Nicely done, Picasso. You're a real artist!
[laughs] I know, right?
- Completely self-taught. - [laughs]
[narrator] A family fixes up their 100-year-old farmhouse.
[screaming]
There's a man in there.
She keeps seeing this man who walks into the closet, and she's frightened.
[narrator] Awakening angry spirits from its past...
- You're my wife! - I'm sorry!
I'll cut you.
No, no, not like this.
[narrator] ...still hellbent on settling a score.
Mr. Henry, will you leave this house?
He says no.
"Burn it all down."
[glass shatters and fire roars]
[narrator] In this world,
there is real evil.
[girl] Someone's in my room.
[narrator] It lurks in the darkest shadows.
Between what we see, and the things we fear,
there are doors.
When they are opened,
nightmares may come reality.
Rural Rutland, Massachusetts.
A bucolic backdrop for the centuries of history
simmering just beneath the surface.
It's here that Jack and Kelly Mullin
have been hard at work,
renovating their old farmhouse.
Jack grew up in the house,
and with these new changes,
they want to make it their own.
They had hoped to get everything done
before their new baby arrived.
But they didn't quite make it.
- Hey, babe. - Shh!
I just got Emma down for a nap.
Sorry, sorry. [chuckles]
[sighs]
What do you think?
Nicely done, Picasso. You're a real artist!
[laughs] I know, right?
- Completely self-taught. - [laughs]
In the beginning, we basically got it down to the studs,
and we started all the renovation process.
I mean, it's amazing how big this place is
since we took the walls down.
Not bad for a 100-year-old place.
Mmm-hmm.
The house has a ton of history.
The house was built in 1901.
His family had a farm.
Once we're finished here, we can start on the upstairs.
As you wish.
[narrator] A handful of years later,
they're still at it.
Jack is often at work to pay for the renovations.
[Kelly] Right, sweetie, okay.
Got it?
[narrator] On a beautiful New England day,
Kelly and Emma return home from errands
to make a startling discovery.
[Kelly laughs] Okay, you can have a Popsicle.
But just one.
- Yeah, I want a purple one! - Okay.
Momma?
I told you, you can have one!
[Kelly] When I walked into the kitchen,
I stopped a minute, and it scared me.
I really couldn't believe, like, what was happening,
and I said, "Someone has to be in here."
Emma.
- But I want... - Shh.
Hold still.
[Kelly] All the drawers and doors were open.
It was terrifying.
[cell phone rings]
Hi, yeah, this is Kelly Mullin.
I need you to check my security system records
and see if it went off at all today.
No?
You're sure?
Okay.
Thanks.
I called my husband right away,
and I told him what had happened,
and I said, "You know, I'm kind of afraid
to be in the house alone."
Let's go.
"I can't explain why all this...
the doors and drawers are open.
You know, did you come home,
were you looking for something?"
And he said, "I haven't been home all day,
I've been at work."
[narrator] Later, with Jack out of town,
Kelly holds down the fort.
[clock ticking]
[girl screaming]
Sweetie, what's wrong?
Hey, hey, hey, hey.
Hey, hey! You're okay.
You all right? Oh.
Shh. Mommy's here, you're okay.
I was woken up by Emma, screaming.
It was like, blood-curdling scream.
[sighs] You're all right.
What's wrong, baby?
There's a man in there.
She keeps seeing this man who walks into the closet and disappears.
And she's frightened of the man.
No, no, sweetie, no.
No, there's nobody in there.
Come on, let's get you back to bed.
[sighs]
Emma. Emma, look.
There is no one in there.
Okay, I'll show you.
[ragged breathing]
- Momma? - [laughs nervously]
See? We're good. We're good, okay?
Why don't you sleep with Mommy tonight, okay?
Yeah?
Okay.
Come on.
[sighs]
Jack and I talked about this,
but we figured she must be having a dream.
[creaking]
[narrator] The house grows relatively quiet for years.
But when Emma is in high school,
the activity reawakens.
[distorted whispering]
Mom?
[Emma] I remember waking up one night,
and sitting up in bed,
and I could feel that somebody was watching me.
Hello?
[floorboards creak]
[footsteps approaching]
[Emma] I turned and looked out
that little crack in between the door,
and there was somebody just peeking in from the hallway.
[breathes heavily]
It would definitely affect my ability to sleep,
because I would get
super-nervous and super-anxious
that somebody was going to come into my room,
and they were going to either hurt me
or try you, you know,
pull me down the hallway or something like that.
Ooh.
Let's go, Emma! You're gonna be late.
Ugh! I didn't get any sleep last night.
What time did you get back?
Mmm, not until after one. Why?
I thought I saw you in the hallway.
Guess I didn't.
[horn honks]
[Kelly] Oh, look!
It's Devon.
Mom, don't be rude!
Rude?
It's not my boyfriend honking at me from the car
instead of coming to the door.
Love you!
[laughs] Love you.
- Be home in time for supper. - Uh-huh.
[narrator] As the days and nights go by,
Emma is more and more aware of the unexplained presence.
[Emma] It's a nightly occurrence that you hear
somebody walking up and down the stairs
from the first floor to the second floor.
I have had a couple shadow people
on the second floor,
and it's just something that you'll kind of
catch out of the corner of your eye most of the time.
[narrator] Now convinced there's a spirit in the house,
she believes she may have found a way
to communicate with them.
Dowsing rods are a centuries-old tool for divination.
Is my name Emma?
I thought they were like the coolest thing that I had ever seen.
So I wanted to get a pair for myself.
'Cause I wanted to see if they'd actually work.
Yes!
Um, is my name Gianna?
Okay, that means no.
Is there someone in my room with me?
[creaking]
Is there someone in my room with me?
[narrator] Emma Mullin's dowsing rods
have just confirmed that she's not alone in her room.
She recalls the old man ghost from her childhood,
and presses the rods for answers.
Is there someone in my closet?
I said, is there someone in my closet?
[ghostly voice] Emma!
- [gasps] - [laughs]
Honey, there's no one in your closet.
Quit messing around.
Dad, oh, my gosh, you scared me!
And you're supposed to knock before you come in here!
The door was open.
[Emma] Whatever.
Quit messing around, supper's ready.
[creaking]
[snoring]
[narrator] Soon, Emma isn't the only one
experiencing the unexplained.
[Kelly] I have really bad seasonal allergies,
and I didn't wanna keep Jack awake,
so I decided I'd go sleep in the guest room.
[panting]
I just felt like someone was in there,
and almost hovering right over you,
watching your every move.
Oh, my Jesus!
[bangs on door]
I couldn't open the door.
I moved the handle, I tried lifting up on the door.
It's an old house, sometimes the door sticks.
But I tried and tried, and I couldn't open the door.
[breathing heavily]
Oh, my God.
[cell phone ringing]
Jack. Jack, it's me. Um, can you come get me?
Down the hall. I can't get out of the guest...
the guest bedroom.
I'm starting to panic, I'm having an all-out panic attack,
and just on the verge of tears.
[Jack] It's okay.
[groans with effort]
It must be stuck!
[groans]
Stand back.
[grunts]
I said, "I'll give it another try, one last time."
And the door opened on its own.
There is something in this room!
How am I gonna get out of here?
That was the last time I ever slept in that bedroom again.
[narrator] Later, when both parents were out of the house,
the activity escalates,
and Emma is home to face it, alone.
[Emma] I was on the first floor,
and I walked past the basement door.
It always has its deadbolt lock
because the main latch is broken,
so if we don't have it locked the door will just open
by itself.
[door unlocking and opening]
The basement is definitely really old.
The stairs are really creaky, old and rickety.
It has a weird energy about it.
[floorboards creaking]
[door locking]
[sighs]
[Emma breathes heavily]
[door slams open]
It sounded like somebody had run full force
and just slammed their whole body
up against the door.
The door shook, there was a loud bang.
[door rattling]
When you're alone, you don't expect
something like that to happen,
especially something that violent and aggressive.
And since there's really no way
for somebody to run up to the door
to get enough force to slam into it like that,
it's definitely something that I couldn't explain.
[creaking]
[footsteps approaching]
[rattling]
[creaking]
[narrator] Emma Mullin is home alone,
when disturbing noises come from her family's basement.
[screams]
[Emma] I remember his eyes.
They were really, like, sunken back in his head.
He had dark bags under his eyes,
and one of the creepiest smiles
that I've ever seen on anyone.
Um, so I have to tell you guys
about something kind of weird that happened last night
while I was home alone.
[narrator] When Jack and Kelly return home,
Emma confesses all that she's been experiencing.
It was...
It was terrifying, Mom.
Dad, I...
[narrator] It's a lot for Jack to take in,
since he grew up in the house,
and hadn't experienced anything he couldn't explain.
It's okay. It's okay, sweetheart, take your time.
[Kelly] I definitely was concerned for Emma's safety.
As a mother, I'm supposed to protect her.
And not being able to, it's hard to deal with.
I mean, you don't know
enough about the spirit world to know, can they hurt you?
Can they hurt my children?
[narrator] While Jack remains skeptical,
Kelly feels they need to act.
She contacts Brandie Wells,
a psychic from nearby New Hampshire,
who agrees to come to the house.
I am an empath first and foremost.
So all of my work, I feel it before I can even interpret it.
And as a clairvoyant, a psychic medium,
I really am on a mission to,
I guess I'd like to say...
show people that spirit is all around us.
Thank you so much for coming so quickly.
Of course, anything I can do to help.
So, this is the house.
[Brandie breathes heavily]
Are you all right?
Connor?
Face me, come down and face me like a man!
You coward!
You stole from me!
Connor!
I saw this man.
Was he old?
In a suit?
I've seen him too.
I talk to him sometimes.
Sweetie, you have such a special gift.
You're a sensitive.
How have you been communicating with the spirit?
Here, I'll show you.
[Brandie] I discovered that both Emma
and her mother, Kelly, were sensitives.
They didn't quite know how to use their abilities.
And I felt I was being called to help them.
I got these online and I started asking the spirit questions.
Sometimes he's in my room,
but most of the time, I feel him strongest in here.
[Brandie] There's a heaviness to this room.
Something bad happened here.
I can feel it.
[Emma] When Brandie went into the guest room,
she immediately could tell
that it was a very oppressive room.
Can I have some paper and a pen?
I'm gonna see if the spirit
would like to talk through my hands.
I use automatic writing, so I give my hand up to spirit.
[Kelly] It's really strange
to watch that kind of thing happen.
I mean, she seems like she's somewhere else,
but yet all these words
are being jotted down on a paper,
and she's not even looking at it.
Show yourself!
I see a name.
Henry.
He's so angry.
Betrayed by someone.
Connor.
Connor!
I know you're up here.
You coward!
Where are you?
He has a very dominating and overbearing energy.
He feels cheated.
Something about money.
I know you're up here.
Show yourself!
You coward!
You stole from me!
Open this door now!
[behind door] Just a minute!
Now, now hold on.
This isn't what you think.
But also something...
Something about his wife.
The more I channeled this man, the more I realized
his frustration, his anger.
He caught her.
[sobbing]
He caught her cheating on him with...
with Connor.
I knew it!
Vengeance is mine.
Someone has to pay.
I could feel
this energy getting stronger.
Um, it really was uneasy.
[woman] Edwin, no!
- I'm sorry. - I'll cut you.
- I'll cut you! - [woman whimpers]
I'll cut you!
[gasping]
- You're my wife! - I'm sorry!
I'll cut you.
[gasping] No. No, not like this!
I'm so sorry.
I didn't mean to.
I'll cut you!
[gasping]
- You're my wife! - I'm sorry!
I'll cut you.
[gasping] No. No, not like this!
I'm so sorry.
[narrator] Psychic, Brandie Wells,
is overcome during a vision in the guest room
at Kelly Mullin's home.
[Brandie gasps]
You're all right. Sit down, sit down.
[Kelly] When she said about the angry male in the closet,
a little light went on.
It was almost like, "Oh, jeez, you know,
that's what Emma's been talking about
all these years."
There was someone in the closet.
He walks into the closet.
He's angry, she's afraid of him.
And it was like Brandie hit the nail on the head.
Like, this... We know that she's seeing
what Emma has been seeing all along.
The spirit is very strong.
Mr. Henry is angry.
He has been betrayed by his wife.
I don't think I can do this alone.
I wanna bring a team in.
And together, we can solve this.
Great. Let's do it as soon as possible.
I'll call them.
I'll try to arrange a time.
They'd be coming from Maine.
So in the meantime,
I advise you to stay out of this room.
[narrator] Desperate for answers,
Kelly decides to do a little digging.
She stops by the historical society
to see if she can uncover the truth about her house.
May I help you?
Yes. I called earlier about any records
you might have on the old Mullin farmhouse.
Oh, yes. I just finished up.
I believe this is everything we have on your property.
Did you see anything, um, about somebody
named Henry?
Hmm, I don't...
That doesn't sound familiar.
I did find a deed from when a Mr. Connor owned the house.
[Kelly] Oh.
Oh my, you gotta be kidding me.
Oh, look, here's a Mr. Edwin Henry.
Looks like Connor had a large barn
he'd lease to area farmers for a fee.
See this last entry?
[Kelly] Oh, my God, Mr. Henry.
[softly] Wow.
The historical society actually came up with the name
Edwin Henry.
It was like it just clicked.
It's like, I can't even believe that
Brandie was able to come up with that name.
This is the man that seems to be in the closet
of the property that Mr. Connor owned.
-Brandie was right. -Look at this. Here's an article.
Looks like there was a fire in 1901.
It looks like the house was rebuilt.
You know, you won't find it in the files but I grew up around here,
and I've always been fascinated by your property.
Did you know, as the largest farmhouse in the area,
- your home was used for wakes? - Really?
What I hear is your root cellar was used to store the area dead.
When the ground was too hard to bury folks they had to wait until spring.
[laughs nervously] Well, no. I... I didn't know.
-Isn't that fascinating? Well, you hang tight. -[chuckles nervously]
- I'll go and make copies of everything. - Great. Thank you.
[narrator] Kelly is eager to get Mr. Henry out of her house.
While waiting for Brandie to get her team together,
she finds another investigator who suggests a more confrontational approach.
The investigator suggested that, you know,
it was time to take our house back from Mr. Henry.
You know, it was time to confront him.
I don't know about this, Mom.
Something doesn't feel right.
We need to get our house back. This is what they said we should do.
Testing, testing.
- Ghost to Maverick, 10-4. Over. - [both laugh]
Okay, I'm heading upstairs.
[narrator] The investigator suggests one person stay in the basement,
the foundation of the home, as an anchor,
while the other go to the most active spot.
[Kelly] The investigators recommend that
Emma go to the second floor guest room,
and I'm sitting in a chair in the basement.
[Emma] Okay, Mom, I'm in the guest room.
[Kelly] Is your candle still lit?
Uh-huh.
[Emma] I was completely terrified.
They were telling me to call out Mr. Henry
and try to claim back the house.
That's what I was going to do.
Okay. [clears throat]
- Are you ready to do this? - [radio crackles]
[Emma] Uh-huh.
This is our house.
We live here now and we've never done anything to hurt you.
[both] This is our land. We refuse to be scared.
You need to get out.
[Emma] And the minute that I said that,
any form of oppressive energy in that room
was nothing compared to how angry that that had made him.
He was just completely mad at me.
[gasps]
I feel something.
[Kelly] Let's say it again.
This is our house.
We live here now and we've never done anything to hurt you.
[both] This is our land. We refuse to be scared.
You need to get out.
- [banging] - [gasps]
Something is happening.
[Kelly] Emma. Say it louder.
[shouting] This is our house.
We live here now and we've never done anything to hurt you.
[both shouting] This is our land. We refuse to be scared.
[shouting] You need to get out.
[Kelly breathing heavily]
The candle blew out.
Are you okay?
[Emma] Mom, help!
[shouting] Emma!
[both shouting] This is our land.
We refuse to be scared.
You need to get out.
[Kelly breathing heavily] The candle blew out.
Are you okay?
[narrator] Kelly and Emma Mullen perform a ritual
to rid the house of Mr. Henry's angry spirit.
- [Emma] Mom, help! - [shouting] Emma!
I called him out and ended up getting attacked.
- [Emma coughing] - Oh, my God.
-[gagging] -Oh, God, sweetie. Come here. Come here.
I feel so sick. I feel sick.
He was so irate that night,
that he was going to do whatever he could to hurt me.
I had a stabbing pain in my back. I was very nauseous.
I kept throwing up.
- [gasping] - I know.
- [cell phone ringing] - Hi. Yes, I need an ambulance.
[narrator] Emma survives the night
but Kelly isn't taking any more chances.
She tells Brandie that Emma was attacked.
Brandie and the investigators quickly head to Massachusetts.
They need to deal with the spirit before it's too late.
This is Naomi and Steve. We want you to know that it's going to be all right.
We're gonna work together on this.
[Kelly] We were very pleased that they seemed so down-to-earth.
They brought a ton of equipment and they explained everything,
what it did, what it was for,
and how it would benefit our situation.
Thank you for allowing us in your home.
I know this can be overwhelming.
[Stephen] I am lead investigator,
founder of paranormal group S.T.U.R.S,
which stands for
Seeking The Unknown Realm Society.
We just want answers.
Did you get the files that I sent over from the Historic Society?
Yes, and that's where we'd like to begin.
Now, we know Mr. Henry is angry,
and he has a lot to be angry about.
But something is keeping him here.
Something is not letting him cross over.
We'd like to try the Estes method.
And we think that it might work best if we get Emma's help
since Mr. Henry is used to communicating with you.
Are you comfortable with that?
- Mmm. - [Kelly whispering] Okay.
- Yes. - Okay. Great.
We're going to set you up in the hallway,
and you call out if you hear anything.
[Kelly whispering] Come on. Let's go.
[Stephen] Estes experiment is when somebody wears
a set of noise-cancelling headphones.
They also wear a blindfold so they can't see or hear
where the question is coming from
or what the question was asked.
Okay. Sit back, sweetie.
[Stephen] They're hearing responses,
-whether words or phrases, -[indistinct radio chatter]
And the hopes is that, while we ask a question, they're giving us the response
that they don't know what the question was even asked.
In that moment it was strange. I didn't know if it would really work.
- So, what are you going to do? - We are going to be asking some questions
to see what we can learn about what's going on in your house.
I'll be using these dowsing rods
to ask for validation to simple "yes" and "no" questions.
If the dowsing rods stay apart or go wide that's a "no".
If they cross together it's a "yes".
And we're hoping Emma can hear the spirit talking to her.
Is everyone ready?
Mr. Henry... are you in this room?
Do you feel that you've been wronged by someone?
Mr. Henry, did your wife cheat on you? 5
[indistinct radio chatter]
I heard something. It just said, "Bitch."
When we get that response that's amazing.
It's almost... allows us to have a conversation in real time with the spirit.
[shouting] Connor! Show yourself!
Connor, I know you're up there!
Mr. Henry, please tell me what's keeping you here.
- [indistinct radio chatter] - Money.
[shouting] Face me! Come down and face me like a man.
You coward! You stole from me.
Connor!
- [grunts] - [glass breaking]
-[indistinct radio chatter] -[Brandie] He's really angry. I can see there's a fire.
[gasps] There was a fire in 1901
and nobody knows how it started.
Brandie said she felt a fire. She could smell it in the air.
She felt the fire in the house.
It's burning.
Everything is burning.
Brandie was communicating with Mr. Henry
and he let her know that, "that son of a bitch" owed him a bunch of money
and that the house fire was no accident.
Mr. Henry, will you leave this house?
He says, "no."
"Burn it all down."
[shouting] Connor, you son of a bitch, I know you're up there.
Coward!
We need to get him out of here. He's coming your way.
[shouting] Connor! I know you're up here.
You coward! Where are you?
- No! Look out! - [growls]
We need to get him out of here.
He's coming your way!
[narrator] Paranormal investigator Naomi Clark
finds herself in the crosshairs of an angry spirit.
Mr. Henry, will you leave this house?
He says, "No."
- No! Look out! - [growls]
[Naomi] At that moment, I felt on the back of my neck
a very strong pressure and it really surprised me.
I was shocked, and it made me move,
and I'm like, "Something just touched me."
- [gasps] - Are you okay? What happened?
I don't know. Something tried to grab me.
Any time spirits or energy starts touching people,
or leaving marks, or moving objects
it gets concerning.
[inhales] I'm all right. I'm okay.
- [sighs] - I think we need to regroup.
I believe we're dealing with a few things happening at your home.
Now, Mr. Henry obviously has a very strong attachment to your home.
He doesn't want to cross over because something is keeping him here.
Pretty sure it's hate keeping him here.
[sighs softly] But my family's been here for years.
How come we've never seen anything before?
There are many things that can stir up old spirits.
Have you ever made any changes to the house? Even minor ones?
[Jack] We tore down a couple of walls.
[Kelly] And that was when we first started seeing things.
Steve and Naomi let us know that, you know,
by renovating our home we may have actually
stirred up some of the spirits in the house.
- But that was years ago. - Yeah, but then Emma started noticing things
and finally told us what was going on.
Adolescence, puberty, Emma growing up can trigger activity.
Plus, Emma is gifted and sensitive to such things now.
Well, what do we do about it? Can we live here in peace?
I have an idea I believe may work.
In addition to him being angry about his wife's infidelity,
we think that Mr. Henry believes that he was financially wronged
and can't be at peace until he's repaid.
[Kelly] So, we felt in order to appease Mr. Henry
we had to pay him the money that was owed to him.
So we decided that we would write a check
and put a bottle of whiskey in the closet.
[Emma] The house definitely changed after we left him an offering.
[floorboard creaking]
He's still very much there and he's present,
but he's not as angry anymore.
-Okay. -[Kelly] So, when your child's little
and they bring up things about spirits or "man's in the closet".
You kind of, you look at 'em and you think, "Well, that's weird."
You know, "Why would she say that?"
There's a man in there.
And I was kind of just brushing it off as, "Oh, it's just imagination.
It's child's play. It's a dream or whatever."
And now I can say is, you know, when your kids say something like that
maybe pay attention. [laughs]