A Haunting - S07E03- Demon Unearthed
A family abandon their dream home, a 19th-century mansion, amid claims that a dark entity has awakened and is haunting them.
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00:00a forsaken 19th century mansion harbors angry spirits from the past there was
00:11definitely something there and it felt like it didn't want to stare
00:18rumors of a deadly love triangle the banker was having an affair with her one
00:23of the speculations was that she was married to Mason and a dark entity with
00:28the most evil of intentions whatever it was wasn't human it frightened me so bad
00:34I can't even describe the terror some houses are better left undisturbed in
00:41America there is real evil it lurks in the darkest shadows and in our most
00:47ordinary towns between the worlds we see and the things we fear there are doors
00:55when they are opened nightmares become reality
01:08in the heart of Decatur County lies the small town of Garden Grove Iowa where
01:15the rice family Norman Jennifer and son Andrew has just purchased a 19th
01:21century Victorian mansion it wasn't hard to fall in love with it was an
01:25amazing place and I always said you know someday I'm gonna own you someday you're
01:29gonna be my house I wanted to live there that had everything that I ever wanted
01:39better than the pictures it's incredible just looking at the outside the mansion
01:46it's breathtaking it has a commanding presence what do you think Andrew we're
01:52gonna live here at that point I would have been about eight nine years old we
02:00were moving from a farm and I was kind of excited you know new house it was
02:04really big compared to our old one it was really just a nice house I never seen
02:10anything quite like it before built at the turn of the century the mansion was
02:16commissioned by an affluent businessman and his wife Garden Grove was in its
02:22prime having served as a shipping point on the Chicago Burlington and Quincy
02:26Railroad Garden Grove Iowa back in the 1800s was the place to be it was one of
02:33the major cities there were several thousand people that lived there because
02:37the railroad came through it had a nice long downtown area with lots of shops
02:43and bakeries and haberdasheries and so that's why they chose that is it just it
02:48was a beautiful place still country-like but citified and Jennifer feels an
02:56instant connection to the house the house just kind of felt like it belonged
03:02to me like I'd known it at some point in time it drew you in but the
03:08picturesque mansion hides secrets from the past
03:32within these walls it is rumored that an unspeakable horror took place
03:50isn't it grand
03:54I mean look at all the details
03:57look at this staircase
04:00very clearly before we even moved in we knew it was a money pit it's incredible
04:05but don't get too crazy Norm it's gotta be done right for the company I worked
04:12at I actually got a lot of stock options so we were kind of planning on using
04:16that money to put into the house so we were fully prepared to dump a whole
04:20bunch of money into it I feel like I'm the one who was meant to restore it to
04:24its former glory now honey I trust you this is your passion be reasonable I
04:34think Norman more than anything just knew that I love that house are you sure
04:40you're okay with this yeah if you're happy I'm happy in the months ahead
04:49Norman spends most of his time working for a software company in Arizona nearly
04:551,300 miles away this leaves Jennifer alone to manage the big job of renovating
05:01the old house so that her family can move in with me being out of town it
05:06kind of gave her something to do since we were apart 90% of the time being in
05:10different states her being able to put all of her energy into restoring this
05:14house really gave her a sense of accomplishment Jennifer hires a main
05:20contractor named Claude and a few other workers to help realize her vision of
05:25the old Victorian mansion it just it was a mission for me I could just see what
05:32it should look like and that's what I loved about having that house I could
05:36just create it from basically the ground up into what it should be and what I
05:40loved
05:49Clyde was putting in a chandelier and the ladder was shaking so hard he wasn't
05:54sure if it was him shaking it or if there was something shaking it you could
05:59tell he was just freaked wait what happened I don't know I was pushed what
06:09do you mean who pushed you he never really told me what it was that happened
06:14he just was very exaggerated in his speech and his nervousness talking about
06:21I don't understand I have to go he actually told me I don't want to be in
06:27this house anymore Jennifer is stunned it's as if Claude has
06:34just seen a ghost I told my wife I was gonna be working in this house uh-huh
06:47you know what she said you know what stay out of the basement what you know
06:53about the basement right no
06:58that's where you buried her who the servant the woman he was having an
07:04affair with she was pregnant you want nobody to know then they had an argument
07:10then she fell down the stairs
07:14you didn't want a scandal so he buried her down there
07:22I think a lot of the creepiness and the fact it's not abandoned for so long it
07:27did it sparked a lot of rumors and the rumor was that the original owner buried
07:31her in the basement eight-year-old Andrews curiosity gets the better of him
07:37first he saw a man in the window and now the scandalous rumor leads him to the
07:44basement I couldn't even fathom everybody knowing so much about a house
07:49that I had just moved into but I was kind of cool at the same time
07:55the feeling I got was immediately like someone had just dropped a bunch of
08:22bricks on me it was just really heavy dense air it was kind of hard to breathe
08:27a little bit I can remember being damn it's literally smelled like wet dirt
08:52in 2001 Jennifer and Norman Rice along with their eight-year-old son Andrew
09:03moved to Garden Grove Iowa to restore their new home the historic mansion is
09:10haunted by rumors dating back to the early 1900s of a suspicious death and a
09:17secret burial in the basement rumors had spread around town like wildfire
09:22that a servant had broken her neck some had even speculated that the owner was
09:27having an affair with her since he was prominent he couldn't have that kind of
09:30thing on his record so one of the speculations was that she was buried in
09:35the basement
09:57I never never went back down to the basement again I had thought maybe it
10:03was a skeleton grabbing me from underneath the ground maybe because I
10:08had seen too many horror movies as a kid
10:18by July 2001 the majority of the renovations on the house are complete
10:24despite the fact that all of the contractors have deserted the job with
10:29Andrew's father Norman frequently away on business his mother has no choice but
10:34to finish the house on her own I remember her having so many stressful
10:39nights because we would bring in contractors to try to fix this place up
10:43and they would just leave Jennifer suspects that it has something to do
10:47with the rumors surrounding the house but she doesn't believe the old wives
10:53tale he was somewhat unnerving but it was an amazing house and it had amazing
10:57potential and that's all I could think about for a while it didn't matter what
11:01people said there's always gonna be rumors especially in small towns but as
11:08time wore on and some of the things that happened I began to wonder I started
11:15hearing noises I really couldn't explain Andrew
11:21especially late late late at night you don't really think things through some
11:33of it could be written off being tired late night it's the creepy factor
12:20it is now the late summer of 2001 Norman is still working full-time
12:461,300 miles away in Arizona while Jennifer and Andrew adjust to the
12:53family-friendly Garden Grove Iowa area
12:58one night Andrew invites his friend Cody for a sleepover
13:16seriously Andrew why'd you push my trucks out? Sorry.
13:27Andrew? Cody? I remember Cody when I looked up at him he just points at the
13:46top of the stairs next thing we know he just vanished
14:16where is he?
14:39in the beginning everything was roses you know we'd spent all the time
14:46fixing the house up but it didn't take too much longer after that to realize
14:52there was something off about the house I chose to ignore a lot of things
14:56because I was elated and it was my dream by the summer of 2001
15:02Jennifer Rice has completed renovations on an abandoned 19th century Victorian
15:07mansion in Iowa and while the homes rumored history of a mysterious death
15:13merely lurks in the back of her mind her son Andrew comes face to face with
15:20evil
15:35after that had it happened Cody had never spent the night again and as a
15:39matter of fact he really never even talked to me ever again despite his
15:45terrifying encounter with the ghostly entity Andrew decides not to tell his
15:50mother what he saw I didn't want to worry her because I didn't know how she
15:54really would react to it at the time so I just avoid the subject altogether in
16:04September 2001 news that the once dilapidated mansion has been restored
16:09begins to spread through the small town of Garden Grove Iowa with people that
16:17would knock on the door I'm sorry to bother you but I just I've always loved
16:23this house or I knew so-and-so who lived here and I always wanted to see this
16:27house and we finally decided we would do an open house I just want to thank
16:35you for opening your house to all of us oh well thank you for coming as we're
16:41doing tours this sweet little old lady started telling me that she was so
16:46pleased to see somebody finally working on that house my great uncle is the
16:52banker who built this house and then she explained that she was the great niece
16:56I know he would be very pleased to see how you're caring for it she'd watched
17:03over the years how people came and went and left it sit and rot you could tell
17:08it broke her heart and he and his wife would have been very happy to see a
17:14child growing up here oh that's my son Andrew please come in
17:22I have something for you
17:27the great niece brought a beautiful scrapbook full of pictures and she showed
17:37us this picture lovely picture about yay big of the original owners Jennifer is
17:46struck by the image of the husband it was just an old black-and-white yellowed
17:52photo but you could tell he had the palest blue eyes you've ever seen
17:57because you could barely see the pupils then Jennifer suddenly recalls the
18:02rumors surrounding the man and the Victorian mansion did you ever hear any
18:07of the rumors about this house that's what they are rumors don't believe
18:15everything you hear
18:20of course not what happened was they married later in life did they have any
18:26children oh they wanted children so badly so they didn't have children and
18:34you can tell they planned on having children because there was a child's
18:39room adjoined to the master bedroom that's my son Andrew's room Andrew come
18:45here sweetie this nice lady was just telling me that her great uncle is the
18:53one who built our house very pleased to meet you Andrew you too look at what she
19:03brought us as she's showing us all these pictures I started realizing that
19:10I had seen the banker somewhere before is the man I saw the first time I went
19:16the house and then again at the top of the stairs
19:22I need to go help dad
19:37I'm sorry I don't even know what that was about
19:43scared and confused Andrew continues to keep his experiences to himself I was
19:59just in a kind of state of denial really because I just was thinking oh well now
20:04this is really happening I just remember pushing it out to the side pushing it
20:08off the side because I didn't want to even try to rationalize it this was not
20:13something that I could just tell somebody because they unless you're
20:17there you really can't fix it so I mean I kept this to myself as best as I could
20:38for more a haunting visit destination america.com
21:08since his terrifying encounter in the basement eight-year-old Andrew Rice has
21:26felt an unsettling presence in his 19th century house in Garden Grove Iowa at
21:32that point it scared me so much I would just go over to friends house or I'd go
21:36walk down the street and go play at the park you know I just find any way to
21:40avoid the situation altogether but after seeing old photos of the original owner
21:46a once prominent businessman Andrew is now convinced that his ghost is haunting
21:53the home his father Norman was often away on business is completely in the
22:03dark I was extremely stressful trying to do software development and traveling
22:09to and so they wanted me to be more concentrated on my work and not have to
22:14really worry too much about the house itself they didn't really talk to me
22:18about it at all a lot of times when I was out of town so he had no idea what's
22:23going on
22:28one night Andrew has a new visitor
22:45when I looked up I saw this lady just sitting in my rocking chair at first
22:51Andrew is stunned at the sight but then he recognizes who she is I had seen the
22:58lady somewhere before took me a minute then I realized it's the bankers wife
23:21mom mom I saw her the woman in the photo the bankers wife she was sitting in the
23:43rocking chair in my room he said I saw a ghost was very shaken up about it it's
23:51okay maybe you're just dreaming you can really scare yourself when you're alone
23:56by overthinking things we were very used to being alone and I think we tend to
24:02under think things no I'm serious she looks exactly like the photo it was her
24:08and that's not all I've seen the banker to
24:16maybe they're friendly ghosts always wanted to have children in your bedroom
24:22was supposed to be the nursery maybe that's why they're drawn to you that's
24:29why they come to you
24:32mom had told me that she wasn't there to harm me more so she was watching over me
24:37so she just said oh don't worry about it
24:41you want to sleep in here tonight
24:55despite Andrew's compelling tale Jennifer isn't entirely convinced that
25:00the house is haunted I didn't want to believe that there was anything going on
25:05I just didn't I'm stubborn I'm very stubborn and if I don't see it it didn't
25:11happen
25:18it is now January 2002 Andrew and his mother have been living in the house for
25:23seven months while his father is often away on business but that winter Norman
25:29returns to garden Grove and is told nothing about his son's encounters with
25:34ghosts so glad you're home
25:38it just wasn't something that came up you know I didn't really feel like
25:41starting a gee I think our house is haunted conversation but one night a
25:47dark force decides to make its presence known
25:56something picked us up
25:59and we landed on the bed we were both wakened at the same time by some black
26:08entity just some ominous presence
26:12what was that you felt that too right yes there was no way to rationalize it
26:17there was just no it was unexplainable so that was the first time I hadn't been
26:21able to just explain it away
26:24this isn't something that happened by yourself we're both sitting there
26:27talking about the same thing that just happened so we know this is real this
26:30is no dream and now Jennifer can no longer deny the truth
26:36Norman I have something to tell you I think the house is haunted
26:44I would and ghosts yes a banker and his wife
26:49they lived here in the 19th century Andrew's been seeing them
26:54Jennifer kind of starts hinting at things that have been happening to
26:58Andrew that I wasn't aware of
27:04there's a rumor around town the banker had a servant girl who was pregnant
27:11I will have you thrown out you'll starve in this drink
27:14she died here
27:18and they buried her in our basement in our basement
27:23why'd you wait so long to tell me I thought if we ignored it would just go
27:28away but now this we both felt it
27:36there's something here it's my pack up and leave
27:40oh there's nothing more to talk about is there
27:43it made me feel like this is all my fault but we didn't talk about it it was
27:52it was frustrating it was isolating I felt alone because I didn't want to talk
27:57about it and stirred up but now that the secret is out
28:03Norman begins to dread spending time in his new home where he suddenly feels
28:09unwelcome
28:13you almost feel like you're going into a depression thinking okay we spent a lot
28:17of money on this house and now do you want to admit that somehow a house can
28:23say I don't want you here
28:29although he doesn't believe in ghosts Norman can't shake the unnerving
28:33feeling that he is not alone
28:37and that's something still lurks in the basement
28:58walking in that basement for the first time you know basements can be scary and
29:04this one definitely was it just kind of gives you the heebie-jeebies
29:22there was some ominous mass there keeping the light from shining into the
29:26basement it was like something just sucked the light out and it was pitch
29:31black that had to be the most scared I ever was in the house
30:01for nearly a year and a half the rice family has been living in a haunted
30:07nineteenth-century Victorian mansion in Iowa
30:11played by dark secrets from the past
30:14their presence in the once abandoned house has stirred up angry ghosts still
30:20roaming the property but that whole a new evil spirit is unearthed from deep
30:27inside the house and Norman has a terrifying encounter in the basement
30:58instantly something in him begins to change
31:02it's as if the evil force is taking over his body and his soul
31:09it felt like the longer I was in that house just the more angry I could get at
31:12nothing anything at all could set me off
31:15it was the house changing me or was it just me as Norman became more agitated
31:22more angry more sullen reclusive the things in the house manifested more more
31:29strongly
31:34it scared me I was just getting numb to everything because it was just getting
31:38worse and worse and at this point I just started not feeling anything
31:44but fortunately Norman's job soon takes him out of state on business for several
31:49weeks his absence comes as a welcome relief
31:57I just knew that there wasn't going to be another day of yelling and screaming
32:00and wondering what was going to set him off
32:04I was happy when he left I mean that's the very sad part
32:09but with or without Norman little do his wife and son know they are not safe
32:16the evil spirit has been awakened
32:20we had just gotten home from Sunday church and my friend from down the street
32:24he would always call me a message after he got off church so we could go hang on
32:29play
32:29honey what are you doing it's broken
32:33no it's not
32:40it's not even plugged in
32:44the light was blinking just like a normal somebody left a message so I
32:51don't know why I did it but I pushed the play button
33:00out of that came a noise whatever it was wasn't human but as I turned it up you
33:06could hear very clearly
33:13you can tell its intention was to make us leave
33:19I was I was scared at that point in time I was scared
33:26terrified Jennifer reaches out to her last resort the church weeks later a
33:33group of parishioners arrived to conduct a house blessing the evil
33:38immediately lures them to the basement
33:43in the name of Jesus Christ we dedicate this home as a sacred edifice they were
33:51around the basement leaning inward with their Bibles while they were praying
33:56Lord we ask that you protect this home
34:01so that Norman Jennifer and Andrew Rice can worship and grow spiritually in
34:13peace
34:15amen
34:21afterwards the parishioners retreat they do not speak about their experience
34:27they were very visibly upset
34:32they did not want to talk about it
34:38the house blessing is now complete and Jennifer has faith that it will make a
34:43difference
34:44I honestly believe that it would be better
34:49I really did because he picked the strongest people in our church the most
34:54steadfast people I knew I was very hopeful
35:02I felt maybe it could get better but the same time after going through that for
35:07so many months I had learned just not to get my hopes too far up
35:15with her husband Norman out of town Jennifer tries to remain strong for
35:20Andrew
35:24yeah
35:38Norman my mind is like what I know he is not here
35:45Norman is that you
35:54yeah
36:02yeah
36:07yeah
36:14yeah
36:15yeah
36:24for well over two years angry ghosts and an evil spirit have been haunting the
36:30rice family in their 19th century Victorian home in Garden Grove
36:34Iowa
36:43in the fall of 2003 while her husband Norman is out of town
36:47Jennifer wakes to the sound of heavy footsteps in the hall
36:54Norman is that you
37:06I saw that thing I didn't know what it was and then it looked at me
37:12I can't move it's going to get me I'm feeling like I'm going to die of a heart
37:16attack
37:17I can't even describe the terror I knew then that it could create whatever it
37:23wanted to to scare us
37:29but this new entity is just starting its reign of terror and soon it targets the
37:36weakest member of the family
37:53I looked up the best way to try this I saw this bat and almost it was just this
38:05huge black form
38:15I feel this presence enclosed around me
38:21it was just strong and I knew that if I had struggled it would have just
38:25tightened his grip even more
38:29all I want to do is get to Andrew that's my first thought I'm gonna get
38:36Andrew run I'm just I want to get out of here
38:39one out
38:42come on she didn't even grab her shoes she just picked me up we ran out the
38:52door
38:53come on Andrew
38:57sweetie
39:03it's okay soon
39:06I was too scared to look in the backseat you know in the rearview mirror because
39:11I was afraid that thing was in the car with us
39:16that was it I was done I couldn't do it anymore
39:19we needed to sell it and move
39:24finally in November 2004 after three years of terror the rice family sells
39:32the 19th century Victorian mansion
39:35I was heartbroken naturally it was my dream but I knew my family just had been
39:41through enough so I had to say sorry and start all over again
39:47we admitted defeat we were cutting our losses but then after we sold the house
39:53and even now today I'm glad that we did it seems like getting out of that house
39:57played a big role in getting our family back on the right track
40:03family is definitely more important than any house
40:06after we sold the house
40:09everything seemed to return home where we live was just nice calm little house
40:13that didn't have any worries and my dad just started feeling my dad again
40:21still even years later
40:24Jennifer is unable to let go wanting answers about her family's terrifying
40:29ordeal it had been probably five years
40:33I just guess I wanted to find out whether or not this really was just
40:39about my family or was it related to the house so I knocked on the door nobody
40:43was there and to this day
40:47Jennifer has not been able to determine if the new family has experienced
40:52anything paranormal
40:55what happened to the rice family and garden Grove and what if anything lies
41:06buried in the basement remains a mystery
41:11I think that thing saw a source of power that it could draw from I was feeling
41:17fear my mom was feeling stressed my dad was feeling anger all those are negative
41:21and it gave it something to feed off of
41:25I think that the worst of it came from the turmoil in the family this thing
41:32whatever it was in the house had to break us up
41:37it had to get between us I just hope that no one else ever has to go through
41:42the same thing that we did
41:55yeah