girls, but also boys,

seem to be a magnet
for entities.

- It's very literally
this person that's giving off

all of this energy,

and they're causing
the activity around them.

- Science has been taking
a long, hard second look

at many of these
unusual occurrences.

In 1930, this work
took a giant step forward

with the establishment
at Duke University

of its now-famous
parapsychology laboratory.

Tonight we have with us
Dr. J. Gaither Pratt,

assistant director
of the laboratory,

who spent ten days
at the Herrmann house

on Long Island
investigating the case.

Dr. Pratt,
what brought you to Seaford?

- The typical poltergeist case

centers around some youngster
in the turbulent teens.

Certainly it is
always associated

with some living person.

The Seaford case may have great
significance for our research.

If we could not explain
these incidents

in ordinary
psychological terms,

such as hallucinations
or pranks,

then the possibility remain

that they might be
parapsychological.

- There was a time
toward the end of this--

and it only lasted
just over a month--

that it got
actually really scary.

- We left the house
only one night

in the total six weeks
of the event,

and that was when Detective
Joseph Tozzi was there with us.

It was a very volatile night.

Things were moving and flying
all around the house,

probably almost about
every 30 seconds.

- My father
was a no-nonsense detective.

Even on his deathbed,
the case was still--

was still eating at him
because,

like I said
in the beginning,

he was a cop and nah,
you know, there's no ghosts,

and then at the end

he just hated
that the case was never solved

and he couldn't solve it,

and I think
he became a believer.

- Well, so far
as you're concerned,

then, a complete mystery?

- I can offer
no acceptable explanation.

I'm afraid that's true
of the entire case.

The file is still open.

I was on the case during the
entire series of disturbances.

For that matter,
I'm still on the case.

We don't feel we're any nearer
to a solution now

than when we started.

So far as the police
are concerned,

we must list
this case as unsolved.

- Thank you very much,
Sergeant Tozzi.

- There really hasn't been
a good understanding

as to why it started
and why it ended.

- It's still an open case

on the Seaford Police
Department books.

They never closed the case,
'cause it was never solved.

- You've got very credible
people, journalists,

professional journalists,
police,

who attested to these
very bizarre things happening.

- It was really, really amazing
to meet Lucille

'cause she's the actual
family member

who inspired
the "poltergeist" phenomena.

- This was the case,
incidentally,

where the word 'poltergeist'

made its way
into popular lingo.

I mean, everyone
really knew about this.

It was very widely publicized
at the time.

- There's a lot of controversy

as to what
"Poltergeist" the movie

is actually based off of,

but you can see elements
of the real-life case

in the movie,
such as furniture stacking...

[tense music]

- [gasps]
[bottle thumps on floor]

- Paranormal researchers coming
and trying to figure out

what's really happening
in the house--

very similar to Lucille's case.

- How long have you been
investigating haunted houses?

- Well, Mrs. Freeling--
- Diane.

- Diane, the determination

as to whether
your home is haunted

is not very easy.

I--what I meant to say
was it might very well

be a poltergeist intrusion
instead of a classic haunting.

- There was a lamp
in the real house

that moved over
to the other side of the room,

turn on, turn off and on.

In the movie you can see
clearly

as everything's
whirling around

and the paranormal
investigators come in,

it kinda comes by.

Light bulb screws in,
turns on, you know,

so that's definitely a nod
to the real story.

- In the "Poltergeist" movie,

when stuff is getting sucked
out of the bedroom,

very prominent
in the shot's a big globe.

- When all the things
are getting sucked

into the vortex of the closet,

there's a big world globe
that comes rolling in.

- There are some
definite ties

that even if Spielberg
doesn't really say

he takes the story
directly from the Herrmanns,

you can kinda make that leap.

- And then, of course,
there's things

that didn't
really happen in real life,

like the tree coming
and taking the boy away.

[tree roaring]

[both screaming]

The little girl getting
sucked into the closet...

- Aah!

Mom, Dad--

aah!

- Communicating through the TV.

Obviously that never happened
in the Herrmann case.

- The Herrmanns' house did not
get sucked into a vortex.

We saw the house, you know?

Yeah, we could see it.

[crashing, tearing,
splintering sounds]

- I think my favorite scene
in "Poltergeist"

is when the paranormal
investigator's in the bathroom,

and his face is melting off,

and it's just dripping
into the sink,

and he's just pulling flesh
off of his face,

and you see his--you see
his skull and everything.

That part
really stuck with me.

That--I have dreams
about that sometimes.

Yeah, I was--I was kinda sad
to find out that didn't occur.

- Things flew around the house,

and that much we can say
they have in common for sure.

[dramatic musical sting]

- All over Long Island

there are just Native Americans
that were slaughtered.

That's what the--Dan Martinez
was telling us.

- Dan was telling us about
this Indian burial ground

that had a lot
of paranormal activity

and a lot of reports
of some creepy stuff going on.

- He's been here,
and he's had stuff happen.

- Look at this. This is huge.

- There's like a whole tribe
of Indians buried here.

- Let's go step on the mound
in the Indian burial ground.

Nothing bad
could come out of that.

- There's an actual
"Poltergeist" curse

where a bunch of people

that were actually
in the film died prematurely.

- Oh, yeah, oh, you mean
the actual movie?

- Do you know why they say

there's a curse
around the film?

It also has to do with bones.

[dramatic musical sting]

[dramatic musical sting]

[eerie, off-key notes]

- So the guys went off
to talk to Dan Martinez

so we could get a better feel

for where the supercharged
places are on the island

so we could explore them.

- A lot of people said
that things were occurring

because of Indian burial
grounds, like, sacred grounds.

- Recently a local university
uncovered Native American bones

that they do believe are a part
of some of the phenomenon

happening around here.

- His biggest kinda
revelation to us

was that the entire island

has all kinds
of paranormal activity,

due mostly to
Indian burial grounds

scattered all over the place.

- The guys came back saying
that there is actually,

you know,
an Indian burial ground

that's not too far
from where we were.

- Dan was telling us about
this Indian burial ground

that had a lot
of paranormal activity

and a lot of reports of
some creepy stuff going on.

So that's--that's where
we decided we were gonna go.

- This is creepy.
So what do you look for

when you're looking for
Indian burial grounds?

- Maybe kind of unmarked
graves, little mounds.

All over Long Island

there are just Native Americans
that were slaughtered.

That's what the--Dan Martinez
was telling us.

- He's, like,
a firm believer that

the Indian burial grounds
here are causing activity?

- He said that they've
definitely looked into it

and that sort of thing,

and that's why he's like,
"Yeah, this is--this is a place

with intensity,
high--high activity."

- He's been here?
- Yeah, yeah.

- And he's had stuff happen?
- Yeah.

It makes me think
that--you know,

what's underneath?

- You think we're standing
on bodies?

- I don't know.

It's kinda--it's kinda creepy.
It freaks me out.

- All right, hand.
- Here. Oh.

- Hand.
- Hand.

Yeah,
I was just freaked out

to be walking on top of
an Indian burial ground

which a lot of people say

is a cause for a lot
of paranormal activity

all over that place.

Whenever we saw a mound,
we, you know,

the first thing
we thought was,

"Oh, maybe there are
Indian bones in there."

Let's go step
on the--on the mound

in the Indian burial ground.

Nothing bad
could come out of that.

Look at this. Look at this.

- Ooh, those are
serious mounds.

- Let's go check it out.

- No, not--you go ahead.
You are just so chivalrous.

- All right, hold on.
Just hold on.

- Go ahead.

- Manners don't stop being
important in the woods.

Charity was scared.

She was terrified to be walking
around this burial ground,

so I just wanted to make sure
she knew she was in good hands.

Complete lie, but if she felt
better, then I felt better.

This is freaky.
Look at this. This is huge.

- There's like a whole tribe
of Indians buried here.

I hope we don't fall
into a grave.

- It'll be like that scene
in "Poltergeist."

We're swimming among
dead Indian bodies.

- Oh, stop. This doesn't seem
like a good idea to me.

- I mean, look at this thing.

I don't know
if I wanna walk on the mound.

- Going to
Indian burial grounds

is always an iffy thing
to do.

I just think
it's asking for trouble.

There was apparently
a man that was hired,

basically as a hit man

to take out
like 100 Native Americans.

- What?
- There's an actual

"Poltergeist" curse
where a bunch of people

that were actually in the film
died prematurely.

- Oh, yeah, oh, you mean
the actual movie.

- Do you know why
they--they say

there's a curse
around the film?

It also has to do with bones.

Like, in that scene where
the mom falls into the pool,

and it's raining, and the mud's
falling into the pool,

and then all the bodies
start coming out of the soil--

those were real bodies.

It was more expensive
to buy fake bodies

than to use real cadaver bones,

and so that's why
everybody says

that the film
was actually cursed.

- So do you wanna see

if we can find
Charity and John?

- Yeah, we should probably
head back

and just team up,
make sure no one's lost.

So it's back this way.
- Okay.

- Up this little hill
right here.

- What--what person dies
and says,

"I'd like to dedicate
my body to--"

- Hey, where you going?
- "To art and movies?"

So Charity's just laying out

all these details
about this curse,

and pretty much it's because
they used real bones,

real skeletons at the end
of the movie in the pool

where all the bodies
are coming up.

Those are real people,
or they once were, anyway.

So she's telling me
this story,

and we're out in the middle
of nowhere

standing on this mound
in an Indian burial ground.

I mean,
that was enough for me.

I was ready to go.

Suddenly,
packing onto the RV

and heading to Point Pleasant,
West Virginia,

hunting for Mothman didn't seem
like such a bad idea.

- I have talked to people,
a lot of people who've seen,

you know, whatever this thing
was, you know?

And they weren't
real thrilled about it.

- Witnesses
of the Mothman figure

did come away
with this feeling

that he was not fun
to play with,

that Mothman was dangerous.

- We were about halfway down
this road

when my brother
noticed it running

or flying beside the car.

- It came over top of the car.

They realized that,
you know,

this thing
had a 12-foot wingspan.

- All I seen was eyes
going--

great big at the front
and going to a point.

- When you first arrive
in Point Pleasant,

it's very scary to think,

"What if one day
he comes back?"

[uneasy music]

The TNT factory
was over here,

and they were coming
the opposite direction,

and they spotted him
over there.

- Perfect.

- What's the worst-case
scenario

that could happen out here?

- Well, Mothman swoops in
and takes us off and kills us.

- Be quiet.

[dark, uneasy music]

- Oh, crap.
Something over there.

Oh--
- Oh.

- Ooh!
- What was that?

[dramatic musical sting]

[heavy music]

♪ ♪

- Living on the RV,

you don't really have
to brush your teeth.

You just have to hold
your toothbrush,

and the highway
and the rocking from the RV

will brush the teeth for you.

It's kinda like a dentist
you don't have to pay for.

[eerie music]

- "The Mothman Prophecies"
was released in 2002

and is actually based
off of John Keel's book

of the same name,
"The Mothman Prophecies."

- John Keel
went to Point Pleasant

because there were
a whole lot of UFO sightings

going on there at the time.

And in fact, 1966 was
a major year of UFO activity

in the entire United States,

and Point Pleasant was a major
scene of activity as well.

[eerie, off-key notes]

And it's when Keel is there

that he learns of these
really strange sightings

that people are having...

Of this creature.

- "The Mothman Prophecies"

was a great
psychological thriller.

I mean, that definitely
got into my head,

and that was--that was preying
pretty hard on me

as we were pulling
into West Virginia.

- Chris did seem a little
uneasy about Mothman,

and I never really sat down
and talked with him about it,

but my guess would be because
nobody knows what it is.

Is it an alien?

Is it
an interdimensional being?

Is it a species
that we have yet to identify?

Did it cause
the Silver Bridge collapse?

Is this thing bringing doom
wherever it goes,

or is it a warning sign that
something bad's gonna happen?

There's all these
elements of mystery

and unknowns
surrounding Mothman.

When you first arrive
in Point Pleasant,

it's very scary to think,

"What if one day
he comes back?"

- Point Pleasant
kinda reminds me of a town

that I grew up in,

but at the same time,

this looked like the town
from the movie.

[heavy, eerie music]

♪ ♪

- It does look a lot
like the movie,

and it kinda brings you
right into the 1960s

when everything was going on
with Mothman

and when
the Silver Bridge collapsed.

We're about to meet
with Jeff Wamsley,

who is the curator
of the Mothman Museum.

- November 15, 1966,

there were two young couples
riding around the TNT area,

and that was
a military installation

during World War II.

About 11:00 at night

they were getting ready
to come back into town.

As they were driving by
this north power plant,

they came up on
what they thought

was just a man
standing in the road.

As they got closer,
Linda Scarberry, you know,

one of the people in the car,

saw two red eyes about the size
of baseballs, 2 inches apart.

It came over top of the car.
They realized that, you know,

this thing
had a 12-foot wingspan.

They first met
with the sheriff's department.

I have three
of the four original

handwritten depositions.

It all tells the story.

There was a local newspaper
reporter named Mary Hyre.

- Mm-hmm.
- She broke the story.

She wrote about all this
in the local newspapers.

Everybody read the newspaper.
What she put in her articles,

you know, people would read it
on a daily basis.

She joined forces
with John Keel.

They tried to solve
the mystery.

She had a lot of strange
things, you know,

Mothman sightings,
the UFO sightings.

Then you had
these men in black

intimidating the witnesses.

You know, the bridge collapsed.
46 people perished.

It all happened within,
you know, a year and a half

of the original sightings
and stuff.

I was only six years old,
you know, when that happened,

but, you know, I distinctly
remember hearing it,

you know, almost 5 miles away.

- Physically, you heard
the bridge collapse?

- Yeah, yeah.
It sounded like a sonic boom.

- How accurate is the movie,
really?

- Well, the movie was more
of a mental-type thriller,

and it was loosely based
on John Keel's book,

"The Mothman Prophecies."

He came here
when all this was happening,

documented everything,

and in 1975 released
this book about,

you know, all the activity
here in Point Pleasant,

and in the movie I think,
you know,

Richard Gere's character
has a--

you know, a loss of time.

And now, John Keel personally
told me of a few experiences

that--you know, that he had.

- Richard Gere gets in his car
and just drives

'cause he can't sleep,
and his car breaks down.

He knocks on a door.

The door opens,

and there's a guy with a gun
pointed right in his face.

I thought the movie was over.

I was like, "That was
the shortest movie ever made.

Richard Gere's about
to get shot in the face."

- Laura Linney was
the town sheriff.

There was never a woman
sheriff in Point Pleasant.

- Things have just been
a little strange

around here lately.

- The man who they found dead,
you know, by the tree,

Will Patton, he actually
came here to Point Pleasant

for that movie, filmed
and researched the town.

- Huh.
- I had a chance

to meet him and stuff,

but nobody was ever
physically harmed or killed.

The movie did well, I mean,
and it--it brought the name

and the story pretty much
through the floodgates.

I mean, it--it changed
the town here

because, you know,
I think they mentioned

the name "Point Pleasant"
12, 14 times in the movie.

- Do you think
Laura Linney's character

was based on
the newspaper writer

that was so significant
in the case?

- I think so, yeah, loosely,
it was based on Mary Hyre,

because John Keel
and Mary Hyre,

Richard Gere and Laura Linney,
you know,

they were kind of a team
trying to figure this out.

[suspenseful music]

Richard Gere's character,
I think,

was kind of a combination
of John Keel,

and then there was
the older guy in the movie,

Alexander Leek,

which is actually
Keel spelled backwards.

- Alexander Leek?

- Who the hell are you?
- I'm John Klein.

I called you last week.

- Where are they seeing it?

- Point Pleasant,
West Virginia.

- He's getting, you know, these
weird, strange phone calls.

Is that something that happened
to John Keel while he was here?

- It is, yeah.
- Really?

- Yeah, he--he was very--
I wouldn't say paranoid,

but he was aware
of his surroundings.

As a matter of fact, I used
to talk to him on the phone,

and when I would call him,
he was very..."Who is this?"

I would say who I was.
"Oh, okay, yeah."

[phone rings]

- Hello?

[echoing]

- Keel got phone calls
and communications

from this Indrid Cold
character.

Now, this is something
that the movie

took slight liberties with,
but I mean, fundamentally,

there was
this mysterious individual

who communicated with Keel

who seemed to have
a lot of knowledge

about what was going on,
very mysterious.

That freaked
Keel out a little bit.

[garbled sounds]

- Laura Linney's character
has this, you know,

dream about falling
in the water

before the bridge collapse.
Is that true?

- Mary Hyre herself, you know,
had--had told John Keel

that she had a dream
of Christmas presents

floating in the water
and stuff,

which would have represented
the bridge collapse

at Christmastime.

"The Mothman Prophecies"
kinda portrayed

that Silver Bridge collapse

as--as
a direct result of this Mothman

or warning everybody of,
you know, doom and disaster.

- One day I started
hearing voices.

The voices became messages.

Before long
I was fully convinced

that I was receiving
predictions of disaster

from outside intelligences.

- But you were, weren't you?

- John, I had tapes
of their voices.

I knew a building
was going to blow up,

and I tried to prevent it,
but...no one listened.

- Keel stated that there
were these predictions

or prophecies that were made
mysteriously to him

that portended something bad
was going to happen.

He thought some big explosion
was going to take place.

He didn't know that
it was going to be a bridge

that was gonna go.

- Cancel--cancel the tour.
Cancel it.

Make them shut down
the plant now.

The plant's gonna blow up.

- State police?
Where are the cops?

What are--what are they doing?

- They--they don't know.
- Governor McCallum–

- What?
- They don't know yet.

- Have you received
a bomb threat?

- Look, I didn't say anything
about a bomb.

It's a source, I have
a s--I know this sounds--

- You're messing up here,
John.

[tense music]

Get me Cyrus Bills
at "The Post."

- I think "Mothman" actually
does a really good job

of explaining

a lot of the real facts
that happened in real life,

but there's a lot of little
things that, you know,

they changed for the movie,
such as, you know, the year.

In real life it happened
from 1966 to 1967.

In the movie
it's a modern-day film.

Richard Gere's character
is based off of John Keel.

John Keel never worked for
"The Washington Post,"

although he was a journalist
at the time.

There's this one part
of the movie

where Richard Gere
goes back to the spot

where he and his wife
had their car accident,

and he's kind of obsessively
looking,

"What did my wife see?
What happened?"

And he's out of his car,
he's on the street,

and something
kind of catches his eye,

and it's these construction...

I don't know what they are,
tubes or whatever,

and they have red reflectors
on top of them,

and that's what he's,
like, looking at.

And I thought
that was really cool,

because one of the original
witnesses said

that when she saw Mothman,

his eyes looked
like reflectors.

That's how red and that's
how bright they were.

- I have talked to people,

a lot of people who've seen,
you know,

whatever this thing was,
you know?

And they weren't
real thrilled about it.

I think the question
just kind of remained as,

you know, "What was it?"

You know, "Why did we
have to see it?

Why did it come towards us?"
you know?

- Witnesses
of the Mothman figure

did come away with this feeling

that he was not fun
to play with.

The Mothman was dangerous,

and the Mothman
did strike terror

into the hearts
of these witnesses.

That much is true.

- This is the spot
where you saw Mothman?

- Yes, we had just turned
on the drive

up here from the main road,

and we were about
halfway down this road

when my brother noticed

it running
or flying beside the car.

All I seen was eyes going--
great big at the front

and going to a point.

- John Keel always thought
that Point Pleasant,

that it was a window

to all--all
this abnormal activity.

- You mean a portal?
- That's what he claimed, yeah.

- Did he ever mention
where he thought,

you know,
the portal might have been?

- In the TNT area.

- We're standing
where the Mothman

was first reported seen.

It's pretty freaky.

- What if Mothman comes back?

- That's great.

[uneasy music]

- Listen.
- Did you guys hear that?

It was like a growl.

[dramatic musical sting]

- This is the spot
where you saw Mothman?

- Yes, we had just turned
on the drive up here

from the main road,

and we were about halfway
down this road

when my brother noticed

it running
or flying beside the car,

and when we stopped, it jumped
on the hood of our car.

It sat there and looked at him
and then me and then him and me

and then turned and stood up

and jumped down off the car
and ran a few feet

and then jumped up on
that big factory building.

[uneasy music]

♪ ♪

I would say about
halfway down that road.

My brother said,
"Well, don't look,"

so I turned to see it.

It was right by the window.

My brother saw the drive
where it took you up in there

to where the old factory
used to run.

When he stopped like that,

it jumped up
on the hood of our car

and just kinda squatted
and just looked at him

and then at me
and then him and me,

and then it jumped off
the car.

It just ran right by us.

It jumped up to the top,

and it kinda just sat there
just watching us,

unfolded
the biggest set of wings

that--only thing I can say
is an angel's wings

'cause it was big wings,
enough to carry a full human.

I think to this day
they got it

and zipped it and shut it up.

- We're here at the spot

where the--where
the Silver Bridge collapsed.

- December 15, 1966,

the--it was around 5:00
at the bridge in Ohio,

so it was bumper to bumper
with people shopping.

It was a night I don't think
any of us will ever forget.

A piece of the bridge that
held up the suspension wires

faltered and broke
and gave way,

and the bridge tilted

and dumped about half the cars
off of it immediately,

and then it tilted
the other direction

and dropped the other half
of the cars in the river.

And then it fell on top of
all the people in the river.

A lot of people thought
one of our plants exploded.

It was such a boom
when that piece gave way.

My mother was right
at the foot of the bridge.

She told me she saw cars
and Christmas gifts

floating in the river.

In the movie,
it shows people trying to

get out of their cars,

and there was no chance
to even react.

The bridge went down
immediately.

They couldn't even get
the doors open to get out,

and of course, when they went
in the river anyway,

it was hypothermia
immediately.

- Get off! Get off the bridge!
Get off!

[dramatic music]

- Oh, my God!

- Only one person who landed
on the bank

and one fellow who went into
the edge of the river survived.

[dark music]

The mayor at the time,
his parents was on the bridge,

and of course,
we know everybody here.

A little girl in my third
grade class went down

with her entire family.
They never found her either.

- Never found her?
- No. Some of them were...

were never...never...
- Never.

- Never found.

- In the film, they lost the--
it said 36 people.

Well, they actually
lost more people.

They lost,
I believe, 46 people.

- Dredging operations
continue in the aftermath

of the tragic collapse
of Silver Bridge,

which spilled
over 50 vehicles

into the rushing waters
of the Ohio River.

The collapse came

at the height
of the evening rush hour

while traffic on the span
was lined up bumper to bumper.

[somber music]

The quarter-mile-long
suspension bridge

suddenly plunged 100 feet
into the water

with a tremendous roar.

No reason for the collapse
has yet been found.

[dramatic chords]

16 bodies are recovered,

while 44 persons
are still reported missing.

Police officials estimate
that the death toll

may go as high as 80.

Fire, police,
and civil defense officials

work round the clock
in the search for victims.

Authorities believe that many
of the submerged vehicles

containing bodies
were swept far downstream

in the river's
60-foot-deep main channel

or have been buried
in the riverbed.

An incredible disaster
which shocks the nation

and touches hundreds
of families with tragedy.

[eerie, off-key notes]

♪ ♪

- We have the Silver Bridge
collapse,

which, you know, kinda spawns
these theories of is Mothman

this--you know, does Mothman
bring danger to a town,

or is it trying
to warn of danger,

or is it there to observe
when horrible things happen?

With that many people
seeing this thing

and having
the same description,

I don't think it's possible
for them to all make it up.

[suspenseful music]

- What we've got right here
is some of the--the props,

the police uniforms
used in the motion picture,

"The Mothman Prophecies."

These are--these are modeled

after the actual Point Pleasant
City Police uniforms.

As a matter of fact, some of
the city police from here

went up there
and were extras in the movie.

John Keel always thought
that Point Pleasant,

it was a window to all--
all this abnormal activity.

- You mean a portal?
- That's what he claimed, yeah.

- Did he ever mention
where he thought,

you know,
the portal might have been?

- In the TNT area. You know,

there's areas up there
where you can go.

There's no birds chirping.

There's no sounds
of insects at all.

It's just dead silence.

He would go up there in the...
the 3:00, 4:00 in the morning.

- Is that safe, though?
- Well, you know, probably not.

- So I am standing
at the genesis of Mothman

in Point Pleasant--
it's right behind me.

There's the pool
where Mothman was seen.

The TNT factory was over here.

They were coming
the opposite direction,

and that's when
they spotted him over there.

You know, Jeff had mentioned
that, okay, how tonight

is really, really clear.

It's kinda crisp in the air.
There's lots of stars.

He said when he spoke to Linda,

that that's the kind of night
it was when they saw Mothman.

- Perfect.
- So the igloos here,

they're part
of the TNT factory, okay?

And during World War II

they were used as storage
facilities for TNT, right?

There's, like,
tons of them out there.

From what I understand,

a year and a half ago,
one of them exploded.

- Oh.

- So.
- Nice.

- That's great.
- Exploded?

- Be careful. Be on your toes.
- That's crazy.

- What's running
through your mind?

Like,
what's the worst-case scenario

that could happen out here?

- Mothman swoops in and
takes us off and kills us.

I mean, we--what else--what
could be worse than that?

- Chris, you stoked?
- Yeah, man.

Little--little less stoked.

- You know what scares me
out here?

Like, if somebody's
doing something bad,

they're probably hanging out
in the woods.

- Why you gotta bring this up?

- I did bad stuff
in the woods, so yeah.

- You did?
- Makes sense.

- What kind of bad stuff
in the woods?

- Very little bad,
just drinking and fires.

- I heard it down there.
- Huh?

- I heard it.
- What'd you hear?

- It doesn't sound like wings
flapping, does it?

- Be quiet. Shh, shh.

- Oh, crap.
There's something over there.

Oh.

- Oh.
- Ooh.

- This is starting
to not get cool.

Why are we choosing to go on?

- Oh!
- Aah!

- Shh, shh, shh.

Be quiet.
- Shh, shh.

- Crap.
There's something over there.

Oh--ooh.
- Ooh...

- What was that?
- What was it?

- What was it?

[music intensifies]

- So listen--

- You guys hear that?
- What?

- What?
- Dude.

I just heard--
it was like a growl.

- This is starting
to not get cool.

Why are we choosing to go on?

- You guys scared of it?

- Dude, this one definitely
makes me nervous.

- Why?
- Oh!

- Aah!
- [bleep]. [bleep], [bleep].

[screaming]
- Guys, guys.

I don't know.

- Okay, we're okay.
- Holy [bleep].

- Okay.
- That was [bleep], man.

- Holy crap. [bleep].

- John, you all right, man?
- Oh, man.

- I have to go to the bathroom.
I'm scared.

- Me too.

- I think it just--

- [bleep], that scared
the [bleep] out of me.

- Let's go. Come on.

- That scared the [bleep]
out of me.

- Yeah, I know.
- I'm serious.

- I know.

- I swear I heard wings.
I'm not saying it's Mothman.

At one point we all turned,
and I start running.

I didn't even, like, see
anything come out of the woods

but once I saw the camera
person running, I took off.

- I don't know if I'll ever
get over that scare.

I mean, my chest is still,
like, tight and hurting.

That was just so shocking,

and I don't wanna ever feel
that kind of fear ever again.

- My rational brain wants
to try and explain it,

but I really can't
explain it.

It was loud and really close.

It sounded like something huge,

like a huge person
jumped out of the sky

and landed on the ground
about 4 feet

from where I was standing,
and mayhem happened.

Everybody just
freaked out and ran.

I'm--I'm grabbing my
flashlight, trying to find it.

People are bumping into me,
but I can't see anything.

- Chris, poor Chris,
they come running at him,

and he looks like a door
on a holiday blowout sale.

- I was happy
to leave Point Pleasant.

I mean, to me,

leaving and going to Centralia
was the right thing to do.

- I'm taking everybody
to Centralia,

which has a very personal
tie to me.

My family, my grandmother's
side is actually from there.

[uneasy notes]

♪ ♪

Centralia
is a coal mining town

in the middle of Pennsylvania,
and in about 1962

there was a fire
that wasn't put out correctly,

and it did inspire elements
in the movie "Silent Hill."

The movie came out in 2006,

and it's actually based off of
the video game "Silent Hill."

The movie's really
interesting.

It just takes you through
this whole isolated town

with ash falling from the sky,

and here's this woman

desperately
looking for her daughter,

and she is absolutely
on her own.

It's very reminiscent
of Centralia in many ways.

There's nobody around.

The ash
is falling from the sky,

and obviously,
Centralia being on fire,

there's a pretty strong
connection between those two.

The only building
standing in Centralia

is a church
at the top of this hill.

Here you have it
in the movie.

- The people in Centralia,
Pennsylvania are threatened

by a fire
burning below their town.

What's burning is coal,

and it's been burning
for years.

Today the state offered
mobile homes to three families

whose houses are threatened.

More on the fire
from Rebecca Sobel.

- Centralia, Pennsylvania,
the town has lived

over a burning coal mine
for the past 20 years.

That's carbon monoxide
coming out of those pipes,

carbon dioxide too.

Pipes puffing the deadly smoke
stick up everywhere in town,

a constant reminder
of the fire below.

The fire started here
on the outskirts of town.

20 years ago

people were dumping trash
in an open mine pit.

Someone set the trash on fire.

[organ plays]

Sunday, St. Ignatius Church,

while most of the people
in the town go to mass,

Ed Narcavage, an inspector

for the Pennsylvania Bureau
of Mine Safety,

goes from house to house

checking poisonous
smoke levels

coming from
the burning mine.

Last week the ground collapsed
here under a 12-year-old boy.

He saved himself
by grabbing a tree root.

He's okay physically, but--

- I'm scared.
I'm afraid to go to school.

I--I always walk near trees
and near fences,

so I no--I never go outside
anymore and play.

- Staying inside isn't
healthy either.

Carbon monoxide levels
in these homes

are dangerously high.

- We go to bed at night,

and we just pray
we get up in the morning.

- If you were in a high
enough concentration

for a number of hours,
eventually you would die.

- But people can't be buried
in the town cemetery anymore.

The ground's too hot.

The fire hasn't killed
anyone here yet,

but it is killing this town.

- Centralia, Pennsylvania is
one of the most tragic

and kinda creepy stories
in modern America.

This is a coal town, and that
was a thriving small town,

couple of thousand people.

In 1962, one of
the abandoned coal mines

was used as a landfill,

and as was very common
in those days,

people would burn the trash.

Well, in this case,
unfortunately,

the fire that was burning
was very,

very close
to an anthracite coal vein,

and an enormous
underground fire took place,

and underneath the town
of Centralia, Pennsylvania,

the coal continued to burn
and burn and burn,

and it is burning to this day.

The fire would cause sinkholes
to appear out of nowhere,

and there was nearly
a fatality of a--of

a young 12-year-old boy
in the early 1980s,

who was only rescued
by his cousin

who happened to be very close
by and pulled him right out.

Within 20 years
of the start of that fire,

the town had to be evacuated.
It had become unlivable.

You go to Centralia now,
and it's a ghost town.

- So when we got to Centralia,
there was just nothing there.

I mean, this was a town that
had saloons and barber shops

and grocery stores, neighbors

and, you know,
kids playing in the street,

and now there's nothing
there but rubble and smoke.

It's not a happy place.

- Seeing the smoke come out
of the ground, for some reason

the first thing I thought
of was Hell, you know?

You're taught Heaven is up,
Hell is down.

You see the smoke,
but you don't--the idea

that a raging fire
is going on below your feet,

it just doesn't really click.

- What's happening are the
coal fires are burning,

and, you know, the earth just
finally gives way and sinks in

and then they just fill it
back in with just fill dirt.

It was dangerous to be there.

- You go down and put your
hand towards the hole that

that steam was coming out of,
it's--it's really hot.

I mean, my hand started,
like, getting all red

and a little burned
a little bit

just from--just
from touching the hole.

- Roger Avery visited
the town of Centralia.

That really gave him
inspiration for some elements

in the movie "Silent Hill"--

not being able to come into
the town on certain roads.

That's very much
how Centralia's set up.

- Sorry, sir,

this road is closed.
You'll have to turn around.

- I'm looking for my wife.
She may have come through here.

She--she drives a Jeep Liberty.

- Sir, this man's wife
was driving a Jeep.

- The movie's kinda creepy.

They have these--these, like,
human--I don't even know

what they are--
these human monsters.

- [shrieking]

- Aah! Aah! Aah!
Help me!

- These humans
are very distorted

and kinda grotesque-looking,

and it looks like they've
been tortured for years.

There's no danger
of being eaten by, you know,

these horrible figures
in Centralia,

but you can definitely see

where Avery got
his inspiration from.

There's this one part
where a siren goes off.

You can almost imagine,

you know, it being, like,
an evacuation siren,

which, of course, everybody
in Centralia had to evacuate,

and it kind of ties
that all together.

Whosever left in the town
has to all huddle inside this,

you know, isolated church
for protection

from all the monsters.

In Centralia, literally one
of the only buildings

that is standing
is this huge, beautiful church

at the top of the hill.

- The whole town is a great
story in and of itself,

just kind of, like,
the surreal imagery

and feeling
of what was happening.

The only human presence
you can see in the town

are the cemeteries.

In most places people move on.

People die, and what stands
are their homes, their stories.

Now it's just their
headstones.

- They say the fires have
consumed the whole town,

and they are now
approaching the cemeteries.

- A lot of stories
about people having,

you know,
experienced ghosts here.

This one guy saw three miners.

They looked as clear
as day to him.

So I wanna check out
this one location.

It's an old mine. Apparently
it's really, really haunted.

People have had
experiences there,

and they hear very distinct
footsteps behind them.

I heard it's pretty crazy
and active,

so I think we should
maybe go check out that.

- Oh.
- I can't wait.

- There's other people claiming
to hear disembodied

voices of children.

When I was about 10 or 12,
somewhere in that age range,

my parents took me
and my siblings to Centralia,

and, you know, we didn't have
family there anymore.

Everybody had been evacuated,

but I think it was one
of those things,

like, you know,
get one last look

because this isn't gonna
be here in a couple years.

And so they kinda wanted us

to see where some of
our family history is from

and what the town looked like,

and I remember there
being streets of houses.

I remember there
being families,

and I didn't really comprehend
what was going on.

Our parents had told us
that the town was on fire

and that it would probably
never be put out

and all these people
had to leave.

There's a fire literally
underneath their feet,

and that's very hard to
process

when you're a little kid.

I think it's hard to process
as an adult.

Centralia looks nothing
like I remember,

and that was only,
you know, 15 years ago.

- Katrina, her family
comes from Centralia,

and so it was start--
you could tell

it was starting to get
pretty personal for her.

[haunting singing]

- We're about to meet one of
my cousins, named Joe,

so I'm really excited to hear
what he has to say

because he knows
a lot of history of the town,

and he has also apparently
had some ghostly encounters

while he's been in Centralia.

Any ghost stories in Centralia
or any, like, weird

paranormal things that happened
when you were living there?

- Driving one night
on the mountain,

I rounded the turn.

The guy just stood out
like this here.

I thought, "Oh, my gosh,"
and I turned.

I think I hit him.
I don't know.

I really didn't know.
I said, "I better stop."

I said, "I hope
he's all right." Nothing.

- You didn't find anybody?
- I wa--couldn't find nothing,

but there was a cemetery
to the right of me.

- Oh.
- Oh.

- Are you kidding me?
- You know?

Even now, thinking
about it now,

I get a little excited
about it, you know?

- Joe's believable.

He doesn't seem
like the kind of guy

who would make stories up
just for attention.

He was very truthful,
very honest,

or that's--that's the vibe
I got from him, anyway.

- My daughter slept down at my
mother's place one night,

and she had
an experience down there.

She was staying
in the one room,

and all of a sudden she comes
screaming out of the room.

This is true. My daughter
wouldn't go back in that room

as long as she went down there,
and she come out screaming,

"There's someone in my room!
There's someone in my room!

She has long hair,
black, long hair."

- Katrina's cousin Joe,

he told us
this story about his daughter

and how she saw

a figure of Katrina's
great-great-grandmother.

[dramatic musical sting]

- Well, now, what about
the Molly Maguires?

- Centralia was founded
by Alexander Ray.

He was going to Mount Carmel
one night, and he was murdered.

That's what started this thing
with the--the curse.

- There was a priest
in the town

named Father McDermott.
He was very, very upset

with the things that were
going on in Centralia,

and there's stories that say
he actually said,

"This town will go up
in flames.

This town will cease
to exist,"

and that's where
this whole element of a curse

comes in for Centralia.

Now, the Molly Maguires,
there were three of them

that were hung for the murder
of Alexander Ray.

People say they did not do it.

There's people still trying
to fight for their innocence.

- In a poor irony,
you can say

that these men
truly were railroaded.

They were destroyed
by a railroad company

every step of the way

and had really no opportunity,
no chance for a fair trial.

The owner of
the Reading Railroad

didn't really care so much

about the murder of this
superintendent so much

as using this case
as an opportunity

to destroy the labor movement
as it existed at that time,

to destroy
the Irish leadership

of the workers
in the railroads

and in the coal industry.

It was a bloody, bloodthirsty,
really shameful,

disgraceful period of
American history in many ways.

These three men were
almost certainly innocent,

horrible injustice of this.

You've gone through a trial
that is so patently unfair,

and now you've been
sentenced to hang.

The noose is around your neck.
You're ready to die,

and then comes the moment
where you drop,

but instead of
the standard drop,

which is 5 inches or more,

in this case,
these men dropped 3 inches,

and the difference means
that their necks didn't break,

and what that meant is that
they writhed on the noose

for ten minutes,
strangling to death slowly.

What a horrible,
horrible ending to a story

that should never have
happened to begin with.

- I'm not surprised
this town is haunted.

I mean, people were betrayed.

- Right here is where--I used
to live right here.

When I was a kid,
this was a playground.

- Once everybody who
lived here is gone,

all that's gonna be left
are ghost stories.

- People hear disembodied
children's voices,

three dead coal miners
appearing out of nowhere,

a young girl walking around,

and we're going out
to investigate at night.

- So I wanna check out
this one location.

It's an old mine.

Apparently it's really,
really haunted.

- They've heard lots of voices,
seen--seen coal miners

walk in
and then just disappear.

- Oh, my gosh.

- I don't feel alone
down here at all.

[dramatic musical sting]

- They kinda portray the town
as being like

kind of this haunted
little town.

I mean, do you think
that's a fair assessment of it?

- Yes, yes.
- Yeah?

- Yeah, right?
It could be, sure.

- You wouldn't go there
at night?

- No, I don't think

I'd like to be walking around
the town at night, you know?

Because I--I think
there are eerie things

about the--about the town,
you know?

I would say there'd be
a, uh, haunting...

probably going on there yet.

No, I wouldn't feel
comfortable.

Let me put it that way.
No.

- Hearing Joe
talk about this stuff

and that it's not just me,

it ran through
my entire family...

all of this kinda
blows my mind.

I'm not surprised
this town is haunted.

I mean,
people were betrayed.

Something people have always
told me is that it really,

really upsets them
thinking about

people who have passed away
sticking around,

and I'm feeling a little
emotional about the fact

that my relatives

can still be hanging
around Centralia haunting it.

- Think about the town
you live in

and all the experiences you
have growing up in that town,

and now it's gone,
and now there's nothing.

So Katrina had a sense
of--she was sad about that.

- This is where Centralia

was first formed
right here, actually.

- Right there?
- Yeah, that's Reas Hill.

They call it Reas Hill,
R-E-A-S.

- That's the guy
who was allegedly

killed by the Molly Maguires,
right?

- Yes. Right here is where--
I used to live right here.

- Right down there?
- Right here, yeah.

When I was a kid,
this was a playground.

You can still see remnants
there yet,

the steps over there.

This is where I played
when I was a kid.

Your great-great-grandmother,

she lived right down
the corner there.

- Right down here on this--
- Right there--

see the street
starts down there?

- Yeah.

- She was right
across the street there.

- Oh, really?
- That's where your

grandmother
came to visit, was there.

She came back to stay
at my mother's.

You don't know
how many relations

you had just living
in this one section here.

- Oh, it's just--it's...

it's very,
very overwhelming to be here.

[soft music]

I think what's, like...
what's really upsetting

about being here is just,
I guess, kind of, like,

feeling what these people
must have felt, you know,

knowing that, like, their homes
were gonna be torn down,

their history was gonna be
taken away from them,

and...I don't know.

I think that's the scariest
part, because even when we die,

I mean, that's what
we leave behind.

We leave behind--
and as crazy as it sounds,

but we leave behind
that material stuff,

our houses, our furniture, our,

"Oh, that's where Billy and Tom
used to play ball," you know?

"That's where we used
to have our Sunday

brunch with the family,"

and it's all gone, and it's
just--it's so different

from when I was here ten y--
it's so different.

And what scares me is that,

I mean, like,
once my family's gone,

once everybody
who lived here is gone,

nobody's gonna know
about this town,

and all that's gonna be left
are ghost stories.

[haunting music]

- Some of the stories that have
survived the town's downfall,

people hear disembodied
children's voices,

three dead coal miners
appearing out of nowhere,

a young girl walking around.

And we're going out
to investigate at night.

- So I wanna check out
this one location.

It's an old mine. Apparently
it's really, really haunted.

People have had
experiences there,

and they hear very distinct
footsteps behind them.

One guy saw three miners.

They looked as clear
as day to him.

I'm sure we'll be fine,

but there's always that little
bit of doubt behind you.

Like, what if I really
do experience something?

'Cause it doesn't matter
how many times

you experience something.
It's still scary.

What's really,
really creepy about this

and about "Silent Hill"

is just that...
a feeling of isolation.

It's especially kinda
reminding me of it right now

because I can't see,

like, you know,
4 feet in front of my face.

- It's like I've never been
in a mine.

Yeah, just throw him
in there by himself.

No big deal. Whatever.
Thanks, Katrina.

- Well, they definitely said
that they--they've heard

lots of voices,

seen--seen coal miners walk in
and then just disappear.

- You know, I can barely
see anything.

Awesome.

[water trickling]

If that's some
dead miner's tools,

I don't wanna piss him off.

[eerie, uneasy music]

The coal vein that runs
through here

is the same one
that's burning up Centralia.

- This is the stuff
that burns and burns

and burns underneath Centralia,

you know,
just completely burning.

- Really?
- Yeah.

- Wow, so it's
totally connected

to the Centralia fires
underground?

- Yeah, man, so...
- Wow.

- I don't feel alone
down here at all.

- What was that noise?

- Did you hear walking?

- I thought I heard something
coming from the ceiling area.

- There's like a--

I can't see for sure,
it's like--

- Oh, my gosh.
[bleep].

- Man, this is nuts.
This is frigging nuts.

- I totally thought someone
from the team

was standing next to me,

and of course
there was nobody there.

- Maybe we should get back
to the other guys, man.

- Let's get out of here.

- I had never been
in a mine before.

It was definitely unnerving
to be there.

- It's just kind of a sad
feeling, being in that place.

- When we were walking down
that mine,

we--we definitely heard
something, like a footstep.

Charity definitely,

she was--she was
definitely freaking out.

I mean,
she was breathing so heavy.

We were both just,
like--you know,

I was trying to be strong,
but it was--it was scary.

- I seriously felt like I was
hyperventilating,

and I still do, and I'm still
kinda shaken up about it.

- I think Charity was probably,
you know, the most freaked out.

You know, when you first start
going to these places

and you start hearing
these dark,

horrible stories that real-life
people have lived through,

it can be kind of jarring.

It was either '46 or '47.

There was this huge plane that
crashed right over this hill,

and a lot of people that died
on the plane crash,

they were never identified,
so what the town did,

they took their bodies
and put them here,

and so nobody's
ever claimed them.

- Where did the plane crash?
- Right over on this hill.

- Oh.
- Wow.

- I'll be honest, guys,
it doesn't feel right.

- What do you mean?
- Well, you know,

walking
around in the graveyard.

- My relatives are buried

in one of the four cemeteries
that's left in Centralia.

I thought it'd be really cool
if we look

for my great-great-grandmother
and her husband.

- And we're looking
for McGinley?

- McGinley, Kathryn, and her
husband's name was Thomas.

- I see McGinley.
- Where?

- You do?
- Are you ser--are you serious?

- Yeah, right ahead.
- Oh, my gosh.

[dramatic musical sting]

- A lot of people died
in Centralia,

a lot of coal miners,
and there's a lot of death,

and they say hauntings
happen around a household,

and I'm not an expert,

but when there's no more
houses, like Centralia,

where do these people go?
And when the only place

is a cemetery
still existing in the town,

you think they would go there,

and that's where
we're going tonight.

- My relatives are buried
in one of the four cemeteries

that's left in Centralia.

I thought it'd be
really cool if we look

for my great-great-grandmother
and her husband.

You know, it's kinda the last
physical thing of them.

- I'll be honest, guys,
it doesn't feel right.

- What do you mean?
- Well, you know,

walking around in a graveyard
late at night.

Graveyards freak me out
in general as it is.

Walking around at nighttime,

I did not feel
comfortable at all.

- Looking for McGinley?
- McGinley, Kathryn,

and her husband's name
was Thomas.

- I did have a feeling,
though,

when we first got there

that I was going
to find something.

I see McGinley.
- Where? Are you serious?

- Yeah, it's right ahead.
- Oh, my gosh.

[heavy music]

- I found several
of Katrina's family members

in this huge graveyard,

but I didn't wanna be the one
to find the headstone

that we were
really looking for.

I wanted her to find it,
and that's what happened.

- Found it!

I kinda felt like
I was kinda led there.

- I kinda started the trail,
and she finished it off.

- Thomas died at 42.

He was crushed
by a piece of coal.

This is where, you know,

my maternal side
comes from, you know?

Everybody was from Centralia.
They were coal miners.

They were hard workers,

but there's nothing
left of them.

I mean, our remaining roots
are right here.

- Mm-hmm.
- A headstone.

- Anything you wanna say
to them?

- I guess I would just
like to think

they're not roaming
around Centralia, you know?

That they're where
they're supposed to be.

- Mm-hmm.

- And I always kinda feel
they can feel that.

You don't have to say it.

- I don't know if it was
closure

that she was looking for
or what it was,

but standing right there
really kind of affected her.

- This is a nice little goodbye
to--I don't know,

I guess to them, in a way.

[intense music]

You know, you grow up
watching these movies.

People, you know,
idolize some of these movies,

and some of them are,

in a weird way,
very romantic, you know?

People have this kind
of tie to them.

We met the real people,

and it's almost like
you're meeting,

you know, this iconic figure,
and you get to sit with them

and talk to them
and pick their brain.

And I mean, we got, firsthand,
the real-life story told to us.

And we got to go
to the locations with them,

have them point things out.

You don't get that
from the movies,

and I think, you know, for me,
that's what I'll hold on to.

- Yeah.

- We just had
an incredible week on the road.

We had talked to eyewitnesses
that haven't spoken

about their experiences
in decades,

and these are some of
the most iconic stories

in American horror films,

and we just got
a front-row seat to it.

And me personally, and I think
for Chris, Charity, and John,

I don't think it's something
any of us will forget

anytime soon.

[dynamic music]

- ♪ Oh ♪

♪ Don't back down ♪

♪ Don't
back down ♪

♪ Don't back down ♪

♪ Oh ♪