A Haunting - S07E02 - In the Shadows
Brothers encounter a demonic entity in the woods surrounding their home.
Transcript
00:00Two young brothers venture into the woods and encounter a demonic entity.
00:16I didn't know what it was, a monster maybe.
00:24No place is safe, not even their home.
00:28I was terrified.
00:29I knew there was something in our room that was looking at me.
00:34As child's play turns into a real life nightmare.
00:42In America, there is real evil.
00:45It lurks in the darkest shadows and 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.
01:28Oh, thank you, sweetie.
01:29It's gorgeous out here.
01:32Go on, D.
01:33All right, superstar.
01:35In the late 1960s, Sonny Yancey and his family live in Lake Worth
01:40in the largely undeveloped southern Florida woods.
01:43All right, on two.
01:44Hut, hut.
01:45Where he plans for a quiet life with his wife Barbara and two sons,
01:4912-year-old Tom and 7-year-old Tim.
01:53Our house was pretty remote.
01:55It was at the end of this dirt road out in the middle of nowhere.
01:59Pretty isolated.
02:01Barbara is a stay-at-home mother.
02:04My mother, as a child, I remember her as a big, silver, shiny,
02:10cherubic smile on her face all the time.
02:13Just great energy.
02:16Sonny is a carpenter and works in construction.
02:19He's also a Korean War vet who suffers from bouts of post-traumatic stress disorder.
02:24Go deep.
02:27You got to run faster than that, son.
02:30My mom mentioned quite a few times how he was changed by Korea.
02:35You going to get it or what?
02:37Yeah.
02:39Part of him has never been able to shake the hold of the battlefield.
02:44In Korea, he was a sergeant in charge of a mortar platoon.
02:48He would tell stories every once in a while about how they would take bulldozers
02:53and dig big holes and push the bodies in it and cover them up.
02:59He never was like that the whole time.
03:02When I was really little, he was bouncing me on his knee and, you know, being a typical dad.
03:09All right, big third down play, coming up.
03:11But that summer, Sonny's temper gets inexplicably worse as he grows increasingly dark.
03:17You know, I'm tired. I'm going into bed. Take a nap.
03:20And all of a sudden, man, he just got wicked.
03:24Hey, son.
03:30And whatever is affecting him now seems to be coming from the woods.
03:42Lake Worth is a city in southern Florida settled in the late 1800s.
03:47Before that, its lush forests and waterways were a refuge for escaped slaves
03:53as well as Native Americans fleeing the Seminole Wars.
04:00The woods are rumored to still hold secrets from the past and an unexplained evil.
04:16My brother and I spent a lot of time in the woods.
04:20It was probably two, three square miles of woods.
04:32We had paths that we would use to walk around through there.
04:35Spent a lot of time playing together.
04:44My dad built a fort out there. It was this amazing thing.
04:51You got me.
04:52I'm going down to the lake to look for frogs. Want to come?
04:55Nah, I'll hold the fort.
04:56You're so funny, I forgot to laugh.
04:58Squeak.
05:21I got the feeling that I was being watched.
05:24I knew it.
05:26I mean, everybody has that inner feeling to where you know something's not right.
05:57My mind ran away with me.
06:02I didn't know what it was.
06:04A monster, maybe.
06:06But I know it scared me to death.
06:10Tom tells no one about his experience in the woods.
06:22But seven-year-old Tim continues to explore alone and unaware.
06:45There was something in the tree, but I couldn't see it with my eyes.
06:48I could just see the tree reacting to it being there.
06:56This thing made its way down the tree to the bottom branch, and it landed in the leaves.
07:03Whatever it was, I didn't want to be near it.
07:07Mom! Mom!
07:10Mom! Mom!
07:17What is it? There's something out there.
07:19I talked to my mom. I said that there was something out in the woods.
07:22Just calm down. Just tell me everything. Tell me what happened.
07:25I told her that something was out there, and I could hear it behind me in the grass.
07:29I could hear the twigs and branches breaking behind me.
07:31It's okay. It's okay, sweetie. Calm down.
07:34She summed it up as just an animal that I had perhaps startled or something like that.
07:41The boys ignore their experiences and try to enjoy the summer.
07:45That's good.
07:46Fearing any mention of the haunting could summon what they call the Shadow Man.
07:51Ladies and gentlemen, attention, if you will.
07:54Please note the wand I hold in my hand is solid wood.
07:57When we would see these shadows moving outside the house, they were very frightening.
08:00They were terrifying for me and Tom.
08:02And we didn't talk about it.
08:17One night, Tim is suddenly jarred awake from his sleep when he feels a presence.
08:32I looked over at our window. I saw a shadow go past the window.
08:48I got up, looked out the window, and there was nothing there.
09:03Tom! Tom!
09:26Tom!
09:32Tom!
09:41In the late 60s, brothers Tom and Tim Yancey are haunted by an evil force they call the Shadow Man
09:48in the Lake Worth, Florida woods where they live.
09:51I knew things weren't right.
09:57We knew that something was outside the house. We didn't know what it was.
10:03Late one night, seven-year-old Tim can feel it coming closer.
10:12Tom! Tom!
10:14Tom!
10:31I looked out through the window to see what it was, and beyond the yard, in the trees, you could see a dark figure.
10:40It was human-shaped, and it was very frightening.
10:52Tim, what's going on in here?
10:55Tom, what did you do to him?
10:57Me? Nothing.
11:02There's a man in a yard!
11:06I don't see anyone.
11:11For crying out loud.
11:20Their father, Sonny, is a Korean war vet suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.
11:25Ever since the entity began tormenting the boys, he's grown increasingly angry and volatile.
11:32That's just great.
11:34The Shadow Man disappears into the night, for now.
11:45But just two weeks later, twelve-year-old Tom begins acting strangely.
12:03One night, I opened my eyes to see Tom standing in the middle of the room.
12:09Tom! What are you doing?
12:15And he walked out the door.
12:32Mom? Dad?
12:40Mom? Tom's outside!
12:56It was almost like there was something drawing him out there.
12:59Tom! Tom, what are you doing?
13:02Tom, wake up! Wake up!
13:07It was very frightening for me, because I knew that something was out there.
13:11I didn't understand what the interaction was, what was going on there.
13:22For weeks, Tom continues to sleepwalk.
13:26Often finding himself by the lake.
13:35It's a weird feeling, to wake up and not know where you're at.
13:43To keep Tom from sleepwalking, Sonny and Barbara resort to drastic measures.
13:48Hey guys, don't stay up too late.
13:51My parents were getting frustrated. They were having to get up out of bed every night, night after night.
13:56So they made the decision to stack chairs in front of the door.
14:01I'm not sure about this.
14:04Look, if I can't sleep, I can't work. I can't work, we don't eat. Alright?
14:11I know, and we can't have him fall in the lake in the middle of the night either, but this is extreme.
14:16Listen, let's just try and see if this works. Maybe a sleepwalking stop, okay?
14:23Okay.
14:25Hey, what if I have to go to the bathroom?
14:28Suck it up, soldier.
14:30Hey boys, knock it off in there. Lights out.
14:46Tom.
15:11That night, Tom sleepwalks once again.
15:16Tom.
15:22Tom, be quiet. You're going to wake up Dad.
15:26No sign of frustration on his face. He would just stand there and work at that door for a long time.
15:34Tom, cut it out.
15:46He saw a closet door open up, by itself.
16:02Tom turned, he walked into the closet, and the door shut behind him.
16:09Tom.
16:14I could hear a conversation going on in there. There were two voices in there.
16:20The boys are not alone.
16:24Mom! Mom! Mom!
16:27Mom!
16:35In the late 60s, an evil force they call the Shadow Man torments brothers Tim and Tom Yancy in the woods and in their home in Lake Worth, Florida, while they play.
16:49And while they sleep.
16:51One night, it begins calling 12-year-old Tom outside.
16:58His father barricades the door to keep him safe.
17:04Tom wasn't able to get outside anymore. He wasn't able to go out into the woods in the middle of the night.
17:10Tom, you're going to wake up Dad.
17:13But the dark entity will stop at nothing.
17:18I think that whatever there was that was there that he was interacting with, decided to come inside.
17:24Decided to come inside.
17:55I'm so scared.
17:59There were definitely two voices talking. I could hear Tom and someone else inside that closet.
18:06I was terrified.
18:09I knew what was going on. I knew there was someone in our room.
18:16Mom! Mom! Mom!
18:20Mom! Mom! Mom!
18:25Mom! Mom!
18:30Where's Tommy?
18:48What are you doing?
18:50There's a man in here.
18:53Where?
18:55In here, with me.
18:57I remember seeing a black shadow figure in there with red eyes.
19:03But his mother doesn't relieve him.
19:06Thomas Yancey, get out of the closet and back into bed.
19:10I've had enough of your nonsense.
19:13It's going to make real trouble around here.
19:17She thought I was in there playing toys, messing around.
19:22I was scared for him, but there was nothing that I could do.
19:25My parents, they didn't believe us.
19:32Sweet dreams.
19:42While their parents grow increasingly frustrated, the dark shadow man shows no signs of letting up.
19:52Then one night, it finds a new way to terrorize the boys.
20:01I was laying in bed and I felt something hit the mattress.
20:05And I reached over, it was a pebble, a small rock.
20:11Cut it out!
20:14More of them started falling.
20:16And it seemed like it was from a great height.
20:20And then it started bringing things into the house, things from the woods.
20:25I felt something land in my hair.
20:29Timmy, what is all this stuff in your bed?
20:34It would drop insects in our bed.
20:36Big, creepy, creepy, creepy insects.
20:40It was like there was an entire room full of them.
20:44I was covered in them.
20:48And I was so scared.
20:51I was shivering all over.
20:53What is all this stuff in your bed?
20:55It would drop insects in our bed.
20:57Big, creepy Florida cockroaches.
20:59We didn't bring them in.
21:01There was no way for them to be inside with us.
21:03No windows open, anything like that.
21:05And they would be there.
21:07And that really confused my mother.
21:09Timmy, what is all this?
21:11That's when my mom started to notice
21:13that something was going on.
21:15Desperate to help her children, Barbara gets angry
21:25and searches for answers
21:27anywhere she can find them.
21:29Who are you?
21:35She bought a spirit board.
21:37She brought it into the house
21:39and she tried to communicate with it.
21:41What do you want?
21:43She tried to do something
21:45to save her kids, to save herself,
21:47to save her family,
21:49but I don't think that she knew what to do.
22:05But little does the Yancey family know,
22:09Barbara has just unleashed
22:11the Shadow Man's fury.
22:15Good night, boys.
22:41No!
22:45For more haunting,
22:47visit destinationamerica.com
22:57In the summer of 1968,
22:59an evil entity is awakened
23:01in the woods
23:03outside Tim and Tom Yancey's home
23:05in southern Florida.
23:07For months,
23:09it torments the brothers day and night.
23:13Their mother, Barbara,
23:15suspects there is paranormal activity
23:17in their home,
23:19but has no idea
23:21how to help her 7 and 12-year-old sons.
23:25One night,
23:27the Shadow Man is too close for comfort.
23:31Tom! Tom!
23:37It was on the wall
23:39across the room.
23:41I was terrified.
23:43Mom! Mom!
23:45Mom! Mom!
24:07I remember the feeling of being there
24:09at the doorway to their room
24:11and knowing that I had to wake Mom and Dad up.
24:15Just the fear
24:17of how they were going to react,
24:19what they were going to say.
24:23Timmy?
24:25Is that you?
24:27The man!
24:29He's on our wall!
24:31Like a fly!
24:33His father reacts with fury.
24:35Now you listen here, son.
24:37I'm going to tell you exactly
24:39what the problem is here.
24:41You ever heard of the Boogeyman?
24:43The Boogeyman!
24:45Boogeyman does bad things to bad kids!
24:47If you're good,
24:49the Boogeyman will go away.
24:51So you have to be good.
24:53Now get back to bed!
24:57That notion that I was a bad kid
24:59and that I was doing bad things
25:01and that something had come to punish me
25:03had affected me for the rest of my life.
25:05I didn't know what I had done
25:07to deserve this.
25:09I felt that I was a bad kid
25:11and that I was being punished for something.
25:13From that point on,
25:15the boys keep silent
25:17about their frightening experiences.
25:19It was easier not to talk about this stuff
25:21and kind of deal with it ourselves.
25:23You tough up.
25:25There were so many nights
25:27that you would lay there
25:29still,
25:31covers over the head kind of mentality
25:33and hope that whatever it was
25:35that it wasn't
25:37coming after you that night.
25:39As the Shadow Man grows stronger,
25:41their father,
25:43Sonny, a Korean War veteran
25:45who suffers from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder,
25:47grows angrier.
25:51He would be so frustrated
25:53because he didn't understand what was going on
25:55in our house.
25:57A lot of family dysfunction,
25:59a lot of chaotic environment,
26:01that those things seem to attract
26:03this negative energy into the home
26:05and it's like a coupling
26:07that attaches to a family
26:09or to a location
26:11and it thrives off of the negative energy
26:13that's there.
26:17The brothers vow to stick together
26:19no matter what
26:21and have a new name for their tormentor,
26:23the Boogeyman.
26:31On Christmas Eve,
26:33the boys sneak downstairs
26:36We had gotten up
26:38and we had dared to venture
26:40into the living room.
26:45The banging started.
26:47It was back in my room.
27:05We're trapped.
27:07Dad's awake now
27:09and we're outside in the living room
27:11and we know he's going to blame that sound on us
27:13and we don't know what to do.
27:15Boys, I warned you!
27:17You little...
27:19Come on!
27:21Tell me this was an accident!
27:23We didn't do it!
27:25Tell me this was an accident!
27:27I didn't do it, honest.
27:29I started shaking.
27:31So, your friend from the closet comes down here
27:33on Christmas Eve
27:35and starts throwing things around.
27:37Where is he? Huh?
27:39Is he in the tree?
27:41Is he in the kitchen?
27:43Leave him alone.
27:45You want to stay up?
27:47You can stay up.
27:49Outside! Follow me!
27:51Whatever this was
27:53had the ability of conscious choice.
27:55It was intelligent.
27:57It could get us in trouble
27:59and it took great delight in doing that.
28:01You guys like to stay up all night?
28:03Stay up all night.
28:05I'm going to get a good night's sleep.
28:07Their father employs a scare tactic
28:09he learned while in the military.
28:15Stay out here with your ghosts.
28:21Stand here all night.
28:27Without realizing it,
28:29he pushes his children directly
28:31into the arms of the dark entity
28:33that haunts them.
28:35We stood there
28:37and we stayed there.
28:39My brother worked very hard
28:41to talk to me,
28:43to tell me stories,
28:45to keep us calm,
28:47but being outside of the house,
28:49knowing that there's something
28:51in those woods,
28:53and I was terrified.
28:59I was terrified.
29:21We'll be all right.
29:23We'll be all right.
29:26Mom!
29:30Mom!
29:43For the past few months,
29:47an evil spirit they call the Shadow Man
29:50has been haunting 7-year-old Tim
29:52and 12-year-old Tom
29:54in and around their home
29:56in Lake Worth, Florida.
30:00That winter,
30:02it finds a new way
30:04to torment the Yancey brothers,
30:12provoking the wrath of their father,
30:14who suffers from
30:16post-traumatic stress disorder.
30:18So, you want to stay up?
30:20You can stay up.
30:22Outside! Follow me!
30:24The punishment,
30:26stay outside all night in the woods,
30:28the woods
30:30where the brothers first encountered
30:32the Shadow Man.
30:34Stay out here with your ghost.
30:53You could hear it walking around.
30:55You could see a shadow
30:57moving through the trees.
30:59And we're out there, and we're with it,
31:01and it's me and my brother,
31:03two kids in the middle of the night,
31:05standing out in the middle of the woods.
31:07It was very frightening.
31:09Mom!
31:11Mom!
31:13Mom!
31:15It's out there!
31:17Shh, Tim.
31:19You're all right.
31:22Shh.
31:27Get out there and get them.
31:29We can't leave kids like that.
31:31Mom finally got Dad
31:33to come out and let us back in.
31:39All right.
31:41You guys can go back in now.
31:43My father grew more and more frustrated.
31:46The phenomenon that was going on
31:48was increasing,
31:50and he would blame the noises
31:52that were happening on us.
31:54His punishments were very severe.
31:56The goal of this monster,
31:58I think, was to create
32:00more negative energy,
32:02more chaos,
32:04more depression in us as kids,
32:06and a more chaotic environment
32:08in our house.
32:10The haunting of the Yancy home
32:12grows more dangerous.
32:20♪♪♪♪
32:30♪♪♪♪
32:40♪♪♪♪
32:45You know there's something there.
32:47Something's doing it.
32:49It's in another room.
32:51It's with you,
32:53and you've got to reach down there
32:55and pull those sheets up.
32:57♪♪♪♪
33:07♪♪♪♪
33:19It felt like somebody's fingernails
33:21raking across your ribcage.
33:23♪♪♪♪
33:25Aah! Aah!
33:27Aah!
33:29Aah!
33:31I broke both my collarbones.
33:33That's when things started getting physical.
33:36Aah!
33:38Tim. Tim.
33:40Aah!
33:42Aah!
33:46Timmy.
33:48Timmy.
33:50Pick on somebody your own size, huh?
33:52He's your brother.
33:53I didn't do it.
33:54I just ran straight into the wall.
33:56I swear.
33:57He just got up and ran straight into the wall.
33:59We have to get him to a hospital.
34:01Aah! Aah!
34:04Months of terror have led up to this moment.
34:07♪♪♪♪♪
34:10An attack.
34:12Aah!
34:13♪♪♪♪♪
34:15But it would take another 30 years
34:17before the brothers would rid their house
34:19of the Shadow Man.
34:22♪♪♪♪♪
34:25♪♪♪♪♪
34:33From the time they were young boys,
34:36Tim and Tom Yancey were tormented
34:38by an evil entity
34:40that came out of the woods
34:42and into their home.
34:46They called the dark figure
34:48the Shadow Man.
34:51I'm gonna tell you exactly what the problem is here.
34:53Boogeyman does bad things to bad kids.
34:56♪♪♪♪♪♪
35:01And when Tim was just a boy,
35:04it attacked him.
35:06♪♪♪♪♪♪
35:10Something, it felt like somebody's fingernails.
35:13Very frightening.
35:15Aah! Aah!
35:16I panicked.
35:18I jumped up out of bed, screaming,
35:20just blindly trying to get away
35:22from whatever it was that was attacking me.
35:24Aah!
35:26Aah!
35:29Tim, Tim.
35:31Aah!
35:33I had no ideas that ghosts could actually harm you.
35:37♪♪♪♪♪♪
35:45Things never got any better for us.
35:48As soon as my brother was old enough,
35:50he left the house.
35:52He had had enough,
35:54and I didn't see him again for years.
35:56He was gone.
35:58♪♪♪♪♪♪♪
36:05It is now 2009.
36:07It's been nearly 30 years
36:09since Tim and Tom lived in the house.
36:12Their parents, Sonny and Barbara,
36:14have since passed away.
36:17Tom went on to play football
36:19for Florida State University
36:21and later became a firefighter
36:23and assistant fire chief.
36:25Tim and I just kind of grew apart,
36:27and it killed me.
36:29I mean, all I wanted
36:31was my brother back, you know?
36:34Tim eventually became
36:36a paranormal investigator.
36:38If there's any way to take something bad
36:41that happened in your life
36:43and to turn it into something positive,
36:45it's by taking the information
36:47that you've learned
36:49and using it to help others.
36:53But the brothers still have
36:55unfinished business.
36:57My brother and I reconnected again
37:00to figure out what we're going to do
37:02with this house.
37:05It was quite a while
37:07since I'd been to that home.
37:09It had a sickening feel to it.
37:11It was pretty sickening.
37:13It was just evil.
37:15It was just an evil feeling.
37:18So, what are we going to do
37:20with this place?
37:22Tim tells Tom
37:24he and his wife, Trish,
37:26want to reclaim the house.
37:28What, are you nuts?
37:30I was very surprised
37:32that Tim wanted to move into the house
37:35simply because of the things that happened.
37:38I felt like he wanted to stop
37:40the paranormal activity completely,
37:42and I think that's why he bought the house,
37:45to put a stop to it.
37:47To end it.
37:54We made a decision that we weren't
37:56going to be afraid anymore.
37:58We were going to take back that house.
38:10Tim reaches out to his friend Roy Hall,
38:13a violent haunting expert,
38:15to help him perform a cleansing ritual
38:17in the home.
38:20Roy believes the demonic entity from the woods
38:22haunted the Yancey family
38:24because Tim's father was abusive.
38:29Boys, I warned you!
38:31Tell me this was an accident!
38:33Where is he?
38:35Is he in the tree?
38:36Is he in the kitchen?
38:38Tim's house had a lot of dysfunction in it,
38:40and that's the thing that something like that
38:42feeds upon.
38:46Tim Yancey and Tom's father,
38:49having served over in the Korean War,
38:51I'm sure he's seen a lot of bad things.
38:54Feel that?
38:57I've never stopped feeling that.
38:59This thing that entered the home
39:01could have definitely magnified that
39:03and keyed on that
39:05to try and make him worse than what he really was.
39:11Where's the room?
39:13Where's the room?
39:15Upstairs.
39:25The negative energy is strongest
39:27in Tim and Tom's old bedroom.
39:30Lord,
39:32please help cleanse this house
39:35of evil and negativity.
39:39Help us make it
39:41a place of light and love.
39:48A home
39:50fit for a family.
39:57Saint Michael, the archangel,
39:59defend us in battle against a world of darkness,
40:02against evil spirits.
40:09When we were done,
40:12you could feel that the energy
40:14was different in the home.
40:16There was a change in the air.
40:18We had displaced the negativity in the home.
40:27Is dinner almost ready?
40:29Almost. Can we check in now?
40:31In August of 2009,
40:33Tim, Trish, and her son, Gabriel,
40:36move into the Lake Worth, Florida, house.
40:39I don't think there is a day
40:41where we're going to be able to turn a page
40:44and say, oh, whew, that's done.
40:46Tom often drops by for a visit.
40:49Good job.
40:51It's not easy sometimes
40:53because you can feel an energy
40:56that underlies the house,
40:59that underlies my husband.
41:02Oops, got a lineman in the family.
41:05Lunch is ready.
41:08All right, I'm starving.
41:10That was awesome.
41:12After I left home,
41:14I had no interest in paranormal or ghosts,
41:17but now that I'm becoming closer with my brother,
41:21I'm starting to understand
41:23what happened to me in my childhood.
41:27I live in a house today
41:29that's a little bit different
41:32I live in a house today
41:34that is full of family,
41:37full of laughter, full of humor.
41:40It's a joyous place.
41:42So many times when Trish and I work with families
41:44who are going through a violent haunting,
41:46the key is mindset.
41:48If you heal the dysfunction in the family,
41:50you can heal the haunting.