Original subtitles

A young woman is repeatedly attacked by an unseen entity in her home.

I felt hands around my throat.

Paranormal investigators try to identify the presence, but it's a desperate race

against time.

Cross Satan under your feet.

Stephanie? Culminating in a final battle between the forces of good and evil.

My wife is dying.

In America, there is real evil. It lurks in the darkest shadows and in our most

ordinary towns.

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

When they are opened, nightmares become reality.

Over 150 years ago, the soil of Manassas was awash in blood as the American

Civil War raged.

Two major battles at Bull Run saw more than 20,000 wounded or killed.

There are those who believe the land around here has been permanently

scarred, infused with the tortured souls of men, women, and children who died

before their time.

In the fall of 2008, Manassas resident Stephanie Winter attends a party at her

friend Peter's apartment.

She discovers he has a fascination with the dark arts.

I noticed on his shelf he had books that I'd never heard of.

The Necronomicon includes magic spells and advice on how to summon demons and

spirits.

Actually, that's a real useful book.

Yeah, if you're dead.

You should spend some time amongst the living, Peter.

I was just hoping to spend a little bit more time with you. I think he got the

wrong impression.

In his mind, I had feelings for him, which was not the case.

What's the problem?

You know what the problem is, man. I'm married, okay? Get it.

I'm just paying you a compliment.

Lay off. The more I tried to tell him no, the more persistent he got.

He pulled some of my hair out.

What are you doing?

Just getting what I need for a love spell.

A love spell? You are sick!

At that point, I was done.

I didn't want any part of anybody who was into that sort of thing.

Despite the strange night, Stephanie is up the next morning at 5 a.m., eager to

get to work on the home she and her husband just moved into.

Going to work this morning?

It's a late shift.

It's a lot of unpacking to do.

The couple has been married for just a year.

Stephanie's a bartender at a local restaurant.

Her husband, Nicholas, works in construction.

Did you have fun last night?

I should have stayed here.

Something wrong?

Everything all right?

Yeah, no, everything's fine. I just, um... I just have a lot of unpacking to

do.

Yeah, well, once we get it done, we can finally call this place home.

I was excited to be moving into a house out of an apartment, and it was a step

in the direction that I was trying to go in life.

Oh, yes.

I'll be home by 6 tonight.

Okay.

See you.

I was happier than I'd been in a really long time, and I was looking forward to

making it home for my husband and I.

You forgot something, babe?

You forget something?

What are you doing here?

Peace offering.

Did you wait until Nick left?

No.

I was just bringing you flowers.

He was coming by my house 5.30 in the morning on his way to work, and it just

really made me uncomfortable.

Well, I didn't realize you wanted to get all dressed up for me.

You need to leave, all right? Get out.

Okay? What?

You don't want to say no to me.

Get out!

Get out!

It got to the point where I felt like I was hiding in, you know, my own home. I

finally had to completely shut it down and tell him to stop calling me, don't

contact me, please, nothing.

Weeks go by.

Stephanie's unwanted admirer stays away.

But has he really heeded her request to leave her in peace?

What was that?

I don't know.

Is there somebody in the house?

I'll get my bat.

No, wait, what if they have guns?

What do you think did that?

That's so weird.

Let me go check the rest of the house. All right, be careful.

Stay here. All right.

Be careful.

It's okay. It's okay.

I checked the doors. I checked the windows.

No one?

No. Nothing's unlocked.

There was no way that it could have been an intruder.

We're thinking maybe we didn't have it set up there right or, you know, it

slipped off or something.

A lot of stuff. That's heavy.

Our nerves were all jangled.

Eventually, we fell asleep and really didn't think too much more about it.

Weeks later, Nick is working at home.

As a hobby, he creates free tattoos for friends and enjoys the challenge of

coming up with new designs.

I see this candlestick thing hit the wall out of the corner of my eye. It

made this big black mark on the wall.

I started talking to my wife about it, and we were like, the only thing that

could be doing something like that would be like a ghost.

I'm looking at her back, and I see blood start to form.

What the hell did you do?

What is it? What did you do?

Baby, what did you do? No, you're bleeding. Hey, you're bleeding.

You don't want to see this, okay? Just, no, no, just... It

was really burning.

It was just on fire.

Just getting what I need for a love spell.

There have been disturbing events in Nicholas and Stephanie Winter's home

ever since she told a love-struck friend with a fascination for the dark arts to

leave her alone.

It is now February 2009, a year since the trouble started.

Nick!

What are you doing on your back? She was scared, and I was too, because there was

no explanation for this.

There were no tears in my clothing. I have a shirt on. I'm underneath

blankets.

How did that happen?

A few days later, Stephanie receives a visit from a close friend, accompanied

by someone who may be able to offer some answers.

No, I haven't been anywhere, you know.

But thanks for bringing her by.

Sure.

This is the lady I was telling you about.

There was a lady that I knew through church, and she had a friend who's a

sensitive. She could feel, see certain things.

So, um...

Do you like the Tencent tour?

Come on. I'll show you around. She walked around and walked around the

house and walked around outside.

I sense the land has quite a history.

She told me a husband and wife and their son.

I know you've been unfaithful. No.

No, I haven't been. The father was extremely jealous.

Dad, stop!

Boy, I've told you before!

He ended up killing the mother and the son.

It was the father that was haunting the property.

I don't know if I reminded him of his wife or...

or, you know, what.

A few nights later, Stephanie's scratches don't appear to be healing.

It shocked me in the sense that I was actually seeing a spirit.

A couple of seconds, but I saw him, I mean, clear.

The look on his face, I just, I'll never forget that.

He just looked very sad.

I don't know if it was the actual little boy that was killed on the property.

I know that there are lost souls.

I fully believe that.

I believe that ghosts could communicate in their own way.

I did not believe that they could physically harm you.

What do you want me to do? I want you to make it stop!

Okay, how do you want me to make it stop, okay? I don't know what to do

right now.

To see your skin open up when there's no explanation for it, the pain that goes

along with it, it's like a liquid fire poured in there. It's fine.

It'll be okay. I had to convince myself it was real over and over and over

again, even though I saw it with my own eyes.

Stephanie and Nick are too afraid of how people will react to share their

experiences.

We had nothing to compare it to and nobody to talk about it with because who

is there to talk to you about something like that without sounding like you're

crazy?

All they can do is try to resume a normal life.

Hey.

Hey. How you doing?

Okay. Yeah.

Does it hurt?

Yeah. I told you it would.

He's good, though.

He's really good.

I hope that's not the result of Nick's last attempt at a free tattoo.

No, it's, uh, I just, I fell.

What the hell just happened to you?

Right in front of him, just, my leg just opened up.

We gotta get out of here. No, don't leave.

Don't go.

She was being tortured.

Tortured in a way that I've never thought was possible. I felt totally

powerless.

And I begged, why are you doing this to her?

November 2009.

what the hell just happened to you stephanie winter comes under attack from

a supernatural force we gotta get out of here no don't leave don't don't go it's

hard to go through we felt alone

nick feels powerless to protect his wife why are you doing this to her could

peter stephanie's love struck admirer have placed a dark spell on her?

Or are the attacks in some way related to the violence and twisted souls of men

who died too young in the civil war battles that rage nearby?

A medium has offered a third possibility.

That the spirit of a father who killed his wife and child here could be looking

for his next victim.

A week went by, then she got scratched again.

And then another week went by, and she got scratched again.

And it happened like that maybe half a dozen times.

How do you explain those scratches to somebody?

And especially if you get ahold of somebody who doesn't believe in the

paranormal. My husband would have been locked up.

I'd have been in a loony bin somewhere.

And then what do you do?

Finally, the couple reluctantly decides to seek help from a paranormal

investigator.

Retired detective Rick Etterstein specializes in violent hauntings. The

nature of Stephanie's scratches catches his attention.

He's seen this before in his research photos.

What was most interesting to me was that each wound appeared to be in a set of

three scratches, three linear scratches side by side.

The three scratch marks is indicative of a negative entity haunting.

Three scratches are very commonplace with the demonic.

And the reason that is, is because the symbol of three is a direct mockery of

the Trinity, Father, Son, Holy Spirit.

If we're looking at a negative entity, usually it has to be invited or summoned

somehow. I started taking into account the possibility that something happened.

to invite or to cause this phenomenon to occur to her. Is there anyone in your

life that is involved in occult practices or someone who might mean you

harm? There is this guy, Peter,

and he just

started becoming very

stalkish with me.

And mentioned something about a love spell.

It's possible that he could have put a curse on her.

I wasn't expecting to hear that.

Stephanie is now convinced Peter may have unleashed some dark force to

torment her.

Everything kind of fell into place. Everything made a little bit more sense.

Okay, this is what's going on. This is why it's doing it. This is why it has so

much power.

Rick agrees to conduct a paranormal investigation the following week.

Until then, the evil presence could attack at any time.

Get out of my house.

Get out of my house!

Get out!

I was very angry and very confrontational, and I wanted it out.

No more!

You hear me?

No more!

Get out of my house!

This thing was such a coward.

And it was just attacking in the middle of the night, and just out of nowhere,

and when your back is turned, and that's what made me so angry.

I got you. Help me find it. Please.

Help me find it. Help me find it. Just shh.

I begged my wife to move out of the house because I felt like the house was

evil.

I just wanted away from it.

But then after talking with Rick, he said, well, you know, it might not work.

In cases this severe, sometimes

the entity will follow you no matter where you go.

Rick and a colleague set up electronic surveillance equipment to monitor every

room in the house, hoping to capture video evidence of something

supernatural.

During this first phase of the investigation, I tried to document what

was going on, tried to experience something that

that would lead me to believe that what she was telling me was true.

Unfortunately,

I was unable to document or see or experience anything, but I was still of

the opinion that something was happening. I just felt in my heart that

something was going on.

It would stay hidden when Rick was out, but as soon as he left...

I would get scratched.

I became afraid to leave my wife alone because at that point it became an every

other day thing almost, or at least a couple of times a week.

You doing okay, baby?

You want something to eat?

I'm not hungry.

It was playing mind games with her because I could definitely tell

that her spirit was being crushed.

I think that it was trying to influence her into giving up.

I don't... I don't want anyone to see me like

this.

Can you understand that?

I didn't want to go out in public because I was covered in bandages all

the time. I was so depressed.

I didn't want to be around anybody.

I didn't want to see anybody whose life was normal because my life was so far

out of whack that I was...

Jealous.

I'm gonna make a sandwich.

Would you like one?

Fine. I'll make you one anyway.

I could feel...

Somebody on top of me.

I felt hands around my throat.

Steph?

Steph? Steph?

I thought my wife was dying.

Let her go!

If you want to hurt somebody, you hurt me, but you let her go!

Stephanie Winter suspects a former friend who developed an obsession with

her... You don't want to say no to me.

...has cast a dark spell, unleashing a demonic spirit

to extract his revenge.

Something unseen is now trying to kill her.

I could hear Nick talking to me. I could hear him calling me.

Steph? And I remember the only thing I could move was my left pinky.

Let her go!

Do you want to hurt somebody? You hurt me, but you let her go!

I was so mad about it, I was threatening it. Come and get me.

Come get me. Why are you going to pick on her?

All of a sudden, she just grabbed a breath of air, and she sat up.

We must have sat there like that for quite a while.

It was very easily capable of killing me.

They tell paranormal investigator Rick Atterstein about the violent attack.

Being that it was spiritual in nature, logic would dictate that the solution is

probably spiritual in nature.

So I contacted a demonologist and asked their opinionist what we could do to

stem this activity, to quell these attacks.

The demonologist gives Rick instructions for a sealing ritual.

He suggested I get some blessed candles, 100% beeswax candles.

And the incense, and the incense is already lit.

And some pontifical incense.

and some holy water. Have the candles and the pontifical incense blessed by a

priest, and then burn those, the candles and the incense.

Incense has been used in religious rituals since the time of the pharaohs.

To Roman Catholics, it symbolizes the prayers of the faithful rising to

heaven.

And then you'll also recite the prayer I gave you. This will seal the house with

positive energy and keep you safe.

That gave me a little bit of hope because there was positive forces that

were now involved that we had hope of running this thing out. Listen to the

words you're saying. Listen to the meaning behind them.

And in every room, you need to do the same thing.

Let's move through there, and you can recite that prayer as we walk.

All right, let's move on.

St. Michael, the Archangel.

Defend us in battle.

We would do that every single night, and it really did seem to work. Against the

wickedness and snares of the devil.

After a couple of months of it just being quiet, I'd gotten used to it, and

I was relieved.

You know, you try and put your life back together a little bit and kind of

reflect, like, wow, I didn't really go through that.

Stephanie gets used to her new nightly routine, convinced she is now safe

again.

It's March 2011, a year since Stephanie started performing the sealing ritual.

And snares of the devil.

Oh, prince of the heavenly host, in the name of God, cast Satan and his evil

spirits into hell, who roam the earth

seeking... The destruction of souls.

Nick!

Nick! There's a guy outside!

What? There's a guy outside! Stay here! Be careful!

Anybody out there?

What do you think it was, babe?

I don't know, but I don't think he's stupid enough to come back here.

We were standing at the front window kind of watching to see if we could see

anything, anybody kind of hanging around.

This thing grabbed the back of my head and just yanked me down.

Did you hurt your neck?

You okay? Shh.

Don't move, don't move, don't move. Just relax.

That was absolutely devastating because I thought it was over with.

Nicholas called me. He was very frantic. He said that the attacks had resumed.

In April 2011, paranormal investigator Rick Atterstein begins a 48

-hour investigation.

hoping to gather evidence to justify a formal Catholic exorcism.

In order to get the Catholic Church involved, it takes a great deal of

evidence and a great deal of documentation.

Stephanie. What?

There's something I need to ask you.

What?

Maybe you shouldn't use the sealing ritual while we're here.

You want to use me as bait?

If you're not comfortable with it, I'm certainly not going to try to convince

you.

No.

No.

Let's do this.

I was pretty much willing to do whatever I had to do to get some kind of

evidence.

Rick and a member of his investigation team will stay up all night monitoring

camera feeds.

On night one.

There's disappointment as nothing happens.

They return to their posts for night two.

She's having a tough time again, sleeping.

Yeah, she is.

Hey. Oh, my God.

In Manassas, Virginia, Stephanie Winter is being tortured and tormented

by a demonic entity.

It may have been unleashed through a spell cast by a spurned former friend

who became obsessed with her.

Paranormal investigator Rick Etterstein...

believes an exorcism by the Catholic Church may be necessary.

But first, he needs to capture proof of the evil presence.

Hey.

Oh, my God.

Yeah, I've got it. I've got it.

are you okay the wound to her arm was so severe that in the kitchen itself where

she was standing there was a pool of blood there was also some minor blood

spatter on the wall adjacent to where she was standing which indicates to me

that there was some force applied to that particular scratch but the evidence

is not strong enough to take to the catholic church the video evidence was

significant but not conclusive as far as i'm concerned because she was in and out

of the kitchen

If I want to take a skeptical stance, she could have done it in another room,

come in and pretended that she got scratched.

I was kind of mad about that. I was like, man, all right.

The investigation continues.

See that? I see it. I've got it.

She needs me. Go, go, go.

I actually

saw the welts form in three

scratches, linear scratches side by side, and I saw them start to bleed.

At that point in time, I knew that she did not scratch herself, that they were

fresh. We got it.

We got it.

That piece of evidence was more significant than the original scratching

because of the time period that was used under constant surveillance.

We felt so good. It was like, thank God Rick finally saw this.

He saw it with his eyes, and he's got it on camera.

I knew that I had something of a negative nature.

Rick contacts David Considine, a lay religious demonologist in Connecticut

whose work is officially sanctioned by the Catholic Church.

Any time that we're having outward manifestations where we're getting

scratching and or someone's being punched or something of that nature,

it's always reason for concern.

We do have exorcists that work with us.

What we had planned was for a mass to be initiated in her name.

He suspected that she might be under demonic oppression.

Demonic oppression is when a person starts to come under control of the

entity. It's just a step away from becoming fully possessed.

If that were in fact the case, she should show some type of adverse effect

from this, even at that distance.

This was not revealed to Stephanie, nor was it revealed to Nicholas.

The day of the mass arrives.

As a priest in Chicago prepares, 700 miles away in Manassas, Virginia,

Rick arrives at Stephanie's.

Hey. Hey. I didn't expect to see you today.

I know. I left my notebook in here. Do you mind if I come in a minute? No, no,

of course not. Come on in.

That pray certain service to us, Stephanie Winter.

The priest begins the Mass for Stephanie.

Did your friend review the evidence at all? Yes, he did. He's reviewing it

right now.

As

we forgive

those who trespass against us for the blood of Christ.

Sit down here.

Lean back. That's bad.

Depart, Satan.

I felt fine one second, and then it felt like somebody set a bomb off in my head.

The God of Peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.

For more than two years, Stephanie Winter has been tormented by a negative

entity at her home in Manassas, Virginia.

A haunting that may owe its origins to a dark spell unleashed by a former friend.

in revenge for Stephanie rejecting his attempts to win her heart.

In the spring of 2011, a priest 700 miles away performs a mass in her

name, hoping the demon will make its presence known.

I did not reveal this information to Stephanie. She did not know anything

about it.

Liberare justitia.

Oh, my God, I'm so dizzy.

Per Christum Dominum Nostrum. Amen.

She had a severe migraine headache.

My head, I don't feel good.

That was a diagnostic indicator that this was probably legitimate demonic

oppression.

Stephanie is in imminent danger of becoming fully possessed by this evil

spirit.

Rick contacts religious demonologist David Considine, who arranged the

diagnostic mass with a priest in Chicago.

No, no, she's sick.

She needs our help.

We felt that it was something that could be handled by the minor form of

exorcism.

There's not enough time for the church to sanction a full exorcism.

Instead, paranormal investigator Rick Atterstein...

will try to drive out the demon.

Rick was instructed to purge himself, to clean himself, as it were, on a

spiritual level.

It is intense, and I fear for Stephanie.

I absolve you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

So that way he could be stronger for Stephanie and for himself, and to lessen

the possibility that he could come under possession.

I knew the clash was imminent. I knew the clash was coming.

Something was going to happen.

Rick is finally ready to take on a demon.

Are you okay?

Are you ready for this?

Yeah.

There's power in God and his word.

I'm going to read.

the entire ritual. Whatever happens, I want you to keep reading along with me.

Most glorious prince of the heavenly armies.

Most glorious prince of the heavenly armies.

Saint Michael the Archangel.

Saint Michael the Archangel.

Defend us in our battle. Defend us in our battle.

Against principalities and powers.

Against the rulers of this world of darkness.

Against the spirits of wickedness in the high places.

From the snares of the devil deliver us, O Lord.

From the snares of the devil, deliver us, O Lord. From the snares of the

devil, deliver us, O Lord. From the snares of the devil, deliver us, O Lord.

From the snares of the devil, deliver us, O Lord.

God arises.

His enemies are scattered.

As smoke is driven away, so they are driven.

so they are driven.

As wax melts before the flame, so the wicked perish at the

presence of God.

Most precious heart of Jesus, have mercy on us. Place your hands there. Most

precious heart of Jesus, have mercy on us. Most precious heart of Jesus, have

mercy on us. Most precious heart of Jesus, have mercy on us.

I think it's over.

Yes, yes, I think it's over.

For now, it appears that the house belongs only to the

living.

It's been about two years since anything's happened, thankfully.

And slowly, Nicholas and I have gotten our lives back on track and are able to

kind of loosen up and laugh.

It's funny how much you miss laughing.

When you don't do it for a couple of years.

I've been able to see things that give me confirmation that

there is demons or a devil and that there's a God.

The couple continues to wonder what caused the haunting and if it has gone

for good.

Did Stephanie's lovestruck former friend cast a spell and conjure a demon?

Rick did bring that up to me, that Peter could have done that.

He could very well have brought this thing to me.

More than anything, Stephanie wonders about the ghost of a boy that appeared

to her.

I don't know if it was this demon that was in my house trying to gain my

trust. or if it was the actual little boy asking for help, but I've never seen

him again.

I'm still on edge because I don't know if it's completely gone or if it's just

dormant again.