1 00:00:17,026 --> 00:00:19,695 [thunder rumbling] 2 00:00:19,779 --> 00:00:22,782 [raindrops pattering] 3 00:00:22,865 --> 00:00:25,534 [Lily] I have heard myself say 4 00:00:27,077 --> 00:00:29,497 that a house with a death in it 5 00:00:29,581 --> 00:00:34,084 can never again be bought or sold by the living. 6 00:00:39,882 --> 00:00:44,804 It can only be borrowed from the ghosts that have stayed behind. 7 00:00:53,270 --> 00:00:55,648 To go back and forth, 8 00:00:57,776 --> 00:01:00,820 letting out and gathering back in again. 9 00:01:03,656 --> 00:01:08,077 Worrying over the floors in confused circles. 10 00:01:10,871 --> 00:01:16,711 Tending to their deaths like patchy, withered gardens. 11 00:01:19,922 --> 00:01:22,759 They have stayed to look back for a glimpse 12 00:01:22,842 --> 00:01:26,303 of the very last moments of their lives. 13 00:01:28,764 --> 00:01:32,101 But the memories of their own deaths 14 00:01:32,726 --> 00:01:36,688 are faces on the wrong side of wet windows, 15 00:01:37,314 --> 00:01:39,233 smeared by rain. 16 00:01:40,317 --> 00:01:43,112 Impossible to properly see. 17 00:01:47,408 --> 00:01:50,661 There is nothing that chains them to the places 18 00:01:50,744 --> 00:01:52,746 where their bodies have fallen. 19 00:01:54,123 --> 00:01:56,418 They are free to go, 20 00:01:58,502 --> 00:02:02,089 but still they confine themselves, 21 00:02:02,841 --> 00:02:05,427 held in place by their looking. 22 00:02:08,095 --> 00:02:10,264 For those who have stayed, 23 00:02:11,598 --> 00:02:14,768 their prison is their never seeing. 24 00:02:17,897 --> 00:02:20,315 And left all alone, 25 00:02:23,736 --> 00:02:27,322 this is how they rot. 26 00:02:56,185 --> 00:02:59,229 [woman] I did not know it at the time, 27 00:02:59,313 --> 00:03:02,774 but the house that stands at the end of Teacup Road 28 00:03:03,358 --> 00:03:08,238 in the town of Braintree, Massachusetts, was such a house. 29 00:03:08,322 --> 00:03:10,032 [faint thunder rumbling] 30 00:03:10,115 --> 00:03:11,992 [raindrops pattering] 31 00:03:17,122 --> 00:03:21,460 A house that holds a seat for the memory of a death. 32 00:03:33,263 --> 00:03:38,143 The staying place of a rotted ghost. 33 00:04:11,468 --> 00:04:14,346 [crickets chirping] 34 00:04:14,429 --> 00:04:19,894 At the time of my arrival in the first part of August, 35 00:04:19,978 --> 00:04:22,814 the house was occupied by Iris Blum, 36 00:04:23,940 --> 00:04:26,525 the author of 13 novels. 37 00:04:28,027 --> 00:04:30,738 The kinds of thick and frightening books 38 00:04:30,822 --> 00:04:34,116 that people buy at airports and supermarkets. 39 00:04:42,416 --> 00:04:48,380 Of her books, I have read fewer than nine pages of only a single one... 40 00:04:49,674 --> 00:04:53,886 and all the while suppressing a very bad taste. 41 00:04:59,684 --> 00:05:02,020 I am not even sure of the title. 42 00:05:07,858 --> 00:05:10,235 From where I am now, 43 00:05:11,153 --> 00:05:14,991 I can be sure of only a very few things. 44 00:05:36,178 --> 00:05:41,391 The pretty thing you are looking at is me. 45 00:05:42,601 --> 00:05:45,395 Of this I am sure. 46 00:05:48,023 --> 00:05:50,484 My name is Lily Saylor. 47 00:05:52,235 --> 00:05:54,196 I am a hospice nurse. 48 00:05:55,781 --> 00:05:59,576 Three days ago, I turned 28 years old. 49 00:06:02,955 --> 00:06:06,125 I will never be 29 years old. 50 00:06:08,543 --> 00:06:10,129 [man] It's, uh... [sniffles] 51 00:06:11,505 --> 00:06:13,173 She's just above, 52 00:06:13,256 --> 00:06:17,469 uh, the bedroom on the right in the front of the house. 53 00:06:26,812 --> 00:06:28,230 -Oh. -[sniffles] 54 00:06:31,316 --> 00:06:35,195 [stairs creaking] 55 00:06:58,510 --> 00:06:59,721 [sighs] 56 00:07:33,670 --> 00:07:34,839 Hello, Ms. Blum. 57 00:07:41,887 --> 00:07:43,472 My name is Lily. 58 00:07:44,431 --> 00:07:47,559 I'm going to be staying with you from now on. I hope that's all right. 59 00:07:47,642 --> 00:07:50,312 [gasps] 60 00:08:05,619 --> 00:08:07,412 [sighs] 61 00:08:18,590 --> 00:08:25,430 ["You Keep Coming Back Like A Song" playing] 62 00:08:29,559 --> 00:08:34,606 ♪ You keep coming back... ♪ 63 00:08:44,783 --> 00:08:49,663 ♪ A song that keeps saying ♪ 64 00:08:51,498 --> 00:08:54,334 ♪ "Remember" ♪ 65 00:08:58,130 --> 00:09:03,385 ♪ The sweet used-to-be... ♪ 66 00:09:05,220 --> 00:09:07,472 [softly] No snooping, you. 67 00:09:07,889 --> 00:09:09,432 [drawer closes] 68 00:09:12,895 --> 00:09:13,770 [chuckles] 69 00:09:13,855 --> 00:09:15,605 [sighs] 70 00:09:15,689 --> 00:09:18,316 ♪ Keeps coming back ♪ 71 00:09:19,651 --> 00:09:25,116 ♪ Like an old melody... ♪ 72 00:09:28,493 --> 00:09:30,121 [Iris] Polly! 73 00:09:30,204 --> 00:09:36,127 ♪ ...of roses in May... ♪ 74 00:09:38,587 --> 00:09:42,173 [footsteps on stairway] 75 00:09:42,257 --> 00:09:46,595 ♪ Returns to my room ♪ 76 00:09:48,471 --> 00:09:54,227 ♪ In December ♪ 77 00:09:57,480 --> 00:10:01,986 ♪ From out of the past ♪ 78 00:10:03,070 --> 00:10:09,327 ♪ Where forgotten things belong ♪ 79 00:10:11,411 --> 00:10:17,000 ♪ You keep coming back ♪ 80 00:10:18,501 --> 00:10:23,548 ♪ Like a song ♪ 81 00:10:24,674 --> 00:10:27,510 [music continues] 82 00:10:34,559 --> 00:10:36,019 -[clicks] -[music stops] 83 00:10:42,901 --> 00:10:45,737 [voices whispering] 84 00:10:50,784 --> 00:10:53,495 [snuffles] 85 00:11:08,593 --> 00:11:13,807 [Lily] I am very seldom required to wear white by my employers. 86 00:11:16,185 --> 00:11:19,063 But, anyway, I always do. 87 00:11:20,939 --> 00:11:25,194 It has always been that wearing white reassures the sick 88 00:11:25,277 --> 00:11:29,156 that I can never be touched. 89 00:11:31,200 --> 00:11:35,578 Even as darkness folds in on them from every side... 90 00:11:38,790 --> 00:11:41,876 closing like a claw. 91 00:11:41,960 --> 00:11:44,130 [crickets chirping] 92 00:11:54,139 --> 00:11:56,433 [toiletries tapping] 93 00:12:03,232 --> 00:12:05,234 [sighs] 94 00:12:16,786 --> 00:12:18,788 [faint thumping] 95 00:12:21,708 --> 00:12:24,711 [thumping continues] 96 00:12:41,770 --> 00:12:44,105 [thumping grows louder] 97 00:13:37,033 --> 00:13:39,203 [sighs] 98 00:13:48,878 --> 00:13:49,879 [light switch clicks] 99 00:14:33,923 --> 00:14:35,133 [sighs] 100 00:14:38,803 --> 00:14:40,805 Wake up, spaz. 101 00:14:42,224 --> 00:14:45,768 [sighs] Then go to sleep. I don't know what. 102 00:14:50,106 --> 00:14:51,858 Is Bart in there with you? 103 00:14:54,777 --> 00:14:56,779 You slut. 104 00:14:57,864 --> 00:14:59,241 Is he awake? 105 00:15:02,453 --> 00:15:03,870 Tell him hi. 106 00:15:03,953 --> 00:15:06,498 No, no, no! Don't tell him who it is, just-- 107 00:15:09,834 --> 00:15:11,753 Uh, what are you guys doing? 108 00:15:12,462 --> 00:15:15,006 [clicks tongue] Oh, you guys are lame. 109 00:15:16,758 --> 00:15:17,967 Nothing. 110 00:15:18,426 --> 00:15:19,886 Couldn't sleep. 111 00:15:20,471 --> 00:15:23,848 The first night in a place always weirds me out, you know. 112 00:15:25,141 --> 00:15:27,101 Kitchen. [sighs] 113 00:15:28,019 --> 00:15:30,104 The phone is in the kitchen. What do you want? 114 00:15:32,399 --> 00:15:33,275 [laughs] 115 00:15:33,359 --> 00:15:35,860 It's got one of those ridiculously long cords 116 00:15:35,944 --> 00:15:38,905 that your mom used to have. [laughs] Remember that? 117 00:15:40,865 --> 00:15:44,953 [sighs] Oh, well, it's a real old house, so... 118 00:15:45,870 --> 00:15:47,163 I don't know. 119 00:15:49,207 --> 00:15:50,458 They're thicker? 120 00:15:50,959 --> 00:15:53,586 Oh, the walls are thicker. [laughs] 121 00:15:55,464 --> 00:15:58,216 "Creepy"? Why would you say that to me right now, 122 00:15:58,300 --> 00:16:01,177 in the middle of the night when I'm here all alone? 123 00:16:07,976 --> 00:16:10,812 [sighs] I'm okay. 124 00:16:12,230 --> 00:16:14,441 No, he hasn't called. 125 00:16:15,984 --> 00:16:18,236 [sighs] And he doesn't have this number. 126 00:16:18,903 --> 00:16:21,656 I can't imagine what I'd say if he did. 127 00:16:22,782 --> 00:16:24,909 I mean, what does a person say? 128 00:16:24,993 --> 00:16:30,248 "Oh. Remember that time we almost but then didn't get married? 129 00:16:31,417 --> 00:16:32,501 'Cause I do." 130 00:16:36,463 --> 00:16:38,465 No, I don't think he will, either. 131 00:16:40,133 --> 00:16:43,011 Can we not talk about Scott right now, please? 132 00:16:49,310 --> 00:16:51,437 Yeah. It'll be good to be here. 133 00:16:52,563 --> 00:16:55,064 Good to be away. Just good to kinda put myself away for... 134 00:16:55,148 --> 00:16:57,859 [faint thumping] 135 00:17:15,835 --> 00:17:17,712 [panting] 136 00:17:19,798 --> 00:17:22,718 [thumping continues] 137 00:17:24,927 --> 00:17:26,304 [Lily] What are you guys doing? 138 00:17:27,598 --> 00:17:28,599 Oh? 139 00:17:31,142 --> 00:17:33,562 Well, that sounds pretty yummy right about now. 140 00:17:35,188 --> 00:17:36,189 Yeah. I know. 141 00:17:37,190 --> 00:17:40,151 I'm sure I'll end up cooking a bunch for Ms. Blum. 142 00:17:41,027 --> 00:17:43,905 No. It's Blum, stupid. Not Ms. Plum. 143 00:17:44,365 --> 00:17:46,617 This isn't Clue. [laughs] 144 00:17:47,158 --> 00:17:50,286 Well, maybe I'll bake a pie. I think I saw some blackberry-- 145 00:17:50,371 --> 00:17:51,580 [gasps] 146 00:17:51,663 --> 00:17:53,081 Jesus! 147 00:17:53,164 --> 00:17:54,332 [shudders] 148 00:17:57,794 --> 00:18:00,129 [panting] 149 00:18:21,652 --> 00:18:22,820 Hello? 150 00:18:26,114 --> 00:18:27,449 Hello? 151 00:18:30,411 --> 00:18:33,079 Oh, the phone just flew out of my hand. 152 00:18:37,083 --> 00:18:39,127 The cord not as long as it seems, huh? 153 00:18:40,546 --> 00:18:43,047 Or I dropped it, like a stupid idiot. 154 00:18:44,966 --> 00:18:46,718 I'm gonna give myself a heart attack. 155 00:19:03,694 --> 00:19:04,778 Anyhoo... 156 00:19:06,070 --> 00:19:07,405 what's new with you? 157 00:19:33,097 --> 00:19:34,265 [Lily] There. 158 00:19:35,141 --> 00:19:36,768 It was just there, 159 00:19:37,769 --> 00:19:39,187 even then. 160 00:19:40,606 --> 00:19:43,817 On my very first night in the house. 161 00:19:45,611 --> 00:19:46,778 A death. 162 00:19:51,199 --> 00:19:52,867 But I cannot see it. 163 00:19:53,494 --> 00:19:54,703 Not yet. 164 00:19:57,121 --> 00:20:02,210 But I can feel it shifting its weight from bare foot to bare foot. 165 00:20:04,170 --> 00:20:08,299 Stepping around softly behind a curtain of dark. 166 00:20:09,801 --> 00:20:14,556 Pacing back and forth in the cage of my chest. 167 00:20:33,659 --> 00:20:37,495 [sighs] 168 00:21:52,821 --> 00:21:54,238 "Dark Moon Flower." 169 00:21:56,449 --> 00:21:59,870 "Underwater Housewife." 170 00:22:12,298 --> 00:22:15,343 So that's where you're hiding. 171 00:22:19,723 --> 00:22:20,974 [sighs] 172 00:22:22,016 --> 00:22:24,477 They told me there wasn't one of you, 173 00:22:24,978 --> 00:22:29,357 and I don't mind telling you, I was a little worried. 174 00:22:29,440 --> 00:22:31,400 [sighs] 175 00:22:34,988 --> 00:22:36,031 Come on. 176 00:22:42,370 --> 00:22:43,746 -[laughter on TV] -Oh. 177 00:22:49,293 --> 00:22:51,879 [TV audio sputtering] 178 00:22:53,840 --> 00:22:55,549 [laughter stops] 179 00:22:55,633 --> 00:22:58,594 Well, no need to be rude. 180 00:23:00,221 --> 00:23:01,055 [Lily gasps] 181 00:23:02,766 --> 00:23:03,934 [pants] 182 00:23:04,017 --> 00:23:05,977 Oh, Ms. Blum. 183 00:23:07,603 --> 00:23:09,230 You scared me. [sighs] 184 00:23:10,314 --> 00:23:12,400 Well, let's get you back. 185 00:23:16,445 --> 00:23:17,405 [sighs] 186 00:23:17,488 --> 00:23:19,407 Now, I'm thinking it's not the best idea for you 187 00:23:19,490 --> 00:23:22,035 to be getting up without me from now on. 188 00:23:23,954 --> 00:23:25,621 Can we agree to that? 189 00:23:27,874 --> 00:23:29,000 Polly? 190 00:23:32,712 --> 00:23:34,046 Oh, um... 191 00:23:34,798 --> 00:23:37,050 No, uh... [laughs] 192 00:23:37,134 --> 00:23:40,762 My name is Lily, Ms. Blum. 193 00:23:41,971 --> 00:23:43,472 We met a few hours ago. 194 00:23:45,141 --> 00:23:47,643 I'm going to be staying here with you from now on. 195 00:23:51,147 --> 00:23:56,527 My Polly, tell me you missed me just a little bit too. 196 00:24:00,907 --> 00:24:03,701 You'll give me as much as that, won't you? 197 00:24:12,836 --> 00:24:14,587 [sighs] 198 00:24:31,228 --> 00:24:34,106 [Lily] It can't be too much longer now. 199 00:24:36,108 --> 00:24:39,487 Because time spent in a house with a death in it 200 00:24:40,030 --> 00:24:42,406 passes more quickly, you know. 201 00:24:48,120 --> 00:24:49,413 Eleven months. 202 00:24:50,623 --> 00:24:52,793 Passing like the night. 203 00:24:53,793 --> 00:24:55,836 [cicadas chirping] 204 00:25:21,612 --> 00:25:23,447 [sniffs] 205 00:25:28,160 --> 00:25:29,245 Susie. 206 00:25:32,873 --> 00:25:33,958 Sally. 207 00:25:36,127 --> 00:25:37,711 Candice and Jane. 208 00:25:37,795 --> 00:25:38,839 [laughs] 209 00:25:39,672 --> 00:25:40,673 [sniffs] 210 00:25:46,762 --> 00:25:48,139 [car brakes squeak] 211 00:25:49,682 --> 00:25:50,599 [car door creaks] 212 00:25:52,226 --> 00:25:53,310 [car door slams] 213 00:25:54,728 --> 00:25:55,897 Scary. 214 00:25:55,981 --> 00:25:56,982 [laughs] 215 00:25:57,064 --> 00:25:59,441 [faint voice whispers] This is how you rot. 216 00:25:59,525 --> 00:26:02,988 [footsteps approaching] 217 00:26:06,699 --> 00:26:07,783 [knocking] 218 00:26:19,004 --> 00:26:21,089 [sighs] 219 00:26:21,172 --> 00:26:22,257 [softly] France. 220 00:26:22,340 --> 00:26:24,675 [sighs] 221 00:26:43,278 --> 00:26:45,071 Uh, was the drive all right? 222 00:26:45,154 --> 00:26:47,990 Uh, yes. The summer season finally done 223 00:26:48,073 --> 00:26:51,035 and everyone going the other way over bridges. 224 00:26:52,745 --> 00:26:53,829 [smacks lips] 225 00:26:59,085 --> 00:27:03,672 -And how is the lady of the house today? -[Lily] Oh, she's comfortable. 226 00:27:04,340 --> 00:27:06,842 Taking a nap, as she usually does at this time. 227 00:27:08,385 --> 00:27:09,887 And the wall, you say? 228 00:27:10,220 --> 00:27:11,472 [Lily sighs] Yes. 229 00:27:12,765 --> 00:27:14,142 It was fine when I first moved in, 230 00:27:14,225 --> 00:27:17,770 but now I think it's gotten much worse in the past few weeks. 231 00:27:21,523 --> 00:27:22,441 Ah. 232 00:27:31,575 --> 00:27:32,451 Hmm. 233 00:27:32,953 --> 00:27:34,745 Possibly a mold of some kind. 234 00:27:34,828 --> 00:27:38,041 Likely there is some plumbing behind the wall, 235 00:27:38,124 --> 00:27:42,170 -a pipe that runs up to the bathroom. -Oh, the laundry room is just above, I-- 236 00:27:42,253 --> 00:27:45,464 I sometimes hear the water going up and a kind of knocking sound. 237 00:27:46,048 --> 00:27:48,467 You say you haven't seen it anywhere else? 238 00:27:50,095 --> 00:27:53,931 No. Only right here. 239 00:27:55,933 --> 00:28:00,479 Well... As to whether or not the estate will approve the cost 240 00:28:00,562 --> 00:28:03,607 for cosmetic repairs, that is another thing altogether. 241 00:28:04,191 --> 00:28:07,152 Oh, I'm not sure I'd agree it's cosmetic. 242 00:28:07,237 --> 00:28:09,488 Well, cosmetic as opposed to structural. 243 00:28:11,782 --> 00:28:13,325 The flesh and not the bones. 244 00:28:16,204 --> 00:28:20,125 Well, I just thought that for Ms. Blum's respiratory-- 245 00:28:20,916 --> 00:28:26,588 [sighs] For my respiratory to be... breathing mold. 246 00:28:27,172 --> 00:28:28,090 Mm-hm. 247 00:28:28,174 --> 00:28:30,759 Well, as you know, it is Ms. Blum's stated desire 248 00:28:30,843 --> 00:28:33,762 to remain in this house until the occasion of her death 249 00:28:33,846 --> 00:28:38,684 and that all medical care be provided 250 00:28:38,767 --> 00:28:42,855 here on the premises regardless of financial burden to the estate. 251 00:28:44,189 --> 00:28:46,608 And you've been here nearly a year already. 252 00:28:46,692 --> 00:28:47,609 Oh... 253 00:28:47,693 --> 00:28:50,487 Well, given her advanced age and present condition, 254 00:28:50,571 --> 00:28:53,074 it seems fair to assume that your arrangement 255 00:28:53,157 --> 00:28:57,703 would not extend beyond another year or two at maximum, 256 00:28:57,786 --> 00:28:58,996 wouldn't you say? 257 00:28:59,997 --> 00:29:04,085 Overall, I'd say her physical health is rather good. 258 00:29:05,586 --> 00:29:08,505 Um, so, I'm sure I couldn't say. [chuckles] 259 00:29:08,589 --> 00:29:12,593 No, no. Of course. Of course. That's... good. 260 00:29:15,763 --> 00:29:20,185 Uh, but, um... Isn't she all there is to the estate? 261 00:29:20,268 --> 00:29:25,065 [chuckles] She doesn't have any children, no family. 262 00:29:25,939 --> 00:29:28,650 [sighs] Not a single visitor in all the time I've been here. 263 00:29:29,402 --> 00:29:32,197 True, but Ms. Blum has designated the property 264 00:29:32,280 --> 00:29:34,698 as the centerpiece for a grant foundation 265 00:29:34,782 --> 00:29:39,204 to be awarded after her death to a worthy woman author 266 00:29:39,286 --> 00:29:43,165 as a home and work space at no cost. 267 00:29:44,166 --> 00:29:47,169 "House of Stories," she calls it. 268 00:29:48,629 --> 00:29:51,632 Well, it'll have to be fixed up then, for whoever. [laughs] 269 00:29:51,715 --> 00:29:54,885 Well, it will be, when the time comes. 270 00:29:55,552 --> 00:29:59,348 But the estate can't pay for everything. 271 00:29:59,431 --> 00:30:01,016 Oh, here we are. 272 00:30:01,600 --> 00:30:04,686 They've been out in the past and will give us a better idea. 273 00:30:07,606 --> 00:30:09,817 -Was there anything else? -No. 274 00:30:10,818 --> 00:30:11,693 Oh... 275 00:30:12,362 --> 00:30:13,321 yes. 276 00:30:13,862 --> 00:30:15,614 Hmm... [sighs] 277 00:30:15,697 --> 00:30:18,409 Uh, do you know anything about anyone named Polly? 278 00:30:19,326 --> 00:30:20,994 Polly? Polly who? 279 00:30:22,455 --> 00:30:23,914 [sighs] 280 00:30:23,997 --> 00:30:26,917 Ms. Blum insists on calling me Polly. 281 00:30:27,418 --> 00:30:29,086 She never calls me anything else. 282 00:30:29,169 --> 00:30:30,295 [laughs] 283 00:30:30,879 --> 00:30:34,007 Uh, of course, it's a natural thing for someone with her condition. 284 00:30:34,091 --> 00:30:36,927 It's just that a confusion like that 285 00:30:37,010 --> 00:30:39,847 is usually with the memory of someone significant. 286 00:30:40,848 --> 00:30:42,308 Not just a no one. 287 00:30:43,725 --> 00:30:46,645 Well, there is Polly from Ms. Blum's novel, 288 00:30:46,728 --> 00:30:48,272 The Lady in the Walls. 289 00:30:49,231 --> 00:30:50,190 Oh. 290 00:30:50,691 --> 00:30:53,360 Easily her best known. You haven't read it. 291 00:30:53,443 --> 00:30:55,654 Oh, heavens to Betsy, no, I haven't. 292 00:30:55,737 --> 00:30:56,905 [laughs] 293 00:30:56,989 --> 00:30:59,825 No, um, I scare too easily. I... 294 00:31:00,409 --> 00:31:01,743 Oh, yes, that's right. 295 00:31:02,287 --> 00:31:04,997 Well, there is a not-very-good movie, if you prefer. 296 00:31:05,080 --> 00:31:08,917 No. Uh, no. That would be much, much worse. 297 00:31:09,001 --> 00:31:10,043 [laughs] 298 00:31:10,127 --> 00:31:12,754 I'd likely run down to the road screaming. 299 00:31:12,838 --> 00:31:14,631 And who'd look after Miss Blum? [laughs] 300 00:31:17,384 --> 00:31:22,848 That particular novel was most notable for Ms. Blum's deliberate choice... 301 00:31:23,765 --> 00:31:26,643 to leave off the presumably horrific ending. 302 00:31:26,727 --> 00:31:30,022 Though she always insisted it wasn't a choice at all, 303 00:31:30,105 --> 00:31:32,858 but rather an obligation. 304 00:31:36,069 --> 00:31:38,364 An obligation to be true to the subject. 305 00:31:41,366 --> 00:31:42,576 To Polly. 306 00:31:45,954 --> 00:31:47,664 I don't understand. 307 00:31:47,748 --> 00:31:49,249 Well, I don't want to give it away. 308 00:31:50,083 --> 00:31:51,627 But, Mr. Waxcap, I-- 309 00:31:52,169 --> 00:31:54,214 [laughs] I'll never read it. 310 00:31:55,005 --> 00:31:57,007 -[briefcase lock clicks] -I'd hate to keep you. 311 00:32:11,522 --> 00:32:14,858 [sighs] 312 00:32:19,239 --> 00:32:22,367 [Lily] The house was built in 1812 313 00:32:22,449 --> 00:32:27,371 by the two bare hands of a local man, as a gift to his new bride. 314 00:32:28,997 --> 00:32:32,502 The couple was last seen taking their marriage vows 315 00:32:32,585 --> 00:32:34,211 in the center of town. 316 00:32:35,672 --> 00:32:39,091 And the very next day, they were gone... 317 00:32:40,260 --> 00:32:44,137 disappearing before placing a single piece of furniture. 318 00:32:45,931 --> 00:32:50,811 The townspeople shook their heads and clucked their tongues. 319 00:32:52,437 --> 00:32:57,276 "Some people," they'd say, "just get spooked." 320 00:32:58,278 --> 00:32:59,320 [sighs] 321 00:32:59,403 --> 00:33:00,237 Well, well. 322 00:33:01,488 --> 00:33:03,282 You're not so big and tough. 323 00:33:04,324 --> 00:33:07,703 ["You Keep Coming Back Like A Song" playing] 324 00:33:10,373 --> 00:33:14,294 ♪ Keeps coming back ♪ 325 00:33:15,252 --> 00:33:20,466 ♪ Like an old melody ♪ 326 00:33:23,344 --> 00:33:26,013 ♪ The perfume ♪ 327 00:33:26,096 --> 00:33:31,935 ♪ Of roses in May... ♪ 328 00:33:32,019 --> 00:33:33,603 [exhales] 329 00:33:37,983 --> 00:33:40,653 ♪ Returns... ♪ 330 00:33:44,031 --> 00:33:46,908 [Polly] The pretty thing you are looking at now is me. 331 00:33:48,160 --> 00:33:50,120 My name is Polly Parsons 332 00:33:50,203 --> 00:33:52,998 and I came into the world just as I left it. 333 00:33:57,794 --> 00:33:59,921 I'm not more than a few minutes old 334 00:34:00,005 --> 00:34:02,174 and my mother is already dead, 335 00:34:02,257 --> 00:34:04,552 her forehead slick with sweat, 336 00:34:04,802 --> 00:34:07,304 and cool with the pallor of icebox butter. 337 00:34:10,558 --> 00:34:13,852 I am tied to my mother's body by a terrible rope 338 00:34:13,935 --> 00:34:17,398 that is a shiny, twisted midnight blue-black. 339 00:34:19,359 --> 00:34:21,860 The doctor is holding me up to the light. 340 00:34:25,906 --> 00:34:27,408 But now I am dead. 341 00:34:29,159 --> 00:34:33,955 And yes, I left the world just as I came into it. 342 00:34:36,124 --> 00:34:38,378 I am wearing nothing but blood. 343 00:34:44,132 --> 00:34:46,343 ["You Keep Coming Back Like A Song" playing] 344 00:34:46,427 --> 00:34:47,387 [gasps] 345 00:35:02,984 --> 00:35:07,865 ♪ You keep coming back ♪ 346 00:35:09,867 --> 00:35:12,703 ♪ Like a song ♪ 347 00:35:40,648 --> 00:35:44,067 Oh, no. [gasps] 348 00:35:46,153 --> 00:35:47,572 Oh... 349 00:35:47,654 --> 00:35:49,072 [sighs] 350 00:35:50,783 --> 00:35:51,950 Nuts. 351 00:35:53,326 --> 00:35:57,289 [thunder crackling] 352 00:36:10,636 --> 00:36:15,516 [pants] 353 00:36:32,240 --> 00:36:35,869 [gasps] 354 00:36:38,539 --> 00:36:39,540 [Iris] Polly! 355 00:36:53,470 --> 00:36:57,474 [thunder rumbling] 356 00:37:03,606 --> 00:37:07,359 [Lily] I am as white as a sail. 357 00:37:12,573 --> 00:37:14,742 I tell this often to myself. 358 00:37:18,245 --> 00:37:21,498 I tell myself that nothing gets on me. 359 00:37:26,378 --> 00:37:28,673 But it does me little good. 360 00:37:31,759 --> 00:37:34,344 The words pour right through. 361 00:37:37,138 --> 00:37:40,433 I am too full of holes. 362 00:37:46,481 --> 00:37:48,191 [raindrops pattering] 363 00:37:55,575 --> 00:37:58,285 Grow up, you dumb old scaredy-cat. 364 00:38:00,495 --> 00:38:04,584 It's just a bunch of silly old make-believe typed words on paper. 365 00:38:25,478 --> 00:38:28,398 [typewriter keys clicking] 366 00:38:28,982 --> 00:38:30,483 [Lily, reading] "Dear Reader, 367 00:38:32,485 --> 00:38:36,406 You should know that the true account that follows in this book 368 00:38:36,489 --> 00:38:39,744 was told to me directly by Polly Parsons, 369 00:38:42,830 --> 00:38:47,960 the young woman who lived it but, alas, did not survive it. 370 00:38:51,379 --> 00:38:55,175 True to our heroine, my heroine, 371 00:38:55,258 --> 00:38:58,804 I have written down all that she cared to reveal. 372 00:38:59,722 --> 00:39:01,766 All but the very ending, 373 00:39:01,849 --> 00:39:06,394 which she was either unable or unwilling to tell me herself. 374 00:39:14,611 --> 00:39:17,489 Or maybe she just couldn't see it anymore." 375 00:39:20,826 --> 00:39:22,410 [footsteps approaching] 376 00:39:22,494 --> 00:39:23,663 [chuckles] 377 00:39:48,520 --> 00:39:51,606 "And even if I was fiendishly tempted, 378 00:39:51,691 --> 00:39:55,568 I have refrained from pressing the subject with her. 379 00:39:55,652 --> 00:39:59,447 Though it seems safe to assume that, as endings go, 380 00:39:59,531 --> 00:40:03,994 Polly's was not an especially pretty one. 381 00:40:13,378 --> 00:40:16,297 But Polly wouldn't tell me herself, 382 00:40:16,381 --> 00:40:19,384 and I couldn't have gone and simply made something up. 383 00:40:20,510 --> 00:40:22,888 So I have left it off altogether. 384 00:40:23,806 --> 00:40:26,349 Out of respect for the dead, you understand. 385 00:40:32,772 --> 00:40:34,983 Because yes, dear reader, 386 00:40:35,901 --> 00:40:41,073 Polly Parsons, the subject of this book, is quite dead indeed. 387 00:40:49,372 --> 00:40:53,919 Quite dead but not quite buried. 388 00:40:56,797 --> 00:40:59,175 Carelessly concealed in a grave 389 00:40:59,257 --> 00:41:03,012 too shallow to be rightly called a grave at all. 390 00:41:07,808 --> 00:41:11,854 Better to call it a... hiding place. 391 00:41:22,864 --> 00:41:24,783 But I've said too much already, 392 00:41:25,283 --> 00:41:27,952 and now will leave the rest to Polly herself, 393 00:41:28,037 --> 00:41:30,455 as was my intention in the first place. 394 00:41:37,337 --> 00:41:42,383 Iris Blum, Braintree, Massachusetts, 1960." 395 00:41:48,056 --> 00:41:50,725 [exhales deeply] 396 00:41:50,810 --> 00:41:52,519 Oh, you silly Billy. 397 00:41:54,939 --> 00:41:57,524 Oh, you silly Billy. 398 00:41:57,607 --> 00:41:59,860 [pants] 399 00:42:05,657 --> 00:42:08,451 [faint thumping] 400 00:42:21,172 --> 00:42:24,175 -[thunder rumbling] -[raindrops pattering] 401 00:42:25,552 --> 00:42:26,887 [metal clinking] 402 00:42:49,200 --> 00:42:52,662 [Lily] The walls and windows are as thin as bones. 403 00:42:54,539 --> 00:42:57,001 A person could walk right through them. 404 00:42:59,044 --> 00:43:01,588 Just up and leave this old house. 405 00:43:16,353 --> 00:43:18,521 [thunderclap rumbles] 406 00:43:46,507 --> 00:43:49,260 [Lily] No whammies, no whammies, no whammies. Stop. 407 00:43:51,304 --> 00:43:52,263 [sighs] 408 00:43:53,222 --> 00:43:55,224 No whammies, no whammies, no whammies. Stop. 409 00:43:57,977 --> 00:43:59,187 [sighs] 410 00:43:59,270 --> 00:44:00,271 [sighs] 411 00:44:01,105 --> 00:44:03,524 No whammies, no whammies, no whammies. Stop. 412 00:44:07,237 --> 00:44:08,655 [woman on TV screaming] 413 00:44:08,738 --> 00:44:11,282 [Lily] No whammies, no whammies, no whammies. Stop. 414 00:44:47,944 --> 00:44:49,989 [Polly] This is how you rot. 415 00:44:56,869 --> 00:45:00,665 ["You Keep Coming Back Like A Song" playing] 416 00:45:04,711 --> 00:45:10,883 ♪ You keep coming back ♪ 417 00:45:11,926 --> 00:45:13,095 ♪ Like a song-- ♪ 418 00:45:13,177 --> 00:45:14,429 -[player clicks] -[music stops] 419 00:45:29,153 --> 00:45:31,321 [wind whistling] 420 00:47:04,330 --> 00:47:06,958 [wall thumping] 421 00:47:12,256 --> 00:47:14,258 [raindrops pattering] 422 00:47:16,801 --> 00:47:18,136 [footsteps approaching] 423 00:47:41,117 --> 00:47:42,869 [Lily] It's safe, though? 424 00:47:42,952 --> 00:47:45,830 I mean, nothing is gonna fall down? 425 00:47:51,961 --> 00:47:55,047 Uh, and when do you think you can come to do that? 426 00:47:55,131 --> 00:47:56,132 To open it up? To... 427 00:47:57,384 --> 00:47:59,219 open up the wall, I mean. 428 00:48:01,513 --> 00:48:05,642 Yeah, Monday is okay. Any day is okay. I'm not going anywhere. 429 00:48:07,269 --> 00:48:09,188 [thunder rumbling] 430 00:48:11,022 --> 00:48:14,483 Oh, I haven't really looked. I... 431 00:48:16,861 --> 00:48:18,529 I kind of hate the sight of it. 432 00:48:19,489 --> 00:48:21,325 But okay. [chuckles] 433 00:48:22,409 --> 00:48:24,203 I can. [laughs] 434 00:48:26,455 --> 00:48:27,456 I will. 435 00:48:31,834 --> 00:48:34,879 Okay. Thanks. 436 00:49:06,411 --> 00:49:09,121 [sighs] 437 00:49:31,143 --> 00:49:33,480 [raindrops pattering] 438 00:49:41,321 --> 00:49:43,407 [thunder rumbles] 439 00:51:38,855 --> 00:51:40,898 [scissors clinking] 440 00:52:09,678 --> 00:52:11,638 [gasps] 441 00:53:39,391 --> 00:53:42,311 [Lily, reading] "I now believe Polly entirely 442 00:53:42,394 --> 00:53:44,522 when she insists that she does not remember 443 00:53:44,605 --> 00:53:46,440 what happened to her in the end. 444 00:53:47,066 --> 00:53:50,319 I can sometimes see her struggle with the shape of it, 445 00:53:51,904 --> 00:53:55,324 more as if trying to remember a song she once heard, 446 00:53:55,908 --> 00:53:58,410 and not as she might remember an event. 447 00:54:01,413 --> 00:54:05,292 How does one forget something as essential as that? 448 00:54:12,466 --> 00:54:14,718 How does one forget a death? 449 00:54:30,109 --> 00:54:33,153 Maybe it is the body that remembers. 450 00:54:35,072 --> 00:54:39,076 And without the body, there is nothing to hold to." 451 00:54:43,330 --> 00:54:44,331 [sighs] 452 00:54:44,415 --> 00:54:49,378 "We make our own ghosts by looking, 453 00:54:49,461 --> 00:54:51,673 but pretending not to see... 454 00:55:07,938 --> 00:55:11,066 and then forgetting ourselves altogether. 455 00:55:15,362 --> 00:55:18,324 It is a terrible thing to look at oneself 456 00:55:18,991 --> 00:55:21,744 and to all the while see nothing. 457 00:55:27,541 --> 00:55:30,712 Surely this is how we make our own ghosts. 458 00:55:32,881 --> 00:55:35,634 We make them out of ourselves." 459 00:55:42,181 --> 00:55:43,557 -[hammer clangs] -[Polly screams] 460 00:55:44,016 --> 00:55:46,602 [thumping] 461 00:55:47,603 --> 00:55:50,105 [thumping] 462 00:55:51,523 --> 00:55:53,901 [thumping] 463 00:56:07,456 --> 00:56:09,041 -[metal clinks] -[Lily gasps] 464 00:56:10,043 --> 00:56:12,211 [rain pattering] 465 00:56:47,579 --> 00:56:49,581 [rain pattering] 466 00:56:55,796 --> 00:56:58,590 [Lily] I took one of your books off the shelf in your study. 467 00:57:02,178 --> 00:57:03,679 I hope that's all right. 468 00:57:10,811 --> 00:57:12,187 The Lady in the Walls. 469 00:57:14,815 --> 00:57:16,567 Had to put it down, though. 470 00:57:16,650 --> 00:57:17,985 [laughs] 471 00:57:19,570 --> 00:57:21,030 [whispers] Too scary for me. 472 00:57:31,415 --> 00:57:34,460 You know that one, don't you? 473 00:57:36,170 --> 00:57:38,422 [Iris] Where did you go, Polly? 474 00:57:41,383 --> 00:57:43,427 [Lily] I didn't go anywhere, Ms. Blum. 475 00:57:45,512 --> 00:57:49,516 I'm here with you, same as I have always been. 476 00:57:50,642 --> 00:57:55,982 The same Lily Saylor of 43 Hoover Road, Altoona... 477 00:58:03,405 --> 00:58:04,866 [sighs] 478 00:58:04,949 --> 00:58:06,325 Pennsylvania. 479 00:58:09,536 --> 00:58:10,830 At your service. 480 00:58:27,554 --> 00:58:31,642 [Iris] You had so much to say in those first years. 481 00:58:36,480 --> 00:58:38,900 When you lived here with me. 482 00:58:45,572 --> 00:58:47,909 Enough to fill a book. 483 00:58:57,417 --> 00:58:58,585 And then... 484 00:59:02,298 --> 00:59:03,799 nothing. 485 00:59:10,056 --> 00:59:11,933 You turned your back. 486 00:59:16,019 --> 00:59:19,606 You turned your back, 487 00:59:20,691 --> 00:59:23,402 and you turned your back 488 00:59:23,902 --> 00:59:25,904 so many times... 489 00:59:27,197 --> 00:59:28,240 [sighs] 490 00:59:29,533 --> 00:59:34,454 that soon your feet were facing the wrong way altogether. 491 00:59:37,000 --> 00:59:39,626 [sighs] 492 00:59:39,710 --> 00:59:44,173 And I had to watch you come into a room... 493 00:59:46,383 --> 00:59:47,384 back to front. 494 00:59:53,557 --> 00:59:57,061 I did nothing but sit and listen. 495 00:59:58,562 --> 01:00:00,647 I made no noises. 496 01:00:01,857 --> 01:00:04,110 I welcomed no visitors. 497 01:00:06,653 --> 01:00:10,073 And here, now, you've come back. 498 01:00:11,533 --> 01:00:15,662 But only to hurt me, only to show yourself, 499 01:00:15,746 --> 01:00:17,414 -but not to let me see. -No. 500 01:00:20,792 --> 01:00:23,670 You hardly resemble yourself. 501 01:00:23,754 --> 01:00:26,924 Ms. Blum... please. 502 01:00:30,010 --> 01:00:33,513 You poor, pretty things 503 01:00:34,223 --> 01:00:39,020 whose prettiness holds only one guarantee. 504 01:00:42,564 --> 01:00:48,070 Learn to see yourself as the rest of the world does, and you'll keep. 505 01:00:53,450 --> 01:00:54,993 But left alone, 506 01:00:58,413 --> 01:01:01,583 with only your own eyes looking back at you, 507 01:01:04,337 --> 01:01:07,298 and even the prettiest things rot. 508 01:01:16,432 --> 01:01:19,185 You fall apart like flowers. 509 01:01:31,364 --> 01:01:34,409 [classical music playing] 510 01:01:53,969 --> 01:01:55,512 -[gunfire whistles] -[horse neighing] 511 01:03:04,623 --> 01:03:07,543 [Polly whispers] 512 01:03:16,135 --> 01:03:17,719 [static buzzing] 513 01:03:53,046 --> 01:03:58,511 [Lily] The pretty thing you are looking at is me. 514 01:04:01,930 --> 01:04:07,186 But it is me that still cannot see any of what is coming. 515 01:04:10,397 --> 01:04:14,276 Me that doesn't even know where to look. 516 01:04:15,819 --> 01:04:17,654 [faint dripping] 517 01:04:17,737 --> 01:04:18,864 [light switch clicks] 518 01:04:18,947 --> 01:04:23,618 Me that can see only the drawer that opens 519 01:04:24,786 --> 01:04:27,372 and the claw that closes. 520 01:04:29,124 --> 01:04:31,459 The bell that rings 521 01:04:32,253 --> 01:04:34,297 and the spots that spread. 522 01:04:36,673 --> 01:04:38,758 The holes that pour through 523 01:04:40,302 --> 01:04:42,387 and the cord that stretches. 524 01:04:43,638 --> 01:04:45,974 The hammer and the pliers. 525 01:04:46,057 --> 01:04:48,310 And the terrible book. 526 01:04:49,644 --> 01:04:54,274 And the face of the woman who wrote it all down. 527 01:04:55,525 --> 01:04:59,988 The me that can see only the name. 528 01:05:00,071 --> 01:05:01,865 Only her name. 529 01:05:04,117 --> 01:05:07,580 But the rest of what is coming cannot be seen 530 01:05:10,416 --> 01:05:12,959 even as I look right at it. 531 01:05:20,175 --> 01:05:23,970 It is a terrible thing to look at oneself 532 01:05:24,971 --> 01:05:29,851 and all the while see nothing. 533 01:05:35,982 --> 01:05:39,570 ["You Keep Coming Back Like A Song" playing] 534 01:05:42,323 --> 01:05:46,244 ♪ Returns to my room... ♪ 535 01:05:46,327 --> 01:05:48,078 [faint creaking] 536 01:05:48,161 --> 01:05:53,792 ♪ In December ♪ 537 01:05:58,004 --> 01:06:01,841 ♪ From out of the past ♪ 538 01:06:02,926 --> 01:06:08,974 ♪ Where forgotten things belong ♪ 539 01:06:11,310 --> 01:06:17,483 ♪ You keep coming back ♪ 540 01:06:18,566 --> 01:06:24,114 ♪ Like a song ♪ 541 01:06:24,197 --> 01:06:27,200 [music continues] 542 01:06:40,422 --> 01:06:41,756 -[clicks] -[music stops] 543 01:06:45,093 --> 01:06:46,304 [faint clattering] 544 01:06:51,099 --> 01:06:52,559 [faint thumping] 545 01:07:08,908 --> 01:07:10,952 [thumping grows louder] 546 01:07:16,624 --> 01:07:19,419 [thumping continues] 547 01:07:28,303 --> 01:07:29,304 [light switch clicks] 548 01:07:32,932 --> 01:07:34,476 Hello? 549 01:08:29,114 --> 01:08:30,198 [Lily gasps] 550 01:08:50,135 --> 01:08:51,762 -[metal clinking] -[gasps] 551 01:09:03,356 --> 01:09:06,444 [faint ticking] 552 01:10:35,198 --> 01:10:37,200 [ticking continues] 553 01:10:44,750 --> 01:10:48,546 [gasps, screams] 554 01:11:35,926 --> 01:11:38,428 [birds chirping] 555 01:11:42,098 --> 01:11:46,436 [Lily] I had arrived in the first few days of August, 556 01:11:46,604 --> 01:11:48,897 hired to care for Ms. Blum. 557 01:11:51,441 --> 01:11:56,696 The winter of that year proved to be unseasonably warm, 558 01:11:59,657 --> 01:12:02,994 and by February, all that was left of the snow 559 01:12:03,078 --> 01:12:08,541 on the sides of the highways had turned mostly black. 560 01:12:09,459 --> 01:12:11,837 [raindrops pattering] 561 01:12:11,919 --> 01:12:14,839 It rained too much in the spring, 562 01:12:15,256 --> 01:12:17,967 and the fruit in the trees hung heavy 563 01:12:18,551 --> 01:12:20,928 at the ends of bent branches. 564 01:12:23,389 --> 01:12:28,353 The sun in the summer months was unreasonably hot 565 01:12:29,897 --> 01:12:33,524 and stung my bare shoulders whenever I let it. 566 01:12:38,780 --> 01:12:40,698 I remember thinking 567 01:12:40,949 --> 01:12:45,746 that it felt like fall would never come. 568 01:12:48,666 --> 01:12:52,418 And then it never did. 569 01:12:59,842 --> 01:13:02,595 [flies buzzing] 570 01:13:14,942 --> 01:13:16,526 [knocking] 571 01:13:57,066 --> 01:13:58,234 [knocking] 572 01:14:03,448 --> 01:14:04,699 [buzzing continues] 573 01:14:06,868 --> 01:14:08,077 [workman] Hello? 574 01:14:20,381 --> 01:14:22,467 [buzzing continues] 575 01:14:38,942 --> 01:14:40,152 [buzzing stops] 576 01:15:09,472 --> 01:15:14,060 [van engine starts] 577 01:15:43,714 --> 01:15:45,508 [Iris] Polly! 578 01:16:04,443 --> 01:16:06,612 [flies buzzing] 579 01:16:16,539 --> 01:16:19,877 [flies buzzing] 580 01:16:28,718 --> 01:16:31,138 [flies buzzing] 581 01:16:33,639 --> 01:16:35,976 [typewriter clicking] 582 01:17:46,004 --> 01:17:47,172 Polly? 583 01:18:37,972 --> 01:18:40,017 [car approaching] 584 01:18:57,283 --> 01:19:01,037 -[front door lock clicks] -[door creaks open] 585 01:19:10,129 --> 01:19:13,090 [radio dispatcher talking indistinctly] 586 01:19:40,118 --> 01:19:42,120 [front door creaks shut] 587 01:20:13,193 --> 01:20:15,778 [crickets chirping] 588 01:20:28,416 --> 01:20:31,001 [Lily] I have heard myself say 589 01:20:32,212 --> 01:20:34,922 that a house with a death in it 590 01:20:35,005 --> 01:20:39,302 can never again be bought or sold by the living. 591 01:20:43,431 --> 01:20:47,893 It can only be borrowed from its ghosts. 592 01:21:03,160 --> 01:21:05,495 And so it is. 593 01:21:18,716 --> 01:21:22,304 The house that stands at the end of Teacup Road 594 01:21:22,387 --> 01:21:25,848 near the town of Braintree, Massachusetts. 595 01:21:29,477 --> 01:21:31,937 You may borrow it from me. 596 01:21:36,859 --> 01:21:39,153 [water dripping] 597 01:21:53,167 --> 01:21:55,878 [water splashing] 598 01:21:58,172 --> 01:21:59,381 [gulps, sighs] 599 01:22:01,759 --> 01:22:07,432 Because the memory of a death is a thing that stays, 600 01:22:07,515 --> 01:22:11,436 pressed deeply in place like type on paper. 601 01:22:14,939 --> 01:22:19,151 Even after it has been covered up with nothing left to see. 602 01:22:23,615 --> 01:22:27,535 And still I think I'll stay 603 01:22:27,619 --> 01:22:29,954 for one more look at her. 604 01:22:43,968 --> 01:22:48,973 This is how I let myself rot. 605 01:22:59,858 --> 01:23:03,946 The pretty thing you are looking at... 606 01:23:06,741 --> 01:23:08,158 is me.