02x08 - Fox Hollow Farm

[bunniefuu]

If there was ever a place that there would be paranormal activity, it would be Fox Hollow Farm.

[Resounding boom]

If investigators are right, Herbert Baumeister, a Hamilton County businessman, was a serial k*ller.

I am the biggest skeptic.

[Camera clicks]

[Electricity crackling]

[Yelps]

But it felt like someone was there.

I saw someone.

There's stuff going on that I can't explain.

[Doorknob rattling]

Who is there?

[Wood splintering]

I had the sensation to run.

[Dog barking]

I was running for my life.

[Blade scraping]

True fear.

True panic.

[Wails]

I was scared to death.

[Screams]

[Eerie whooshing]

[Birds chirping]

[Wind chimes ringing]

[Haunting music]

44212.

[Murmurs indistinctly]

Getting close.

[Blinker ticking]

Oh, yes. There's the sign.

Yeah. Oh, good, good, good.

Okay, we're here.

In 2006, we decided we needed more space.

Hi, there, are you here for Fox Hollow Farm?

Ah, yeah. Rob Graves.

Everyone loves a good deal.

And on outwards appearance, it was a great deal...

And it was a steal, actually.

I really wanted a change from city life and from having neighbors close by...

Somewhere we could just be ourselves.

My goodness. Is that the house?

The first time that we saw the house, it was very impressive.

Just the way that the property is laid out and the architecture of the home, it's just... it's beautiful.

And here we have an 800-square-foot room.

Great place for entertaining your guests.

Wow.

It was breathtaking.

You walk into the home, you walk into the living room, and...

You want to stay.

Another feature that the house had was a swimming pool.

It's a large swimming pool, 18x36 feet.

I was thinking, wow I can't believe that you could actually buy a home that you have a swimming pool in your basement.

It's like, how cool is that?

So you guys follow me, and I'll show you the rest.

Fox Hollow Farm is a beautiful house.

It's in a very desirable location.

It's a desirable property, but no one's living here.

You just start to ask yourself, what... what's going on?

[Eerie whooshing noises]

[Haunting music]

[Sighs]

It started to dawn on me that...

This might be a property that I had remembered, hearing about in the local news some time ago.

Oh, uh, this place...

So I asked the realtor, is this in fact the place where Herb Baumeister lived?

He said, yes, that's why it was such a good deal.

[Electronic beep]

It took years to unravel the mystery, but investigators say they now know who k*lled nine young men, ages 16 to 30.

A small army of investigators blanketed the normally tranquil Fox Hollow Farm.

After detectives dug up the remains of seven men buried on the wooded estate.

The feeling of everybody right now is that one person did all these crimes.

And that person is...

Herb Baumeister.

Want to go out to see the grounds?

Uh, yeah, sure.

This is Herb Baumeister's house.

Vicki and I walked away and just talked amongst ourselves for a moment.

And I said, could you live here? Would it bother you?

And initially, she said, I don't know.

See, there's the apartment above the barn, uh...

It's really big.

I'm a medical laboratory scientist, so I worked in a hospital all of my career.

[Men speaking indistinctly]

Death and dying is part of living. It's part of life.

But when you go into a home where you know people have lost their lives, you just feel kind of different.

[Door rattling open]

[Wood creaking]

[Wind whistling]

Honey?

Oh!

Oh, sorry. Wow. It's dark in here, huh? Come on.

Rob and I talked about the impact on our family from living in a home, you know, that had once been owned by a serial k*ller.

A lot of people live in homes where people have passed away, and they may not even know it when they buy the home.

You know, at least we knew this going into it.

Whoa!

[Laughter]

All right.

Ah.

Boys!

Come for dinner!

Coming!

[Swing creaking]

[Water splashing softly]

We have two teenage boys that love to use the pool.

There was a lot of gravel that had been tracked in, and I thought, I really need to vacuum this.

[Clicking]

[Vacuum whirring]

I'm starting to suck up some gravel.

[Whirring slows, stops]

All of a sudden, the vacuum turns off.

It's like, oh, great. I pulled it.

You know, I've unplugged it from the extension cord.

So I plug it back in.

[Click] [Whirring resumes]

[Whirring slows, stops]

And the vacuum turns off again.

So I stand up. I look.

And this time, the cord's pulled apart, and it's about 12 inches apart, and they're just laying there.

And I'm thinking to myself, this is really odd.

Because I know that I didn't pull it apart.

[Click] [Whirring resumes]

[Loud popping]

Oh!

It... it just kind of... it startled me.

[Exhales]

The hairs on the back of my neck just stood up.

It was definitely a...

Unsettling presence there.

It felt like someone was there.

And it felt like someone didn't want me there.

I work at a car dealership, and Joe had just come to work with us.

[Delicate piano music]

I met Rob at the car dealership where we work, and he and I were pretty good buddies.

He was chronically late.

He couldn't get to work on time, and I said, why?

Sorry. [Chuckles]

What's the problem?

[Sighs] Traffic's just insane.

It was taking me a long time to get to my new job from where I lived.

It was 55 minutes away.

So I decided to find a new apartment on the north side of town.

You know, Vicki and I have a...

I offered a solution to his commute.

I said that we have an apartment at the house that no one's using.

So why don't you come check it out?

Really?

Yeah, really.

Rob told me about... briefly about the history.

He didn't hide anything from me, but he didn't tell me a lot about it either.

But it didn't really affect me much.

All the things that were there at the time during the murders...

Has all, since then, been gutted.

So, like, all the bad things were all gone.

[Car horn honking]

So the day came when I moved in.

And we're unloading all the trucks into the apartment, putting boxes down.

That's fine. Wherever.

I thought it was a beautiful place.

And I thought it would be a great fit for my dog, Fred, and I.

Okay. Oh, man... [fred barks]

Whoa. [Chuckles]

Oh, jeez.

Are we done?

We're done, yes.

Once we finally got everything... last piece moved in, I was just relieved.

Okay, I'll see you later.

Okay. Thanks, Rob.

I was very, very tired and uh...

Sat down and just fell asleep.

I was so exhausted.

[Leaves rustling]

I don't remember most of my dreams, usually, but this one, I did.

[Twigs snapping, leaves rustling]

I had the sensation to run.

I felt like something was chasing me.

I was running from something bad.

I was running for my life.

Run!

I got up to run... [grunts]

And smashed into the door frame.

[Glass shatters]

I just fell to my face.

And I just laid there in so much pain.

[Grunts]

There were shards of glass everywhere, and I got it into my fingers.

[Wincing]

[Fluttering]

I don't know what I was running from, but I had the sensation to get out of there right away.

[Wind chimes ringing] Rob?

Rob, I'm home.

[Wind chimes ringing]

Rob?

Oh!

Hey.

You scared the daylights out of me.

I was on the ladder, painting, and Vicki came home from work, and uh...

I think she was impressed by the amount of painting I had gotten done.

I was looking at the work that he had done and...

[Eerie whooshing noises]

Something sort of caught my eye.

I saw someone standing there.

I realized that this guy's got a red T-shirt on, and I thought, well, it could be a trespasser.

He had his back to me, and he was slowly walking away.

And then I realized...

I couldn't see his legs.

And then suddenly, he just disappeared into the tree.

My heart just started b*ating really hard, because I'm thinking...

Oh, my gosh.

This person just disappeared...

Right in front of my eyes.

Vicki?

What's wrong?

I saw someone.

My first thought was, it's one of these serial k*ller groupies.

[Leaves rustling]

Unfortunately, it's a hazard of living in a house where...

You know, a serial k*ller lived.

We went over to the spot right where he disappeared, and, you know, I was looking over Rob's shoulders.

There's nothing there, absolutely nothing.

Whoever it was, honey, he's gone.

This is all very unfamiliar territory.

I am the biggest skeptic, you know?

I am a scientist. You have to prove things to me.

But I guarantee you, I saw what I saw.

[Crickets chirping]

[Fred panting]

[Indistinct chatter on TV]

I'd been living there for about a week.

It was probably about 8:45, 9:00 at night.

And I was washing a couple dishes.

[Over television] Hey, nobody ever asked you...

[Knocking]

All of a sudden, I heard a knock on the door.

Just a minute.

I grabbed a towel. I still had my hands wet, and I dried off my hands.

[Knocking]

And meanwhile, the door is still knocking.

Be right there.

[Knocking]

[Fred barks and growls]

Just a minute.

Take it easy.

I opened the door, opened it wide.

There was no one there.

Hello?

I looked out, did not see anyone at the bottom of the staircase.

I looked over the balcony, didn't see anyone there.

Didn't know who would have knocked on the door.

[Lock clicking]

I kind of paused to gather myself.

I actually didn't feel too comfortable.

And I just felt like there was something watching me.

But I couldn't see anything.

[Television static crackling]

[Door creaking]

[Fred barks and growls]

[Fred snarls]

Then all of a sudden, something caught my eye.

It was like a light wisp of something.

[Dramatic music]

So I looked back into the bedroom.

[Music swells]

[Music stops]

[Crickets chirping]

I saw nothing.

[Fred whimpering]

Did you see something too, boy?

[Static crackling]

After what Vicki had seen.

I became concerned for everyone's safety.

So we installed a closed-circuit television system.

[Static crackling]

We put cameras on the barn facing the house, one on the back side, one at the front door, and one at the back door.

The cameras are on all the time.

And we can watch them from the kitchen on a monitor.

[Static crackling]

Here you go, Freddy.

Let's go.

[Light clicks on]

It was about three weeks after I had moved into the house, and what I had been doing at night, on clear nights, I would take my dog, Fred, with me and walk up and down the driveway.

[Branch snaps]

I hear this noise coming from the woods.

[Fred barking]

Fred actually stopped, and his ears are perked up.

[Branch snaps]

I look down at him, and he's making quiet growling noises.

[Fred barking and growling]

Fred, come on, buddy.

Let's, uh... let's go back.

[Fred barking]

And then my dog took off running.

So I looked around to see what he was looking at.

[Fred barking]

I saw this... this man, this man in a red shirt.

[Fred barking]

Fred!

He's walking into the trees, and he walked in front of two of them, and then he just faded away and disappeared.

[Fred barking]

Fred!

[Gasping softly]

I was fearful to go in the woods where this man was.

I thought, is he a bad person or...

I didn't know what to think.

[Panting]

Fred?

Come on, boy. Got to go home.

[Fred barking]

Fred?

[Fred barking]

[Panting]

[Shouting]

I saw the guy in the red shirt for the second time.

[Gasping]

I focused right on this man.

[Screaming]

[Screaming echoes]

[Fred barking]

[Screaming]

He... he was kind of standing right about there, right?

And then he turned, and he walked into the woods, kind of, like, striding, like this, you know, like with a purpose.

Red T-shirt and...

Yes.

Everything that Joe described was exactly the person that I saw.

Right up into these woods, right about here.

This is where he... this is where he...

Disappeared.

We realized that we had actually seen the same thing.

There was no evidence that anyone had been there.

And I'm thinking...

Okay, you know...

What's going on?

[Crickets chirping]

[Static crackles]

[Wood creaking]

[Distant creaking]

[Knocking]

[Gasps]

Hello?

I woke up with kind of a startling feel, and I heard this knocking.

Rob, is that you?

[Knocking]

[Fred barks and growls]

Who's there? [Knocking continues]

I was calling out, what do you want?

And I wasn't hearing any sort of response back.

[Knocking continues]

Who is that?

[Knocking]

But it just kept going on and on and on.

Knock, knock, knock, knock, knock, knock, knock.

[Knocking and rattling]

Who's doing that? [Knocking and rattling continues]

You can feel the vibration, and you can actually feel the wooden panels vibrating inside the door.

[Knocking and rattling]

Who's there?

Who is that?

There was no one there.

[Panting]

But the door knocker was still horizontal.

[Panting]

[Bang!]

And then it fell and knocked one last time.

And that just scared the hell out of me.

Who's there?

I looked around.

All the lights were off on the house.

At Rob and Vicki's house, there was no one awake.

I didn't hear any footsteps of anyone running away, which I would have hear because it was silent that night.

I didn't know what to think.

[Soft whirring]

[Whirring]

[Skids and stops]

I couldn't see what was out beyond the lights, and I just felt like there was something watching me.

I shut the door.

I locked the dead bolt.

Hey. Hey, Fred.

It's okay. You're okay.

And then the strangest thing happened.

My dog, Fred, he starts growling at me.

[Fred barking]

[Metal squeaking]

And I heard what sounded like the doorknob turning.

[Squeaking]

As the doorknob started to turn, you'd hear...

[Squeaking]

[Creaking]

And you'd hear the spring compressing, which just made this horrific errr sound.

[Metallic creaking]

And then it...

It stopped turning.

[Bang!] [Wood splintering]

Bang.

The door flew open and slammed into the wall, and wood chips went flying all over the apartment.

Who's there?

[Footsteps pattering]

I saw this man.

[Shrieks]

[Fred barking]

He had a complete look of terror on his face.

[Shrieks]

You could just tell he was running for his life.

He was breathing heavy.

I mean, he was trying to get away from somebody.

[Wood creaks]

I've never seen anything like it in my life.

[Shrieks]

I honestly think that I saw one of Herb Baumeister's victims running for their lives.

[Wood splintering]

I think I see the victims because they're...

They're trying to get our attention to help them find closure.

They're seeking our assistance.

Let's look at this stuff here. I found all this...

The first person I told was actually Vicki.

Oh, wow.

We started researching more about the victims...

About everything that was found on the property.

And we started becoming a lot more interested in the investigation.

We had called a local news station to get some of the footage of the news stories that I didn't remember even seeing back in 1996.

..Bodies had been in the woods for 16 months.

The bones discovered in June of 1996.

Contain the DNA identities of 11 victims...

Only 8 are identified.

Investigators say all the victims were young, white, and had ties in the gay community.

An informant told Indianapolis police that Herb Baumeister...

They started showing photographs of the victims.

Missing person they were looking for...

And then one particular photograph popped up.

Oh, my God.

[Stammering]

That was the guy. Pause it.

[Grunts] Give me that.

What guy?

That guy.

And then I realized... [shrieking]

That's the young person that runs through my apartment.

That is the person. Without a doubt, that is the person.

Really?

Yes.

Vicki, that is the guy I saw in my apartment.

But we have not reached the end of it.

There still might be some information out there...

Um that might take this investigation a little bit further.

The police found 5,500 bone fragments on the property.

We all know that there's more out there.

Fred! Come on, buddy!

Let's go!

Living in a place like that, you're out in the woods, walking around, and you're near the areas where they found a lot of bones.

You can't help but think about Herb Baumeister and the victims.

I'm not really sure what made me look to the left, but I just happened to glance that direction, and something caught my eye.

It was just laying on the ground like I was meant to find it.

At that point, I think it really did start to make sense.

The new Italian Restaurant... I think we should take the boys.

Oh, okay.

You know?

Sure.

It was a Sunday night. Vicki and I had just come home from dinner.

You think they'd like Italian, honey?

Oh, pbbt. I think the boys like to eat.

They'll eat anything...

[Gasps]

I found something. I found something.

Joe met us in the driveway, and he said, "I found something".

Where did you find that?

You could tell it was a human bone.

That's a femur.

You sure?

It's definitely human.

I was surprised at how good a condition the bone was in, and...

And then when Joe told me that he found it just laying on the ground...

I was amazed.

Just lying there, Rob, like I was meant to find it.

It was found sort of in the area where we saw the guy in the red shirt.

And maybe this was what he was leading us to.

I'll report it to the police first thing in the morning.

I felt the need to get the person that was actually there.

So I contacted the lead Detective on the case.

And he agreed to come out and show us where things had actually taken place.

The Baumeister investigation was one of the largest cases we've ever had.

I remember this place.

It was a big part of my life at that time.

I found the place to be disturbing not only in '96, but it brought those disturbing feelings back to me.

Yeah.

In our investigations, we found that...

He told me how Herb Baumeister had selected his victims from gay bars downtown...

That he would offer to bring them up for a swim in the indoor swimming pool.

As I was looking around, it was like I was back in '96.

Mr. Baumeister had mannequins around the pool in various poses.

[Camera shutter clicking]

It just seemed weird. It seemed like a setup...

To lure his victims there.

We surmised that Mister Baumeister had gained control over his victims by the use of either alcohol and/or dr*gs...

[Camera shutter clicking]

Brought them into the pool, asked them to participate in auto erotic asphyxia.

And then k*lled these individuals by strangulation.

[Camera clicking]

His victims probably thought it was cool.

It's kind of like a spa.

In fact, it was a k*lling ground. It was a trap.

[Screams echoing]

At the end, when everything was coming to light.

Mr. Baumeister k*lled himself...

Uh, with a g*nsh*t wound to the head.

[g*nsh*t]

[Laughs]

Oh, my goodness.

All right.

Incoming!

A friend of mine, Jeremy, came over, and he's been wanting to see the house and get a tour of the house for quite some time.

Oh, sure.

Oh, yeah!

This was the first time I had been to visit Joe at his apartment.

It was about 6:00. It was dark outside.

We're just having fun, you know, just playing around with the kids.

Blah!

Oh! Oh, man! Nice.

That is disgusting.

We were actually picking up the large beetles, that were dead in the bottom of the pool.

Okay, here we go. They're down here.

I'll get 'em for you.

That's disgusting.

[Haunting music]

[Laughs]

Yes! There you go.

I got one right here.

All of a sudden, I felt this sensation on my neck.

[Distant screaming]

I first thought... I thought it was one of the boys.

[Laughter]

But I saw them in the opposite end of the pool.

And I realized that it was not them.

[Water splashing]

I just felt these... these fingers.

And I felt like I was being choked.

[Gasping and coughing]

I turn and look at him...

And he puts his hands up to his neck.

[Gasping]

Pure panic just comes over his face.

It was not fake. Joe and I joke around all the time.

He was not joking whatsoever.

Joe, are you okay?

Boys, Jeremy, out. Let's go. Out. Everybody out. Come on.

Why?

We're getting... let's go.

We can't be in there any more, come on, let's go.

Out. Get out! Go on, guys!

True fear. True panic.

He wanted to leave.

[Coughing]

There's no question of what I felt.

I mean, I was scared to death.

[Knocking]

Joe, you okay in there?

What's going on, man? Are you okay?

I couldn't help but think of Herb Baumeister and his victims.

And I had kind of a picture of what the victims...

Were going through their last final moments in life.

And that was just rather frightening.

[Over television] Are certain the same man k*lled all nine victims.

All were discovered in or near...

I was in my apartment over by my front door where my computer is.

[Wings flutter]

[Scraping and clattering]

All of a sudden, I heard a scraping sound, a metallic scraping.

And then I noticed something strange on the wall.

And there was actually these Kn*fe marks...

Multiple Kn*fe marks that go across the wall.

And now I'm thinking, you know, that someone could have been m*rder*d or stabbed in my kitchen right next to the sink.

It's actually quite horrifying because the stuff that's happened in the past...

Potentially, some of it actually happened in my living quarters.

And there potentially is still someone in here.

[Dramatic music]

We've all seen all these ghost hunter shows.

And how they go around investigating with voice recorders and so forth.

So I had my telephone. It has a great voice recorder on it.

I turned that on, and I turned off the A.C.

I unplugged the refrigerator, the TV.

Everything that could potentially make a noise was off.

Is anyone here with me right now?

I felt extremely silly doing this, but I really wanted to see if anything was there.

[Floorboard creaks]

And when I was standing there in the kitchen, I asked this question.

Is there anyone here?

[Soft whooshing sounds]

There was absolutely no response.

[Fred barking]

At that point, my dog started growling in the background.

[Fred barking]

That was a big sign to me.

Is anyone here with us tonight?

Who keeps walking in the kitchen?

[Muffled murmuring]

[Fred barking]

All of a sudden, I heard a sound.

[Recording whirring in reverse]

So I listened to it again...

[Muffled murmuring]

And again... [muffled murmuring]

And again. [Muffled murmuring]

[Muffled murmuring]

[Muffled murmuring]

[Muffled murmuring]

[Muffled murmuring]

[Louder indistinct murmuring]

[Feedback screeches]

And then I hear this voice, which is so clear...

"The married one."

"The married one."

Without a doubt, this voice was not mine.

I've never heard that voice before. So...

It was no question that something was trying to let me know that they were there.

The married one.

[Feedback screeches]

..victims have been found.

All the victims were young, single men with ties...

Single men who were vulnerable members of society.

[Indistinct speech]

The man responsible is a well respected husband, father, and businessman.

..Suspected married businessman.

Suspected married...

Married.

Married.

Herbert Baumeister.

I was convinced that Herb was back.

[Static crackles]

[Electronic beep]

The crime tape came down today.

But investigators wonder what other secrets, Herbert Baumeister took with him to the grave.

[Camera clicks]

Everyone that's owned the property since has really tried to distance themselves from this whole history.

When in fact you'll never get away from it.

It's always going to be that place.

If Herb Baumeister's spirit came after my boy's...

I would take action right away. And I would leave.

I'm not going to stay somewhere and put the family at risk.

I don't think we'll ever get rid of Herb Baumeister.

He's far too strong of a presence.

But um, if we can keep him out of the apartment, and at the house from Rob and Vicki and the two boys.

I'd feel very good about that.