A Haunting- S05E06 - Dream House aka Nightmare Upstairs
When the Van Landingham family moves into an Arkansas home, their daughters become the target of a supernatural attack by dark entities and are forced to leave their dream house.
Transcript
00:00An Arkansas couple thinks their dream house is the deal of a lifetime, but there's a reason
00:16it's such a bargain.
00:19Tell us who you are.
00:23That was the worst thing we could have expected it to say.
00:28What they don't know will hurt them.
00:31Then I knew there is such thing as ghosts and demons.
00:36We had to have help or we might not survive.
00:39In America, there is real evil.
00:45It lurks in the darkest shadows in our most ordinary towns.
00:50Between the worlds we see and the things we fear, there are doors.
00:57When they are opened, nightmares become reality.
01:27What do you think, sweetie?
01:36In the summer of 2001, Terry and Blake VanLandingham find the perfect house for their large family
01:43in their hometown of Wynn, Arkansas.
01:46I can't believe we did this.
01:49Terry is relieved to find such a nice home in their price range and in a good neighborhood.
01:56It was just so big and it was old and it was right in the heart of Wynn.
02:01Well, we jumped on it.
02:03It was a great buy.
02:05My husband worked really, really hard.
02:08He drove a truck, which kept him away from home a lot.
02:11I'm going to have to take more routes.
02:14Be gone more.
02:16I worked in a law office.
02:17I also taught dance part-time.
02:20Eight-year-old Ethan is Terry and Blake's youngest child.
02:24Ethan looks up to his more outgoing sisters.
02:30Heather shares a room with her older sister, Brianna.
02:34Heather and Brianna had the most awesome room of the house.
02:39It was like an apartment over the garage, and they loved it.
02:44I fell in love with the house because we just had so much room.
02:49We could do anything we wanted to and not get in anybody's way.
02:55Isn't it wonderful?
02:57But Brianna's excitement quickly turns to apprehension.
03:02I don't know.
03:03It doesn't feel right.
03:06Brianna felt like something was watching her.
03:11There was just something about the house that she was uneasy about.
03:18Sorry.
03:19I told her, be all right. It's just a new house.
03:22You know, you got to get used to it.
03:27Two weeks after moving in, Terry is doing housework.
03:41When she discovers that photos of the children have somehow been turned around,
03:47And I thought, who would do that?
03:50That is crazy.
03:53Terry thinks one of the children moved the photos as a prank.
04:06They would be all flat down.
04:09And the ones on the wall would be turned backwards.
04:12And I questioned everyone in the house.
04:15Are you turning the pictures around?
04:17And the girls then said, our pictures are turned backwards upstairs, too.
04:22There were no explanations for that.
04:25That was just the beginning.
04:28A month later,
04:30Heather and Brianna have another experience that defies explanation.
04:35Hey, Heather, have you seen my hairbrush?
04:38No, you can use mine.
04:40I think it's on the dresser.
04:42Okay.
04:45Ethan?
04:58Ethan?
04:59Whenever Ethan can't sleep,
05:01Ethan?
05:02He comes upstairs to stay with his sisters.
05:06Ethan!
05:08We heard this falling down the stairs.
05:10We were afraid that it was Ethan.
05:14We ran out the door expecting to see Ethan down there.
05:20And there was absolutely nothing there.
05:36We told my mom and dad about it the next morning.
05:44Mom, we heard some noises last night.
05:46Like someone falling down the stairs.
05:48You heard noises?
05:49Yeah, but then when we went to go check, there was no one there.
05:53Blake, could you please check the steps for the girls?
05:57I'll take a look at it when I get home.
05:59I gotta go.
06:01I don't think they really believed it.
06:04Seriously?
06:06Terry thinks the noises are just the house settling.
06:09And I would just reassure them that there was always going to be
06:12noises and the house is going to creak because it's old.
06:18For the next month, nothing unusual happens in the house.
06:22Then, one afternoon, the girls return from school
06:29to find their bedroom in a shocking state of disarray.
06:33Why would anybody do this?
06:37Mom, who was in our room today?
06:42Oh, girls, clean this mess up.
06:46Mom, we did not do this.
06:48Someone was in our room today.
06:50Nobody was in your room today.
06:52Now, please have it cleaned up before dinner.
06:54But we didn't do this.
06:57Heather and Briana both know there is no logical explanation
07:01for the wind in the room,
07:03and that's why they're here.
07:06That's why we have to go to the hospital.
07:09I'm sorry, I'm sorry, you can't do this.
07:12I know.
07:13I know, I know.
07:14I'm sorry.
07:16I'm sorry, I'm sorry.
07:17I'm sorry, I'm sorry.
07:20I'm sorry, I'm sorry.
07:22I'm sorry, I'm sorry.
07:24logical explanation for the wind in the room or the floating trash.
07:29The only thing that I could think of was ghosts.
07:34Mom! Mom! Mom, you won't believe it!
07:46What?
07:47I think we have a ghost.
07:48Brianna, it's an old house. You're going to hear noises.
07:51These weren't just noises.
07:52A piece of trash exploded in the air. I saw it too.
07:56Brianna is dramatic. She is my little drama queen.
08:00I always felt like maybe she was stretching the truth just a little bit.
08:04Brianna, don't you have play rehearsal?
08:15Over the next several months,
08:17Heather and Brianna continue to have strange experiences in the house.
08:22They have no idea this is just the beginning of a series of events
08:29that will tear their family apart.
08:35Ethan!
08:36Teenage sisters, Heather and Brianna Van Landingham,
08:40believe a ghost is responsible for strange sounds,
08:45objects moving, and even levitating their home.
08:48But nothing has prepared them for what happens next.
08:56I had gone upstairs to get dressed for church,
08:59and I saw Brianna standing in the bathroom brushing her hair.
09:05Hey Bri, what do you think? The blue one or the green one?
09:10And I carried on probably about a 20-minute conversation with her
09:14while I was picking out my clothes and getting dressed.
09:16Well, I'm going to go put this on. I'll meet you downstairs?
09:19Bye, Heather. I love you.
09:23That was really weird to me because why would she tell me she loved me
09:29if she was just going to see me in a minute?
09:31Bye. Love you too.
09:43How did you get down here before me?
09:45What do you mean?
09:46I was freaked out.
09:50You were just up in the bathroom. How did you pass me on the steps?
09:55I never use that bathroom. I've been down here the whole time.
10:00My mom assured me that there was no possible way
10:05that I had talked to Brianna upstairs in the bathroom
10:08because she had been doing Brianna's hair the whole time I was upstairs.
10:13You couldn't have seen her.
10:16When I thought about it, I never saw her face.
10:22I was truly terrified at that point because I just had a conversation with my sister
10:30and it turns out that there was no way that that was my sister.
10:39A few nights later, the entire family will become convinced that they are not alone.
10:46And we all just stopped and just looked like, oh my gosh.
11:17Sounded like a body being thrown down the staircase.
11:25See, I told you there was something in this house.
11:28Yeah, that was strange.
11:30We all knew that there was something that was not right in the house.
11:36I was calling Blake every day saying there is something in our house.
11:44Hello?
11:44Excuse me, thank goodness you're here.
11:46I heard there's strange things happening at the house.
11:47We're hearing all kinds of stuff.
11:48It's like it was like a body being...
11:49Slow down, Terry.
11:52Are you sure you heard it?
11:53Yes, I heard it.
11:54I have ears.
11:54I heard it.
11:55There must be a reasonable explanation for everything.
11:58We'll talk about it when I get home.
12:01I love you.
12:05When you're out on the road and your wife's calling you up and she's telling you that
12:10these crazy things are happening at home, you get this gigantic helpless feeling.
12:17Your man needs to be there and he wasn't.
12:23The following week, on her way home from shopping,
12:26Terry spots a friend of Brianna's walking out of the garage.
12:30What's Mia doing?
12:32Strange.
12:34And we thought that was odd.
12:36There's nothing in the garage other than the vehicles.
12:38I couldn't understand why she did that.
12:42We go in, everyone's in the den, they're watching TV.
12:52Mia, what were you doing outside?
12:55I never went outside.
12:56But I just saw you come out of the garage.
12:58No one's been outside.
13:04We never saw her face, you know.
13:06But if it wasn't her...
13:09Terry now believes Heather's account of seeing Brianna in the upstairs bathroom
13:17while Brianna was actually downstairs.
13:20But Heather never saw her sister's face.
13:24Here is another time that someone else has presented itself
13:28and it's not the person that we thought it was.
13:32She fears an entity is taking the form of friends and family.
13:37For what purpose?
13:38Terry has no idea.
13:40That is very scary because then you're like,
13:43OK, are you going to go up and start touching people to make sure that that's them?
13:51Three days later, Brianna is getting ready for a dance recital.
14:09So
14:23there are a few minutes before Brianna has to leave.
14:26So she watches television to settle her nerves.
14:30Unaware she's being watched.
14:39So
14:51what is this?
14:54What happened?
14:55Scale of one to ten, ten being the worst, I'd put it right up there at a ten.
15:00She was white.
15:02I just, I just never seen her like that.
15:05Something attacks me.
15:07Oh, honey, are you OK?
15:09Oh.
15:15Brianna could never have done this to herself.
15:18But whatever was had such force that it left marks on her body.
15:23There was no way Brianna could have made those marks herself.
15:28My dad's own hand couldn't even leave fingerprint marks that far apart.
15:35Blake and Terry move Brianna downstairs.
15:38Heather insists on staying in the room.
15:41Are you sure you want to stay up here by yourself?
15:45Don't worry about it.
15:46I personally felt like Brianna was the attention.
15:51It was drawn to her.
15:53It fed off of her.
15:55So I wouldn't have any issues staying in that room.
15:59Three days after Brianna is attacked, Heather is in the upstairs bedroom alone.
16:09Heather, turn the music down, honey.
16:12Heather.
16:16Hey, Mom, just keep the music down a little bit, OK?
16:19Sure, Mom.
16:29So,
16:38several days after an entity attacks her sister Brianna in their bedroom,
16:43Heather Van Landingham is alone in the room.
16:47She believes the paranormal activity in the home is focused on Brianna, not her.
16:59She was just looking at me.
17:02It was weird because I never felt uncomfortable or threatened by her.
17:19I really feel like she was trying to let someone know that she had either
17:26fallen or been pushed down the stairs.
17:29Terry calls her sister.
17:32Hi, Patty.
17:33Who has lived in Wynn a long time,
17:35and asks her if she ever heard about anything unusual happening in the house.
17:40Maybe somebody falling down the stairs or a fire.
17:45Did someone die falling down the stairs in this house?
17:49When did you say this was?
17:50Terry learns that in the 1950s,
17:53the upstairs bedroom had been rented out as a sort of boarding house.
17:56Do you know anything other than that?
17:58There was, however, no record of anyone dying there.
18:09Everything calmed down for a week, but things still went missing.
18:15Pictures are still knocked over.
18:18Ethan avoids the brunt of the paranormal activity.
18:21Until one afternoon after school,
18:24he goes to the upstairs bedroom looking for Heather.
18:28Mom, Mom!
18:39He came barreling down the stairs and he said,
18:44Mom, I just had a bat thrown at me upstairs.
18:51Terry believes Heather should not stay in the upstairs bedroom alone.
18:55I never wanted to move out of my room.
18:59No matter what, I still loved the space of that room.
19:03Anytime I was up there alone,
19:06nothing had attacked me or physically touched me.
19:13The entire family is frightened of the entity in their home.
19:18But moving is not an option.
19:20It was a hardship to even consider moving financially.
19:24We didn't have anything saved,
19:26didn't know how we could just up and just leave.
19:30We are going to pray,
19:32because I think that's the only way that we're going to get rid of it.
19:36Let's hold hands.
19:37I gathered my family together just before I left going out on the road,
19:40and I prayed for God to deliver these things from our home,
19:45asking protection on my family while I was gone.
19:47Lord, we know that you are the one in charge,
19:51but we need your help,
19:53because whatever's going on here is totally out of our control.
19:58Please bless this family, Lord.
19:59The family prays daily for help, but the paranormal activity continues.
20:09We were getting weary.
20:11It was really a test of our faith,
20:15because we had been praying every day for so long for something good,
20:22and it never happened.
20:27Several weeks later,
20:29the family's nightmare takes a much darker turn.
20:34Brianna goes up to the bedroom to retrieve some of her belongings.
20:38Brianna goes up to the bedroom to retrieve some of her belongings.
21:08Brianna!
21:12Brianna?
21:16Open the door, I'm having you open the door.
21:18It's locked!
21:19You try to do anything that you can
21:24to get to your child when they're screaming like that,
21:27and yet I could not get inside that room.
21:30Mom, hurry!
21:33What's going on?
21:35I try to find anything I can that's going to open up the door.
21:41Brianna?
21:45Bri?
21:48And when I get back up to the door, it was silent.
21:53There's nothing coming from the room.
21:56Terry has no idea what she'll find behind the bedroom door.
22:05Open the door, honey, I'm gonna open the door.
22:06Terry Van Landenham struggles to free her daughter from the grip of a violent entity.
22:23I can't even describe her horror.
22:26Honey, what happened?
22:28It was a shadow,
22:32and it smothered me.
22:34She said he was just a black mass, and he was as tall as the ceiling.
22:40It had no face.
22:43All right, come on, let's get out of here.
22:45I made the decision for her.
22:47She was not staying there anymore.
22:51Terry and Blake send Brianna to live with family in town.
22:58Come on, it's not like I won't see you again.
23:00I would get her in the mornings, bring her home.
23:03She would change her clothes and go to school.
23:05But she didn't spend the night at our house anymore.
23:14Then I knew that there is such thing as ghosts and demons, and we had to have help,
23:22or we might not survive.
23:24I started researching anything I could get my hands on that had to do with the supernatural.
23:31An internet search leads Terry to the Central Arkansas Society for Paranormal Research,
23:37or CASPR.
23:40She speaks to the director, Karen Schillings.
23:44As a ghost hunter, my quest is to provide people with irrefutable evidence that ghosts
23:50do exist.
23:51Karen finds the Van Landingham family credible.
23:56She decides to bring her entire team in the following week and conduct a full investigation.
24:03The paranormal experts will attempt to document the entity's presence
24:07using cameras and electromagnetic field detectors.
24:12A psychic is also on the team.
24:14When we put a compass in the front room, it spun in circles.
24:19Well, what do you think?
24:22Look.
24:23The psychic that was with me said that most likely that indicated that we were standing
24:28within a portal to another dimension.
24:33One of the reasons the Van Landingham home could have been haunted
24:36is that it was a haunted house, and it was a haunted house that was haunted by a ghost.
24:40One of the reasons the Van Landingham home could have been haunted
24:44is simply because of the location.
24:46Some areas are natural portals, and spirits can come and go easily through these portals.
24:52Paranormal experts believe naturally occurring electromagnetic fields
24:57can create doorways or portals where spirits can enter the physical world.
25:03Even spirits who, in life, had no connection to the location.
25:10When we heard about a portal, we were horrified, but at the same time,
25:18it gave us security knowing that there really are that many spirits in our home
25:24and that we weren't just going crazy.
25:32I thought, how are we going to survive this?
25:35If it's full of entities, what are we going to do?
25:37In the upstairs bedroom, Karen and the investigators conduct an electronic voice phenomena,
25:43EVP session.
25:46They hope to capture the voice of at least one entity on tape.
25:51Why are you here?
25:55What do you want with these people?
26:00Leave us alone.
26:03Leave us alone.
26:03Leave us alone.
26:05Leave us alone.
26:07Leave us alone.
26:12I am not leaving.
26:18We were all too stunned to say anything.
26:19We didn't know exactly what it was, and then it became apparent that it wasn't her voice.
26:25I am not leaving.
26:28After a few seconds, I realized that she was actually channeling a spirit.
26:33It was very startling.
26:37It just, as quickly as it happened, it was over.
26:40What happened?
26:41Are you okay?
26:42The message was that no matter what, this thing was not leaving.
26:49Karen ends the investigation.
26:52It will take at least a week to process the audio and video recordings.
26:57The next night, Blake feels the need to conduct his own investigation.
27:03There's things that hasn't been answered for me, and I still got to have some answers.
27:09Blake sets up a camera in the upstairs bedroom.
27:12He plans to spend the night in Brianna's old bed and capture any strange activity in the room on video.
27:19And capture any strange activity in the room on video.
27:49The drawer slammed.
27:51Slammed very hard.
27:53But I got up and went over and checked my camera.
27:58Still had plenty of time running on the camera, so I returned to bed.
28:04So
28:19The next morning, Blake reviews the tape with his family.
28:34A face.
28:41All of a sudden, there's a partial face with a cat eye.
28:45You can see part of the bridge of the nose, a little bit of hair hanging down on the forehead.
28:50It looks demonic.
28:54But there's something else.
28:56I couldn't hear it at the time.
28:57You have to crack the sound up.
28:59Release my child from this evil, evil, evil.
29:03Release my child from this evil, evil, evil.
29:09And she keeps repeating evil like a broken record.
29:14Blake Van Landingham finds the proof he is looking for.
29:19I just thought, oh my goodness, you know, what I'm thinking I'm dealing with is real.
29:29So
29:33After his family is terrorized by something he cannot see or understand,
29:38Blake Van Landingham conducts his own paranormal investigation.
29:45There's no doubt I've got something in my house.
29:51I've never seen anything like it and hope to never meet anything like it personally.
29:55A few days later, paranormal investigator Karen Shillings returns with her findings.
30:04I've got something I really need you guys to hear.
30:06Her team has amplified the recordings they made in the upstairs bedroom.
30:11Using filters, they are able to isolate what sounds like voices.
30:16We picked up a lot of interesting EVPs here.
30:26You can hear someone say, we hate you.
30:30We want you out of here.
30:32Get out of our house.
30:35Tell us who you are.
30:41That was just the worst thing that we could have expected it to say.
30:47Even though it felt like we had been in hell in that house, we never expected that.
30:57What are we supposed to do?
30:59I'm just an investigator.
31:00I collect the evidence.
31:04Karen tells Terry she has no power to make the entity or entities leave.
31:11I advised Terry and her family to call their clergyman to have the house blessed.
31:20Three nights later, their pastor arrives to bless the home.
31:24It's hard to go to your pastor and tell him you've got evil things in your house.
31:30But we thought that if he came and prayed, that would help remove this bad spirit from our house.
31:36Lord God Almighty, we come before you to rid this home of the evil forces occupying it.
31:41We know only you have the power to bring light to this darkness and restore peace to this family.
31:50There was a rush of cold wind.
31:54It was like a breeze around us.
31:57I felt it was the evil entities just like a breeze.
32:02I felt it was the evil entities just encircling us, just taunting us.
32:10I was trembling.
32:12You could feel just evil in that room.
32:16I just kept my head down and my eyes closed because I was afraid that I was going to see
32:21something and I didn't want to see it.
32:27Amen.
32:28I knew that this prayer was not working and we were saddened by that
32:32because we really had hoped that that was going to drive it away.
32:45Later that night, the family hopes and prays for restful sleep.
32:51I heard something come into my room.
32:58Ethan would come into my room on many occasions and sleep with me because he just never felt
33:08comfortable in his own room.
33:11I felt something crawl over my feet and just ease under the couch.
33:16I felt something crawl over my feet and just ease under the covers like Ethan always did.
33:24And I rolled over.
33:34You could see where the covers were raised and there was an indention in the bed, but
33:40there was nothing laying there.
33:42I was beyond scared.
33:45I couldn't move.
33:47I couldn't yell.
33:49I was afraid it was going to hurt me.
33:52Lord Jesus, please make it go away.
33:55I just kept praying that it would go away and I never slept in that room again.
34:01The other children were so petrified that Heather did not sleep upstairs.
34:08She slept in the den.
34:09Ethan no longer slept in his room at all.
34:13We should have left, but you put a lot of money into your home and you think that you're
34:21going to be there forever and that's your dream house and you're going to be there forever.
34:27And that's your dream house and you're still hoping, you're just still really hoping that
34:33you're going to get to enjoy that house like it used to be.
34:38A few days later, Karen Shillings, the paranormal expert, returns alone to investigate.
34:46Karen believes the entity is not attached to a particular person, but resides in the
34:52house.
34:53To test that theory, she asks Terry if she may spend the night alone in the upstairs
34:59bedroom.
35:01I did this despite the danger that I might face, because I really wanted to capture something
35:07undeniable on tape.
35:17I could feel it before I saw it.
35:20I could feel it before I saw it.
35:30And then I realized that I was nose to nose with this thing.
35:34It was horrifying.
35:35Paranormal investigator Karen Shillings comes face-to-face with a dark entity taunting the
35:41Van Landingham family.
35:45I realized that where I was staring should have been a face, but it was just a black
35:51hole with a swirling mist in it.
35:55I was just looking at it and I was like, oh my God, I'm going to die.
36:00I'm going to die.
36:01I'm going to die.
36:02I'm going to die.
36:03There was a swirling mist in it.
36:05It felt horrible.
36:07I felt like I was smothering in it and it was prickling me.
36:15Whatever it was emitting, I was caught up in it and I commanded it to leave over and
36:21over again.
36:25And it didn't seem to have any effect on it.
36:28And finally I felt the thing lift off of me.
36:34Karen believes the Van Landingham family has seen this entity several times.
36:41There were multiple occasions where the girls and family members saw this thing.
36:47It would be dressed like their friend.
36:48It'd be dressed like their relative and it would have the same type of hair, but they
36:53never saw its face.
36:55It was something that had no face.
36:58I think that it's a demon maybe manifesting itself into someone else.
37:02I just don't think it wants to show itself.
37:05That's the whole purpose of not being able to see a face is it just doesn't want to
37:09show itself.
37:12The next morning, Karen tells Terry about her experience.
37:16This thing is very, very evil and it's really strong and it wants to stay here.
37:27I've come to the conclusion that there's not much that you can do or anything really
37:32to make the entities leave.
37:34And the camcorder shut off.
37:37I got nothing on tape.
37:41What am I supposed to do?
37:46I suggest you leave and pray to God this thing stays behind.
37:54She was more than convinced that we needed to leave.
37:59It brought such sorrow for us to think that we may not have any other alternative but
38:06to leave.
38:08For the family, there is no doubt they must move away.
38:12But finding a new home will take time.
38:16Terry no longer allows the girls to go up to the bedroom alone.
38:20But a few weeks later, Heather goes upstairs by herself to get clothes for school.
38:27I had gotten more comfortable just going up to the room to grab things by myself without
38:34needing my mom or dad.
38:39I just felt this cold gust of air come from my bathroom and it was like I was in the bathroom
38:48or my bathroom and I was terrified to look.
39:06Fearing for their lives, the Van Landinghans finally give up their dream house.
39:12This was a house that everybody felt love in.
39:16We entertained a lot and all of our children's friends were welcome.
39:23They loved being there and it came to nothing.
39:26Nobody wanted to come anymore.
39:29Not even us.
39:32They pack up everything in just three days and move out.
39:37The stress, the fatigue, the trying to keep the family together, it all takes a toll on
39:45you.
39:50We rented a home from a family member that had several rental properties.
39:55Even though the house was very, very small, at that point we didn't care.
40:02Two days after leaving the house, Heather and her husband, Terry,
40:06returned to look for a phone charger left behind.
40:10Is it in there?
40:12Oh, for goodness sakes, Heather, where in the world did you find it?
40:23And Heather and I looked at each other and we ran out of that house as fast as we could.
40:31And with that, the entity re-entered the house.
40:36She claims the house as its own.
40:49It robbed all of us of the little childhood that we had left.
40:57The house is currently being lived in.
41:02The family who lives there now has the upstairs
41:06and the staircase blocked off.
41:09It is not used.
41:12You can go by the house and the bathroom light will be on upstairs.
41:19I know there's still something in that house.