MARX: Last year, Father Thomas died of natural causes.
A week ago, monks heard
humming coming from his tomb.
The monastery opened the crypt and found him like this.
The Vatican wants to consider Father Thomas
for sainthood, but they need two things first.
DNA evidence that this is true incorruptibility.
No decay. And evidence
-of a second miracle. -So you need us to go get it.
Yes.
[wind whistling]
[door opens]
[door creaks shut]
[Kristen exhales]
[exhales]
[wind whistling]
♪
[crow cawing]
♪
[keys jangling]
[door opens]
[metal creaks]
♪
[screams]
[rodents squeaking quietly]
[water dripping softly]
[lantern thuds softly]
[scissors snipping]
[stylus tapping]
[David exhales]
[bird chirping]
[coughs]
[glass rattling]
[bottles clanking]
♪
[bottle thuds softly]
[cork squeaks into bottle]
[glass thuds]
[coughing]
[laughs]
[woman chuckles]
[zipper rasps]
[chair scrapes]
♪
[Fenna exhales]
[Kristen laughs]
[whiskey splashes]
[bottles clink]
[laughs]
[chuckles softly]
[bird chirping]
[Kristen chuckles softly]
[Fenna exhales]
[Kristen chuckles softly]
♪
[Fenna breathes deeply]
[plastic flaps]
[stylus tapping]
[Fenna chuckles softly]
[floor creaking softly]
♪
[dripping quietly]
[stylus tapping]
♪
[Kristen grunts]
[Kristen laughs]
[both laughing]
[Kirsten laughing]
[footsteps approaching]
[bucket handle clatters]
[gauze rustling]
[Kristen hiccups]
[exhales, sniffs]
♪
[whispering]: I don't think the miracle is real.
[whispering]: The stigmata?
-Why? -Her hands.
She uses the wheelbarrow all day.
This is what happened when I did it for five minutes.
-BEN: Hmm. -DAVID: What about the incorruptibility?
-The body? -[whispering]: I'll go back tonight
and, uh, collect calcification from the crypt.
There may be something in the clay
that preserved the body naturally.
Winston wrote me the story
about the cabinet in Father Thomas's cell.
What cabinet?
This large locked cabinet in Thomas's cell.
It was discovered on this spot a hundred years ago,
and the monastery was built around it to keep it safe.
To keep it from opening.
What do you mean, "keep it"?
Monks like Thomas have been watching it since the '30s
to keep the cabinet closed.
Why? What's in it?
A demon that wants to destroy the world.
That's why the silence. The legend goes
that if even one word is spoken within the monastery walls,
the demon will be out.
And if he's out, he can never be recaptured.
Sounds like a story to scare new monks.
But doesn't anybody ever say anything,
like, or just scream out something in their dreams?
They put gags in their mouth when they sleep.
-You're kidding. -No.
And they expect us to do the same tonight.
They want us to put gags in our mouth?
Yes.
And they're very serious about it.
You can't say a word in there
or you will release a demon.
♪
[dripping quietly]
♪
[door opens]
[gauze rustling]
[hisses quietly]
[chair scrapes]
[stylus tapping]
[door creaks]
[chair thuds]
♪
[footsteps approaching]
[floor creaking]
[rustles]
♪
[footsteps approaching]
♪
[stylus tapping]
♪
[door creaks loudly]
[footsteps departing]
[wind whistling]
[wolf howling]
[exhales]
[scratching continues]
[deep humming]
[humming]
[camera clicking]
[humming grows louder]
♪
[panting]
[grunts]
[metal creaks]
[inhales sharply]
[panting]
[fire crackling]
[Kristen sighs]
[slurping]
[Ben sniffles, exhales]
[fork clatters]
[gasps]
[Kristen laughs]
[faintly]: Shh.
[Kristen chuckles]
[Fenna breathes deeply]
[Kristen sniffles]
[dish clatters]
[cutlery clangs]
[wind whistling]
[whistling continues]
[lantern clatters]
[door creaks]
♪
[wind whistling]
Boo.
♪
[doors creak]
[silence]
[creaking]
[breathing heavily]
♪
[clacking]
[clacking continues]
[clacking stops]
♪
[clacking]
[man grunting]
[whimpers]
[man screams]
[grunting]
[woman screams]
[groans]
[muffled scream]
[gasps]
[grunts, gasps]
♪
[whimpering]
♪
-BEN: This is not about a demon, okay? -KRISTEN: She needs a doctor.
One of the monks is a doctor. They also have an exorcist here.
They think this is the work of the Devil.
Yeah, they need to stop playing around.
They're not playing around. We need to defer to them.
-Not if it kills Fenna. -Who's Fenna?
The nun! Oh, my God, this place is so fucking anti-women!
-Shh! Kristen. -[Kristen sighs]
Listen, we're on their turf.
We need to let them take care of this spiritually and medically.
I'm getting my phone. I'm calling a doctor.
-Kristen! -Hey, listen, something is going on here.
There was scraping inside the cabinet,
and it's the same inside the coffin.
What? What is it?
I don't know. But I'm gonna find out.
[groaning, grunting]
♪
[panel slides]
[door creaks]
[Fenna gasps]
[Fenna groaning loudly]
[Fenna gasping]
[Fenna whimpers]
[Fenna screams]
[whimpering]
[gasping]
[mouthing]
[panting]
[whimpering]
[grunts, screams]
[inhales sharply]
[panting]
[groaning]
[Kristen exhales]
[Fenna coughing]
[groaning]
[screams, gasping]
[screaming]
[exhales]
[squelching]
[flies humming]
[squelching]
[footsteps approaching]
[Ben panting]
-BEN: I think it's the botfly. -KRISTEN: Excuse me?
The botfly. They're prevalent
-in Upstate New York. -What are you talking about?
Okay, I think that's what the humming was in the crypt.
I think that's what came out of either Thomas's coffin
or the Devil's cabinet.
-Wh-What we just saw with Fenna? Coming out of her stomach? -Yeah.
It's called cutaneous larva migrans.
The botfly burrows under the skin to leave its eggs.
-It's like something out of Alien. -Yeah.
Sometimes real life is worse than movies.
But it's not the Devil and it's not diabolical.
What the monks heard,
the humming in the crypt, it's the botfly.
And when they brought up Thomas's coffin,
they brought the botflies up with them.
-What about the sigil brand? -It's not a brand. It's not a sigil.
Here. When the larvae burrows under the skin,
it leaves a circular or spiral pattern like what we saw.
-Wow. -So, what do we do?
Okay, so, when the exorcist
-blessed the infected spot with ointment? -KRISTEN: Mm-hmm.
That is how they suggest to get the botfly to the surface.
Vaseline. You cover all the air holes
because that's the way the botfly breathes.
And then the botfly erupts to the surface to escape.
Don't take this the wrong way, Ben,
but I wish there were some things
-you couldn't explain. -There are.
I can't explain these people.
I can't explain why they would spend
their whole lives in silence. That is insane to me.
DAVID: Not in silence.
-They're talking to God. -BEN: Okay, sure.
But just the thought that you would...
spend your whole life without ever talking,
without having sex, without watching a movie
or talking on the phone
or telling a stupid story, it's...
That's terrifying.
Is it tempting for you?
I...
I tried to silence my mind for ten minutes,
and it almost drove me crazy.
But then I look at them, and they seem...
...at peace.
Yes.
I'm tempted.
♪
[groaning, whimpering]
[muffled screaming]
[grunting]
♪
[Kristen humming]
[continues humming]
[wood scraping]
[lantern handle clatters]
♪
[door opens]
[door creaking]
♪
Captioned by Media Access Group at WGBH access.wgbh.org