[ominous music playing]
[sawing]
[sawing growing louder]
[groans, saws faster]
[object clatters]
[sniffles, sighs]
[sanding, inhales sharply]
[sanding]
[rustling]
[clatters]
[sniffles, exhales sharply]
[rasping breath]
-[chuckles] -[object crunches]
[spits, chuckles]
[objects creaking and rattling]
[exhales deeply]
[eerie music playing]
[coughing]
[sniffs]
[rasping sigh]
-[object thuds] -[exhales sharply]
[groans softly]
[sniffles]
[wood creaking]
[sniffles]
[eerie music intensifying]
[mysterious note plays]
[whooshes]
My name is Brandy,
and I was tormented by a woman who lived in our house behind an adjoining wall.
[suspenseful music playing]
[sinister music plays]
[brooding music playing]
I grew up in Hollywood, California.
Hollywood in the early '70s was…
Um, it was different.
You could walk the streets. The doors were left unlocked.
And it was just a-- a hippie vibe.
My mom worked all the time.
She had so many jobs, so she was gone a lot.
She didn't have a choice.
She was a single mom.
She worked two or three jobs,
and she was very… committed.
She did anything for us.
She tried to make ends meet.
[Brandy] And we were living in this two-story duplex,
and it was owned by a friend of hers that, uh, was renting it to her.
And we lived across the street from this house…
-[slow, eerie music plays] -…that was kind of creepy.
This is the same house where all the kids stayed away from…
because this old lady lived behind there,
and she was mean.
[dramatic note plays]
-[ball bounces, comes to rest] -[music stops]
[gate creaks]
[eerie music playing]
-[breathing heavily] -[old woman coughs]
-[gasps softly] -[ball thuds]
[young Brandy whimpering]
[Brandy] And I just got this
-cold shiver all over me. -[crickets chirping]
None of the other kids wanted to be around that lady.
I said to my mom, "She's mean."
And she said, "Well, just stay away from her."
"Just don't give her any mind. Don't get in her way."
"She's just an old lady."
She just said, "Just stay away from her."
So we did,
for years.
And one day the people that owned the duplex that we lived in…
they wanted to come back.
We were saving the whole time we were there.
And so Mom started looking for us to move.
I was at school one day, and I came home,
and all of our stuff is being moved
from our old apartment across the street
to this big old house
-where the old lady lived in the back. -[engine rumbling]
[suspenseful music playing]
I didn't think anything about the old lady at that time.
I thought maybe she passed away.
And so I was just excited.
It's a new place, and there was room for all of us.
[brooding music playing]
[dreamy music playing]
[music stops]
[suspenseful music playing]
There was a wall that separated the back house from us.
And when I was upstairs, the feeling just changed.
The atmosphere, everything changed.
[music intensifying]
[music climaxes, stops]
[gasps softly]
-[gasps, choking] -[eerie music playing]
[grunts]
[continues choking]
[music intensifying]
[music climaxing]
-[music stops] -[gasping for breath]
[breath shuddering]
I ran so fast, and I went to Mom, and I'm pulling on her.
She's like, "What is it? What is it?"
I'm like, "Mom, we can't live here."
"There's something attacked me upstairs. We can't live here."
She said, "What? What happened?"
And I explained it to her.
And she's like, "I-- There's nothing we can do."
"I gave every cent that we had to get into this house."
"So…
I'm sorry."
I didn't know what that was,
and I didn't want to go investigate,
but something's wrong.
Something is definitely wrong.
I remember you were so frightened and traumatized by this,
and poor Mother,
she just really couldn't do anything about it.
-Yeah. -And from the first day,
-you never slept up there. -Nope.
Couldn't drag you up there. There's no way.
I slept with Mom downstairs. Nice and safe.
[suspenseful music playing]
[old woman coughing in distance]
[quick footsteps]
[coughing continues]
[opens door]
[Brandy] She thought we could bless the house.
She could put salt in the corners and do a cleansing on the house
and all would be fine.
[breathing heavily]
[old woman coughing]
[coughs echoing eerily]
-[eerie music playing] -[whirring]
[metallic creaking]
[distant thuds]
[creaking and whirring continue]
[whirring grows louder]
[unplugs fan]
[whirring slows]
[fan rattling]
She said, "It should be fine now. It should be okay."
And for a while everything was fine.
And one day,
Mom told me that she wanted me to water the plants.
[birds chirping]
[dreamy music playing]
[old woman coughing]
[sinister music plays]
[dreamy music continues]
[sinister music playing]
[growling]
Get out of my house!
[whimpering]
[sinister music continues]
[music climaxes, stops]
[Brandy] I thought she was gone.
[crickets chirping]
Her face is right here.
She's just gritting her teeth, and I couldn't see a soul.
I couldn't see anything in those eyes.
And the evil that I felt coming off of her…
was just bone-chilling.
This is the same feeling that I felt before,
when I was attacked upstairs.
Everything you said to me, I believed you experienced.
Just because I wasn't experiencing it
didn't necessarily mean you didn't experience it.
So… to that point,
I had never had any experiences in that house myself.
[suspenseful music playing]
[crickets chirping]
[old woman sighs, chuckles in distance]
[chuckling continues]
[old woman coughs]
[wheezes]
[eerie music playing]
[shudders]
[gasps]
-[choking, coughing] -[rope tightening]
[dramatic music playing]
[gasping]
[continues choking and coughing]
[music ends]
[coughs]
[gasping]
There's something in my room.
We have to leave. [panting]
Now!
[whimpers]
[wheezes, sobs]
[eerie music plays]
-[continues sobbing] -[young Brandy whimpering]
I had marks on my neck.
Deep, embedded in his skin.
You could see bruises a week later.
This is the first time I got attacked by something,
and that was kind of a… life-changing experience,
to go through something like that.
And I said, "I'm not going upstairs again."
I slept in the living room on a pallet on the floor.
[Brandy] I thought it was the same thing that grabbed me.
Somebody else was attacked.
I felt bad,
but… at the same time I felt validated.
Everyone but Rachele, they were sleeping in the living room.
She's like, "Eh…"
She's a very…
"Oh, cut the crap," type of person. [chuckles] You know?
Um… "You guys are just being overdramatic."
[fan rattles]
[whirring]
[sinister music playing]
[sniffs]
[fan rattling]
[suspenseful music rising]
[clicking]
-[clicking faster] -[music stops]
-[fan slices] -[gasps, groans]
[Rachele screams]
-[wincing loudly] -[dramatic music playing]
[groaning]
[wails]
[gasping in pain]
Blood is everywhere, and I start screaming.
There was no explanation ever.
It frightened me… very much.
Then I was downstairs.
[somber music playing]
Everybody was downstairs at this point.
[Kevin] At that point I'm thinking,
"This is escalating."
It's getting to the point where we can't spend any time in this house
without some kind of event taking place.
Something has to give.
Something has to happen.
[crow cawing]
All of the events that happened started at that wall that she shared with us.
[thudding, creaking]
And one day she had left the door open.
[door creaking slowly]
[ominous music playing]
[door thuds]
[door creaks]
[dramatic beat]
[ominous music continues]
[creaking]
-[footsteps approaching] -[gasps] Get down!
[footsteps continue]
[door bangs opens]
[old woman coughs]
[footsteps continue]
[raspy breathing]
-[old woman coughing] -[footsteps approach nearby]
-[coughs] -[dramatic music plays]
[sniffles]
[feet shifting]
[footsteps departing]
[objects clattering]
[metallic clang]
-[object thuds on floor] -[objects clattering slowly]
[clattering stops]
[Kevin] Go, go!
[dramatic music playing]
-[Brandy gasps] -[both breathing heavily]
[Brandy whimpering]
[door slams shut]
-[sinister music playing] -[door rattles]
[knocking]
[sinister music continues]
[knocks]
[door rattles]
[eerie music playing]
-[Kevin knocks on door] -[door rattles]
[Kevin knocks on window]
[Kevin knocking]
-[whooshing] -[sinister music playing]
[whooshing continues]
[door rattling]
[blowing]
[chittering]
[whooshing continues]
-[whooshing stops] -Get out
-of my house! -[thunder cracks]
-[whooshes loudly] -[gasps]
-[whooshing fades] -[old woman laughs]
[breathing heavily]
[panting]
-[slow piano music playing] -[both panting]
[crickets chirping]
[exhales sharply]
It was frightening for a little girl.
And, uh…
Sorry.
[sniffles]
She was going out of her way to…
to hurt us.
It was like…
a shock went through my body all the way down to my toes,
and I was tingling.
Just the-- the sheer fear…
…of "You are alone and something's going to get you."
I think that she drew darkness to her.
I thought she was a witch.
And I told Mom about it.
And she goes, "Well, that makes sense."
It was like…
ah-ha!
I think at that point she started putting two and two together.
The final straw for us to move
was the minister coming to bless the house.
He went around the house to bless it.
And when he came downstairs he told Mom, we were all standing in the living room…
[sniffles] …and he told Mom that, uh,
whatever was there was too intense and too evil.
As long as that old lady was there in the back…
drawing this darkness,
that you can't truly cleanse a house
when the darkness is so… heavy.
And he suggested that we move.
-[dramatic music playing] -[engine idling]
That was the big push to…
get out now.
We had enough money, and we finally moved.
The fight was up.
She got what she wanted.
[eerie music rising]
[old woman chuckling]
[music climaxes, stops]
[sinister closing theme music plays]