03x10 - The Saint Of Death

[bunniefuu]

Murders, kidnapping, carjacking.

They call Juarez the m*rder capital of the world.

Something was going on.

Something was not right.

Ah!

Is this happening in your house?

I'm just gonna ask you once.

Are you telling the truth?

I was in shock.

I was scared.

Something really horrible happened.

To make it haunted the way it was.

Back in 2006, I was living with my wife.

And we were living at this apartment in a decent part of town.

She was my first love.

We had this beautiful son Alec.

You do this all the time.

What do you mean I do this all the time?

But things started going wrong in the marriage...

I'm talking to you. Where have you been?

And the poor boy was just stuck in the middle.

Remember this?

I want to be happy. I want to be with somebody that makes me happy.

They say that you need to give the storm some time to pass.

So I decided to move out.

[Siren wailing]

I needed to find a place as soon as possible.

I drove by this place, and I saw they had a sign.

They were renting apartments.

So I call them right away, could I stop by and take a look at it now?

They said, okay.

[Train horn blowing]

[Dog barking]

Downtown Juarez is just unfortunately not a very safe place.

If I had not been in the situation that I was...

I'm Chris.

Let's go this way.

Okay.

I would never consider...

Uh, living there.

[Dog barking]

The apartment he showed me was on the second floor.

I was a little nervous.

You never know who you might meet in Juarez.

He put the key in...

It was hard to open.

The lock had been kind of, like, stuck.

Needs some oil.

I knew instantly that...

This guy was not only in real estate business.

We go inside...

But it was a complete mess.

It's dirty, but you were in such a rush.

Don't worry about it.

Then that's when I noticed...

The windows were painted black.

I thought that was kind of odd.

Why are the windows black?

And then he said, oh, the guys that used to be here...

Didn't like the sunlight.

I had to admit, it made me feel a little uneasy...

But I didn't have a choice.

Okay.

I needed to move somewhere quickly.

That place would work.

I knew I had to do this for my whole family's sake.

I noticed the place was dark.

I felt a bad energy.

[Rustling]

But I didn't have a choice.

Since I still had to cover my wife's rent, there was only so much that I could afford.

[Indistinct chatter]

My brother works for the federal government of Mexico in security.

At that time, he was stationed in Juarez.

[Grunts]

He was quite concerned about the area I had moved into.

Seriously, Chris, you ought to watch your back around here.

Then I said, this ain't so bad.

You know, it could work after all.

Come on, let me buy you a beer.

I did have a feeling of security, knowing that, you know, I had somebody watching out for me.

[Train horn blowing]

I'm a routine kind of guy.

Every night when I come home from work, first thing I do is put the deadbolt on.

I always hang my keys on the same hook every day.

This is my life.

I know where everything is.

One night I was asleep...

[Creaking]

And I heard a sound.

[Creaking]

I wake up.

[Keys jangling]

And I realize that it's the bell on my key chain.

[Creaking]

[Keys jangling]

Then it stops.

And I think, I'm just hearing things.

And I go back to sleep.

Next morning, same routine as every morning.

I get my backpack and my coat...

The keys weren't there.

I knew I had hung them up as I always do...

But they weren't there.

I started looking frantically all over the place.

Then I remembered that the night before I had heard something.

They were not just on the edge of the couch.

They were, like, thrown far underneath the couch.

The only way they could have ended up down there was if somebody had physically put them there.

I was the only person there at the apartment.

I knew I had hung them up on the hook as I do every day.

I just couldn't explain how that happened.

Then other things...

Also started to happen.

One night I was in the kitchen preparing something to eat.

I'm a neat guy, so when I'm done, I put everything away.

Then I grabbed the plate and go to watch some TV.

[Rustling]

And then I heard a noise.

[Indistinct clattering]

It sounded like somebody was rattling the doors.

All the cabinet doors were wide open...

Even one that I could not reach.

Then I'm thinking, am I crazy?

I had just been in that kitchen moments before.

Almost without thinking, I close them...

One by one.

I had to admit...

There was something going on in my apartment.

I had been at the apartment for five months...

[Pounding on door]

And I felt pretty uneasy about being there alone.

[Pounding continues]

Guillermo!

Hey!

How you doing, man?

Great, great.

[Speaking spanish]

Thank you for this, man. I really needed it.

I had a spare room.

Guillermo... he's like a brother to me.

Come and take a look.

I was really nervous in the apartment.

It's not bad, right?

Oh, I love it.

Frankly, I really wanted the company.

Okay, take a look.

I told him about the keys.

I told him about the kitchen incident.

It's big.

And he told me, I think you're under a lot of stress.

With uh, your family.

You could be just seeing things.

Chris, you home?

The next morning, I see Guillermo.

He walked up to me...

Put his hand on my shoulder, and he said, you know what, man?

Now I believe you.

And it was like somebody had taken some weight off my shoulders.

And that I was not imagining things.

One night, I walked to the kitchen.

I don't see anything appealing...

So I decide to go out and get something to eat.

[Door opens]

The door was open.

I thought that was strange.

I walked in there...

Played with it a little bit.

Made sure it was properly shut.

And I walk towards the door to leave the apartment...

[Door opens]

I hear the door opening again.

I think, something's going on here.

The light was off, except for the light from the refrigerator.

I put my hand inside the wall...

To turn on the light...

Ah!

And I feel a hand.

And I'm thinking, what was that?

Is somebody there?

[Music]

Ah!

I was terrified.

I knew I had felt something in there.

[Panting]

It felt like a man's hand.

I had to go check it out.

So I summoned some courage.

I reach in again...

And there's nobody there.

Part of me was trying to justify it.

The other part of me was just completely blown away.

There was no doubt in my mind that there was something paranormal happening in the apartment.

[Train horn blowing]

[Dead bolt clicks]

[Doorknob turning]

Chris?

I was very worried about Chris.

I think all of my family were worried about him.

The first time I went there, I thought that it was a horrible place to live.

It was an ugly apartment, and it was in a very ugly place downtown.

Even to park my car outside of the building, I was afraid.

I knock on the door.

[Knocking on door]

Nobody answered.

[Fluttering]

[Knocking on door]

So I call him to see if he was home.

My sister calls me and asks me where I was...

Hola, Chris.

Maybe he didn't listen when I was knocking or something.

I'm standing in front of your apartment.

I thought I would pay you a visit.

And I told her I'm still at work.

I'm sorry I missed you guys too. I'll swing by another day.

Ciao.

So I hang up.

And then on my way to my car...

I felt like someone was staring at me.

Someone was standing in the window.

I thought that it was a kind of joke that they were playing to me.

[Cell phone dialing]

Oye, te vi.

And she asked me...

Are you sure you're not in the apartment?

And I told him, Chris, this is...

This is not funny.

I'm at work. Guillermo's also at work.

Why?

Because there's somebody in the window.

Chris, what the hell is going on?

And then he said, there's nobody there, Erika.

There's nobody there.

I was in shock.

[Intense music]

♪ ♪

I didn't really want to go back to the apartment that evening.

But I had no options.

I walk into the apartment...

The place felt too quiet...

Too eerie.

All of a sudden I see a shadow.

I wanted to turn, but I'm afraid.

[Music]

There was nobody there.

[Creaking]

Whatever it is, it's still in the apartment.

Then I think, you know, maybe...

Maybe it's Guillermo trying to pull a prank on me.

Guillermo!

Stop trying to scare me!

I started looking around the rooms.

There was nobody there.

And now it seemed even more frightening.

There was an actual figure...

Haunting my apartment.

[Laughter, indistinct chatter]

I felt it was time for me to start opening up to...

My family.

I was invited to a family reunion, a cookout.

Hi, Chris.

Hello, Tzyviah.

How's it going?

You know...

I could see that Chris was depressed.

You could tell.

Tough, huh?

My apartment... it's haunted.

You're kidding, right?

I did not care.

I just wanted to get it off my chest.

Cupboards open by themselves.

The refrigerator se abre el solo.

A black figure walking around in the apartment.

Is this happening in your house?

And I told him, I need you to be really honest with me.

I'm just gonna ask you once, that's all.

Are you telling the truth?

And I said, yes.

I'm not kidding.

It's very hard for a Mexican man to acknowledge that he's scared.

Especially in front of a woman.

I have a friend who may be able to help you.

My cousin's friend was a Curandera...

A Mexican Faith Healer.

I used to think of myself as a skeptic.

After what was happening at the apartment.

I was willing to try all options.

She said, I'm going to do an egg cleansing.

[Whispering indistinctly]

I could hear her doing some sort of whispering, praying.

She said that I could open my eyes.

The egg yolk had, like, a bubble that looked like an eyeball.

She said, somebody could be doing some sort of witchcraft on you.

She said, you need to look thoroughly throughout the apartment.

To find something out of place.

I said, what am I looking for?

She said, you'll be able to tell, because you will feel the darkness...

Coming from it.

She said, look for something...

Related to a ritual, or religious.

Something like a Voodoo doll... it could be anything.

I remember I cleaned the whole place top to bottom, so...

Whatever I was looking for must have been hidden very well.

I opened up the closet door, and I start on the top...

As I was coming close to the bottom, I see this small opening.

[Knocking]

I was thinking, you know, what the hell is inside it?

I put my hand in there...

What in the world could be in here?

It looked like something with some dark energy in it.

It did feel like that... that's what I was looking for.

It looked something evil.

So I take a deep breath, and I open the box.

And the first thing I see is a hooded skeleton.

A card...

Of the Santa Muerte.

All I knew about the Santa Muerte...

Was that it was a renegade Catholic Saint.

Worshiped by murderers and criminals.

I get the feeling that it's looking back at me.

I slammed the box shut, and I call the Curandera, and she said, bring it to me.

She said, I'll handle it.

She had to do some sort of a ritual.

To properly dispose of it.

[Whispering indistinctly]

I had been in the apartment for almost eight months, and I was ready to leave.

But perhaps now I'd be able to stay.

Weekend came along, and it was my turn to have my son Alec with me.

[Indistinct TV chatter]

For once, my son wanted to come.

That made my day.

For a change, things were going so good.

I had gotten rid of whatever it was at the apartment, and I felt very, very happy.

It was around 8:00 in the evening.

I read him a story.

He went off to sleep.

I was a little hungry, and I went to the kitchen.

[Cell phone ringing]

Hello?

Hey, Guillermo.

He tells me, hey, you know, me and the guys at work, we're gonna go grab a beer.

Do you want to come?

No, man, I can't. I have Alec with me.

I did not have anybody to watch over Alec, and I didn't want to leave him alone.

Okay, well, you have fun, okay?

[Indistinct TV chatter]

So it was just me and Alec in the apartment.

[TV static]

[Creaking]

[TV static]

I don't know what time it was when I woke up...

But it felt like I had been asleep for at least a couple of hours.

[TV powers down]

[Knocking at door]

All of a sudden, I heard a noise.

[Door rattling]

It sounded like somebody was trying to come into the apartment.

[Door rattling]

I thought it was Guillermo.

[Rattling, pounding]

Now I'm thinking, something weird going on here.

[TV turns on]

Bam! And the TV turns on.

I'm thinking, what... what happened?

[TV powers down]

[Door rattling]

I was terrified.

There was something else in that apartment.

[TV turns on]

The TV turns on again.

So what's... what's happening?

What's the noise outside?

Why'd the TV turn on?

[Pounding on door]

Then I was sort of thinking, what if somebody was trying to break into the apartment?

[Pounding on door]

[TV turns on]

There was no way it could have turned on without power.

But it did.

[Pounding on door]

Alec came to my mind.

I wanted him to be safe.

[Pounding on door]

I felt dizzy.

Like I was in another dimension.

Then I heard a sound I'll remember for the rest of my life.

[Scratching]

Like claws.

[Scratching, growling]

I see this shadow...

And it's dragging itself.

And I'm terrified.

I felt...

Something behind me.

[Music]

Dad...

Then I hear Alec's voice.

Tell it to go away, dad.

Dad...

And I feel helpless.

I just look at him...

And I'm thinking, God help us.

Santa Maria...

[Praying in spanish]

Dad...

I felt a rush of energy.

I grabbed my son, and we ran away.

I didn't know what had just happened.

Just thinking that something could have happened to my son.

That's what broke me apart.

The only place we could go to is my mom's house.

I was just hoping that whatever this was...

Stayed away from us.

[Dialing phone]

Yeah, it's me.

No, I'm not living there anymore.

I talked to my brother.

He told me he had done some investigation about the apartment.

All these things...

The landlord...

The black windows...

The box I had found with the picture of the Santa Muerte...

My brother put all that together and, he came to the conclusion that...

The apartment had been used as a drug safe house.

I think something really horrible happened at that apartment.

To make it haunted the way it was.

[Door rattling]

I wanted to know what had happened.

My brother told me that it's possible to detect blood by using a black light.

Blood is supposed to glow bright white.

This is definitely blood, Chris.

It was like somebody had taken a bucket full of it, and just...

Splashed it against the wall.

Could it have been a drug dealer getting k*lled here?

We heard stories of people being decapitated or tortured to death.

Offered for sacrifice.

Just... it all made sense.

I got to get out of here.

We got out of there as quickly as we could.

We never went back.

Was it the vengeful spirits of m*rder*d drug traffickers?

Or had we been haunted by the spirit of the holy death?

The Santa Muerte its self.