Original subtitles

Tonight on Unsolved Mysteries.

NARRATOR: He was a once and future king,

truly an American icon.

But for 20 years, the details of his untimely death

have been cloaked in mystery.

Now a trusted member of Elvis Presley's inner circle

has sparked a stunning controversy.

Is it possible that the King of rock and roll

took his own life.

Is there a Bigfoot in Florida's Everglades,

or could the photographs, footprints, and hair samples

be an elaborate hoax.

She was an eccentric heiress known

for her reclusive lifestyle, her devotion to her 58 show dogs,

and for occasionally dressing like a man,

then she disappeared.

What happened to Camilla Lyman?

Welcome to the house on 37th Street.

It may look perfectly normal, but don't be fooled.

The folks who live here say their modest home

is in fact haunted and not by a single ghost,

but by an entire gang of restless spirits.

Join me for these intriguing stories and more.

Perhaps, you may be the one chosen

by fate to solve a mystery.

[music playing]

He once reigned supreme as the world's greatest entertainer,

but on August 16, 1977, Elvis Presley's remarkable life

came to a shocking end.

At first it was said he died of a heart attack.

Later reports suggested a massive drug overdose.

The mystery of Elvis's death is so

baffling that even those closest to him

can't agree on the cause.

Yet Elvis' own stepbrother, a trusted member

of the inner circle, maintains that the King's

death was not accidental.

He says that Elvis committed suicide.

DAVID STANLEY: Elvis Presley woke up

on the 16th of August premeditated,

planned, took and killed himself deliberately.

NARRATOR: But why?

Why would a man who could have anything and everything

he desired take his own life?

What dark secrets could bring him to such a desperate act?

Not surprisingly, most people refuse to believe that Elvis

Presley died by his own hand.

However, David Stanley's eyewitness account

along with the circumstantial evidence

is compelling and warrants a closer look.

Tonight we'll hear both sides of this ongoing controversy

and learn the bizarre and intriguing

details of Elvis's final days from those who knew him best.

It had become part of Elvis Presley's daily routine, three

times a day on a strict schedule, nearly a dozen

different prescription drugs, including

Demerol and Seconal administered by members of his entourage.

According to insiders, this dangerous cycle of drug use

had his beginnings in 1958 when Elvis was drafted into the army

and sent overseas.

RED WEST: I went to Germany with him after I

got out of the Marine Corps.

NARRATOR: Bodyguard Red West was a close friend of Elvis

Presley's from junior high school

and was a key figure in the biographical film

Elvis, All the King's Men.

RED WEST: He was on guard duty on the Russian front,

and if you went to sleep during and got caught asleep,

you were in trouble.

So this Sergeant said take these little things here.

They'll keep you up.

And wow, man, it started feeling good, and that's how it began.

NARRATOR: After his army discharged,

Elvis starred in a long series of inconsequential

but highly profitable movies.

CHUCK HARTER: Elvis's greatest desire

was to be a serious dramatic actor,

and this was denied him, because his management felt that they

wouldn't make as much money if they

put him in a dramatic role.

They wanted him to be in the formula.

So this depressed him a great deal.

NARRATOR: Frustrated by the unsatisfying movie roles

and overwhelmed by the crushing demands of his fans,

Elvis retreated into a shadow world

behind the gates of his Memphis mansion Graceland.

CHUCK HARTER: Elvis sort of put himself into a cocoon.

He surrounded himself with paid friends for the most

part called the Memphis Mafia.

And Graceland more or less became a tomb for him or a cave

to go hide from life.

The windows were sealed.

The outside did not enter in.

So his day to day touch with reality

had really been removed.

DAVID STANLEY: The hardest thing for Elvis was being Elvis.

People say what do you think the most difficult part

of Elvis Presley's life was?

Being Elvis Presley.

Looking out a window seeing 10,000 people who think you

can walk on water.

Walking out on a stage and seeing 22,000 flashbulbs going

off thinking you are a king.

NARRATOR: A combination of high times on tour and isolation

at home extracted an unforeseen tole.

Elvis's affairs, absences, and drug use

led to the end of his celebrated six year marriage to Priscilla.

The divorce punctured the protective bubble

around Elvis's carefully maintained image.

CHUCK HARTER: When she did leave him,

it wasn't so much that his heart was broken that the love

of his life is gone.

It was more, because he was Elvis,

and Elvis always got his way.

This time he didn't.

DAVID STANLEY: He would get himself in a rage over that.

He would get himself so worked up over it that he'd begin

to take the medications to deal with the depression

of the rage.

And then suddenly some shows are starting to be canceled.

NARRATOR: By the mid-1970s, insiders

say that Elvis's dependency on drugs

was so complete that he required around the clock

care and supervision.

It was provided by David Stanley and a group

of men known as the Lifers.

They catered to the kings every need.

DAVID STANLEY: We were the ones who

were with Elvis all the time.

Elvis needs something to eat Elvis needs to be

woken up at a certain time.

Elvis needs his medication.

NARRATOR: A dangerous and destructive routine

of medication is administered on a steady schedule

to Elvis at his insistence.

He received the drugs in three separate doses

that were called attacks.

Each attack contained numerous medications

in pill or syringe form.

Among them Valium, Nembutal, Demerol, Quaalude, and Seconal.

The first attack was usually delivered

between 2:00 and 3:00 AM.

DAVID STANLEY: After he'd take his attack--

attack one, he would have a couple

of cheeseburgers, potatoes.

Attack one effect would get him groggy and sleepy.

We would have to watch Elvis, because sometimes he'd

be eating and just fall asleep with his food in his mouth,

oftentimes choking on his own-- on his own food.

NARRATOR: After sleeping for a few hours,

Elvis would awaken for attack two.

DAVID STANLEY: That would last for several hours,

and now you're in the morning hours.

You're looking at 10 or 11.

Then it'd be attack three, which was the same contents

of attack one and two.

I mean, and so you're talking about the time you got done,

let's just call it 11 sleeping pills per attack.

That's 33.

Let's call it three shots of Demerol per.

That's nine shots, and some people would say, well,

golly, that's six months worth.

That was a nightly dose.

RED WEST: I talked to him about drugs,

and I said you don't need this stuff.

He said, nah ah, you're wrong.

I do need it.

I looked at him.

I said, your serious?

You really need this stuff.

He said, that's right.

I need it.

And that's when I threw my hand up and said,

I've done all I can do.

And I was gone shortly thereafter.

NARRATOR: David Stanley says he also tried to intervene

to save Elvis from himself.

But the King didn't welcome these intrusions of reality.

No, you don't got to have you shots.

You don't tell me anything.

I'm telling you right now you work for me,

and I've got to have my shot.

You pay me to take care of you, and I can't do it tonight.

Who do you think you are, man? I'm telling you right now.

I want my shot. - No.

No, you can't.

Right now.

DAVID STANLEY: Now I knew Elvis wouldn't have shot me,

but I knew right then we have got a serious, serious drug

problem here.

NARRATOR: Elvis depression deepened in the weeks

prior to his death.

Despite the millions he'd made, he was short of money.

His manager had booked another tour, which Elvis was dreading.

He was visibly overweight, in poor health,

and then a final humiliation rock

and roll's greatest sex symbol was now reportedly impotent.

Perhaps, Elvis was most despondent about a book

some former employees, including Red West were about to publish.

The book chronicled their years in the King's inner circle.

Their revelations threatened to expose

the secret Elvis, the one his adoring fans knew

nothing about.

CHUCK HARTER: This would be the first time that the fans saw

him overweight, not looking good,

with the knowledge of what the book contained.

And it was, oh my god, they'll know.

And he knew the whistle had been blown on his clean image,

and he was terrified.

DAVID STANLEY: And you could just look at him

and see the depression.

You could see the, god, I don't know

if it's worth going on mentality,

kind of, dreading the tour one day.

I don't want to go on a tour.

They were going to think this.

They were going to think that.

He was just really confused.

David, come over here and pray with me.

Come over here and kneel down.

DAVID STANLEY: In the last days, he was really searching.

He was digging into it.

He was looking for the answer.

He was looking for a way out.

The last time I saw Elvis, he said goodbye to me.

He was crying.

I love you.

He hugged me.

I'll never ever see you again.

The next time you see me will be in a higher

place in a different plane.

NARRATOR: The exact sequence of events is still a mystery,

but this much is known about Elvis's last day,

it was suspiciously different in several ways.

He ignored his usual late night feast.

He was given his three attack envelopes, nearly three dozen

pills and nine syringes full of Demerol at their usual times,

but he left them untouched.

Elvis's girlfriend Ginger Alden was the last person

to see him alive.

According to reports, around 9:30 AM, Elvis got out of bed

and went to the bathroom to read.

That's where Elvis's body was found a few hours later.

Paramedics were already there by the time David Stanley arrived.

DAVID STANLEY: I looked and saw Elvis in the fetal position

and knew he was gone.

First thing I said is you son of a bitch.

I knew right there and then at that time that Elvis said,

I am out of here.

David says he found all three attack

envelopes and several Demerol syringes nearly empty.

He believes Elvis took all three attacks simultaneously.

The purpose, to end his life.

The official autopsy found that Elvis

died of an irregular heartbeat due to

severe cardiovascular disease.

DR. KEVIN MERIGIAN: I don't think there's any evidence

that there was a tremendous amount of drug

abuse or anything, misuse.

NARRATOR: Dr. Kevin Merigian is a well-known

clinical pharmacologist.

He has studied the official coroner's

toxicology report that was released to the public.

DR. KEVIN MERIGIAN: I know there's been a lot of theories,

and there's been a lot of conjecture.

There's always a debate that, kind of,

adds to the mystique of Elvis.

But he didn't die of an overdose.

He died of some event probably cardiac in origin.

DAVID STANLEY: Good Lord.

That'd kill an animal, kill a cow, that much medication.

So when I talk to you about this,

I am not looking for reasons to back up what I believe.

I am telling you what I know, and the fact

is that much medication will kill you.

And Elvis knew that, especially because he

knew the physicians desk reference, because he

was educated on drugs.

He knew that that would take him out.

RED WEST: Now, only Elvis can tell you what he

was thinking that last night.

David Stanley can't tell you what he was thinking.

I can't tell you what he was thinking.

Doctors can look at all the charts

that they want to look at, but it's not going to tell

you what Elvis was thinking.

I know him like a book.

I know he was religious, and I know what he would do

and what he wouldn't do.

And he would not kill himself purposely.

NARRATOR: Did Elvis Presley take his own life?

The controversy may one day be settled.

Elvis's father, Vernon, reportedly

commissioned a private autopsy after the official report

was completed.

Exactly what those doctors found is still unknown.

At Vernon's request, the results will remain

sealed until the year 2027.

The Florida Everglades, hot, humid, mosquito infested

swamp land, an exotic setting for some unusual creatures

and some unusual people too.

For eight months, David Shealy has sat all alone in the middle

of a swamp looking for a legendary creature

said to roam the Everglades, Florida's answer to Bigfoot.

David's quest began in 1973.

He was just 10 when he and his older brother, Jack,

trekked through the swamps near Ochopee, 75 miles west

of Miami.

It was a muggy day he would never forget.

Look, that's where I caught that snake before.

That thing was huge.

DAVID SHEALY: My brother noticed something in the distance.

And he said to me-- he said what's that?

What is that over there?

What is it man?

Let me see.

Let me see.

All right.

All right.

DAVID SHEALY: And I couldn't see it,

because the grass was too high.

So he had to pick me up where I could get a better look.

And when I looked out across the prairie,

I could see a huge figure probably eight feet tall,

maybe 300 pounds.

It was walking on two legs like a man would walk.

Oh, man.

That's like a giant skunk ape.

DAVID SHEALY: I knew it had to be the skunk ape.

NARRATOR: Skunk ape, just the sound of it brings a smile.

The idea of a creature larger than a gorilla

with an odor like a skunk might seem far fetched.

But since that time 25 years ago,

David Shealy has spent his free time searching

for this elusive creature.

Is a skunk ape the product of a fertile imagination

nourished by the hot steamy nights of the Everglades,

or is it real?

Folks, you sure picked a beautiful day for your trip

through the Everglades.

NARRATOR: July 19th 1997, started

out as an ordinary day for Everglades

tour guide John Vickers.

JOHN VICKERS: We're driving a bus down to Turner River Road,

and I'm pointing out wildlife.

There if you look over to your right,

you'll see a couple of the alligators

taking their afternoon nap.

JOHN VICKERS: And all of a sudden about 200 yards

in front of our bus, a creature hairy, standing upright on

its hind legs crossed the road.

At this point, one of the passengers

taps me on the shoulder.

What was that?

Well, I'm not sure.

It's nothing to worry about.

I think it's probably the old man that

lives out in the Everglades.

JOHN VICKERS: I don't think he bought that.

NARRATOR: A total of five people on the bus

claim they saw what John saw.

JOHN VICKERS: I don't know whether it was a--

the real skunk ape or whether it was a hoax,

but it's something real.

NARRATOR: John and his group are not the only ones to see

the odd creature that week.

Two days later, local real estate agent Jan

Brock was on her way to work.

JAN BROCK: I was driving probably about 7:30, 7:45

in the morning, and I noticed something getting

ready to cross the road.

My first thought was that it had to be a bear.

And this particular time, I looked and I was

like something was not right.

The animal just, kind of, scurried off across the road,

and that's when I realized it couldn't have been a bear.

I wasn't sure what I saw and didn't really want people

to think I was a little nuts, so I didn't say anything about it.

NARRATOR: Fire chief Vince Doerr left

for work slightly later Jan.

He and Jan are neighbors.

VINCE DOERR: I seen something go across the road.

It wasn't dressed in regular shirt and pants like a man.

It was more brown or looked more like a bear color.

But I knew it wasn't a bear, because it was walking upright.

So I speeded up, got up into that area.

I got out.

I yelled out. - Hey.

VINCE DOERR: And it stopped and turned.

And at that time, I snapped one photograph.

NARRATOR: This was the actual photograph of the creature

taken by Vince Doerr.

JAN BROCK: I saw the picture that Vince had taken,

and that was the same thing I saw.

VINCE DOERR: Jan seen it, so that made me feel

like I wasn't seeing things.

JAN BROCK: When you hear people talking about what

they saw and then you actually see it yourself,

obviously, you're going to believe that there's

something out there.

NARRATOR: A year has gone by.

It is now September of 1998.

David Shealy keeps up his long eight month

vigil hoping to obtain his own proof

of the skunk apes existence.

DAVID SHEALY: I was sitting in my tree stand and I dozed off.

And I heard something splashing in the water,

and it sounded like a person walking towards me.

When I looked up there it was coming right at me

at about 100 yards away.

I started taking pictures right away.

I took 27 photographs over a period

of about three or four minutes as it crossed the marsh.

I couldn't believe what I saw.

It was almost ghostly.

And it wasn't until the next day when I took the camera

to the developer that I realized that I had actually

captured a skunk ape on film.

NARRATOR: With his photographs, David knew he needed

some sort of corroboration.

He called upon Dade County archaeologist Bob Carr

to study his pictures.

BOB CARR: These photographs were very compelling.

The statue, the size, the motion of this creature

did not appear to be a human being.

And the suggestion of the gate is very primate-like.

I think there are enough details to make one realize

that this would have to be a very, very clever hoax

to be perpetrated.

NARRATOR: Now Bob Carr felt he should

get some more verification.

He brought in Everglades tracker TL Riggs.

T.L. RIGGS: On two occasions, I found

footprints in the soft earth.

All the tracks that I saw at that particular time

only the ball of the foot and the toe showed.

There were none that showed that a heel had been left down.

NARRATOR: Riggs made plaster castings of the footprints.

T.L. RIGGS: Looking at just the front end of the foot, which

is all we can do, I would say that it would have

to weigh at least 300 pounds.

NARRATOR: TL Riggs came up with an idea

for gathering more evidence.

He wanted to collect hair samples,

so he snapped a number of branches

at a height of four to five feet, far too high a reach

for most animals, that way he could snag

some hair should a skunk ape come in contact

with the jagged edges.

T.L. RIGGS: By setting a great number of those along trails,

I've been able to harvest several legitimate

looking hairs that are unlike anything I've ever seen.

NARRATOR: Was the hair collected by TL Riggs

from some unknown creature or simply

from a man in an ape suit?

Unsolved Mysteries had two samples to a lab

at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas.

BOB CARR: In my mind, the evidence

we've looked at from Ochopee indicates there's definitely

a phenomenon that's real.

What we don't know is what that phenomenon is.

We are closer to the answer probably than we've ever been,

but the answer will only come when the hair is analyzed

and DNA is extracted.

And then we will know the molecular and genetic footprint

and who and what this creature might be.

NARRATOR: We are still waiting for the results of the DNA

tests, however electron microscopy has

ruled out synthetic fibers as might

be used in an ape costume.

So far many mammals have been eliminated as well, including

bears, gorillas, chimpanzees, skunks,

dogs and cats and humans.

We'll update the story when the DNA results become available.

[music playing]

NARRATOR: Coming up, one day a millionaire heiress

disappeared.

10 years later, police discovered her body

in a mysterious and a mysterious double life.

Who killed Camilla Lyman and why?

September 24 1997, Hopkinton, Rhode Island, dog breeder Greg

Siner was cleaning out the kennels on his new estate when

he made a shocking discovery.

GREG SINER: I was hosing down the kennel,

and I smelled a foul odor and thought

that maybe the septic system wasn't working properly.

I decided to look inside to see if it needed to be pumped.

And when I did there was a skull staring straight back up at me.

Once I saw the bottom jaw, I realized it was human

and just knew that this was Camilla.

NARRATOR: Millionaire heiress Camilla Lyman, the estate's

previous owner, 10 years earlier she had mysteriously vanished.

In October 1998, dental records confirmed

the skull was Camilla's.

Police determined she'd been murdered.

A missing persons case has suddenly become a homicide.

Ironically the clues to Camilla Lyman's murder

might not be found in the bizarre nature of her death,

but in the strange and mysterious nature of her life.

Camilla Lyman grew up rich.

Her parents were old money Boston aristocrats.

Camilla shared her father's passion for show dogs.

Arthur Lyman soon discovered that his youngest

daughter had quite a gift.

MARY MARGARET GOODALE: In the dog world,

she was very successful.

She was a good handler and she was a good breeder

and she showed her dogs extremely well.

She was very proficient.

NARRATOR: Camilla never dated, never married.

Her dogs were her life.

A solitary spinster, she lived with her parents

on their 100 acre estate.

Arthur Lyman died in 1968.

When Camilla's mother died five years later,

her world seemed to fall apart.

40, alone, her behavior became more and more bizarre.

MARY MARGARET GOODALE: Probably in middle to late 70s,

it began to be apparent that the Westward

Place was not being taken care of the way it should be.

Good babies.

My sweeties.

NARRATOR: Camilla became a recluse.

She spent more time with her dogs than she did with people.

Camilla's appearance began to change as well.

She bought animal steroids, then took them herself.

Her voice deepened.

She developed facial hair.

She began wearing men's clothing.

To the outside world, Camilla had been transformed

into a middle aged man.

MARY MARGARET GOODALE: And then my sister

in California called me up and said,

hey, Camilla's on the TV dressed as a man, what do you think?

And I said, well, I'd heard that she did sometimes do that.

NARRATOR: In this rare video shot in 1978,

Camilla was dressed as a woman.

By 1985, she'd legally changed her name Cam Lyman

and was dressing as a man.

MARY MARGARET GOODALE: It was shocking in a way

and very surprising.

But because of your respect for people's privacy,

unless Camilla wished to explain why she was doing this,

we didn't ask any questions about it.

We just accepted it the way it was.

GREG SINER: I remember people talking about Camilla,

and the changing of her clothing and her appearance.

But you have to remember you are dog shows.

You're judging dogs, not people.

I think Camilla felt very comfortable

amongst her dog friends.

NARRATOR: In the early 1980s now dressing as a man isolated

from her family, Cam became friends with fellow dog

lover George O'Neill.

CHARLES ALLEN: George O'Neill became

the sole confidant, adviser, accountant,

and representative of Camilla.

Cam, we don't have the money to do this right now.

CHARLES ALLEN: He took care of paying her bills.

He took care of arranging for her

to get to dog shows and many times getting her to the shows.

He was a friend who she socialized with and had

great confidence in his abilities to help

her conduct her affairs.

In the car.

Let's go in the car.

CHARLES ALLEN: As George O'Neill took

over more and more duties and chores for Camilla,

he became her sole confidant.

She associated with no one other than George O'Neill.

Camilla became more and more eccentric.

She would often carry a briefcase

with hundreds of thousands of dollars

and large amounts of jewelry in it.

She would go out to the store and have $10,000 in her pocket

to buy a quart of milk.

MARY MARGARET GOODALE: No, I don't know what to think.

I really don't know.

NARRATOR: December 1987, Camilla's friends

didn't receive their usual Christmas card.

Camilla hadn't been heard from for months.

Concerned, the family contacted the law firm

in charge of the Lyman trust.

They in turn hired Charles Allen.

CHARLES ALLEN: They were very concerned,

because checks that had been sent to Camilla had rather

than being endorsed with her signature

were being endorsed with an account number of a bank

account in Rhode Island.

NARRATOR: Allen claims that George

O'Neill had been depositing Camilla's trust fund checks.

He was surprised to discover O'Neil held

Camilla's power of attorney.

Even more surprising to Allen, George O'Neil

was Camilla's sole beneficiary and stood

to inherit her estate.

Yeah.

Mr. O'neil, my name is Charles Allen.

I'm here to inquire about Camilla Lyman.

I haven't seen her

CHARLES ALLEN: Mr. O'Neil did not express

any concern for her safety.

He felt that she had done this before

and that she had just gone off on a trip.

I understand all of that.

NARRATOR: Reportedly, O'Neil claimed

he'd last spoken with Camilla in July in 1987,

a full year earlier.

In the middle of an argument, she hung up on him.

CHARLES ALLEN: He told me that on the following day

he went to Camilla's house and found the telephone ripped out

of the wall and found no sign of Camilla

and found her dogs unattended, unfed, and found the kennel

somewhat in disarray.

Mr. O'Neill indicated that he felt

that Camilla may have gone off to Europe

to have a sex change operation.

NARRATOR: Camilla had been missing for over a year.

No police report had been filed.

Nobody in the family had been notified.

Yet, according to Charles Allen, George O'Neil continued

to deposit Camilla's checks.

CHARLES ALLEN: I found it very hard

to believe that a woman who didn't like going

to the dentist, who didn't like going to the doctor

would go off to Europe and have a sex change operation.

This woman didn't like leaving her home.

Here in the main kennel, we have room for 50 dogs.

NARRATOR: George O'Neil hired full time

caretakers for the kennels.

Greg Siner says O'Neil began showing Camilla's

champion Spaniel as his own.

Clean them out.

GREG SINER: Camilla was no longer around,

but the dog was still out there being campaigned.

And he was now campaigned under the ownership

of George and June O'Neil.

NARRATOR: Charles Allen claims that much of Camilla's

net worth from bank accounts to family heirlooms

had simply disappeared.

CHARLES ALLEN: We're talking about between $3

and $5 million dollars here.

Some of that was in antiques.

Some of it was in money.

Some of it was in stock.

And its whereabouts are unknown at this time.

NARRATOR: And then there was the question

of Camilla's beloved dogs.

MARY MARGARET GOODALE: When I first heard George O'Neil's

story, I absolutely never crossed my mind

that it was a true story.

Because she never ever would have left her dogs.

It was totally out of character.

Any chance that we could maybe go

over and get on the property, maybe take a look around.

She's not there.

I'm telling you she's not there.

CHARLES ALLEN: On a number of occasions,

I wanted to search the property.

And this search would have certainly

included the septic system, but George O'Neil

would not allow it.

NARRATOR: In December 1994, a probate hearing was held.

Camilla "Cam" Lyman was declared legally dead.

Three years later, her body was found in the septic tank.

MARY MARGARET GOODALE: The fact that we could bury Camilla

and physically put an end to her life in a peaceful way

was a wonderful sense of closure for us.

On the other hand, there's still more that we need to pursue.

We need to bring the person who committed

this unbelievable crime to justice.

A strange life, a mysterious death,

a family searching for answers.

[music playing]

NARRATOR: Next, he's no ordinary investigator,

but this is no ordinary case.

Join us for his spine tingling tour of a real haunted house.

It seemed like a nice house on a nice street

in a nice neighborhood.

Nothing extraordinary about it at all,

or so thought Ed and Mary Woods of Vancouver, Washington.

But that was before the peculiar noises and the eerie encounters

with things that go bump in the night.

At first it was almost imperceptible, a quiet rattle,

a slight chill, the barest whisper of a presence,

until some seven months after Ed and Mary moved in.

MARY WOODS: I've heard the sound of music box.

It was very faint.

I went into my husband's office and looked around.

There was no sign of anything in there, but I kept hearing it.

And it wasn't something I heard in my mind

like you would imagine it.

It was an actual sound in the house.

I thought somebody had opened up a music box,

and it was playing.

ED WOODS: The first time I had an experience where I noticed

something actually happening I was sitting in my office

with the door closed.

NARRATOR: Mary had warned Ed that there was something

very odd about the house.

But Ed just assumed his daughter was playing a prank.

ED WOODS: I thought I'd surprise her by opening the door,

and there was nobody there.

And I checked and everyone in the house was asleep.

MARY WOODS: I called University of Washington,

because they have a seismograph station down here

in Vancouver monitoring the fault

lines from Mount Saint Helens.

They told me at that time there were no fault

lines running through the area.

There was no underground aquifer.

There was no weakness that could account

for any type of movement in the house other

than normal settling that will happen with the house

as it gets older.

NARRATOR: But if mother nature wasn't responsible, then who

or what was stirring up all the trouble.

Mary was about to find out.

MARY WOODS: I actually saw the figure of a woman.

She was about my height wearing a scarf around her head

and like a long flannel nightgown.

I was not scared of her.

I did not get the impression that she was mean.

I was startled.

I mean, you have something come out of the hall

and you're going, OK.

But, no, I was not frightened of her.

I was startled by her.

NARRATOR: After several encounters,

Mary decided to do a little research.

MARY WOODS: I have been able to identify her

through going through records.

She was a former resident who had died in the home

of a prolonged illness.

She had died of cancer.

The latter part of the--

her life towards the end, because of the heavy radiation

and chemotherapy, she wore scarves because she

had lost all her hair.

And she practically lived in flannel nightgowns.

I get the feeling of protectiveness,

like, she's watching over the kids.

Going in, checking on the kids, making sure they're OK.

I found out later that her children were

in the same bedrooms that my children are in,

and it could be she's just looking for hers.

NARRATOR: It didn't take long for word to get around,

the house 37th Street was haunted.

Even the local newspaper wrote it up.

MARY WOODS: About a week after the article came out,

I received a phone call from the mother of one

of my daughter's friends.

She had known the woman who lived in the house prior to us.

She had helped take care of her before she died.

She asked me if I'd ever see any pictures of her.

I said, no, I've never seen any pictures.

She said the two of you could pass as twins.

She said that might be one of the reasons

that she's attached herself to you

is because you're about the same age

as she was when she passed away, and the two of you

look quite a bit alike.

NARRATOR: But the lady in white was just the beginning.

ED WOODS: The first thing I actually saw was a man

standing in the living room.

Looked like an old riverboat gambler with a little ribbon

tie and a mustache.

You look at him twice, because you're not too sure

if he's going to do something.

He never moves though.

He's always perfectly still just looking down the hall,

but he seems just very inimical like you wouldn't

want to cross this guy.

NARRATOR: Yet another apparition seen by both Ed and Larry

is far less sinister.

They call her pinky.

ED WOODS: Pinky is a little girl 8 to 10 years old.

And once in awhile, you hear her giggle.

MARY WOODS: First time, I thought

it was our youngest daughter.

We'd been sitting in the living room watching movies,

and I thought it was my youngest daughter

giggling at the movies.

So I looked down and realized she

had fallen asleep in front of the TV

and was sound asleep, so there was no way.

NARRATOR: For Ed and Mary, the extraordinary

was becoming commonplace.

Consider the spirit in the shower,

never seen but definitely felt.

ED WOODS: Ourselves and many people

that have been guests of ours who've

taken baths or showers have found themselves accompanied

in the shower by a friendly hug and general body rub that seems

to be quite female in nature.

Doesn't seem to matter if the person taking a shower

is male or female.

Just somebody's who's been gone a long time I think

and missed some of the things that the world had to provide.

NARRATOR: When Ed's son came to visit,

he got the welcome of a lifetime.

MARY WOODS: He went, took a shower, came out,

and the first thing out of his mouth as he looked at his dad

and said, OK, what's with the shower?

Honestly, I thought they were teasing me.

I thought they were just giving me a line about the ghosts.

About a week later, I went in and took a shower

and got a very friendly hug.

And I came out and I looked at my husband and I says,

I think you're ghost likes either sex.

NARRATOR: According to Ed and Mary,

the ghostly activities in the house

often go beyond shadowy specters and gentle caresses.

We've been here for like four or five years.

- Ed, hang on a second. - I mean it's ridiculous.

What?

ED WOODS: You'll hear a crash in the bathroom.

And when you walk back in, everything

will be laying down on the counters or on the floor.

Nothing ever seems to be broken.

MARY WOODS: You'll see things being moved around, rattled,

pictures being moved almost every day for about three

or four months, and then it'll die

down for a couple of months.

I've come to accept it just under the fact

that there are things in this world we can't explain.

NARRATOR: As far as the Woods' were concerned,

there was little doubt.

The house was haunted.

They called in an expert in all things paranormal,

a professional ghost buster if you will,

to conduct a thorough investigation.

Perhaps, he could make some sense out

of the house on 37th Street.

All right, let's go ahead and move down the hallway here.

Now, I want to tell me-- both of you

tell me just pretty much where the lady

in white, where things happen.

NARRATOR: Lloyd Auerbach, a lecturer and writer

has been investigating paranormal phenomena

for nearly two decades.

Our cameras were on hand when he paid

his first visit to the house.

Auerbach came armed with an open mind

and an instrument called a magnetometer.

LOYD AUERBACH: It was read next to nothing, literally.

The magnetometer that I use is sold

for detecting whether or not you have electromagnetic pollution.

It's not a ghost detector by any way, shape, or form.

It's a good indicator that there's a physical connection

in the environment to their experience

that helps validate that they're not completely

making it up in their minds.

It helps me understand that they're not completely

making it up in their minds also,

that there is some correlation.

NARRATOR: Auerbach painstakingly made his way through the house.

LOYD AUERBACH: OK, and now we got a reading again.

NARRATOR: In several areas, the magnetometer

spiked without explanation, most notably in the back bathroom.

LOYD AUERBACH: It's fairly high.

NARRATOR: The living room.

LOYD AUERBACH: I'm getting some things in the corner.

NARRATOR: And the hallway.

LOYD AUERBACH: I'm getting actually a high reading again,

a high energy reading, which just,

kind of, suddenly spiked up.

This is a very unusual pattern that we're seeing here

that seems to relate to the phenomena

or at least to a sensation of it,

but doesn't seem to relate to anything else.

So I can pretty much rule out the physical environment

for causing this.

You don't have like a generator under the house

somewhere do you.

MARY WOODS: No.

LOYD AUERBACH: Over the years, I've done investigations.

I have started feeling things myself.

I wouldn't call myself by any means a psychic,

but I would say that I'm becoming

more aware of my sensitivities.

And I tend to get a sinus pressure that often makes

me feel like I need more oxygen, which makes me yawn

or start feeling tired.

And this was happening to me on a cyclical basis

while I've been here, and it was connecting directly

to the magnetometer reading.

You're feeling like somebody's around right now.

Any sense of.

MARY WOODS: Once in a while.

For myself, there was an odd correspondence

I guess with the spike in the meters,

and I'd get a real cold feeling or a chill down the back

of my neck or the hair on my arms

would raise up like goosebumps.

It didn't happen all the time.

But on several of the occasions, I felt like there

was somebody in the room.

I don't know if I'm just picking up

on things that have been going on,

or if there actually was somebody there.

Now, this one I've seen several times,

but he's been at the end of the hallway.

NARRATOR: Was somebody or something there?

Perhaps, a few agitated spirits trying

to bridge the gulf between the dead and the living.

Lloyd Auerbach believes it is possible,

but by no means definite.

Ed and Mary Woods, however, have moved beyond possibility

to certainty.

The stories we have examined are still shrouded in mystery,

still needing that one final clue that will

unlock the truth.

Perhaps someone watching can shed light

on these perplexing cases.

Perhaps, that someone is you.

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