Original subtitles

[Wind howling]

[Waves crashing]

♪

♪

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♪

♪

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♪

♪

♪

♪

- Uh, do you want anything else?

Lonnie's asking to cut the oven.

- Oh, geez, Frank. It's late. I'm sorry.

I-I can get out of here. Really.

- No. No, no. Stay as long as you like.

I like having you here.

- Thanks.

- That's...38 special, right?

That's a service uniform from, uh...

early '70s? - Yeah.

1973.

It's a cold case from the university archives.

Just helping them out. - Mm.

You hitting the wall?

- Mnh. Not yet.

- Of course not.

I still don't know how you can eat and look at that stuff.

- Yep. Yep. Kind of weird, huh?

- I'll get you the refill. - Thanks, Frank.

♪

[Door opens and closes]

Okay.

This is Dr. Megan Garland, forensic anthropologist,

Crichton Institute of Science.

It's case L02-10th,

February 12th, 2025.

So, the remains are male.

Uh, approximate age, 17 to 21 years.

There's skeletal asymmetry that shows robust bone structure

and slightly larger joint surfaces on the left arm,

especially the humerus and wrist.

These are consistent markers with left-hand dominance.

[Electricity crackling]

[Static hisses]

- ♪ Come on, Silver Lady, take my word ♪

♪ I won't run out on you again ♪

♪ Believe me

♪ Oh, I've seen the light

♪ It's just one more night without you ♪

- And the personal effects-- they found a journal

in his backpack.

It's soaked in bodily fluids,

but some of it's still legible.

Looking for writing characteristics

of a left-handed individual.

Let's see. Um...

"Things became clearer out here. Just me and the trees."

Uh, something, something, "I know who I am."

"I think you'd understand. Maybe not.

Either way, I hope that you're proud of me."

Huh.

♪

[Plate scrapes]

- You want me to box that up?

- Um...

No, I'm not hungry anymore.

[Vehicle passing]

♪

[Police radio chatter] [Camera beeps]

[Camera shutter clicks]

[Footsteps]

[Camera beeps, shutter clicks]

[Camera beeps, shutter clicks]

[Footsteps departing]

[Radio chatter continues]

[Dog barking in distance]

♪

[Birds chirping]

[Footsteps approaching]

♪

♪

[Siren wailing in distance]

♪

- Ian.

[Police radio chatter]

- The father?

- Something else.

[Dog barking]

♪

- [Exhales heavily]

[Barking intensifies]

♪

[Dog barks]

- Our goal here at the Body Farm

is to study decomposition by recreating

every which way you might find a body.

If what we learn helps officers like you solve crimes faster,

then we've done our jobs.

So, we have some above ground, like these in cages,

others in shallow water.

Some are buried-- if you'll follow me this way--

wrapped in plastic, or stored in the trunk of a car.

[Doors close]

Now, in my career, I've had to I.D. bodies

based off bits you wouldn't even know were bone.

But now, thanks to advanced technology

and the 3-D printer in our lab,

we can predict and extrapolate an entire skull

based off of the fragment of an eye socket

not much bigger than your fingernail.

Now, I know that sounds like magic,

but I assure you it isn't.

We hold ourselves to a rigorous standard here.

It's actually pretty darn cool.

At its very basic level, my job is about understanding

someone's life in reverse.

Now, every dead body has secrets,

but they just don't speak the way you and I do.

Just give me a minute. What's up?

- Hey. There's a police chief,

Ian Marks, here to see you. - Okay.

- He says it's personal. - Well, alright.

Can you take over for me? - Yeah, sure.

How's it going? - Tall one's a little queasy.

- Think he's ready for the maggots?

- The maggots. I'm gonna miss the maggots.

Have fun, you guys.

Hi. Hi.

Dr. Megan Garland. So sorry to keep you waiting.

Oh, God, please move that. [Chuckles]

- Alright. - Make yourself comfortable.

As you can see, our funding

doesn't quite extend to our office space.

So, how can I help you?

- Well, Dr. Garland, I-- - Oh, uh, "Meg."

Yeah. Really. No need to be so formal.

- About a month ago,

we found three bodies at a house on the coast of Lester Bay.

Two bodies were a mother and her 6-year-old girl.

They were torn apart.

- Do you have any idea by what? - No.

The third body--

it didn't quite belong.

So we ran its DNA.

And-- to be clear, this is why I'm here today--

the third body...

is your father.

♪

- Uh, may I?

- Please.

♪

- Uh, is this him? - Yeah.

I'm sorry. - No. Don't be.

He left us when I was 4.

- Mm. I hate to hear that.

But something has brought him back, and...

Well, I was hoping you might come take a look for yourself.

- Oh, no, um-- No, I don't think I'd be any help here.

- Oh. Well, the truth is,

we're actually at a bit of a loss here,

and we would really benefit from your expertise.

- I appreciate that you drove all the way out here, but I--

- I hear you. It's just, you have insights

that we really do need. - Okay, I can't help you

with this.

Uh, this man doesn't mean anything to me.

[Door opens] [Bird squawking]

[Door closes] - Hey.

Uh, Ian wanted me to give you this

in case you change your mind. - Okay.

You can put it on the desk.

- What did you say to him?

- Told him to burn the body.

♪

You got to be fucking kidding me.

[Exhales heavily]

♪

[Keypad beeping]

♪

[Water running]

♪

[Water shuts off]

[Crickets chirping]

[Video game beeping]

[Thunder crashing]

[Crickets chirping]

[Rain pounding]

[Door opens]

- [Breathing heavily]

[Door creaks]

[Footsteps]

[Glass shatters] Oh, shit.

[Keypad beeping]

[Alarm blaring]

[Round chambers]

♪

♪

[Alarm continues]

♪

♪

[Thunder rumbling]

♪

[Dial tone]

[Keypad beeps]

- 911. What's your emergency?

- [Echoing] Right now. The-- The Holcomb Baptist Church.

Behind that church...

Down at the end of the path, just up into the parking lot.

He's-- He might-- He's bleeding bad.

No! Do not transfer me. You don't un--

You don't understand. You got to get there.

He's-- He's in really bad sh--

No! [Fist pounds]

- [Exhales sharply]

- Meg.

Go back to bed, Meg.

- Glendon?

Stay on the phone with. - It's coming for me.

[Thunder crashes] - Is someone there with you?

I can't hear you. - [Exhales heavily]

- [Gasping]

[Alarm blaring]

♪

[Breathing heavily]

♪

[Exhales sharply]

- You don't know how you broke it?

- I don't know. Maybe at the Ashford's house.

Can you fix it? - Ian, the gold's worth

more than the parts.

- We're not scrapping Grandpa's watch.

[Cellphone vibrating]

This is Ian.

Meg.

Of course. No, no, no, it's not too late.

Yeah. I'll see you tomorrow. - Great. See you soon.

[Exhales heavily]

♪

[Birds chirping]

♪

♪

♪

♪

♪

- Dr. Garland, I presume.

I'm Lieutenant Marks.

I'm, uh, sorry for your family's loss.

- Oh, family's got nothing to do with it.

Just here to look at a body.

- The chief is waiting for you inside.

He tells me you're the best at what you do.

- Oh, thanks. You're, uh-- You're Ian's dad?

- Yeah, that I am. Right this way.

- Hi.

- Meg, welcome. - Hi.

- This is our coroner, Joe Ratterman.

- Hi. Pleasure. Meg. - Hello.

Right over here. - Okay.

- Uh, Stacy Ashford, 37.

Uh, her daughter, Rebecca Ashford, 6 years old.

What's left of the kid's in the bin.

Cause of death on both, severe hemorrhaging.

Bite and claw lacerations

consistent with an animal attack.

Frankly, these two were eaten.

This one, though--

left untouched by whatever attacked those two.

Peter Stump, 64,

found in the same location,

about 100 yards away in the field out back.

No evidence of any connection between the two parties,

and the decomposition shows

that Stump was dead for quite a while

before the Ashfords were even attacked.

- So, what are you thinking? - Mm.

Predator comes out of the woods, smells the dead body.

Maybe it's got cubs.

Ashfords are in the wrong place at the wrong time.

- So, how does he fit into that story?

- That we don't know.

Your mom filed a missing-persons report in '91.

When we ran his DNA, it led to your state profile.

That's about all we got.

- Any idea where he ran off to?

- What makes you think I ever went looking?

How long have you had him? - About four weeks.

- Don't smell formalin.

How are you keeping them preserved?

- Go on.

- Didn't have to.

They've been like this since.

- What do you make of that?

- Well, it's unusual.

But, you know, bodies decay differently

depending on the conditions.

Uh, may I?

[Gloves ruffling]

♪

♪

Alright. Cause of death, asphyxiation.

The elongated neck and the swelling in the feet

means that he was hanging there for quite a while.

It's probably suicide, but you can't rule out the possibility

that it was someone else. - Okay. None of this is new.

- Ratterman, please.

- The mummified skin here

and here show impressions of a carpet pattern,

which means he was in a late stage of decay when he fell.

- Fell?

- If the noose broke.

Or if his neck stretched long enough to slip out of the rope.

His body tissue was probably seeping at that point.

Uh, you drop a wet towel on the ground,

let it dry, it holds its shape.

All of this is to say he died inside somewhere.

He decomposed for approximately 30 days,

but I need to do a PMI to be sure.

And only then did someone move his body into that field.

Should I go on?

- Meg...

the state lab's backed up for months.

Fish and wildlife's hunting for God knows what out in the woods,

and I haven't the slightest idea

how this man's body factors into any of it.

- I'd have to open him up again.

- Oh, absolutely not.

It's her fucking father, Ian.

- Hey.

You say he's not family?

♪

- Go ahead. - [Sighs]

Oh, come on.

[Papers thud]

- I'll handle Ratterman. [Door opens]

He is a little rough around the edges,

but just remember, this is his home.

- Yeah. [Footsteps departing]

- See what else you can find. - Mm-hmm.

♪

[Camera shutter clicks]

[Electricity humming]

[Camera beeps, shutter clicks]

[Clears throat] 8:45 p.m., March 13, 2025.

This is the second autopsy of Peter Stump,

found on the morning of February 15th.

For the purposes of full transparency,

this is Dr. Megan Garland, his biological daughter.

♪

Subject has an identifying tattoo on his left palm,

approximately 4 inches in diameter.

[Camera beeps, shutter clicks]

There's a healed scar on the upper right shoulder

at the base of the clavicle,

consistent with a gunshot wound.

♪

♪

Ribs appear to have been mended and broken dozens of times,

if not more.

Initial evidence suggests

these wounds were not self-inflicted.

- You think he was tortured?

- This was an initial examination,

but he has electrical and thermal burns

all over his hands.

There's serious trauma on the joints.

I mean, these are not post-mortem injuries.

This was done to him when he was alive.

- Maybe he killed himself before someone else could.

Anything about the tattoo?

- Uh, most of the ink is towards the surface.

Linework is shoddy. He's right-handed.

That he probably gave to himself.

- One of my guys is into this sort of stuff.

Thinks it might have to do with some kind of

old religious symbol. - Hmm.

Well, you'd need corroborating evidence.

Where and how a body is found

can tell us as much as the remains themselves.

Was there anything that suggested ritualism at the site?

- No.

No.

But why don't I show you where we found the body

in the morning? - Mm, that'd be great.

♪

[Exhales heavily] Yep.

Tracks look old.

Any chance there's still an active electrical current?

- No, railroad's been out of service

since the cannery closed. - Huh.

- What's on your mind?

- Maggots.

Uh, Peter Stump's body should have been covered in them.

We've had cases of dead power line workers that come up clean.

Uh, insects won't go near a static electric field.

- Well, it had been raining for three days straight.

Ratterman said it would have washed away the bugs.

- Yeah, I read his report.

♪

[Vehicle approaching]

♪

♪

♪

[Gearshift clicks]

I'd like to officially be added to the case.

With your permission.

- Yeah. I would like that.

Yeah. I'll make a few calls. - Great.

- You want to grab a bite, talk through it?

- I mean, the insect succession wasn't merely disrupted.

It was nonexistent.

So there's really no electrical current by those train tracks,

and there's only two explanations for why

there's no bugs in that body.

Either, one, he died and decomposed frozen

or submerged in water,

which, according to the remains, we know is not the case.

Or, two, he died in a sealed environment

someplace that the flies couldn't access,

they couldn't lay their eggs, and therefore no larva.

But if that's the case, then that body

had to have been placed where you found it,

I mean, no more than-- [Sighs]

I mean, you're talking bacterial and acidic decomp only.

Uh, most of the VOC's already released.

Gas emissions around day 25 would be...

Two or three.

[Pen clatters] Goddamn it. I'm so sorry.

- What? I'm listening.

Seems like you're getting somewhere.

- No, no, no, it's not that.

I just, um...

You know, if he had come to my house or called me,

I could have dismissed him, but...

God, he just had to come back like this, didn't he?

Dead.

- It's the only way you'd pay attention to him.

- Mm. [Chuckles]

[Breathes deeply]

You know, shutting him down when he was alive

would have been my choice, but now I'm--

Seeing things, seeing him,

I don't have a say.

- Our records show your mom lives close.

How's she coping with all this?

- She's not.

I haven't told her yet.

I know. I know.

Look...

when he left, he didn't just vanish.

He took everything, alright?

The car, their entire life savings.

She lost the house. She had to file for bankruptcy.

I mean, my mom didn't take jobs out of interest.

She-- She took whatever paid and clawed her way back out.

I mean, she erased him from our lives,

and I don't blame her.

Anything that I know I have pieced together

bit by bit over the years.

And now finding out that he's been alive this whole time?

I just...

I don't know how she's gonna receive that.

Shit, I'm sorry.

Uh, I should not be telling you this.

That is very unprofessional.

- No, no.

Your openness isn't a knock against your credentials.

If anything, it's-- it's a show of strength.

You know, my dad and my grandpa always had issues.

My dad barely even let him in the house.

But, uh, this one night--

I must have been, I think, about 8 years old--

my grandpa sneaks in the back door,

tiptoes through the house, comes up the stairs,

and pulls me out of my bed still in my pajamas,

puts me in the passenger seat of his cruiser.

- Oh, my God. Another cop? - Yeah. Yeah.

But at the time, I barely knew what that meant.

I mean, I barely knew the man.

So, he takes me on this ride-along,

and we're out all night.

Now, nothing crazy happens, right?

But I'm-- I'm still-- I'm mesmerized.

The lights at night, empty streets,

static on the radio.

Just hanging with my grandpa. - [Chuckles]

- We get back just before the sun comes up.

But before I get out, he gives me his watch.

And he tells me, "I hope you never think of me

the way your old man does."

Never told my dad about that night or how I got the watch.

I guess some things just get heavier

the longer we carry them.

♪

I'll go see Ratterman tonight.

Maybe he missed something about those maggots.

[Crickets chirping]

[Line ringing]

♪

- Hi, hon.

- Listen, Mom, uh, I have to talk to you about something.

It's about my father.

They found him.

- Alive? - No, Mom.

- Oh.

- Well, um, we don't know exactly,

but it happened a couple of months ago.

Uh, it may be...

Well, probably suicide.

Mom?

[Sighs]

Look, I-I've been going through his personal records.

And at least for the last 30 years, I can't find anything.

I mean, there's no tax filings.

There's no bank accounts. There's no criminal records.

- Where are you, Meg?

- Uh, Lester Bay. I'm helping the police.

I mean, I didn't want to get involved,

but they just seemed like they were in...

- You shouldn't.

Giving that man an ounce of your time

is a mistake. - Oh, no, no. I know, Mom.

I wasn't. I just thought that--

- I can't talk about this right now.

- Mom-- [Line disconnects]

[Footsteps]

[Creaking]

[Footsteps]

[Groaning]

♪

♪

- [Moans]

[Shrieks]

[Crickets chirping]

♪

♪

[Police radio chatter]

♪

[EDM playing in distance]

♪

- Ratterman!

[Whirring]

Goddamn it.

Joe!

[EDM playing in distance]

♪

Ratterman! [Knock on door]

For the last time, you can't leave the furnace unattended.

Meg found something, Joe. I gotta talk to you.

Coming in.

Ratterman?

[Clattering]

[Music continues]

♪

[Clattering]

♪

[Ominous music playing]

♪

Joe?

[Wheezing]

Joe?

[Wheezing continues]

♪

[Crackling]

[Gunshots]

[Breathing heavily]

[Door slams]

Dispatch, this is Ian, south side of--

[Snarling]

[Screaming]

[Alarm blaring]

♪

[Screaming intensifies]

[Police radio chatter]

[Siren wailing]

- Go ahead and bring that hose down!

Let it out!

♪

[Siren chirps]

♪

[Indistinct conversations]

♪

[Police radio chatter]

♪

- Is there anything I can do?

- Peter Stump's body is ash. You can go home.

♪

- I can work with ash.

- Transitioning to salvage and investigate.

Tell the fire marshal that we're gonna be rolling.

We'll leave one engine behind. [Monitor beeps]

[Labored breathing]

[Door opens]

[Door closes]

[Breathing continues]

[Knock on window] - Move along!

[Engine starts]

♪

♪

[Birds chirping]

[3-D printer whirring]

- Skull print on M-08's about done if you want to take a look.

- Uh, you can put it on my desk. I'll look at it in the morning.

[Sighs]

[Pen scratching]

[Knock on door] [Gasps]

Hey. - Sorry.

Didn't mean to scare you. - Oh, come on in.

That's okay. - Hi.

- I just thought you could use some company.

- [Chuckles]

[Voice breaking] Okay.

- Oh, hi.

- [Sobbing] - You're okay.

- [Gasps] - It's okay.

So, the guy's unaccounted for, for 34 years?

He hangs himself somewhere, and a few weeks later,

his body turns up in the mud next to a double murder.

- Yep.

- Well, that's fucking weird. - I know.

- Are these fractures?

- Like his head ruptured from the inside out.

- This is why you've been a mess at work.

You can't get away from this, can you?

First thing you told me when I started working for you was

that it's not about how they died.

It's about how they lived.

- I'm so happy for you.

You're gonna be a great mom. You know that?

- Thank you. [Cellphone ringing]

- Hello? - Yeah.

Hey, listen, I'm still getting situated down here.

They got me in the station, down in the basement.

But, uh, there's no smoke inhalation on Ian.

Throat and lungs came back clean.

- The fire didn't kill him.

Did you find anything else?

- Yeah.

Bite marks.

Like the others.

- Okay. Ratterman, thanks.

[Insects chirping]

♪

Yeah. Checking on one of these.

[Computer beeps]

And get closer.

Shit, am I crazy?

- No.

You should go.

Yeah, I got things covered here.

You can go.

- Print that, please. - Yeah, sure.

- Thank you.

[Printer whirring]

[Metal clicking]

♪

♪

♪

[Door bangs]

♪

- [Sniffles]

[Footsteps approaching]

- I asked where you were. I-I didn't know.

I didn't want to do this here.

- What do you got?

[Bag unzips]

- This is a photo I took of Rebecca Ashford

using fluorescence imaging.

it allows us to see bruising

that might not be visible to the naked eye.

So, these are incisions.

These are contusions.

Now, I have triple-checked my work,

but this bruising-- it shouldn't be there.

The incisions are bite marks from something non-human.

But this...

is a sequence of human teeth.

♪

- You're telling me you think a person did this?

- [Sighs]

Look, I...

In 1949, 30 tribesmen died in a village in Uganda.

The bodies were terribly mutilated.

The villagers were convinced that they were hunting

a crocodile, right?

But then six months later, they find--

Shit.

Six months later, they find out

that it's a rival tribe using weapons

made from the jawbones of crocodiles.

Alright, their instincts weren't wrong.

They just weren't looking at it in the right way.

- We've had four victims, none of which

could have an open casket, and you're saying,

"It wasn't done by an animal. This was done by a man."

- No, no, just-- just three of them.

- Excuse me?

- We only know the where and how on three of them.

We have no idea where Peter Stump died or--

or where he's been since he disappeared.

Look, I wasn't entirely honest with Ratterman

when I said I didn't go looking for him.

I looked once, but my mom just...

I think she knows something.

But she won't talk to me about it, about him.

Maybe she'd talk to you.

[Water lapping]

♪

[Vehicle approaching]

♪

♪

[Engine shuts off] [Vehicle door opens]

- I-I already told my daughter I want nothing to do with this.

[Vehicle door closes] [Vehicle door opens]

[Vehicle door closes]

- Hi, Mom.

- Oh, Meg.

- Want a little tea? - Oh, tea would be perfect.

That is awesome. Thank you, sweetie.

[Liquid pouring]

Yeah. [Liquid pouring]

[Birds chirping] - Do you want the one

with the flower or you want-- - I'll take this one.

[Electricity zapping]

Thanks.

Is he gonna sit?

- You don't have to worry about him.

[Switch clicks]

- You got that look in your eyes.

[Stammers]

You got something to say, just say it.

- I'm just trying to understand what happened, Mom.

- Your father abandoned us. That's what happened.

- I know. I know.

I know he's a bad guy, I know he probably deserves it,

but that doesn't mean I don't want to know.

- Look around you.

This is the life that we created together.

Not the one that he took from you.

I--

I can't tell you how much I ached for him to come back.

But he didn't because we meant nothing to him.

Goddamn it, Meg, I thought we'd already gone through this.

You-- You come over here--

I haven't seen you for weeks--

with some guy asking about your father.

Goddamn it.

Even in death, he's fucking us up.

[Chair legs scrape]

- It's not fair.

I get it.

Losing family-- it's not fair.

- [Exhales sharply]

- But helping us remembering him for just this one minute

will not betray what you've done for your daughter.

♪

- Mom, please.

Please.

- [Breathes deeply]

[Sniffles]

♪

[Gasping lightly]

Pete and I [gasps]

met on the sea.

♪

He was an engineer.

I was a geophysicist.

We worked together on an oil rig.

[Stammers]

It wasn't unusual for people to take off for...

weeks at a time.

So I didn't think anything of it.

And then after he--

he disappeared, these two cops showed up

and wanted to know if a guy named Lou Bishop

worked with him.

Um, did he know him?

I never heard of the guy.

And they said that they didn't know

if that had anything to do with his walking out on us.

[Gasps lightly]

- And you never looked into it?

- No. No.

'Cause if he was involved in anything criminal,

I wanted nothing to do with that.

I-I had a little girl.

I-I...

I changed our names.

And I never said...

his name again, and that's all there is to it, okay?

- All this time, you...

[Breathing heavily]

[Groans]

- [Breathes deeply]

♪

- I didn't keep much from him,

but if there's anything, it'll be in here.

Here.

[Thunder rumbling]

- She cares about you, you know.

It's like that, uh, fluorescent bruising.

Can't see it, but it's there.

- Dramatic enough for a 13-year-old?

- Oh, yeah.

I imagine Ian had a few of these tucked under his bed.

- Mm.

You guys weren't always close?

- My son wanted to be a cop just like my old man.

I opposed. He resented.

And when Lily passed,

what he needed was, uh...

Hell, I don't know.

I don't know what he needed.

But I knew what he didn't need, and that was a dad who said no.

So...

...I said yes. - [Chuckles]

- And then I joined him.

You know, I've been meaning to ask.

- Yeah?

- Don't you think this is an awfully big coincidence,

with you, you know, and your line of work?

[Thunder rumbling] - No.

No such thing as coincidence.

[Sniffs]

You know, our--

our dog ran away the night he left.

And a couple of weeks later, I found her dead,

just decomposing on the side of the road.

And I couldn't understand why he would just leave us,

but that was just right there.

[Clears throat]

I don't know. I guess I, um...

I had to choose between...

following what just disappears in the wind

or what decays right in front of you.

So, you know, me doing what I do,

studying what's tangible,

that's not a coincidence.

It's a direct result of what he started.

- So, this is Lou Bishop.

Photograph was taken in his 20s, before the injuries.

Guy was a groundskeeper at a church.

He was out walking the pastor's dog in the middle of the night

when he got attacked by something.

By the time the EMTs got to him,

his heart had stopped, he was missing half a face.

Doctors said he had no brain activity for a few minutes.

They revived him in the E.R.,

but, uh, he slipped into a coma for about six weeks.

- Where? - Two hours south,

in Holcomb County.

Then he wakes up to realize he's paralyzed from the waist down

and they've amputated his right arm.

- He had 127 reconstructive surgeries,

face and limb transplants rejected by the body.

Hell, this guy wakes up

just to find he's looking like Frankenstein.

- Frankenstein's monster.

They ever find what did it? - Unsolved.

Only witness was the dog.

But get this-- the date he was attacked?

August 26, 1991.

- The day Peter Stump went missing?

- Exactly. So, if the thing

that attacked Lou Bishop in '91

is the same thing that's doing it now,

then he's the only one we know to survive it.

He moved to Lester Bay a few years after the attack.

The guy is still alive.

[Engine starts]

[Metal creaking]

[Button clicks]

[Elevator whirring]

- Police. [Knock on door]

Open up.

- Uh, can I help you? - Uh, I hope so.

I'm looking for a Mr. Lou Bishop.

He live here? - Lou Bishop?

Um, no. Should I-- Should I know him?

- Well, it's the address we have for him on file.

What's your name?

- Oh, uh, my-- my name is Daniel Webb.

- Well, Daniel, do you mind if we come inside and talk?

- [Exhales sharply] Like I said, I--

I don't have anything else to offer.

- Alright, well, I have your number.

Now you have mine.

Give us a call if that name rings a bell.

Thanks.

- He's lying.

- I'll call Holcomb County, see if they got anything on Bishop.

[Button clicks, elevator whirs]

[Door closes]

[Indistinct speaking on TV] - [Sighs]

[Labored breathing]

What do you want me to do?

- Holcomb County gave me everything they had

on Lou Bishop.

This is the 911 call the night he was found.

[Plastic clattering]

♪

- 911. What's your emergency?

- You need to send an ambulance right now

to the Holcomb Baptist Church.

There's a man down back there, and he's dying,

right behind the church on the trail

at the south end by the parking lot.

- Okay, sir, stay with me while I reroute your call

to the dispatcher in that county.

- No! Do not transfer me!

You don't-- You don't understand.

You got to get there. He's-- He's in really bad sh--

- What's your name, sir? - Mine?

- Yes. Who am I speaking with?

- Uh...

Glendon Mathers.

- Okay, Glendon, do you know how this man got injured?

- Dad?

- Meg.

Go back to bed, Meg. - Glendon?

I can't hear you. - It's coming for me.

[Thunder crashing] - Stay on the phone with me.

Don't hang up.

Glendon, is someone there with you?

[Dog barking]

- Uh, that's him on the tape. That's Peter Stump.

- How do you know that?

- Because that's the night that he left.

Uh, the little girl at the end is me.

- Lenny, run the names

Glendon Mathers and Peter Stump through the system,

see if we get any hits.

- [Breathing heavily]

[Static hissing]

♪

♪

[Knock on door]

- Call just came in. There's another body.

We got multiple calls out for a Glendon Mathers.

- Did you try the local hospital records?

- 10 in the surrounding counties.

There was a baby born with that name

six years ago, but that's it.

Look, um, don't take this the wrong way,

but I think your pops was smarter

than you give him credit for.

He's avoided detection for this long.

You know, he knows the ways in which people

are gonna look for it.

When we came out west, my, uh-- my pops, he got all weird.

He got into that sovereign citizen militia nonsense.

Moved us to a compound out in the middle of nowhere.

So I know what it's like to try and live off the grid.

You know, the one thing you can't do without?

The goddamned post office.

[Siren wailing]

- Huh.

- Update on 10-54.

Possible suspect still on site.

Send all available units.

♪

- Get back in your vehicle and get out of here.

[Car doors open]

- Meg, stay in the car. We got a body in the building.

Driver says he heard something inside.

[Scraping]

♪

♪

♪

[Dial tone]

♪

[Scraping continues]

♪

♪

♪

♪

♪

♪

♪

- 10-4, Unit 51.

Do you need a second unit?

[Camera shutter clicks]

[Police radio chatter]

♪

[Camera shutter clicks]

♪

♪

- Look, i-it's not what it looks like.

That's the only explanation.

- You can go ahead and book it.

The blood on Stump's body

is gonna match the woman over there.

- Suggesting what? He's dead.

Someone else had to move it there.

- She's right. There had to be a third party.

Somebody planted it.

- Meg, could we be dealing with something else here?

- [Scoffs]

Like what?

- I don't know-- like the tribe thing, something else?

- I'm telling you, this shit is witchcraft.

- Witchcraft?

That's your theory? As a medical professional?

So then what does that make me? Because I was born

from whatever the fuck that is in there.

♪

[Cellphone vibrating]

- How's it going?

- I need you to run an age progression

on Peter Stump's skull.

The X-ray should already be loaded in the system.

Just see what prints.

- Meg, what's wrong?

- [Exhales sharply] Uh...

Just, uh, check if there's any abnormalities, okay?

- Yeah, okay.

- Thanks, Katie. - Yeah.

Talk to you later. Bye.

♪

♪

[Labored breathing]

[Monitor beeps]

♪

♪

- Excuse me.

Can I help you?

- What are you doing here?

- Uh, nothing. I was just leaving, actually.

- Hey, wait. Uh-- Hey.

[Car door closes]

Marks. Hey. Yeah, uh, that-- that guy

that we saw at Lou Bishop's, he's parked at the--

the road at the back of the property.

Get in your car now. [Engine starts]

Hey. No, no, no. Hey, wait, wait, wait, wait.

Where are you going? No. Get out of the car.

Get out of the car.

Hey! [Tires screech]

What, are you gonna run me over? Get out of the car!

[Siren wailing]

- Any units on scene redirect to the back access road.

Possible suspect in a red van.

[Labored breathing]

- Look in the back.

- Meg? You alright?

- Yeah. - Driver, show me your hands.

Show me your hands.

- There's, uh, someone in the back of the car.

[Siren chirps]

- Who's in the back? - My father's in the back.

[Knock on window]

- Police!

- Tell him to come out. - I can't do that.

- Open it. Let's go. - Okay.

- Let's go. - Okay.

[Labored breathing] [Monitor beeping]

♪

♪

[Grunts]

♪

- He keeps looking at his watch. [Door opens]

- Alright, so, there's this private post center

down by the coast. They rented a P.O. box

to a Glendon Matters.

Manager said he's been a customer for years.

Couple weeks back, they're closing up,

they smell something awful, they go in the box,

they open up the package, and it's a bag of rotting blood.

- Medical bags?

- Like for an I.V. with hoses is what she said.

I don't know. You tell me. But every P.O. box

requires a contract, so I had them dig that up.

There's an address.

So, if Glendon Mathers really is Peter Stump,

[scoffs] then he's been living 20 minutes down the road.

- Let's find out what this guy knows.

He never mentioned the name Peter Stump?

- No, I-I never heard of him.

- That's what you said about your father,

and look where we are now. - Yeah. Your point is?

- How about the name Glendon Mathers?

- Yeah, that's the guy that called 911

the night they found my dad.

We've been looking for that guy for years.

You-- You know who that is?

- Did your dad have any interaction with him

or any recollection of him?

Maybe a member of the church?

- I mean, you can go and try and talk to him,

but he doesn't talk much on account

that he's got a ventilator tube down his throat.

You know, we pass notes or eye contact.

We get by.

- Were you aware of this 911 call that was made by a man

who reported your father's injuries?

[Cellphone vibrating]

- Meg? - Real quick.

What is the number of the oil platform

you and Peter Stump worked on?

♪

- It's K-2-1-8.

- That's it.

We have an address.

We're not sure if it's his, but it's on shore,

directly across from the same oil platform.

- What about the name of... - Um...

- ...the officer who...

- Thank you, Mom.

- Did he ever, uh, find out what attacked him?

- I was a kid when it happened. They, um--

They said it was an animal.

You know that he was pronounced dead

at the scene when they found him?

Coma. Full blood transfusion.

In and out of surgeries for years.

You know, I...

[Inhales deeply]

Sometimes I feel like asking him if he felt it was worth it.

- Felt what was worth it?

- You know.

Surviving.

[Printer whirring]

♪

♪

- Hey. - Yeah?

- Uh, listen, I-- I, uh-- I wanted to apologize

for how we left things.

Uh, Stump will be here any second.

I'm gonna have his body down the basement

if you want to come and have a look.

- Okay.

[Indistinct speaking]

♪

- Look, regardless, uh...

he, uh,-- he still kept searching for it, alright?

He said he had these recurring nightmares

ever since he was attacked.

Like-- Like, I don't know,

he was trapped in a cage in a basement somewhere.

I-I don't know. And then two months ago,

he said the dreams were different, that...

he was out of the cage, you know?

So, as I'm taking him to the locations

that he's you know, seeing...

...all we had to do is listen to your police scanner.

Okay. Okay. I know. It sounds crazy.

I'm not saying that I endorse any of this.

I'm just...

He's my dad, alright?

I'm-- I'm trying to give him peace.

[Printer whirring]

[Door closes]

Listen, I-I've told you everything.

And I'm sorry that I lied to you at the door.

I apologize. But are we being arrested?

Because if not, I need to take my dad

and I need to leave now.

[Printer whirring]

♪

♪

Dad! - Daniel--

- No. I'm getting my dad.

Dad! - Daniel--

- You're letting them go? They're fucking involved, Marks.

- I have to let them go. - Wait, wait.

- Meg, stop. I gotta let them go.

- What did this to you? - [Groaning]

- What do you think attacked you? - [Moaning]

[Electricity zapping]

[Monitor beeping rapidly]

[Growling]

- Hey, hey, hey, Dad, Dad, relax. Don't-- Don't do this here.

Dad. Dad. - [Gasps]

- Hey, hey, let her go. Tell him to let her go!

Let her go! - [Groaning]

- He needs me. No, no, don't call an ambulance!

It's fine, alright? This happens every full moon.

He's having a nightmare, okay?

He thinks he was attacked by a werewolf, alright?

He thinks they're connected. He sees what it sees.

Just-- I have this--

Dad, let go. Please.

- [Gasps]

- I'm right here. It's fine. Hey, hey, hey, it's Daniel.

- [Groaning]

[Glass breaking] [Snarling]

[Footsteps approaching]

♪

[Metal clacking]

♪

[Machinery whirring]

♪

♪

[Body thuds]

♪

[Crackling]

- The fuck?

- [Snarls]

- [Screaming]

[Groaning]

♪

[Screaming]

- [Snarling]

[Electricity zapping] - [Screaming]

♪

- [Growls]

♪

- Somebody!

- [Growling]

♪

- Somebody!

♪

- [Snarling]

♪

[Shrieks]

♪

[Snarling]

[Whimpering]

♪

- [Breathing heavily]

[Electricity zapping]

- [Snarling]

♪

[Howls]

♪

[Door opens]

[Electricity zapping]

- [Breathing heavily]

Ratterman?

♪

[Footsteps approaching]

♪

♪

- [Screaming]

[Crunching]

♪

- [Snarls]

[Gunshot]

- [Groaning] [Flesh tearing]

♪

- [Snarling]

- Three to three central.

[Rapid footsteps]

- [Snarls] - [Screaming]

[Static crackling]

[Body thuds]

♪

[Bones crunch]

[Electricity zaps] - It's coming for me.

[Garbled speaking] It's coming for me.

- [Screaming]

- [Snarling]

- [Breathing heavily]

♪

[Static crackling]

♪

- [Snarling]

[Howls]

[Electricity zapping]

♪

- Anything comes through this door, you shoot it.

- [Howling]

[Snarls]

[Gunshots]

[Snarls]

- [Screaming]

♪

- [Growling]

♪

[Howling]

[Gunshots]

♪

[Round chambers]

[Gunshot] [Snarling]

♪

[Howls]

- [Groaning] - You alright?

- It's my eyes.

- Meg. Meg?!

- [Breathing heavily]

- Lenny.

- [Groaning]

- We have multiple officers down.

[Speaking indistinctly]

Yeah, an animal, some-- - Alright, here, here.

- Some kind of wolf. - Open your eyes.

You squeeze really hard, okay?

- We're on Gabe's road. All of them.

I need all of them. - [Groaning]

- Send everything you've got!

♪

- Are you hurt?

- He was right. He was right, like, uh--

He was right all along, and I doubted him.

I'm-- I'm-- I'm sorry, Dad.

- You said that he-- he sees what it sees,

that they're-- they're tethered somehow.

- Y-Yes, uh, "an incomplete transfer," alright?

Those are his words, that he didn't, uh, become it,

but that it's still in him.

- Lou?

Lou, can you hear me?

I need your help.

Lou, I'm so sorry.

I'm so sorry about my father, about--

that I brought you here, that I didn't believe you.

I'm sorry. Please. I need your help.

Where is it going?

♪

- Meg!

Meg?

- Home. [Siren wailing in distance]

[Howling in distance]

- No, stand by with K-9 units and set up a perimeter

along Route 18 and 20.

We're heading out to look at a house

where we think it might be headed.

- [Groaning]

- Just so, uh, we're on the same page here,

there were no maggots on the body

because they sensed it wasn't dead,

which means we're talking about a creature

that can survive dormant inside its host.

- Transformation even after death.

- As long as we're on the same page.

[Siren wailing]

- Does that mean for me?

♪

[Brakes squeal]

♪

- Hey.

- You good with that? [Round chambers]

- My mom taught me how. I think she wanted me

to know what to do if I ever saw him again.

- We know this thing's gonna revert back, right?

Why don't we just wait? Burn the corpse in the morning?

- How many more people die before then?

Look, Peter Stump kept it at bay for 30 years.

The answer to how he did that's in that house.

- Alright. Fuck it. [Groans]

- Let's go.

♪

♪

[Water lapping]

[Heavy breathing, grunting]

♪

♪

♪

[Switch clicks]

♪

- Uh, there's a generator out back.

Let me see what I can do.

♪

♪

[Footsteps]

[Frogs croaking, insects chirping]

[Engine starts]

[Electricity zapping]

[Beeping] - Retinal scanner online.

[Static hissing] [Tape whirring]

♪

♪

[Bat squeaks]

- Today is October 16, 1996.

I'm feeling pretty good today because I've learned about...

- You hear that? - ...silver nitrate.

It was used a long time ago, Old West,

late 1800s in mining towns.

♪

So, I have managed to refine this...

shave this down to a fine particulate powder,

not unlike baking flour.

That fine.

And so I thought I could use that...

...and apply it to my gums

because the gums will absorb this stuff rapidly.

- Nautical maps.

What was he looking for down in the ocean?

- You know, and so I-I-I'm hopeful.

- Hey.

Look.

- You search through those.

We'll take another pass through the house.

Let's go. - Oh, there's hundreds of these.

How do I even...

[Static hisses]

- I shot myself in the leg with a silver bullet.

Pew!

I, uh, shot myself in the shoulder

twice with silver bullets.

The second one, I just left lodged in there,

thinking more time in there would--

Uh, it just caused infection.

And I think at this point...

...the cure for this curse...

is not silver.

So...

I feel like an idiot.

♪

[Static hisses]

I've been trying to get more information about Lou Bishop.

I did track down some medical records.

As usual, dead end.

I want to know why his transformation wasn't complete,

and my only guess is it was the instant blood transfusion

that stopped it from taking a hold.

It's the bugs. It's the smell.

It's the fucking stinky putrescine.

I'm gonna lop it off,

make a little pile of it, and put it in the garden.

Did you know human hair keeps pests away out of your garden?

You know, this fucking shit will keep you up.

Tossing and turning, smelling and sticky,

and getting bit.

You always go to extremes, Pete.

Hair. [Giggles]

Last three months after I transformed back,

the hair grows out this fucking long,

the next day.

So, I guess I'm gonna have to do this every month,

until...

Out with the silver. Out with the hair.

Won't be long before I have silver hair.

[Chuckles]

My God, I could tattoo that.

I am electrifying the fucking cage

because I know the motherfucker.

I'm having issues, though, when I throw the switch.

It's blowing breakers and blowing fuses.

But I will get it.

- Oh!

- [Laughing]

- We got nothing.

You?

- Tried everything. Nothing worked.

Uh, this was a mistake.

We shouldn't have come here. We have to go.

We have to go right now. Marks, come on.

- Meg. Look at this.

- Whatever. I will watch it later.

Let's go! - The date.

It's a month before we found him.

Lenny, we're coming out. Bring the car around.

Two minutes.

Lenny, you reading this?

♪

- Oh, damn.

♪

Oh.

♪

[Groans]

♪

Probably the last time you see me sitting in this chair.

♪

[Sighs]

♪

It's the bones. You know, it's the bones.

They ache horribly.

♪

I feel it deep inside my teeth.

♪

Sometimes, uh...

♪

...my mind just travels away for long periods of time.

It feels like I'm not part of this broken and bruised body.

Well, it is.

I'm so fucking tired.

♪

I think I'm all finished with most things.

I just have one final option.

♪

Oh, Joni.

♪

I love you, baby.

♪

I need you to know.

I hope you know.

♪

I'm not a monster.

I did everything I could to come back.

I did everything I could to come back home.

♪

I love you.

♪

[Crying]

♪

Meg!

[Sobs]

Oh, you're something else.

Oh.

♪

I need you to know...

♪

...I'm so proud of you.

I'm so, so, so, so proud of you, baby.

I love you so much.

♪

The hardest thing I ever did,

walk out that door that night.

Oh, my God, I can't.

♪

Goodbye, Joni.

Goodbye, Meg.

You're safe now.

[Screaming]

- [Growling]

♪

♪

- It's coming for me.

- [Growls]

♪

- Door unlocking. Please stand clear.

♪

♪

- ♪ Come on, Silver Lady, take my word ♪

♪ I won't run out on you again

♪ Believe me ♪

♪ Oh, I've seen the light ♪

♪ It's just one more fight without you ♪

- I'm guessing that door's not gonna hold till dawn.

♪

We gotta find another way out.

♪

We gotta move.

♪

♪

Three to three central, this is Marks.

♪

Three to three central, this is Marks.

♪

Anybody reading this?

♪

♪

[Door thuds]

♪

[Beeping]

- Retinal scan failed.

Unverified identity.

♪

Retinal scan failed.

Unverified identity.

♪

Please step closer.

♪

Retinal scan...

confirmed.

Welcome back, Peter.

- Fuck.

♪

♪

♪

- [Snarls]

♪

♪

- [Howling] - [Screaming]

♪

♪

♪

♪

[Gas hissing]

♪

- [Breathing heavily]

♪

- [Snarls] - [Gasps]

♪

♪

- [Roars]

♪

- [Screaming]

♪

- [Screaming]

♪

♪

♪

[Gasps]

♪

- Meg.

You gotta let go of the bar.

You gotta let go of the bars.

♪

- On three.

- Two. One.

♪

- [Snarls]

[Electricity crackling]

♪

[Stereo powers down]

♪

[Footsteps approach]

♪

♪

♪

- I was certain that if I killed myself,

the werewolf would die as well.

Not so, Pete. Wrong again.

♪

A werewolf doesn't need a living body to keep on living.

♪

It's gonna run, Meg.

It's gonna run, and it's gonna hide.

And it's gonna hide until the next full moon.

And it's going to kill again.

♪

You're gonna have to lure it to you, Meg.

And whatever you do,

you must outlast it until the sun comes up.

If you lose it, this will never end.

[Wind rustling]

You hear that?

♪

You hear it?

♪

- [Gasping]

♪

Dad.

♪

[Gasping]

♪

[Groaning]

♪

♪

♪

♪

♪

♪

♪

♪

♪

[Wind rustling]

♪

[Insects chirping]

[Panting]

[Twigs snap]

[Birds calling]

There you are.

Come on.

- [Snarls softly]

[Gun cocks]

- [Exhales sharply]

You stay. Stay. Stay. Stay. Stay with me.

Right here. Right here.

Okay.

- [Snarls]

- Okay. Okay.

- [Gasping]

[Snarls] - That's it. That's it.

Okay.

That's it.

Just a little longer.

- [Snarls]

♪

♪

[Gunshot] - [Groans]

- Aaah!

[Gunshot]

♪

- [Roars]

♪

- [Gasping]

[Thud]

♪

- Aaah!

♪

♪

- [Roars]

♪

- [Screaming]

[Scream echoes]

♪

[Screaming continues]

♪

♪

[Snarling]

♪

♪

[Snarls]

♪

[Snarls] - Aaaah!

[Flesh tears]

- [Screams]

♪

[Screams]

♪

[Roars]

♪

[Screaming]

♪

♪

♪

♪

- [Sobs]

♪

♪

♪

♪

♪

♪

- Lou Bishop. There you are.

I know you better than you know me.

These unfortunate circumstances.

I really just wanted you to know everything.

♪

- Oh, my gosh, more hair. - I know.

He's nodding his head. It's the best thing.

♪

With our luck though, he's...

♪

♪

♪

- Any luck? - Don't jinx me now.

♪

♪

- Hey!

♪

Okay. Friday, May 1st, 2026.

This is Dr. Megan Garland.

I have increased the Aconitum concentration by 50%.

If that fails, then he'll be imprisoned in his condition

for yet another month.

♪

Until we try again.

♪

Okay.

♪

♪

♪

- [Screaming]

♪

♪

- I, um, I don't even know why I'm recording this.

I-I guess I just need to tell somebody.

Um, my name is Peter Stump.

It's August 26th, 1991...

♪

...and I, uh, I'm a senior engineer

on an oil platform off the coast of Lester Bay.

Kilo 218.

Just over a month ago,

we finished a three-week stint on the sea.

The crew and I have a few drinks every time, the last day.

Uh, I've made a lot of drinks.

I got word that an unmarked fishing boat docked

at the platform, so we went down.

Well, it wasn't docked.

It had crashed.

I climbed down to see if anyone was injured in there,

and the boat was falling,

and it was taking on water pretty fast.

And, uh, everyone on board was just flotsam--

dead.

There was a, um, some kind of a cage.

And, uh, like I said,

I was a little inebriated, you know,

and I-I saw something move inside that cage,

and, um, and it clawed at my arm,

and the guy said, "They put me out right away.

And the boat went down fast, and...

They cleaned me up, and that was that.

And, you know, everybody just

went on with what they were doing,

and I couldn't tell anybody when I got back to shore,

uh, because I'd be fired.

And so would they.

And, uh...

And last night, out of nowhere,

the worst headache I've ever had in my fucking life comes on.

And this, this, this, this pain through my arms,

and though my-- through my legs.

And I-I-I pulled over

because I didn't know what the fuck was happening to me.

It was... I don't know how to say it.

It was like I was sharing...

my mind with something else.

I actually became something--

something primal,

like that thing on the boat.

And I don't know what happened next,

but I woke up naked in the woods behind a church.

And I was throwing up someone else's blood.

And not far from me...

♪

...was another man.

And he was mauled and fighting for his life.

♪

And I...

It was me, I knew it.

I did it.

♪

So, I ran.

♪

When we got home...

♪

...the look on my daughter's face,

my little girl...

♪

God, what if I did this to someone in my family?

I didn't even look.

I couldn't live with myself.

I said, oh, God.

♪

What have I become?

♪

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