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WILLIAM SHATNER: You know,
I've been around for a while.

Met some interesting people,
done some crazy things.

So you just might think
that there's not much that

can take me by surprise.

You'd be wrong.

The world is full of
stories and science and

things that amaze and
confound me every single day,

incredible mysteries
that keep me awake at night.

Some I can answer.

Others just defy logic.

NARRATOR: Do ghosts exist?

Should we fear
the paranormal?

In California, a woman is
terrorized by an invisible

attacker.

Is she the victim of
a genuine haunting?

BARRY TAFF: Forget the silly
movies that are out there.

This is real.

NARRATOR: In New England,
a mother undergoes a

violent transformation.

Has she been
possessed by a demon?

BOB LARSON: It'll make a
cold chill go up your spine.

NARRATOR: And a British
teenager claims to see ghosts.

Does she have the gift?

FAE JACKSON: Like the
fear, it was uncontrollable.

WILLIAM SHATNER: Yeah,
it's a weird world.

And I love it.

[♪]

WILLIAM SHATNER: Have
you ever seen a ghost?

Over ninety million North
Americans claim to have

done just that and forty
million others say they

have physically experienced
a paranormal event.

Many of these events are
easily explained but some

are not only weird and
inexplicable - most

disturbing of all, they seem
to be evidence of pure evil.

Do ghosts exist?

And what are they anyway?

Is the paranormal
something we should fear?

Or is it simply
uh...

hogwash?

NARRATOR: August
8th, 1989.

Barry Taff, one of the
world's leading paranormal

investigators, responds to
the call of a distressed

woman in San
Pedro, California.

He brings along a
colleague, photographer

Jeff Wheatcraft.

BARRY TAFF: After five
thousand cases, you go out

expecting nothing to
happen and most of the

time that's exactly what
does occur - nothing.

NARRATOR: The terrified
woman is Jackie Hernandez,

a single mother who claims
that someone or something

has turned her home
into a living hell.

BARRY TAFF: She reported
apparitions of an old man,

strange lights.

Somebody tried to smother
her a couple times.

Things were flying at her.

It was extraordinary.

NARRATOR: But perhaps
most chilling, on several

occasions Jackie claims to
have seen a corpse in her

son's bed.

Intrigued, the ghost
hunters decide to look around.

BARRY TAFF: I have this
attitude where I'm very

skeptical because you
know that a lot of people

embellish and exaggerate and
misrepresent what's going on.

NARRATOR: But in Jackie's
house they find something

unexpected -
and very weird.

BARRY TAFF: We were taking
pictures all over the

house and we saw this
strange liquid - I don't

know what, viscous liquid
dripping out of a wall.

NARRATOR: Unable to
explain the weird slime,

Taff is now convinced
Jackie's not faking

anything and real
paranormal activity is

occurring in her home.

They take samples and
promise to return,

but just three days
later - another call.

This time, it's
an emergency.

Whatever is in Jackie's
house is on a rampage.

The physical attacks have
become so violent and

severe she fears
for her life.

BARRY TAFF: I was
unavailable because my

father had a heart attack.

So they were
there without me.

NARRATOR: Jackie
reports the evil entity is

now in her attic.

It has been tormenting her
with strange lights and

ear-shattering banging.

Jeff and Gary decide
to investigate.

Nothing could prepare
them for what they find.

BARRY TAFF: They hear
'ohh' like a yell or a moan

and Gary turned back
to see what happened to

Jeff and he couldn't see.

It was too dark
in the attic.

NARRATOR: Despite his
terror, Gary snaps some

photos in the darkness.

What they reveal will
haunt them forever.

BARRY TAFF: You can see
that Jeff, a six foot two

man, about two hundred and
fifteen pounds, something has

wrapped itself around his
neck and it's pulling up,

him up against the
rafter and, yet,

there was no one there.

It was Jeff and Gary.

And he cut him down.

He had a rope
burn on his neck.

It would have killed him.

The question is there was
no one else there, so what

tried to kill him?

How and why?

NARRATOR: Something had tried
to murder Jeff Wheatcraft.

The investigators leave
the house only to make

another chilling
discovery.

The forensic lab report
on the ooze from Jackie's

walls is in.

BARRY TAFF: The conclusion
was it was human blood plasma.

That's something you will
lose sleep over literally.

Forget the silly movies
that are out there.

This is real.

NARRATOR: Now certain they
are dealing with an evil

homicidal phenomenon, they
tell Jackie to get out and

never come back.

What was in Jackie
Hernandez's house,

and was it out to kill?

Jackie's story became known
as The San Pedro Haunting -

one of the most
mysterious paranormal

events in history.

But what really happened?

NARRATOR: Javier Ortega is
a paranormal researcher.

He has no doubt.

JAVIER ORTEGA: The Jackie
Hernandez case is a very

extreme case
of a haunting.

If somebody dared me to go
in the house, I wouldn't

set foot in there.

NARRATOR: Haunting - we've
all heard of it but what

does it really mean?

JAVIER ORTEGA: In a
haunting it's usually uh

the spirit of a deceased
person, the homeowner that

passed away in that house
and they were so attached

to the physical object or
location that they come back.

NARRATOR: Was Jackie's
house haunted by someone

who had died there?

Incredibly, the
investigation uncovered

something bizarre.

JAVIER ORTEGA: During
the investigation of the

Jackie Hernandez case, she
reported that her and some

friends were playing with
the Ouija board and they

were able to talk with the
spirit in the house and

the spirit had told them
that he was a marine that

was murdered.

So they went out and they
did some research and they

found out that there was
a marine named

Herman Hendrickson who was
found dead in 1930.

NARRATOR: Was the spirit
of a murdered marine

responsible for the attacks
on Jackie and Wheatcraft?

Does a haunting explain the
other things she experienced?

JAVIER ORTEGA: A lot of
the things that were

reported were apparitions.

You know, whether it was a
disembodied head floating

in the attic or a uh
a corpse-like old man

sitting in her
child's bed.

Uh she, she also reported
seeing strange lights.

They were described as
globs of, of luminous light.

Free-floating globs of
light have been reported

in haunted places as well.

NARRATOR: But for Ortega,
the most compelling

evidence of a haunting is
that mysterious goo Barry

and Jeff found oozing
from Jackie's walls.

JAVIER ORTEGA: I mean
it just sounds so, so

bizarre, you know, that
you would have human blood

plasma oozing from the
walls and when they

checked, there wasn't any
device that, you know,

that was emitting
this substance.

So that to me has to be
one of the most compelling

cases in the paranormal.

NARRATOR: Was the marine
so angry about being

murdered that he bled
through Jackie's walls?

Incredibly, Ortega thinks
Jackie wasn't the only victim.

JAVIER ORTEGA: When
Jackie Hernandez left the

premise, people who
inhabited that home

have also reported
strange activities.

If you have the same
reports happening year

after year on the same
location when there's

different tenants, it
usually tends to uh to

point towards it being
a location haunting.

WILLIAM SHATNER: What
an incredible story.

You know I mean strange
things happen around my

house too but once I say
I'm sorry everything's forgiven.

But human blood dripping
from walls and a spirit

that is so angry it
tries to kill you?

I mean who they
gonna call?

Ghostbusters?

[chuckles] I've always
wanted to say that.

[♪]

NARRATOR: Was Jackie Hernandez
the victim of a haunting?

Or was it something else?

LOYD AUERBACH: It does
not appear that the house

would fit the
classic haunting.

NARRATOR: A terrified
woman reports extreme

paranormal events in her
home - weird lights,

strange noises, even
physical attacks.

Did Jackie Hernandez
live in a haunted house?

LOYD AUERBACH: It does
not appear that the house

would fit the
classic haunting.

NARRATOR: Loyd Auerbach is
a paranormal investigator.

He believes the answer
isn't ghosts at all.

LOYD AUERBACH: Knowing
what I know about the

Jackie Hernandez case, it
seemed that she herself

was a poltergeist agent.

NARRATOR: Poltergeist?

Isn't that just a
hyperactive ghost?

Or is there a difference?

LOYD AUERBACH: What we
learned in the last

hundred years is that
these things relate

typically not to ghost
sightings, not to

hauntings per se, not to a
place being haunted but to

a person, an individual
in this situation, who is

typically stressed or
otherwise put upon.

NARRATOR: Many now believe
poltergeists are not

ghosts but a manifestation
of something called

psychokinesis.

LOYD AUERBACH: We call it
PK for short and it's the

idea that the mind can
directly interact or

affect matter and energy.

We typically think of it
in the paranormal world as

affecting things outside
your body, whether it be

moving objects, what
people often call

telekinesis, or bending
metal or even healing.

NARRATOR: Was Jackie
Hernandez herself causing

the weird phenomenon
in her own house?

If so, why?

And for that matter, how?

LOYD AUERBACH: Certain
people, their unconscious

minds let loose.

I mean we see people who
are stressed out, who are

put upon in society in
really expressing that

stress in different ways.

Some people get enraged
and they break things,

some people shoot people,
some people keep it

bottled up and it can
explode in kind of a

different direction for
certain individuals,

which is a psychokinetic
direction.

And we call those situations
where there's stress,

think of it as an
unconscious temper tantrum.

NARRATOR: Was Jackie's
unconscious mind throwing

a temper tantrum?

And if so, why?

It could be due to the
fact she was experiencing

emotional issues at
the time, following a

difficult divorce.

LOYD AUERBACH: There was
enough going on in her

life and frankly enough
psychological issues that

would indicate that she
was responsible for most

of the phenomena
that was happening.

In most poltergeist cases,
people rarely ever think

of themselves
as the agent.

NARRATOR: According
to Auerbach, the most

compelling argument that
Jackie was both the victim

and the problem is what
happened when she moved

six hundred
kilometers away.

Incredibly, the vicious
paranormal attacks

on her continued.

LOYD AUERBACH: In
poltergeist cases when

people move, the phenomena
follows them because it's

coming from them and that
also happened in that

particular case.

NARRATOR: But if Jackie
was her own poltergeist,

how is it that the new
tenants also reported

paranormal attacks?

LOYD AUERBACH: We've had
cases where people have

heard about the case and
have gone home and because

they're so freaked out by
the situation they start

witnessing things.

That has happened.

So you can think of it
almost like a contagious idea.

It is possible that it
was a haunted house.

It is possible there
was an entity there.

We can't completely
exclude that, but it best

fit the poltergeist model.

NARRATOR: Could it be
that Jackie herself was

responsible for the
weird goings on?

Or were they the result of
an altogether different

kind of bad vibe?

Professor John Huntington
believes the Jackie

Hernandez case can be
explained by undetectable

audio waves known
as infrasound.

JOHN HUNTINGTON: Sound is just
the vibration in air pressure.

That's how we perceive it,
and that's how it gets

into your ear.

Infrasound is below the
range that we can hear as

an audible sound.

NARRATOR: Human ears
can't detect ultra low

frequencies.

If it's below twenty
hertz, you can't hear it.

JOHN HUNTINGTON: Your body
makes lots of sounds down

at very low frequencies
such as your heartbeat,

the movement of your
blood, breath noise coming

in and out of your body.

If we could hear all that
it would drive us crazy

but we're still being
affected by it.

The sound wave is still
impinging on our bodies.

NARRATOR: But other than
our own bodies, what might

cause these low
frequencies?

JOHN HUNTINGTON: Manmade
sources of infrasound

could be anything from
a piece of air handling

equipment in a building,
anything like a train, a truck.

Anything that's big stuff
that's moving could

generate these very low,
low frequency sounds.

NARRATOR: Incredibly,
Huntington believes low

frequency sound waves
could have caused

Jackie Hernandez's
unpleasant experiences.

JOHN HUNTINGTON: So in
addition to things like

headaches and nausea being
caused by exposure to

infrasound, there have
been some reports of

feeling a presence or some
sort of hallucination or

feeling like strange things
are going on in the room.

NARRATOR: Can infrasound
exposure mimic the

experience of a haunting?

JOHN HUNTINGTON:
In-infrasound could

possibly cause something
like a hallucination or an

apparition or some other
things like that based on

the vibration of the sound wave
actually affecting the eye.

The eye itself could
resonate or get a very

strong sort of vibration
and that could cause

blurring of vision or
possible issues around the

periphery of the vision.

Those things coupled with
already being in sort of

a, a spooky location,
being on edge by the

infrasound, could
certainly cause some sort

of ghostly experiences.

NARRATOR: Could
Huntington's theory be correct?

Does the paranormal
activity witnessed in

San Pedro have a rational
explanation?

And does it explain human
plasma oozing from the wall?

Was Jackie's home haunted?

Or was she her
own poltergeist?

Whatever the answer, this story
is certainly Weird or What.

[♪]

NARRATOR: A Connecticut
housewife is tortured,

from within.

Has she been possessed
by an evil spirit?

JOHN KOERNER: Demons like
to attack good people.

WILLIAM SHATNER: Many of
us have experienced events

that we would call
paranormal but in fact are

just things that are
harmless and easily

explained, but what
is the paranormal?

And does it exist?

Even the name is a little,
well, weird and scary.

Here's the way it's
described in the dictionary.

Paranormal: the claimed
occurrence of an event

without scientific
explanation...

[sighs]

as psychokinesis...

[sighs]

...extrasensory

perception of other
purportedly

supernatural phenomena.

All right, come
on, that's it. Out.

You can fool some
- oh boy oh boy.

But some people experience
paranormal events that are real

- so real in
fact they're deadly.

Weird - or what?

NARRATOR: History
professor John Koerner

studies reports of
paranormal activity.

None have haunted him more than
the story of Patricia Reading.

JOHN KOERNER: By all
accounts she was a good person.

I mean there's nothing you
can see in her past that

would indicate why
this happens to her.

NARRATOR: In 1992,
Patricia's life took a

terrifying turn.

Doing chores around her
home in Litchfield,

Connecticut, she suddenly
hears a terrifying voice.

[distorted voice]

JOHN KOERNER: She felt
what she thought was an

evil presence that
was around her.

There was nothing that
could explain this.

NARRATOR: Patricia tries
to brush it off, but the

eerie voice won't stop.

Ever.

[distorted voice]

It's the beginning of
a horrifying ordeal.

[distorted voice]

PATRICIA: Stop!

JOHN KOERNER: The situation
got much, much worse.

Pat had a number of things
that were happening to her

that were very unusual.

There were bite marks on
the back of her neck,

bruises on the back of her
body, things she could not

do by herself.

NARRATOR: What could be
inflicting Patricia's

vicious bruises
and other injuries?

It's a frightening
and bizarre mystery.

Devastated and disturbed,
she seeks help.

JOHN KOERNER: The family
took Patricia Reading to

the hospital to
local doctors.

They ruled out all of the
conditions that could

possibly be affecting her.

NARRATOR: With no medical
explanation, Patricia

resorts to hoping her
problems will simply go away.

JOHN KOERNER: But then
things started getting

much worse after that.

[maniacal laughter]

JOHN KOERNER: She was
knocked over horribly.

She did not know
what is happening.

NARRATOR: Again and again,
a seemingly evil presence

hurls her into the wall.

JOHN KOERNER: These are
things that never could

happen to Pat Reading
in a normal situation.

She is not herself.

She's becoming
someone else.

NARRATOR: Fearing for her
safety, Patricia has only

one place to turn.

JOHN KOERNER: At that
point the Catholic church

got involved.

NARRATOR: Patricia's bishop
takes her claims seriously.

After an examination, he
reaches an incredible

conclusion.

JOHN KOERNER: He did make
the diagnosis, yes, she is

possessed.

Demons like to
attack good people.

NARRATOR: There's only
one solution, an ancient

ritual as old as
the church itself.

The bishop decides he
will perform an exorcism.

JOHN KOERNER: He called
upon a demon to reveal

himself and say who you
are, reveal yourself in

the name Jesus Christ.

NARRATOR: At first, the
demon stays hidden.

But not for long.

[moans, speaking in tongues]

JOHN KOERNER: She was
speaking in a language

that she could not speak
in normally, trying to

insult the priest, insult
his family, things that

she never would have
done on her own.

These are pretty clear
signs you're dealing with

a, an evil entity inside
the person's body.

NARRATOR: Having forced
the demon into the open,

the real battle begins.

JOHN KOERNER: Things like
holy objects, this often

can anger the demon.

These are tools in a war
that can cause them to be

so upset.

The words of Christ makes
them so angry, so it has

to be said over
and over again.

It's a war of attrition.

NARRATOR: The battle
rages for hours.

At long last,
something breaks.

JOHN KOERNER: The demons,
they'll get so upset they

just can't take this any
longer and they'll go

somewhere else.

They'll go bother
somebody else.

NARRATOR: The exhausting
battle ends with the

demons on the run, but
before long they're back.

JOHN KOERNER:
Evil is real.

It can affect someone
in some horrible ways.

NARRATOR: Sadly, Patricia
runs out of time.

After sixteen exorcisms,
in 2005 she dies of cancer

believed to be
caused by her demons.

[distorted voice]

Incredibly, Patricia's
story is far from the only one.

An estimated 15,000 exorcisms
are performed each year.

Can evil really
live inside us?

Or is there some other way to
explain demonic possession?

Christopher Rosik
is a psychologist.

He says he knows exactly what
happened to Patricia Reading.

CHRISTOPHER ROSIK:
Coming from a religious

perspective you might
assume that this must be

a, a demonic presence
but as a psychologist my

diagnosis would be
dissociative identity disorder.

NARRATOR: Better known
as a split personality,

Disassociative Identity
Disorder is when two or

more personalities
inhabit one mind.

An abusive childhood can
sometimes cause such a

psychological break.

One personality becomes
the happy face, the person

the world sees.

The other deals with all
the hidden pain, shame

and suffering.

CHRISTOPHER ROSIK: The
primary personality is

unaware of the
other personality.

They might hear voices and
these sort of signs but

they don't know
what it's about.

NARRATOR: Were the demonic
voices Patricia heard

really the screams
of a tortured second

personality?

PATRICIA: Stop.

NARRATOR: Could it have
even tried to hurt her?

CHRISTOPHER ROSIK: I had a
patient who would end up

in a graveyard with a
blade in her hand and

having cut her arm.

NARRATOR: Is a
self-destructive alter ego

responsible for
Patricia's injuries?

Can psychology explain
the power of an exorcism?

CHRISTOPHER ROSIK: The
prayer, the ritual has in

fact just served to
rearrange these separate

identities such that they
have receded from the

host's awareness.

They don't hear
the voice anymore.

Then what I experience
happening with some

patients is that maybe
weeks or months later the

voices come back.

Everything I'm saying here
is in no way meant to

malign the value of
religious spiritual care

but there are some
psychological ways of

understanding these
experiences that really

should be taken
into account.

WILLIAM SHATNER:
Demonic possession.

Ordinary people suddenly
possessed by nasty entities.

Ring a bell?

Ah, you know, I've seen
all the movies -

Omen 1, 2, 3, the Exorcist
- the lot.

And guess what?

Not only do they not scare
me but I don't believe them.

[lightning, thunder]

I mean just because it
gets a little stormy

doesn't mean the devil is
on his way to take over

your soul, does it?

And as for all that other
ridiculous stuff like

twisting heads and
speaking in strange tongues

[talks backwards].

NARRATOR: Is demonic
possession all in our heads?

Or is there a more
frightening answer?

BOB LARSON: What Satan can
do is invade human bodies.

NARRATOR: A Connecticut
woman appears to have been

possessed by
an evil demon.

Could she be suffering
from a split personality?

Or is the explanation
far more terrifying?

Reverend Bob Larson is not
your average man of god.

BOB LARSON: I am, among
other things, an exorcist.

NARRATOR: Larson has
studied Patricia Reading's

possession and is
convinced it was real.

BOB LARSON: There are
those who would like to

have the public believe that
demonic possession is rare.

I can tell you
it's not rare.

It'll make a cold
chill go up your spine.

NARRATOR: Are demons
really all around us?

Are they trying to take
over the bodies of

innocent humans?

BOB LARSON: The bible
teaches that when Satan

was cast out of heaven,
a third of the angels

involved in that insurrection
were cast out with him.

NARRATOR: According to the
Book of Revelation,

when Satan lost his war with
God he and his followers

were banished to the
spirit realm on earth.

BOB LARSON: Satan is now
an invisible spirit being.

Satan can't pull the
trigger of a gun but what

Satan can do is invade
human bodies and those

people then become the
instruments of evil.

NARRATOR: Larson believes
demonic possession has a

firm basis in scripture.

He's also certain that
Patricia's condition

wasn't a case of
split personality.

BOB LARSON: I deal a lot
with multiple personality

disorder.

I know the difference.

When you see the demon
have such utter hatred for

God and religious objects
such as the cross,

that aversion means it's
something more than psychosis.

That's when you know
they are possessed.

NARRATOR: But there's one
thing Larson believes is

the ultimate proof
of demonic presence.

BOB LARSON: In the
Pat Reading case,

she apparently spoke in
another language.

I've seen this happen thousands
and thousands of times.

I had a woman speak
Chinese one time.

I had a fascinating case
where a strange language

was being spoken and a
college professor with a

PhD in ancient Semitic
languages, he said I can

come up and tell you exactly
what the voice was saying.

NARRATOR: Could these
foreign, even forgotten

languages prove that Satan
is carrying on an age-old

war by invading the
bodies of humans?

BOB LARSON: To the
skeptics who may not

believe in demonic
possession, I say travel

with me and meet the
thousands of people who

have had exorcisms.

When you see the smile and
the glow on the person's

face as they say to you,
wow, I didn't know I could

feel like this,
something is gone.

That's why I do exorcisms.

NARRATOR: Are exorcisms
ultimate proof that

devilish spirits
still roam the earth?

Could reports of demonic
possession be explained by

a misunderstood
mental illness?

Or is everyone
simply making it up?

Whatever the truth, this
mystery is most definitely

weird...

or what?

[♪]

WILLIAM SHATNER: I don't
know about you but stories

of ghosts and the paranormal
send shivers up my spine.

But that's kinda
fun, right?

But do spirits or ghosts
or whatever they are

always have to be evil?

Aren't there any friendly
dead people out there?

I hope so.

But there's some people
who not only enjoy having

ghosts around, they can
talk to them whenever they like.

How?

They've got the gift.

NARRATOR: In just about
every way, Fae Jackson is

an average teenage girl.

FAE JACKSON: I like to
shop and just hang out

with my friends.

NARRATOR: While Fae's life
appears to be ordinary,

in truth she and her family
are dealing with something

so sensitive they've
chosen to conceal their

appearance.

LYNN JACKSON: Although
it has become part of

everyday life for us,
it's still at times

frightening.

NARRATOR: Fae's story
began three years ago when

she was ten.

FAE JACKSON: I was sitting
in my bedroom on my own.

I could feel a man
sitting next to me.

LYNN JACKSON: She could
feel like an energy,

like a presence next to her.

FAE JACKSON: And I could
just feel his breath in my

ear and it was all warm.

LYNN JACKSON: And then she
heard him whispering in her ear.

VOICE: Can you hear me?

FAE JACKSON:
Can you hear me?

VOICE: Can you hear me?

NARRATOR: Fae
races to her mom.

FAE JACKSON: Like the fear, I
just, it was uncontrollable.

I just, it was
unexplainable.

LYNN JACKSON: The child
was absolutely terrified

and I was scared for
her, to be honest.

NARRATOR: When Lynn takes
her daughter back to the

room, the man is gone.

But Fae is in no doubt as
to what she's experienced.

FAE JACKSON: I saw
my first ghost.

NARRATOR: Terrifyingly,
Fae's encounter was just

the beginning.

FAE JACKSON: The spirits
started regularly visiting me.

They'd only come when I
was on my own and when

they did just random spirits
would walk into my bedroom.

NARRATOR: Fae is haunted
by hundreds of ghosts.

Sometimes she sees as
many as five a night.

LYNN JACKSON: Sometimes
they just want to show her

how they died, which is a
little bit grim at times

and she's only thirteen.

NARRATOR: The ghosts
begin getting bolder.

LYNN JACKSON: There was an
instant when her bed was shook,

which completely
terrified me.

FAE JACKSON: I just felt
like I was being attacked.

It was horrible.

It was, felt really
dangerous and I felt like

I was on my own.

LYNN JACKSON: That was
when I knew we had to do

something about it.

NARRATOR: At her
wits' end, Lynn seeks

professional advice.

LYNN JACKSON: We got lots
of help from local mediums

who understood
what was happening.

NARRATOR: Far from
seeing it as something

frightening, the mediums
tell them Fae's ability to

see and connect with the
dead is a gift, and a very

rare one at that.

LYNN JACKSON: They taught
Fae techniques that she

could use to take more of
a control over her gift

and to see it as
a gift, really.

NARRATOR: With the help
of psychic mediums,

the support of her mother
and lots of hard work,

Fae finally mastered her gift.

FAE JACKSON: It's like I
have two lives: Like I

live one life where I'm
just a normal girl and

then other times I
can talk to spirits.

So it's really
quite exciting.

WILLIAM SHATNER:
I see dead people.

That's something else I've
always wanted to say,

but I can't 'cause I don't.

Well not when
I'm sober anyway.

But incredibly, it may
be because I'm an adult.

You see, Fae isn't alone.

Millions of other children
see dead people too.

How?

Do they possess a special
power, a sixth sense?

And is it a gift
- or a curse?

Weird or what?

NARRATOR: Thirteen-year-old
Fae Jackson

claims she
can see ghosts.

Do children
possess the gift?

Who better to ask about
children who see ghosts

than Caron Goode, author
of 'Children Who See Ghosts.'

CARON GOODE: To discover
that children see ghosts

and talk with ghosts,
to me it was exciting.

NARRATOR: After more
than twenty-five years

researching the special
abilities of young minds,

Goode has reached an
incredible conclusion.

CARON GOODE: Children are
more predisposed to see

ghosts than adults are
primarily because of their

brain power.

The sixth sense begins
to develop in children

between the ages of
eighteen months all the

way up through five to six
years and the reason is

because their, their
brain is going through a

tremendous growth spurt.

NARRATOR: We've all heard
of the sixth sense but

what is it?

What does it do that
your other five can't?

CARON GOODE: When I
discuss with the parent,

for example, what is the
sixth sense I explain it

to a parent as being
intuitive intelligence.

Some people have a
heightened intuition.

NARRATOR: But where does
this sixth sense come from?

Is it a gift only
bestowed on some?

Remarkably, Goode believes
it's an ability that's

within us all.

CARON GOODE: The pineal
gland is located within

the brain which actually
regulates light within our body.

I believe the pineal gland
can be a doorway to the

sixth sense.

NARRATOR: But if we all
have the ability to access

our sixth sense, why do so
few children maintain this

power into adulthood?

CARON GOODE: As the
hormones change, children

go through brain wave
shifts, mood shifts and

that's the time logic
develops and children may

turn away from their
intuition, their feelings.

If children have not
been encouraged in their

imagination, in their
conversations and sixth

sense development, it can
shut down when cognition

sets in.

NARRATOR: Do children's
growing brains give them

a sixth sense?

Should a child's ghost
sightings be encouraged?

Do kids like Fae
really have the gift?

JACK ROURKE: My initial
reaction to reading the article

about Fae uh was quite
honestly is I wasn't impressed.

NARRATOR: Psychic Jack
Rourke is an expert in

parapsychology.

Experience has taught him
that a far more mundane

explanation may be at
work or, rather, at home.

JACK ROURKE: There
is a phenomena called

parentizing where in
essence there's a bit of a

role reversal where a
child can sometimes become

the caretaker of the
parent or become the

mirror to the parent.

NARRATOR: Rourke believes that
through parentizing children

can be actively encouraged
to say they see ghosts.

JACK ROURKE: The more
positive reinforcement a

child gets from their
parent that they are special,

that they are
extra-sensitive, that they

have special empathic or
intuitive abilities,

the more the child then
believes they're psychic

and I'll give you an
example of how this is done.

A child wakes up in the
middle of the night from a

horrible dream and is
talking about ghosts

chasing them and
things like this.

You come in as the parent
and say no you're wrong.

That didn't happen.

You lose the ability to
comfort the child because

they've been made wrong.

Now I go into the room,
same scenario and I say

oh you saw a ghost
didn't you?

Yes.

This is how it's done.

NARRATOR: But why would a
child like Fae go along

with the idea of
seeing ghosts?

What's in it for her?

JACK ROURKE: The
specialness of the child

in these circumstances
gives the child permission

to commiserate
with the parent.

They become their
emotional partner.

Um they go to
activities together.

They may go to certain
psychic functions and this

unique relationship
becomes a reward to the

child and in order to
maintain that closeness

with their parent, they
have to maintain the

psychic identity.

GHOST: Can you hear me?
Can you hear me? [echoes]

NARRATOR: Are children who
see ghosts merely playing

out a fantasy with the
encouragement of their parents?

Is there nothing special
about them at all?

Does the gift exist
in children at all?

JOSHUA WARREN: A person
like Fae may be capable of

seeing ghosts because she has
some physiological advantage.

NARRATOR: Thousands of
children across the globe

claim they can
see dead people.

Do they have an extra special
sense known as the gift?

Paranormal investigator
Joshua P. Warren

believes there
could be a medical

explanation for
this phenomena.

JOSHUA WARREN: A person
like Fae may be capable of

seeing ghosts because she
has some physiological

advantage in her
eyeballs themselves.

Could Fae's eye have
powers the rest of ours don't?

Warren believes her secret
may be that she sees light

differently.

JOSHUA WARREN: Right now
all the data that we have

indicates ghosts are more
visible in the infrared realm.

Some of the best ghost
images I've seen have been

captured using
infrared technology.

NARRATOR: Could Fae be
seeing ghosts that are all

around us, ghosts that
most of us miss because we

can't see infrared?

JOSHUA WARREN: The average
person can only see a

relatively narrow band of
light from usually around

green to red.

Fae might be able to see a
little bit more than the

rest of us.

NARRATOR: Scientists call
the range of light the

visible spectrum, although
most of us know it as the

colours of the rainbow.

But what if Fae was
somehow able to literally

see what the
rest of us can't?

JOSHUA WARREN: In the
human eye there are two

primary types of cells.

You've got the rod cells
and the cone cells.

Rod cells are used for
nighttime vision but they

can't see colour.

Then you have the cone
cells which respond very

quickly and
they see colour.

If Fae has more of those
rod or cone cells,

especially the cones, that
alone might allow her to

see a broader range of
colours and frequencies

than the average person.

Her eyes physiologically
allow her to peer deeper

into the infrared or
ultraviolet realms.

NARRATOR: Incredibly,
Warren also believes the

eye might not just explain
Fae's story, but also why

children on average report
seeing more ghosts than adults.

JOSHUA WARREN: As a person
ages, the components of

the eye become more
and more dense.

In extreme cases, they can
become very cloudy and

form a cataract.

So the older you get, the
less you're able to,

to see when it comes to this
band of frequencies.

NARRATOR: Could Fae and
other children like her

really be able to see into
the infrared world of ghosts?

Does she have
a sixth sense?

Or is Fae just a needy kid
who wanted her mother's

attention and approval?

We may never know.

Weird or What?

[♪]

NARRATOR: So there we have
it, ghost stories from

around the world.

[♪]

NARRATOR: A Californian
woman's home plays host to

one of the most terrifying
paranormal events on record.

[♪]

In New England, a woman
is possessed by an evil spirit

so strong even the Catholic
Church fails to defeat it.

[♪]

And a British teenager can
see and talk to ghosts.

Is she proof that some
children have the gift?

Are these bizarre stories
evidence that ghosts exist?

Can we seek comfort in
rational explanations,

or do we ignore them
at our peril? You decide.

WILLIAM SHATNER: Join me
next time for more stories

that will undoubtedly
be weird or what?

[♪]