[horror music playing]
The Skeptic
[continue horror music playing]
[police radio chatter]
[crickets chirping]
- Miss Diver?
It's Deputy Lara, Ma'am.
Got a phone call from this house.
Somebody hung up.
Everything all right?
Miss Diver?
Somebody in there?
I can hear you, you know.
Miss Diver, is that you?
[wind whistling]
Jesus!
[very loud horror music playing]
- Mm-hmm.
Okay.
My aunt died.
- Did she?
- Yeah, they just found her.
Looks like her heart.
- Oh, God, that's awful.
- Look at the bright side.
We got the house.
- What is the matter with you?
- come on, Robin.
Don't suddenly act like we were all close.
That woman was cold as hell to us.
- That's not the point.
- What is the point, Robin?
The point is, when someone just dies,
it's not a time to bad-mouth them.
It's a time to say a prayer
and count your own blessings.
- I am counting' my blessings.
I get the house.
- Marlene Diver was not a great catholic.
But she was a great bingo player.
[laughter]
But I'm guessing God will take her,
because where it counted,
she loved her neighbour
with the best of them.
- You've got to be kidding' me.
He doesn't show up
for his own aunt's funeral?
- He's in mourning.
He's just probably running' a little late.
- He looks in a good mood.
Someone should make sure he knows
that she didn't pull through.
- He's very strong, Carl.
- Hello, Carl.
- Sorry for your loss, Bryan.
- What?
Oh.
Oh, yeah.
It's a sad day.
So what'd I miss?
- Her eternal soul
being lifted up into heaven.
- Oh, shit.
I really wanted to catch that.
Hey, do you want to take a ride
with me later?
I'll drop you back.
- Where?
- My aunt's house.
I just got the key
from the sheriff.
- Thank you.
I may stop by.
Bryan Becket.
- Thank you for doing this, Father.
She would've appreciated it.
- Well, at least she came on time.
You don't take any of this seriously,
do you?
- What?
- Religious ritual, the church.
- Hey.
I'd love to take the church seriously,
but it's kind of hard
with the Pope running' around
wearing' those hats.
[laughter]
- You want to know what I think
your problem with death is?
- Not really.
- You don't believe in anything, you know?
You don't believe in a higher power.
You don't believe
in the afterlife, nothing'.
- You're right.
Life would be easier if I were gullible.
- You think I'm gullible, Becket?
- Sully, you believe in everything.
- I don't believe in everything.
- Yes, you do.
- No.
- Okay, didn't you once tell me
you believed in the Loch Ness monster?
- They're going to catch that sucker.
You'll see.
Scottish scientists went down
in that lake using sonar, Beck.
- And their results were inconclusive.
- Wrong!
They picked up a large moving mass
changing directions in organic patterns.
So what else could it be?
- I don't know.
I don't know what the military
was covering up at Roswell.
Does that make it aliens?
- No, but alien bodies
on the ground made it aliens.
- You know what your problem is, Sully?
- What?
- You were raised Catholic.
- Oh, here we go.
- Really, I mean it.
How big a stretch can it be
believing in the Loch Ness monster
once you bought the Holy Trinity?
There it is.
- Oh, my God.
It's a monster.
She lived there alone?
I wouldn't be caught dead
alone in there.
Creep me out.
- I can't wait to get in there.
Hear there's all kinds of antiques,
even a wine cellar.
- You hear?
Oh, that's right.
This is the aunt that didn't like you,
so she never invited you over.
- I don't care if she didn't like me.
She's dead now.
I'm inviting' myself over.
- Yeah, but why didn't she like you?
- Don't know.
- You know, I got to admit,
I find this all very, very intriguing.
- Yeah, well you also find
astrology intriguing, and it's not.
- [whistles]
Wow.
How rich was she?
- She wasn't rich.
This house is the last
of the old family money.
- Yeah, but it's yours to sell, right?
- Yep.
- You know, I heard about all
the great parties she used to have up here.
You were never invited,
not even once?
- Look at this.
This is a genuine Iroquois vase
just sitting here.
- Did you offend her in some way
to insult her religious beliefs
or something'?
'cause, you know,
you're known for that.
- The woman wasn't religious, Sully.
- She went to church every Sunday, Bryan.
- Yeah, so did all those people in Salem
who burned the witches.
- Yeah, right there, that comment?
That's the kind of thing that might
offend someone that was human.
- I wasn't offensive, Sully.
I was sweet and thoughtful,
and I was the lawyer in the family.
Get you out of a parking ticket,
manslaughter, whatever you need.
Solid mahogany.
- Yeah, but, you know,
something still doesn't add up, you know?
You got your classic mystery here.
Don't you see that?
- Yeah, it's right up there
with crop circles.
- Okay.
You know what?
I don't care how high
your IQ test scores were.
You lack common curiosity,
and that's a flaw.
It is.
And I've got it.
You know,
I'm curious all day long.
I'm like a two-year-old.
- You want to hear my theory
on my aunt?
- You have a theory?
- I don't think she was the saint
that everybody thought she was.
I think she was hiding something
about herself or about her past.
And she feared being around
someone like me,
someone who was smart
and shared her blood.
I just might figure it out.
That's a pretty juicy theory.
It's right up your alley.
What do you think, Sulk?
- [gasping]
- Sully!
Sully!
[crashing]
Hey!
Sully?
Sully.
Where's your juice?
Where's your juice?
Where's your... okay.
I got it.
All right, just hang on, pal.
You're going to be fine.
Let's just get some juice in you.
- There's something upstairs
in the closet
behind the crucifix.
- What?
come on.
Sip this.
Sip it.
Good, good.
That better?
- Yeah.
- Feeling' better?
Is it working?
- Mm-hmm.
- Good.
You didn't eat today, did you?
- No.
- Well, God damn it, Sully.
You can't take those pills
and not eat.
How long's it going to take you
to learn that?
- Apparently a little while longer.
- Yeah, have a little more.
- Okay.
Yeah.
Oh.
- What was that you were
blabbing about?
A closet upstairs with a crucifix?
- Did I say something?
Did I say something weird?
- What's this?
- I think it was on the desk.
- All right, come on.
You need food.
Hey.
You and I need to have a little talk.
- Man to man?
- Man to man.
Now, your mom and I told you
that my Aunt Marlene died, right?
- Her heart got old.
- Yeah.
And I'm in charge
of selling her house.
She's got a lot of expensive
stuff over there,
so I'm going to have to go
and live there for a while,
make sure nobody takes anything.
- Okay.
can I visit?
- Of course you can.
Whenever you want.
And you can call me too, okay?
- Okay.
- I got to go tell Mom.
- Be careful.
She's still mad from breakfast.
- Hey.
Look, my aunt's house is just
going to sit there until we sell it.
So I was thinking maybe I'd use it.
You know, just for a few weeks
or so like we talked about.
- Like we talked about?
- Yes.
Didn't we talk about this?
Didn't we talk about how
some time apart
might be exactly what we need
right now?
Didn't we say that was something
we should seriously consider?
- Yes, we said that.
But one of us was bluffing.
I guess we know now it wasn't you.
- No.
It wasn't me.
[sighs]
[garbled voices]
- Hi, this is Marlene Diver.
Please leave a message.
Thank you.
- It's Bryan Becket.
Please leave a message.
[loud thud and shaking glass]
[glass shaking]
[stairs creak]
[wind whistling]
[bed creaking]
[people chatting]
Morning', Carol.
Hey, it's no rush,
but I still need
the Benes motion to compel.
Are you okay?
- I'm fine.
- Morning, Riley, Sarah.
What is wrong with everyone today?
Hey, could I talk to you
for a second?
- Mm-hmm.
- Please be seated.
Are you and Robin separated?
Now, I only know this because
Robin called Celeste
who called Karen,
so it's going to be on O-SPAN
in, like, five minutes.
- That's between Robin and me.
- And Celeste and Karen.
- All right.
Robin thinks that I'm too unemotional.
- Unemotional?
[laughs]
She knew that going' in.
- Thank you.
Exam... thank you.
She knew that going' in.
I haven't changed.
I'm the exact same guy
I advertised in the store window
You bet I'm unemotional.
She used to be fine with that.
It was a turn-on.
But suddenly it's not enough
for her anymore,
'cause she turned 40,
and she wants someone to panic with.
And she wants me to cry.
- About what?
- It's my choice.
She just wants me to reach down
and fall apart.
- Could you even do that?
- Are you kidding' me, Sully?
I'm a guy.
I haven't cried since I went
to Cooperstown.
- The Lou Gehrig speech.
So what's your plan?
- My plan is to stay separated
until she realizes
she can't change me,
gets scared that if she keeps
trying' to change me,
she's going to lose me forever,
takes me back as is,
gets used to being' 40.
We live happily ever after.
- Dismissed.
[door creaking]
[door creaking]
[wooden creaking]
- Becket!
Beck!
- Hey!
- Don't you answer your door?
- You're a crisis addict.
Do you know that?
What is it now?
- This is your crisis this time.
Come on.
- Okay, what?
- This is your aunt's will.
- What?
No, no, no.
My aunt didn't have a will.
- Well, her good friend Martha Corn
dropped this off today,
so I checked it out.
This is your aunt's will.
She wrote it herself,
and it's completely legal.
This isnt your house, Beck.
- What are you talking about?
I'm her only kin.
I have this house through succession.
- You are her only kin.
- Then who the hell did she
leave the house to?
- The Delano Institute.
I don't know why...
- Why would she...
- But she left it to
a particular department there
run by one Dr. Warren Coven.
- Okay, what do we know about
this Coven guy?
- He runs a sleep lab.
- Which is what, exactly?
- I don't know;
I assume it's a lab where people sleep.
And now they've got your house,
I'm sure they're going to sleep a lot easier.
- So this is a sleep lab.
- Yeah, it's not a typical one.
The Institute had space issues,
and we take the brunt.
But we're very proud of our work.
We're regular contributors
to The Poly graphic Journal,
and we do treat the uninsured.
- People with problems sleeping.
- Uh, yeah.
Do you have sleep problems, Mr. Becket?
- Sometimes.
- Well, we're here to help.
Yeah, please take a look.
Ms. Carl is with us tonight.
She's a sleepwalker,
and we want to know why.
- And what was my aunt's problem?
I mean,
I'm assuming that you treated her
for some sort of sleep disorder.
Is that right?
- No, actually, she...
she was not a patient here.
- Then how did you know her?
- She had an interest
in a different lab
that I run here at the Institute.
- Another sleep lab?
- No, actually, it's a lab
where we conduct special experiments
on various topics
of personal interest to me.
- And would that be the lab
that was mentioned in her will?
- Probably.
Yeah.
- Then I believe that's the lab
I'd like to see.
- Three.
- Welcome to the Coven Project.
Tonight's concept is a very simple one.
Oases meditates as random
single-digit numbers pop up
on Dillon's screen.
A vibration signal is sent down
into the studio
through this one-way glass
to the electronic ball
in Oasiss left hand
where she makes the determination
whether the number
is odd or even.
- She makes a determination about what?
It seems to me it's just a guess, right?
- Well, there we go.
That's the million-dollar question.
Is it a guess?
See, what we're trying to do here,
under the most stringent
conditions ever applied,
is to quantify one human being's
psychic ability to read another.
- Oh.
Psychic.
- Well, ESP, to be more general.
- Warren, she's gone below 50%.
- All right.
Excuse me one second.
Derek?
I need you to drop the room
to 56 and heat the bed.
- Are you sure you want to do that?
You want to heat the bed?
- Yeah, she won't notice.
She's been down too long.
- All right.
- So that's what you study here, ESP.
- Yes, amongst other things,
mostly dealing with psi energy
in aural paranormal activity.
- Paranormal activity.
And you're telling me
that my Aunt Marlene
believed in all this stuff?
- Absolutely.
I mean, that's why she's funding us.
See, your aunt experienced
some paranormal disturbances
around the house.
- I'm sorry.
She what?
- She experienced paranormal
disturbances in her house.
- Meaning what?
- Well, meaning that she,
you know, she thought the place
was haunted.
- She wasn't serious.
- Oh, no, she was very serious,
very analytical.
She even brought us photographs.
- Photographs of what?
- What she believed to be the centre
of the disturbance in the house.
- This is absurd.
- I believe that's a closet
on the second...
- Yes, I know where it is.
Taking pictures of it means...
- I'm not saying her house
is haunted or anything.
But I am saying that she
witnessed sonic...
- Doc.
- Paranormal disturbances,
which is not...
- Warren, we got a problem here.
- Oh, shit!
God damn it.
- She fucked up the entire TLS.
- Fuck you!
[crashing]
- Jesus!
- Jesus, she's out of control.
- She's coming' up.
- What?
- Ross.
- I called it.
- You weren't concentrating.
The fulcrum on the...
It sucked?
- No.
- I sucked?
- No, no.
Y... no.
You were fine.
I just... you could be so m...
oh!
Oases!
- You lied to me.
- God damn it.
- Understand?
- Oases, please.
- What's in the briefcase?
- Just some New York State
precedents
on the succession of property.
Listen...
- I apologize.
It's just, she's very high-strung
but really quite gifted.
She is very gifted.
Hold up, Mr. Becket.
Could you hold up a second please?
Listen, so the girl's an eccentric.
So what?
- You think this is about the girl?
It's your entire operation.
- Really?
- Representing to a dying old woman
that you have answers
to questions you don't have?
Giving supernatural significance
to noises in her house?
- No, not supernatural.
Natural.
- We told her we could give natural,
scientific explanations
to whatever she heard.
- Scientific, paranormal, ESP,
psychic...
- Yes, they're as scientific as gravity.
They're just not yet fully understood.
Go look up
the US military Star gate Project,
their Sony Zapper lab.
Don't get me wrong.
We're not looking for ghosts here.
What we do is science.
- I know a little bit
about accepted science, Doctor.
Who is officially behind
your mind reading lab here at DIT?
- Oh, I get it.
You're contesting the will.
That's what this is really about.
You didn't get the money.
- No, what this is about
is you taking advantage
of an old woman whose faculties
were failing.
- Faculties?
She was more lucid than you.
- Tell you what.
Wear a blue suit when you
sell that to the jury.
- You're a close-minded man, Mr. Becket.
- And why is that, Doctor?
Because I don't happen to think
your fringe lab is the real deal?
- No, because you don't think.
You know.
And that's where
you give yourself away.
[metallic clink]
[door creaking]
"Though I walk through the valley
of the shadow of death"...
"The demon walks here. "
[scoffs]
[door creaking]
Hey, hey!
Hey!
Hey!
[laughs]
- Why is he sent?
[indistinct whispering]
[clicking noises]
Do you believe it's him?
Please.
What does he want?
- What does he want here?
- That's...
[crashing]
[phone beeping]
- 911.
What's your emergency?
- There's someone in my house.
- What did you say, sir?
Someone in the house?
- Yes.
[phone beeps]
- [whispering]
In the trunk.
Look in the trunk.
Old trunk.
Old trunk.
- Hey!
Hey!
[horn honks]
- Get rid of the flake factor.
- Oh.
- May I talk to you for a minute?
- Give me the room, would you, guys?
- First of all, I'd like to apologize
for last night.
I came on too strong.
And for that I'm sorry.
- Hmm.
Did something happen?
- Let's just say
that I now understand how my aunt
could have become confused
and thought her place was haunted.
[laughs]
I thought I heard something
there myself last night.
I'm staying there
until the estate is settled.
- What did you hear?
- Whispering outside my door.
I do not believe in ghosts.
And I got the sense
that you don't either.
- I don't.
I don't believe
in anything supernatural.
- Then we're kindred spirits.
But that still leaves me
short of an answer.
- Mehh.
Sit.
The human voice
is not real complex.
It's a sound that nature
has very little difficulty mimicking.
Now, what I'm going to play for you is real.
It was recorded in a farmhouse
in the Berkshires, 1976.
It was heard by multiple witnesses,
caught on tape,
sworn to in an affidavit.
Okay?
It's the real McCoy.
Please.
[indistinct screeching]
Isn't that amazing?
This is an authentic aural event.
And it's probably what we call
a chi cluster.
It's a build-up of chi field energy,
then released
into the sonic spectrum.
- But it's not words.
- What do you mean?
- How does it come out as words,
you know,
in an intelligent sentence structure?
- Well, it doesn't.
I mean, maybe it does
once in a million,
like those monkeys
typing sonnets, but...
- No, but it did for me.
The voice that I heard spoke.
It did not just say,
"Ooh, aah, aah. "
It said something like
"an old trunk. "
And it kept repeating it
over and over.
"An old trunk" or "in an old trunk"
as if to suggest that I...
- Bryan, is it?
- Yeah.
- How well can you hear
through a door?
- Pretty well, I guess.
Okay, now, what was the volume like?
- Like I'm talking now?
- Maybe a little lower.
- You know,
I'm going to tell you what you did,
and I don't want you to get embarrassed,
because you're not the first.
But you heard whispering sounds.
And presuming that they must be human,
your brain strove
to put speech to them.
So "old trunk," or "in the old trunk"
was the best it could come up with.
It's called psychoacoustics.
Excuse me.
- Really.
I respect the concept.
I really do.
But I don't know.
- What I heard was so...
- What'd I say?
- What?
- Oh, did you catch that?
- Yeah.
You said, "What'd I say?"
- No, I didn't.
I said, "Rudd lie stay. "
[whispers]
Rudd lie stay.
You made it into
"what'd I say. "
- Huh.
Shit.
- Your aunt did the same thing.
She took a garden variety
acoustical sub-event
and made it into a haunting.
- [chuckles]
I'll be damned.
- You're surprised, huh?
You thought I'd accept your
hearing voices
as an everyday thing, didn't you?
- No, I thought it was an
everyday thing for you people.
Don't they have nuns
for that kind of work?
- [laughs]
Careful.
You'll get me in trouble.
- I'm late for our meeting, Father.
My apologies.
- You know, some people would say
being late for a meeting
with a priest
shows a subconscious hostility
towards the church.
- You think it's subconscious?
What'd you want to see me about?
- Your aunt's place.
I drove by there last night,
and I saw some lights on,
and I was very curious about
who you were letting stay there.
- I'm staying' there.
- You are?
- Yeah.
Robin and I are taking
a little breather.
Why, is something' wrong?
- Oh, you're going to think
I'm silly for even saying this.
- Oh, I think half what you say
is silly anyway.
It's part of your charm.
So what is it?
- Be careful in that house.
- What does that mean?
- It means
there's something not quite
right there.
- Are you trying' to tell me you
think the house is haunted?
- You don't believe
in haunted houses, do you?
- No, I do not.
- Do you believe in evil?
- No, I do not.
- Your aunt believed
that the place was haunted.
- Would you like to know how I see
this whole haunted house business?
- Yes, I would.
- My aunt in her younger, stronger days
would never have fallen prey
to superstition.
But at 81, in failing health,
living all alone in a great big house
with lots of memories,
some regrets, no doubt,
when she heard something,
whatever it was,
she was ripe to run with it.
Now, you mix that in
with hardening of the arteries,
you have yourself a ghost story.
- You're a good lawyer, Becket.
- I'm a doubting Thomas, Father.
No offense.
It's just in my nature.
- None taken.
- Still, it's always good to see you.
- And you, my friend.
Just remember one thing, Becket.
Thomas was wrong.
[wooden creaking]
- Ah!
- Jeez.
You are such a dick.
- You shouldn't leave
the front door unlocked.
- [sighs]
You scared the shit out of me.
- Ah.
Where were you this morning?
- Huh?
Oh, God!
Damn it.
God damn it!
I missed the conference
with Judge Alkali.
Oh, shit.
Aw, I'm sorry.
- Screw sorry.
What's going' on with you?
- Nothings going' on with me, Sully.
I missed a meeting.
I can't miss one meeting?
- No, you cannot miss one meeting.
And do you know why?
'Cause you're a control freak
who doesn't miss anything.
You missing' one meeting is like
a regular guy missing'
his own flicking' wedding.
And now I'm good and worried.
Yeah, 'cause I think you're
having' some kind of breakdown.
- Oh, get out of here.
I'm not having' a breakdown.
- Oh, how would you know?
See, people that are having'
a breakdown don't know
that they're having' a breakdown.
They just think the water tastes funny.
You left your wife.
You left your son,
both of who I know you adore.
You move into this creepy old house.
And then you miss a meeting.
- Okay, I will never miss
another meeting.
That's an oath.
- Becks,
you have amazed me
for 111/2 years straight.
So if you need a break,
you raise your hand.
You don't have to be
the good dog that runs
until his heart explodes.
Look, I'm sorry I had to bust your balls.
Need a hug?
- [laughs]
Not from you.
- Well, check your inventory, pal.
I'm all you got left.
[door creaking]
- Hm.
Old trunk.
[sighs]
Well, my dear Watson,
what do you suppose
is in the old trunk?
The remains of someone murdered
in this house perhaps?
[wind blowing]
[wooden creaking]
- [whispering]
Bryan.
[thumping sound]
- Who's in here?
Who's in my house?
- I want your lab work Friday, okay?
Oh, yeah,
and I need the correlation
between night terrors
and serotonin level.
We already spoke about that.
- I saw something this time.
A woman at the bottom of the stairs.
She was just sitting there.
There's no woman in my house, Doctor.
It's empty except for me.
So what did I see?
- I have no idea.
- Are you telling me that no one
has ever reported seeing something?
- Yeah.
Not that held up.
- Held up?
- I know this is difficult,
but is there any history
of mental illness in your family?
- Are you serious?
[scoffs]
You're serious.
You're trying' to pin this on me?
- I'm not trying to pin anything on anyone.
But as rational people,
we need to look at every possibility.
- I am not a possibility.
- So your answer's no.
There's no history.
- That's right.
- All right, so just...
there's no schizophrenia?
- No.
- Hallucinations?
- No.
- Manic depression?
- Any bipolar disorders, Bryan?
- One uncle, maybe.
So what?
- Well, I'm just going off a list.
But if there's any familial history at all,
and you've had this episode,
I think you should see someone.
- [laughs]
You think I should see someone.
- I do, I do.
And I know a very good man...
- How dare you try to pin this on me?
I happen to be, Doctor,
one of the most boringly sane people
that you have ever fucking met!
Tell him it's Bryan Becket.
[kids chattering]
I just don't get the way
we dress kids for Halloween.
Murder victims, Lizzie Borden.
And then we stand back
and snap pictures of it all
as though it's something
we should cherish
right up there with our first communion.
- What's troubling you, my friend?
- Oh, just my usual.
Insomnia.
- Ah, well, we can fix that.
- Hey, Doc,
when you have persistent insomnia,
can it lead to other symptoms?
- Sure.
What kind of symptoms?
- Hallucinations.
- You've been having hallucinations, Bryan?
- Just one.
Maybe I was sleepwalking,
and I saw something
sort of ghostlike, I guess.
I flicked on the light,
and it disappeared.
- Yeah, yeah.
Sleep deprivations can cause
hallucinations, definitely.
But if it occurs again,
you'll let me know?
All right?
- All right.
- Why aren't you sleeping?
- Work.
It's brutal right now.
Tons of big cases.
And on top of that,
Robin and I are separated.
- Oh?
- Yeah, I think with Robin and me,
it's a game of marital chicken,
you know?
Just give each other
a good scare and move on.
I think we'll be all right.
- Yes, I think it'll work out.
You're a good couple.
- But in the meantime,
I moved into my aunt's house.
And I got to tell you,
I haven't been alone in...
- I'm sorry.
You moved where?
- To my aunt's house for now.
- Oh.
And is that where you had
this hallucination?
- Yep.
- And this ghostlike image,
was it male or female?
- It was a woman.
- Oh.
Was there anything about this woman
that was interesting or odd?
Anything about her face
or her eyes?
- I couldn't say.
I just saw it from the back.
- It?
- Her.
Her.
- [chuckles]
Excuse me.
I was just struck with the memory
of the first time your father
brought you here.
It was just after your mother passed.
I was new to my profession,
unsure of myself.
And you were this
precocious little guy
who looked at my diploma wall
and asked
why I hadn't been
to one of the top med schools.
- Oh, Jesus.
Did I?
- Yeah, we did good work though.
We were making progress.
And then...
well, I always thought your father
pulled you out too soon.
- My dad hated shrinks.
I think he feared that if you
poked around in my head,
you might discover some
deep family secret.
- Hmm.
Well, whatever the reason,
I think you came out of it too soon.
- Hence my insomnia.
- And your issues with death.
What I think you need...
- Is to spend more time on your couch.
Yeah, I know.
You suggest that every year.
- Well, what do you think of it this year?
- I think you drive a fancy enough car.
You don't need another patient.
- Ooh.
You're getting better.
- Thanks, Doc.
Appreciate it.
It's funny though.
You mentioned my mother.
It's sad.
I can barely remember her.
Except for titbits,
there's nothing.
- She's in there, Bryan.
She's in there.
[birds cawing]
[glass shatters]
[loud shattering]
[women screaming]
- Ver. Staten.
Dr. Sheppard.
Okay, I'll be right there.
Hi.
Hey, you.
I can't do this right now.
I have a meeting.
This is for him.
He thinks you left us
for another family.
Come on.
- You a werewolf?
Whoa.
Scary werewolf.
No.
Not scary.
- Oh, okay, not scary.
There's nobody here but me, pal.
Do you want to look for yourself?
You want to explore?
Okay.
Hurry up.
Dad's got a meeting.
- What are you doing here?
- We need some time apart, Robin.
- I want us in therapy.
- Therapy.
- Yeah.
- I have my doubts about therapy.
- Oh, you have your doubts
about everything.
All you do all day is have doubts
about what everyone else thinks.
- Well, uh, what would you rather, Robin,
I was one at those fanatics
who was certain?
- You are every bit as certain
as any fanatic I've ever seen.
- Okay, that's absurd.
That is an absurd thing to say.
I am not certain about anything,
and if you can't see that,
we're even farther apart
than I thought we were.
- So what do you call it then
when you are so positive
the rest of us are wrong,
flawed in our thinking?
I call that certain, arrogant.
And I don't think it's 'cause
you're smarter than anyone else.
I think it's 'cause you're lost.
- Well, guess what, Robin.
I hardly care what you think,
'cause I got trial in the morning,
I lost my expert,
and I got a 200 page deposition...
- Is it your mother?
- What?
- I said, is it your mother?
Is that why you're messed up,
'cause of what happened to her,
'cause of what you saw that day?
- My mother died when I was five.
I barely remember her.
- I don't believe it.
- Oh, you think I'm lying?
- I think that you've buried stuff.
I think that you saw more
that day in Boston
then they told you.
- All right, you know what we're
not going to do?
We are not going to play
psychobabble with my head.
- Listen...
- My mother is not the problem
with our marriage.
So for you to try to pin it on a woman
who's been dead for 38 years...
- Do you know you
talk about her in your sleep?
- I what?
- And I've never told you before,
because I thought it would
make things worse.
When you talk about her,
you talk about her face.
All right, God damn it, that's enough.
Let this alone!
- This is the shit that is
ruining our marriage!
- No, you're doing it,
because you won't stop.
- You sit up in bed like a child
terrified,
staring across the room.
You know what you're looking at?
You're looking at her!
You see her!
- Stop this!
- [screams]
- Mama!
- Michael!
- Michael?
- Where is he?
- Michael!
Michael!
- Baby?
- Someone's in the closet.
- What?
- They said my name.
- Oh, no, sweetheart.
There's nobody here but Daddy.
- Maybe it's a ghost.
- Oh, no, baby.
Remember what Daddy and I
told you about ghosts?
So what did Daddy and I
tell you about ghosts?
Daddy?
What did we tell Michael about ghosts?
- They're not real.
- They're not real.
Okay?
It's just your imagination again,
sweet pie.
- Come here, pal.
They sure do seem real
sometimes though, don't they?
[door creaks]
- Hmm.
Sully.
[leaves rustling]
Oh, come on.
Oh, Jesus Christ!
It's you.
- So this is the big, bad, house, huh?
I might be too nervous to come in.
- Nobody asked you in.
What, are you planning'
on spending the night?
- Uh-huh.
I heard you saw something here.
And I'm intrigued.
- What I saw was not real.
Excuse me.
Excuse me.
You can't just walk in here.
Hey!
What do you think you're doing?
This is my house.
- There's something here.
- Okay.
What?
What do you think I saw?
- A ghost.
- I don't believe in ghosts.
- Well, that's ironic,
since you're the one that saw it.
- What I saw was a hallucination
caused by sleep deprivation.
- Yeah.
My shrink would say that too.
[chuckles]
Look, it's not as out there
as it seems, you know,
the whole ghost thing.
In fact, 46% of the people
in this country believe in ghosts.
can't find Europe on a map.
- Oh, wow.
You know something?
You're very arrogant.
- I'm sorry.
- Don't be.
I like that.
- You still can't stay.
- You're a lawyer, right?
- Yes.
- That means you get off on logic, proof.
- I don't know if I get off on
them, but...
- Even Coven, the fool,
believes I'm psychic.
- I don't believe in ESP.
- No, no, no.
You're missing my point.
You saw something here.
So just suppose for a moment
you let me stay and I see something too.
And since you haven't described
what you saw
except as a woman at the bottom
of some stairs,
then if I see her too,
and I could describe her, well,
I mean, that would be proof
of something, wouldn't it?
Good proof.
- You can have this bedroom
right over here.
It's got its own bath.
I'll be up on the third floor
if you need s...
Oh, no.
No, no.
I'm sorry.
This was my aunt's room,
the one that died.
- Oh.
So it's vacant.
- Yeah.
Right.
Whatever.
Hey, let me ask you something.
How does a girl your age
get a brand-new Porsche?
- I come from money.
- And your folks?
- My mother ran away when I was six,
and my father passed away
this summer.
- Hmm.
I'm sorry then about your
father.
- No, don't be.
- What, you two weren't close?
- Not in a good way.
- Do you have siblings?
- Yeah, I have a brother.
He's in a mental institution.
He's been there since he was 13.
And you probably figured
I was the black sheep.
I don't mean to be rude or anything,
but I'm going to...
- Go do what you do.
- Thanks.
[screaming]
- Jesus Christ!
- Someone died in here.
A man.
Oh.
His head.
Severe pain.
- My aunt's husband, my Uncle,
died in this house 25 years ago
of a cerebral haemorrhage.
I don't know where in the house exactly.
- It was here.
- How do you know that?
There are a lot of people
who could have told you that.
- Nobody told me anything.
That's fine.
Thank you.
- I'm glad you didn't sit in that chair.
It's funny.
The other night I walked past
that mirror down there,
and I could've sworn
I saw someone in that chair.
You know, for someone who scorns
the paranormal,
you sure do report a lot of incidents.
[glass shatters]
- What the fuck was that?
- The house is waking up.
I got to get some things.
Oh, wow.
- Leave it.
Leave it.
I'll get it.
- Are you going to help me?
I can use your help.
- Uh...
You know what?
Why don't you think about it?
I'll be downstairs soon.
- You know,
I have a trial in the morning.
This is not usually the way I prepare.
- Age.
[loud crashing]
- Oases, Oases!
Oases!
- What?
- Did you hear that?
- All I heard was you yelling.
- You didn't hear someone
falling down the stairs?
- Oh, God, no.
- You didn't hear that?
- Oh, that's weird.
The house talks
but only to you.
- Or I'm talking to myself.
- Don't do that.
You're not imagining things, Bryan.
Why would you all of a sudden imagine
someone falling down a flight of stairs?
- My mother died falling down
a flight of stairs.
- Wait.
- What is it?
- Something's moving in the house.
Do you feel it?
- Me?
Upstairs to the right.
[chuckles]
[door creaks]
[wind howling]
Oases, are you all right?
- I'm fine.
- What the hell was that?
- That was a warning.
Whatever is in this house
wants me to mind my business.
- Well, are you going to?
- [scoffs]
- We're done with this.
Leave that light on.
This house needs all the light
that it can get.
- Yeah, good.
Don't know why you wanted
off in the first place.
What?
What is it?
- The stairs where you saw the woman.
They're the ones back there,
aren't they?
- Yeah.
Oases,
this is where I step off, okay?
I just have too much work to do,
all right?
Oases?
Are you all right with that?
Oases?
Oases?
Why are you looking' at me like that?
- You don't know, do you?
- What?
- Who she was,
the woman you saw.
Bryan,
it was your mother.
- What?
Helen, I think, or...
- Helena.
- Helena.
Yeah.
Helena Margaret.
Something about her frightens you,
something about her face.
Your mother died falling down stairs,
you said.
Where?
- At our house outside Boston.
- Where in Boston?
Where in Boston exactly?
- Near Braintree.
We moved just after.
- That's interesting.
You should come with me.
Please.
I don't know why you've been
told what you have, Bryan,
but your mother fell here,
down these stairs.
- What?
No.
That doesn't make any sense.
They told me that it...
- They told you what?
- She fell in our...
in our house in Boston.
Why in God's name would they
keep something like that from me?
- Maybe it wasn't in God's name
they kept it.
There's a very bad secret
in this house.
I know that much.
And if you want me to help you
find it, I will.
But it might get worse before it get...
- I want to know.
- All right.
Then you got to help me.
You got to tell me what you remember
about your mother.
- Not much.
I've never had much memory of her.
She used to fight with my aunt a lot.
- About what?
- I don't know.
- Do you remember the day she died?
- Pieces.
- Did you see her fall?
- No.
But I...
- What?
Tell me.
- I heard it.
I heard her fall.
It's a horrible sound,
somebody falling' down a flight of stairs.
- Do you remember what you were doing
when you heard it?
- I was playing.
Where?
- In my room over there.
Oh, my God.
That was my room.
Oh, God!
Oh, God!
[screaming]
I don't remember.
I just feel it.
- It's all right, Bryan.
It's all right.
- I just know it happened in there
and that it happened to me.
Do you know?
- No, I don't.
- Do you know what it was?
- No.
- [whimpering]
They say that the unknown
is more frightening than any reality.
- Yes.
- Therefore, I should be less scared
once we open this than I am now.
- That's the theory.
- Huh.
Huh.
- Does anything here
mean anything to you?
- No.
I assume it's stuff
that belonged to my aunt
or my mother.
But none of it means anything to me.
- Maybe it's the wrong trunk.
Oh.
Bryan, look at h...
What is it?
- Get it away.
- You mean...
- Get it away!
Get it away!
- All right.
- Get it away!
Right.
- Get it away!
- Bryan, it's away.
What is it?
- I don't know.
It moves, I think.
It floats through the house.
It does horrible things.
- What, the doll?
- It's not a doll.
[laughing]
I'm sorry.
I don't mean to laugh.
It's just, did you see
the look on her face
when we found her hiding spot?
[laughing]
[toy bell rings]
[laughing]
Oh, God.
The look on her face was priceless.
It was absolutely priceless.
- Good morning.
Eggs, coffee?
- Coffee would be great.
- How'd you sleep?
- Oh, I slept like a baby,
a baby that's fearing crib death,
that is.
[chuckles]
I'm not crazy.
- I agree.
- What happened last night, I think,
is that I've been so sleep deprived
from months of insomnia
that when I mixed in the alcohol
and the sedatives,
I made myself unstable.
You know,
my doctor's already confirmed
that insomnia alone can cause
transitory psychotic symptoms, so...
- My God.
You are one diehard rationalist.
- Well, what the hell's the alternative?
Dolls come to life?
- No, they can be possessed.
- Oh, stop it.
- Bryan, you're not crazy.
You're not the type.
Something supernatural
is happening to you.
And your episode last night,
I think it was some
kind of vision spell.
- [scoffs]
- Don't scoff at what you don't know,
and you don't know anything.
You witnessed something
in this house a long time ago.
And whatever is here,
maybe your mother
is trying' to tell you about it.
Give me one last chance
to dig it out, okay?
I can be back here tomorrow.
And if you need me,
you can just call me.
- Tomorrow?
- Yeah.
- You expect me to spend another
night here alone?
I'm shaking at breakfast.
Bryan, if whatever is in this
house wanted to hurt you,
it would have already.
- You're sure, huh?
- Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
[thunder crashing]
- Morning', Father.
Need a lift?
- No, no.
I have a question.
- Okay.
- Who's the woman at the house?
- You've been spying' on me?
- Yes, I have.
- She's a psychic.
She's been helping me remember
things about the place.
- You want to remember that place?
Come on in to the rectory.
What are you remembering?
- We lived there for a time.
My mother died there.
- Where did you find the psychic?
- It's more like she found me.
She heard that I saw something
in the...
- Hmm?
- I hallucinated something
in the house.
I saw my mother.
She part assures me it's just
sleep deprivation.
- You've been sleep deprived before.
Ever see anything?
- No.
- Well, that's interesting,
because I remember
the first time you saw her.
- Pardon?
- Eight days after she was buried.
- Is that true?
- That time frightened you so badly
it led to a breakdown
and to them having to get you away
from the house permanently.
Your father sold it
to your aunt and uncle
and then bought the one up
in Farm brook for the two of you.
- That's what happened.
- Of course,
everyone dismissed what you saw
until something happened to your uncle.
I don't know exactly what happened,
but he became thoroughly convinced
that there was a presence in the house.
- The shrine in the closet.
- That was his.
- Your aunt thought he was a fool.
She was a skeptic like you.
But interestingly enough,
she couldn't bring herself
to tear it down
even after he died.
And then, in the last year of her life,
she began to believe it herself,
said she felt it for the first time,
felt that it was angry at her
for not leaving the house to you.
- This has a history?
- This has a history.
- What else do you know?
In the church,
you warned me about the house.
You spoke of this evil presence.
- What did you mean?
- Have you ever wondered why you
can't remember your mother, Bryan?
- Because she died when I was five.
- Five-year-olds have memories,
unless they don't want to have memories,
unless they're bad memories,
unless they're memories
of being locked in a closet
when they were terrified of darkness,
of being hit so hard with a curtain rod
that the welts bled,
of being half starved to death
because they forgot to say grace
at the table.
- You're wrong, Father.
My mother was a good person.
- You've made her a good person
in your own mind, son.
She was a monstrous person.
I knew her.
And some monstrous part of her
is still in that house.
I would've told you earlier,
but everybody was so afraid
of telling you things
that you didn't remember.
[table rattling]
- Tell me something, Father.
These alleged abuses you talk of,
did you witness them firsthand
for yourself?
- No, they were relayed to me
by your Aunt Marlene.
- Then it's hearsay,
testimony of conduct
not directly observed.
It's hearsay.
- No, you know what's rude?
A child having a liver lacerated
by a doctor who's hopped up
on pain pills.
That's what's rude.
- That's not fair.
- Kid comes under your care.
You know this guy's history.
Have a conversation about how he
appeared that morning.
- No, Jennifer Burckhardt had
a conversation with Dr. March, not me.
- I don't care who it was.
You were aware that he...
- [screaming]
No, no!
No, no!
[gavel bangs]
- You going to object to any of this?
- That's courthouse gossip.
- It's not.
- Hey, partner.
How you doing', buddy?
Listen, um, I was wondering' if
we can have a moment alone.
Hey.
Riley said you're acting'
all funky in court.
What the hell is going' on
with you, huh?
Huh?
And don't say "nothing'."
And don't say, "It's personal,"
"We don't go there,"
'cause today we're going to go there.
- You want to go there today, Sully?
Want me to open up?
Tell you everything?
- Yes, I do.
- I've been having' a little
trouble concentrating
since I started having these
unsolicited flashbacks
of being severely abused as a child,
locked in a closet,
beaten with a curtain rod till I bled.
- What?
- And all this on no sleep.
Sheppard gave me some pills for it,
but they've proved to be totally worthless.
Except when you mix ' with scotch,
they tend to, you know,
sort of enhance the scotch.
But no.
I can't concentrate on getting dressed,
much less a court case.
And about the only thing keeping'
me going' these days
is a morbid curiosity
of where exactly it'll be
that I totally fucking' lose it.
So how do you like
our new relationship so far,
the opening up thing?
- I like it better.
- Well, bless your heart, partner.
I think it rots.
- Hey.
- Hey, Sully.
What's happening'?
- Where is he?
- He's in the back, man,
and he looks like shit.
- Thank you.
- Want a beer?
- Yes.
- I have an idea.
Why don't we go back
to my office for a nightcap?
- I have a better idea.
Why don't you sit down
and spill all the shit
you've been keeping from me
all these years,
and I won't sue you
for medical malpractice.
- All right.
What have I been keeping?
- That I lived there
and she abused me there.
- True.
- And you let me go back
when I didn't know.
- You knew, Bryan.
Some part of you knew.
That's why you went back,
tried to heal yourself.
- And you're certain of this problem
that needed healing, right?
- How do you mean?
- That I lost touch with reality
when she died,
that I was so young and traumatized
that I couldn't grasp
that she was really dead.
So I blocked memories,
hallucinated her.
- Yes.
Something like that.
- And what if I told you
that you are so blind with psychiatry
that you have totally
missed the boat on this one?
- Which is?
- That I am truly being haunted.
- You don't really believe that.
I am seeing things
in that house, Doctor,
and hearing things all the time.
You think I'm that crazy
all by myself?
- Yes, I think you're quite ill.
- You are wrong.
There's something supernatural
going on in there.
And I have all kinds of corroboration.
- Well, let's have it, Counsellors.
Let's try this thing.
- My Uncle Chester, to start with...
- Your Uncle Chester was a fool.
He was superstitious, gullible.
Did you know
he reported so many
UFO sightings in the '50s,
the police wouldn't take
his calls any more.
- No, I didn't.
But my aunt was no fool.
And in the last year of her life...
- The last year of her life,
she was suffering
from progressive dementia
due to advanced
cerebral atherosclerosis.
I have people who will swear
that she was lucid...
- She was lucid part of the time.
That's how it works.
Father Wyoming at Saint...
- You're going to quote me a priest?
They think they're dealing
with the supernatural 9:00 to 5:00.
You want to stake your sanity on that?
- Do all kids who are abused
crack up so bad that they see things?
Or am I just weak?
- I don't think you're weak, Bryan.
I think you're carrying more.
- More.
- What is the last memory you
have of your mother,
not including her death?
- My last memory.
Hmm.
She was cooking, I think,
in the kitchen.
- What was she cooking for?
- A picnic.
We were going on a picnic.
- Yes.
And what happened with the picnic?
- Well, I don't remember.
We wound up not going
for one reason or another.
- What was the reason?
- I don't know.
Maybe it rained.
- No, it didn't rain, Bryan.
It was a beautiful, sunny day.
- Then why didn't we go?
Because that morning,
when you cleaned your room,
you left a sock on the floor.
So instead of going on a picnic,
you were locked in the closet
for the remainder of the day
and half the next.
- A red sock.
- Yes.
- I remember.
Hmm.
God, how sad is that?
- Sad?
It's infuriating, don't you think,
to be locked in the closet for a sock?
And you were angry, Bryan, very angry.
You wanted to lash back.
So you left some toys
you were playing with
on the stairs
near the top.
- What?
- Some toys.
A toy truck
and an antique doll
of your mother's.
You were five years old.
She had abused you for five years.
No one knew about it, no one.
- Mom, no!
[retching]
- Press up against my hand.
- What did I do?
- Press up.
- What did I do?
- Easy.
- What did I do?
- Any dizziness still?
- No.
I had to make a judgment call
in there, Bryan.
You were in a form of crisis.
- I'm glad you told me.
- What are you going to do right now?
- I'm going to go check into
the Gloucester,
get my stuff
and get out of the house.
- That's exactly what you should do.
I'll call you later on.
We'll set something up
for tomorrow.
All right?
- That's what was wrong with her face.
- What's that?
- That's what was wrong
with my mother's face.
She was looking at me.
[phone ringing]
This is Bryan Becket.
Please leave a message.
Oases, it's Bryan.
Pick up.
What the hell are you still doing in there?
Didn't you tell me you had to leave?
Oases, pick up.
Oases.
Oases.
[answering machine beeps]
Oases?
Oases!
Oases?
[phone beeping]
- Hello?
- Oases?
- Bryan?
- Oases, where are you?
Why'd you leave your car here?
- I didn't.
- What are you talking about?
It's right out in the driveway.
- Bryan?
Bryan.
- Very good, Mother.
You got me back in.
Why?
Do you want to punish me again?
Is that it?
[crashing]
I'm not five anymore!
[screaming]
Come on!
Come on!
You know what you can do, Mother?
You can go straight to hell.
[crashing]
[screaming]
[clicking noise]
[wind whistling]