02x12 - The Tenants

[bunniefuu]

[Gasping]

I should never have let her move into that apartment.

I started to think that almost every corner of this house held some kind of secret.

The fear was...

Just eating me alive.

[Ominous piano music]

[Woman sobbing]

The sound of a woman crying...

You're hurting me!

A woman void of all hope.

[Rope strains]

Cast into hell Satan and all evil spirits!

Cast them into hell!

[Crashing and banging]

[Woman sobbing]

[Sobs]

Stop!

There were thousands and thousands of pictures of women.

I always felt like there were others there.

[Screams]

[Acoustic guitar music]

It was July of 1970, and Marsha and I had been married three years.

And we were happily gonna have our first child.

We were joyous, excited.

We were just... we were on a cloud.

And we thought nothing could go wrong.

Life was exactly the way it should be.

[Door closes]

Hi, honey.

Hi, Ed.

[Groans]

What's the matter?

I went to pay the rent to my landlady.

And happily announced that we were gonna have a baby.

You'll never believe it.

And she sternly looked at me and said, no children. No pets.

No children. No pets.

She wants us out.

What?

There was only about two months before the baby.

So there was a real urgency.

I desperately started looking.

About a month later, an ad popped out that said, heir estate.

So I took off to the inner city.

It was a two-flat building...

One living area on the first floor and one living area above it.

Mr. Becker, I'm Dave. Nice to see you.

This is the place we're talking about.

Would you like to have a look inside?

Sure.

Let's do it.

So this is the hallway.

[Door clicks open]

You sons of b*tches!

Get out of our home. We don't want you here.

You don't belong here.

She just came out screaming hysterically and swearing obscenities.

You sons of b*tches.

We don't want you here.

You have no right.

We own this building. You'll never own this building.

Myra...

Get out!

You can't have our house! You'll never have our house.

It's ours.

Who was that?

That's Myra. Pay no attention to her.

Her family is gonna have her put in a home.

He said, well, she's the last remaining member of the family that owned, built, occupied this building since, uh, beginning.

Sorry about the mess.

Have a look around.

Take as much time as you need, Mr. Becker.

My first impression was that vandalism had taken place.

What I saw was paper, rubbish, clothes, utensils scattered in all directions around the floor.

It needs a lot of work.

But it does have great potential.

He was selling me, and I was buying it because I needed to buy it.

I needed to have a roof over my head.

I needed to have somewhere to take my wife and my child.

Have you seen enough?

Can I see the rest?

Let's do this quickly.

She looked at me straight in the eyes.

And I thought, there's no way I'm taking possession of the building.

With this woman inside.

But he assured me. He said, don't worry about her.

Myra would be gone on the day of the closing.

I figured we'd rent the first-level apartment.

It would help us pay the mortgage, and then we could live upstairs.

I'll take it.

I was relieved. I was happy. I was gonna own something.

It was gonna be ours. We were gonna make a home there.

There you go, buddy.

Thanks.

The bedroom on the left. Thanks.

How are you doing?

Good.

This is so exciting.

The day we moved in, I felt like we finally had a home.

We had a little baby and named her Christine.

Want to go inside?

And I was happy.

The pressure was off.

In the first few days, I was so busy.

There was not time to think.

I was cleaning, still unpacking, just setting up the house.

My pride and joy was this beautiful candy dish.

One of the few really nice wedding presents we got.

I'd always leave it in the middle of the table.

All of a sudden, the candy dish was on the other side of the table.

I don't even know how to explain that.

We hadn't been living there very long.

We're home at night.

What's wrong, Ed?

It's probably just the circuit.

It was almost in rhythm.

The flashing had a rhythm, almost like morse code.

Fast flashes...

[Fluttering]

And then one flash.

I don't like it, Ed.

It's okay.

See?

It was after a month or so, and I'd get up at 5:00 in the morning.

And off to work.

Of course, the first thing you want to do.

Once, you know, I got a break and I was able to...

Is get to the telephone, call Marsha, and say, how's it going?

[Line beeping]

The phone's busy.

I figured, well, she's probably calling family, friends.

A few hours later, I call again.

[Line beeping]

The phone is busy.

[Beeping continues]

[Line beeping]

All day, I never got through, and now I'm burning.

It's like, you know, what the heck is wrong with her?

Who the hell... I couldn't even think of who she could talk to all day long.

Hey.

Hey, honey. How are you?

I got home, and I said... I've been trying to call you all day.

Who have you been talking to?

She looked at me, and she was just totally bewildered.

And I said, who would I call?

I don't know anyone here.

Marsha, I've been calling all day.

It's busy all day.

The phone was on the table.

But the cord and the receiver earpiece was on the floor.

It's been off the hook.

All day and you didn't notice it?

I didn't understand why he was upset with me.

I didn't take the telephone off the hook.

He should know me better than that.

I was busy with the baby.

Being a new mom's a whole lot harder than I thought it was gonna be.

[Clattering, soft ringing]

[Dial tone humming]

I didn't understand what was going on.

But I knew something was wrong.

Something was very wrong.

Every morning, I was in the habit of, washing the breakfast dishes and putting them away.

And I turned around...

The cabinet door was open.

[Plates crashing]

[Screaming]

They come straight across...

[Plates shattering] [Screaming]

All in one motion... [screaming]

And slams down...

To the floor.

[Gasping]

It scared me to death.

And it felt dangerous...

Very, very dangerous.

[Screaming]

[Door squeaks open]

Come on in, guys.

The first people to respond were Dan and Diane White.

So we live on the second floor.

But I'll show you the kitchen first.

This is my wife, Marsha.

Hi.

Hi, I'm Diane.

There were about our age.

Brand-new baby the same age as Christine.

Who is this?

This is my little one.

Oh, so sweet.

I was very excited about the apartment.

I could see that Diane was really thinking of it as home.

Hi, baby.

I just felt connected to Diane almost immediately.

She was sweet and smiling, and she had a kind look about her eyes.

Diane and Marsha had very good chemistry.

All I could think about was, I won't be alone.

She's gonna be downstairs.

If I need help and I scream, they're gonna hear.

Ed?

Yeah?

I'm gonna show Diane the living room, okay?

Okay.

Right this way.

We couldn't turn Diane and Dan away.

They were perfect.

We just called them the next day and said, you know, move in, you guys, whenever you want.

Diane?

Soon after we moved into the apartment, I would come home from work.

Diane would be out.

[Chandelier creaking]

And I started seeing the chandelier swinging back and forth...

Back and forth, back and forth.

[Creaking continues]

I didn't worry about it.

I thought it was them walking around upstairs.

So this is what Dan's mom just got us.

It's a little jumper.

So cute.

One afternoon, I was downstairs just talking to Diane.

I'm surprised she has such good taste, and I think it'll...

Diane had put her baby into a walker.

Her legs did not reach the floor.

Baby was very tiny, very petite, not crawling or walking or doing anything.

[Eerie music]

Out of the corner of my eye, I see something moving.

My mind didn't accept that she was doing that.

I knew she couldn't do that.

[Baby coos]

[Screams]

[Baby crying]

I felt it was my fault.

I should have told her the house was haunted.

And when Ed came home from work, I said, we need to talk about this.

I know this sounds crazy, Ed, but this house is haunted.

Come on, Marsha. You're being paranoid.

She got angry with me.

She told me I didn't understand.

She told me there was something in the basement that wasn't right.

[Stairs creaking]

It was a cave.

It was filled with junk.

[Can clatters]

I was examining everything.

And what I saw was a jar.

Inside of it were old Monopoly pieces and things.

But then I noticed something else.

There were b*ll*ts in there, live b*ll*ts.

It bothered me, because if someone here in this house had b*ll*ts.

There must have been a g*n.

If there was a g*n, who had the g*n? And why would they have needed a g*n?

I looked to the back of the basement, and there was a door that opened to a room...

Filled floor to ceiling with shoe boxes.

And the other side was magazines...

Girlie magazines of early day, going back to the '30s.

The name Ben Verdere was written almost on every magazine I picked up.

I went to the shoe boxes, and I started opening them up.

It was the most amazing thing that I had ever seen.

There were little clippings of paper.

Thousands and thousands of pictures of women...

Uh, maybe a tight sweater, maybe a skirt blowing up in the air.

He cut that picture out, and he put it into these shoe boxes.

I had a picture of this Ben Verdere being quite perverted.

And disturbed.

He obviously treasured this.

He obviously enjoyed looking at it, and he probably pleasured himself in secret.

I didn't want to tell Marsha about what I found because I felt, this would definitely add to her fears.

I just felt, nothing good can come of it.

[Water running]

Every morning, when I put Christine down for her morning nap and Ed had gone off to work.

That was my time to get my bath.

[Faint creaking]

All of a sudden, I felt a little uncomfortable.

I just felt like I'm not alone.

[Tense music]

[Panting softly]

[Screams]

There was nothing there.

[Screams]

I completely lost it.

[Screams]

Something has actually att*cked me.

It's touched me. [Screaming]

[Screams]

[Door slams]

[Clock ticking]

I didn't belong to the church, but I just instinctively wondered...

If some kindly old priest would come over and fix my house.

He would take the evil out.

[Door clicks shut]

Father, you know my wife, Marsha.

Hello, Marsha.

Thank you for coming.

She believed it would put an umbrella of protection, over some of these things that were going on.

I just thought, this is a bunch of crap.

I don't believe it.

And he reached into his robe.

And he pulled out this brass dispenser, a holy water dispenser.

And he started praying.

Dear Lord, we pray to you, oh, God.

For this home, its occupants...

I looked to Marsha, and she was frightened.

Like something was gonna happen.

Heavenly due in good measure as well as an abundance of earthly needs.

He who dwells in the shelter...

Of the most high who abides in the shadow of the almighty...

My refuge and my fortress...

My God in whom I trust.

[Dispenser shatters] [Screams]

Poof.

[Dispenser pieces clattering]

It shattered.

There's no way that can happen...

Even I understand that.

Brass does not shatter, and this shattered.

Blessed Archangel Michael...

This man was frightened.

I mean, something had att*cked him in such a way that he recognized the danger.

Protect us! Amen!

[Door opens, closes]

We had just seen a symbol of God burst into midair... be destroyed.

All of a sudden, I was starting to acknowledge it and admit it and that...

We were dealing with something that was real, that I couldn't explain.

Her non believing husband all of a sudden said...

Yeah, we're dealing with something beyond our control.

I decided, I'm gonna go investigate the history of the house.

And I figured if anybody could give me any information, it'd be Walter, my neighbor.

He said...

I'm so sorry for you, that you moved into that house with a young child.

I had so many questions that were really, you know, buzzing around my mind.

I lived next to these people for 50 years.

50 years.

They were a very... [sighs]

Very, very strange, very strange.

He told me that the Verdere family had built the house around 1900.

It had never been occupied by anybody other than family members.

They never smiled.

They never spoke to me, never spoke to me or my wife.

Nothing.

Strange.

He explained that the Verdere family had three sons and a daughter.

Ben was the second son.

A daughter named Myra.

And then a young son who d*ed young.

Now, Ben...

He was the dominant man in the house.

He controlled that house and everybody in it.

He was some piece of dirt, that man.

Next, he told me that Ben Verdere...

Had passed away in the bathtub in our apartment.

Massive coronary.

Now, it... it became a revelation.

I started to attribute... whether I was correct or not...

But I started to attribute all my activity to Ben Verdere.

I assumed that we were living with Ben.

[Woman screaming]

[Clattering]

What's going on?

Shh!

[Woman crying]

[Clattering]

We could hear boom...

Boom... boom... boom.

[Crying]

Stop!

My first thought was that it was Diane and Dan downstairs.

I didn't know them that well.

I figured all couples have arguments, but this was too violent.

Oh, my Lord, Ed. We got to do something.

He's really hurting her.

Just leave it.

I couldn't understand that, because, to me, they were a very loving couple.

It's their business.

[Crying]

Stop! Stop!

Then it starts to happen night after night.

[Crying]

[Clattering]

I thought it was coming from downstairs...

[Crying]

From the base of our stairs.

[Woman wailing]

[Woman screaming]

[Woman crying]

Dan, wake up.

What?

[Clattering]

Do you hear that?

We heard arguing or...

Moaning and crying.

[Shouting and clattering]

I was convinced it was Eddie and Marsha.

It sounded terrible.

[Woman screaming]

[Groaning, smacking]

No sooner than I stuck my head out...

It stopped.

There's nothing there.

But once I knew it wasn't Dan and Diane, I realized that I had to tell Marsha everything.

I told Marsha about Ben and his secret p*rn hideaway.

Amelia?

I told her about Ben's wife.

Amelia, is that you?

Walter had told me she was of Spanish descent.

And the only non-family member to ever live in that house.

No, Ben, please, stop!

There marriage was filled with turmoil.

[Gasping and sobbing]

Please!

Arguing... [gasping]

Hateful screaming...

[Sobbing] [Slapping]

Please stop!

Walter said she never should've moved into that house.

[Melancholy music]

[Stool clatters]

[Rope strains]

[Chandelier creaking and rattling]

Made perfect sense to me after hearing the arguing on the stairs.

The... the anguish and the crying.

I realized that the ghost of this family...

The Verdere family... was occupying our house.

It was built by them. Some of them d*ed there.

The words of Myra began echoing...

[Echoing] You'll never have our house!

Never.

Never!

This was the Verdere house, and they weren't gonna give it up.

[Woman crying]

[Rope strains]

[Engine turns over]

It started to change our relationship.

I'd get up at 5:00 in the morning and off to work.

Marsha was home all day with the baby.

[Baby crying]

She was losing sleep.

Her mood wasn't as upbeat and jovial and smiling.

Kind of, I thought, a depression.

To me, it just seemed like a common thread.

Of this family and of their effect on people.

Was driving people insane.

Diane had always been a bubbly person.

She would always be laughing.

Now she looked like she was troubled.

She wasn't her normal outgoing self anymore.

She would just sit there.

I was constantly on the move.

I would walk around the apartment and check.

Is this still there? Is that still okay?

The fear was...

Just eating me alive.

Whatever she was experiencing and not telling me.

Was uh, ruining our marriage.

I was starting to argue with Diane about it and...

She decided that she was gonna leave.

She took our baby and moved.

When Diane left, I was devastated.

I really felt I had lost...

The last of someone there that understood.

I always felt like there were others there.

Later that night, I came home, and Marsha was in a serious mood.

She sat down. She gave me dinner. And she was being very quiet.

[Door creaks open]

All of a sudden, the door opens.

Ed, what are you doing?

I got angry. I got up.

[Rattling]

Got a piece of heavy string.

You're only gonna make it worse.

I tied it around the doorknob, and I said, now open the door, you pervert.

Ed, please.

Just keep eating.

Eat.

[Rattling and pounding]

And all of a sudden, everything became manic and angry.

[Rattling and pounding]

Come on! You old pervert, come on!

I had no respect for him...

Get out of our house!

Stop! Stop!

And I was gonna torment him.

Leave us alone! This is not your house!

Ed, please!

Come on, Ben, you old pervert.

Come on!

Stop it!

Come on!

Please, please!

This is our house.

Stop, please, Ed!

Come on! Come on!

Please! Please!

Yeah, come on. Come on.

Come on... you can't do it. You can't do it, you old pervert.

I felt in despair because there was nothing I could do.

I sat there, I cursed...

Ben, I cursed the whole Verdere family.

I felt that they were ruining our life.

Marsha had had enough.

And, she came to the conclusion that we couldn't get out of it.

We had no money to move.

And I said, Eddie, there just has to be somebody out there...

That knows what they're doing.

This is serious.

So Marsha tried the yellow pages and found a category called psychic research.

Okay, yeah.

Joseph Delouise is a psychic. He talked to Ed.

Church of England, okay.

I'll have to talk to my wife.

Yeah.

Okay.

Joe Delouise said we would have an exorcism.

And in fact, he informed me that he was gonna bring along a professional exorcist.

They want to put it on TV. NBC wants to film it.

He told NBC that we have a very unusual situation.

What do you think?

I wasn't much for ridicule, and so...

I didn't know what to do. Uh...

But this was very serious, and it's something that had hurt us.

Okay.

So I agreed.

The day of the exorcism arrived.

There were people all over the place, and camera people and sound people, and people coming in and out.

And I lost track of who everybody was.

Buddy, can I have some help?

Yeah.

I helped a sound man close every single window in the house.

NBC told us that this was going to be, the first televised exorcism.

Those of you who are staying know you will be here for the duration.

Reverend Derl-Davis, the exorcist, turned to us and the observers, and he said...

You must hold a crucifix.

We all had crucifixes. We all took one.

And we hoped we were protected against whatever was gonna happen.

Let's begin.

Joe Delouise, the psychic, pulled up a chair and sat to the side of the altar quietly.

Reverend Davis then explained that Joe was gonna go into a trance.

And what he was gonna attempt to do is to communicate with the spirits.

It was very quiet at that point.

Dear Lord, we humbly pray.

Father, we are powerless, and we recognize our utter dependence on you and your power.

[Shuffling and creaking]

And all of a sudden, Joe Delouise...

We could see his movement.

Look with mercy upon us and all those who will dwell in his house.

Do not look upon our sins, dear Lord, but rather the sufferings...

We were starting to get extremely nervous, especially that poor sound man.

Did you hear that?

But rather on the suffering of your beloved son...

He could hear sounds that we couldn't hear.

Whose bitter sacrifice and death has reconciled us to you.

[Muffled groaning and choking]

By the victory of the cross...

He sh*t out his right hand, showing the cross in the mirror.

Protect all those who will live in this house.

[Gasping and choking]

[Gasping]

A gust of wind just blew through...

[Blinds rattling]

And the venetian blinds rattled.

[Rattling continues]

There was no doubt in my mind that there was something in this apartment.

Be gone, evil spirits!

Cast them into hell by the blood of your son Jesus, dear Lord!

Send your holy Angels to protect us and to watch over us.

[Choking]

All of a sudden, we start to hear it.

[Cacophony of voices and screaming]

The noise was overwhelming.

[Shouting and rattling continues]

[Breathes sharply]

[Wings flapping, crows cawing]

[Wings flapping]

There was thousands of birds in the trees.

All screaming at the same time.

Getting louder and louder.

Cast into hell Satan and all evil spirits!

By the blood of your son Jesus, cast into hell.

Cast them into hell Satan and all evil spirits.

By the blood of your son Jesus, send your holy Angels to watch over us and to protect us.

[Crows shrieking]

[Grinding]

[Gasping]

[Choking]

This house is now pure.

I knew that they honestly tried their best.

They really did believe they were doing the work that needed to be done.

My only thought at that point was, if this exorcism don't change things.

I'm gonna do whatever I can. I'll give my blood. I'll do whatever.

We're out of here.

This whole experience was tormenting my life.

I had to get out of there.

So I took off and never came back.

And along comes my sister.

It's not happening. It's just not gonna happen.

Please, Ed, come on. It'll be like old times, like when we were kids.

I don't think it's a good idea, April. You know what's been happening here.

April saw the footage on TV.

And she decided she wanted to live in the first-floor apartment.

Please, Ed? Come on.

It's dangerous.

After what we just went through, I didn't want to face that again, so I said...

April, I don't think it's a good idea.

[Sighs]

I know how to take care of those ghosts.

[Chuckles]

I just... I really... I really want to live here.

She was just insistent that she had to live there.

[Sighs]

You're not gonna take no for an answer, are you?

Is that a yes?

So I finally agreed, okay.

Yes.

Ah! Oh!

Thank you! Thank you! Oh, I'm so excited!

Oh, I love this room.

April brought in an old piano. I said, April, do you play?

And she said, no, I just love pianos.

She said, I always wanted to have one.

It wasn't long after that she came and said...

Our chandelier moves frequently, a lot.

[Chandelier creaking]

And she said, is that the ghost?

[Creaking continues]

[Sighs]

Gosh.

She was too flippant about it, too excited about it.

And to her, this was like a ghost party.

[Giggles]

Aren't you excited?

I guess.

This is gonna be so creepy.

My brother keeps telling me about all this stuff that keeps happening, like, over in the other apartment and upstairs, like, you know?

It's, like, crazy. Like...

[Laughter]

I went downstairs one day because I heard a lot of commotion.

And here's my sister-in-law whooping it up, a whole bunch of girls.

Like, the water is always running...

[Whispering] Anyway, okay, let's... come on.

Okay, so you just put your fingers on...

They put out a Ouija Board, and they had their hands out.

And then April said...

So we want to know if there's anyone here with us.

Yes.

Who's here?

H.

E.

N.

It was spelling out a name.

R.

Y.

Henry.

Henry?

Who's Henry?

What are you doing, April?

I'm just having a little bit of fun.

[Scoffing and laughter]

Okay, that's a little creepy.

Ed's reaction was very angry.

[Door opens]

When I heard that she was using the Ouija Board, I flipped.

I was in a blind rage.

I just starting ripping it, bending it, folding it.

And tearing it into pieces.

So I warned her. I said...

You bring anything like this into this house again and you're gone!

Do you... understand?

You just kind of knew that April was playing with fire.

[Door slams]

Who was Henry?

I needed to find out about this spirit.

And the one person that could probably tell me give me a hint, or an indicator was my neighbor Walter.

There was another man in the house.

I believe he was the youngest son.

His name was Henry.

I think the family were ashamed of him.

Why?

The exact words Walter used was, he was evil.

His own family didn't like him.

They restricted his travel, and they kept him in the house.

I only ever saw him looking out the window on the second floor.

If his own family felt he was dangerous to them.

How dangerous was he that they had to lock him away?

The last thing I wanted April to do...

Was to conjure the spirit of Henry Verdere.

That would be opening up a can of worms that's just totally unpredictable.

Uh, and dangerous.

[Piano key strikes]

[Bass notes playing]

April started confiding in me that her piano was playing itself.

Marsha, what's wrong?

Marsha?

I don't want to talk about it.

Marsha, tell me.

It's your sister.

Marsha said she was worried about April, and I said, why?

April told Marsha that she felt...

She had established this connection.

And she was actually excited by the connection.

And April told her she started hearing voices from the basement.

I felt I was definitely being watched.

I started to worry for my sister.

Because I saw this huge change come over her.

[Piano playing]

All of a sudden, the piano that was such a novelty.

Started to become more of a torment.

Ding...

Ding...

Ding.

Like at a cadence, like, notice me, notice me, I'm here, I'm here.

[Disjointed notes playing]

[Sobbing]

[Sobs]

April started to tell me that she was being touched in very inappropriate ways.

Leave me alone!

Get off me!

Leave me alone!

[Screams]

My wife saw April talking to herself.

Uh, she claimed she was hearing voices saying, k*ll yourself.

So I was in despair.

[Ominous melody playing]

[Glass shatters]

I didn't know what she was capable of by that point.

What would put her in such despair?

April?

April claimed she was hearing voices saying, k*ll yourself.

And I started having real, real terrible thoughts.

Amelia had hung herself in the basement.

On the back wall of the basement, which I thought was the back wall...

There was a door.

It had a huge heavy, heavy hasp.

It was empty.

I realized that whoever lived in this room was locked in this room.

Piece by piece, this puzzle was coming together.

[Piano notes playing]

Now, it... it became a revelation.

This was where Henry was locked inside.

What happened to him?

[g*n cocks]

I find b*ll*ts...

You know, I think he d*ed mysteriously.

Was he sh*t? Did his own family...

Put him to death?

[g*nsh*t, light bulb shatters]

At that moment, I made the decision that there was only one way out and that was to sell.

To leave, to get out of there.

I was afraid of being pulled back in.

I knew... I had a feeling...

That house would not voluntarily let us all go.

I did not want to believe that I was leaving.

As a man, as a Father, as a husband.

You feel lacking, you feel inadequate. You feel...

Somehow I wasn't able to do my job.

Everything's gonna be okay.

We never owned that house. The Verdere family owned that house.

They're always gonna own that house, and we were just the tenants.

It was about three weeks later that the police found her.

Are you April Becker?

I have no doubt...

That whatever she saw or experienced and what she conjured...

Changed her life forever.

I should never have let her move into that apartment.

This house... this house has been purified.

Let that be known.

The house is clean.