Now, I've been telling you fellas for years
about how evil women are, and tonight at the bar,
I met the most evil woman there ever was.
I'm talking this chick was evil.
She walked in.
Oh, what the hell was that?
Whoa!
Holy shit!
Hey, hey, did you see what happened?
Hello?
Hey! Hey, hey, hey! Hey, hey!
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!
Yo, where the hell did you go?
Where... where the fuck did you go?
What you trying to do, scare me?
You think you could scare me?
What do you think, this is fuckin' funny?
Holy shit.
This morning's top story.
First responders in MorrisCounty working to contain
a massive fire that broke out in the early morning hours
at the mansion of Dr. Joseph Cawl.
Once a renowned archeologist and professor
at Alden University,
in recent years is better known as
the charismatic leader ofnthe infamous Hidden Wisdom cult.
Chief! Chief!
Was this a mass suicide?
Investigators have yet to find any evidence
of an accelerant.
We do not know if the Hidden Wisdom cult fire
was accidental or otherwise.
Hidden Wisdom's followers and their leader Dr. Cawl
have long been under a cloud of suspicion.
Speak to the people who live on this quiet suburban street
and you'll hear whispers of supposed supernatural powers,
ghostly apparitions,
strange occult rituals going late into the night,
worshiping at the images of ancient pagan gods,
as well as rumors of all manner of sexual perversions.
Even claims of witchcraft and Satanism.
Bowing to public pressure,
authorities have finallyreleased the identities
of the five survivors of the cult
who resided in the mansion with Dr. Cawl
and the other 18 victims.
Sources saythey have not yet been ruled out
as suspects in what is now being called
the Cawl Cult Murders.
You may remember the investigation
into the sudden disappearance
of Dr. Cawl's longtime research partner,
neurophysicist Dr. Leonard Bertram,
who went missing after he and Cawl
had a very public falling out.
Bertram is presumed dead by police,
and Cawl himself was initially named a suspect,
though no charges were ever filed.
And yet rumors persist that this eccentric,
though supposedly altruistic cult,
was just a façade for murder and perhaps even worse.
Authoritiesagain tonight refuse to comment
on the mysterious viral video
that supposedly captures the Cawl cult fire explosion
and what some are callinga hooded demon with glowing eyes
who remains at large.
Welcome to "Knowledge Me."
I am your humble host, Dr. Dre.
Now help me welcome our guest for today's show,
psychology professor
and TV's most prominent paranormal debunker,
the one, the only Dr. Amara Rowen.
Thank you so much for having me.
Now, your fans know you and nicknamed you "Amara-normal,"
but for people who don't know who the hell that is,
tell us about yourself.
In short, when I was young,
my mother was a member of a reincarnation cult,
and before she died,
she promised me she would come back from the beyond.
Of course, she didn't,
and my anger over her faith in pseudo spiritual sophistries
led me to working as a paranormal investigative journalist,
and eventually I started directing documentaries.
Just everybody's been talking about
the Hidden Wisdom cult fire.
We've all seen that infomercial at 2:00 a.m.
with Joseph Cawl and his partner Dr. Bertram.
Let's go to the tape.
Knowledge is power.
Hidden knowledge is hidden power.
Power over anything.
"How?" you ask.
Perspective and perception.
Our perspective gives us our perception.
For example, time.
First, think of the concept of the present.
Is "now" one second?
Perhaps.
But there is such a thing as a half second,
during which of those half seconds is now.
What beliefs do you hold about yourself, the world?
What's possible, what's impossible?
With Hidden Wisdom, we can change your perception,
not only of yourself, but of time and reality as a whole.
Now, wait a minute.
This... this... that just...
- That sounds like bullshit. - Basically, yeah.
At your lower levels, you've got your meditation,
your self-actualization, your feelgood stuff.
But in the inner circle,
now these folks believe that they could tap into
an ancient power, an ancient energy.
Through our groundbreaking studies
of the effects of ancientsymbology on the brain structure
and function in people with a significant history
of unusual abilities and experiences,
neurobehavioral scienceis now able to advance
at a previously unheard of pace.
What about the Hidden Wisdom five?
Are these just some wacky, brainwashed kids
or are they psycho killers?
I'm gonna give you the scoop.
These survivors have reached out to me
to get their side of the story out.
What?!
Of all people, why you?
Oh, I think that they feel that if they can convince me,
the whole world is gonna believe them.
Be part of the future.
Help us to unlock what is hidden
and what is hidden within you.
Hidden knowledge is hidden power.
Imagine what we can achieve together
when all that has been hidden is hidden no more.
I'm back.
Okay, here's the last of it.
Great. Thank you, Peter.
Some of the gear is from the school.
The rest is my own rig.
And this was sitting on your desk.
Hmm.
No address.
Okay, I managed to get a feed from the school security camera,
so we have exterior shots to use for B-roll and all that.
I'm also signing into two separate Zoom accounts.
One recording Gallery View,
the other recording Speaker View.
I'll be live switching between speakers
as you do the interview,
so you'll have options for the edit.
I'm also recording back...
Oh, and check this out.
That whole interview,
I will be roving
with this bad boy.
All right, Scorsese, thank you very much.
Ah.
When the head of the film department said
that they're recommending you, I was expecting someone...
Not so old?
I didn't say that.
I get that a lot.
I enlisted fresh out of high school,
and then I extended,
and then I re-upped after my second tour.
So by the time I rotated out of service and into college,
I'm a 29-year-old freshman... part-time.
Undergrad, then grad school.
Mm. Time flies when you're chasing your dreams.
We've got speed.
Now make sure you're set to hide non-video participants.
Check.
Ready to rock?
No, but I never really am.
So once more into the breach.
Henry, hi.
Dr. Rowen.
It's so nice to see you again.
Thank you for being our point person on this
and getting the cameras to everybody, getting us all together.
I really appreciate that, and...
Dr. Rowen, I don't mean to be rude,
but we really don't have time for pleasantries.
Let's get everyone else on.
Tina? Can you hear me?
Can you hear me?
Yes!
Where are you?
Uh, I went to my mom's school to hide.
It was getting too bad at my place.
They were...
They found me.
Who found you, Tina?
You seeing this?
You see?
Let's hurry, okay.
I'm here.
What's with the candles?
I can hide in the darkness, too.
Who is it that you're all running from?
Is it the media or the FBI?
So you're the great Dr. Rowen.
Or shall we call you "Amara-normal"?
Amara or Dr. Rowen is just fine.
Hold on, I'm coming.
Jesus!
Sorry I'm late.
Sorry.
Okay... hi.
Sorry about that.
Kaboom!
- Keith... - You know,
"tequila" kind of sounds like "ta kill ya," huh?
- What the hell are you doing? - Making a cocktail.
I decided, why should I have to deal with any more of this sober?
Especially now that I'm a celebrity.
Celebrity?
We're on the news every night. It's close enough, okay?
Keith...
Have you been having... you know, trouble?
Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah, uh, but that's why I have this, you know?
Hey, is Zoe coming to this thing or what?
Your guess is as good as mine.
Did she get a camera?
Yeah, she came by my place to get one.
I got the feeling she was moving around, staying low.
Which is definitely not what the FBI told us to do.
Fuck the FBI.
All right then, shall we begin?
Sooner the better.
I'm ready, let's go.
Great.
I'm Dr. Amara Rowen,
and I assume that Henry filled you all in
with what I do.
Or maybe you've seen some of my documentaries.
We all know who and what you are.
I really like the one about angels.
I wanna be very clear.
My goal here tonight is to get your side of the story told.
The truth.
Wait... that's it?
We're just gonna talk?
Henry, you said that she could help us.
Well, Tina... she has to...
Is there anything in those books that says a way
- to make it stop? - Tina!
Dr. Rowen can't possibly help us
if she doesn't first understand what the situation is.
Okay... may I ask
what is this problem you're having?
The problem is that the FBI and half the country
thinks that we started the fire
and murdered all of our friends.
They never once asked us how we think it happened
or who we think might have done it.
Second, the media is portraying us and Hidden Wisdom
to be some sort of
insane suicide murder cul...
Henry?
Peter, I'm not getting anything.
Henry, is there someone else at your location?
No.
What did you see?
That brings us to our biggest problem, Dr. Rowen.
The main reason why we're all in hiding.
Are you in a secure location, Dr. Rowen?
Am I secure?
Yeah.
I'm at the library at my university.
There are locks on the doors and windows.
Ugh, like that'll make a difference.
Regardless, might I suggest you check them, please?
What good will alarms and locked doors do against these things?
Let's hope we don't have to find out.
Everything okay?
Yeah, I... I think so.
Okay. Now, can you all tell me
why there's so much concern for our safety?
Go ahead, Henry. This was your idea. Tell her.
Joseph found a way to draw upon certain
extra-dimensional energies.
Please tell me more.
Joseph drew from these energies the night of the... tragedy.
Not only is that the true source of the fire,
but it subsequently ruptured an opening between our world
and whatever is beyond.
Those are some pretty extraordinary claims.
Oh! See? I knew she wouldn't believe us.
She's fucking useless.
To her, we're just another bunch of kooks.
All right, wait a second.
I'm not implying anything.
But you have to admit what you guys are saying
seems pretty fantastical.
I mean, do you have any evidence?
Proof?
All right.
We all knew it would probably come to this.
Does everyone have their V-Tech images on their computers?
- Pulling it up now. - Yeppers.
- I got it on my phone. - All right.
Something simple, I believe.
Reaching out to Dr. Rowen at her location.
What are you doing?
Don't worry, we're just a bunch of weirdos.
- Nothing will happen. - Denise.
Ready?
Is that it?
You're getting all this right?
Oh, yeah.
Okay, guys... what just happened?
Welcome to Hidden Wisdom.
All right, uh...
Okay, um, I've...
I've experienced something like this before
with claims of poltergeist activity.
Maybe it's something that science can't quite explain
and I can't debunk right now.
Right now?!
See? I told you she'd find a way not to believe
her own fucking eyes!
Dr. Rowen, do you want to help us?
Oh, fuck.
I'm happy to finally meet you, Dr. Rowen,
insofar as a video call allows.
Thank you for joining us.
I understand that there was a little bit of hesitation.
I decided to make sure you were being told
the complete truth.
Information about our group is being filtered through
a lot of chaos mind,
and Joseph's work is way too important
to get lost in that noise.
Now that Joseph is... gone,
and I understand you were his research coordinator
and star pupil, are you planning on taking up his work?
Oh God, is this gonna turn into "The Zoe Show"?
Should we come back later?
Denise.
Wonderful to see you again.
But it does sound like you could use a cognitive reset.
Don't even fucking start.
Okay, okay.
Now that we're all here,
I'd like to first get an idea
of how each of you got... involved in Hidden Wisdom.
Denise, why don't you start?
I was there.
Denise?
They don't like the light.
Um... anyway, I was there at the beginning.
I needed a... a few elective courses,
so I signed up for Joseph's Alternative Archeology course.
Then he asked me if I wanted to be a part of
a discussion group.
Henry was already in the group, so was Zoe.
Though I never found out why Zoe was,
she wasn't even a student at the university.
Joseph called her his assistant.
We all just thought she was there
because she was with Joseph in a non-academic way.
In the same way I was with you every now and again?
Wait, what?
What did you get out of these meetings?
Joseph said... I inspired the reset model.
Which is?
When... something or someone
is flawed, they can be reset.
And how did you inspire this?
I had mental health issues.
I tried all of the standard cures, but nothing worked.
Even my family had given up on me.
But then, working with Joseph and using his techniques
without drugs, without therapy,
I was cured.
It seemed... miraculous.
Did all of you have similar experiences?
Henry?
Um... I struggled with anxiety.
Whenever I came to any kind of choice,
even ordering from a menu, I would... freeze.
It was like a panic attack.
And then I...
I couldn't do anything.
I wasn't smart enough to get into college,
so I didn't attend any of the little
dorm room circle jerks.
I came in later.
I attended one of his seminars
and was just one of those
screaming ass clowns in the crowd.
So then what brought you there?
Uh, sleep paralysis.
Night terrors, whatever you'd like to call them.
Every time I went to bed, it was like a torture session.
So Joseph's Hidden Wisdom seminar... helped you?
I can honestly say that the greatest moment of my life
was when Zoe came up to me in the crowd,
like an angel...
and said, "Joseph has seen you."
Two seconds later, she took me up on stage to meet Joseph.
Okay, thank you, Keith. Tina.
I had
shadow people.
Shadow people?
Following me around... all the time.
First time I saw them, I was... six years old?
They would stand in the corner of my room and watch me.
After a while, they started to move things, slam doors,
or make loud knocks or sounds.
Like when I took my driver's exam,
I failed because there were shadow people
standing around the parking lot.
When I graduated high school, they were in the crowd, or...
Uh...
Uh, intimate situations.
I would see them... watching.
Do you have an idea who or what these shadow people were?
Joseph said... he told me that the Egyptians believed
that the soul was divided into nine parts.
One of them is the Shuyet, the shadow.
Joseph thought that the shadow people
are the Shuyets of everyone's dead souls.
Hungry and alone,
and all going to a place beyond death
that's just as dark as they are.
How did Joseph help you?
He made them go away.
But, uh, since the fire...
They're back, aren't they, Tina?
Yes, they're back, but they're different.
Now they don't just watch me.
It's like they're hunting me.
Ohh... Dr. Rowen, I am so frightened all of the time.
Are they with you right now, Tina?
No... but I think they're close.
How did you come to Hidden Wisdom?
Did you go to one of the seminars, too?
No, I'd heard about Hidden Wisdom
from one of those commercials they used to have.
Like this one?
Do you feel like you're being held back in life
by things you can't control?
What if I told you there existsna way to access knowledge
that can rebuild your life, unlock your hidden power
to reach your full potential for happiness?
It's called Hidden Wisdom.
The same power drawn on by the ancients
to build their wondersn can rebuild your life.
You, too, can wield the hidden power of the universe.
Behold.
If you are seeking what is hidden,
let us seek it together.
Hidden Wisdom is hidden power.
Let us break through together.
Yep, that's it.
Then, like, out of nowhere, I get a text from Zoe.
Zoe, can you speak to that?
As Joseph was exploring Hidden Wisdom,
his ability to sense others like him increased.
When Joseph knew it was time to help Tina find her alpha,
then it was time.
Understood.
Well... that brings us to you, Zoe.
How did you first come in contact with Joseph?
You're focusing on me and us as individuals,
but you aren't seeing that the real power
and real truth behind Hidden Wisdom is in the collective.
And this... power,
this... truth is what exactly?
You'll accept it in your own time. Petal.
- Denise? - Is it them?
I don't know, but I'm gonna find out.
Take the camera.
What is it?
It's coming from the fireplace.
Be careful.
Maybe you should just... leave it?
It was just a loose damper. It's probably a squirrel or.
Maybe it's Santa.
Idiot.
Now, I'd like to ask you what you know about the mystery
surrounding the disappearance of Joseph's former partner,
Dr. Leonard Bertram.
Do any of you know what happened to him?
I was told he moved out of town.
Dr. Bertram did nothing to forward his mail.
His former landlord said
he had to have his belongings carted to a dumpster
after not hearing from him for many months.
University staff said his mail just piled up
for literally years.
He never officially quit,
and the police say it's still an open investigation.
Dr. Rowen, how is this relevant
to what we're doing here tonight?
Yeah, I don't see how
talking about ancient history is helping us.
Your group is being accused of arson and murder.
You say yourself that these "shadow people"
that are supposedly hunting you
are manifestations of the darkest part of ourselves.
I'm sorry, but psychologists would say that sounds
an awful lot like a guilty conscience.
Wait, are you suggesting that Hidden Wisdom
also killed Dr. Bertram?
Oh, God, I told you.
If you could help me establish that Dr. Bertram,
as you say, left town on his own,
that your group is not dangerous
like the media portrays you
any of that could go a long way in removing the shadow of guilt,
both literally and figuratively.
That's actually a fair point, Dr. Rowen.
Now, I'd like to get your reactions to something
that I uncovered after combing through
hundreds of hours of university recordings
of Dr. Cawl's and Dr. Bertram's lectures.
As far as we know, nobody's seen this until now.
Not even the police.
Leonard!
I didn't want to believe it when the university said
you had come back for this semester.
Why are you calling me, Joseph?
I already told you how I feel. I'm done with it.
With you, Hidden Wisdom, all of it.
And you should be too.
Leonard, I thought if you had time to think...
There is absolutely nothing to think about!
Bad enough I let myself be talked into
those ridiculous videos.
It's a means to an end.
To what end?
At first it made sense, but now...
Now you want me to help you establish what, a new religion?
We're scientists!
For God's sake, man,
they're starting to call the work that we were doing
a goddamn cult!
You know as well as I do
we're much morethan scientists.
It is our alpha that burns brightest.
If not us, then who?
If not now, then when?
Can you... do you hear yourself?
Do you hear yourself?
This is why I left.
Okay, pause here a second.
Zoe, Joseph mentioned alpha,
and you mentioned it before, too,
in reference to Joseph finding people.
What are alpha?
Very simply put, the human brain generates
several kinds of waves.
One of these is the alpha wave.
Typically, human experience of the alpha wave
is muddied by chaos thought.
The distractions of modern society.
But when you apply the Hidden Wisdom techniques
to quiet the chaos and focus your alpha wave,
let it take over, then you can solve
a great many neural imbalances.
Which is why Denise, Henry, Tina, and Keith
were all able to address problems
that conventional methods in medicine could not solve.
Okay, let's keep going.
- You're just afraid. - Yes!
I am, Joseph! And you should be, too.
You're talking about meddling with primal forces
of nature itself.
Ever since we ventured to that other place,
I am afraid of what it's done to you.
What it's done to me?
This is a once-in-a-millennia discovery, Leonard.
It's the power that built civilization itself.
And it's that same power
that destroyed allthe civilizations that used it!
öbekli Tepe. Harappa. Puma Punku. Rajasthan.
All those citieswere destroyed
thousands of years ago, Joseph.
They were all literally wiped off the face of the earth.
- Like Sodom and Gomorrah. - - Okay, stop.
Joseph claimed they made a once-in-a-millennia discovery.
How did a... archeologist and a neurophysicist
end up working together?
Dr. Bertram was studying the correlation
between alpha waves and deviant sleep patterns.
Joseph was having trouble sleeping
and participated in one of Bertram's
improved synchronization
of rhythmic neuronal activity studies.
When Joseph tried focusing his mind on
the stone-carved images from his lectures
in order to help him fall asleep,
that is when the discovery happened.
And that was?
These are called V-Tech images.
Antediluvian visual technology.
Joseph discovered that these images focus the alpha.
The group silences their chaos minds
and focuses on a given image.
Meditation on a shared visualization.
Meaning what?
You might imagine everybody in the world holding a candle.
Now, the light of a single candle is soft and diffuse,
but if combined with other candles
and then focused through a lens,
then you have a blinding illumination.
Where did Joseph come up with these images?
They were revealed to him during his archeological digs.
Ancient symbols were formally only available
to the ruler priests of ancient civilizations.
These were taken at öbekli Tepe in Turkey.
Carbon dating puts these monoliths at 12,000 years old.
They were ancient when the pyramids were built.
And these are some of the most common V-Tech images.
They're drawings, of course,
but it's an exact match of the ancient carvings.
But there's another set of images, correct?
I see you've done your homework, Dr. Rowen.
There is a second set,
only ever used by the enlightened few.
The enlightened few are?
Those who have taken all the classes, done a full reset,
and proven that they're in control of their chaos mind.
Chumps like me.
So tell me, do the images for the enlightened few
look anything like this?
Where did you get these?
Research.
That isn't even all the pictures, though.
There's more.
Tina...
Are you saying there's a third set of V-Tech images?
They were just for us.
The ultra, ultra inner circle.
- The 23. - Tina!
Do you remember the contracts you signed?
Your collateral.
None of that matters anymore, Zoe!
People are dead.
You wanted to tell the truth, and
we owe it to them, Zoe.
Okay, so what made the 23 so special?
Was it just your training?
Henry said that everyone is holding a candle
of alpha capability, but... there are some very few people
who shine brighter than others.
And that increased perception is often mistaken
for mental illness.
We're fucking X-Men.
Joseph said we were very special.
The only ones who could help him save the world.
Fossil records show that there are
five recorded mass extinctions on the planet,
and Joseph said that we were gearing up for another one
at the end of the Anthropocene epoch.
Joseph said we had an opportunity,
a duty to forestall Armageddon
by seizing control of reality's wheel.
Let's play the rest.
Look around you.
We've broken the world!
Things aren't going to get better, it's only going to get worse.
The human race is destroying itself, but we can stop it!
I shall say thisone last time
in the hope that there remains some last shred of the man
I used to know.
You're headed for darkness, Joseph.
This power was notmeant for our universe.
You must know that I really don't need you, Leonard.
I can do this without you.
I have others now to help me in my mission.
Damn it, man!
You're not a messiah!
You're not a God!
You will only cause more destruction,
and I won't be a part of it.
I swear by everything that is holy,
I will do everythingin my power to stop you!
Are you threatening me?
You're goddamn right I am.
So... thoughts?
Dr. Bertram left due to a schism of differing beliefs, nothing more.
Those on the faculty who had always been jealous
of his work accused Joseph
of having something to do with his disappearance.
Everyone just assumes that the paper Dr. Bertram wrote,
the one that trashed Joseph's theories and methods,
was the smoking gun motive for Joseph to murder Bertram.
You ask me, from that video,
it sounds like Bertram was the one making all the threats.
Leonard was always jealous of Joseph's alpha.
Because of him, the scientific community completely dismissed
and ultimately buried this discovery.
Even when Joseph
tried to make them understand its implications.
What implications?
That once you learn how to control the alpha,
reality is as mutable as a lucid dream.
I'm sorry, but are you saying that
Joseph could somehow alter reality? Come on.
Joseph had seen your work, Dr. Rowen.
He said you had encountered far too many falsehoods
to easily believe, well... anything.
Petal.
I think something's outside.
- Don't go out there. - Absolutely.
- Don't go out there. - Why?
It's just a theory,
but there is a possibility we may have, well, infected you.
- Oops. - Infected?
With the demonstration.
The energies seem to latch onto people, places.
That's how we think the same energy
followed us from the house
and drew the attention of the Shuyet.
Nice time for you to tell me.
After the demonstration.
Hey, you okay?
Yeah.
It's impossible.
It's an LED light. LEDs can't explode.
They don't like the light.
So, Hidden Wisdom.
The classes, the camps, the seminars,
the whole organization.
This was about gathering candles of alpha energy
to save the world?
In order for that to happen, though,
Joseph needed the full inclusion of the 23.
But some of us weren't there.
But this brings us to the moment of truth.
What actually happened that night?
How is it that all of you survived
while so many others didn't?
Well, uh...
Me and Denise, we, uh...
Look, shit had been getting weird.
Considering what I've just witnessed,
can you define weird?
Joseph changed. He became more controlling.
He took our phones away, he made us do hours of exercise.
Stress positions.
He would not let us sleep.
He decided when we could have water.
Even when we were allowed to eat,
we had to follow Joseph's weird diet.
He wasn't just vegan.
We could only eat vegetables that he personally gathered.
He said it was to cleanse our auras
so that we could better focus the alpha.
- Exactly so. - "Exactly so."
Zoe, do you not understand that what we're describing here
is fucking abuse?!
What's a little short term discomfort
in comparison with the opportunity to remake the world?
Anyway, Denise and I decided it was time to bounce.
Oh, good thing we did,
or we would've been dead like everyone else
who decided to stick it out for Joseph's power trip.
You're weak, Denise, and you always have been.
Intelligent, talented, but so pathetically weak.
What about you, Henry?
Why weren't you there?
Like Tina said, things had been getting... different.
Joseph and Zoe were meeting behind closed doors.
The closer we got to this
world-changing, cleansing visualization,
the more authoritarian and desperate Joseph seemed.
I wondered if I should just get out.
Then suddenly,
for the first time in a long time...
I couldn't make a decision.
I was paralyzed.
What did you do?
Chose the third option.
Snuck out so I could get to a place
where I could clear my chaos mind
and reset myself... on my own.
How like the rest of mankind, selfish and unworthy.
In humanity's most crucial moments,
you all stepped back into fear.
The same unhealthy patterns that Joseph helped you overcome.
You all could have been gods, and instead
you chose to crawl in the mud with the worms.
Yeah. That's me, the living worm,
and all of our chosen friends are dead.
In your hour of need, Joseph saved your lives.
When it came time to help him on a mission
to serve humanity as a whole,
you didn't just abandon Joseph,
you abandoned the human race.
All of you proved how base, how selfish,
how unworthy you all truly are!
If you're such a true believer,
then why are you here instead of a morgue?
Uh... well, that might be on me, actually.
You convinced Zoe to leave?
No, he did not.
Look, I, um...
I never showed anyone these before, but I...
I did take some pictures with this... sneaky guy,
the night of the, uh, the thing.
These are from the night of the fire?
It was the night Joseph was gonna save our world.
The cleansing.
Yeah, see... we gathered in the main room.
Joseph showed us where to sit, how to sit.
And then he started putting V-Techs up on the wall,
one at a time.
I remember being afraid.
I remember not wanting to look, so I...
I closed my eyes really tight.
And when I opened them...
I was floating above my own body.
I looked down at my body below, sitting there,
but I wasn't... I wasn't in it.
And I could see the others floating above themselves, too.
Then the room got dark.
And the walls disappeared, and the ceiling, and...
I swear to you, I am not lying
when I say I looked down at myself.
The floor was gone.
It was just darkness.
And we weren't alone.
There were other people there, but th-they weren't people,
they were these shadows, these figures.
You could just feel them watching you.
Millions of them, stretching out into that dark nothingness.
Wham!
I returned.
My heart was going at a billion miles an hour.
And I knew the nightmare wasn't over.
I knew I had to run.
Keith, you understand that
deprivation of food and water and sleep can cause...
No, Doctor, don't do that.
I wasn't just seeing things, it was more than that.
This was real.
I will say Joseph often spoke about
the mind's ability to travel beyond the body,
even so far as mind-body transference.
And you believe that's possible?
If Joseph said it was possible, then it was possible.
Keith, what happened next?
I stood up, and nobody looked at me.
They were... they were all in their own little worlds,
visualizing, focusing their alphas.
But I had a feeling
something really bad was about to happen, so I saw Zoe.
And she saved me, so I knew I had to save her.
So I grabbed her up, I threw her over my shoulder and
ran out of there with her.
And 10, 15 seconds later, boom.
Whole place explodes into flames.
Were you harmed?
Mm, not really.
I just got these weird scars on my back and neck.
Can you show me?
Yeah.
Keith, that... That isn't burn scarring.
Those are Lichtenberg figures.
There's only one way to get those.
If you're struck by lightning.
They were killed by lightning?
See, it wasn't Joseph, it wasn't Bertram.
It wasn't even shadow people.
It was lightning that started the fire.
If we can prove that,
it's gonna mean that you're all innocent.
Thank you, Dr. Rowen!
- You saved us! - That's it.
I guess you must be right, Dr. Rowen.
- You really did it. - That's boring.
Wait, wait, Keith, hold on a second.
Can you angle the camera closer on your back?
Yeah.
Oh, my God.
Were you wearing or carrying something
with a V-Tech image?
Perhaps one of the secret designs?
No, nothing like that. Why?
You have a scar on your back
that looks exactly like a V-Tech image.
It isn't one of the 23.
It's definitely V-Tech, but it's... new.
Keith, what the fuck?
- Zoe, were you... - No, I wasn't injured
in any way by the blast.
But how can that be if Keith is so...
I mean...
- Fucked up? - Yes.
Perhaps he shielded me from the blast with his body.
My hero.
Hey, I saved your fucking life, okay?
Keith, I wanna be very clear so even someone
as cretinous as you can understand.
Because of you, the collective was broken, and everyone died.
The cleansing failed!
Humans are still on a path to their own destruction.
I hope the scars you bear cause an unceasing amount of agony
for the rest of your pathetic, meaningless little life,
and serve as a constant reminder at the continued suffering
that you have brought to this world.
Ugh, it's the damn fireplace damper again.
Take the camera with you so we know that you're okay.
They might still be out there.
Don't worry.
Dr. Sherlock Rowen solved the case, remember?
Maybe now is a good time for a bathroom break.
You know, the alcohol comes in, it's gotta come out, right?
Yes, let's... let's take a break.
Okay?
We did it, Peter.
We found out what happened before the damn FBI did.
And who knows? Before this interview's over,
we may even find out what happened to Bertram.
Oh, man, these poor kids.
What's wrong, Peter?
Did the equipment fail?
Did you record everything?
Equipment's fine.
We got everything covered from multiple angles.
It's just... those shadow people.
I think they're wrong.
My grandmother was full Choctaw.
She used to tell me about these things when I was a kid.
She used to see them after her father died,
but she didn't call them the Shuyet
or whatever they called it.
She called them...
Impa Shilup.
The soul-eater.
These black creatures
that pray upon dark thoughts and depression.
She would say that many people of the Choctaw nation
wouldn't even say the name,
for fear that an Impa Shilup would crawl inside of them.
And feast upon their soul.
Yeah.
I don't know about all that,
but what I do know is that
when you suffer from sleep deprivation like these guys
you see a lot of scary shit, okay?
Shadows, objects coming at you when you're awake.
It can be really disturbing.
And it seems to me like these kids haven't slept in weeks.
Come here.
Look at the radar.
Not a single cloud on the night of the fire.
And lightning does not strike out of a clear sky.
So... where'd the lightning come from?
Denise?
Ohh.
Ohh...
Are you okay?
Yeah. Nothing hurt,
but my ass and my pride.
Oh, my God. Denise!
- Peter, call the police. - Why do I say?
Does anybody know where she is?
I know the town, but I don't know the address!
Fuck.
Oh, God.
Can you guys hear me?
- Denise? - Hello?
Her sound is off.
She can't hear you.
Please help me.
Oh, God.
Who the fuck is that?
- Okay, that's not good. - Denise.
If anyone can hear me, there is someone or something
in this house.
I need you guys to call the cops.
The address is 23 Holt Drive in West Kuciak, near Alden.
Hurry. I'm gonna try to exit through the back entrance.
He's following her.
God, D, run!
Oh, God.
Oh, my God, D, he's right behind you!
- Denise! - Denise, run!
- Denise, turn around! - Denise!
- No, no, no, no, no! - Denise!
Oh, God, oh, my God!
- Fuck. - Peter.
What is up with that 911 call?
When I call 911, all I get is...
Denise?
Leonard has come for you all.
There is only one way to stop him.
To save your own lives,
you must perform the visualization.
If you break the circle,
if you step away,
if you fail
you will all... die.
Ohh. My God, there.
So much better.
I'm all set.
What the fuck?!
Why are you fucking with me like that?
Calm down! Everybody just fucking calm down!
- - Peter, what is the deal?!
Every time I call 911, all I get is this.
If you break the circle, if you step away,
if you fail, you will all... die.
Ohh... fuck this. I'm out, no.
Stop.
Do not go anywhere. I want you here with us.
- No, you said... - This is a scary situation.
We need to figure this thing out together.
We need you.
Please, Keith.
Tina, thank God! Are you okay, sweetie?
I went outside.
I didn't know where I was going, and they were out there.
The shadow people have come for us!
Tina, your camera. It's on the floor.
Pick up your camera, it's on the floor.
Tina?
Please.
No.
I truly did not want it to come to this.
No, no, no, no, stop!
Stop! Stop!
- Tina! - What now?
Somebody stop him!
Someone stop him! Tina!
No! No, no.
Is he gone?
Good evening.
Dr. Leonard Bertram?
Ah
you're good.
Why... why would you murder Tina?
Now, let's not forget poor Denise.
That's impossible.
They're over an hour away from each other.
There's no way you could have traveled...
Henry...
I helped unlock the hidden wisdom.
I understand its power in ways you shall never comprehend.
Of course, it does come with a price.
Dr. Bertram, why are you doing this?
Joseph brainwashed these children into thinking
that they were going to make a new world
of puppies and rainbows.
The truth is, Joseph did not actually die.
He has become one with an encroaching darkness,
an evil, if you will... far beyond time and space.
And even with Joseph's body gone from this place,
our world won't be safe
until all of his inner circle are dead.
All those who tapped into this Hidden Wisdom must die.
The door that Joseph opened must be shut.
I'll see you... soon.
Dr. Bertram! D...
It appears you're at a crossroads, Dr. Rowen.
If you still believe this is all in our head
or just an elaborate hoax, then... debunk us.
Go ahead. Run.
You heard Joseph.
If one of us leaves, we all die.
The voice on the phone, in Denise's... throat,
you want me to believe that's Joseph, right?
We can't all just sit here waiting for him to find us!
If Leonard can shadow-step from Denise to Tina,
then no matter where we run or hide, he will find us.
We need to stop Leonard ourselves.
Like Joseph said, it's the only way.
No, Joseph is dead! Okay?
The dead do not just come back,
no matter how bad we want them to!
Believe me, I know this!
The lightning strike that killed Joseph
focused his psyche into pure alpha energy.
So Joseph is what, he's a ghost now?
An unscientific term, but...
Zoe, you need to stop playing games right now, goddammit.
Where are you going with all of this?
There is only one way to stop Leonard.
How?
A visualization.
A killer is stalking us and you wanna fucking meditate?
Henry, I presume you have the V-Tech images within reach?
Um... which one?
- The second set? - Yes.
I'm not happy about sharing them with an outsider,
but these are unusual circumstances.
Dr. Rowen, I'm about to share my screen with you.
You want me to join in?
Do not be afraid of the chaos, Dr. Rowen.
I'm not afraid.
Good.
The more people doing the visualization,
the greater the likelihood of success.
I'm sorry, how is this supposed to help us?
We find Leonard, we see where he is and what he's doing.
If he can use the V-Tech just to hunt us,
then we can do him the same favor.
And when we find him, then what?
Whatever it takes.
We're gonna look at a series of images.
With each, I want you to clear your mind
and think of nothing but the image.
The idea is to imprint the image on your thought
strongly enough so that it creates new neural pathways
in the mind.
This should focus your alpha.
If we're all doing it at the same time,
we should get results.
I recommend you dim the lights.
Image one.
You are looking at the image.
It fills your vision.
All other thoughts are noise, they're chaos.
They just...
Melt away.
Image two.
You are looking at the image,
but you are also falling into it.
You are inside the image... and the image is inside you.
Image three.
You realize that without any other thoughts to distract,
the image becomes the shape of thought.
- What do you see? - What do you see?
What do you see?
Image four.
It's so real, you could touch it.
The image is within you, and you are within the image.
It's part of you.
- What do you see? - What do you see?
What do you see?
- It looks like a street. - Draw it, Dr. Rowen.
Draw whatever the images show you.
Show us!
Image five brings even more clarity.
The more you observe the image,
your perception follows its contours,
its curves and lines.
Image six.
The more you examine the image,
the more you realize you can see.
- What do you see? - What do you see?
What do you see?
Dr. Rowen, show us!
Holy shit, that's...
Keith, it's right behind you!
- Keith, run! - Keith, watch it!
Keith!
Uhh!
Three down, two to go.
If only you had listened.
No... no...
- Oh, God! - Look.
A new V-Tech image.
What do you think this one does?
Oh, doing the visualization of your own, eh?
You trying to find me before I find you?
You are chaos.
That's all you are.
That's the spirit, Zoe.
Did I do that?
Did I just lead Leonard to... to Keith?
Is all of this my fault?
Don't be afraid.
What you're experiencing is to be expected.
All of us went through this wondrous process
of accepting a new perspective on reality.
This is your cognitive reset.
Your first steps into Hidden Wisdom
into the truth.
No.
No, no. No.
You're a hypocrite.
How can you sit there and talk about truth
when you've been lying from the beginning?
Tell me about your truth... Marie.
I'm sorry?
In my research, I found your birth certificate.
Your real name is Marie.
And I found the names of your biological parents,
including your father,
Dr. Joseph Cawl.
You're Joseph's daughter?
Congratulations for sitting on that egg
as long as you did.
I suppose this is
the dramatically appropriate moment
to give your documentary an act three twist.
Don't you try and turn this around, Zoe.
Amara, you want the truth?
It's always been about you.
You don't realize who you are.
Joseph was completely right about you.
Your alpha is blinding.
You may even be more powerful than he is.
The only truth is that people like you are liars.
You twist innocent minds
until they don't know the difference
between truth and illusion.
You ruin lives, families,
all for your pathetic need for relevancy.
Your mother did not lie to you, Petal.
- What? - She told me that she was
the only one who called you that.
She said she loves you...
Petal.
My mother... is dead.
Energy cannot be destroyed, only transformed.
Your mother still exists,
one with the universe.
Just like Joseph.
Your entire life has been a lie.
Let the chaos go.
Embrace us.
Believe in our power, our truth.
You have the hidden wisdom within you
to not only save yourself, but to save our world.
I'll be able to see my mother again?
Oh, no.
The motion sensor alarm.
Leonard is here.
Henry!
Dad?
- What are you doing over there? - I, uh...
- I've been calling you! - I'm on a video call.
- Your mother, she's losing her mind. - I'm sorry.
I'm sorry, Dad, I... I just needed to get to a place
where I could get
Dad!
Oh, fuck!
Holy shit!
- I'm sorry, Henry. - Oh, God!
I'm pretty sure he wouldn't have understood
why you have to die.
Motherfucker!
Even as I choke the life out of you,
I can see your alpha, like a shimmering cloud.
Do you know why you had such struggles with indecision?
It's because you have pre-cognitive abilities, Henry.
You can see many paths to the future.
Or at least you... used to.
No, no, no, Dr. Bertram! No, please, please!
We can figure something out! No!
- There is no other way. - No!
It's up to us now, Amara.
He's going to be coming for us.
We don't have much time.
Amara.
He's going to kill us.
How do we stop him?
We need to do a different visualization.
Much more dangerous, much more powerful.
We need to use the secret images of the 23 to remake reality,
so that none of this ever happened.
Leonard, the killings, everything.
Are you sure that I have enough, uh, alpha?
Fear not.
Joseph will be with us,
and so will your mother.
First, we need an anchor.
An image or artifact that is unique to our reality.
Peter, roll back the footage to when Leonard
Leonard was encountering Keith, at the very end.
There, there. Grab a screen cap.
Got it.
Okay, Zoe, I'm sharing my screen.
All right, Amara.
I'm gonna move through the images
much more quickly this time.
You're going to have to find a way
to focus on them in turn... Do you understand?
Yes, I do.
Okay, let's begin.
Remember this V-Tech image burned into Keith's skin.
Let that be our sui generis anchor.
Now, the first image.
Whatever you two are gonna do, do it faster.
We're running out of time.
Now the second image.
Now visualize all the chaos
that Leonard has brought upon us.
Oh, shit.
Get back!
Fifth image.
Visualize all that Leonard has done.
See it become undone.
Seventh image.
Let these visions fill your mind.
Allow them to become real.
Eighth image.
Shit. Come on.
Oh, shit.
Ninth image.
Tenth image.
Time's up.
Stand aside.
We're not done shooting.
Image 16.
Image 18.
Image 19.
- Peter! - Uhh!
Stay focused, Amara. Is there somewhere you can go to?
Run, Amara! Run!
Hurry! Amara, run!
Ohh!
They don't like the light.
Okay, I... I'm... I'm safe,
but I don't know for how long, though.
Then quickly clear your mind.
Focus.
Image 20.
Uhh!
Something's wrong. Nothing's happening!
- Image 21. - 21.
- 21.
- Image 22. - 22.
- 22.
- Image 23. - 23.
- Three. - Three.
Uhh! Ohh.
It's so
beautiful.
It's time, Amara.
Think of the image on Keith's skin.
Let that anchor take us home.
Damn you!
Daddy.
The visualization was a success.
I only did as you directed me to.
Well done, Zoe.
Well done.
Now... shall we begin?