1
00:00:12,847 --> 00:00:14,181
[thunder]

2
00:00:14,223 --> 00:00:15,891
MAN: Of all the ties
that bind,

3
00:00:15,933 --> 00:00:18,936
none is more profound
than family.

4
00:00:21,355 --> 00:00:25,317
In 1836, Sarah Hart welcomed

5
00:00:25,359 --> 00:00:28,529
her recently orphaned
12-year-old niece Mary

6
00:00:28,571 --> 00:00:32,074
into her New Haven,
Connecticut, home.

7
00:00:32,116 --> 00:00:34,410
Mary's parents
had been lost at sea.

8
00:00:35,995 --> 00:00:37,747
Sara and Mary

9
00:00:37,788 --> 00:00:40,207
found solace
in each other's company.

10
00:00:41,792 --> 00:00:43,294
As the years passed,

11
00:00:43,335 --> 00:00:45,796
they became inseparable.

12
00:00:45,838 --> 00:00:50,551
It was as if they were
of one mind, one heart.

13
00:00:51,802 --> 00:00:52,928
One morning,

14
00:00:52,970 --> 00:00:54,430
as the two women worked,

15
00:00:54,472 --> 00:00:56,474
Mary collapsed.

16
00:00:56,515 --> 00:00:58,559
The cause wasn't clear.

17
00:00:58,601 --> 00:01:00,394
[panting]

18
00:01:00,436 --> 00:01:04,482
At first Sara thought
her niece had simply fainted,

19
00:01:04,523 --> 00:01:06,275
but no.

20
00:01:06,317 --> 00:01:08,819
Sara held Mary in her arms

21
00:01:08,861 --> 00:01:10,571
as she took her last breath.

22
00:01:13,991 --> 00:01:16,118
She was buried the next day.

23
00:01:20,289 --> 00:01:23,501
That night,
Sara had a nightmare.

24
00:01:29,757 --> 00:01:31,634
[thumping, shouting]

25
00:01:31,675 --> 00:01:32,968
FEMALE VOICE:
Let me out of here!

26
00:01:33,010 --> 00:01:34,804
Help! [screaming]

27
00:01:34,845 --> 00:01:36,055
Help!

28
00:01:36,096 --> 00:01:37,473
[crying]

29
00:01:37,515 --> 00:01:39,475
Help!

30
00:01:39,517 --> 00:01:40,643
[screaming]

31
00:01:40,684 --> 00:01:42,061
She was convinced

32
00:01:42,102 --> 00:01:43,979
this had to be
more than a dream.

33
00:01:44,021 --> 00:01:47,191
Could Mary still be alive?

34
00:01:47,233 --> 00:01:51,153
She begged the church
officials to unearth Mary.

35
00:01:51,195 --> 00:01:54,740
It was a somber task
that quickly turned to horror

36
00:01:54,782 --> 00:01:58,202
when they laid eyes
on Mary's lifeless body--

37
00:01:58,244 --> 00:02:00,663
fingernails torn and bloody,

38
00:02:00,704 --> 00:02:03,749
the lining of the coffin
torn to shreds.

39
00:02:06,335 --> 00:02:09,171
Her face a horrid death mask.

40
00:02:11,924 --> 00:02:13,884
This really happened
to Mary Hart

41
00:02:13,926 --> 00:02:18,097
on October 16, 1872.

42
00:02:18,138 --> 00:02:22,643
Waking up inside a small box
6 feet in the earth

43
00:02:22,685 --> 00:02:24,770
is what true fright
looks like to me--

44
00:02:24,812 --> 00:02:26,939
buried but not dead,

45
00:02:26,981 --> 00:02:30,901
or, even worse,
buried but undead.

46
00:02:32,903 --> 00:02:36,407
I'm Aaron Mahnke,
and this is Lore.

47
00:02:49,545 --> 00:02:51,881
One thing we can
all be grateful for

48
00:02:51,922 --> 00:02:53,549
is that we live in an age

49
00:02:53,591 --> 00:02:55,676
when we know
that dead is dead.

50
00:03:08,147 --> 00:03:10,482
But modern medicine
has redefined the line

51
00:03:10,524 --> 00:03:12,276
between life and death.

52
00:03:16,196 --> 00:03:18,282
We now have control
over that line

53
00:03:18,324 --> 00:03:20,326
in a way that
previous generations

54
00:03:20,367 --> 00:03:22,202
would have considered
miraculous

55
00:03:22,244 --> 00:03:24,455
or the work of the devil.

56
00:03:26,206 --> 00:03:28,542
Doctors routinely
stop the heart

57
00:03:28,584 --> 00:03:30,502
during open heart surgery

58
00:03:30,544 --> 00:03:33,714
and then revive the patient
with an electric shock.

59
00:03:35,215 --> 00:03:36,634
People whose brains

60
00:03:36,675 --> 00:03:38,135
have all but ceased
to function

61
00:03:38,177 --> 00:03:39,887
can still be kept alive.

62
00:03:41,639 --> 00:03:43,599
Cutting an organ
out of one person

63
00:03:43,641 --> 00:03:45,768
and sewing it
into the body of another,

64
00:03:45,809 --> 00:03:49,229
that's no longer a notion
out of Frankenstein.

65
00:03:51,649 --> 00:03:54,443
That's what medicine
has always been about--

66
00:03:54,485 --> 00:03:56,820
finding a way
to eliminate suffering

67
00:03:56,862 --> 00:03:59,073
and keep death at bay,

68
00:03:59,114 --> 00:04:01,408
even though
some early methods

69
00:04:01,450 --> 00:04:03,786
may now seem barbaric.

70
00:04:03,827 --> 00:04:05,621
No matter what the era,

71
00:04:05,663 --> 00:04:08,123
the question has always been,

72
00:04:08,165 --> 00:04:11,293
"How far are we willing to go

73
00:04:11,335 --> 00:04:13,587
to keep a loved one alive?"

74
00:04:17,132 --> 00:04:20,302
In 1883, George Brown
found himself

75
00:04:20,344 --> 00:04:23,138
asking that
very same question.

76
00:04:25,933 --> 00:04:29,061
Census records tell us
that Brown owned a small farm

77
00:04:29,103 --> 00:04:31,897
in the rural community
of Exeter, Rhode Island.

78
00:04:31,939 --> 00:04:33,732
He had a family,
and, like most

79
00:04:33,774 --> 00:04:36,026
if not all of his neighbors,

80
00:04:36,068 --> 00:04:37,403
he was Protestant.

81
00:04:40,572 --> 00:04:43,325
These were people who prided
themselves on hard work,

82
00:04:43,367 --> 00:04:45,202
self-reliance,

83
00:04:45,244 --> 00:04:47,871
and perseverance
in the face of hardship.

84
00:05:49,767 --> 00:05:52,227
[coughing]

85
00:05:54,313 --> 00:05:56,774
[gasping]

86
00:06:09,703 --> 00:06:10,829
[cough]

87
00:06:26,804 --> 00:06:29,348
This wasn't George Brown's
first encounter

88
00:06:29,389 --> 00:06:30,724
with the phantom killer.

89
00:06:30,766 --> 00:06:33,185
I'm sorry, George.

90
00:06:33,227 --> 00:06:35,938
You've seen how this ends.

91
00:06:35,979 --> 00:06:39,233
In 1883, consumption
claimed the lives

92
00:06:39,274 --> 00:06:41,693
of one in four people
in New England.

93
00:06:43,612 --> 00:06:46,907
His wife Mary Elizabeth
had contracted the disease

94
00:06:46,949 --> 00:06:49,993
and died an equally
agonizing death.

95
00:06:51,245 --> 00:06:53,080
Now it would claim

96
00:06:53,122 --> 00:06:55,415
his oldest daughter
Mary Olive.

97
00:06:55,457 --> 00:06:57,084
The newspaper wrote

98
00:06:57,126 --> 00:07:00,129
of the town's sorrow
at her passing.

99
00:07:00,170 --> 00:07:02,840
The last hours she lived,
they said,

100
00:07:02,881 --> 00:07:04,383
were a great suffering,

101
00:07:04,424 --> 00:07:05,843
yet her faith was firm,

102
00:07:05,884 --> 00:07:08,053
and she was ready
for the change.

103
00:07:12,057 --> 00:07:14,393
George was not
a religious man,

104
00:07:14,434 --> 00:07:17,271
but he prayed every night
that this terrible sickness

105
00:07:17,312 --> 00:07:19,690
would leave
his children alone.

106
00:07:23,944 --> 00:07:25,737
We know from death records

107
00:07:25,779 --> 00:07:28,574
that consumption continued
to plague New Englanders.

108
00:07:30,450 --> 00:07:32,035
But for nine years,

109
00:07:32,077 --> 00:07:34,163
George's prayers
were answered,

110
00:07:34,204 --> 00:07:35,998
and his family was spared.

111
00:07:47,342 --> 00:07:48,760
[giggling]

112
00:07:48,802 --> 00:07:52,097
Edwin, turn yourself
from the ladies.

113
00:07:52,139 --> 00:07:54,183
Yes, sir.

114
00:07:54,224 --> 00:07:56,435
You two have been married
for a whole year now.

115
00:07:56,476 --> 00:07:58,478
Aren't you sick
of each other yet?

116
00:07:58,520 --> 00:08:00,814
[sigh]
With a little more work,

117
00:08:00,856 --> 00:08:03,859
there'll be more
than just the two of us
by the first snow.

118
00:08:03,901 --> 00:08:05,611
[laughing]

119
00:08:06,737 --> 00:08:08,447
[coughing]

120
00:08:18,540 --> 00:08:19,875
Let me see.

121
00:08:26,506 --> 00:08:28,050
How long?

122
00:08:28,091 --> 00:08:30,302
A couple of weeks.

123
00:08:31,887 --> 00:08:33,138
Do they know?

124
00:08:44,524 --> 00:08:47,027
No. I'll finish.

125
00:08:47,069 --> 00:08:48,111
Nurse yourself.

126
00:08:50,697 --> 00:08:52,032
Yes, sir.

127
00:09:02,960 --> 00:09:06,255
Thomas Brandt,
from over in Providence,

128
00:09:06,296 --> 00:09:09,549
his brother took ill
a few months back.

129
00:09:09,591 --> 00:09:10,801
They sent him

130
00:09:10,842 --> 00:09:13,387
to Colorado Springs.

131
00:09:13,428 --> 00:09:16,473
There's a special hospital
there for treatment.

132
00:09:16,515 --> 00:09:18,475
The mountain air clears
the lungs, they say.

133
00:09:18,517 --> 00:09:21,353
Did it work
for Thomas' brother?

134
00:09:21,395 --> 00:09:24,439
Thomas says
he's good as new.

135
00:09:26,441 --> 00:09:29,152
So we'll sell
some heads of cattle.

136
00:09:29,194 --> 00:09:30,487
I can't let you do that.

137
00:09:30,529 --> 00:09:31,655
They're my cattle, son.

138
00:09:32,906 --> 00:09:35,867
Who will help you
bring in the crop?

139
00:09:35,909 --> 00:09:37,160
I will.

140
00:09:37,202 --> 00:09:42,582
Your strong sister will.

141
00:09:42,624 --> 00:09:44,418
- You must go.
- You both go.

142
00:09:46,628 --> 00:09:47,838
Both of you.

143
00:09:50,257 --> 00:09:51,967
I've lost a wife.

144
00:09:52,009 --> 00:09:55,053
I've lost a daughter.
I won't lose a son.

145
00:10:09,484 --> 00:10:12,571
Three months after Edwin
left for Colorado,

146
00:10:12,612 --> 00:10:15,991
the phantom killer
returned to the Brown house.

147
00:10:30,589 --> 00:10:33,175
This time it came for Mercy.

148
00:10:39,264 --> 00:10:41,975
The pandemic had reached
epic proportions,

149
00:10:42,017 --> 00:10:45,729
and after enduring the ravages
of such a brutal disease,

150
00:10:45,771 --> 00:10:48,857
the last remaining shred
of hope was that death

151
00:10:48,899 --> 00:10:50,901
would finally bring relief.

152
00:10:56,239 --> 00:10:59,785
But only if the dead
were actually dead.

153
00:11:10,670 --> 00:11:13,090
At this time
in the late 19th century,

154
00:11:13,131 --> 00:11:17,969
pronouncing someone dead was
more guess work than science.

155
00:11:18,011 --> 00:11:22,015
The fear of premature burial
had a name: Tapephobia.

156
00:11:22,057 --> 00:11:25,852
And thus the birth
of the Waiting Mortuary,

157
00:11:25,894 --> 00:11:28,313
the place where the probably,

158
00:11:28,355 --> 00:11:32,484
but maybe not completely dead
could be observed.

159
00:11:32,526 --> 00:11:35,445
That is until the only sure
fire sign of death

160
00:11:35,487 --> 00:11:38,448
presented itself:
putrefaction.

161
00:11:38,490 --> 00:11:41,743
The best of the
establishments were adorned

162
00:11:41,785 --> 00:11:45,038
with huge floral arrangements
to mask the stench.

163
00:11:45,080 --> 00:11:48,750
Still, why wait that long
if you didn't have to?

164
00:11:48,792 --> 00:11:50,669
There were a growing number
of techniques

165
00:11:50,710 --> 00:11:54,005
that could provide
a speedier verdict,

166
00:11:54,047 --> 00:11:57,717
like sticking a pin
under the nail bed.

167
00:11:57,759 --> 00:12:01,930
Putting a live beetle
in the ear.

168
00:12:01,972 --> 00:12:05,392
Bugle fanfares
at point blank range.

169
00:12:05,434 --> 00:12:08,520
Razor cuts to the souls
of the feet.

170
00:12:08,562 --> 00:12:11,898
A specially designed
nipple pincer.

171
00:12:11,940 --> 00:12:15,610
Sticking a pencil up the nose.

172
00:12:15,652 --> 00:12:19,906
Once physician even
developed a hand cranked
tongue-pulling machine.

173
00:12:19,948 --> 00:12:22,492
For those with
sufficient means,

174
00:12:22,534 --> 00:12:24,202
there was another option,

175
00:12:24,244 --> 00:12:26,580
the safety coffin.

176
00:12:26,621 --> 00:12:28,457
Enterprising inventors,

177
00:12:28,498 --> 00:12:30,834
embracing the zeitgeist
of the moment,

178
00:12:30,876 --> 00:12:32,502
proposed numerous patents

179
00:12:32,544 --> 00:12:35,881
for this emerging class
of mortuary product.

180
00:12:35,922 --> 00:12:39,259
One popular design consisted
of a long tube

181
00:12:39,301 --> 00:12:43,180
that provided light
and fresh air.

182
00:12:43,221 --> 00:12:45,765
One doctor designed
a system using a bell.

183
00:12:45,807 --> 00:12:48,268
Strings were attached
to the hands,

184
00:12:48,310 --> 00:12:50,312
feet, and head of the corpse,

185
00:12:50,353 --> 00:12:53,064
and if the bell rang,
the attendant would

186
00:12:53,106 --> 00:12:54,649
summon the gravediggers,

187
00:12:54,691 --> 00:12:56,651
who'd rapidly reverse
their labor,

188
00:12:56,693 --> 00:13:00,697
freeing the occupant from his
terrifying predicament.

189
00:13:00,739 --> 00:13:04,784
Hence the expression,
"Saved by the bell."

190
00:13:07,204 --> 00:13:11,249
The thing is, we'll never know
just how many woke in terror

191
00:13:11,291 --> 00:13:13,460
only to die a second death.

192
00:13:17,506 --> 00:13:19,966
After several weeks
in Colorado Springs,

193
00:13:20,008 --> 00:13:22,385
Edwin's health was improving.

194
00:13:22,427 --> 00:13:24,763
The therapies and
fresh mountain air

195
00:13:24,804 --> 00:13:28,225
had reinvigorated his lungs.

196
00:13:28,266 --> 00:13:31,603
But, by the time
Edwin came home,

197
00:13:31,645 --> 00:13:33,522
Mercy was dead.

198
00:13:37,609 --> 00:13:38,735
There we are.

199
00:13:44,824 --> 00:13:48,787
I should have been there
for her, for you.

200
00:13:48,828 --> 00:13:50,330
You know your sister.

201
00:13:50,372 --> 00:13:52,040
She didn't even want
to know she was sick.

202
00:13:52,082 --> 00:13:53,542
She knew you'd come home.

203
00:13:53,583 --> 00:13:55,710
She wanted you to stay
and get well.

204
00:13:55,752 --> 00:13:57,170
You look well.

205
00:13:59,965 --> 00:14:01,925
Good to see you, son. Come on.

206
00:14:03,134 --> 00:14:04,511
[ticking]

207
00:14:15,522 --> 00:14:16,898
[coughing in distance]

208
00:14:33,290 --> 00:14:35,792
[coughing]

209
00:14:35,834 --> 00:14:37,252
Dr. Metcalf and some men
are downstairs.

210
00:14:37,294 --> 00:14:38,503
They wish to speak with you.

211
00:14:44,801 --> 00:14:46,553
[coughs]

212
00:14:52,517 --> 00:14:54,144
George.

213
00:14:54,185 --> 00:14:55,645
Samuel.

214
00:14:57,188 --> 00:14:59,566
This is Mr. William Rose.

215
00:14:59,608 --> 00:15:01,109
He lives over in Peace Dale,

216
00:15:01,151 --> 00:15:03,194
but he is Exeter born
and raised.

217
00:15:03,236 --> 00:15:05,989
Mr. Rose.

218
00:15:06,031 --> 00:15:09,993
I heard about the tragedy
that's befallen your family.

219
00:15:10,035 --> 00:15:12,871
That your son has taken
a turn for the worse.

220
00:15:15,999 --> 00:15:19,377
- I have a remedy.
- Are you a doctor?

221
00:15:19,419 --> 00:15:20,837
Most certainly not.

222
00:15:20,879 --> 00:15:24,049
He's just a farmer,
just like us.

223
00:15:26,051 --> 00:15:28,637
But he has experience with
Eddie's illness.

224
00:15:28,678 --> 00:15:31,139
Samuel tells me your son
found relief

225
00:15:31,181 --> 00:15:32,641
from his sickness out west.

226
00:15:34,225 --> 00:15:37,312
It wasn't until he came
home it started back?

227
00:15:37,354 --> 00:15:39,397
Yes.

228
00:15:39,439 --> 00:15:42,942
I believe the young man
is in the grip of a demon.

229
00:15:42,984 --> 00:15:46,404
George, do not listen to this.

230
00:15:46,446 --> 00:15:50,075
Well, if he keeps listening
to you, Eddie will die like
the others.

231
00:15:50,116 --> 00:15:51,618
Now, we've heard
about this, George.

232
00:15:51,660 --> 00:15:53,703
This-- This demon,

233
00:15:53,745 --> 00:15:55,872
it-- it gets into the body
of a loved one

234
00:15:55,914 --> 00:15:57,957
and it kills them,

235
00:15:57,999 --> 00:15:59,793
and it keeps reaching
back from the grave

236
00:15:59,834 --> 00:16:01,419
to feast on the blood
of the next

237
00:16:01,461 --> 00:16:04,381
and the next
until no one is left.

238
00:16:04,422 --> 00:16:09,010
William knows.
He's seen it firsthand.

239
00:16:11,513 --> 00:16:14,516
I let my wife
and four of my children die

240
00:16:14,557 --> 00:16:17,018
before I accepted the truth.

241
00:16:17,060 --> 00:16:19,354
Until I did what I should
have done from the start.

242
00:16:21,064 --> 00:16:23,108
And what was that?

243
00:16:23,149 --> 00:16:28,029
Since the demon spirit resides
in the heart of the diseased,

244
00:16:28,071 --> 00:16:32,200
we must unearth their bodies
and find out which is the host.

245
00:16:32,242 --> 00:16:36,538
You are suggesting I dig up
my wife and my daughters?

246
00:16:36,579 --> 00:16:38,331
If the body is sufficiently
desiccated,

247
00:16:38,373 --> 00:16:40,500
we'll know if it is truly dead.

248
00:16:40,542 --> 00:16:44,838
But if there remains
an unnatural glow,

249
00:16:44,879 --> 00:16:46,756
we must check the heart...

250
00:16:46,798 --> 00:16:48,550
for blood.

251
00:16:48,591 --> 00:16:51,302
If present, we know the demon
has taken it as a host,

252
00:16:51,344 --> 00:16:52,595
and we must burn it.

253
00:16:52,637 --> 00:16:55,140
It's Old World superstition.

254
00:16:55,181 --> 00:16:57,934
Medieval folklore.
We live in the New World.

255
00:16:57,976 --> 00:17:00,311
Well, call it what you want,
but it works.

256
00:17:00,353 --> 00:17:03,857
It saved Mr. Rose
and his daughter.

257
00:17:03,898 --> 00:17:07,610
She lives now
with a family of her own.

258
00:17:07,652 --> 00:17:10,280
There are things on this earth
that we cannot explain,

259
00:17:10,321 --> 00:17:14,576
but that doesn't make them
any less possible.

260
00:17:14,617 --> 00:17:17,412
We can save your only son.

261
00:17:20,665 --> 00:17:22,542
I'm sorry for your loss,
Mr. Rose.

262
00:17:22,584 --> 00:17:27,046
I'd like you to leave
my house. Now.

263
00:17:29,299 --> 00:17:31,426
I'll escort them out.

264
00:17:31,468 --> 00:17:32,677
Please.

265
00:17:38,099 --> 00:17:39,309
Go on, Samuel.

266
00:17:56,075 --> 00:17:57,535
How much did you hear?

267
00:18:03,917 --> 00:18:07,629
I refuse to give
into that madness.

268
00:18:10,757 --> 00:18:14,219
I'm not superstitious
but this plague,

269
00:18:14,260 --> 00:18:18,515
this demon has taken so many,

270
00:18:18,556 --> 00:18:21,351
and now it wants Eddie.

271
00:18:25,855 --> 00:18:29,734
What if there's something
to what they're saying?

272
00:18:29,776 --> 00:18:31,569
- What if--
- Lily.

273
00:18:31,611 --> 00:18:32,779
If we do nothing,
Eddie will die.

274
00:18:32,821 --> 00:18:34,072
We both know that.

275
00:18:37,659 --> 00:18:40,870
If what they're saying
could work,

276
00:18:40,912 --> 00:18:44,040
I know that Mercy
would want us to try.

277
00:18:44,082 --> 00:18:47,502
I didn't know the other
members of your family.

278
00:18:50,630 --> 00:18:52,590
Can we live with ourselves,

279
00:18:52,632 --> 00:18:56,135
if no matter how improbable?

280
00:18:58,137 --> 00:19:02,350
This could work.
And we didn't even try it.

281
00:19:06,938 --> 00:19:08,231
I don't know.

282
00:19:12,026 --> 00:19:13,152
Please.

283
00:19:16,698 --> 00:19:21,536
NARRATOR:
George Brown was being asked
to do the unthinkable:

284
00:19:21,578 --> 00:19:24,122
exhume the bodies
of his family to see

285
00:19:24,163 --> 00:19:28,167
if they were, in a way,
still alive.

286
00:19:31,045 --> 00:19:32,755
It was a ritual with a name.

287
00:19:35,049 --> 00:19:38,094
Therapeutic exhumation.

288
00:19:38,136 --> 00:19:41,055
To ensure that the dead
were really dead.

289
00:19:41,097 --> 00:19:44,851
The idea was born
some hundred years earlier

290
00:19:44,893 --> 00:19:47,103
from the work of
George Stahl,

291
00:19:47,145 --> 00:19:50,148
one of Germany's
most respected doctors.

292
00:19:50,189 --> 00:19:52,609
Stahl was obsessed with
understanding

293
00:19:52,650 --> 00:19:55,278
what separated
life from death.

294
00:19:55,320 --> 00:19:57,488
He believed that
an invisible life force

295
00:19:57,530 --> 00:20:00,408
flowed through
the human body...

296
00:20:00,450 --> 00:20:02,785
and this force keeps
the lungs breathing,

297
00:20:02,827 --> 00:20:06,331
the heart beating,
the blood liquid.

298
00:20:06,372 --> 00:20:09,167
He called that force
the animus...

299
00:20:09,208 --> 00:20:12,086
the soul.

300
00:20:12,128 --> 00:20:14,380
Decomposition
could only begin

301
00:20:14,422 --> 00:20:18,801
once the soul had
left the body.

302
00:20:18,843 --> 00:20:22,555
But we now know that
Stahl had it wrong.

303
00:20:22,597 --> 00:20:25,558
But people back then
thought it was
cutting-edge science,

304
00:20:25,600 --> 00:20:29,103
and used it to justify
their own superstitions--

305
00:20:29,145 --> 00:20:33,441
that some souls
remain in their corpses.

306
00:20:33,483 --> 00:20:35,360
And to sustain themselves,

307
00:20:35,401 --> 00:20:38,488
those souls feed on
the living,

308
00:20:38,529 --> 00:20:42,367
spreading disease
as they feast.

309
00:20:42,408 --> 00:20:46,579
This strange combination
of bad science and folklore

310
00:20:46,621 --> 00:20:49,415
was brought to America
by German Army surgeons

311
00:20:49,457 --> 00:20:53,336
who aided the British
in the American Revolution.

312
00:20:53,378 --> 00:20:56,255
When a town was
plagued by Consumption,

313
00:20:56,297 --> 00:20:58,549
they would exhume
the corpses.

314
00:20:58,591 --> 00:21:02,387
If they discovered flesh
that hadn't decomposed
sufficiently

315
00:21:02,428 --> 00:21:04,931
or blood that hadn't
coagulated,

316
00:21:04,973 --> 00:21:07,350
it could mean
only one thing:

317
00:21:07,392 --> 00:21:11,896
the soul was still trapped
in the body.

318
00:21:11,938 --> 00:21:16,859
The heart would be
surgically removed
and cremated.

319
00:21:16,901 --> 00:21:21,030
Thus the soul would be
put to rest once and for all.

320
00:21:21,072 --> 00:21:23,741
And the living would be safe.

321
00:21:23,783 --> 00:21:27,203
[screaming]

322
00:21:27,245 --> 00:21:29,956
[coughing]

323
00:21:29,998 --> 00:21:31,207
He awoke screaming.

324
00:21:31,249 --> 00:21:34,794
[gasping, coughing]

325
00:21:34,836 --> 00:21:36,004
He's burning up.

326
00:21:36,045 --> 00:21:38,339
-[coughing]
-Shh, shh.

327
00:21:38,381 --> 00:21:40,842
-[gasping]
-Eddie.

328
00:21:40,883 --> 00:21:42,844
Shh, shh.

329
00:21:42,885 --> 00:21:44,804
[gasping]

330
00:21:50,435 --> 00:21:53,271
-Shh.
-[gasping]

331
00:21:53,312 --> 00:21:55,857
[thunder]

332
00:21:57,066 --> 00:21:58,818
[coughs]
Mercy!

333
00:22:01,029 --> 00:22:03,489
[gasping, coughing]

334
00:22:08,828 --> 00:22:10,747
[panting]

335
00:22:20,840 --> 00:22:22,050
[coughing]

336
00:22:24,719 --> 00:22:26,512
[coughing]

337
00:22:26,554 --> 00:22:28,681
Stay with him.

338
00:22:30,183 --> 00:22:31,726
[coughing]

339
00:22:35,772 --> 00:22:37,648
[groaning]

340
00:22:42,570 --> 00:22:45,490
♪♪

341
00:22:48,367 --> 00:22:50,286
[banging]

342
00:23:07,261 --> 00:23:09,180
[banging]

343
00:23:19,232 --> 00:23:21,150
[wind blowing]

344
00:23:27,198 --> 00:23:29,117
[banging]

345
00:23:38,000 --> 00:23:40,920
♪♪

346
00:23:53,683 --> 00:23:55,601
[banging continues]

347
00:24:03,442 --> 00:24:04,694
[squeaking]

348
00:24:06,904 --> 00:24:08,739
We are practical men,

349
00:24:08,781 --> 00:24:10,533
you and I.
Aren't we?

350
00:24:14,078 --> 00:24:17,707
I don't believe in demons,
Harold. I know you don't.

351
00:24:17,748 --> 00:24:19,292
[clears throat]

352
00:24:19,333 --> 00:24:21,169
After all I've lost,
I barely believe in God.

353
00:24:21,210 --> 00:24:23,629
God forgive me.

354
00:24:23,671 --> 00:24:27,133
But Rose claims this remedy
saved his daughter.

355
00:24:30,678 --> 00:24:34,182
Am I being... selfish

356
00:24:34,223 --> 00:24:36,184
not to at least
allow them to try to

357
00:24:36,225 --> 00:24:37,602
bring Edwin some relief?

358
00:24:41,189 --> 00:24:43,316
The Germans discovered

359
00:24:43,357 --> 00:24:45,443
consumption
is caused by bacteria.

360
00:24:45,484 --> 00:24:47,403
I don't care about
the-- the cause,

361
00:24:47,445 --> 00:24:48,821
I care about the remedy.

362
00:24:52,033 --> 00:24:53,492
They told us
it was hereditary,

363
00:24:53,534 --> 00:24:55,995
now it's a bacteria?

364
00:24:56,037 --> 00:24:58,414
Next is a parasite.

365
00:24:58,456 --> 00:24:59,707
I don't know
what to believe in.

366
00:25:02,501 --> 00:25:05,504
You cannot
abandon your faith

367
00:25:05,546 --> 00:25:07,548
just because you've
fallen on hard times.

368
00:25:07,590 --> 00:25:10,259
That is what faith
is there for.

369
00:25:10,301 --> 00:25:13,429
I know.
That's true.

370
00:25:13,471 --> 00:25:16,307
But, at this point...

371
00:25:16,349 --> 00:25:19,143
[sighs]

372
00:25:19,185 --> 00:25:23,105
my belief is that
William Rose offers hope.

373
00:25:23,147 --> 00:25:25,399
False hope.

374
00:25:25,441 --> 00:25:26,734
He will fail, too.

375
00:25:26,776 --> 00:25:27,902
If he fails, he fails.

376
00:25:32,031 --> 00:25:36,577
But I'll know I've tried
everything in my power to
save my boy.

377
00:25:36,619 --> 00:25:38,454
What are you willing to
believe in

378
00:25:38,496 --> 00:25:40,665
if it makes you less human?

379
00:25:42,458 --> 00:25:43,876
Will they forgive me,

380
00:25:43,918 --> 00:25:46,295
my family,
my neighbors?

381
00:25:49,507 --> 00:25:52,343
Could I forgive myself
if I didn't at least
let them try?

382
00:25:52,385 --> 00:25:55,805
There's no medical science to
anything they are saying.

383
00:26:01,686 --> 00:26:03,104
You're a good friend,
Harold.

384
00:26:03,145 --> 00:26:04,897
You're my only friend
in this--

385
00:26:04,939 --> 00:26:06,649
a good doctor.

386
00:26:08,234 --> 00:26:12,697
But your medical science
has done... nothing.

387
00:26:14,907 --> 00:26:15,866
[sighs]

388
00:26:19,287 --> 00:26:22,081
NARRATOR:
George Brown lived in
a strange time

389
00:26:22,123 --> 00:26:24,834
where scientific discoveries
were rapidly changing

390
00:26:24,875 --> 00:26:27,169
how people engaged
with the world,

391
00:26:27,211 --> 00:26:29,463
and how they imagined
the future.

392
00:26:29,505 --> 00:26:34,719
Science was
producing miracles on
an unprecedented scale.

393
00:26:34,760 --> 00:26:37,763
♪♪

394
00:26:43,811 --> 00:26:47,064
And yet medicine
still fell short.

395
00:26:50,318 --> 00:26:53,237
Doctors were often in the dark
when it came to knowing

396
00:26:53,279 --> 00:26:56,324
what caused the diseases
that were ravaging so many.

397
00:26:58,534 --> 00:27:03,372
Like the consumption
that had decimated
George Brown's family.

398
00:27:03,414 --> 00:27:07,335
Though the bacterium
that caused the disease,
M. Tuberculosis,

399
00:27:07,376 --> 00:27:09,462
had been discovered
ten years earlier,

400
00:27:09,503 --> 00:27:13,758
as of 1892
there was still no cure.

401
00:27:13,799 --> 00:27:16,635
Which left plenty of room
for less scientific remedies

402
00:27:16,677 --> 00:27:20,222
to keep their iron grip
on people's practices
and beliefs.

403
00:27:23,684 --> 00:27:27,688
Like the belief that
a heart, long dead,

404
00:27:27,730 --> 00:27:31,609
could still exert
some sort of terrible power

405
00:27:31,650 --> 00:27:35,279
draining the life
from the living.

406
00:27:35,321 --> 00:27:37,239
[heart beating]

407
00:27:43,162 --> 00:27:47,833
WILLIAM:
Now, any bodies we unbury and
find they have not rotted,

408
00:27:47,875 --> 00:27:50,169
then it's proof they
walk the earth at night.

409
00:27:53,297 --> 00:27:56,634
Who was the first taken?

410
00:27:56,675 --> 00:27:58,969
My wife,
Mary Elizabeth.

411
00:28:00,471 --> 00:28:02,556
Then that's where
we start.

412
00:28:05,518 --> 00:28:07,520
May God understand
and guide us.

413
00:28:10,564 --> 00:28:13,484
♪♪

414
00:28:19,949 --> 00:28:21,075
[man grunting]

415
00:28:35,965 --> 00:28:37,633
[wood cracking]

416
00:28:47,101 --> 00:28:50,688
♪♪

417
00:29:01,657 --> 00:29:02,992
SAMUEL:
Mary Olive died next?

418
00:29:07,663 --> 00:29:10,583
♪♪

419
00:29:13,043 --> 00:29:14,170
[grunting]

420
00:29:16,088 --> 00:29:18,007
[coughing]

421
00:29:20,843 --> 00:29:24,388
♪♪

422
00:29:30,811 --> 00:29:32,855
-You have your answer.
-METCALF: Yes.

423
00:29:34,231 --> 00:29:35,524
The answer is,
this is over.

424
00:29:35,566 --> 00:29:36,901
You've seen
for yourselves.

425
00:29:36,942 --> 00:29:38,027
Return them to their rest,

426
00:29:38,068 --> 00:29:40,279
and go back home
to your families.

427
00:29:40,321 --> 00:29:44,325
-Mercy.
-Mercy was alive when
her mother and sister died.

428
00:29:44,366 --> 00:29:45,409
It can't be her.

429
00:29:45,451 --> 00:29:47,661
But what if it is?

430
00:29:47,703 --> 00:29:49,330
She'll come for
your boy.

431
00:29:49,371 --> 00:29:51,373
She'll come for
our boys.

432
00:29:53,417 --> 00:29:54,376
We have to know.

433
00:29:57,338 --> 00:30:00,257
♪♪

434
00:30:20,528 --> 00:30:22,446
Three months,

435
00:30:22,488 --> 00:30:24,240
and yet her skin
is fresh

436
00:30:24,281 --> 00:30:26,283
as if still taking
nourishment.

437
00:30:26,325 --> 00:30:27,409
SAMUEL:
She's not dead.

438
00:30:28,827 --> 00:30:30,412
Look at her.

439
00:30:30,454 --> 00:30:31,789
At night she lives.

440
00:30:31,830 --> 00:30:34,416
METCALF:
The body was kept in the shed

441
00:30:34,458 --> 00:30:36,794
awaiting spring thaw
for burial.

442
00:30:36,835 --> 00:30:39,171
The cold preserved her,
not a folk tale.

443
00:30:39,213 --> 00:30:42,132
A demon would be smart
to use her.

444
00:30:42,174 --> 00:30:44,260
She doesn't need to crawl up
from the ground.

445
00:30:48,389 --> 00:30:49,598
We have no choice.

446
00:30:51,392 --> 00:30:52,560
It must be done.

447
00:30:53,769 --> 00:30:56,063
Samuel.

448
00:30:56,105 --> 00:30:57,314
You will not touch her.

449
00:30:57,356 --> 00:30:59,775
Don't you understand?

450
00:30:59,817 --> 00:31:01,986
This is as much for her sake
as it is Eddie's.

451
00:31:07,032 --> 00:31:10,869
If you do this then
Mercy can rest in peace...

452
00:31:10,911 --> 00:31:11,954
and save your son.

453
00:31:19,169 --> 00:31:20,129
What do I do?

454
00:31:23,382 --> 00:31:24,800
Can you do it?

455
00:31:28,429 --> 00:31:31,348
♪♪

456
00:32:00,919 --> 00:32:02,838
[sawing]

457
00:32:11,138 --> 00:32:13,057
[bones cracking]

458
00:32:16,268 --> 00:32:19,688
The heart is where
the demon lives.

459
00:32:19,730 --> 00:32:22,900
If we find fresh blood,

460
00:32:22,941 --> 00:32:24,193
we'll know she carries it.

461
00:32:40,250 --> 00:32:41,210
There.

462
00:32:43,587 --> 00:32:45,005
You see it?

463
00:32:45,047 --> 00:32:46,423
The blood is coagulated

464
00:32:46,465 --> 00:32:50,344
as it should be after
three months frozen.

465
00:32:50,386 --> 00:32:52,012
Then we can't take
any chances.

466
00:32:52,054 --> 00:32:56,433
We must take the heart
and the liver...

467
00:32:56,475 --> 00:32:57,434
to be certain.

468
00:33:18,205 --> 00:33:19,456
WILLIAM:
Burn it.

469
00:33:23,502 --> 00:33:27,089
Then make a tonic of the ashes
and give it to Edwin.

470
00:33:27,131 --> 00:33:28,215
METCALF: A tonic?

471
00:33:28,257 --> 00:33:30,134
It's how I saved
my daughter.

472
00:33:37,808 --> 00:33:40,728
♪♪

473
00:34:21,602 --> 00:34:24,521
♪♪

474
00:34:41,079 --> 00:34:42,998
[coughing]

475
00:34:44,625 --> 00:34:45,667
Take this.

476
00:34:45,709 --> 00:34:47,878
I can't.
I can't.

477
00:34:52,633 --> 00:34:54,468
I could never, I--

478
00:34:54,510 --> 00:34:57,095
[coughing]

479
00:34:57,137 --> 00:34:58,138
Listen to me.

480
00:34:58,180 --> 00:35:00,766
[wheezing]

481
00:35:00,808 --> 00:35:03,060
If it offers even
the slightest hope of a cure,

482
00:35:03,101 --> 00:35:05,562
you know Mercy herself
would implore you to drink it.

483
00:35:05,604 --> 00:35:06,939
Please.

484
00:35:10,984 --> 00:35:13,612
If not for yourself,

485
00:35:13,654 --> 00:35:14,780
then for me.

486
00:35:20,160 --> 00:35:21,745
Come on, son.

487
00:35:21,787 --> 00:35:22,746
This is where we are.

488
00:35:24,039 --> 00:35:25,123
This is where we are.

489
00:35:29,461 --> 00:35:32,464
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.

490
00:35:33,298 --> 00:35:34,550
I know, I know.

491
00:35:39,805 --> 00:35:40,806
I'm sorry.

492
00:35:40,848 --> 00:35:42,766
[panting]

493
00:35:43,976 --> 00:35:44,977
Good job.

494
00:35:45,018 --> 00:35:47,563
[panting]

495
00:35:51,400 --> 00:35:53,610
NARRATOR:
The family waited for
the impossible,

496
00:35:53,652 --> 00:35:56,780
and prayed for
Edwin's recovery.

497
00:35:56,822 --> 00:35:59,741
♪♪

498
00:36:23,265 --> 00:36:25,976
But on May 2nd, 1892,

499
00:36:26,018 --> 00:36:29,104
almost two months after
drinking the tonic,

500
00:36:29,146 --> 00:36:31,440
Edwin Brown passed away.

501
00:36:31,481 --> 00:36:33,901
He was 24 years old.

502
00:36:33,942 --> 00:36:36,987
George had taken
the extraordinary,

503
00:36:37,029 --> 00:36:39,948
some would say
barbaric action,

504
00:36:39,990 --> 00:36:42,242
to save his child.

505
00:36:42,284 --> 00:36:44,286
And he'd failed.

506
00:36:44,328 --> 00:36:47,247
♪♪

507
00:36:52,669 --> 00:36:56,131
Newspapers condemned
George Brown and
the people of Exeter

508
00:36:56,173 --> 00:36:59,384
as remnants of
a less enlightened time.

509
00:36:59,426 --> 00:37:01,720
The articles mocked them
for believing

510
00:37:01,762 --> 00:37:04,848
a monster could escape
from the grave.

511
00:37:04,890 --> 00:37:07,517
And they gave that monster
a name:

512
00:37:07,559 --> 00:37:08,602
The Vampire.

513
00:37:13,440 --> 00:37:17,861
The story became
a tabloid sensation
around the world.

514
00:37:17,903 --> 00:37:21,615
A clipping was found among
the papers of a writer.

515
00:37:21,657 --> 00:37:24,826
The writer's name:
Bram Stoker.

516
00:37:24,868 --> 00:37:27,704
And the book inspired by
Mercy's tale,

517
00:37:27,746 --> 00:37:30,082
I'm sure you've
already guessed that.

518
00:37:30,123 --> 00:37:31,124
Dracula.

519
00:37:31,166 --> 00:37:34,086
♪♪

520
00:37:40,258 --> 00:37:43,053
The vampire tale
quickly moved from
the printed page

521
00:37:43,095 --> 00:37:44,513
to the Silver Screen.

522
00:37:49,017 --> 00:37:51,311
And it's never
really gone away.

523
00:37:56,942 --> 00:37:59,152
It's more than
a little ironic.

524
00:37:59,194 --> 00:38:00,862
In many ways,

525
00:38:00,904 --> 00:38:03,573
thanks to the efforts
of her father,

526
00:38:03,615 --> 00:38:05,492
Mercy Brown,

527
00:38:05,534 --> 00:38:07,995
the first American vampire,

528
00:38:08,036 --> 00:38:09,955
is still alive...

529
00:38:09,997 --> 00:38:11,123
today.

530
00:38:15,293 --> 00:38:18,213
♪♪