Original subtitles

Little Marie has a new house and a new playmate.

This is fun.

Tim's right there.

But when her parents realize her friend is not flesh and blood... Oh my gosh,

Marie. Where did you get that boo-boo?

She's his mommy. He grabbed me.

Playtime is over.

How do I protect her?

Someone's in Marie's room!

How do I save her?

There was nothing gonna stop me from getting in that room nothing or no one

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.

In 2010, the Barber family Olivia, Jesse, and five-year-old daughter Marie

move out of Olivia's parents' house and into their own home.

Our house was a cute little ranch-style house. It was perfect for us just

starting our family.

Little, tiny, comfortable, and cozy.

We were both excited about this new house.

These are the ones you're looking for?

Yep, those are them.

Oh, she's so little.

It was our own. It was going to be ours.

It was all for us to grow as a family.

I believe this is yours, young lady.

I almost tripped on it in the stairway.

Thanks, Daddy.

Mommy, can I go outside to play?

Marie is a very active child.

She's very fun-loving. Sure, but just stay where I can see you.

I'll be out there in a few minutes.

Okay, kiddo, give Daddy a kiss. I've got to go to work.

Even though she's only five. I've noticed with her going to school now,

she makes friends fairly easy.

Just an outgoing kid.

Jesse is my childhood sweetheart.

I knew he was just going to turn out to be this fantastic provider, husband,

father, friend.

What about me?

Going off to work without even a goodbye?

She's my whole everything.

Get out of here.

The town of Elkton sits on the Chesapeake Bay, an hour drive from both

Baltimore and Philadelphia.

Elkton is a very small town.

Pretty much everybody knows everybody.

It has that almost like a rustic charm to it.

We thought it was a safe neighborhood.

We thought it was going to be a great place to start our family.

Having our daughter grow up here, all her memories were going to be here.

She was going to have friends here. She was going to go to school here.

we thought it was going to be forever.

Marie loved to play outside in the backyard.

She had a driveway she could ride her bike on.

She had a swing set.

As long as she was outside, she was happy.

And the backyard proves to be the perfect playground for neighborhood

kids.

I'm ready!

This is fun.

There was one day Marie was playing.

I went to go check on her.

My second favorite color is green.

She was having a conversation.

Hey, sweetie.

Who are you talking to?

My friend Jackson.

Jackson, huh?

Where's Jackson from?

He lives here.

Oh, in the neighborhood. Well, that's nice.

In that moment, I was really starting to get excited.

She was playing with the neighborhood kids because she was adjusting.

You know, next time he comes to play, I'd like to meet him.

Come on. Let's go get some lunch.

To the barbers, the neighborhood is finally starting to feel like home.

Until a few nights later.

When I woke up, I was scared to death.

I couldn't fathom somebody beating on somebody's wall, you know, in the middle

of the night. It sounded like somebody's hand was hitting the side of the house.

What?

What's going on?

Did you hear that banging on the wall?

What banging?

Something banged on the wall.

I was still kind of groggy because I was woken from a dead sleep.

It took me a few seconds to register what she was trying to tell me. She was

hearing banging.

I think maybe it's just some kids playing ball outside.

It's okay.

All right?

It's okay.

I'll go take a look around.

I went into protective mode.

I've checked room after room.

There was nobody outside. There was nobody in the house.

I couldn't come up with anything.

I didn't find anybody.

Olivia Barber is thrilled.

Her five-year-old daughter Marie has made her first friend in their new

neighborhood.

This is fun.

Who are you talking to?

My friend Jackson.

When Marie first started talking about Jackson, it was how awesome he was, how

he wanted to play.

He liked doing things that she liked to do.

There was one day Marie was playing.

I went to go check on her.

Marie?

When I walked in, she was having a conversation.

Hi.

Hey, baby. Who are you talking to?

My friend Jackson.

You mean the boy you were playing with the other day outside?

Yes. Suddenly, Olivia realizes Jackson may not be real.

I'm like, oh, you have an imaginary friend.

And she says, no, Mama, him's real.

Him's right there.

Right there, don't you see?

There was nobody there but me and her.

I had a feeling that something just wasn't right.

Okay.

Mommy will be just down the hall.

So it looks like we're going back next week to do another building.

Something weird happened today.

I found Marie talking to someone.

She said it's her new friend.

It's like a full conversation.

No one was there.

My opinion was she's a kid.

She's the only child in the house right now.

Maybe it was just an imaginary friend.

Just somebody to play with?

I don't know.

It felt weird.

Honey, you're overreacting.

I actually was thinking it's a good thing that she has an imagination.

It just means that there's a creative side to her personality.

She's adjusting.

So I decided, don't worry.

Give it some time. It'll be OK.

All right.

You win.

I was kind of hoping that as she got older,

the whole Jackson thing would just kind of fade away.

I can't sleep.

It's okay, sweetie.

Do you have a bad dream?

Come here.

She was playing in her bedroom at least during the day, but at night, Marie

wanted no part of her bedroom.

She didn't want to sleep in there. She had to be where Mommy and Daddy were.

I want to stay with you, Mommy.

Oh.

It's going to be okay, okay, sweetie?

The Barbers come up with a solution, setting up Marie's old baby monitor in

her bedroom.

We put her baby monitor back in her room because we thought it was going to be a

comforting tool for her.

For weeks, five-year-old Marie has been having trouble sleeping in her new

house.

Jesse!

Someone's in Marie's room!

Marie! I really thought there was someone in my house.

I was literally terrified.

Sound asleep.

Walked in her room. She was sound asleep.

Nobody in there.

Quiet.

Check the closet.

Are you sure you heard something?

I know what I heard.

There's something in this room.

It was kind of deep and kind of gravelly.

But I could definitely tell it was a man's voice coming through the monitor.

Maybe it was a malfunction or something.

I kept trying to come up with a reasoning for it.

There's got to be an explanation.

Come on.

Let's go to bed.

Jesse said, baby, I told you there's nobody in here. Everything is okay.

Fine.

Come on, baby.

Shh. Mommy's here.

Mommy's here.

It's all right. Come on, baby.

It's all right.

Marie is sleeping with us.

Olivia tries to convince herself that this has all been a figment of her

imagination.

He was going to tell me I was just being crazy. We just moved in, and I just

needed to adjust.

I felt alone, and I had the feeling that something's not right here.

It was really getting to the point that I did not want to live there anymore. I

was petrified.

Do you want the crust cut off?

Yes, please.

Just the way you like it.

Oh my gosh, Marie.

Where did you get that boo-boo?

I don't know.

Marie had bruises.

that were not there when I gave her a bath the night before.

I don't know where these bruises are coming from. You know, I'm getting

scared.

I started asking her, Marie, did you fall down?

Did you walk into something?

Did somebody hit you?

She would say, no, I didn't fall, or no, I didn't walk into anything. But she

wouldn't tell me if somebody was hitting her.

Honey, these bruises have to come from somewhere.

And Mommy needs to know.

I don't know.

She was actually getting to the point that she was getting mad at me.

I was terrified for Marie.

I didn't know how to protect her. I didn't know how to keep her from getting

hurt.

Well, honey, you know you can tell Mommy anything, okay?

Let me go get you some juice.

Marie? Marie?

Where are you?

Marie?

Marie?

Marie? I was starting to panic.

Marie? I was getting ready to go into a panic attack.

Jackson? Where's Jackson?

He's over there, Mommy.

She says right there. Don't you see?

Honey.

He says I have to go with him.

Go where?

Up there.

To heaven.

For months.

Little Marie has been playing with an imaginary friend named Jackson.

He's over there, Mommy.

It's been all fun and games.

Until now.

He says I have to go with him.

Go where?

Where, Marie? Where does Jackson want to take you?

Up there.

To heaven.

I was horrified because to me it sounded like my child just told me she wanted to

die.

Marie, you are not to play with Jackson anymore.

No more.

I pretty much told her, this is it. This friendship is done.

I don't want you talking to him.

I don't want you going anywhere with him. I don't want him around anymore.

Come on.

Not knowing what to do, Olivia anxiously waits for her husband to come home from

work.

Oh, my God, Jesse.

What's wrong?

Marie disappeared today.

I found her outside playing with Jackson.

He said... She said...

He wants to take her to heaven.

I don't know what's going on here, honey, but I'm really scared.

You're going to think I'm crazy, but I think Jackson is a

ghost.

There's someone, there's something in this house.

I was kind of beside myself.

I didn't know what to think. I tried to calm her down about it.

Trying to reason with her, tell her it's a kid being a kid.

Honey, you know she'll outgrow this Jackson thing.

It's just a phase.

It's not a phase, Jesse.

I felt it too.

I think the house is haunted.

For the next few days, the stress level in the house is at an all-time high.

At this point, Jesse and I are hardly even talking.

He'd come home from work, I'd say dinner's done, he'd say okay.

That, unless we were talking about Marie, that was pretty much the extent

of the conversation.

Our house felt gloomy, it felt unwelcoming, and it just felt like it

was sucking life right out of us.

She was really stressed.

I was always tired.

So it put a stress on us as a couple.

It's frustrating.

I didn't want to lose my wife or my daughter over this.

Hey, Jesse.

Hey, Sam.

Hey, Sam.

How long have you lived here?

Over 20 years.

I talked to a few of the neighbors that have been living in the neighborhood for

quite a while to find out maybe they can tell me something about people that may

have lived there.

Anything strange ever happen in this house?

No. Some crazy old guy lived there.

He lived like a hermit. He never talked to anyone.

Hated all the neighbors, especially the kids.

He kept to himself.

In fact, I don't even think he had a wife or anything there. Come out and did

his yard work, and that would be the extent of seeing him.

Whatever happened to him?

I don't know.

One day, we didn't see him anymore, so we just thought he died.

The house was up for sale.

Some investors bought it.

And they started leasing it out.

Why? Something strange going on?

No, just getting used to the house.

Although Jesse doesn't believe the old man is haunting his home, he decides to

keep what he's heard to himself.

I didn't want to tell Olivia because she was already underneath a lot of stress

with the situation.

I didn't want to add more to it.

There was no real reason for me to say anything about it.

Mommy says you can't be in here anymore.

Go away.

Go away!

An entity inside the barber home is playing dangerous tricks on five-year

-old Marie.

Listening to her scream like somebody's trying to kill her and not being able to

get in, that is like every worst fear and nightmare a parent has.

How do I save her? How do I protect her?

They look at the baby's face.

I'll never forget it.

There was nothing going to stop me from getting in that

room. Nothing or no one.

Baby, we're here right now, okay?

Jesse.

Look. Lean your head back, baby.

When I seen the marks on her neck, I couldn't believe what I was seeing.

They were large.

I mean, you can obviously tell that it was hands.

Marie. Marie, honey.

What happened?

Jackson tried to choke me.

She says, Mommy, he grabbed me.

And he pulled me to the floor by my throat.

She said him was trying to choke me because I told him I didn't want him

here anymore.

That was the most terrifying,

upsetting experience I've ever had in my life.

Somebody.

That moment, there was no doubt in my mind that Jackson was something in that

house that was very dangerous.

The windows are locked. There's no way anyone could have gotten in.

There's no way Marie could have moved that heavy dresser.

After what all of them had been trying to tell me, that reality just sunk in,

that this was happening.

I lost my mind. I totally lost my mind. It exploded.

Picking on a tiny child!

I cussed him.

I called him all kinds of names.

You want to choke someone?

Choke me!

I was trying so hard to get him to leave her alone.

Dad! Calm down!

You stay out of this!

I'll handle this!

Knowing that I can't protect her...

I can't fight off what's there.

I feel powerless.

It makes me almost feel worthless.

The family reaches out to the Dover Paranormal Research Team.

We needed to find somebody to come and help.

We got to do something about it.

It stops now.

Our goal was to try to provide as much help as we can as quickly as we can.

Thank you for coming so quickly.

I could tell she was very upset.

She was very anxious.

Donna's got to walk through the house to see if she senses anything or picks up

any impressions.

I just kind of looked at Tom for a minute, and I'm like, he honestly

believes me.

Maybe I'm not going crazy like I thought I was.

Why don't we sit and chat while Donna does her work? I'd like to hear more

about what you're experiencing.

Being a third generation Wiccan means that my grandmother was Wiccan, my

mother was Wiccan, and I'm Wiccan.

We believe that everything has a soul and a right to live, and that nothing

should be killed unless it's for food, and you should always give something

back to the earth.

When I walk into a home and there is a spirit there, I feel a humming. I

can't really explain it.

It's like a pressure almost.

It is a very intense feeling, and it just builds as I get closer to where the

spirit is.

And that's kind of the feelings that I got as I got closer to Maria's room.

At first, Donna sees an innocent little boy.

As soon as I saw him, I knew that it was Jackson, the spirit that Marie had seen.

But then, the ghost reveals his true identity.

I knew that he was very strong.

And I felt that he was very angry.

You think you can step on my land?

Get off of my land!

Get out of my house!

Get out of my house!

This is my house!

This is my house!

A spiritual investigator has seen the ghost haunting the Barber home.

It's the spirit of a bitter old man who used to live in the house and despises

kids.

Good for nothing, children.

He was in the corner of Marie's room and he was very angry.

Get out of my house!

She fears five-year-old Marie is in danger.

Marie's family still thinks Jackson is a young child, but the truth is even more

shocking.

There's a spirit of a man in your house.

You mean a little boy?

No, it's a man.

He's older and very unhappy.

He's very angry.

He doesn't want you here.

to be told that this is not a child terrorizing another child.

This is a full-grown man terrorizing my daughter.

My heart just felt like it broke all over again.

I was petrified.

But why is this ghost disguising himself?

And what are his true intentions with Marie and her parents?

A spirit can present themselves in many ways, especially to children.

And he did present himself as... a friend, because that would be someone

that she would trust.

I believe that Jackson actually lived in the home.

I believe that he was a loner. I don't think he had a close relationship with

anyone. I think he was angry in life and angry in death.

So why would he be drawn to Marie?

Because she could see him.

And I believe that he wanted to use that.

When Marie pulled away from him, it made him very angry.

They have a loving family, and that angered him because he didn't have that

in life.

He truly did not want them there.

He hurt her.

Fear made him stronger.

He doesn't want you here.

This attack on Marie is very serious.

Jackson was trying to disguise himself as a young boy to make friends with her

so he could carry out whatever dastardly deeds he felt he wanted to

do. We need to get rid of him.

Now. He needs to be gone from this house.

Tom, I think we need to do a cleansing.

Donna instructs the family to stick together during the cleansing no matter

what.

Donna's gonna come in and she'll give us instructions as to what we're gonna be

doing, okay?

Okay. And she's been through this many times before, so you don't have to be

worried.

Okay, Marie.

For Marie, she prepares a special Wiccan spray, using spices and holy water to

serve as a weapon against the ghost who attacked her.

Take this spray.

And whenever you feel scared, you spray it. And in your heart, you tell Jackson

to go away.

And this is a prayer that we'll be saying during this ceremony.

And Tom is going to light the sage. It's very powerful for clearing negative

entities from a space.

All right, if you'll say it with me.

Divine goddess, goddess divine, divine god.

God divine, if evil dwells within this space, make it leave this place.

This is my house.

So would it be.

Keep going.

Divine goddess.

Goddess divine.

Get out of my house. Divine God. God divine, if evil dwells within

this space, make it leave this place. Marie, you have to tell Jackson to

leave.

She was scared.

I mean, she was very scared.

You can do this.

Tell Jackson to go away.

Spray it on him.

Good girl. Tell him to go away.

Go away.

Again.

Go away.

When I'm doing a cleansing, it's very intense. My sole purpose is to drive him

out of that room.

Jackson did not want to leave that room. Divine, divine goddess, goddess divine.

Divine God, God divine.

If evil dwells within this space, make it leave this place.

So will it be.

He's gone.

It's over.

He's moved on.

When she was finished, I feel like this big, huge, dark cloud has just been

lifted from our home. It was amazing.

And I looked at Jesse, and I said, it's going to be OK now.

I was empowered again.

Being the dad, the protector, it gave me that back.

What do you have there?

Six pieces.

You're doing so good.

To see our little girl go back to the way she was before, that was the best

feeling, the absolute best feeling ever.

I'm needing this piece right here, but I can't seem to find it.

It's right there. I need Daddy's hand. It's right where?

Where? Daddy's hand.

Is Daddy hiding a piece from me? Give me this piece.

Me and Olivia.

The history we've had through all the stuff we've been thrown at, this is just

another stepping stone that's made us that much more stronger, much more

connected with one another.

I have always believed in the paranormal.

Growing up, my belief was they're all about fun and games. They're not going

to hurt you.

I never dreamed that they could hurt you.

Now... I have a whole other outlook on it.

If you are miserable in this life, you're going to be miserable in the

afterlife. There are ones out there that could probably kill you.

It's done. It's over. It's behind us.

And I don't ever want to experience it again.