A Haunting- S07E16- Phantom Room
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00:00A Southern California dream house turns into a nightmare.
00:14After the family discovers a hidden room with a dark secret, it's like a secret room, someone
00:23or something lurks in the shadows.
00:27It was like a sledgehammer, boom, boom, boom.
00:32Stay here.
00:33Call the police.
00:35I was terrified.
00:36Will anger, vengeance and fear break the family apart?
00:42Something is in this house, Errol.
00:43I don't know what to say.
00:45Or worse.
00:47I was fearful for my life.
00:49In America, there is real evil.
00:54It lurks in the darkest shadows and in our most ordinary towns.
01:00Between the worlds we see and the things we fear, there are doors.
01:06When they are opened, nightmares become reality.
01:19Thirty miles outside of Los Angeles lies a suburb nestled in the foothills of the
01:24San Gabriel Mountains.
01:27Founded in 1887, the town originally began as a railroad community, uniting Los Angeles
01:33to the citrus groves and ranches to the west.
01:37It's kind of like a small town where you have the mountains that you can see.
01:42We decided that we wanted to buy a home and we thought that that would be the best opportunity
01:46to start our new life.
01:49Did I do it right?
01:50You ready?
01:51Today's the day, right?
01:52Yeah.
01:53Come here.
01:54In the fall of 2001, Newlyweds Sherry and Errol and Sherry's two daughters move into
01:59a three-bedroom house.
02:02When Sherry and I decided to move in together, she was the stater.
02:06We're going to do this?
02:08Let's go.
02:09It was beautiful.
02:10I loved the house.
02:11It was one of those homes that just had that sense of family.
02:16What a great place for them to ride.
02:18There they go.
02:19I have two daughters.
02:21Natalie's my seven-year-old.
02:23Danielle's my five-year-old.
02:25I had a special house in mind that I wanted for the kids as I would want for my own children.
02:30It's got a very large yard, but most of all, it was safe.
02:35Sherry's mother, Shara, lives a few hours away.
02:38Oh boy, here we go.
02:40Sherry and Errol got along quite well.
02:42The kids took to him and seeing Sherry so happy and Errol and the girls too, it made
02:49me happy.
02:50You can do this.
02:51You're going to do it.
02:52Are you set?
02:53Yeah.
02:54Okay.
02:55And go.
02:56Oh my gosh.
02:57Be careful.
02:58It was everything she wanted and more.
03:02It was the perfect world.
03:09Over the next few days, Sharon helps her daughter unpack and organize the house.
03:15It was late at night, and we decided to go out in the garage.
03:20See, this is what I mean.
03:23If this weren't such a mess, I think I could at least fit one car in over here, you know?
03:29We move these boxes over here.
03:33So how is Errol liking his new job?
03:35You know, I think he likes it a lot.
03:37It's been going a lot lately.
03:42What in the world?
03:47Did you know this was here?
03:50No.
03:51My mom and I found this secret room, and I found it quite odd that it was concealed.
03:59Go get Errol.
04:00Tell him to bring me a flashlight.
04:01Okay.
04:08Come see what my mom found.
04:14What's going on?
04:15Well, it's like a secret room.
04:22The first time I went into the room, my mind was going in a thousand different directions.
04:27What is this room doing here?
04:29Why is this room here?
04:30Who put this room here?
04:33I mean, I was just trying to brainstorm as to what it could possibly be.
04:39We noticed that there was a fluorescent light, and there was also this cabinet.
04:46What do you think that's for?
04:49I don't know.
04:50This is strange.
04:52It was very odd.
04:53It was not disclosed to us when we were buying the home, like somebody was trying to keep a secret.
05:00But we didn't know if maybe this was just an honest mistake.
05:03Honey, think of it as a bonus room.
05:06It's creepy.
05:08Come on.
05:09This is going to be great.
05:11It's extra room.
05:12It's extra closet space.
05:15Listen, let's go get some dinner.
05:16Come on.
05:17We just left it as, okay, so there's another room.
05:22We figured that it's just storage, and that was it.
05:26For the next few weeks while Sherry is in between jobs, she spends most of her days in the house by herself.
05:34When we first moved in, I would be alone.
05:37The kids would be off at school.
05:39At the time, Errol was working quite a bit, so he was basically never really home.
05:44Whenever I would do laundry in the garage area by the secret room, I would feel that somebody was watching me.
06:15I knew that something wasn't right, but I brushed it off.
06:21I would start thinking that maybe it was just my imagination.
06:44I heard this thud noise as if one of the kids had rolled out of bed.
07:14They were both wrapped up, very secure.
07:35Nothing fell.
07:36I checked the room.
07:50Sherry.
07:51Is everything okay?
07:52You scared me.
07:53Okay, let's go to bed.
07:54Come on.
07:55Okay.
08:07I was upstairs on the computer.
08:09I was looking for a job at the time.
08:19And I hear this faint noise of footsteps going up the stairs.
08:28At first, I thought that it was Errol, and I thought that maybe he was coming home from work early.
08:35And he was going to surprise me.
08:55I even turned around, and I got up, and I went to look at the top of the stairs to see if he was there.
09:04Errol?
09:15Is that you?
09:17And I didn't see anything.
09:35Errol?
09:45Soon after moving into a suburban Los Angeles home with her new husband and two daughters,
09:50Sherry Muzowski discovers her house has secrets.
09:55What do you think that's for?
09:58After stumbling upon a hidden room in the garage, Sherry is left with a growing paranoia she can't explain.
10:14It's as if someone or something evil lurks in the house.
10:19I would be alone. The kids would be off at school. Errol would be at work.
10:23Errol?
10:25And I would feel that somebody was watching me.
10:30Errol? Is that you?
10:43I could hear these footsteps getting closer and closer.
10:55The feeling was so strong that I actually thought it was Errol standing beside me, touching my neck.
11:05I turned around, and he's not there.
11:09This really freaked me out.
11:12I knew that it wasn't my imagination.
11:16The physical contact leaves Sherry shaken, and she finally confesses her fears to her husband.
11:23I swear, hon, something was here in the house.
11:28I heard footsteps on the stairs.
11:31I'm sure that's a natural explanation. You said yourself, right on the fault line.
11:36When Sherry started first expressing her concerns to me about the noises in the house,
11:43I really did not think that there was anything unusual.
11:48You're not listening. Something touched me.
11:53Errol brushed off a lot of the noises and the feelings that I would get because the house was located on the San Andreas Fault.
12:02Hey, let's just get some rest. It's gonna be okay.
12:07I just, I believe what I see.
12:10I just, I believe what I see.
12:13I knew that I was not alone. I knew that I wasn't crazy.
12:18And I knew that there was something happening inside of that house.
12:34A few days later, Sherry's mother, Sharon, spends the night.
12:38I visited, you know, often to help take care of the girls.
12:43The girls, they liked me to stay in their room when they went to sleep.
12:47And I'd either read or watch television.
13:08The door slowly opened and I felt like somebody was watching me.
13:32Sherry?
13:38Errol?
13:42In that amount of time, they couldn't have made it back to that room and closed their doors without making a sound.
13:50I don't scare easily, but I was frightened.
14:00Also fearing for her grandchildren, Sharon is compelled to share her experience with Sherry.
14:06So you said you wanted to talk to me about something.
14:09The other night, when I stayed in the girls' room, the door opened on its own.
14:17But I felt that somebody was there.
14:20Sherry and I started noticing and becoming aware of things that were happening.
14:26I've been having similar experiences.
14:29I knew that there was some type of paranormal activity.
14:34Somebody else was experiencing it as well.
14:37It wasn't just me.
14:39I think the house is haunted.
14:42No.
14:44Everything that I was saying finally started to make some sense.
14:48I've tried to talk to Errol about it.
14:50He doesn't understand or maybe he just thinks I'm crazy.
14:54He doesn't understand or maybe he just thinks I'm crazy.
15:00I believe you.
15:05We realized that it started when we first found the secret room.
15:16Sherry decides to research the history of the home.
15:20I pulled up the title of the house to see the previous owners.
15:25And I wanted to see if anything happened at the house prior to us owning it.
15:30I even went to the police department.
15:32I gave them the address and I asked them if they had any type of calls that were at the house.
15:39And they went back on their records and they said no.
15:42And they said that basically the house was, you know, pretty quiet.
15:50With no evidence that a traumatic event took place in the house,
15:55Sherry avoids discussing the haunting with Errol.
15:59But keeping her feelings bottled up begins to eat away at their relationship.
16:04When Errol basically ignored what I was trying to tell him about the house, it really bothered me.
16:12Not only did it make me feel insecure, but it also made me feel that he wasn't listening to me.
16:17Dinner almost done.
16:19It'll be a while.
16:22I was just gonna chill a bottle of wine.
16:25Okay, if you want to.
16:27I thought she was overreacting.
16:30We were both on edge a lot.
16:36What was that?
16:41It was like a sledgehammer against the wall.
16:44It rocked the whole house.
16:45It rocked the whole house.
16:47And the sound is coming from the garage.
17:05Call the police!
17:16Soon after newlyweds Errol and Sherry and her two daughters move in,
17:20Sherry is convinced their house is haunted and that the source lies in a secret room off the garage.
17:28This is strange.
17:30But Errol doesn't believe in ghosts.
17:33With each passing day, Sherry finds herself growing more resentful of her husband.
17:40I heard footsteps on the stairs.
17:42I'm sure that's a natural explanation.
17:45I just thought we lived in an older house and it could be explained by normal causes.
17:53I was very upset.
17:55He just didn't even believe me. He didn't even really listen to me.
17:59I knew that there was something happening inside of that house.
18:10Dinner almost done.
18:12It'll be a while.
18:16Boom!
18:19It sounded like somebody was in the garage, taking their fist and banging against the wall.
18:26Boom!
18:28Boom!
18:30Boom!
18:32Boom!
18:38I was terrified.
18:41Call the police!
18:42Call the police!
18:45Don't go out there!
18:51The banging was so loud that it would have broken the stucco.
18:55I don't know how that was achieved without damaging the wall. I just couldn't figure it out.
19:12Carol cannot locate the source of the mysterious banging.
19:30Police officers arrive to inspect the exterior of the house.
19:34Ma'am.
19:35Sir.
19:36We walked around the house. We didn't see any signs of forced entry.
19:39We didn't see anything unusual, anything out of the ordinary.
19:42I mean, I don't know what to tell you.
19:44Did you check on that one side?
19:46Sir, we checked around the doors, around the windows. We checked everywhere.
19:49We didn't see anything unusual.
19:51No.
19:52I'm sorry.
19:53The officers made sure that they walked the whole outside of the house, the whole outside perimeter.
19:59They checked everything.
20:01They didn't find any footprints.
20:03I mean, don't hesitate to call us anymore if you hear something, okay?
20:06Okay.
20:07I'm sorry.
20:09Have a good night.
20:10You too.
20:11Thank you. You too.
20:19What do you think that was?
20:20I don't know.
20:21Something is in this house, Errol.
20:23I don't know what to say!
20:24That's what I keep talking about!
20:32For the next few weeks, the couple remains on edge.
20:37While Sherry is convinced that opening the secret room has unlocked something evil,
20:43Errol struggles to make sense of the unexplained noises.
20:47After that happened, I was giving everything a second look.
20:53I heard two girls whispering and then laughing.
20:58Sherry let the kids go to sleep by television,
21:01so I figured it's one of those shows that they're watching on TV.
21:09When I went in there, they were definitely asleep.
21:12These kids were out.
21:15I really was perplexed. I didn't know what to think.
21:18It sent chills right up my back.
21:44A few days later, Errol is working in the garage.
22:14I felt like someone was looking at me.
22:44On the outside, this suburban Los Angeles house and family look like any other.
23:13Mom, stepdad, two girls, living a normal life.
23:20But the discovery of a dark, hidden room may have awakened an evil presence.
23:27Errol is reluctant to believe their dream house is haunted
23:31until his curiosity gets the better of him and he goes exploring.
23:38Pretty much fed up with everything that was going on
23:41and wanted to know what was up with that house.
23:44There was no mistaking that something had put their hands on the door.
24:14on my shoulder. I didn't know what to do. I really didn't know what to do. That's
24:20when I realized that there was something going on in the house that wasn't
24:25normal. It was the first time in my life I had felt afraid.
24:31I'm home. Hey, come here. Sit. What? Sit down. What's going on? Okay.
24:53I felt this hand. I mean, Cher, I felt this this man's hand on my shoulder. And if
25:01you weeks ago I I swear her little girl's giggling. Now the family has
25:07detected three ghosts, a menacing male and two little girls. But the reason for
25:14the haunting remains a mystery. I knew that he finally was witnessing what I
25:22had witnessed. The noises and the feelings that being touched on my neck.
25:30All the things that I was trying to tell him, he now got to see that I wasn't
25:36making any of this stuff up. It made me feel a lot better that I wasn't alone.
25:41That's what I've been trying to tell you this whole time. What are we gonna do?
25:52I don't know. I knew that whatever this thing was, this spirit or entity, I knew
26:07that it was gonna get worse in time. We needed to do something.
26:22Errol, can you come here please? Devout Catholics, Shari and her mother conduct
26:27research on how to rid the house of ghosts. I had read up on a couple of
26:33websites where they had said take holy water, say a prayer, also hold a crucifix
26:39and bless the house. I was scared for all four of them, but I also felt helpless
26:47because I felt like there was nothing I could do. I'm gonna take this. Okay, I'll
26:54take this. Why don't you take that? Your mom sent it for us. Errol is of Turkish
26:59descent. They have this cultural item. It's called an evil eye. You put it in an
27:06area of your home where you would like to ward off evil. Are you sure this is
27:11gonna work? Couldn't hurt. Shari uses holy water her mother brought back from
27:18a shrine in Lourdes, France, considered by many to be one of the holiest places
27:23on earth. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost, bless this house.
27:30Why don't you hang that on the garage door? In the name of the Father and the
27:36Son and the Holy Ghost, bless this house. I just thought, you know, if that made her
27:44feel better, that that was okay with me. But I didn't put any credence in it at
27:50all. You're trying to move a mountain with your fingertip. It ain't gonna happen.
27:55It's not gonna happen.
27:59For the next few days, the home is peaceful. After I did my own blessing of
28:07the home, it seemed like the general energy in the house was very calm, and I
28:13felt very hopeful that it cleared whatever it was in the house. It got rid
28:18of it.
28:59Both Shari and her husband Errol have had frightening encounters with a strong,
29:14evil, male ghost in their home.
29:20Errol has also heard the ghostly sound of little girls laughing. One night, while
29:33Errol is out of town, Shari and her daughters Natalie and Danielle spend
29:37the night alone.
29:49I don't want to sleep in here.
30:17My younger daughter, she was hysterical.
30:20There's nothing to be afraid of. What's the matter?
30:23Yes, there is. She's right, Mom. There are these two little girls.
30:28My oldest daughter said there were these kids that were talking and they were
30:33giggling, and she couldn't get them to stop.
30:37You know what? Come. We'll just sleep in my bed tonight.
30:43Here, hon.
30:47But are the ghost children more sinister than they appear?
30:52I felt that I had no control. I really felt at that point that whatever this
30:58thing was, it was taking over my home.
31:01After a failed attempt to rid the house of the spirits herself, Shari invites an
31:07expert to investigate the secret room.
31:11I come originally from Germany. I'm a psychic medium, a healer, and a soul
31:17empath because I can tune into souls. When I tuned into the energy of the
31:23house, the first thing I wanted to check whether the spirit came from outside or
31:30was it something which is actually attached to the location itself.
31:35She was my last resort. She was the only person that I felt could put an end to
31:41this.
31:43The side of the house where the garage was, that seemed to me the focal point.
31:49The secret room felt sad. It felt full of sorrow. It didn't seem as dark as a
31:55demon, but it was pretty intense. Definitely a lot of aggressive energy,
32:01frustrated energy.
32:06Suddenly, Claudia has a vision of an event that took place in the secret room.
32:12I saw this man laying in a corner alone. He seemed to be involved in the drug
32:35business. It seemed this man had died a violent death, possibly a drug overdose.
32:47There is someone here in the house with you. It's a man.
32:51And Claudia warns he's dangerous.
32:56This dark spirit, his life was cut short. He envied anybody who had a family,
33:04children, a wife. His family left him and he became cruel because he was using
33:14drugs or dealing with drugs.
33:16Shari is stunned. When she searched the history of the house, she never came
33:22across a record of a man overdosing.
33:24Because his life got cut short, he wanted to make us miserable. He didn't want us
33:31to have a happy family and live a happy life.
33:34But what about the little girl ghosts? Claudia explains that they are really the
33:39ghost man in a different form.
33:42By using children, this male spirit was a great manipulator. This spirit was
33:50tricky enough to use children's voices to get their attention. And then once the
33:58children voices were heard, then he could gain more power.
34:04I was terrified. I knew that it was going to get worse.
34:13Claudia gathers the necessary ingredients to cleanse the house. Instead of using
34:18holy water, Claudia uses highly flammable alcohol. If it ignites, they will know
34:25they are not alone.
34:27This is going to let you know when the spirit is present. That's when you need
34:30to be the most focused. You have to reclaim your home. Can you do that?
34:35I think so.
34:36Okay.
34:40Saint Michael, the archangel.
34:43She started praying and she prayed her heart out.
34:47Defend us in battle.
34:50Stand beside us, behind us, in front of us, above us, below us, and protect us from the
34:59evil snares of the devil.
35:03Saint Michael, take this evil entity back to wherever it is he belongs.
35:10This cleansing was really, really intense. The heat was tremendous.
35:16You have no business here.
35:18She became the flame. She became the light.
35:22This is not your home.
35:26Leave this family in peace.
35:36In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen.
35:43Amen.
35:47The presence is gone.
35:50The energy in the house was very calm, and it didn't seem as heavy.
36:00For weeks, the family experiences no paranormal disturbances.
36:08I was very hopeful that I was going to get my house back.
36:11Don't give me any ideas.
36:13Yeah, that would be terrible.
36:14You've created a monster already.
36:25What the hell?
36:26Girls, stay here.
36:31The door was just going back and forth, shaking.
36:35We knew there was no one on the other side.
36:40This was clearly a spirit.
36:43What is it?
36:58For the last nine months, a family of four has been haunted by a forceful and imposing entity.
37:04Protect us from the evil snares of the devil.
37:08The medium warns it's the ghost of an angry drug addict who lost his family to his addiction before dying of an overdose.
37:17This male figure, which was so hateful and envious towards what Errol and Sherry had as a couple, he was this very dark and negative spirit.
37:29After the house is cleansed, the family believes the ghost is gone.
37:37I'm going to laugh now.
37:38It seemed like the general energy in the house was very calm.
37:43You're good.
37:44I was very hopeful that the blessing was going to work.
37:48What the hell?
37:49Girls, stay here.
37:53The door was just going back and forth, shaking.
37:59This was clearly the male spirit, and he wasn't going to leave.
38:05What is it?
38:06The door was just going back and forth, shaking.
38:10This was clearly the male spirit, and he wasn't going to leave.
38:14He wasn't going to leave.
38:16What is it?
38:27Honey, we need to get the girls out of here.
38:29Let's go. Come on.
38:31They realize the ghost is back.
38:35And that's when I made the decision, I can't stay here. I can't live with this anymore. I was done.
38:40While Errol rushes the girls out of the house, Shari packs a few essentials.
38:46There was nothing that was going to make me stay in the home.
38:50There was nothing that was going to convince me that things would get better.
38:54All of a sudden, I felt pressure of two hands forcefully push me, push me so far that I fell.
39:01All of a sudden, I felt pressure of two hands forcefully push me, push me so far that I fell.
39:26That was the most terrifying thing I have ever gone through in my life.
39:29That's when I knew that this entity, this male spirit was dangerous.
39:34I knew that this man now wanted to hurt me.
39:38It's the worst feeling to know that you've got no defense.
39:42That was the day that I actually moved out of the house, and I moved the girls out of the house.
39:47I didn't go back.
39:49The family moves in with Shari's mother while they consider their options.
39:54Errol went ahead and he put the house up for sale.
39:59Eventually, they are able to sell what was once their dream house.
40:04As for the newlyweds, Shari and Errol, the stress of going through the haunting takes a toll on their relationship.
40:11After less than a year of marriage, they make the decision to split up.
40:17This entity absolutely led to my divorce. Absolutely.
40:22This ruined our chances of having a happy life together.
40:26You're not listening.
40:29I'm a guy that normally figures things out, takes control, fixes the situation, you know.
40:37I don't focus on the problem. I focus on the solution.
40:42At some point, I knew there was no solution.
40:45Shari and her daughters eventually start over in a nearby town.
40:50It was very hard to see my daughters afraid to the point of where I knew that they didn't want to be in the house.
41:00It was one of the hardest things that I had to do, and it really bothered me.
41:08I'm happy at the fact that at least we were able to get out of the home, and we were able to live a happier life going our separate ways.
41:16But I'll never forget what we went through.
41:20I think this whole situation did leave a bad taste in my mouth because I lost my family, I lost our dream house.
41:30Watching her daughter's life torn apart has left Shari's mother heartbroken.
41:35I think that feeling of just feeling helpless and you can't help someone that you love that much, and you'd do anything for them.
41:45That's the worst feeling. Actually, worse than anything else you can imagine.
41:51It was all taken away because of this male spirit. He won. My marriage lost. He won.