Original subtitles

[knock at door]

[water running]

[screams]

What I saw that night seemed so real.

It was terrifying.

- Daddy! - I was ready to check myself

into a mental hospital right at that moment.

- Dad! - [screams]

(William voice-over) Someone was in our house.

I called 911 right away.

Dad!

(Kristin voice-over) Something freaked me out down there.

[gasps] Oh!

I was losing my mind.

(woman) You need to move on.

You don't belong.

(Kristin voice-over) When I brought it into my apartment...

Help me!

Something evil came with it.

[faint whispers]

(William voice-over) We were driving back from two weeks in Cape Cod.

It was past midnight on a Sunday,

- but for some reason... - Hey, honey, wake up.

(William voice-over) All the houses in the neighborhood

had their lights on.

What time is it?

Was there a, uh...

a thing this weekend?

A thing?

It stuck out as strange

because I'd never seen the neighborhood look like that.

Fourth of July was last week.

Okay, so why are all the lights on?

[soft pop on radio]

All right, buddy, let's hit it, we're home.

(Laurie voice-over) The whole thing with the lights was really weird

and confusing.

Even the kids noticed it.

I figured I'd wait until morning and talk to our neighbors,

find out what was going on.

Elliot get to sleep okay?

- Yeah, why? - I don't know.

Sarah just seemed bothered by something.

Well, it's late.

She just needs a good night's sleep.

[paper rustles]

What?

I think I know why the lights were on.

Why?

(woman on TV) Oswego is now in a virtual lockdown.

Residents, afraid for their lives,

have been shuttering in for sleepless nights as the hunt

for escaped murderer, Teddy Harmon,

goes into its fifth night.

Harmon was given three consecutive life sentences

nearly a decade ago after being found guilty

of four gruesome murders across the Northeast.

At each location, he left his calling card,

a dreamcatcher assembled from the body parts

of his latest victims,

earning himself the gruesome nickname,

Dreamcatcher.

Harmon's last suspected sighting

was an attempted break-in at this home on South Elm.

That's not even a mile from here.

Yeah, I know.

(woman on TV) Now, this town of just 12,000 people

is gripped with fear wondering

how did the devil find his way to their little town,

and just how long until the authorities can catch him.

(William voice-over) After we saw the news, I went around checking the house

since we'd been gone for two weeks.

Our basement had a separate entrance

around the back of the house.

Nothing looked out of place down there.

This was back before you could get constant news updates

on your phone.

All we could do was lock down and wait it out.

She's asleep, finally.

It must have been a heck of a nightmare.

Maybe you should stay home tomorrow.

Honey, I just took two weeks off.

We'll be here alone.

It's just during the day.

You'll be fine.

They'll catch him. Don't worry.

Why would he want to stay in this town anyway?

He's probably a hundred miles away by now.

[door creaks open]

Sarah?

You still having trouble sleeping, hon?

[floor creaks]

Sarah?

Hey.

[screams]

[heavy breathing]

[footsteps]

Everything's still locked up.

He was standing right there!

Shh! You'll wake the kids.

There's nothing there.

Just a really bad nightmare.

It's understandable, watching the news this late at night,

you know?

Let's go to bed, honey.

(Laurie voice-over) What I saw that night seemed so real,

but I figured William had to be right.

I probably just dreamt about what I saw

on the news before bed.

(woman on TV) An horrific development in the Teddy Harmon saga.

Official details have not been released,

but Police Chief Michael Chapman will be holding

a press conference.

Can we go play outside?

Um...not today.

Why?

I just--I don't feel well.

I think I'm gonna stay inside.

We're not babies, Mom.

We can go outside ourselves.

Maybe later.

Let's go make some cookies.

What?

I know you're lying.

We'd thrown away all the newspapers

and kept the kids away from the TV since we'd gotten home,

but somehow, my daughter sensed something was going on.

(woman on TV) A tragic development in the Teddy Harmon saga.

- William. - Police have responded

to this home on South Sunnydale.

From what I am gathering, a woman was found dead,

and the police are investigating it as a murder.

I'll call Tom tomorrow.

I'm sure he won't mind if I work from home.

Thank you.

Yeah.

What?

William, what is it?

[ominous music]

♪ ♪

[footsteps] - [gasps]

[thudding footsteps]

♪ ♪

(William voice-over) I knew I'd locked that basement door

when I came home from work...

Maybe we should call the police.

(William voice-over) Just like I had every night for years.

William.

Maybe the kids opened it.

[faint clatter]

(William voice-over) Nobody knew the combination to that lock except for me...

And I had no idea how it had gotten open.

Hey.

When we locked down, I missed this one.

You think something came in?

It's just the wind, honey.

What did you see up there?

Nothing.

We're all on edge, okay?

Easy to see something that isn't there.

Let's go.

(William voice-over) I should have known better

than to tell Laurie about that lock.

I knew it would scare her, and I definitely

couldn't tell her about what I'd seen upstairs,

mostly because I didn't know myself.

[door opens]

[footsteps approaching]

Dad...

is it time to get up already?

Aah, aah! Daddy! Dad!

) Harmon was found guilty

of four gruesome murders across the Northeast.

At each location, he left his calling card,

earning himself the gruesome nickname, Dreamcatcher.

[door creaks open]

Sarah?

Sarah?

[footstep creaks]

Sarah?

Hey.

Aah! Aah!

(William) I'll call Tom tomorrow.

I'm sure he won't mind if I work from home.

Thank you.

Yeah.

[footsteps approaching]

Dad...

is it time to get up already?

Aah, aah! Daddy! Dad!

There was someone standing there with this...

this thing in his hand with blood and teeth.

It was him.

The Dreamcatcher.

You didn't even see it.

I haven't told them yet.

They don't know.

I thought maybe my daughter had overheard the news on TV...

that my son had had a bad dream.

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

[keypad tones]

- I'm scared. - Shh!

I need you to be really quiet.

Stay right here.

[rapid disconnect beeping]

[footsteps approaching]

[phone continues beeping]

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

Aah!

[rapid beeping continues]

[bang on door]

[all gasp]

[door handle jiggles]

[disconnected phone line tone]

(electronic voice) We're sorry.

You must first dial a 1 when calling this number.

Hang up, and try your call again.

[ominous chords]

♪ ♪

We'd all heard the same noises, the same footsteps.

Someone was in our house, no question.

[keypad tones]

[suspenseful music]

♪ ♪

[suspenseful music]

♪ ♪

[disconnect tone]

(electronic voice) We're sorry.

[footsteps approaching]

It is not necessary to dial a 1

when calling this number.

Please hang up.

[footsteps approaching]

[Laurie screams]

[dramatic music]

What? Did you see him?

I was positive I'd heard those same footsteps

from the first night right outside our bedroom door,

but there was no one in the hallway.

I waited outside with the kids

while William ran across the street

and used our neighbor's phone to dial 911.

(man) You said there was a dreamcatcher.

Yeah, it was right there.

It was hanging right there.

Where is it?

I don't know, man.

I don't know what's going on.

Any other entry points to the house?

The basement.

The cops checked the basement,

and the lock I had put on just a few hours before,

had been opened again.

Well, it sure as hell looks like someone broke in,

but your house is empty now.

We've checked everywhere.

- But he could come back. - I understand your concerns.

We'll be patrolling the area all night.

[indistinct whispering]

Well, whomever it might have been, it wasn't Teddy Harmon.

He's dead.

(woman on TV) Harmon's last suspected sighting

was an attempted break-in at this home on South Elm.

That's not even a mile from here.

Yeah, I know.

[door creaks open]

[tense music]

Sarah?

♪ ♪

Sarah? Sarah?

Hey...

Aah! Aah!

There was someone standing there with this thing

in his hand with blood and teeth.

It was him.

The Dreamcatcher.

[dramatic chords]

Well, it sure as hell looks like someone broke in,

but your house is empty now.

We've checked everywhere.

- But he could come back. - I understand your concerns.

We'll be patrolling the area all night.

[indistinct whispering]

Well, whomever it might have been,

it wasn't Teddy Harmon. He's dead.

A shootout across town, nearly three hours ago.

Homeowners heard him moving around, so they called it in.

News media should be on it about now.

(Laurie voice-over) We couldn't understand it.

If he'd been dead for three hours,

then how did we just see him in our house?

(William voice-over) That night was rough.

The kids came into our room,

and somehow, we all managed to fall asleep.

[faint footsteps]

[suspenseful music]

♪ ♪

This time I didn't bother searching the basement myself.

I called 911 right away.

Can you tell me what happened?

Yeah, the door was wide open. The lock was busted and--

Do you have any problems with your neighbors?

- No. - No.

I mean, we were out of town last week.

(man) Guys, you need to see this.

(William voice-over) The police found a lock of blond hair.

The woman he'd murdered a few nights before was blond.

(Laurie voice-over) The cops suspected that he killed her in our house

and then moved her body.

So maybe it wasn't a nightmare after all.

Maybe he was still in our house that first night.

But who or what were we seeing after Teddy Harmon was dead?

I was at a total loss,

so that night I did something I never thought I'd do.

I called a medium to come to our house.

(woman) There is energy here in your home.

His energy is trapped here.

Even after his death, he...

he was here.

He was hiding.

And a piece of him is still lingering.

[footsteps]

Yeah.

But there is also someone else.

A woman.

Someone he killed, she's here too.

She feels vindicated.

She, she...

she tried to warn you.

She did warn you.

She showed you something of his.

The dreamcatcher.

(Laurie voice-over) It was terrifying to admit, but it all made sense.

Maybe what we were seeing all along was her warning us.

What should we do?

We need to cleanse the house.

- How do we do that? - With sage.

(William voice-over) I'd never believed in that kind of stuff,

but how else would she know all of this if we hadn't told her?

I just wanted whoever was terrorizing our family

out of our house.

(Laurie voice-over) I wasn't sure if this cleansing would work,

but at that point, I was willing to try anything.

(woman) You need to move on from this place.

You don't belong here.

This is William's house

and Laurie's house.

You will leave it, and you will take the evil

and the darkness you brought to it with you.

(William voice-over) After the medium cleansed our house,

we never saw Teddy Harmon again.

It took a long time, but eventually,

the kids were able to sleep in their own rooms again,

Laurie wasn't afraid to be alone in the house anymore,

and our neighborhood and our lives

slowly moved back to the way things were before Teddy Harmon.

Back to normal.

I was a couple months into my new job

at the Post Office in downtown Chicago

in this big, old, historic building.

I've always been fascinated by history, collected antiques,

read history books.

You're here to sort, not snoop.

(Kristin voice-over) I just like hearing people's stories.

I'm not opening anything, just curious.

That probably explains why I was always so tempted to snoop

through people's letters.

Don't you ever wonder why these people

are writing to each other?

Well, it's not my business.

I mean, these could be love letters, or criminals--

Run and grab a roll of paper towels from the supply closet.

Hurry!

(Kristin voice-over) Tom had been working there forever.

He had a pretty low tolerance for what he called

my childlike curiosity.

[hinges squeak]

[suspenseful music]

♪ ♪

- You get lost? - [gasps]

Look, I think it's an old crawlspace or something.

Well, that's Chicago for you-- basements built over basements.

Well, there's something in there, like a bottle, I think.

Wow, garbage inside a crawlspace.

It's not garbage.

It's got to be pretty old, right?

Grab that mop, too, would you, please?

I knew I couldn't go digging around

while I was on the clock without pissing off Tom...

but after the Post Office closed,

I decided to take a look.

[gasps]

Don't you ever wonder why these people

are writing to each other?

Well, it's not my business.

I mean, these could be love letters or...

criminals.

Run and grab a roll of paper towels from the supply closet.

Hurry!

- You get lost? - [gasps]

[suspenseful music]

♪ ♪

(Kristin voice-over) It was an old antique bottle.

It must have been there for decades,

so no one was gonna miss it.

[gasps]

Something freaked me out down there,

but I was sure it had to be

a trick with the light or something.

Still, I grabbed that bottle and got the hell out of there.

My friends and family always joked

that I should have been born in another time

because I loved collecting old things.

[ominous music]

♪ ♪

[glass shatters, loud thud]

[woman screams] [pounding]

[distant scream]

[pounding]

It sounded like it was coming from my neighbor's apartment.

Miss Calloway?

I thought she might be in trouble or something.

Why are you knocking at my door

in the middle of the night?

Well, I heard shouting

and pounding on the wall from your unit.

Well, I'm the only one who lives here,

and I was asleep until you woke me up.

I figured maybe the noise had come from outside the building,

so I went back to bed.

[muffled yell, pounding]

But then I heard the same sound again right away,

except this time it was coming from my apartment.

[muffled voice]

My bathroom.

[jiggling knob]

[suspenseful music]

♪ ♪

Aah!

[hinges squeaking]

It had been a long day and a restless night,

and I was exhausted and seeing things, I guess.

I mean, how else could I explain

seeing myself being dragged across my own bathroom floor?

[radio chatter]

[soothing music]

I just laid in bed, awake, until the sun came up.

The next morning,

I tried to just forget about it...

And started getting ready for work.

[coughing]

[gas hissing]

- You get lost? - [gasps]

Look, I think it's an old crawlspace or something.

Well, that's Chicago for you-- basements built over basements.

[gasps]

[woman wheezing, gasping]

Aah!

[gas hissing] - [coughing, choking]

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

[cell phone rings]

When I woke up, there was no blood anywhere,

and I couldn't smell the gas anymore.

[cell phone ringing]

[tense music]

♪ ♪

I was over an hour late to work.

Tom was calling to let me know our boss was pissed.

I know. I know.

I-I slipped in the shower, I think.

I'll be there as fast as I can.

(Tom) So, you...fell?

I must have. The next thing I knew

the phone was ringing, and I woke up on the floor.

Did you hit your head?

Because you look fine, except maybe tired.

Well, I guess I'm okay.

[ominous chords]

♪ ♪

Let me in.

Please, let me in!

[footsteps]

Help me, help me, help me!

You've lived here how long, four years now?

Never a problem before.

I was being chased.

There was a man...

w-with a-- with a saw.

Come on, dear, come on. Let's get you home.

Come on.

(Kristin voice-over) I was ready to check myself

into a mental hospital right at that moment,

and if it weren't for my neighbor,

I think I would have.

You know about my oldest boy?

Well, he's doing better now.

His wife keeps him in line, I think.

But he had a lot of problems, a lot of troubles,

and really, there's nothing to be ashamed of.

What do you mean, troubles?

Drugs.

I'm not taking any drugs.

That's two nights in a row

you woke me up pounding on my door.

Well, I swear I'm not. I barely even drink.

My only addictions are flea markets and online shopping.

- I like tchotchkes. - [chuckles]

Well, you do have plenty of those.

That's my newest one,

- the little green vase. - Oh.

I found it in the Post office basement.

The things people leave behind...

[chuckles]

Listen, I know it's none of my business,

except I'm older,

and if you keep pounding on my door

in the middle of the night like that,

I'm gonna get a heart attack.

And if you keep seeing things,

and you're not really on drugs,

then you should probably get an MRI.

I had decent health insurance,

so the next morning I scheduled an appointment

for later in the week...

and then I went to work.

You okay?

I'm just tired. I didn't sleep too well.

Loud neighbors.

Hm.

[TV in background]

- You get lost? - [gasps]

Look, I think it's an old crawlspace or something.

Well, that's Chicago for you-- basements built over basements.

It was the same man

I saw the night before on the stairs,

but then, he was gone.

That's when I remembered the bottle.

This had all started when I brought it home.

I wasn't a big believer in hauntings,

at least not then.

[echoing footsteps]

But I wasn't taking any chances.

I'd put it back where I found it the next morning.

[electricity buzzing]

[buzzing]

[wet stabbing sounds]

Aah! Aah!

[breathing hard, whimpering]

[tense music]

I didn't know how or why,

but I knew the bottle was the reason

I was seeing all those things.

It had to be.

The MRI showed nothing abnormal,

and all I know is I was just fine until I brought it home.

[knocking on door]

- Wow. - Just--

give me a minute, please.

Hm.

You found it in the basement of the Post Office, you say?

Yeah. Well, like in the crawlspace.

I guess from a building that was there before.

You're at the downtown branch?

Hm.

Well, the only building that was there before

was the hotel.

What hotel?

I wonder if that's where Holmes

massacred all those bodies.

(Kristin voice-over) Mrs. Calloway told me a man names H.H. Holmes

murdered a bunch of people back in the late 1800s.

He would lock them in vaults,

poisoning them with gas,

and butcher them.

He was America's first serial killer.

(Kristin voice-over) It all matched up perfectly with what I had been seeing,

and it was all done right out of a hotel in downtown Chicago.

It was a torture castle.

That's what it was called.

[eerie music]

♪ ♪

I'll never know for sure,

but I think that bottle was somehow related

to whatever happened down there.

When I brought it into my apartment,

something evil came with it.

The only thing I do know for sure

is that ever since I put that bottle back,

I never saw him again.