[wine pouring]
[clink]
[metal scraping]
[thunder rumbling]
[woman screaming]
[gentle instrumental music]
- [Woman] Be still.
Her water broke.
- [Rose] She's hemorrhaging. It's breech.
- Please save my baby.
- [Rose] And give her the spoon.
[woman screaming]
- [Women] thy kingdom come, thy will be done
on earth as it is in Heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive our trespasses as we forgive those
who trespass against us.
Lead us not to temptation but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom, and the power,
and the glory, forever and ever.
Amen.
- No.
It can't be.
- It's God's will. - No [crying].
It's not true.
- The Lord said "Suffer the little children
to come unto me and forbid them not,
for of such is the kingdom of Heaven."
- Stop.
Listen.
Listen!
He's alive, I can hear him!
[baby crying]
- Shh, it's okay.
- He's not dead! - Be silent!
- I know, I know everything.
Don't kill my baby.
- Leave us! - No [crying].
No, no!
[baby crying]
- I don't have nought to do with it, what she does.
You can enter Heaven whole.
I promise you'll never be like the others.
[baby screaming] [thunder cracking]
- Please, Mother Rose, not like this.
- [Rose] I know what you've been up to, Faith.
You're devil's work.
- My baby is innocent.
[baby crying]
- The guardian angels,
the god who sent you.
I'm sorry, please!
[eerie instrumental music]
Please, no, God, please!
[eerie voices] Please God, I'm sorry.
[screaming] [eerie instrumental music]
- You won't...
Get away.
I c--
[tense instrumental music]
- [Rose] Your burial fees.
[bell ringing]
[gentle instrumental music]
- [Radio Host] It's three o'clock on November 24th
and here is your weekend weather forecast.
Showers and sun and even a chance of thundershower, so if you'd like to plan ahead&
- [Liam] Almost there, close your eyes.
Are they closed? - Yes.
It's dark in here.
- Okay, you can open your eyes.
What do you think?
- It's beautiful.
- Happy birthday.
It's got a big backyard, a little nature walk.
- Open spaces.
Perfect.
- It's only been open for a few months
the website's still under construction.
- So are we, right?
Thank you.
[mysterious instrumental music]
- [Liam] All right.
- Wow.
- Sorry.
[clock chiming]
- Hmm.
Ripped out pages.
Bad omen?
- Hello?
[floor creaking]
- We're here!
[eerie voices echoing]
- [Liam] You like?
- I love it.
- I married a bookworm.
- Sorry, not grounds for divorce.
- Anything interesting? - Not yet.
- Let me guess, Treasure Island?
- [Rose] The Lord said-- [sirens wailing]
- Babe, you okay?
- Fine, fine. - I'll be right down!
- Look at me. - I'm okay.
- There can't be triggers here.
- [Rae] I know.
- Hi.
My, you are punctual.
I was dusting upstairs and I saw your car out the window.
Hello, you must be Liam and Rae.
- Rae Delatour. - Monica Leeds.
It's lovely to meet you, and welcome to the Mersey.
Let's get you checked in, shall we?
I trust you had no problem finding us.
- It's secluded but that's exactly what my wife
and I wanted.
- Beautiful inn you have.
- Oh, why thank you.
We're still fixing it up,
but we've had a wonderful response so far.
- No doubt. - Well, this late
in the season, we're mostly preparing for the winter,
so you are only guests.
- We have the place to ourselves.
- Indeed. - That's great.
- For all three nights,
now may I just have a driver's license
and a credit card please?
- Oh, nope, I'm gonna pay with cash.
- Oh, yeah, of course, but that can wait till checkout.
It's just for incidentals.
- Oh, here, no sweat.
- There is a continental breakfast included,
but there are few dining options in the town nearby.
- We saw that driving through.
- Yes, so shall we add supper here?
- Why not? - Perfect.
And when are you expecting your new arrival?
- I'm only three months.
How did you know?
- The glow in your cheeks.
My dear departed mother delivered many babies,
so I've always had a sense about such things.
Now, shall I show you to your room?
- Wow. - Oh, now, let me help you
with some of those.
Baby on board. [chuckling]
[gentle instrumental music]
- How old is the house?
- Oh, it was built in 1848 by a wealthy merchant.
Mother took possession in 1945.
What do you do, Rae?
- I'm a journalist.
I mainly teach now. - Oh, how nice.
- City College. - Oh, very nice.
We're hoping for more media coverage.
The Mersey really is an undiscovered gem.
- Maybe you can write a travel piece.
- And what do you do, Liam?
Oh, sorry, Mr. Darrow.
- I write music, songs.
Occasionally I sell one.
I play in a band. - How fascinating.
I'll have to Google you.
- There is wireless, right?
I have no bars at all.
- Oh, yes, once you leave the town,
there's almost no coverage, but we have our own network.
The password's in the room.
[eerie instrumental music]
- Is the room to your liking?
- Yes, just dizzy from the stairs.
- [Monica] Here, to set a relaxing mood.
- Can we remove these please?
- Whatever for?
- These scents are chemical based.
If I'm breathing it, so is my baby.
- Well, of course, I'll take them with me.
Oh, and cocktails at seven.
Virgin, of course.
[eerie instrumental music]
[voices whispering]
- Don't volunteer me
to write a vacation fluff piece, please.
- What's the big deal?
I was just trying to--
- I was an award winning crime reporter.
I'm not ready to be busted down to weekend features.
- I thought we might get a discount.
- On my birthday?
That's nice.
- I know you don't love teaching,
so maybe there's a way that you can write again
without getting your flashes.
- It's PTSD, it's not menopause,
and I already have a therapist, thank you.
- Images, hallucinations, whatever.
I'm just trying to help.
- You're not help--
[gasping] [voices whispering]
[eerie instrumental music]
- What?
- Something just grabbed my leg.
- Oh, come on. - I'm not kidding.
- Peekaboo.
[groans]
I'm practicing. - Sorry.
I know I'm not easy.
I'm sorry, I'm just...
- Me too. - It's okay.
It's okay, thank you.
I'm gonna take a walk before dinner.
Collect myself. - Okay.
[gentle instrumental music]
- Don't stray off the path.
- Why not?
- Dark falls fast.
There's tangled alders for miles and sinkholes besides.
- That'd be a lousy way to spend my birthday weekend.
Thanks.
[eerie whispering]
[faint giggling]
[rattling]
[chuckling]
- Jesus.
[eerie instrumental music]
Hello, test, hello, hello.
[eerie voices]
[gasping]
- Something wrong, miss?
[gentle instrumental music]
- No.
- Your watch, is it gold?
- Gift from my parents.
Why are you asking?
- Enjoy your walk, miss.
- [Monica] Are we lost?
[chuckling]
- Just exploring.
The acoustics in here are wonderful.
- [Monica] Hmm.
- What is this device?
- It's a ghost box.
It's patterned after Thomas Edison's
for speaking to spirits of the dead.
- Get out of here, really?
- Supposedly a blue light bulb inside glows
with their presence.
- [Liam] 19th century social media for dead people.
- A toy for fun and games.
- If this room isn't occupied,
do you think I could use it to record some music?
I brought my keyboard.
It's out in the car.
I just don't think my wife will appreciate it
if I set that beast up in ours.
- Yes, I had noticed that she has certain sensitivities.
- You have no idea.
- Well, it's been a long time since we had any music
in the house.
I'm sure mother would be pleased.
- Well, thank you.
I've been lacking inspiration lately.
I promise I'll try not to be too loud.
- Oh, it's no bother at all.
In fact, it's nice to see you again.
- Thanks so much for the watch.
I'm fine.
Please don't worry.
I'm about as far from any crime scene
as you could imagine.
[faint speaking]
Mom, you're cutting out.
Yeah, okay.
Birthday Skype on Sunday.
Love you too.
[eerie instrumental music]
- I recognized your name when you made your reservation
and I removed this from the guest book.
- She must have signed it for both of us.
I didn't know.
- Lovely girl, the other one.
So young and full of life.
- That's over now.
I'm not proud.
I trust you'll be discreet.
- Of course.
- I love my wife.
[eerie instrumental music]
[eerie voices whispering]
[gentle instrumental music]
[eerie instrumental music]
[gentle piano music]
[voices whispering] [eerie instrumental music]
[tense instrumental music]
- Hello.
You gave me a fright.
- My baby.
- It may have been a local girl.
We hire them to do the laundry.
- [Rae] Oh, she wasn't carrying any.
She was in bare feet.
- Oh, well youth around here can be a little wild.
They sometimes use our woods as shortcuts.
It's a maze back there and dangerous.
- Mm, so I heard.
- Now, I have prepared a very healthy meal
from local produce with a French flair.
- Sounds delicious.
- Well, I lived most of my life in Europe.
Owned a little in there until I came home
to resurrect the Mersey.
[gentle instrumental music]
- What was this place before?
- Before what, dear?
- Before it was an inn.
- A private sanctuary for unwed mothers,
away from prying eyes and scandal.
My mother was the proprietress
and a highly renowned midwife.
- This was a maternity home?
- Isn't it apropos?
Mother Rose died in 1979.
She would have been 100 years old this year.
- To mothers, past and future.
- To mothers. - To mothers.
[eerie instrumental music]
- To mothers. - Mothers.
- Please, no! - Open your legs, slut!
[frantic whispering]
[anxious instrumental music]
[baby crying]
- [Monica] Mother delivered hundreds of babies in this house.
We found good homes for them all over the world.
- [Liam] You used to work with her?
- Well, only in the summers.
I was sent to England to boarding school.
- So, your mother made a lot of money at this?
- Well, in those days, private adoption was a fee service.
Parents and girls paid good money to avoid shame
and barren couples would pay well for a child of their own.
Ah, look, the Monticellos of Pittsburgh
adopted this little boy,
and the Swaines from Hartford took this girl.
- Where are the photos of the mothers?
- There are none.
Their identities were protected and secret
for their sake and the sake of the families.
The girls were given a pseudonym
the moment they arrived here.
Patience, Charity, Prudence.
- Faith. - Yes.
Their names still adorn the doors.
- False names. - Virtuous names
to set them on the proper path in life.
My mother, Rose, a proud Christian,
a leading businesswomen, she made and sold elixirs.
She was a self-taught herbalist, far ahead of her time.
- So why did it end?
- In the late '60s and early '70s,
mother ran into financial troubles.
Love children.
Illegitimacy was common, normal, even,
and then with birth control and abortion.
- Women owning their bodies.
- More enlightened times. - Mm.
- Can I interest you in some cake?
- Too much sugar.
I have enough trouble sleeping.
- Of course.
I'm a diabetic myself [chuckling].
- Wow, she sure loves her mom.
- I love this mom.
- Who left this? - Hmm?
- Blank journal. - Mm.
Another welcome gift.
- Well, we were with her the whole time.
- Not the whole time.
- It's blank but not new.
That's odd. - Mm.
You're a journalist.
She probably just wants you
to write a nice review, that's all.
It's sweet.
- I'm gonna take a bath.
- It's not too late, you know.
- We could wait a little while until you get better.
- Wait until when?
I'm 42 on Sunday.
Maybe there's no cure for what I have.
- What we have.
We're in this together, all right?
- Because of my condition,
there's a greater chance of something going wrong.
[gentle instrumental music]
[eerie instrumental music]
[rattling]
[gasps]
[speaks in foreign language]
[heart beating]
[breathing heavily]
Liam, there's a smell.
Something off.
[door creaking]
[coin rattling]
[eerie instrumental music]
[door creaking]
[footsteps thudding]
Mrs. Leeds?
[baby crying]
- My baby.
[breathing heavily]
[screaming]
[panting]
- Shh.
It's okay, baby.
Rae, it's just a nightmare.
- One inside another.
- [Liam] Are you okay?
- I don't think so.
[eerie instrumental music]
[bells chiming]
- Good morning.
Mr. Darrow, you left some of your musical gear
in the upstairs room.
- Right, I can run back up.
- No, no, later is fine, but please don't move any toys
out of the bedrooms.
Many of them are valuable antiques and they carry memories.
So, will you be breakfasting here?
- No, I think we're gonna explore the town
and the local diner.
- There's not much to see, I'm afraid,
although it is charming.
We do have a lovely old library.
- By the way, there's a peculiar smell,
there's something musty.
- Oh, there's some mildewed boxes in the basement.
I was planning to trash them this very weekend,
but with your booking, I...
I'll take care of them immediately.
- Thank you.
I guess the air fresheners were masking it.
- Yes, she's always like this.
[gentle instrumental music]
You barely touched your food.
- Yeah, I had a rough night.
I was dreaming and then I wasn't.
I was awake when I saw that girl again.
- What girl?
- Ever since we got there,
it's like two addicts who know each other without speaking.
It's like the house has what I have.
- The house has post traumatic stress.
- Yeah.
- You're like the least gullible person that I know.
- I was.
Did you notice anything there?
- No.
You really are spooked.
We're going to church.
- [Rae] Um, not quite.
- Wow, you're really found party central.
- Maybe I just need to relax.
Libraries relax me. - I know.
- You go explore. - Explore what?
This is it.
Good morning.
- Friendly town.
[eerie instrumental music]
- [Talbot] Where do you want it?
- [Monica] You know.
- It won't stay there.
- Do it!
[gentle instrumental music]
[voices whispering]
- We've come a long way, baby.
[tense instrumental music]
[baby crying]
- My baby.
- Can I help you find something?
- Do you have more information on this place?
It's called the Mersey Inn now.
We're staying there.
- No.
- Thank you.
- What's wrong?
- Give me that journal.
- What's going on?
- Just about to tell you.
Mother's fear. - What?
- [Rae] Mother's fear.
- You're not gonna speak to our innkeeper
about any of this?
- I knew she was overselling it.
- Wait, wait, wait.
- I know it.
- You read an article, that's all.
Whatever she was or wasn't, it doesn't matter.
The mom is long dead.
This is a vacation.
- This is a story.
- One that's already been written.
- What if it wasn't the truth?
- [Liam] Rae.
Rae!
- [Monica] Did you enjoy our little town?
- Yes, it was educational.
- Ah, good.
Oh, and I removed the source of that odd smell.
It won't bother you anymore.
- Thank you.
- And by the way, the weather's calling
for some thunderstorms to come through this area.
This old house tends to creak and groan in such weather.
It's as though it doesn't like loud noises.
[laughing] - That's funny.
Neither do I.
[tense instrumental music]
Memo for entitled story.
I knew there was something
about those photo albums last night.
The babies were all too perfect.
What happened to the others?
[phone buzzing]
- Bullshit.
Enough.
[tense instrumental music]
[chuckling]
More bullshit.
- No one would ever go on record.
Rose spent a fortune on lawsuits,
always staying one step ahead.
[Skype ringing]
[knocking on door]
- Hello.
May I enter?
I'm just checking to see whether you have enough towels.
- Yeah.
- Oh, oh my.
Is that your child?
- Mhm, a girl, they think.
It's too early to be sure.
- Isn't technology wonderful?
It would have been such a boon for mother,
being able to determine the child's sex
and bone structure.
- Sale-ability.
- Place-ability.
Parents have very high expectations as you know.
What a little angel you have growing inside you.
Huh, have you felt her move yet?
- No.
[gentle piano music]
- [Liam] Genius.
[static] [voices whispering]
- [Woman] Oh, this place.
[eerie instrumental music]
[groaning]
[grunting]
- [Ghostly Voice] Liam.
- [Rae] Liam?
- Wow, for a second, I thought we we're just going
to have some fun.
- I'll tell you more on the path.
- So you're really back in action
after everything the doctor said to you.
- I'm trying to heal, Liam.
To be who I was, who I really am.
- You've tried exposure therapy before.
It didn't work.
- Everything that's happened to me since yesterday evening,
the images I saw, this girl I saw, they're not mine.
They belong to this place.
What if I was meant to tell this story?
Maybe because of my illness, I'm more receptive.
Maybe it's because I'm about to become a mother.
I don't know.
This is the next step.
[phone ringing]
[eerie instrumental music]
- [Monica] Hello, Mersey Inn.
- [Woman] Good morning, Monica.
How are you? - Oh, hello.
Yes, yes, apparently we're going
to get some weather this evening.
- Monica, one of your current guests was in making inquiries
about the Mercy Home.
- Sinkholes.
I don't believe this. - Me neither.
- I mean you.
I don't believe you.
We're not doing this.
- I'm doing it.
You don't have to.
- Okay, this is barbed wire
and you are fucking pregnant, Rae.
- I'm supposed to exercise during the first trimester.
If you'd read the books, you'd know that.
- [Liam] What's that supposed to mean?
- It means I'm not downhill skiing or playing hockey.
I'm just squeezing through a fence.
Will you help me or not?
- What do you expect to find?
- Remains.
- Awesome.
Is all of this worth the risk?
To us?
- They didn't have an us.
They didn't have anyone.
- Wait, just wait.
I got ya.
You know I paid 600 bucks for this.
- And I love you for it.
- Do you know how many gigs that is for me?
We better not get kicked out.
- We won't.
[thunder rumbling]
[tense instrumental music]
It's like there was a trail here
but it's all grown over.
- Check your phone.
Do you have a signal?
- No signal.
- Let's go back.
- You stay here, okay?
Within sight of the bench, and you keep calling my name
so I know where you are.
Don't worry!
I'm fine.
- You know where the worst place
to be during a thunderstorm is, right?
- 10 more minutes, that's all.
[thunder rumbling]
[gentle instrumental music]
Liam! - Rae!
- I'm fine!
It is a trail!
To somewhere.
Liam!
- Rae!
Rae!
- Liam!
[thunder crackling]
- Fuck this.
[eerie instrumental music]
[gentle piano music]
Rae!
[eerie instrumental music]
[gentle piano music]
This is so fucked.
[static]
[eerie voices whispering]
[eerie instrumental music]
[baby crying]
[tense instrumental music]
- [Rose] "And the Lord said Suffer the little children
who come unto me and forbid them not."
[tense instrumental music]
- [Ghostly Voice] Wouldn't you like to punch that troublesome bitch
in the stomach.
[heart beating]
- You moved.
[gentle piano music]
[thunder rumbling]
[suspenseful music]
[baby crying]
Liam!
[metal slicing]
[suspenseful music]
- You can't be here.
- Is that what I think it is?
- Miss Leads liked strong drink.
- What's back there? - Go home...
To the city.
- It's a burial site.
I won't tell Miss Leeds you broke her rules.
Just don't ever come here again.
[gentle instrumental music]
- It started to pour rain.
I came back here to call the search and rescue
for Christ's sake. - I know what I saw.
- How do you know what you're seeing
is not just in your head?
- This is not in my head.
You're not in my head.
Why can't you trust me?
- Why can't you just let this lie?
- Because this whole place is a fucking lie.
This facade is a lie.
- Being here is not good for you.
- That's not true.
I'm stronger here.
I have a purpose again.
I never even felt a connection to our child until I--
until I saw-- - It's not good for us.
I am...
- What?
- I want to go home.
- I can't.
- How's your food?
- It's great, I love this salad.
- Made with wild mushrooms, picked fresh in our own woods.
- [Liam] Excellent.
[eerie instrumental music]
- You know, I heard that the house and your mother
were often investigated.
- Indeed.
And always exonerated.
- But there were deaths here.
Many. - It's true.
Some died.
It was always very painful for mother.
She tried her best on her own to care
for those poor girls with no support
from the medical establishment.
- Were some poor, really?
- Asked the heiress.
- Oh, of course.
They paid their way by working
as cooks and nurses, housemaids.
Mother never refused anyone in need.
- Rae. - Some of those girls
had been trying to abort themselves with coat hangers
and lead pencils when mother gave them refuge.
I assure you, more babies died in city hospitals
and abortion clinics than ever died in the Mersey.
- I'm just asking.
I'm not accusing.
- My dear, perhaps your illness
is making you more imaginative.
- Pardon?
- You were so esteemed as a reporter.
All those crimes...
What happened?
- I was too young
for what I was seeing every other day.
I stopped believing good was stronger,
and then...
Anything can get in.
- Poor child.
Mother Rose also dealt with more than her share
of cruel humanity.
The men in the hospitals were threatened
by what she was doing.
Oh, the lies they told.
Infant mortality, trying to bully her out of business.
Oh, they hated the idea of a successful woman.
The town rallied around her.
No girl who ever birthed here, not one, mind you,
ever testified to any wrongdoing.
It drove mother to heartbreak.
She died of a lack of appreciation.
- I never considered it that way.
- Almost no one did.
The whole town is trying to put it behind us.
I implore you not to open old wounds.
- You know, she's got a point.
- I can't shake these feelings.
I couldn't have been imagining that.
Oh God, I'm not fucking crazy.
- This house is not haunted.
You are haunted.
Tomorrow's our last day.
It's your birthday.
No working, okay?
Promise me.
- I promise.
I'll try.
- Maybe I'll play you my song.
[eerie instrumental music]
[eerie voices whispering] [babies crying]
- Liam, wake up.
Listen.
Liam.
[gentle piano music]
[faint giggling] [baby crying]
- Shh, it's just a storm.
[gentle piano music]
[anxious instrumental music]
- Who are you?
- [Ghost] Play for us.
- What do you want me to play?
[eerie voices whispering]
[tense instrumental music]
[gentle instrumental music]
- [Faith] To whoever may find this,
I arrived here May 8th, 1973 against my will
withdrawn from school.
- [Rae and Faith] My parents refused to accept me
and my unborn child.
I know I have brought disgrace upon them.
- [Faith] My name here is called Faith.
One of the many who have gone by this name at the Mercy.
If I or my child should die here,
this will our be our testament.
None of the girls are permitted writing material or pencils
or to send any letters home.
I received this journal from the serviceman.
He's kind to me, though helpless,
as we all are against Mother's madness.
I stole lemon juice to write these words.
[woman yelling]
May God forgive me.
There are no safe hiding places.
It is late summer, thunder outside.
Newborns are bawling from the noise
but their mothers aren't permitted to console them,
or even to touch them.
In the nursery, Rose screams at them,
but they will not stop.
- [Woman] My baby! [crying] [Rose] Whores! And the offspring of whores!
- [Faith] Our hearts and spirits are broken.
- Pray against the evil you've brought to this house.
[ghostly voices whispering]
- No I couldn't.
Everybody thinks about it.
[laughing]
- [Faith] Another dead, a negro girl
given the name of Charity
delivered a beautiful coffee-colored boy of mixed race.
Mother Rose ordered it fed only molasses and water.
It's starving cries pierced my heart.
I began feeding him in secret.
Today he died of crib suffocation.
I have no doubt what occurred.
-My baby.
[discordant piano music]
[Liam laughing]
- [Liam] You're gonna feel a little pressure.
[chuckling]
- What are you doing?
What is this?
- It's a working title.
I think I've got a real winner here.
Just listen.
You don't like it.
- Look at that.
Look at that.
It was written with lemon juice.
It's invisible until you hold it to heat.
I can read it now. - Ooh, ooh.
- You don't want to hear what I found?
Terrible things happened here.
- Sure, because you don't wanna hear
about what I'm doing,
but the fact that I could be a real composer
instead of a jingle writing, cover playing hack...
But my music is not important, is it?
It's just something I'm supposed to fucking grow out of
now that I'm about to be a daddy.
- I never said that.
- I see the way you look at me
when I can't ever use my credit card
because I don't have any money 'cause I'm not a trust fund,
silver spoon society snob like you,
but still, it's cut down on your out of town gigs, Liam.
I need you to be home more.
There's just no fucking pleasing you is there?
- I never said any of those things.
- Because you like me in your shadow
because you're so consumed,
with being a hot shot, big time reporter again.
Oh, and let's not forget your little condition.
- Poor Liam.
Your meal ticket has a price.
Stop talking like a fool.
- You fooled me.
You waited for me to fall in love with you
before telling me what a fucking mess you are,
and now we're gonna have a baby,
which I never wanted,
that stands a brilliant chance of being deformed
or fucking retarded 'cause you're so fucking old.
- You were right, this place isn't good for us.
Let's just pack and leave.
- No, no.
I've shown you the utmost patience, Rae.
So, it would be very, very prudent of you
to show a little fucking charity toward what I'm doing.
[tense instrumental music]
[baby crying]
- [Faith] October 12th, 1973, I am under suspicion.
I fear for my life and that of my unborn son.
Feeling deep in my heart he is a boy,
I have been barred from the kitchen
and now work in the laundry.
I use my own wastewater to write this
while another girl weeps in labor down the hall.
The only drugs used are Mother's homemade elixirs.
The pain is meant to purge our wayward natures.
I believe she puts drugs in our food
to aid with our submission and obedience.
Today, a girl in labor had her legs tied together
to prevent birth because Rose was eating her dinner.
It is said sometimes she eats the afterbirth,
believing it a restorative for her own health.
I was forced to assist
as Rose performed a Caesarian section.
The butcher's work will haunt me till I die.
Both the mother and child have disappeared.
This place has become an abattoir.
[tense instrumental music]
[knocking on door]
- Who's there?
- Happy birthday.
I'm so sorry.
Can we go home now?
- I need your help.
Can you help me tomorrow?
One more day please.
- Oh, good morning.
Will you be having Sunday brunch this morning?
- Oh, no, thank you.
Not much of an appetite.
- Oh, and Rae?
- She's not feeling well either.
She actually took a trip to the drugstore.
- Oh, well, nothing serious, I hope.
Oh, what a shame on her special day.
- It's normal.
She'll be fine.
- And will you be?
I'm sorry, I couldn't help overhearing the two
of you arguing last night.
[somber instrumental music]
- I apologize.
- Oh, there's no need.
Marriage is hard and it's certainly not for everyone.
- What do you mean?
- All your problems can be solved.
[bells chiming]
- Hi.
I'd like to speak to someone about the Mersey Inn.
- Is this a criminal complaint?
- I don't know yet.
May we speak privately please?
- [Sergeant] I used to read your stories in the city paper.
- [Rae] Thanks for speaking to me.
- [Sergeant] I'm not speaking to you.
Understood?
- Yes.
- For a lot of years, the Mercy Home was the pride
of this county.
When we started hearing the other side,
many wouldn't believe it.
Still can't.
Rose Leeds is dead.
Whatever happened or didn't happen.
- What about her daughter, Monica?
Could she have been involved?
- All I know she was birthed in Boston.
No local hospital was good enough
for a child of Rose herself.
Sent her to boarding schools overseas.
She was never questioned in my investigation.
- You were part of that investigation?
- What we heard, it started with the babies of mixed race,
or if the babies were born with health problems,
harder to sell for adoption.
She knew she'd have to feed them.
- That cut into her profits
while she was greasing politicians to keep you out of there.
- Not always.
We went in once after an anonymous call
that a newborn had it's head bashed in against a door,
allegedly by Rose herself.
We took samples off every door in the house.
We never found a trace.
- I've seen it.
I know which door.
- [Monica] Perhaps you'd feel more comfortable
in mother's room tonight.
- Huh?
- The one you're so fond of,
where you do your composing.
Mother loved to be amongst the girls.
She was most vigilant.
I could put a bed in for you.
You'll sleep like a baby.
- We're not getting separated or anything.
It was just a fight.
- Of course. - There's been a lot
of pressure lately.
- Perhaps we can help relieve it.
- What if I was to find a written testimonial
from one of the girls?
- Alive?
- I don't know.
I don't think so, but I'm fairly certain the children
are buried in the woods behind the house.
There are even markers.
I saw a bone.
I have pictures.
- Even if we found bits of bone,
it'd be next to impossible to prove murder.
- There must be something, some way to connect.
- Trust me.
This whole thing is best left alone.
- What would it take to reopen this case?
- A witness.
A living witness.
- [Monica] Your wife has returned.
- I should go upstairs, pack up my instruments and my gear.
We're checking out tomorrow.
- You buried them.
- I don't know what you're talking about.
- How many?
How many children?
- Close the door.
- How could you?
- Rose was my older sister.
- [Ghostly Voice] Gut her like a pig.
Dirt, sin, dirt.
Bitch, bitch, dirt.
[ghostly voices whispering]
- She always said they were going straight to Heaven.
They'd have toys and music,
but now I don't think that's true.
- Was your niece Monica, was she involved?
- The girls were like prisoners, and me as well.
If the babies were marked in any way...
I'm just as guilty.
- That's not for me to decide.
- I'm damned to Hell is what I am.
- But you can help them.
You can help me.
- Sometimes they had some breath still in them
and sometimes before they were buried,
she made me take their...
[sobbing]
- I don't understand.
- This place called you back.
It uses people and it wants to finish what I couldn't.
[baby crying] [ghostly voices whispering]
Almost as soon as I saw you, I knew.
- What?
- You don't like small places, do you?
Never have, right?
- How do you know that?
- You were only underground a couple minutes, I swear.
The others were awake.
They wouldn't let me.
I couldn't anyway.
Your mother was kind to me.
And you were so small.
You had the litter dipper on your left wrist.
It was 42 years ago tonight.
Today is your birthday.
- What you're saying is impossible.
- I got you to someone who knew people in Montreal.
A rich couple wanted baby with no fuss about it.
- I'm not adopted.
You're confusing me with someone else.
This is fucking insane.
- I named you after your mother Rachel.
Baby Rae, ray of light in a dark place.
I guess your new parents liked it.
- It can't be true.
- Your mother was smart with words.
A writer, like you.
I gave her the scribbler.
I hid it for her.
- This is...
This isn't happening.
- Couldn't you read her pages?
- No, this isn't happening.
I don't believe it.
I won't.
- The basement is off the kitchen.
- No. - The key is there.
[anxious instrumental music]
[speaks in foreign language]
- [Faith] My baby.
- Welcome back.
- I know I was gone awhile.
I'm sorry.
I need you to keep distracting her.
Please, I have a lot to tell you,
but I just can't yet.
- Are you not staying for dinner?
- Can you make an excuse for me?
I love you.
- I love you too.
- Glory be to God.
Thank you for looking after her all these years.
Help her to survive this night.
[suspenseful music]
[grunting]
Shall I, amidst a ghastly band Dragged to the judgment-seat
- Were you ever going to tell me?
- It was to protect you,
to give you the best possible chance in life.
- I'm 42 years old today, mom.
- Far on the left with horror stand
- It's because I loved you too much.
I never wanted to share.
- Just tell me, where was I born?
- You're my baby, Rae.
That's all anybody needs to know.
- Mom, where did you buy me from?
- A private hospital in...
- Fuck.
Fuck.
- Shall we have some wine before dinner?
- Rae won't be joining us.
- Oh, she's still ill?
Oh, what a shame.
I decorated the parlor for her special day.
[eerie instrumental music]
- [Ghostly Voice] Time to wash the sheets.
[breathing heavily]
[clock chiming]
[tense instrumental music]
- [Monica] Wonderful, Liam.
You're very talented.
- I'm a hack.
I can barely make a living playing music,
let alone writing it.
My age, I should be-- - Free to hone your art.
- Doing better is what I meant to say.
[gentle piano music]
I remember starting this, but I didn't finish it.
- Well, of course you did.
Have you considered the offer?
[tense instrumental music]
- Something happened here.
- Whatever do you mean?
- Something evil.
Your mother.
- My mother?
- Yes.
- I can assure you, if there is an evil in this house,
it is male.
- In the basement, medical gear.
Looks primitive even for the '70s.
Bottles, full of elixirs, I suppose.
A home chemist with living people to experiment on.
That musty smell, it's back.
- Once, mother had a gentleman caller.
Handsome, like you.
A young stranger.
The local lads buzzed around this place like gadflies,
but mother was not a comely woman.
None ever chose her,
but he did.
[eerie instrumental music]
Shall we dance?
He plied her with wine.
Blood was in her cheeks and music...
He whispered in her ear.
- What?
- Promises. Secrets
[faint speaking]
- [Liam] Yes.
- The stranger twirled her on the dance floor.
That night, that night, he...
He took her like an animal.
In the morning, he was gone.
How she yearned...
How she prayed.
But only the evil remained.
Her child.
- You.
- A boy.
Simon Joseph, the devil's own son.
She was poisoned after that.
With sin!
Her mind, the child, she prayed,
but her prayers were evil.
Still how she pined for the handsome man.
[eerie instrumental music]
- [Talbot] I named you after your mother, Rachel.
Baby Rae, ray of light in a dark place.
- But fatherhood is not for everyone, is it Liam?
- What happened to your brother?
- It wasn't...
It wasn't human.
His little feet weren't feet at all.
[baby crying]
- What did Rose do?
- [Rose] That evil shall not enter here!
[tense instrumental music] [head thudding]
[babies crying]
- She did what was necessary.
Will you, Liam?
- [Faith] The pains have begun.
I pray to live through this day,
but fear we will see the black veil.
If we should die, I here give my name for all to know
and pray the truth may somehow find the light of day.
Rachel Elizabeth Morgan and child.
[suspenseful music]
[baby crying]
[screaming]
[baby crying]
- It keeps coming back.
[tense instrumental music]
It won't stay buried.
- Neither will I.
- So troublesome, like the bitch who bore you.
And the supply is getting short.
- What are you talking about?
- Distilled of impurities from the lesser races,
Mother Rose discovered a way of gradually restoring youth
by injecting the blood of newborns.
It was miraculous&to be someone...
- Don't come any closer.
- Someday that someone might love.
- What your mother did, you won't hide it forever.
- But my dear, I already have.
You see...
I am my mother.
[laughing]
[eerie instrumental music]
[crying]
- Is she? - Not yet.
The doses have to be given at intervals,
otherwise it could show up in her bloodstream.
[Rae grunting]
Untraceable and it keeps the fetus alive.
[grunting]
[yelling]
- Mom, mother, mother...
Please...
- [Rachel] My baby.
[baby crying]
[tense instrumental music]
- Wait.
What do you want with it?
- Well, what do you care?
You never wanted it anyway.
- No, that's not true.
- It's my business.
Now you can fuck your slut and play your music
and enjoy whatever insurance money might come.
You're free.
What every man wants.
- No.
There'll be an autopsy.
They'll see.
- The condition predisposes her to stroke.
That's what it'll look like.
- I don't have to be here for this.
[laughing]
- Just like a man.
- Car keys.
Car keys.
[tense instrumental music]
[suspenseful music]
[screaming]
♪ Abide with me.
[baby crying]
[screaming]
♪ The darkness deepens
♪ Oh with me abide
- Where are you, dear?
[tense instrumental music]
You shouldn't be out of bed.
[screaming]
[crying]
- Run to the woods.
Hide till morning.
- There's nowhere to go, dear.
I have your car keys.
[suspenseful music]
[breathing heavily]
♪ Shall I amidst a ghastly dark ♪
♪ Dragged to the tragic sea ♪
♪ Far on the left in horror stand ♪
♪ My fateful due to meet
[screaming]
- I'm sorry for everything.
- Stay back!
- She drugged me. - Get away from us.
- I have been wrong about so many things.
- Don't fucking touch me.
Don't you fucking touch me.
- I will, I will...
I love you.
I love you and I love our baby.
Please believe me.
[gasping]
[screaming]
- I hope you've enjoyed your stay, Liam,
because now, you're with us forever.
[screaming]
And the Lord said, "Suffer the little children
and forbid them not to come unto me,
for of such is the kingdom of Heaven."
[laughing]
[breathing heavily]
This is where it should be.
Where I thought you were buried years ago.
You should have stayed dead.
- Don't!
[crying]
- Save yourself.
Good night, sister Rose.
[thudding]
[tense instrumental music]
[breathing heavily]
[baby crying]
[screaming]
- It's okay.
You're safe.
Your mother started to call nonstop.
You got cut off.
She was afraid maybe something...
What happened here?
- My mother...
♪ Soft the drowsy hours are creeping ♪
[thudding] [yelling]
♪ I my loved ones watch am keeping ♪
[faint singing]
- [Rose] I'll see you in Hell!
[somber instrumental music]
- The medics were just here.
- Is my baby alive?
- Perfectly fine, they said.
[sighs]
- A miracle.
- They're gonna airlift you to the city.
It's on its way.
- My phone, it's in the basement,
and there's a journal.
- We're down there now.
We'll find everything.
This time, we will.
- Thank you.
- It's good to have you back.
- Baby Rachel.
If you're a girl, that's your name.
A boy...
The basement!
[suspenseful instrumental music]
[screaming]
[tense instrumental music]
[moves into gentle instrumental music]