Original subtitles

In this world, there is real evil.

In the darkest shadows and in the most ordinary places.

These are the true stories of the innocent and the unimaginable.

When Jan Foster comes face to face with her son's imaginary playmate,

the world turns upside down.

She seeks the power of ancient rituals.

Hoping to find the strength to save her son and cast out a demon

hell-bent on possessing him.

Between the world we see and the things we fear, there are doors.

When they are opened, nightmares become reality.

Western Kentucky can be a mystical place, with its dark caves and twisting

rivers.

Some believe that evil spirits have wandered this land for centuries,

lurking in the shadows, waiting

to take another soul.

Jan Foster knows every highway, street, and back road in western Kentucky.

As a courier for a national delivery service, she's probably been there.

Jan's husband Dale is a contractor for the U.S. Postal Service.

I need to have a word with you. Okay.

The nanny waits for Jan so she can speak with her in private. I want to judge,

you know that, but Cody's been using some very bad language.

What has he said?

I can't even repeat what he said.

I was totally shocked. To protect their privacy, Jan Foster and her

family have agreed to tell their story on the condition of anonymity.

These were unspeakable words.

He would threaten her. He defied her. He screamed at her.

I did reassure her that he did not, he did not hear that type of language in

our home, nor was he around it with anyone else.

And we had no idea where he picked up this language.

There's more.

More? He's acting very strange.

Hoodie?

Cody's nanny suspects that he is an imaginary playmate.

Cody, it's time to go.

I'm very concerned about him.

Okay, I'll talk to him. I promise, I will. I'll see that you do.

Okay, thank you. Have a good night. We'll see you tomorrow.

We should have saw the warning signal right then.

Tucked in, mister.

And Mr. Bear with you, all snuggly.

So tell me about your new friend.

What's his name?

Man. Just man?

He doesn't have a real name like John or George?

No, his name is Man.

And that was it.

Say our prayers, sweetie.

Now I lay me down to sleep.

Most everybody has an imaginary playmate at some time in their childhood.

There wasn't any other kids around here that age, so he was basically a loner.

Cody, go to bed.

I mean it.

It's you, kitty.

Come here.

Come here, kitty.

Come here.

Poor kitty.

What's the matter, honey? I'm scared.

Come here.

She was hearing scratching noises, like fingernails raking across the walls.

It's OK.

I'm going to climb a bed here.

The next morning, Jan is exhausted.

We really need to start getting ready for...

Firefighters

to the rescue!

No, I want to stay here and play with my fire truck.

I overheard him in his room.

actually carried on a conversation with this invisible playmate.

It was, you want to play?

No, I don't want to play with that. No, let's not do that.

He was hearing something and responding to it.

Cody, who are you playing with?

I'm playing with man.

Well, tell your little friend bye-bye and come get dressed.

I don't want... Cody, you come get dressed now.

Cody Foster, you listen to your mama. Pick those clothes off the floor right

now and get dressed or we're going to have a big time out, young man.

This friend was becoming a daily event.

Hey. Hey, son.

Oh. Cody has an imaginary friend.

No kidding.

No kidding.

That's kind of normal. What's his name?

How long have you been there, Cody?

Listen, sit down. It's time to eat your breakfast. Have some cereal.

I'm not hungry.

I want to play with man.

I thought, well, this is basic behavior.

We tried to correct him with verbal correction.

It didn't work.

I really felt like we needed to hear the whole story about

this imaginary friend.

Tell us more about your new friend, Cody.

How old is he?

He's six.

He tells them that Mann has brown hair, brown eyes, and pale skin.

Where'd he come from, Cody? We asked him where Mann came from.

He replied, from behind the park where the lake is, deep in the

ground.

Did something happen to Mann, Cody?

He said that a stranger took him from his mommy and did terrible, terrible

things to him.

And he cried and he cried and screamed for his mommy, but his mommy never found

him.

And he never saw his mommy again.

It's a chilling story.

A parent's worst nightmare.

Jan and Dale try to understand what he is telling them.

Is man dead, Cody?

Yes.

What's his name?

Rian.

Dale and Jan Foster are worried.

Jan believes their son has befriended the ghost of a murdered child.

But Dale is not convinced.

I was not really concerned that anything bad was going on. I just thought he's

just going through a change of some kind.

My way of thinking was it was something that he could have heard that he was

repeating because I just didn't believe in that stuff. I just didn't. I don't

think it's anything to worry about.

Well, I do.

There's way too much detail. This filled me with a feeling of dread to know that

this ghost of this child was actually making his home with my son.

Jan is determined to find the truth.

I did search the local newspaper to see if there was any

child murders in the last 30, 40 years.

There was nothing that corresponded with that.

I did feel that Cody had told us the truth, that this had been a little

boy, but somewhere in the back of my mind was doubt, because we weren't

coming up with any evidence to support this fact.

Cody, you want to read a story?

He didn't want to tell stories. He didn't want to watch TV.

He stopped interacting with the family.

What do you like?

Man became his best friend.

I was angry.

I like dinosaurs.

We couldn't understand what was taking Cody's spirit away from us.

and changing him so drastically.

Jan is willing to try anything to get her son back.

She calls an old friend, a Native American shaman, a medicine man, who she

thinks can provide some insight.

Dale is skeptical about meeting the shaman, but wants to support his wife.

I was concerned because I knew that something had really scared her, and

I knew that she was upset.

I have seen this in our culture, even with younger children than Cody.

I told him about the events that were happening in the house and how they were

escalating, how distant Cody was, his language, his attitude, and

this imaginary friend just possessing him.

I believe your son invited this young spirit into the house.

He explains that the only way to get rid of the spirit is to revoke the

invitation by praying.

So we've got to uninvite him.

Exactly. And you must be forceful when you do this.

And by using a traditional Native American ritual.

He would not perform the ceremony himself.

He said the owner of the house has to do this.

So what do we need to do?

He instructed us to burn sage and sweet grass and direct it around the four

corners of the property.

The shaman tells Jan she must also anoint the entryways to the house with

olive oil and pray for her son.

The next morning, Jan waits until everyone has left the house for the day.

She hopes and prays the ritual works.

Was I worthy enough of God for him to hear my prayers? My strongest

pleas with him to help me through this, to help me cleanse this house and this

property.

I doubted myself for brief moments that

I wouldn't be able to.

And it was the fear of knowing if it didn't work, what would happen then.

Please give this oil the power to protect our threshold.

My house, keep it safe.

Air and fire and wind, may this flame please protect us from this

little boy.

Protect us from this evil little boy spirit that's trying to enter our house.

Miraculously, the blessing seems to work.

What do you think of that rat?

It's a big rat, isn't it? There was no imaginary playmate.

Cody became more playful. He was more responsive to family needs.

Everything is fine for three months.

He wasn't 100% back.

But everything was pretty well quiet.

So I felt that this ceremony did help.

We're coming to the rescue!

Cody was in the hallway, sitting down, playing with his little toys, making

sound effects with his little trucks and cars. I was folding laundry.

911!

911!

And then all of a sudden, out of the blue,

He started talking to man again.

I could not move.

And he carried on a little conversation for a little bit, and then he got very,

very quiet.

Cody? Cody?

Cody?

Cody?

He had something in his hand, and it was a photograph.

And I said, where did you get this? And I reached down to grab it.

Give it back!

It's mine!

It looked like an older Polaroid, maybe from the late 50s, early 60s.

There was an elderly woman, like a grandmotherly type, and then there was a

small boy.

Who's in this picture, Cody?

Man.

Cody, where did you get this picture?

Man gave it to me.

Is

man

dead, Cody?

The house is peaceful for nearly three months.

All right, Cody, here's your lunch.

It's a sandwich and a jello, okay? Use your napkin now. Don't forget, okay?

Sometimes you forget that.

Goodness, Cody.

I don't want any stupid lunch!

Oh, God.

Cody Foster, you have just earned yourself one major time-out, young man.

Alarms went off in my head that this being was telling my

son what to do now.

Oh, please don't go.

No, I'm sorry. I can't do this anymore.

Get that boy some counsel. I'm sorry. Please, I'll talk to him. Please don't

go. No, wait.

Please.

Jan puts on a good face for the family.

I was the one experiencing most of his abusive behavior.

And I was trying to cover it up and be rational.

I was trying to be a mother. I was trying to keep the family together.

I was hoping that maybe this would go away.

Cody, are you hungry?

I knew at this point that Cody was not my son anymore.

There was no love. There was no hugging.

There was no goodnight kisses.

Jan is afraid that something more sinister may be controlling her son.

He was a total stranger to me at this point.

I really didn't know how to handle this.

Around this time, I had to start taking him to a distant cousin to watch him

while we worked.

Now, Cody, remember, you do not take Mann inside there today.

Do you understand me, son? You leave Mann behind.

Cody?

Remember your cousin Kaylee, don't you, Cody?

Hey, Cody. How are you?

Tammy, thank you so much. I so appreciate this. Don't worry about it.

They're going to have a lot of fun playing together. They'll be fine.

Okay. You ready to come inside?

Show you some toys in here? Call me if there's anything you need, okay? I will.

You're welcome.

You just have a great day at work. It's fine.

Bye. Hey, guys.

Jan, you got a phone call?

Jan is working when she receives an urgent phone call.

Hey, this is Jan.

It's her cousin.

No, it's okay. What's going on?

She was incoherent. What?

She was crying.

Okay, tell me about it. What happened?

She just kept repeating, come get Cody now. I'm coming.

I cannot watch him anymore.

Okay, I'm coming. I'll be right there.

Bye.

Chef, I got to go. Family emergency. I'll call you. I promise.

What is wrong with him?

What happened to him? I don't know. My daughter is in there freaking out. She's

terrified.

At first, she thought that he was changing his voice.

But she noticed that this was a deeper voice.

She totally freaked, totally freaked.

Toys floating in the air? What is wrong with him?

She said that she was afraid of him and that her daughter wouldn't play with

Cody anymore.

What? Cody,

why did you take Mann with you to Tammy's? I told you not to. Why did you?

Jan doesn't know what to do.

She has to find someone to look after Cody and she can't afford to lose her

job.

My name is Jan Foster.

I have a son, Cody.

I'm wondering if you have any openings at your daycare?

You do?

Great.

Can we start tomorrow?

Wonderful.

Thank you.

Okay, we'll see you at 7?

Thank you.

Bye-bye.

Cody, listen to me.

Tomorrow we're starting a new daycare.

You cannot, you cannot, son, bring man with you.

I repeatedly warned him, do not take man to this house. Leave him here at home.

Do you understand me?

Cody agrees and keeps his promise.

But at night, man waits for him to come home.

Cody, supper's ready.

begins destroying his own toys.

Cody, why are you cutting up your bear?

Man said it would be fun.

No, you shouldn't cut up your toys, son.

Come on, let's go to supper. Leave the scissors.

I won't be cutting up your toys anymore.

For Dale, the incident is disturbing, but not so unusual that it causes him to

blame it on anything paranormal.

He was cutting up his teddy bear.

What? Have you seen him do anything like this before?

We saw Cody cutting up this? He was sitting on the floor, he had the

scissors, and he was cutting up the teddy bears. And he told him that man

said it was okay.

No, but this is pretty violent.

What do you think we should do?

Cody, where's my cat?

Cody's behavior has hit an all-time low.

I came and he was sitting on her.

Cody!

Cody, why were you trying to hurt the kitty?

Man said it would be fun.

Cody, I don't want you to ever hurt the kitty like that again. Do you hear me?

His demeanor became just horrible.

I mean, just frightfully horrible.

I was on the verge of a nervous breakdown trying to cope with all this.

Jan, I just had to talk to him.

I don't know what's going to happen. I don't know what he's doing that for.

Dale, he just tried to kill the cat.

I know.

I'm at my wit's end with him. What am I going to do? I cannot be rational

anymore. We had to finally come face to face that this boy had a problem.

It's not my boy.

Jan is afraid of what he'll do next.

You know, Cody, I've asked you many times to help Mama clean up your room.

You're big enough now that you can help me out with some chores around here,

young man.

I've got a lot to do around here, and if you at least picked up your clothes and

put your toys away, it would really help me.

One morning, as Jan is cleaning, she notices that everything in Cody's closet

is wet.

Ugh.

Cody,

are you peeing in the closet? I discovered that he had urinated.

all over his toys, in his toy box, all over his clothes.

Man said it's okay.

Well, it's not okay, Cody.

You go pee in the bathroom, not in the closet.

Man said you don't have to listen to anymore.

Even after all Jan has been through, Cody's response is a shock.

I don't have to listen to you anymore.

I don't have to do anything you say.

Because man said, I don't have to.

Cody, I... Cody, what are you doing?

Cody, stop it!

Stop it, Cody! It's Mama! Stop it!

I was becoming fearful of my own son.

Everything started happening at such a fast pace.

The behavior, the urinating, trying to kill the kitten.

Finally, Cody becomes frustrated with man.

Mama.

What's wrong, baby doll?

He said, my bed is shaking.

Mama, I need you.

Come here, sweetie.

Come on. For that moment, I saw the little boy I had not seen in over a

year.

He was reaching out to me.

I hadn't been able to hold him like that for a long time.

I knew for that instant that man was not with him.

I was ready to confront this being.

I waited until he fell asleep in my arms.

I got out of the bed.

I stood in front of his doorway to his room.

God, please give me the strength to go through with this.

I wanted to know what

this child was going through.

I wanted to try and put myself in his place, in Cody's place. I wanted to see

if man would somehow communicate with me.

Come here, babe.

His body was growing into this entity.

He started laughing very demonically.

This sudden realization came over me.

This was man.

Are you all right?

I'm fine.

You OK?

Sure. I calmed the family down as best I could.

OK. I told them to go back to bed.

Cody put his little hand in mine, and he was squeezing it reassuringly,

and he was looking at me as if to say, see, see, Mommy, it wasn't me.

I saw a man.

And we held each other for a very long time.

And I felt that at that moment, with that powerful love around us, that

man could not intervene.

Later that night, while her family sleeps,

Jan prays for guidance.

The

total

realization of the truth of what man was hit me.

I knew I had to do something about it to protect my family.

What's wrong, baby doll?

I was frightened beyond means, but another part of me, the adrenaline

started surging.

I knew I had to face this. I knew I had to do something to protect my family and

to protect Cody and to keep this entity from taking him any further. God,

tell me what to do.

Jan considers packing up the family in her heart. She knows it

won't do any good.

Man follows Cody everywhere.

All right.

Cheerleading practice today, right? Yeah. Okay.

I got everybody off to work and school and got... Did you grab your lunch?

Yeah, I got it. Thanks.

Cody to the daycare.

Be good today, okay?

Make your mama proud.

Behave.

Everything's gonna be okay, baby.

I promise.

Go. I promise.

Hello?

Hi, Shaman. It's Jan.

thing out of my house. I understand.

He did what I told you to do.

I need help.

I've seen him.

Yeah, Cody's playmate. It's not a little boy.

It's a demon. It's this huge... I told him I do not think we were dealing with

the spirit of a little boy. That we're dealing with something more demonic.

He, in turn, told me...

Now he can understand why the first time we blessed the house it didn't work. We

weren't specific enough. Yes, I understand.

We thought we were dealing with the spirit of a small child.

That's what we was asking to leave our home.

I remember.

You have to start with Cody's room.

The shaman tells her she will have to bless the house again.

Only this time she must focus on ridding the house of an evil spirit.

I want this thing out of my house.

After her first failure, Jan wonders if she can do it alone.

Thank you.

I'm just a mom.

Albeit I have a very strong spiritual side, but I'm not a priest.

I'm not a shaman.

I was just a mom, and I was fighting for my family.

The shaman tells Jan she will have to be very forceful with her prayers.

She must not show.

any doubt i got the olive oil and the sage and the sweet grass

i started out on the four corners of the property in the back

of my mind i was thinking am i going to be attacked

the lord is my shepherd

i was in constant prayer

And I felt as I went along doing this blessing and the house cleansing, I

became stronger.

I became braver.

I became more confident.

And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

and make me worthy of your love.

Grant me the strength, courage, and guidance of your hands to rid my home of

this entity called man.

Chocolate. Chocolate? You can get one scoop or two.

Two? I was feeling a much needed essence of

peace.

I finished the outside, and I came to the front door.

It was very cold in here, extremely cold, and I could feel a presence.

I thought, well, the wind is gonna break.

Is the house gonna shake?

I felt at times that I was just going to lose it.

They repeatedly asked for strength to finish this,

to ban this entity from our home.

I demanded very loud in a screaming tone that he was to go back from whence he

came.

Return from whence you came, never to return again.

Return from whence you came, never to return.

Return from whence you came, never to return again.

In the name of our Father, our Creator, the Holy Spirit, forever and ever. Amen.

Amen.

Man is finally gone.

Jan can feel it.

I was very exhausted.

I could see the world again.

It was like a veil had lifted, a dark veil of pain and confusion.

I noticed the trees. I could hear the birds. I was back to reality.

The nightmare is over.

Jan Foster finally has her son back.

He actually ran to me.

Mommy, Mommy.

Look what I drew.

Look what I did.

And I remember holding him and just crying and crying and again giving my

thanks to God.

We still feel things around here.

We still experience the noises, the feeling of someone watching you.

When things do happen around here, it's the first thought that runs through my

mind, that this could be man trying to get into our lives again.