[gentle music]
[logo buzzing]
[logo whooshes]
[chimes jingling]
[bees buzzing]
[lightning crackles]
[logo buzzing]
[ominous music]
[footsteps thumping]
[ominous music]
[floor squeaks]
[ominous music]
- Soon, my love.
[ominous music]
[woman crying]
[woman screaming]
Relax.
[woman screaming]
[knife slices]
[woman screaming]
[woman whimpering]
This is the last one.
Now you can come back to me.
[woman crying]
[tense music]
[woman screaming] [pounding on door]
- William Colcott! [woman screams]
Put that down.
[tense music] [woman whimpering]
[tense music] [blows thudding]
[tense music]
[William screams]
[tense music] [blows thudding]
[tense music]
[horse hooves clopping] [church bell ringing]
[William speaks in tongues]
- The condemned are about to walk the gates.
[gate squeaks] [William speaks in tongues]
Philip.
[tense music]
- Are you afraid, boy?
- Keep your mouth shut.
[collar clinking]
[William growls]
[William laughs]
[Priest prays in Latin]
- The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.
- Save your words, priest.
- I won't tell you again.
[William sniffs]
- You reek of fear, man of God.
- Show some bloody respect.
[tense music]
Special day, this one, William.
Very special.
You should feel honored.
You ain't getting the rope. You're getting something new.
[ominous music]
- Today, here at Bishopsgate,
we are honored to be the first British facility
to pioneer the latest in modern execution practices
from across the Atlantic, the electric chair.
- I expected more of a crowd for a man as famous as me.
- Well, that's why this is a private sendoff.
- Now, William, you give my regards to the Devil
when you get where you're going.
[William laughs]
- William Colcott,
you have been found guilty of the murders of 28 women.
- Fuck them.
And fuck all of you.
- You accept your fate in the same disgusting manner
you subjected your victims to theirs.
This world shall be well rid of you.
Electricity shall pass through your body until you are dead.
If you have any last words, we should hear them now.
[William laughs]
May God have mercy on your soul.
- God can't have my soul.
[tense music]
[electricity buzzing]
[electricity crackling] [tense music]
- And so ends the life of William-
[William breathes heavily]
[tense music]
[electricity crackling] [tense music]
[William screams]
[electricity crackling] [tense music]
Well, the successful first execution for the chair.
- I'd hardly call that successful, Governor.
- William Colcott is dead.
- Is the machine designed to make him suffer like that?
Dropping from a rope does seem faster.
- William Colcott is dead.
The machine did what the machine was supposed to do,
and that is all.
[footsteps departing]
[ominous music]
[tense music]
- Lovely, Mr. Leyton.
If you could just hold still, we're nearly finished.
[somber music]
[camera clicks]
Thank you.
[somber music]
Lovely.
- Mr. Leyton, you will have the photograph
by the end of the week.
And it goes without saying,
you have our deepest condolences.
- Thank you.
[somber music]
- What's next?
- Bishopgate Prison.
- A prisoner?
- Mm-hm.
Must have been a notorious one
to merit a postmortem photograph,
and after that, the most important evening of our lives.
Right, you pack up, I'll deal with the undertakers.
Gentlemen!
Gentlemen, you may come in.
Do keep up!
[chuckles] Can't keep the dead waiting, eh?
Remember, you never get a second chance.
- At a first impression. I know.
- [sighs] Today is going to be a marvelous day,
I may say.
[ominous music]
[bell rings]
Ladbroke Photographers. We're expected.
- [Guard] What was the name again?
- Frederick Ladbroke, postmortem photographer,
and my associate, Emma Wicks.
- Oh. You're the corpse people.
[ominous music]
[camera equipment thuds]
Shut the door.
[door squeaks]
This is no place for a young lady,
especially one dressed like that.
- Ms. Wicks here-
- I'm a photographer and lead device technician,
and I'm more than capable, sir.
[footsteps approaching]
- Perfect timing for once, George.
Show the corpse people to the morgue, will you?
- We are postmortem photographers, not corpse people.
- Oh, so sorry.
George, search the corpse photographers
and shown 'em to the morgue, will you?
- Is it just dead people you take pictures of
or do you do living people as well?
- Well, we are essentially postmortem photographers.
We like to say that it is not smiles
that we capture, but souls.
- Bit of a grim job.
- Look who's talking.
[ominous music]
- [Frederick] Emma, do come along.
- [Emma] Are they all murderers in here?
- [George] Mostly.
All set for the chair for one thing or another.
That's why they're still here.
- You mean the rope?
- No, the electric chair.
We've been chosen to test a new electric chair from America
before they take it up the road to Pentonville.
- Execution by electrocution, eh? That's bold.
- It's quick. Too quick if you ask me.
Should make the bastards suffer.
I'm surprised they chose us to test it.
The governor was well chuffed about it, though.
It used to be a bigger jail, but there's rot in the walls.
Had to stop using most of the place, it got so bad.
They said it wasn't good to breathe it in.
A couple of the guards got consumption.
- Only 30 cells left, most of them empty.
Just a few prisoners for us to worry about.
- What's this black mark?
- [George] The bastard was rotten is all.
- [Frederick] Who was this fellow?
- William Colcott.
Killed a lot of people.
Papers say it could have been nearly 28.
- 28?
- Police said he was carving up some poor lass
when they caught him.
The worst part?
His wife's rotten corpse was laid out
in the middle of it all.
She'd been dead some time.
God knows what he was up to with her.
- Hm, charming fellow.
Set the camera up for me, would you?
Very good.
[ominous music]
[intense frightening music]
- [George] The old man always take you along
on these things?
- Uh, he's my uncle.
- I can't say it's a place for a young lady.
- You've gone quite pale. Are you all right?
- Uh, yes. I just need to step outside for a moment.
Um, the camera's ready.
- Very good.
Very good.
Now, Mr. Colcott, I want you to remain perfectly still.
[tense music]
[camera clicks]
I have packed us up.
You all right?
You're not yourself, are you?
- Yes, Uncle.
I just needed to catch my breath.
- Well, I don't blame you. Awful place.
But now, from morgue to mansion.
Okay?
- Yes. - Yeah.
Lots of preparation to do.
Come on.
[birds squawking]
[horse whinnying]
Is there a life after death?
Is there an invisible world that surrounds us?
Now these days, those questions are mainly being asked
by intrepid explorers like yourselves,
the members of the Paranormal Society.
Science, well, science has given us some clues
that you may be right.
I mean, you think of William Herschel, for instance,
who discovered in the ordinary spectrum of light
that there were invisible wavelengths.
He found the infrared.
The following year the Germans found the ultraviolet.
There are hints there,
but has science given you the tools
for your continuing examinations?
The answer is no.
Until now.
Gentlemen,
I give you the Atmosizer.
[gentle somber music]
- Using cutting edge science,
we will demonstrate how our device will not only
call upon spirits from the invisible ether,
but attract them to the very machine itself.
- You see, I hypothesize that spirits are a form of energy,
much like light itself,
but they are confined to a very narrow wavelength.
Now the science shows that energy is attracted to energy,
so when we pass electrical energy through this machine
and temporarily store it, we create a magnetic field,
and that in turn electrifies the atmosphere,
thinning the veils
that separate the wavelengths,
thus enabling the spirits to move.
In other words, gentlemen,
this machine can bring the spirits to you.
- We've just seen a man with a planchette
and a board with letters on it.
He claims it can be used to communicate
with spirits as well.
I must say it looks a lot simpler.
What was it called?
- A Ouija board.
- With the greatest respect, gentlemen,
that is a board game for children, sir.
This is cutting edge science.
This will make possible the greatest discoveries
of modern science.
- That's quite a claim.
If I wished to communicate with a spirit,
how would I do it?
- Oh, well, let us show you, sir.
First of all we use the Atmosizer
to electrify the atmosphere.
[electricity crackling]
Then we use this very special recording device.
- It is our version of a wax cylinder recorder.
It can pick up very high frequencies.
In short, it hears things our ears can't.
You ask the spirit your questions,
replies are recorded and played back almost immediately.
- We call it electrical voice phenomena, or EVP.
You understand, gentlemen, what we are offering you here?
You will be able to verify that there is a life after death.
We are giving you a means of attracting spirits
and communicating to them consistently, verifiably,
and it turns this society into, with due respect,
something more than the accumulation of whispers,
stories,
into the very forefront of modern science.
- What led you to the theory that
spirits are attracted to electricity?
- Ah, well,
I noticed that static electricity
is documented in several investigations
where there may have been a spirit present.
- And were these your investigations?
- Oh, no, no, no, no.
Not mine at all, no.
- I thought not.
- Uncle? [electricity crackling]
- Wait, wait, wait. Wait a minute, sir.
This machine is grounded in science.
We're on the verge of a field test, and all we need
[Emma clears throat] is the right opportunity.
- Is this what you do for a living?
- We own Ladbroke Photography,
and it pays the bills and enables us to fulfill
our true vocations as scientists and inventors.
[bulb shatters]
- Back to the drawing board, eh?
- Good effort all the same.
Next time perhaps a little more testing
before you call us again.
[somber music]
- I tried to tell you.
- Pack the damned thing up.
- It just needs a few tweaks. We can try again.
- Emma, you never get a second chance at a first impression.
[somber music]
I think I'm going to get a drink,
and maybe more than one.
[patrons chattering]
- [Bartender] What's in the bag there?
- Stop bothering the punters.
- Broken dreams, just broken dreams.
- Spit it off then. It's not something strange, is it?
- Sir, I'm a photographer, and in the bag
there are parts for a camera that does not work.
- Ah, good.
I thought you might be one of the ghost men.
- Ghost men?
- Strange folk they are, but they spend good money.
Must know we have some of the best spirits in the city.
[Frederick laughs]
- [Frederick] Good, good, very good.
- [Bartender] That's them there.
[patrons chattering]
[church bell ringing]
- What was it you called that thing?
[church bell ringing]
- Oh. Your companion is inside.
- Yeah, yeah.
The machine, what'd you call it?
- The Atmosizer.
- Terrible name.
You'll have to change it.
If you ever get it working, that is.
- It does work! It was just a little fault!
- I'm still trying to decide what you are.
- Sorry?
- You're either a genius who just doesn't quite realize
the full potential of your idea,
or you're a conman
trying to pedal your sham inventions around
for profit and fame.
- My niece and I are not conmen,
we are scientists trying to prove the greatest truth of all,
that there is a life after death!
- Hold on.
You get that thing working,
you get proof of it actually being useful,
you come see us again.
Until then, don't quit your day job.
[patrons chattering]
[doorknob rattles]
[door squeaks]
- [Emma] Uncle.
[Frederick sighs]
- Leave the thing alone
before it burns the house down.
Emma,
I can no longer let you waste your life
the way I have wasted mine.
- You haven't wasted anything.
This is our life's work.
- Yes, a waste of time, a waste of life,
a waste of the little inheritance that we have.
Now I know that when you were little
I promised you that if we worked hard together
and followed in the footsteps of the giants like Newton,
perhaps one day our names would be up there
on the pantheon of greatness,
but the future arrived,
and I see Westinghouse, Edison, Tesla,
and I know in my heart of hearts
there will never be a Ladbroke,
and as long as I hold you back,
there won't be a Wicks either.
- There will be.
I've nearly removed all the burnt parts from the machine
if you want to take a look. - No, no, no, Emma.
No.
It's time to reside this foolish dream.
[footsteps departing]
- It's not foolish.
[somber music]
[ominous music]
[chains jingling]
- You awake in there, Shorty?
[ominous music]
What are you doing down there?
- Please just kill me now.
Don't let him take me.
- Patience, boy.
This time tomorrow you'll be dead.
That shiny new chair's all ready for you.
[William speaking in tongues]
[tense music]
[William speaking in tongues]
[tense music]
[ominous music]
[Shorty choking] [ominous music]
[body thuds]
[tense music]
- Maybe the main coil overheated.
- Emma, just...
Just concentrate on what you are doing, please.
Right now we need to focus on what we can do well
and find some way of paying off some of these bills.
- Uncle?
- Emma!
- Uncle, look at this.
- Oh, it's a double exposure. Just print it up again.
I can hear your anger.
Your mother used to look at me exactly that way
when she was mad at me.
I do apologize.
I was wrong, I beg your pardon.
She was like you.
She was tenacious, never gave up,
even when the cause was hopeless.
- Am I much like her?
- Oh, yes. In every way.
From the moment she was born,
we just knew there was something special about her.
And the moment you were born, we saw exactly the same thing.
[sighs] It's probably a fault with the camera by the way.
Better clean it up and go to the governor
and see if we can get a piece of penny or two
for the job we did yesterday.
- No, uncle.
- Hm? - Look at this.
It can't be the camera. I've checked it.
There's no dust or fungus on the lens.
- Is there anything like this on any of the other pictures?
- No.
- My god.
My god, this is it!
Pack up!
Pack everything we need, everything, everything up.
Everything. - For what?
- A field test.
We're going to have an opportunity to show
that we are right.
- This is it, um, okay.
Um, I removed most of those scorched bits,
but I still don't know why it blew like that.
- Well, I think I do.
The machine...
The machine needs something to store more energy with it.
It's actually producing more power
than it can handle at the moment.
I think if we use bigger coils, it may help.
Now, first of all, I'll go to the governor,
and I will explain to him,
"Governor, we need to retake the photographs,"
which in a way is of course true.
- Do you think they've seen anything?
- No, I don't think they have.
This is probably what they call a passive manifestation.
Nobody would notice anything
unless they were actually looking for it,
but you, you realize what you have done?
You may have caught a glimpse into an unknown world,
and you discovered that world.
You discovered it!
Right! Shirt!
Clean shirt. Yeah, no, I've got a clean shirt.
Where's my collar?
Damn it, where's the collar?!
[tense music]
- Shorty?
Shorty!
You better be dead in there, or by God, the...
[ominous music]
- [Prisoner] We're all gonna die here!
- [George] Get back in your bunk, Crimms!
- [Governor] Another one's dead then?
- It's getting worse, sir.
They're just offing themselves in painful ways.
- There's a real bad feeling about the place,
like there's something else.
- Every man down there is sentenced to death.
Men on the edge sometimes take matters into their own hands.
Less work for us, less expense for the state.
So, that leaves us with just three prisoners.
Good.
Have John contact the medical school
to come and pick up the body.
- Not in the state that body is in, sir.
It's already rotten.
- I shall hear no more talk of the superstitious nonsense.
Dispose of the body in the furnace then and be done with it.
- Hey, Governor, sir,
I don't wish to speak out of turn-
- For the love of all that's holy, man, speak!
- Philip and myself would feel a lot better
if we could get Father Matthews here,
just to bless the place or something.
- Have John send for him then.
[ominous music]
[footsteps approaching]
[ominous music]
If you could just take a look.
- I can, um, do a blessing.
- If it will calm the prisoners and my two guards here,
please do, Father.
- Save us, Father.
There's evil down here.
- Though I walk in the midst of trouble,
you preserve my life.
You stretch out your hand-
[door rattles]
against the wrath of my enemies,
and your right hand delivers me.
[pages flutter] [Bible thuds]
[tense music]
[William screams]
- Quick, get him upstairs!
[ominous music]
[glass clinks]
You must let us take you to hospital, Father.
- No.
I just need to rest a moment.
- [Governor] Father, what is it that's down there?
What did you see?
[ominous music] - Evil.
[pounding on door]
- Begging your pardon, sir.
But I've been speaking with George and Phil
these last few days, and,
well, you see the wife,
she used to meet him a few months back.
Bit of an odd fella. Well respected mind.
- What is your point, John?
- Well, he's an expert in this sort of thing.
Now, I hope you don't mind,
but the wife spoke to him about it all,
and, well, he wants to take a look around today.
- This is turning into a bloody circus.
- [John] Uh, at noon, sir.
[ominous music] [hooves clopping]
[horse whinnying]
- Excuse me. Mr. Abberton, is it?
- I am, indeed.
- I'm John Chapman. My wife spoke with you.
- Yes, of course.
- John.
Mr. Abberton, welcome to Bishopsgate.
I am Owen Forsythe, the governor here.
- So tell me about the problem.
- I'm not sure about all this.
Let's talk about what it is exactly you can do for us.
- Oh, Governor! Governor!
Just the man I wanted to see.
- You're the photographers.
John, remember this is a jail, a secure one.
Who sent for you?
- Nobody, sir, but it is about the photographs.
- Well, I'm dealing with more pressing matters.
- I know you. You're the inventors.
- Inventors?
No, Mr. Abberton, they're just photographers.
And rude ones, at that.
- Sir, I beg you, look at the photographs.
- Well, what am I looking at here?
Badly taken photographs of a dead prisoner?
- At first we thought it was fungus on the lens, sir,
but it is not.
It is something quite different.
Now I beg you, sir, allow us to re-photograph the subject.
- No, that just wouldn't be possible.
- Let me see those.
You took these when?
- A couple of days ago.
- Something happened.
You've seen something.
- I don't know what you're talking about, girl.
- Governor, we would formally like to offer our services
as paranormal investigators.
- A second ago you were photographers,
and now you're paranormal investigators?
The world's gone mad.
Whatever your services are, they're not required.
Now good day.
- Nobody leaves. - What?
- It is imperative that nobody leaves until I am done.
- Now you just wait one moment-
- For that matter, has anybody else come or gone
since the disturbance started?
- Well, we've been home to our wives and back.
Just you all, and Father Matthews, and you here.
- Well, where is this Father Matthews?
- He's...
He's in my office.
He was attacked by something.
He's resting.
- I must speak with him.
- Nobody leaves.
- I suppose I better search you then.
- Search us?
Can you not take the word of an English gentleman?
- Father Matthews, this is-
- I know who he is.
This was the work of one of Satan's demons.
None of your little parlor tricks will work,
only the word of the Lord.
- It doesn't appear to have worked out too well
for you so far.
Have you been scratched anywhere?
Show me your arms.
- I would think even someone like you
would know how to properly address a man of the cloth.
- Father, please show me your arms
so I can see if your God abandoned you
and allowed you to be attacked by a demonic spirit.
[ominous music]
I see no signs of a demon, Father.
- You will see.
Go down there, and you will see.
- Okay, Father.
Better get to it with my parlor tricks.
Governor, I want the jail locked down.
- Locked down? - Yes.
Nobody leaves, nobody enters.
It should be quite straightforward for a prison.
[ominous music]
[tense music]
Is this the exact area?
- Yes. [camera clicks]
- I want prints of any photographs you take.
The last man executed here, who was he?
- The prisoner's name was William Colcott.
- [Prisoner] Was no man.
- Quiet, you.
- You knew the prisoner?
- No, not really.
- Was he God fearing?
- He struck a man of God. Is that a clue?
- You assume too much, Frederick.
You, guard, take me to the execution room.
- Nothing will give me greater pleasure.
[ominous music]
- Uncle?
- Hm? - I need...
I need to not be in here.
[ominous music]
[Emma sighs]
- Are you all right, Ems?
- Yes. I'm sorry, Uncle.
I just had to get out.
The air, it's heavy down here.
- It is. It's a miserable place.
[sighs] Well, get your breath back.
We won't be here long,
and we will never find a better place
to test the old Atmosizer.
- So, this Colcott, how did he face his execution?
Was he afraid?
- No.
I've never seen anything like it.
If I didn't know better, I'd have thought he wanted to die.
- He didn't die quickly.
He screamed. He burned.
- Yeah.
How did you- - How long was he
kept in jail before he was executed?
- Only a week.
Judge wanted it done quick.
Well, quicker than usual.
He got bumped up the list as a priority.
- Why?
- Papers, probably.
Ever since the Ripper,
the press are desperate for another maniac.
Kill the man, kill the press.
- Was he buried on consecrated ground?
- Well, usually we sell the prisoners' corpses
to the medical school up the road
straight after they drop.
William was a bit cooked,
so we chucked him in the jail furnace.
"May as well finish cooking him," the governor said.
- Have the governor meet me outside cell 13.
And I shall need a table.
[ominous music]
I require your assistance.
[ominous music]
- What do you want us to do?
- Just to wait.
- One table.
Had to borrow it from the governor's office,
and he wasn't happy.
- [Governor] No, he was not.
- [Abberton] Okay, I need all of you to create a circle.
- What is this, an exorcism?
- No. No.
An exorcism is a religious practice. That's not what I do.
I merely require everyone's presence to communicate.
- [Governor] You're here to get rid of this thing,
not converse with it.
- Spirits were once people, people with personalities,
insecurities, fears.
I must get to know them before I can do anything else.
[camera clicks]
You, you're no exception.
[ominous music]
If there are any spirits who wish to make contact,
please use me as a vessel.
What holds you here, spirit?
[ominous music]
Knock twice, like this,
[knuckles rapping]
if your name is William Colcott.
[ominous music]
[Governor clears throat]
William Colcott, murderer of innocent people,
if it is you who lingers here,
stop cowering in the shadows and show yourself.
[Crimms laughs]
I need all of your energy. Do not break the circle.
- This may work well for the superstitious, but not here.
Whatever it is you do, Abberton, just do it.
Philip. - Yes, sir.
[footsteps departing]
- Uh, Mr. Abberton, there is another way
of generating a psychically receptive atmosphere.
- Ah, your machine.
And does it work now?
- Does it work, sir?
It will give you everything that you require and more!
- I may be able to work with it.
Set up your device in the morgue and wait for me there.
[footsteps departing]
- Come on, come on.
Now, uh, which way is the morgue? That way?
Yes, right.
Now double check those coils,
and make sure we've got some really heavy gauge wire,
number six, that blue copper stuff that I got the other day.
[knuckles rapping]
[intense frightening music]
- This is it, huh, Uncle?
- Yes, shh, shh, shh, shh.
Don't want this Abberton fella to think
we're just a pair of amateurs.
[footsteps approaching] - But we are.
[Frederick clears throat]
- I will now switch the machine on.
[electricity crackling] We will now allow
the Atmosizer to charge the air for awhile.
- Assuming it works,
if I tell you to switch that thing off, you do it.
No questions. Is that understood?
- You're the expert.
- Sometimes the traditional ways
are still the best ways.
[electricity crackling]
- What is that?
- Threads from a sacred cloth.
A way we can see the spirit as it enters to join us.
- Voodoo!
Voodoo!
I come to the table with state of the art,
cutting edge science,
and you bring wah-wah, mumbo jumbo,
and a dangling bit of strings!
- Call it what you will,
but at least my methods have a proven track record,
unlike your machine!
- My machine is- - Gentlemen!
Are we here to make contact or are we here to argue?
The machine is working.
It's recording.
- Please.
- Be my guest. I shall observe.
[ominous music] [electricity crackling]
- If there is anyone there who would like to make contact,
please make yourself known.
[ominous music]
What do you want?
[ominous music]
What is your name?
[ominous music]
Are you William Colcott?
[ominous music]
- Switch off that thing. Now.
Can you play that back?
- Yes.
- [Emma On Device] It's recording.
- [Frederick On Device] Please.
- [Abberton On Device] Be my guest.
I shall observe.
[ominous music]
- [Frederick On Device] If there is anyone there
who would like to make contact,
please make yourself known.
[electricity crackling] [ominous music]
What do you want?
[electricity crackling] [ominous music]
What is your name?
[electricity crackling] [ominous music]
[demonic voice moaning]
Are you William Colcott?
[William speaking in tongues]
- [Abberton On Device] Switch that thing off now.
- It works. It works.
It works!
[ominous music]
Thank you.
[ominous music]
- It's over? - Not at all.
I need all you have on this William Colcott.
- So it is him then.
- We should be up there.
This is my lifetime's work,
and that sanctimonious witchdoctor
is probably taking credit for it.
- The machine worked.
It actually worked, right?
You will have your due credit.
- Mm. - Don't worry.
- I'm not worrying. I'm going up there.
Guard the fort. I shan't be long.
- Eh...
[Emma sighs]
[wind gusting]
- [Governor] What is it exactly that you need?
- Any of his personal belongings.
A piece of jewelry, a book of matches, anything he may have.
- John, get in here!
- Sir.
- [Governor] Bring me William Colcott's personals.
- Yes, sir.
- All right, focus.
[ominous music]
[demonic voice speaking in tongues]
[ominous music]
[sack thuds]
[ominous music]
[woman screams]
[man screams]
[tense music]
- [Frederick] Looks like a wedding ring.
- That's exactly what it is.
[ominous music] [footsteps thudding]
- [Frederick] You did not mention my machine.
- Does it matter?
- Well, of course it matters.
As far as they're concerned, we're,
well, we're contributing nothing to this investigation.
- This is not an investigation, Frederick.
If you are here for fame and grandeur,
then please stay upstairs!
- Sir, it is not about fame and grandeur.
- Then what is it about?
- It is about credit where credit is due, sir.
- I shall give you credit when I believe it is due.
[ominous music] [footsteps thudding]
- [Frederick] I don't want to labor the point,
but I hope it is now properly made.
[ominous music]
- Something is very wrong here.
[ominous music] [electricity crackling]
[Emma breathing heavily]
- [Emma] No.
[ominous music]
[intense frightening music]
- Emma, what the hell are you doing?!
- Do not move.
[gentle somber music]
You cannot take her.
I see you now.
I know what you are.
[ominous music] [wind gusting]
[door slams] [Emma gasps]
- Emma.
[somber music]
[Philip gasps]
Give us the room, please.
- Why not?
You seem to be everywhere else.
I should be on patrol anyway.
- How do you feel?
- I feel hollow.
- Get in the bed.
I will stay here the night
as I used to when you were a little one.
Do you remember?
- Thank you.
I'm just going to rest for a while.
- Yes.
I used to talk to you about your mama, didn't I?
You know,
I'm sure that she is looking down on you now and thinking,
"What a marvelous woman my Emma is."
I certainly think that.
I think you're wonderful.
Did I ever actually tell...
Tell you
that I can't do anything without you?
[gentle music]
- [Abberton] You need to rest, Frederick.
- I do not believe that I shall ever again rest easily
after what happened in there.
What was that?
- We were introduced to William James Colcott.
- Colcott possessed Emma?
- No. He's nowhere near strong enough to do that.
Certainly not to someone like your niece.
- What do you mean someone like my niece?
- She's special.
- Yes, she is.
And her safety is my first concern.
Wow.
Doc, there has to be a rational explanation
for what happened.
- Frederick, science cannot explain everything.
Perhaps you need to open your mind
beyond your limited encounters with the afterlife.
- Do you know, sir, that your condescension
generally annoys me,
but in this particular case, I rejoice at it.
Why?
Because anyone who can condescend like that
must have a plan.
- No plan.
- I thought not.
- Not yet.
But Frederick, you must leave your machine switched off,
for now at least.
We can't risk drawing him out until we're organized.
- Very well.
[ominous music]
[footsteps approaching]
[William screams]
[tense music] [Emma panting]
[ominous music]
[electricity crackling] [tense music]
[John yawns]
[bell ringing]
- Mrs. Sheppard.
- My husband didn't come home last night.
Where is he? Sleeping off a hangover in there again?
- Hold on.
- [Governor] Who in the name of God is ringing that bell?!
- It's George's wife, sir. [bell ringing]
- Well, get rid of her!
- Begging your pardon, sir,
what am I supposed to say to her?
She's quite angry.
- I don't care! Just get rid of her!
[bell ringing]
- John Chapman, open this door. I know he's in there.
- Look, I can't let you in, Marie.
We've, uh, we've had a fire.
- A fire? You expect me to believe that?
Where's the smoke?
Now either you open this door,
or when I leave here,
I shall go straight to your wife
and tell her all about young Beatrice
down the Crown & Scepter.
Oh, I'm sure she'd be very interested.
- All right, all right, just hold on.
[ominous music]
All right. All right.
[door squeaks]
All right, listen.
There's something strange going on in here, all right?
Now George is down in the cells with the governor
and some other people.
Now I'll get him to you when I can, all right?
But until then, I need you to hide in the store room.
Look, if the governor sees you, it's my job, Marie.
[ominous music]
Go on.
All right, now please just wait here
'til I'll come get you, all right?
[ominous music]
[Emma sighs]
- Uncle.
- Hm?
- How [groans]...
How did you sleep?
- Not good.
[Frederick grunts]
- I wonder why.
[footsteps tapping] [ominous music]
- You all right there?
I didn't mean to scare you.
- Do you see much of what goes on outside your door?
- I pay no mind. Not my business.
- I'm not a guard. You don't have to fear me.
My name is Lucian Abberton. And you are?
- Patrick O'Callahan.
- Cigarette?
- Thanks.
- Did you see a man named William Colcott pass through here?
- Third man, he was.
You'll be best off closing the doors and leaving this place.
- I think that's exactly what he wants us to do.
- Well, did you get rid of him last night?
- Last night?
- Yes, sir.
The flashing light, that sound crackling all night,
is it all done now?
[ominous music]
- Step away from that prisoner.
Mr. Abberton, you have had all night.
So is this thing gone?
- No.
- You're a fraud, Abberton.
George, have Philip open the doors
and take Father Matthews to hospital.
I won't spend a minute longer locked in my own jail.
- With pleasure, sir.
- Let's see if I can put this in terms you might understand.
These things, especially the nasty ones,
they can attach themselves to you, to your very person.
As a spirit, it is bound to this place,
but it can use you as a way out.
- Bullocks.
He's trying to scare us.
He's after more money, that's all.
- I couldn't possibly scare you any more
than you already are.
- How dare you? - Gentlemen, gentlemen,
gentlemen.
Whether or not we believe Mr. Abberton,
we cannot allow whatever this is to escape these walls.
You cannot want to take it home to your wife
and your family.
- I ask you to just stay the course.
Here, at least with me, it is confined to these corridors.
- So you'll have us rot here with these bastards?
- We stay here until I get rid of it, and I shall.
- You have until the end of the day.
[ominous music]
[footsteps departing]
- You're gonna die down here,
like all of us.
- What's your name?
- Rufus.
- I know that given your current situation
you may not care about anyone or anything,
but I do.
I don't even know you, and I'm down here
keeping your soul safe
from an eternal entanglement with evil.
- Oh, well thank God, eh?
- You should thank him, beg him,
and just about anything else, that I'm successful.
[ominous music]
- You'll die. Like us.
- Not like you.
If you're in a place like this, you're going somewhere bad
when your number is called.
Until then, your soul is in my hands.
Better hope I don't drop it.
- Big man, eh?
Big man with big words, ain't you?
With a locked door between us.
Oh yeah, big man, eh?
[ominous music]
[Emma sighs]
- You know, it might help if we knew
what we were looking for.
- Abberton, this dark mystery nonsense may go down well
with wealthy housewives,
but if we are to work together, you must-
- Is that what we are doing? Working together?
- Well, aren't we?
- You're here because you have to be.
- No, we're not lackeys you can just use when you need to.
We're investigators, like you.
- You are not like me.
Paranormal investigators search for
what they believe to be out there.
I know what is out there,
and you shouldn't be searching for it.
This was used to communicate.
- Communicate? With what?
- That is the question.
- I would dismiss that man as a complete fraud,
except for one thing.
- He saw something in our photograph.
[pounding on door]
- Oy, what do you think you're doing?
- I need to ask this man some questions.
- Good luck.
Crimms here doesn't know what day of the week it is.
- What's this all about, then?
I ain't done nothing.
- Mr. Crimms, isn't it?
The man who occupied the cell opposite,
you ever speak to him?
- Once or twice.
It's him, isn't it? He's back.
- Why do you say that?
- If I tell you anything, he'll come for me.
- What is it you know, Crimms?
Whilst you're still alive,
there's always time to redeem your soul.
You weren't always the man they locked away in here.
- I had a wife once.
Violet, her name was.
- Violet. Lovely name.
- Yeah.
- You can be with her again, Crimms.
- Noises came from his cell that night,
vicious, horrible noises.
He whispered things, words I never heard before,
words I never wanna hear again.
I know no more. I swear.
- Thank you, Mr. Crimms.
- Smartass.
You know more than you're letting on.
I can see it in your eyes.
- Unfortunately, I don't know enough.
Not yet.
- And how many revolutions were there?
- Um...
Eight? Ten?
Well, maybe 12.
- Okay, so we need to attach a rev counter?
- Yes, and something for measuring the gauss field as well.
- As well as atmospheric pressure, temperature, humidity.
- Now we know the machine is powerful enough,
we need to establish a maximum and a minimum on the machine.
- Well, we can tweak, restart, and try again
with Mr. Abberton's permission.
- Ah, Abberton, yes.
I expect he's trembling in his boots
that we're gonna take his business away.
However, I suppose you're right.
We should proceed with proper scientific caution.
Oh, damn that. Let's have a go anyway.
- Uncle. - Just kidding, just kidding.
[laughing] Just [indistinct].
[ominous music]
[Crimms mumbling]
[tense music]
[demonic voice speaking in tongues]
- No.
No! No!
No!
[tense music] No!
[demon speaking in tongues] No! No!
No, no, I told them nothing!
I told them nothing!
[Crimms screaming] [ominous music]
[Crimms screams]
[head thudding] [Crimms grunting]
[Crimms screaming] [ominous music]
[head thudding] [Crimms grunting]
[body thuds]
[George gasps]
- Step away from the door.
Whatever you may see in any of these cells,
you are not to enter them.
Understand?
Tell the others the same.
- Cup of tea, sir?
- [Governor] Make it bloody strong.
[ominous music]
[footsteps pounding in distance]
[ominous music]
[door squeaks]
[door thuds]
- George?
[ominous music]
[water dripping]
[Abberton exhales deeply]
- I'm speaking directly to you, William Colcott.
[tense music]
Guide my hand, William.
[ominous music]
[ominous music intensifies]
[wind gusting]
Show yourself, William.
[ominous music]
Show yourself.
[ominous music]
I see you.
Come forward.
Use my hand, William.
Tell me. Tell me what it is you want.
[ominous music]
[tense frightening music]
William, tell me.
Tell me what it is you want.
[tense music]
[Lucian grunting] [tenses music]
[tense frightening music]
Tell me, and I'll-
- [Marie] George?
George?
- Get the hell off me!
[Lucian groans in pain] [tense music]
[Abberton screams]
[Abberton moaning in pain]
[ominous music]
[Abberton moaning in pain]
[ominous music] [Abberton grunting]
[footsteps tapping]
[footsteps approaching]
[ominous music]
[Marie gasps]
[William growling]
- [Emma] Mr. Abberton?
Mr. Abberton, can you hear me?
- Water.
- There's a flask in my case.
Abberton, my dear chap.
- He's just too strong.
- What?
- He's too strong.
[footsteps approaching]
- Marie?
- George.
- What the bloody hell are you doing here?
The governor will go spare if he sees you.
- I don't know why I'm here.
- Who let you in?
Marie?
[Marie screams and hisses]
- The Devil sends his regards, George!
[tense frightening music]
[body thuds]
[tense frightening music]
[body thuds]
[demon screams]
[demon gagging]
[demon retches]
[Philip struggling] [demon retching]
[Philip struggling]
[demon screams]
[Philip struggling]
[tense music]
[footsteps shuffling]
- Marie?
Marie?
[door squeaks]
- Father, please. You need to rest.
- I cannot leave God's work to those heathens any longer.
- John, you're in charge up here.
- Yes, sir.
[footsteps approach]
- How are you feeling?
- Better. Thank you.
Where's Frederick?
- He's gone to make you some tea
to settle your nerves.
- I'm guessing he has a tea-making machine.
- He was working on one once,
but the tea was horrid. [laughs]
Now he carries a flask. It's still horrid though.
[Lucian chuckles]
- All this, the machines, the inventions,
what are you looking for?
When we found you in the execution room
there was something by your side protecting you.
I couldn't see it, but I felt it.
A strong, positive presence.
That presence, I believe, is the reason you're still alive.
And I also believe you know what it was.
To see, you just need to look in the right places, Emma.
You don't need machines.
- Sometimes you need the darkness to show you the light.
Something my mother used to say, apparently.
- Wise lady.
Emma, please go and check on your uncle.
[ominous music]
[Lucian exhales heavily]
[ominous music]
[electricity crackling]
- What the Devil?!
[electricity crackling] [ominous music]
What are you doing?
[Frederick screams]
[tense music] [electricity crackling]
[case thuds] [Frederick grunts]
[electricity crackling]
- Father.
Father.
- [Frederick] What are you doing?! - Father.
[Frederick screams]
Father, don't move.
[footsteps departing]
[ominous music]
[footsteps approaching]
- Your heathen ways have only made things worse.
- Then work with me, Father.
- Never.
[somber music]
- [Emma] Uncle, are you all right?
- That thing is not human.
- Mrs. Sheppard?
- [Emma] Do you know her?
- She's the wife of one of my guards.
How the blazes did she get in here?
[intense frightening music]
[blow thuds]
[demon speaking in tongues]
- Do not speak that foul tongue in my presence, William.
Release her, William.
Release her!
[demon screams]
[ominous music]
[Father Matthews panting]
[ominous music]
[demon growls] [neck snaps]
[tense frightening music] [demon screams]
[tense music]
[Father Matthews breathes heavily]
- Power of God, thrust into hell Satan
and all evil spirits.
[demon screams] [intense frightening music]
[Father Matthews breathes heavily]
- [laughing] I smell fear on you.
Man of God.
[tense music]
[demon speaking in tongues]
[tense frightening music]
[Rufus screams]
[tense frightening music]
[Patrick screams]
[tense frightening music]
- Governor, wait! Don't!
[tense frightening music]
[demon screams]
[tense frightening music]
[demon screams]
[ominous music]
William, you can't!
You need me instead!
You can't bring your beloved back
without a body of your own!
You cannot have her!
Release her!
[tense music]
[neck snaps]
- Emma, are you all right?
- Yes. - Huh?
- Yes.
- I thought I'd lost you.
- I'm okay.
[somber music]
[footsteps approaching]
- Lucian, old chap.
It won't do, you know, to isolate yourself at this time.
- Where is everyone?
- Uh, they're drinking my horrible tea.
- So...
So many deaths.
- I should have destroyed the machine.
I should have, I should have smashed it.
I should have torn the notes up, I...
Lucian, I had no idea that the invisible world
could be possessed of such evil.
- You all need to leave this place.
- We cannot leave this place.
You told us that.
- People are dead because of what I told them to do.
- No, you cannot blame yourself, sir.
It was my machine.
- All the blame lies at my door, Frederick.
I have never faced a pure,
unrelenting evil like this.
This William has knelt at the altar of an ancient darkness.
He made a deal whilst he was still alive,
and he intends to honor it.
- William Colcott is dead. They executed him.
What good is any deal now?
- Alive or dead
makes no difference to these things.
[ominous music]
- My dear fellow.
What has he done to you?
Emma, get him up.
We've gotta get him
out of here! - No!
I shall remain here and draw him out.
When I do, you will all leave.
- And leave you here to die?
- Please, Frederick.
I don't have the strength to fight you on this.
- Either we leave together or we stay together.
- There has to be another way.
- There isn't.
Be ready to leave.
I won't be able to hold him for too long.
You must, Frederick. Please.
- Wait a minute, wait a minute.
Our machine gave the creature power.
Now what if it was possible to reverse the process?
- Drain the atmosphere instead of charging it?
- [Frederick] It would make it weaker.
- Yes.
- We could do this! We can do this.
Now, Lucian, listen to me.
There is another way, the three of us,
the old and the new working together.
And I think that you still have enough power in you
to finish the job.
[somber music]
- Let's destroy the bastard.
[somber music]
- [Frederick] Now we have to draw him in.
- But how?
- The usual approach is to draw the spirits out somehow,
lure it into a sense of strength and security,
then attach or bind it to an item,
something symbolic from their life.
- We could use the ring to draw him in.
- No, Emma. I have tried.
The ring holds too much energy from William's life.
It's a source of power for him.
I need something deeply negative.
- Would you say the key that locked him away
was negative enough?
- The key. That's it.
- And all we do is find a way of bringing him close.
The Atmosizer electrified the air,
thus inadvertently feeding him.
To weaken him, we reverse the process,
but then we run into a problem.
- We need somewhere to send the charge,
to store it, something big.
- So we're gonna bypass the electric chair
and connect the cable directly to the Atmosizer,
and then run it back
straight into the capacitor of the generator.
Problem solved.
[somber music]
- [Lucian] Prepare your machine.
I think we have a plan.
[somber music]
We may have found a way to entrap Colcott,
but Governor, we need your help.
- [Governor] What is it exactly that you need?
- Be with me, Mother.
All clear.
[gentle dark music]
- We're ready.
- [Governor] William Colcott, a pathetic whelp of a man.
You failed in life, and now you fail in death.
You're weak, Colcott.
Too weak to face me, governor of Bishopsgate Jail,
the man who watched you die.
Preying on the innocent. Nothing but a filthy coward.
You have failed.
That's it, I'm not reading anymore.
Just go back downstairs and finish this thing.
[switch clicks]
[tense frightening music]
- Now, Frederick!
[electricity crackling] [tense music]
[William growls]
I bind you, William Colcott.
[William growls] [electricity crackling]
I bind you to this key in death, as it bound you in life!
[William growls] [electricity crackling]
I can feel your weakness, your fear.
You failed, William!
[William screams] [electricity crackling]
[William screams]
William!
[tense music]
William!
[William growls]
Your soul belongs to me!
[electricity crackling] [William screaming]
[tense music] [electricity crackling]
[Lucian grunting] [electricity crackling]
Emma, now!
[electricity crackling] [Lucian screaming]
- Stop the machine!
[ominous music]
- Lucian!
[Lucian panting]
Lucian, did it work?
[Lucian panting]
- Of course it worked. [coughs]
- We did it.
We bloody did it.
- Well done.
[somber music]
- Governor, may I ask you, please, to open the door
so that we can all go home?
[somber music]
[keys jingling]
[door squeaks]
[somber music] [birds singing]
No, no, no, Ems. That won't do at all.
- What if we took photographs for the police?
- Photographs for the police?
- Photograph the scene of a crime.
It would certainly be more accurate than a sketch.
- [laughs] Emma, that is preposterous.
That would never catch on.
No, no, I still think what we have to do first of all
is write a true account of what happened at the prison.
- We need to reach out to Lucian.
[knocking on door]
- I am not in.
- [Emma] Um, Uncle!
- Oh.
Mr. Abberton. Welcome.
But say his name and he appears.
- I hope you don't mind my coming over uninvited.
I thought it only right that I paid you half of my fee
from Bishopsgate.
- My dear fellow, you...
You don't need to do this. This is far too generous.
I do not know what to say, sir, other than thank you.
- There are rumors of what happened
spreading around town like wildfire.
They're calling you two the great ghost hunters of London.
[Frederick laughs]
- The local paper said it was a prison riot.
They even interviewed the governor.
- Of course.
No right thinking man in the prison system
would've wanted the truth printed in the papers,
least of all the man about to retire
from a distinguished career.
Coverups are unfortunately common in this profession.
So, what next for the great ghost hunters of London?
- Well, I think for the time being,
we're going to resume our career
as postmortem photographers.
We have acquired a new affection
for the dead who stay dead. [laughs]
- Well, I wouldn't get too comfortable.
My associate is very interested in speaking with you again.
You've both caused quite a stir in the right circles.
Oh, I almost forgot.
This is for you, Emma.
I thought it might be of some use to you.
- "Communicating Beyond the Thin Veil of Death,"
by Lucian Abberton.
- Good lord, I must dash if I'm to make my train.
I just wanted to deliver the money personally
and say thank you.
- Thank you, Abberton.
- Both of you.
- Thank you.
Uh, Mr. Abberton, before you go.
What happened to the key?
- It's exactly where it needs to be,
locked away in the darkness,
where no man should ever go looking.
[somber music]
[hooves clopping] [somber music]
[ominous music]
- [William Colcott] Soon, my love.
[intense frightening music]
[somber music]
[ominous music]
[somber music]
[ominous music]