Original subtitles

When three teens make contact with the other side, it's all fun and games.

If you are here, make your presence known.

Something else was in the room with us at that moment.

Are you here?

Give us a sign.

It was thrilling.

We've contacted somebody.

Until someone gets hurt.

It was becoming more invasive.

It was hurting people.

It was something unholy, something dark and hateful. Can they close the door

before it's too late?

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 open

Nightmares become reality

Keith, is that you?

Carl Johnson is convinced his house is haunted.

As long as I can remember, there was strange activity in that house. We would

hear footsteps.

The sound of somebody walking around, very distinct.

What are you doing up?

I kept hearing noises outside my room, like someone was walking.

Honey, you know there's nothing to worry about.

It's harmless.

Come on. Let's get back to bed.

It's 1971.

16-year-old Carl lives in the house with his twin brother Keith, his 14-year-old

sister Cynthia, and their parents.

My household in 1971 was very interesting.

It was a beautiful house. We had a wonderful family.

Hey,

kiddos.

My mom and dad, it was kind of like Leave it to Beaver, if you will.

They were wonderful parents.

You're home early.

Yeah, but I have to go back in on Saturday.

My dad was very religious in the choir at his church, and they went

square dancing.

And it was just the typical mom and dad of the day.

Does that mean Keith and I can go to the movies then?

You need to ask your father.

But you were late for the bus this morning.

Late?

Yeah, I couldn't sleep last night.

I missed my alarm.

Carl had a visit from the family ghost last night. He was quite startled.

No, he wasn't. I was just... I don't know. It was just weird.

Oh, nonsense.

There's nothing in this house except for three ornery children.

Come on, kids. Let's wash up for dinner.

Got something good.

My parents, they made the best of it.

Joking about the ghost. It's a friendly ghost. It's not going to hurt us.

Did you get everything?

Yeah. Got it. Good.

Don't be late.

Okay, kids.

We're headed out for our dance lesson.

We'll be back by 10, and I expect you all in bed when I get home.

No horseplay.

Have fun.

Okay.

But Carl has something more serious in mind.

While his parents are gone, he is determined to get to the bottom of

what's been going on in the house.

What are you looking for?

This.

Let's set it up over here.

This spirit board. It was kind of the rage. A lot of people had a...

spirit board, a talking board in their house.

My mother had had one when she was a little girl.

Keith, can you get some candles?

It became a project of interest.

We're going to find out what these spirits want, what they are, who they

are, why are they here.

Are you guys ready?

We are calling upon the spirits of this house.

If you are here, make your presence known.

Nothing's happening.

Just wait.

If you are here, make your presence known.

All of a sudden, it feels like your hands are being guided and not pushed

around so much, but just a very subtle guidance.

Carl, stop moving it. I swear I didn't do it.

It was thrilling.

That's basically how it all started.

We weren't afraid of it. We liked it.

And it was just something that piqued our interest at an early age.

Who are you?

S?

Y?

L?

It's spelled out the name Sylvia.

She was like a spirit of the board, if you will.

How did you die?

The more it communicated, the more I began thinking this is a real person, a

personality that is communicating.

Hey, I don't think we should be doing this.

It's fine. Don't be such a scaredy cat.

We want to meet you.

Do you live here?

C-E-L-L-A-R.

The planchette spelled out cellar.

What do you guys say? Should we do it?

No way!

It's a cellar?

You're such a chicken. Come on, Cindy.

We went to the top of the basement stairs.

Sylvia?

Are you here?

If you're here, give us a sign.

Then all of a sudden we heard three knocks.

She's really here.

Come on.

She's here.

I know it.

Now we knew it wasn't just something in our minds. We weren't imagining this.

Something was in the house that could communicate with us, that was willing to

be known.

This was fascinating. It was addictive.

I looked around, and nothing could have caused that rapping sound.

I had an eerie sensation I had never experienced before.

I felt that strong sensation of being watched, as if there were eyes

on me.

For as long as the Johnson kids can remember, their Rhode Island home has

been haunted.

Now they believe they've made contact with a spirit from the other side.

It was amazing. It was spooky, but it's kind of fun to be a little scared.

Over the next few weeks, the teens hold regular spirit board sessions in

attempts to communicate with Sylvia.

We decided that since we had had this breakthrough that we were going to use

the board more frequently.

I want her to show us that she's real.

Tell her.

Tell her to give us a sign.

Like what?

I don't know.

If you're real, make the phone ring.

It's not working.

the planchette went to s but then instead of spelling out sylvia it went

to s u s

Hello? Susie?

Oh my gosh, it's Susie.

S-U-S.

It was my girlfriend, Susie.

I felt astonished just as much as he did.

I really felt that something else was in the room with us at that moment.

Hey, I'm gonna have to call you right back, okay?

Okay. Bye.

It really happened. It was her.

It was Sylvia.

Can you believe it? We talked to a ghost.

No, I'm not doing this anymore.

It's creepy and it's not safe.

At 16 years old, that was making me very, very nervous.

I must say, I really wasn't frightened.

It was more of a... Like, wow, this is great. We've contacted somebody.

Come on.

But could Keith's instincts be right?

Could they be playing with fire?

There was what sounded to be a woman's voice outside the window.

Laughing, cackling.

It came closer and closer, right up to the window.

Came to one window, began laughing.

Came to the other window.

Stopping to laugh at each one.

16-year-old Keith Johnson has just made an encounter with a haunting presence.

I really felt that was directed at me and that it was truly trying

to terrorize me.

There was no way I was asleep. I was wide awake. My heart was pounding.

Honey, what's wrong?

What's wrong?

Why are you yelling?

And why is your radio on?

I heard someone laughing outside my window.

It was all around me.

It was like someone was watching me.

What's wrong? Is he okay?

Then my radio just turns on by itself.

Someone was in my room.

I was concerned for Keith because...

He's not a reactionary.

Something was really bothering him.

What do you mean someone was in your room?

It was, uh, I don't know, a ghost?

All right.

That's enough of this ghost talk.

There's nothing in your room. And there's nothing in this house.

Let's get back to bed.

I felt frustrated that they didn't believe me.

I wasn't sleepwalking. I wasn't imagining.

I was truly terrified because of what I'd experienced while I was wide awake.

There's no doubt.

And I know to this day I was wide awake.

You okay?

In a way, I felt that my family wasn't there for me.

Now thoroughly terrified.

the teens try a new approach.

My brother and my sister and I, we turned to prayer.

We turned to prayer as a defense against whatever was there.

I had a cross that was my grandmother's, and I started to wear it, and I started

to keep it with me because it made me feel safe.

Maybe we should pray.

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.

Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

That seemed to lighten the house.

Even the lighting in the room seemed to be brighter after we prayed. It made

things better.

Amen.

Soon after his 17th birthday, Carl decides to create a space of his own in

the cellar, far from his parents and siblings.

It looked like a Victorian-style lady's glove.

Hello?

Someone there?

This had to be Sylvia.

I wanted to find out, what is going on in our house?

What is it she wants?

Later, Carl attempts to make contact with the owner of the glove.

I started to research the paranormal in earnest.

I wanted to read everything I could find out about it.

Through my research, I had discovered a formula for raising a spirit, trying to

get a manifestation, isolate the spirit so that we could see what it was, try to

communicate with it, try to know what it needed from us.

I'm calling upon the spirit of this house, Sylvia, to make her presence

known.

This was its chance. If it wanted to get a message through... It could do it

then.

I'm calling upon you to know why you are here.

Show yourself.

Carl Johnson has just made contact with the ghost haunting his house.

I saw the figure of a woman.

Her hair was pulled up and into a bun on the top of her head.

She was walking towards me, silently.

My blood ran cold. I was just transfixed there.

Suddenly, Carl makes a realization.

The pieces fell together.

It was a woman.

I found that glove upstairs. It disappeared mysteriously.

The name Sylvia had come through the spirit board.

This had to be the same entity, the same spirit.

But what does Sylvia want?

Seeking answers, Carl returns to the spirit board.

His twin brother Keith refuses to participate.

I was not going to join them. My brother and sister, however, would determine

that they were going to receive a sign of Sylvia's presence.

To me, that was going a little too far.

Something's wrong.

I can... feel it.

She needs our help.

Help? Yeah.

We need to communicate with her.

We are calling upon Sylvia.

Why do you need our help?

She's not answering.

Let's just go play outside.

D E A T

H Death.

Oh my god.

By spelling out death, I think it was just trying to frighten us.

And it worked.

The spirit.

that was talking to us was not Sylvia.

It was something darker, something menacing, something we wanted no part

of.

The teens vow to never use the spirit board again.

It was just becoming hostile and threatening, so it was time to put it

away, leave it alone.

And they can only pray it leaves them alone.

One night I was awoken by the sound of something being dragged across the

floor. I didn't see anything.

It was definite enough to disturb me. I knew I wasn't going to go back to sleep

there. So I went upstairs to finish my sleep on the couch in the living room.

So I was laying on the couch, trying to get back to sleep.

And then the thumping started.

Banging on the roof.

It became louder and louder until it was shaking the whole house.

Mom! Dad!

What's going on? I don't know. I couldn't sleep downstairs and I heard

the banging.

We kept hearing these loud bangs.

We didn't know where they were coming from.

The first thing we logically thought about is an intruder.

Somebody's on our house for some reason. Somebody's pounding and stomping on the

roof of our house at night.

Someone's trying to break in.

Let's check it out.

It was getting to the point where I was getting scared because if everybody else

heard it, then there's something there.

It's okay.

It's okay.

It stopped.

Whatever it was. I'm gonna go get the boys.

Wait right here.

Okay?

Hello? Is anyone there?

I had that eerie feeling of someone behind me.

One by one, the Johnson children are being targeted by a mysterious entity.

Two hands were on my back.

In that very moment when I felt it, I was terrified.

We heard her cry out.

We came in, and there she was, very upset, very frightened about it.

Sweetie!

Something pushed me, two hands.

I don't know.

I realized at that point that whatever I came in contact with was evil.

Now it had hurt somebody. It had pushed my sister down.

What was it capable of?

What did it want?

It was becoming more invasive.

It was hurting people.

For months, the kids have been trying to convince their parents that their house

is haunted.

Do you believe us now?

Everything that's been happening is real.

You kids, you just have a wild imagination.

But then how do you explain what we all just experienced?

You heard it too.

Our house is haunted.

And if you aren't going to do anything about it, then I will.

Let's all just go back to bed.

All right? It's been a long night.

My brother and I realized that if anything was going to be done to stop

this activity, we couldn't explain.

It was up to us.

My parents didn't really believe it, or they didn't want to believe it.

So we had to do something about it.

We had to take control of this.

Looking for answers, Carl and Keith seek out paranormal experts.

My brother and I joined a paranormal investigating group based at Rhode

Island College.

We wanted to know what other people were experiencing.

During one seminar, they meet a budding investigator who believes he can help

the Johnson family.

He has blood ties to Lorraine and Ed Warren, the paranormal couple who

inspired the movie The Conjuring.

My name is John Zafis, and I've been involved with the paranormal for 43

years.

Being involved with the paranormal field, I was a very fortunate young man.

Ed and Lorraine Warren are my aunt and uncle, and I had worked with them for

many, many years.

And that was a golden opportunity.

I appreciate you coming.

I hope we can put these stories to rest once and for all.

I can't say my parents were altogether receptive about his visitation.

My mom advised my father, why don't you let them do what they're going to do?

Maybe they'll find something. Maybe they'll be able to help. It couldn't

hurt. So I understand Carl, Keith, and Cindy have been experiencing activity in

the house.

When did the activity increase?

I guess when we started talking with Sylvia.

Sylvia? Yeah.

Through the spirit board.

Carl even saw her.

A spirit board?

It's a game I got him for Christmas.

I even had one as a girl.

The spirit board, it came very popular in the 70s. Everybody was purchasing

them. You would get them as Christmas gifts.

Not realizing that they were opening up the doors to the spirit realm.

I hate to break it to you, but it isn't just a game.

When you use a spirit board, you can open a door to the other

side.

It's very dangerous.

It's not the board itself and the game that causes the problem. It's the

individuals. We're the catalyst. We bring the spirit in.

Need to have a look around.

Is that okay?

Sure.

Although John is not psychic, he attempts to detect the presence of a

spirit by feeling for drafts and temperature changes.

There was definitely this heavy presence in one of the rooms.

Suddenly... John senses a female spirit.

That was Sylvia.

She had a long gray dress on, and she had a bun.

The spirit appears to be in distress, as if she has something urgent to

communicate.

Sylvia was definitely trying to warn the children.

Why? What is she trying to warn them of?

John finds himself drawn to the cellar

It

felt very heavy I felt a

lot of dread I felt like something really did not want me down in that

basement

Paranormal investigator John Zaffis has just encountered two entities in the

Johnson home, and one is not friendly.

That wasn't Sylvia that was causing the haunting down there.

I definitely feel that it was something demonic.

You were right in thinking that Sylvia was trying to contact you.

I was?

So you're saying that this Sylvia is real?

Yes.

It's a real human spirit.

But she has been trying to warn you all about a demon.

A demon?

When he said the word demon, it was then something formidable.

It was no longer fun and games. It was something unholy, something dark and

hateful.

Hearing this from John made everything real for my parents at that point.

It all crystallized for them.

How can this be true?

Mr. and Ms. Johnson, it is true.

These things exist.

Believe when the activity became more aggressive that was the demon trying to

attack your family

But

how did it get here It's just as I feared both

entities came through the spirit board

By Carl and his sister communicating with the spirit board, they not only

allowed Sylvia to come through, but they allowed something in on a demonic level,

a very negative level.

I told you both it was dangerous.

I was rather upset that my brother and sister didn't readily take my advice

about the dangers of communicating with the spirit board.

We were just kids and we got this board and we had no idea, you know, what was

going to happen.

The family wastes no time finding an expert.

In the name of Jesus Christ and by the power of his blood.

We contacted a priest from a local Episcopal church.

He was gracious enough to come and perform a blessing of the home. He

offered Christian prayers and holy petitions that the demon should leave

that house, should be expelled and not return.

God, I pray your blessing upon this house and upon everyone that lives here.

It's over.

They're gone.

The spirit of Sylvia and the demonic entity are gone.

In that moment.

I felt like we had our house back.

I felt like whatever spirit was demonic that was there no longer had power

over us to attack us ever again.

It was like a dark cloud had lifted.

I felt at peace.

From that day forward, the teens make a pact never to use the spirit board

again.

The family is able to resume life as usual without any further paranormal

experiences.

The years went on. Of course, we grew up. Eventually, we moved out of the

house. We got married.

My parents continued living out in the house for many years afterwards.

They had a peaceful existence living in that house for the remainder of their

time there.

But their brush with the paranormal has changed them forever.

My brother and I went on to become paranormal investigators, very

established. We are demonologists.

We have been able to help a great number of people in similar situations.

We work together to this day to try to bring awareness that the dangers of

spirit communication are a reality.

This experience showed me that there is more to this world than meets the

eye, that everything is not as it seems.