04x03 - The Molech

[bunniefuu]

There was a house on Brownsville road in Brentwood that I had always admired.

Whoa.

I was very excited to move into that house.

[Soft thud]

Hello?

We just could not believe what we found.

[Dramatic music]

[Door slams]

Something was affecting us.

Bobby was changing before our eyes.

Get out of here!

[Sobbing] There's something in this house.

Something is coming to get me.

[Screams]

What did we get ourselves into here?

[Panting]

It's here.

[Screaming]

He called it the toughest decision of his life, but with the county deficit approaching $44 million and a large tax increase on the horizon, Bob Cranmer knew he had to put people ahead of politics.

[Indistinct chatter]

Hey.

[Cheers and applause]

Way to go, buddy.

Thank you very much. Thank you very much.

When I left the army, I decided that I was going to move into full-time politics.

I was a novice politician, but I had been a m*llitary intelligence officer.

Thank you very much.

I understood how to convey messages to people.

Oh.

Bob was elected the first republican majority county commissioner since Roosevelt.

Thank you, everybody.

500 votes...

We did it. We did it.

[Cheers and applause]

A toast...

Yeah!

To everybody.

It was so much fun that night.

All: Cheers.

There was a house on Brownsville road in Brentwood that I had always admired.

I got a call from the owners, and they're putting it up for sale.

You're just taken back with how big this house is.

It's just breathtaking.

I wanted this particular house because of the way it made me feel.

I saw myself as a budding statesman.

Come on, guys. Hustle up.

I guess if Brentwood had a castle, that would be it, you know?

Bob Cranmer.

Very nice to meet you.

He just...

He was like a kid in a candy shop seeing the inside of this house for the first time.

Whoa.

And I remember mentioning to my wife, you know, "think if these walls could talk."

It just... Just oozes history, where fascinating people would have lived with a fascinating story.

[Eerie music]

One bedroom, on the oak door, there was something that was completely out of place.

There was a door knocker.

[Knocker clicks]

It's almost like a knocker you would expect on the outside of someone's door to their house.

I want this room.

Bobby says, "That's my room.

I want that room."

[Electricity buzzing]

We went down into the basement of the house.

[Indistinct chatter]

We see this large laundry area.

Do I need the wiring, anything done?

There was a very distinct smell, a sulfur, burning rubber smell.

[Foreboding musical flourish]

Here's a good furnace.

She heats well.

Off to one side, there was a furnace room.

The furnace was old, but it still worked.

We absolutely love this house.

We'd like to make an offer.

I made a lowball offer, with the idea that, you know, I would...

I was prepared to, you know, pay another $30,000.

We'll take it.

You've got yourself a deal.

That's fantastic.

We both just looked at each other and said, "we got it?"

We couldn't believe... We were stunned.

It was a little strange how anxious they were to sell this house.

Is there anything wrong with this house?

No. No. No, it's a fine house.

"In fact, we've had mass in the living room several times."

Mass?

He somewhat looked away when he said it, because he didn't really...

He didn't want me to press the issue.

And they were a traditional Irish family, and I thought, "well, maybe this is just some type of Irish tradition that I'm not familiar with."

I was very excited to move into that house.

Bobby.

Yeah? don't you take too long.

I need you back here. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

See you tonight, honey.

[Eerie music]

When I first moved into my room, I had this dreadful feeling.

[Creaking]

It would just be dark and cold, and I really never knew how to describe it.

[Creaking]

[Suspenseful musical flourish]

[Indistinct radio chatter]

I started redoing the house on the inside.

As I'm doing the walls and taking the wallpaper down...

[Foreboding music]

[Ominous musical flourish]

There's big writing on the walls.

I'm thinking, "okay, why would you do something like this?"

And I just thought it was really odd.

[Squishing]

Ugh. What is that?

Eww.

There was a puddle on the floor.

[Groans]

I thought, "that's really odd."

That is gross.

It was like someone, you know, took jell-o out of the fridge or something before it was settled and just dumped it.

Could you just go get me some paper towels so I can clean this up?

There was no way to explain it.

[Door rattles]

[Door thuds]

In the evening, I would come home from work.

I noticed when I'd take my coat to hang it up...

And would reach for the chain...

The chain was wrapped around the top of the light.

I ignored it.

[Thunder rumbling]

[Suspenseful music]

One night, I'm just lying there, getting ready to go to sleep.

And I had this dreadful feeling...

Just this feeling that something was after me, being in that room.

[Creaking]

[Ominous musical flourish]

When I look at the wall...

There's nobody there.

Maybe it was my imagination.

[Foreboding music]

[Crow cawing]

[Sighs]

I opened up the closet door...

Not again.

And the chain was wrapped around the light.

I said...

Lesa, could you please take it a little easier on the light chain?

I said...

No one else uses that closet.

"Your coats are the only one in here."

You must be pulling it and letting it go.

I'm not doing that.

[Squishing]

Ugh.

There was another puddle on the floor.

It had this moldy, musty, um...

Almost like a rotting smell.

And I'm thinking, "that's really odd."

[Ominous musical flourish]

I'd stayed home from school sick...

[Distorted trilling]

I started hearing this noise.

[Soft screeching]

[Creaking]

And it got louder and louder and louder.

[Clicking]

[Distorted trilling]

[Ominous musical flourish]

[Footsteps tapping]

Something is coming to get me.

[Panting]

[ominous musical flourish]

I'm frozen. I couldn't move.

[Panting]

[Ominous musical flourish]

I just closed my eyes and screamed really loud.

[Screaming]

Bobby.

Bobby, come on. Up you get.

Bobby?

[Clattering]

Bobby?

Hey.

What are you doing in here?

Bobby was very withdrawn, wanted nothing to do with any of us.

Bobby.

Bobby, come on. Get out of here!

Bobby's behavior seemed to have changed in the room.

I didn't feel like I could tell anybody about what was happening.

How do you explain something like that to your parents, you know, being a little kid?

[Crickets chirping]

I'm telling you he's not a happy kid.

When Bob got home later, I told him what had happened.

Mm-hmm.

He's a teenager. He'll get over it.

It's more than that.

Bobby was changing before our eyes.

He'll get over it. Trust me.

I attributed it to teenage rebellion, you know, changes that teenagers generally go through.

It was beyond that.

[Foreboding musical flourish]

Later that week, I was home by myself.

[Keyboard tapping]

[Footsteps thudding]

I could hear these heavy footsteps coming from the foyer.

[Footsteps thudding]

And then they turned and started up the steps...

[Footstep taps]

Real slow...

[Footstep taps]

And real hard.

[Footsteps thudding]

Hello?

I slowly make my way up the stairs.

[Suspenseful music]

Hello?

Who's there?

Bobby's door is closed, and I know I had left it open when Bobby left for school.

And when I open it...

[Door creaking]

Hello?

There was nothing in his room.

[Door creaking]

[Suspenseful musical flourish]

[Screaming]

Something hit me behind my ankles and knocked my feet out from underneath me.

[Door slams]

[Panting]

There was something that was happening that wasn't normal.

I made the decision to move him out of the room.

It just didn't make sense to me.

I had never had any experience with ghosts or haunted houses or anything like that.

Lesa and I moved into his room.

I wanted to show there's nothing wrong with Bobby's room.

[Crow cawing]

Shortly after our move, I begin to change.

I was running out of energy.

[Sighs]

I just wasn't able to function.

[Panting]

Hi, dad.

Hey, sweetheart.

How are you? I'm good.

Thanks for letting me stay for a bit.

Oh, yeah. No problem at all.

Hi, grandpa.

Hey, how are you?

At this time, our daughter Jessica got in touch with us and asked if she could move back in with us.

What are you doing today?

When I was about 20, me and my son moved into the house to help us get on our feet and save money.

I just feel at home when I'm with my parents, so I was excited to move back in with them.

I physically wasn't able to do anything.

I couldn't come up with an explanation that made any sense as to why.

[Electricity buzzing]

[Creaking]

[Fire crackling]

[Crickets chirping]

[Ominous music]

Hi, honey.

Bob noticed the big difference in me.

He'd come home, and things wouldn't be done.

Dishes would be stacked in the sink.

[Chair scraping]

She began to become very introverted.

It was strange.

I was concerned there was something dramatically different with her.

Was she having an affair or some such thing?

I began to search the bedroom, looking for some clue.

I looked through the shelves in the closet.

There's a large cardboard box.

It was filled with papers...

All types of unpaid bills, judgments against us, collection notices.

How can you do this?

And I broke down instantly.

Sorry, Bob.

[Sobbing] I can't help it.

It was hard to process it all.

[Sobbing] There's something in this house.

[Sighs]

Do you hear that?

I was very concerned by that point for her.

You have to do something, Bob, please.

[Crying]

[Thudding and rattling]

I could hear pounding on the wall.

[Doorknob rattling]

[Banging and clattering]

What is going on in this house?

I heard a bang coming from the basement.

[Music tinkling softly]

There was this kind of noxious smell.

[Music continues]

[Water plopping]

[Clattering]

I did feel this ominous presence.

[Suspenseful musical flourish]

[Light fixture creaking]

There was nothing.

[Ominous musical flourish]

What was that?

[Panting]

I saw a black shape move right in front of me.

I realized that we were sharing the house with some entity.

You're right.

I just saw something in the basement.

I told lesa what I had seen.

It was like a weight had been lifted off of me.

So we didn't tell the children.

We kept our concerns and our knowledge of what was taking place between us.

We wanted to protect them from it.

We moved out of the blue room.

And all of a sudden, I felt good.

My mom always made dinner at 6:00.

Hey, mom?

I'm sending Collin down to you.

Hey, Collin.

Come on, little man. I know you can do it.

And I said, "go downstairs.

See grandma and grandpa for dinner."

He can make it down the steps fine.

[Foreboding music]

[Door knocker clicking]

[Clicking continues]

[Suspenseful music]

[Clicking continues]

[Clicking continues]

[Clicking stops]

[Ominous musical flourish]

[Screaming]

[ominous musical flourish]

Got you. It's all right.

[Crying]

His eyes were as big as saucers, and he was shaking like a leaf.

What happened?

He was terrified.

Bob was furious with himself, with the house.

It's okay.

I couldn't put a little boy like that in harm's way again.

It's okay.

[Speaks indistinctly]

We moved Jessica and Collin into a rental.

We didn't feel it was safe for them in the house.

Really.

See ya.

Love you.

Love you too.

Drive safe, okay?

Take care of mom.

I will.

It was almost like my dad coming to terms with what it is that we had been going through.

We all knew that the house was haunted.

I had to feel like I was managing this process, I was in control.

Hi. Tom?

A friend of mine happened to be the mayor of Pittsburgh.

We've had a problem.

I think we need your help.

And he said, "Bob, I'm gonna go to the bishop. I'm gonna go to the bishop, and I'm gonna tell him what you're going through, and let's see what he has to say."

[Crickets chirping]

A week later, the mayor called me and said at 7:00 that night I would get a call.

[Clock ticking]

[Cell phone ringing]

Bob Cranmer.

Hello, Bob.

This is father Ron Lengwin.

And he introduced himself as father Ron Lengwin.

I understand that you and your family have encountered an apparition in your home.

It was almost like talking to Mr. Spock...

I'd like you to walk up to the first floor, please.

Very unemotional, very matter-of-fact.

Um, here now.

At the top of the stairs, to the left, there is a bedroom.

That's correct, isn't it?

Yes, there is.

This is creepy, because everything he's saying is exactly...

And he's never been to the house.

Evil things have taken place in that room.

It involved a tremendous amount of blood.

I wanted him to come to the house.

Will you come here and help us?

That wouldn't be wise right now.

I asked him why.

My presence will do more harm than good.

So he said to me, "you have a decision to make."

You can leave the house or stay and fight this battle.

This house was my house.

It was the house I had always wanted, and nothing was gonna take it away from me.

Well, we have to make a decision, and we have to make it together.

This is our home, Bob.

It's our home, and we were going to fight for our home.

I hired a historical researcher to do a history of my house to find out what had taken place in the past.

I went downstairs to do the laundry.

[Clacking]

[Water plopping]

[Metal clanking]

I felt a presence down there.

[Bells tinkling]

A doctor owned this particular house.

He was a pediatrician.

He specialized in delivering babies.

All of a sudden, I got this really rancid smell.

It was a very strong birthing fluid smell, just like the puddles.

[Liquid plops]

The researcher found out that his name was Dr. mahone.

He performed illegal abortions.

That bedroom on the second floor with the door knocker was his...

Illegal clinic.

[Distorted scream]

[Metal clatters]

[Screaming]

What did we get ourselves into here.

[cell phone rings and buzzes]

Hello, Bob?

Father.

I am so glad you called.

After I reported to him what had happened, he said...

Bob, I need you to think clearly.

"Is there a space in the center of the house, a void"...

That's not part of any room?

All of a sudden, a light went off in my head, because I thought of the light in the closet where the chain was wrapped around the light.

Was it the back of that closet?

[Dramatic music]

He said, "I have to open this up."

[Banging]

[Coughing]

[Grunting]

[Coughing]

I can kind of smell the stale air coming out of the closet.

It had been completely sealed off for almost 100 years.

I found a complete skeleton of a bird.

I also found a piece of paper...

That was crumpled up in a ball.

As I unfolded this piece of paper very carefully...

It had the head of an ox with horns, its sacrificial font.

It looked evil.

It also had a verse from the old testament, which said... "They offered up their children... And those who had no children would buy little ones from poor people and cut their throats as if they were young birds."

It reminded me of something I had read in the Bible, and I wasn't sure exactly what it was, but I remembered something in the old testament.

I found the Canaanites, and the Canaanites had a particular God that they worshipped, and that God's name...

Was Molech.

I found a depiction of what this God statue looked like.

It was made out of metal.

There was a fire built inside it.

They would sacrifice infants, babies.

These babies would be b*rned alive.

It all came together...

The house, the doctor, babies k*lled.

When you have babies that need to be disposed of, how do you do that?

A furnace full of hot coals and burn them.

[Flames roaring]

I realized the significance of the furnace in the basement.

[Door clangs]

It was a sacrificial font to the God Molech.

The doctor worshipped Molech.

Mom! Dad! Get up here!

Bobby, what's wrong?

The walls.

[Liquid pattering]

[Foreboding music]

Huh?

[Gasping]

Come here. don't touch them.

We just could not believe what we found.

[Liquid squishing]

It looked like blood, dark blood.

I looked, and it went all the way to the ceiling.

I couldn't cope with it.

[Panting]

I started writing on the walls.

I was at my lowest ebb.

[Line trilling]

Father Ron?

I called father Ron to tell him what had happened, and I told him about the Molech.

For the first time, I sensed in his voice a tone of alarm.

The demon is starting to claim the house back.

There's an exorcist in New York.

It's time to call him.

[Eerie music]

Hello, father.

His name was father James lebar.

Good to meet you, father James.

Thank you for coming. Please come in.

Thank you very much for coming.

So you are receiving unwanted visitations.

Yeah.

It's very unsettling for the entire family.

He looked very weak and frail.

We're hearing all sorts of different noises, banging and...

But it's... We're seeing things.

So I'm thinking, "this is the guy who's here to do battle in our house?"

We assembled the altar down in the basement...

Because with all of the aborted babies being b*rned in the wood stove, that that would be a good place to have a mass.

Lord, have mercy.

Both: Lord, have mercy.

Christ, have mercy.

Both: Christ, have mercy.

This is your blood, shed for us.

[Banging]

There was a loud knocking from the furnace room.

Bang!

Bang.

Bang.

Bang!

"I'm here."

Bang!

"I'm here."

God, the father of our lord Jesus Christ, graciously Grant me...

[Echoing] It's too hot!

I can't...

There was an echo to my voice.

[Echoing] Lesa!

And every unclean spirit.

God, the father of our lord Jesus Christ, Grant me help against this and every unclean spirit.

[Flames roaring]

I called out to the priest, "it's here."

[Bestial growling]

[Growling]

I cast thee out, unclean spirit!

He began demanding that this evil force...

I cast thee out!

Be cast into the everlasting flames.

In the name of Jesus Christ and the power of his blood, this is over, and you will leave!

We spoke boldly and loudly...

I cast thee out, unclean spirit!

In the name of Jesus Christ and the power of his blood...

Bob?

And the power of his cross, this is over, and you will leave!

Along with all your satanic powers.

[Growling]

[Dramatic music]

[Growls]

[Rumbling]

[Rumbling fades]

A calm came over the room.

[Eerie music]

It's done.

It's over.

[Sighs]

[Sobbing]

The house felt lighter.

We all felt the difference.

The question I had all through it was, who was father Ron?

How was he able to give me all of this detailed information about a house where he never was?

I asked him if I could come to his office, that he would meet with me.

Father Ron. Bob Cranmer.

[Grunts]

So how's the family, Bob?

I am a priest ordained for the catholic diocese of Pittsburgh, and that's been for 48 years.

Much better, father. Thank you.

Much better.

Father, I hope you don't mind me asking, but where did you get all the information from about the house?

[Chuckles]

Well, I, uh... I had a little help.

Everything I told him had come from a friend of mine who I consider to be a mystic.

She had seen a person performing...

She was able to talk about the house in detail, where the rooms were, about the basement, and she has a great insight into evil.

I had a sense of real closure.

[Eerie music]

Everything that had been happening in the house stopped.

The family has a sense of closure.

But I'm not sure it is fully closed.

I believe there could still be more happening.

[Growls]