Salute. Salute.
Divorcees find a second chance at love.
I was very excited about the next step.
Having our life start together.
But someone doesn't want them to have their fairy tale ending.
Chris, there's someone in the house.
Someone put a hex on you.
She wanted to be in Christine's place.
And sends dark spirits to break them apart.
In this world,
there is real evil.
Someone's in my room.
It lurks in the darkest shadows.
Between what we see and the things we fear...
there are doors. When they are opened...
nightmares become reality.
Once known as "The city that lights and hauls the world,"
Schenectady, New York, has fallen on hard times.
But innovations and renewable energy have given it new hope.
Likewise, in 2010,
Christine Quattrocchi was reeling from a broken heart.
No peeking. OK.
Are your eyes closed? They're closed. I promise.
Swear? OK. I swear. Don't let me trip.
She wasn't looking to meet anyone new.
(SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE) Yes.
Wil, it's beautiful. Do you love it?
But then she met fellow divorcee, Wilfredo Velez.
This is so sweet.
I was a single mother.
My oldest daughter was graduating,
and I started working at the facility where Wilfredo worked.
Would the lady like to sample the wine?
I would love to. She caught my eye.
That's how it started.
And then we just started to talk, and we just felt a connection.
Salute. Salute.
We liked the same things and we were very nice to each other.
Well, next time we're gonna have to go back to my place
so I can prepare you a proper meal. Sounds like a date.
You're so sweet.
They begin dating
and Wilfredo invites Christine to his home in historic Schenectady.
Here we are.
Ta-da.
Wil, it's beautiful.
And great neighbourhood.
When I first saw the house, I loved it.
The previous owner really did it up.
Didn't paint over any of the original woodwork. See that?
And after she passed away, well, went up for sale.
I just had to have it. Come in.
I do like older houses.
I can appreciate the woodwork and the craftsmanship
that goes into those types of homes, and I just loved it.
I can't wait to show you all the beautiful woodwork.
I can't wait to see it. After you, my dear.
Thank you. Yeah.
It was very well kept. It was absolutely gorgeous.
So, what do you think?
I love what you've done to restore the stairs.
Thanks. Please, come in.
What's all this?
It's a bit of Puerto Rico.
I was born in Puerto Rico,
and I grew up believing in what they call spiritualism.
It's not hardcore, like Santeria.
Spiritualism is more the Catholicism or the holistic approach.
Hey, feel free to look around.
Give me two minutes and dinner will be served.
OK. All right.
EERIE MUSIC PLAYING
Wil?
The first time I walked into that house,
I felt very heavy energy.
MUSIC CONTINUES
Wil?
Oh, my God!
I'm sorry, didn't mean to startle you.
Yeah, I just wanted to come and let you know that dinner's ready. OK.
I hope you're hungry. I'm always ready to eat.
OK, come on.
It made me super confused, like what on earth was that?
It is very strange.
Christine dismisses the experience
instead, focusing on the budding relationship.
You actually said that? That's impressive. Yeah.
But enough about me. How was your day?
Long, stressful, but I like to get that behind me
and focus on you and I having a good time tonight.
Hey, I heard about this great walking tour
at the Sleepy Hollow cemetery... Yeah.
..they go over the whole Ichabod Crow story.
You mean Crane. That's what I said.
No, you said, "Crow."
No, I didn't, I said...
It's been a long day, I don't need you jumping down my throat.
It was just instantaneous.
Don't yell at me. I... Well, then don't yell at me.
I need some air.
We're fine outside. And then inside. It's weird.
Hey, Christine... We would argue for senseless things
or just some of the arguments just didn't even make sense.
Christine.
I am so sorry.
This was all just so weird. I mean, I don't know what just happened.
No, me neither. I... I don't know why, I just...
I lost it.
I'm really sorry.
These out of the blue arguments we would have...
were confusing to us.
Can I make it up to you? That can be arranged.
SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE
Once we were out of the house, we'd notice it was different.
The arguments always started at the house.
Despite the strange quarrels,
their relationship grows more serious
and Christine spends more and more time at the house.
Hey, you coming to bed? Yeah, I'll be right up.
Wil?
Yeah? Come here for a minute.
I walked into this wall of perfume.
It smelled like roses.
It made me stop and I stepped back,
and I smelled around, and I couldn't smell it.
And I took a step forward and I can smell it.
And it was so strong...
that you could not mistake it.
There's nothing around the house that could have smelled like that.
What's up? Can you smell that?
It smells like...
Like something my grandmother would have worn.
There was a smell of perfume, and it was just heavy.
Definitely a woman's perfume.
Probably the old widow that used to live here. What?
The widow that used to own the house.
I was always told that there are spirits everywhere,
some good, some bad.
You know, my mother always taught me
to cleanse the place before I moved in.
You know, to get rid of the bad energy.
I don't know.
Maybe it's the widow watching over her house and us.
Anytime you move into a new premises,
you just cleanse the house.
Just to kind of release any negative energy.
I thought maybe the spirit of the woman was still there.
OK. Just a little old lady ghost you say.
I can deal with that. Yeah?
Well, if it makes you feel any better, I can do a re-cleansing.
Yeah. Yeah. Place could use a little dusting too.
Oh, my God. Come on, let's go to bed. OK. Come on.
00:20:48.720 -- 00:20:51.360 As Christine spends time at the house,
strange incidents begin happening more often.
One morning, I was running really late for work.
Chris, hurry up!
Give me a sec, I can't find my other shoe.
It's down here by the door, silly.
Who brings only one shoe upstairs?
Me, I guess.
I've run down those stairs a thousand times.
My shoulder was killing me.
I was in a lot of pain and I just sat there
trying to process just what happened.
There's nothing for me to slip on.
Hey, you OK? What happened?
I swear something... Someone tripped me. I felt it.
Thank God I caught myself. Let me see.
Let me get you some ice. All right. Don't move. Yeah. Thanks.
She told me what happened and I believed her
and just kind of took care of her injury.
It was so forceful.
I couldn't explain what just happened.
I couldn't... I couldn't understand it.
Christine and Wilfredo decide
to take their relationship to the next level
and move in together.
Oh, my God, how many more boxes do you have? Sorry, babe.
We were a good team. We had a lot of fun.
I was very excited about the next step.
Having our life start together.
Hey, this is cute. Thanks.
There was no doubt that I love Christine
and Christine loved me.
Mum, look who arrived. Hey, guys.
You excited to check out your new home?
Christine's daughter, Sidney...
Hey, Sidney. ..gives her mum a hand moving in.
I wanna thank you so much for all your help.
You know you're always welcome here anytime.
I'll keep that in mine. I really liked Wilfredo.
I thought he was a sweetheart. I was very happy for the two of them.
I grabbed the mail as I came in.
Something in there smells floral.
Wish I could stay but I have to run.
I've used up too much of your weekend already.
Go, go. It's OK. Good to see you. Yeah, I'll see you later.
OK, doggies.
Hey, guys. Lets get you some food, huh?
Hey.
00:23:29.840 -- 00:23:32.040 Wilfredo leads Christine through the house...
Hey, it's OK.
What's the matter? It's OK. It's gonna be OK.
following another cleansing ritual he learned from his mother.
DOG BARKING
You cleanse the house. There are many different ways of cleansing.
Be our protection against the wickedness ensnares of the devil.
The dogs did not want to cross in front of the stairs.
May God rebuke him.
We humbly pray.
The dogs would just kind of sit at the bottom and, and stare.
I was burning incense doing prayers.
-DOOR SLAMS -BOTH GASPS
The attic door slammed.
Something is not liking what we're doing here.
CONTINUES BARKING
I completed the cleansing 'cos it meant that maybe the entity left.
When I saw the dogs do that...
And do thou,
by the power of God, thrust Satan and all the evil spirits
that was to me, confirmation
that wander through this world... for the ruin of souls.
something else is going on in this house that I can't explain.
Amen. Amen.
One more thing.
DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYING
You put it at the entrance to the house
and that's supposed to collect negative energies.
Hey. I saw Ava today.
Your ex? That Ava? Yeah.
CLOCK TICKING
I believe that my ex was jealous of my relationship with Christine.
You know, I had no idea you two knew each other.
The next day, they find an ominous discovery.
We don't. Why would you say that?
She asked about the car and the dogs.
You sure you two have never met? She knew exactly what I looked like.
She knew what kind of car I drove.
The egg in it was solidified...
I think I'd remember meeting your ex.
What do you mean? She asked about the dogs?
Yeah, I'm sure it's just nothing.
black and smelled of sulphur.
OK?
She's just jealous. She's trying to start trouble.
And that, to me is an indication of somebody that's possessive
Wil!
and possessiveness can lead to problems.
Yeah?
So, I just kind of warned Christine to be aware.
Look, if you see her hanging around, just let me know. All right?
No, wait. Don't touch it. It absorbed all the negative energy.
I have done that ritual many times.
So that was unsettling.
Normally it just stays white but, in this case, it's changed colours.
We need to dispose of this properly.
INTENSE MUSIC PLAYING
All right.
I'm a light sleeper to begin with and sometimes I'm just up all night.
It just picked up a lot of negative energy
and we ended up getting rid of it.
FOOTSTEPS
The couple is hopeful the cleansing has worked.
Wil, did you hear that? What? Wil.
I would hear footsteps in the attic.
SERENE MUSIC PLAYING
FOOTSTEPS
It's probably a squirrel. Go back to sleep.
I know for sure there was no squirrel doing that.
I had gotten up to use the bathroom.
FOOTSTEPS
LOUD THUD
That's no squirrel. No. Stay here.
And I just watched...
these three huge black wings land.
They were huge.
I froze...
FLOOR CREAKS
just like all the blood just comes out of your body.
MUSIC INTENSIFIES
We were kind of creeped out. We're the only two in the house.
Chris! What's wrong? That was so real. That was not a dream.
It's nothing.
I was in the bathroom. I saw these black feathers and this man.
I mean it's an old house.
He grabbed me. God. Oh, my God. Someone grabbed her.
Maybe the floorboards are settling...
I realised that we still have
but...
either another entity or the entity sometimes return.
I'll make a call to the exterminator tomorrow to check.
Let's get you in the bath
and we'll cleanse you with some incense and tonics. OK. OK?
I'm sure it's nothing.
I'm gonna make sure nothing is got a hold on you.
Christine continues to be plagued by nightmares
In spite of the strange goings on at the house,
featuring black birds
and the activity begins to take a toll on the couple.
Wilfredo and Christine's relationship continues to grow stronger.
And in 2013, they decide to get married.
Our relationship really started deteriorating at that point.
Our wedding was very small. It was very cute.
It was more fighting, more distance from each other.
Just family and a couple of close friends.
I was very excited about marrying him and having our life together.
Hey, dude, thank you. Thank you so much.
OK. Yeah. I'll call you later.
I'll see you soon. Be good, all right? Thank you.
OK. Bye.
Come on, come on. Get in. Thank you, sweetheart.
You got it, Hun. Start her up.
Who on earth are you talking to this early in the morning?
All right. Guys, thank you. I'll see you guys soon. All right.
My mother. Wanna check my phone?
When we were in the house, it would feel as though,
Let's get out of here. Let's get out of here.
Bye, you guys. See you later.
Christine was just looking to start an argument
Congratulations.
for unknown reason.
SIREN WAILING
I can't be around you when you're like this. I'm gonna go to work.
Me? You're the one yelling.
On the way home from our wedding...
I'm just trying to enjoy my cup of coffee.
I get T-boned by a truck.
Our arguments were always fuelled and heated,
the pettiest little things.
I have no idea how we were not hurt.
You're always getting in my things! I asked you a question, Wil,
The bags, the airbags went off.
and you threw your phone at me! That's it! That's it.
And the car was just totalled.
Wil!
The newlyweds chalk up the incident to bad luck
It was strange. We wouldn't argue outside
and settle into their married life.
of the house. It was in the house that we argued.
Unable to take the stress,
Christine finally decides
to open up to Sidney and her boyfriend Steve
I love this scene.
about everything she has been experiencing.
I'm focused on the TV.
I talked to my daughter, Sidney
about all the events that we have experienced in the house.
She was shocked.
We keep trying to cleanse the house,
All the sudden I feel like there's somebody in the room.
go to a medium, cleanse ourselves but nothings working.
I grew very concerned for my mum
FAINT INDISTINCT CHATTER
and her overall well-being with her being in that house.
And now I keep having these nightmares
of black feathers and black birds
and I don't know if it's this hex or what's going on.
That is not a good sign.
Steve is a paranormal enthusiast.
Blackbirds, ravens and crows
are seen as omens or sometimes a symbol of death.
I see the figure of a man.
And to me, that worried me.
His hand was on a cane.
Oh, my God, Mum, I wish you told us about this sooner.
It was really affecting my mum and Wilfredo very negatively
Chris.
and we knew that we needed to try to stop it
I don't see anyone.
and figure out what was going on.
Steven might be able to help. How can you help?
EERIE MUSIC PLAYING
I'm a part of a paranormal investigation team.
We could come out and do an investigation for you.
Yes. How soon can you be there?
I mean, I'll check with the rest of the team,
but I mean you'll be our top priority.
I saw part of this person and then it was gone. It was quick.
Thank you. My gosh.
But I could tell just from the hand, that it was an older person.
I was hoping for some answers.
We had been trying with mediums and cleansing,
I don't know what it meant. It was a spirit.
and maybe there could be some kind of answers
I mean you do believe me, don't you?
that would help us.
I know the house is haunted.
Steve arranges for an investigation at the Velez's home
That scared me a lot.
Who is he?
with his fellow team member, Logan Haynes.
Why is he here? I don't know.
As soon as I walked in, it felt very ominous
But I do know someone that can find out.
I was up to the task to try and debunk it
throughout the investigation if I could.
Wilfredo brings Christine to a medium
They set up a number of meters in the house,
in hopes she can shed some light
including an EMF detector,
the paranormal activity in the house.
capable of picking up changes in the electromagnetic field.
SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE
Have a seat.
I've been investigating the paranormal for 12 years
SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE
but I am a sceptic believer.
A lot of times when we go into these locations, nothing happens.
We visited a psychic in the Bronx.
We thought it was going to be a pretty quiet, calm night.
Hey, Christine. Hopefully we can find something,
Somebody that his mother knew and trusted.
get you some answers. I hope so.
SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE
Wilfredo was out of town so I made sure
that I was in the house and with my mum.
It's OK, Mum. Steve's team's really good.
They've investigated jails, cemeteries,
I will begin now.
much scarier places. They'll get to the bottom of this.
DEVICE BEEPING
The medium will go into this trance.
And they had their spirit
It was as loud as I've ever heard the alarm go off.
go through this process where,
And it went all the way up, which is the highest possible reading
they actually connect with whatever the entity is.
it can register.
Definitely something here. Let's go upstairs.
We kinda took it as a sign
that maybe we should move things up the stairs
I sense two entities in su casa.
and focus more on the bedroom area.
All right, Logan, set up the flashlights.
They are causing conflicts between you two.
Question and answer session.
Let's get some answers right now.
Someone put in there.
We're gonna ask you some questions.
To answer "yes" turn this flashlight on.
A living person.
To answer "no" turn the other flashlight on.
Do you understand?
I sense jealousy...
regret.
Are you male?
SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE
Someone put a hex on you.
The responses we were getting there was absolutely no question
that what we were experiencing was paranormal.
The spirits are driven to split you up.
Is somebody here cursed?
It's very strong.
HEAVY BREATHS
Do you want us here?
Is this the person?
Si. Si?
SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE
My battery just died. I'm gonna go down, grab another one,
My ex-girlfriend was practising Brujeria.
be right back up.
You have to be with me, Wilfredo. Black magic.
You're not gonna marry her. Which is a hex. You have to be mine.
It's a bizarre thing to have happen
when, you know, you've charged all your batteries
The reason why the spirits were there
for this investigation, and it dies in less than two minutes.
was because they'd been summoned
to interfere between myself and Christine.
She wanted to split us up. She's not the one. No.
She wanted to be in Christine's place and that wasn't possible.
You're gonna be mine. You have to be mine.
As I was going back up the staircase...
So, what do we do? This hex is very strong.
my back got really hot
and I had a sensation of just really
I can perform a cleansing on you,
like somebody had stabbed me almost with a hot poker.
but you have to promise me
you're going to do a cleansing in your house
I think something attacked me while on the stairs.
corner to corner, room by room, everywhere.
Check our backs.
Oh, my God.
And maybe we can break it.
I can't even explain how freaked out everybody was
because they are literal hand marks
The hex was extremely strong,
and they're going right down his back.
and she really wasn't even sure
Right here, right? Yeah, you can see it. Yeah.
that we would be able to get rid of it.
It completely changed the investigation.
It's not just a vision or a nightmare anymore.
It's not seeing a shadow.
This is something that is physically affecting people in the room
in a negative way.
See that mark, right there? Yeah. Yeah.
It's like a big thumb.
It felt like they were saying,
"I see you and I don't want you here."
I don't want anyone else getting hurt. We're done.
It's OK. No, it's not.
OK, I think it's time we better go.
You go grab the gear. I'll be down with Mum in a minute.
This is getting too real at this point for me, too real.
I'm so sorry about your friends, honey. It's OK.
This is a lot worse than I expected.
I know. I think we're in over our heads.
We saw a shadow of a person.
It's something that I had never experienced before.
We were being targeted by whatever negative energy was in the home.
This is really bad. Everything was piling up.
Whatever was there did not want us there.
00:35:00.880 -- 00:35:02.840 There's definitely something here.
I've never dealt with anything like this.
Why is it so bad?
I think the spirits connected to the house
and being fuelled by that hex.
It's turned against you or anyone trying to help you.
I think the hex pretty much just amped up
all of the negative energy and animosity
that has been in that house for a hundred years.
It kind of supercharged it.
We were able to capture a light anomaly
travelling down the stairs...
away from the master bedroom,
which is where the focal point of all the activity was.
I was scratched on the stairs,
the EMF detector went off on the stairs...
Logan and I were both standing on the stairs
when we saw the shadow figure,
and this is where the light anomaly travelled.
I think something attacked me while on the stairs.
Oh, my God.
Seeing Christine, you know, frightened by the scratches
that appeared on Logan and myself
and the other evidence that we captured,
I kinda felt at a loss.
I didn't know how to help her.
I did feel like I was a little bit in over my head at that point.
I don't like you being here alone.
Come stay with us. Please, Mum.
I was very concerned for my mum.
I definitely did not think
that she should be sleeping in the house.
I can't leave the dogs.
Your place is too small for all of us.
This is our house.
I can't just leave.
Wrapping up the investigation, we tried to give Christine
as much advice as we could.
This is your house.
Don't show fear.
Keep cleansing this house.
Maybe it'll form some sort of barrier
between you and these spirits.
She has to take a stand against whatever is there
and let them know that they're not welcome there anymore.
Seriously, if you need anything at all,
give us a call, we'll be right here. Thank you.
I felt like I was stuck in a situation
that I had no control over...
that I couldn't win.
Not wanting to be alone,
Christine brings her dogs to the bedroom
and keeps them close by.
Up, up.
Good dog, good dog.
Blessed Archangel Gabriel, we beseech you.
I prayed to everything and anything that would listen.
And I prayed all night until I fell asleep.
DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYING
Wilfredo returns home
and is alarmed when he learns about what transpired
during the investigation.
I was shocked that they actually had had physical experience.
It just confirmed that there was something there.
But neither know what to do to stop the activity.
Chris, can you please plug this in when you're done?
It wasn't me. You were the last one to use it.
No, it wasn't, you know what? Never mind.
(SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE). Don't.
If you're gonna talk about me, at least speak in English
that I can understand.
I'm saying stuff that I know is going to drive him nuts.
And I'm saying these things that I...
wouldn't say. Is this how you're gonna be with me?
You got no idea! You know what? It always starts with you!
It starts with me? It always starts with you!
Of course! Everything is my fault!
It was one of those many senseless arguments,
except it was much more intense.
Hey! Oh, my God, just drop it!
Would you just give me a little space?
God, I'm going out, I don't care if it's raining.
I'm trying to have a conversation. Christine just kept going at it.
She was not herself.
I am talking to you! Don't you dare walk away from me!
Leave me alone.
His eyes are pure black.
He didn't look like my husband.
What's wrong with you?
And he just stopped and left.
Walked out of the house.
It was just escalating.
Despite all their efforts,
the Velezs can't break the hex
and Wilfredo decides to move out of the house.
Soon the couple file for divorce.
It wasn't an easy decision, but I knew I had to do it.
We still have a connection.
It just saddens me that it didn't work out.
MELLOW MUSIC PLAYING
He felt like he couldn't come back there,
like that it would just get worse...
that's why he left. He went to Puerto Rico.
He's got a great heart
and it's not like him to be nasty like that
for no reason.
I absolutely 100 percent believe
that those spirits were affecting him.
The spirits affected me as well.
Mum, why don't you let me help finish packing up in here?
Thank you, baby.
You ready?
Yeah.
INTENSE MUSIC PLAYS
As far as my divorce with Wilfredo,
it was hard to get over.
It was hard to move on after that.
I had to get out of the house. I felt like it kept me trapped.
This is the last of it.
The entities in the house and the hex
were just simply stronger than the cleansings...
and it just had too much of a hold on my mum and Wilfredo at the time.
MELLOW MUSIC PLAYING
On top of the very highest point of the house
I have a crow staring at me.
CROW CAWING
I couldn't believe it.
Blackbirds are an omen for death.
And in this instance, it wasn't death of a person.
It was the death of a relationship.
Sorry, Christine. There's some battles you can't win.
MELLOW MUSIC CONTINUES
Somebody went out of their way to make sure that I was not happy
and whoever I was with was not that happy as well.
You have to be mine. You will see.
I will destroy your life.
I have always believed in paranormal activity,
the paranormal world,
but this experience has made me actually believe it.
You're not gonna be happy. They will never be happy.
This hex was too big for me. It's too big for us.