04x08 - Sacred Ground

[bunniefuu]

I heard about this house.

It hit everything we were looking for.

It seemed like the deeper I got into the house, the sicker I got.

2:45 every night.

It never skipped a night.

Matt?

Is that you?

I knew something was hunting me.

[Woman screams]

Oh, God.

Something's gonna happen.

[Growls]

Mom?

[Gasps]

We've disturbed something that we should have never disturbed.

Get out!

[Screams]

[Haunting music]

Coffee's ready.

[Heartbeat thumping]

Honey?

Came right out of the blue.

You know, she was a normal, healthy-type lady.

Honey, what's wrong?

[Mug shatters]

It affected my family.

Basically shook us to the roots.

Get in, kids.

[Car door slams]

Thank you.

Dad, what is it?

My Mom means everything in the world to me, so...

[Sighs]

It was... It was hard.

Dad?

Listen to me, kids.

We thought, "oh, God, we're not gonna have a Mom," and it was kind of one of those, like, reality checks to me, saying that, "do I have to grow up without a Mom?"

[Car door slams]

When I had my stroke, it was very difficult.

My speech came back, but my...

My thought process was not 100%, but I knew that it was in me to be a fighter, and just looking at my kids on a daily basis...

How are you?

Hey, Matt, can you get the bags?

I want to see them grow up.

That was the first time I saw the house.

We originally were staying in a rental unit trying to find a bigger, better place to make permanent.

We needed a home.

This was it.

It's a new start, baby.

Gonna start over.

Today's the first day of our new life.

[Door creaking]

And it's even got a spooky basement.

I don't know what it was, but the basement had a really... Kind of a weird feel to it.

I think I've had enough for today.

[Pop music playing]

When I finally got my room set up, I started putting my stuff away.

I brought out these two bunnies that I was given for easter, and they're really cute, and they had this little rope connecting them by their paws.

The boy bunny, it was right in the middle of my room.

Why are they torn apart?

I go straight to my Mom.

Mom.

"Mom, my bunnies are broken."

She was really upset.

Well, honey, it's probably just from the move.

I more or less told her, "oh, you must've ripped it by accident."

She stomped up those stairs and was very irritated with me in the fact that I would not acknowledge that somebody broke her kissing bunnies.

[Uneven breathing]

I just want you to get better.

Ever since my stroke, the doctors had issued me a cpap, and this is to help me regulate my breathing.

[Air whooshing]

If I didn't wear my cpap, doctors were very clear, "your heart can stop b*ating. You can have another stroke. You have to use it nightly or you're taking your own life in your own hands."

[Door creaking]

[Eerie whispering]

I catch a whiff of something.

It's not a normal smell that you would have in your house.

[Electricity buzzing]

I mean, I know this.

This is a familiar smell.

The door to the basement is open.

There should be no reason why this door should be open.

[Door creaking]

And then that's when it registered.

It was the smell of cherry pipe tobacco...

But nobody smokes in our home.

[Door creaking]

I don't like going in the basement, so I shut that door.

I made sure to push it, and I heard it click.

Today's contestants are...

[Door creaking]

From the midwest...

Reducing parasitic drag and much improving fuel economy across all models.

I'm going to go to bed. I'm tired.

Got an early day.

That door is open again.

[Door creaking]

I know I shut that door.

You try to rationalize it.

Okay, did the house settle?

No, didn't feel anything.

Did we have an earthquake?

No, we didn't have an earthquake.

That's crazy.

I shut it... Shoop.

[Door creaks]

Click. It's shut.

[Door slams open]

This door keeps coming open.

[Door slams shut]

It's very odd to me.

Very odd.

[Eerie whispering]

As I looked at my bedroom window and then Amber's bedroom window, it almost looked like somebody had, like, two fingers and pushing the... One of the blinds down and looking through.

My heart just started racing.

Nelson's not home.

Who's in the house?

What is a disabled woman supposed to do if it really is an intruder?

Maybe I should've called Nelson, but I just didn't want to be defeated.

When I got up to Amber's room...

I got hit with a wall of cold.

And there was nothing there.

There's nowhere anybody could be...

But yet I could still see the two-finger indentation in the blind.

Just...

Baffled me, but I'm a rational adult.

Okay, it must have been the light playing on the window or something.

You know, there's nothing there.

[Eerie whispering]

In the house, the way I slept was... Not right.

I would usually sleep through the night, but in this house, I was waking up at a specific time.

[Toy clattering]

2:45 every night.

It never skipped a night.

[Bed rattles]

Matt?

Is that you?

First thought: Matt's trying to play a trick on me.

[Bed rattling]

Stop it!

It's shaking. I don't know what to do.

Please, stop it!

[Bed rattling]

Oh, God.

Stop it! Stop it!

The shaking finally stopped after a few minutes...

But I'm still thinking, "is it gonna happen again?"

"Okay, it's done."

I'm calming down.

And then suddenly...

I jolted up from the bed, grabbed my pillows, grabbed my cover.

I went downstairs to my parents' room.

[Child giggling]

Next thing I know, there's a little boy giggling.

[Child giggles]

My heart starts pounding really fast.

Oh, God. Something's gonna happen.

[Child giggling]

Get out!

[Screams]

Mom! Dad!

Something's wrong. You know, this is your child.

What's wrong?

There's someone in the house.

She's so... upset.

He was right here.

Who's in the house?

I don't know. I-i heard somebody.

Okay. Okay.

She was so scared.

I'll go look. Okay? All right?

[Whimpers]

It's okay, honey.

She was shaking like a little leaf.

Daddy's looking after it.

What do you think it is?

Nelson's looking around and turning on lights and trying to figure out, is there somebody there?

What's going on?

There's no one in the house, sweetie.

No, no. I heard something.

I-I swear. I heard something.

Maybe it was a dream.

No, no!

She's telling me that...

That something whispered in her ear, "get out."

Calm down, okay? It's gonna be all right.

I just looked at them:

"There was something in this house, and it was trying to get rid of us."

A few nights later, I was gonna go take a bath.

Let me know when you want to get out.

Okay.

Nelson's like, "just call me when you need me," and he closed the door, and it was just my own little paradise.

The heat, the Jasmine smell, it was just an extremely relaxing situation.

Closed my eyes...

And just let go of the day.

[Water trickling]

[Lock clicks]

When I opened my eyes...

It was a whole different scenario.

[Faucet rattling and sputtering]

There was mud in the water.

[Yelling]

It was dirty, disgusting...

[Yelling]

Chunky.

And it was all around me.

Nothing could stop it.

Nelson!

I screamed for Nelson.

Showcasing the brand-new design, direction, and technology, this model is poised to rise above all the competition in this category.

He wasn't answering.

Nelson!

Nelson!

a*t*matic transmission in combination with...

Door's locked.

Christi!

[Faucet sputtering]

Nelson!

Christi!

It was terrifying.

[Wood cracks]

Are you okay?

It was kind of weird.

Could it be something with the plumbing system?

Come on. I got you.

[Sobbing]

I'm trying to rationalize how something could have got into a closed system.

[Pop music playing]

A week before my birthday, my Mom buys me this dance game... That shows you the moves, you hit the moves, and you move on. So I'm having fun. I'm dancing, and one of the moves is to turn around. And right there was a little boy.

Hello?

He had dark hair.

He just looked native American.

Are you okay?

[Growls]

Mom? Mom! Mom!

It was... Horrible.

Mom!

[Child giggling]

Fear just ran right through me.

Amber?

Mom?

There... There was a little boy.

Over there.

What?

What do you mean?

Why are you freaking out?

I just saw this thing for the first time with my own eyes.

A-a little boy, a little native American boy.

There's something in this house.

Something like what?

A ghost, Mom!

"The house is haunted."

Amber, come on.

Why won't any of you believe me?

I kind of threw a fit.

My Mom does not believe me.

[Sighs]

[Eerie whispering]

As soon as your head hit the pillow, you would hear sounds.

[Eerie whispering]

It sounded like an audible conversation, but you can't make it out what they're saying.

[Eerie whispering]

What's going on?

Honey.

Honey.

Hmm?

He tells me, "did you hear that?"

What are you hearing?

I can't quite make it out.

I figured, "there has to be a logical explanation.

There must be a radio on in the house."

So I run around the house trying to figure this out.

The house is quiet.

[Eerie whispering]

I hear something.

And then something made me realize I had to go down to the basement.

I didn't like that basement.

[Machine whirs]

[Gasps]

Suddenly, I can't breathe.

[Gasping]

I was in a spiraling tube going down and just couldn't take that breath.

[Gasping]

I mean, you have to breathe to live, and you're the only one, really, that knows that you're struggling.

But then I hear something else.

Da-dum, da-dum, da-dum.

Something that's repetitive, over and over again.

So I'm trying to figure out what this is.

[Gasping]

Nelson!

There was absolutely nothing that should be making that noise.

[Gasps] Nelson!

Nelson!

Why did my cpap shut off?

[Gasping]

What happened? What's happening?

She's just all worked up in a frenzy.

Quit working.

[Gasping]

I said, "what do you mean it quit working?"

So I hit the button again, and it turned on full blast.

Something must have switched it off.

I mean, it's plugged in the wall.

It's getting plenty of electricity.

No power outages.

Makes no sense.

Maybe you forgot to turn it on.

It's a machine.

Maybe it's malfunctioning.

You're okay now.

Just try to get some sleep, okay?

I felt like he thought I was lying, that it was all in my head.

I'm groggy.

I went to get myself a glass of water.

[Eerie whispering]

I thought I heard almost like a chanting.

[Eerie whispering]

You couldn't make it out to know for sure.

[Eerie whispering]

[Screams]

There's something standing in my dining room.

What's going on?

There's someone in the dining room.

What?

There's someone in the dining room.

[g*n clicks]

Stay here.

There was nothing there, absolutely nothing there.

There's nobody there.

Nobody.

I thought everything was hokum.

There is something in this house.

Come on, Christi.

You're starting to sound hysterical.

You're sick. Just calm down.

Okay?

[Sighs]

I was frustrated now, because yes, I saw it.

No, I'm not lying. Yes, it's real.

I'm not crazy. My daughter's not crazy.

There's something going on.

Amber?

Amber? Honey?

I'm sorry.

It kind of lifted a weight off my shoulders, because now I finally had someone on my side who's like, "hey, I believe you."

I was angry.

We need to move.

We would be financially ruined if we would have walked away from the house.

I don't think I can call a company and say, "I'm not living in my house any longer because I believe it to be haunted."

They're gonna say, "please send the payment."

Nelson said, "maybe you need to go see your Mom and Dad. Take Amber. Matt's got football camp. I'll stay here with him."

Bye.

Bye. Have fun.

"You two go and just have a good time."

Daddy loves you.

So Amber and I went.

It was a nice clean day, so I went out to the back porch.

I set up the target at the tree, and I just started launching arrows down the range.

[Sighs]

One of the sh*ts, it goes over the target, way off.

Crap.

The arrow's out in the middle of just nowhere, but I had to go get the arrow still, 'cause arrows are expensive.

[Chuckles]

I kept walking down.

You could hear anything walk in that area.

In fact, I'm pretty sure I scared off a squirrel and a Turkey when I was walking down there.

[Birds cawing]

[Ground crunching]

And then I heard something else.

I just hear crunch, crunch, crunch, real soft.

[Ground crunching]

I could feel my heart racing.

The hair on the back of my neck stood up.

I picked up the arrow.

And then you just hear again, just crunch, crunch, crunch, and this time, it was a little louder and closer.

[Ground crunching]

I knew something was hunting me, so I start booking it.

I just looked behind me.

Nothing was there.

[Ground rustling]

There it goes again. Just the crunch, crunch, crunch.

Try to open the door. The door was locked.

[Banging on glass]

Are you freaking kidding me?

Dad? Dad!

Maybe my Dad's in there and he just closed the door and locked it 'cause he thought no one was out there.

I actually nocked the arrow into my bow.

I'm gonna walk slowly, and I'm gonna walk backward.

It's territorial. It means that it's a predator.

It could be a cougar...

[Pounding]

Dad!

Or it could be a wolf.

Or it could be a human.

So I had my bow in one hand with the arrow still inside the chamber ready to go.

I'm just frantically pressing the key, and the first time, got it wrong.

Third time, got it right.

I hit the garage door closer on the inside.

As the garage door's closing, I'm telling myself, "if anything walks through the bottom of that door, it's getting hit in the head with an arrow."

I didn't want to say anything at that point.

I didn't want to say, "oh, yeah, we might have a mountain lion in the backyard."

[Chuckles]

I can imagine that going over well with the family.

[Eerie whispering]

Lights are out.

Something tells me to look out toward the hallway.

And I see a dark mass.

Matt, it's late.

You should be in bed.

What are you doing?

No reply.

Matt, seriously, dude.

And it kind of walked or slinked past.

That's when I reached into my nightstand... [g*n clicks] .. and I said, "you got about two seconds to answer me or I'm gonna... put two b*ll*ts down that hallway." I got up out of the bed, still had the p*stol in my hand.

There was nothing.

Something was going on. I can't explain it.

So we're getting close to my favorite time of year and also Matt's...

It's deer season.

I went down to the basement, and I was looking for all the hunting gear.

The creepy feeling you get down there, it's...

It's hard to describe.

It's cold, desolate kind of, almost.

You feel alone down there.

I got the same feeling when I was being followed in the forest.

[Door creaking]

[Eerie whispering]

Dad?

When I turned around, something was standing there.

It was staring at me.

It was blocking my only exit out.

I dropped my shoulder, and I started sprinting straight toward the thing.

When I got up to the door and it was locked...

Dad, open the door!

I went to panic mode.

What's the matter? What's going on?

At that point, I wanted to leave.

I just saw what Amber saw.

I could no longer deny her.

There is truth to what she's saying.

There is something that I have to open my mind up to, and it's sending me a very clear message...

It does not want us there.

When Christi came back from her and Amber's little trip to Chicago...

Hi, honey.

The first person I seen was Amber.

Hey.

I Haven't seen Amber happy like that in a while.

And then I seen Christi.

Where's the stick?

I don't need it.

Ooh, I got my baby back.

She kind of looked like my Christi.

I need to talk to you inside.

Hi.

Hi.

Is everything okay?

When we arrived back home, I felt reenergized.

My husband told me that I looked so much better.

That all changed when we walked back in the house, though.

It was like everything that I worked so hard to reestablish, regenerate just got sucked right out of me.

Honey, you okay?

Here, have a seat.

I told Christi about all the crazy things that happened while she was in Chicago.

I'm sorry.

You were right.

Something doesn't want us here.

Okay.

Now I know it's targeted our whole family.

Then we have to do something.

I was consumed with anger.

Let's find out how to fight this thing.

Its main objective, obviously, was to tear my family apart, but in actual reality, it brought us closer.

I jumped on my computer and did hours and hours of research on paranormal activity, blessings of the home, ghost encounters.

My house had every diagnosis of paranormal terrorism.

I was remembering Amber was telling me that when she saw that little boy...

[Growls]

Mom?

That he looked native American.

It was almost like a lightbulb turning on.

This thing is trying to k*ll me and take out my family.

I used to drive into town, and there was a native American store.

I needed to go there and find out what to do.

As I open the door, you can hear native American music.

Hi.

Hi.

There's just walls of dream catchers and there's an incense smell in the air and stones in cabinets and arrowheads.

Hi.

How are you?

Okay. Thank you.

This really nice lady was right behind the counter, and she said hello to me.

Can I help you with anything?

I think she sensed that I needed help.

I don't want you to think I'm crazy, but I think my house is haunted.

Oh?

I live in the loess hills.

She told me that she wasn't surprised, that there is a lot of activity out that way.

That area is very important to many tribes.

It was a meeting place... A sacred place.

Many people were buried there to begin their journey onto the star path.

Oh.

It was sacred ground that should have never been developed.

When the tribes were moved off the land, they were promised that nobody would ever build there.

We've disturbed something that we should have never disturbed.

Is there anything I can do?

There might be something that could help.

She gave me four stones that were Amber and told me to put them in the four corners of my property.

[Cracking]

I need to light the sage, and I need to bless every corner, opening, doorway and tell these spirits to move on, that this is my home, and they are not welcome.

I felt empowered to claim what is mine.

I'm not scared of you any longer.

My family is no longer going to fear you.

I wanted to help send a confused family of Indians on their way to a better life.

Something happened. Something got accomplished.

It almost felt like it was lighter in there.

Christi told me what she did.

I was hoping...

Hoping that it would work.

Maybe there's a glimmer of hope that we can go back to normal.

Everything was good.

It was quiet.

Now we could start putting good memories in the house instead of all the negative.

Christmas is my favorite time of year, my kids' favorite time of year, so we decorated the tree, and it was fun.

It was just a lot of laughter, a lot of bantering between, you know, all of us.

It was beautiful.

[Door creaking]

Suddenly, I panicked.

I grabbed my mask.

The air was flowing, and the machine is working just fine.

I had to take a good, deep breath.

It was scary.

I needed just to relax.

You just didn't know what to expect.

So christmastime came around.

I stopped dead in my tracks.

Mom? Mom! Mom? Mom!

I'm looking at a blank tree.

Everything was off the tree, like nothing was put up.

What's the matter?

I'm just staring at it in disbelief, 'cause I really don't want to believe that it's happening again.

[Child giggling]

All I could say was... They're back.

[Ornaments crashing]

No!

We're done.

Good luck.

They did not want us there.

They didn't want anybody else there.

It's sacred to them.

I prayed they would not follow us.

It's yours.

You can have it.

They can have that house.

They can have everything.

If I live to be 100, I'll never go back there, ever.