01x03 - Eight-Legged Exorcism

[bunniefuu]

[Clint]

My stepdaughter, Kelly,

showed up from school one day,

big smile on her face.

[woman] What is that?

[narrator]

Sometimes the perfect pet

can crawl its way

into our hearts.

[Kelly] So cool.

- [Clint] That's really cool.

We loved the spider.

He was what brought this to us.

[narrator]

But if you're not careful,

something evil can crawl

under your skin. - [screams]

[Clint] Due to a mistake

that I had made,

we got the attention

of an entity.

And then, all of a sudden,

you could feel the energy shift.

Oh! - [Stacey] No! [screams]

[narrator] What would

you do to save your home,

your family and your pet

from an ancient demon?

Leave this house!

[screaming]

[Clint] There is a lot of people

who think everything

is goodness and light.

And they think as long as you

think positive, happy thoughts,

nothing's gonna happen to you,

and nothing spiritual

can hurt you.

That's wrong.

Years ago,

my step-daughter, Kelly,

was involved in a science

project at school.

And if she ever needed help

with a school project,

I was always happy to help.

But she was a very bright girl,

always got straight As.

It was a biology unit,

and they were learning

about zoology

in various small animals.

What about this guy?

Too small.

How about this one?

- Oh, good one.

Oh, what a monster.

You know, some spiders

are so venomous,

they can k*ll you in minutes.

Others, it takes a long time.

Cool. [chuckles]

Look at you two.

I'm impressed.

The heat's on. It's due tomorrow.

- [Stacey] Mmm.

We finally found the right one.

Oh, yuck.

I think they're cute.

All right.

Are you guys almost done?

Because it's time

to make dinner.

Sure. I'll just finish

cleaning up here.

You know what?

- What?

I think spiders are kind of cool.

- Yeah.

Yeah. Me, too.

Come on. Let's clean up.

I never really had

a great connection to spiders.

But I liked spiders.

And there's a lot of things that I

understand more than most people.

But this was totally unexpected.

It's gonna work.

Mom! Mom!

I won first prize.

First prize?

Ms. Tucker said that

it was the best one

she's seen in years.

- Ah!

Did you get a ribbon?

Not quite.

[Stacey] What is that?

[gasps] Oh, my God!

Get that out of my house!

What?

- Out. Now.

Mom, no!

Let's just all calm down, okay?

[scoffs] And that

doesn't belong in here.

Please let me keep him.

Clint and I read

everything about them

and how to care for them,

so please.

[sighs]

If that thing ever gets loose

or comes near me--

It won't do that.

Why would it do that?

And it better not smell.

Spiders don't smell.

So

Fine.

But not in here.

Of course.

Thank you, Mom.

[grunts]

What should we name him?

Vincent.

- [chuckles]

[Clint] Why Vincent?

[Kelly] Because he looks

like a Vincent.

[Clint] Okay.

Let's say hello to Vincent.

That is so cool.

Stacey was a bit shocked.

And she's just like,

"I don't want a spider in my home."

But Kelly likes the spider.

When she resigned herself to

it, he was pretty cool.

I thought it was a good idea that

this pet should have a middle name.

What's that?

It's a statue I picked up

in Greece.

Arachne, an ancient

spider, uh, spirit, I guess.

Greek mythology.

- Cool.

I picked her up on my trip

a long, long time ago.

She's been in a box for ages.

Well, I thought

Vincent might like her.

I think he does.

Let's give him a middle name.

Arachne.

- Arachne.

Vincent Arachne Jahn.

[Kelly] Vincent Arachne Jahn.

Was she a goddess?

- No.

No. She was a mortal,

like us.

But she dared to put herself

on the same level as the Gods,

and she was punished for it.

And she was turned

into a hideous monster.

Arachne.

- [Kelly] Arachne.

[Clint] I'm like,

"That's a great name for a spider."

And I thought nothing of it.

[soft growl in the distance]

[door closes]

We usually would

just feed him crickets

that we bought

from the pet store.

He would sit there,

and he would crunch it and crunch it.

It was so loud,

you could hear it from across the room.

Stacey was horrified.

She'd hear this crunching,

and it would just turn her stomach.

[Stacey] I want you to get rid

of that thing. [shudders]

[Clint] You're overreacting.

I am not overreacting!

That thing is vile

and disgusting.

[Clint] You just

don't like spiders.

[Stacey] Of course

I don't like spiders.

[Clint] But Kelly does.

It'll break her heart.

I'll lock it up.

Stacey was one of the nicest,

sweetest, happiest people

I ever met.

But she was scared of spiders.

And despite her feelings,

we tried to work things out

as best we could.

[vacuum cleaner whirring]

[vacuum cleaner turns off]

[exhales deeply]

I wish

she never brought you home.

[Stacey shrieks]

[Stacey screaming]

[Clint]

Well, that's strange.

It's molted skin.

- [Stacey shudders]

Well, spiders,

whenever they grow, they shed.

And it comes off in,

usually, one big piece.

And it still looks

like a spider.

How did it get in our bathroom?

- I don't know.

I didn't bring it in here.

It must have got caught

in my clothes or something

when I was cleaning

the terrarium.

And then got on our towels?

That doesn't make any sense.

It didn't get out.

- How do you know?

After his final molt,

he should have only lived

for another 12 months.

But he didn't die.

Vincent started acting

a little bit different

from a typical tarantula,

in that he wanted to feed daily.

He was always hungry.

Usually you feed tarantulas

maybe twice a week,

but he wanted to eat every day.

He was very, very greedy,

very hungry.

[voice murmurs in the distance]

Stacey?

Kelly?

[murmuring continues]

Palpably you could feel

the energy shift.

And then, as time progressed,

I saw other things.

There was a sense

that we were being observed

very intently.

Kelly?

You all right, kiddo?

[Clint] Hey.

Hey. What is it?

Clint.

Yeah. [stutters]

What are you doing?

Nothing.

Get ready for school, yeah?

Yeah.

Yeah.

[rasping in the distance]

[floorboard creaking]

What are you doing?

[sighs] Nothing.

All of these manifestations

and activities

started occurring.

Suddenly, there have been

electrical disturbances.

Sometimes a television

will shut off or turn on.

Sometimes, you know, lights

will shut off and turn on.

It really

doesn't make sense to us,

because we've never had

these issues before.

[screaming and screeching]

[skittering]

[exhales deeply]

[Clint grunts]

[Clint breathing heavily]

What are you doing?

It's Vincent. He's--

Vincent is what?

It's nothing. It's

It's nothing.

[Stacey groaning]

[screaming]

[screaming]

What's wrong?

Was it a nightmare?

No. No, it wasn't.

It was Vincent. I know it.

[Clint] She's hysterical,

she's screaming.

She had this dream,

Vincent attacked her.

[panting] - Vincent is in his

cage, locked away.

You had a nightmare, sweetheart.

Look.

[Stacey breathing heavily]

Okay?

Okay.

Come on.

[woman on radio] Positive news

on the sector from Wall Street.

But blue chips fell victim

to a sell off

[radio continues

playing in the distance]

[gagging]

[coughing]

[breathing heavily]

[distant screech]

What do you want from us?

That's when I realized there

is a spiritual aspect to this.

[distant hissing]

[Stacey winces]

[groaning]

Oh, Clint.

- [Clint] Hmm?

Clint, wake up.

Look.

[Clint grunting]

[both shrieking]

[screaming]

[Kelly] Mom!

- Kelly!

[Kelly] Mom!

- [Stacey] Kelly.

[Clint] Spiders were on the

floor, the ceiling, the walls.

And they just

appeared overnight.

Each one of these eggs sacks

is gonna hatch about

100 baby black widow spiders.

I didn't want that.

I was worried about my family.

We had to get away

from the spiders.

There was definitely something

supernatural about them.

We had to do something.

We called a clairvoyant.

I can feel her presence.

Her?

[clairvoyant]

Yes, female.

Definitely not male.

So it isn't Vincent,

because Vincent

is definitely male.

[clairvoyant]

Shh. Quiet, please.

What does she want?

I don't know.

[Clint]

She was very quiet.

And she took it very seriously.

[clairvoyant]

She has a hold on him.

She's infested him.

She's hungry.

She is ancient.

[softly] Arachne.

Let's give him a middle name.

Arachne.

- Arachne.

When you have a totem

and you worship a deity,

you say the name

in praise of it.

Saying the name, that brought the

attention of the spider spirit.

And we weren't

asking it for anything.

We were just saying her name.

Arachne.

- [Kelly] Arachne.

[Clint] Arachne.

It was like we did a ritual

and we invoked the spirit.

And it showed up.

And it was like,

"Now, you're gonna

pay the price

for your inequities."

She does not belong here.

You brought her here.

She's angry.

[Stacey] So, what do we do?

[clairvoyant]

You ask her to leave.

And you pray she listens.

[Clint] She told us,

"You never want to inadvertently

or deliberately

offend the spirit."

That's gonna make it angry.

When you're talking to a spirit

and you're

asking it for something,

the most important thing is

you want to dim the lights,

you want to turn

the lights down,

because spirits don't like

to manifest in light.

Everything was lit by candlelight.

It was very dark.

Then you sit there,

and you use the spirit's

name, you invoke it.

You speak to it directly.

[clairvoyant] Whatever

happens, remain calm.

Do not break the circle.

Do you have his skin?

Spirit,

you are not welcome in this home.

You are not welcome

in the body of Vincent.

Release him now!

[snarls]

Leave this place.

Release this family

from your power.

We ask you to release Vincent.

You must go back.

You must go back!

We acknowledge this trespass,

but in the name of all that's

light, you must leave this home.

You are not welcome.

Release us from your power!

Arachne,

you are not welcome here.

We didn't mean to summon you.

Leave my family alone.

Leave Vincent.

Leave this house!

[exhales deeply]

[sighs in relief]

I had never done

invocations before.

I'd never tried

to summon anything before.

I'd never done magic before.

You can't just start

using incantations

and expecting it

to work out well for you.

[Clint] We did a ritual

and we invoked a spirit.

Arachne, she's powerful,

and she's primal,

and she's vicious.

And you don't want her

mad at you at all.

But Vincent was fine.

Let's go, Vinny.

This way. No, this way.

[Clint] Here, we'll get him this way.

Watch.

He went and lived

for years after that.

Yup, gentle.

Just like before.

From the back, like this.

Watch. Here we go.

- Oh.

You gotta keep your hand flat.

Not bad, eh, kiddo?

It is so cool.

- That is really cool.

Good boy, Vincent.

- Yeah, Vinny.

Good job.

- Yeah.

And ever since that,

Stacey's attitude towards spiders changed.

She has a really good

relationship with spiders now.

Every morning and every night,

we go and we check on Vinny.

We refill his water,

and we give him his food.

And one day,

I went to check on him,

and he wasn't moving at all.

And it was obvious

that he had passed away.

He lived a very long life.

He was very well taken care of.

We did the best

we could for him.

We felt that we were lucky.

And we had Vinny

for a long time.

We know that pets

have a limited lifespan,

and when they die, you're sad.

It's an eventuality.

I mean, death is part

of the circle of life.

Stacey made

a little coffin for him.

And she made it out of paper,

and she decorated it,

and it was very nice.

We put him in that,

and we set up a fire.

We had a little ritual,

and we said some words about

About, you know,

how much we appreciated him,

and what he brought to our life.

[voice screaming]

We just heard

this, this loud scream

from the fireplace

as he burned, and

I'm not really sure

what that meant.

Spiders don't make

noises like that.

And he was clearly dead.

The spiritual world, it's,

it's part of the natural world.

It's always been here,

it's always around us.

Spirits pass us by every day.

But if you want to directly

interact with something,

it doesn't matter if you're

calling out a specific name

or if it's even

like some made-up name,

something is gonna show up.

And if you don't know

what you're doing,

you don't know

what's gonna show up,

you can easily

offend these spirits,

and it's potentially dangerous.

[exhales deeply]

Arachne, she never left.

She's still here.

She's gonna be with me

till the day that I die.

I have a permanent attachment

to her now,

but now we have

a bit of an understanding.

Spirits work in mysterious ways.

We just roll with it.

[narrator reading]