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This is the greatest paranormal story you've never heard of.
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A terror that rivals horror films like Amityville and the Poltergeist.
But this is a true story set in the middle of America's heartland.
[Duane speaking]
[Steve] In 1974 and '75, in the small farming town of Merrill, Michigan,
the Pomeraning family was tormented
-by extreme, relentless poltergeist activity. -[telephone rings]
Knocking, pounding, even spontaneous combustion.
After 50 years, the family and townspeople are talking.
With hundreds of police reports and hours of audio recordings,
some never before seen or heard...
[Duane Speaking]
[Steve] ...I'm finally going to find the truth about the evil
that destroyed a family and forever changed a town.
An evil that still lives there...
-[device chiming] -[Steve] What is happening?
[Steve] ...to this day.
-Who are you? -[unexplained voice speaking]
It literally said, "Satan, the demon."
[Steve] Welcome to the Michigan Hell House.
[Steve] I've been a paranormal investigator for more than 20 years.
I thought I had heard every ghost story there was.
But all of that changed about seven years ago.
Somebody contacted me online.
They stated that they had a box of police reports
that was vital that I got my hands on.
When I brought it home, it read like a horror story.
A demonic force terrorizing a family for months on end,
toying with them, attacking them, slowly driving them mad.
And it all happened right in my back yard.
I grew up in Saginaw, just one town over.
The people in these reports, they didn't feel like strangers,
they felt like neighbors, like friends.
I was instantly determined to help.
Merrill, Michigan, a village hardly a square mile wide,
home to the Pomeraning family.
In 1951, Harold and Mabel built their first house on the family's old farmstead,
the home where their two sons, Terry and Duane, were born and raised.
They moved out of the house nearly 50 years ago.
Terry, Duane.
[Steve] Today, the brothers are the only members of the family who remain.
We were just an ordinary family that farmed and went to church.
Yeah. I mean, we had a good childhood, me and Duane.
But when you really look back, what was that moment where everything changed?
Our problems started on July 9th, '74.
We were gonna open up the blueberry season for the first day that day.
At 8:00 o'clock, our whole family had went to bed
about midnight that night...
[glass breaking]
What was that?
[gun clicks]
-What's happening? -Go back to your room.
Who's out there?
[Terry] We didn't see nothing.
And so we called 911.
[operator] 911, what's your emergency?
[Steve] From the summer of 1974 to the spring of 1975,
the family called the police every single day,
reporting unexplained, bizarre, menacing activity.
Someone or something was targeting them.
[Terry] Evil was in the house with us constantly.
Even though it's been 47 years,
I know I think about it every day, you know?
As some would say that you wouldn't wish on your worst enemy.
I don't know what to tell you, after all these years why that happened.
We thought later on, "Why is this happening to us for, you know?"
I mean, we're not... we've never bothered nobody.
I think a lot of people that stayed don't believe that that ever happened.
We went through hell, man.
My dad was only 60, my mother was only 64 when they died.
[Duane] I think, had this never happened, to be honest with you,
-they would have lived a lot longer. -[crow cawing]
[Steve] You know, guys, that this... this case has never left me.
And based on, I want to show you the catalyst behind reopening the case.
[parapsychologist speaking]
Never heard that.
Wow.
Dad's voice, man.
[Steve] I know it was difficult to hear that.
And at the same time, I'm sure kind of wonderful to hear that, too.
[Terry] How'd you come up with that?
Well, these are the original recordings
from the parapsychologist that came out...
-Really? -[Steve] ...to interview you guys.
It's been 50 years.
So imagine how many things could be on these recordings
reminding you guys of certain things
which could trigger even more memory.
It sounds to me like he was really pissed off.
They went through a lot and--
[Terry] They didn't deserve that.
No, they didn't deserve that.
Maybe we can truly find what happened,
because after all these decades,
maybe you can give them one word.
You know what that word is? Peace.
Well, I'll tell you one thing.
We're gonna go through everything.
[Steve] Tonight, I'm heading to the Hell House
with psychic medium, Cindy Kaza.
But first, I'm paying a visit to the current residents, Bridgette and Julie Larsen.
We'll definitely appreciate you guys taking the time and, you know,
letting me over here.
I want to stop by and tell you guys,
I mean, we got to get to the bottom
of what happened here for the Pomeranings.
-Yeah, absolutely. -Absolutely.
What kind of experiences have you guys had in this house?
We were home alone and we both seen it.
And it was almost like a white thing,
like a shadow almost with like hands in the window.
And we freaked out.
There was no footsteps, nothing.
[Julie] I was scared as a kid every day.
Um, one time I was sleeping in the bed and I was...
there was like a flash, like someone, like, took a picture of me.
Okay. And obviously nothing that would possibly explain it,
that you could think of?
Nothing. I always felt like someone was watching me at all times.
So I don't know. I can't explain it.
It's nothing like it was with the Pomeranings with us.
I would love to come back here and do some night investigation
'cause, really, I feel like the answers
are going to be in this house one way or the other.
-Yeah, absolutely. -Absolutely.
-[Steve] Hey. -Hey.
[Steve] So I think essentially we'll take a walk over to the property
and just kind of do a baseline reading.
-Okay. -[Steve] And see what you pick up on.
Yeah.
[Steve] Cindy knows nothing about this case,
but I'm hoping her psychic abilities
can sense what hundreds of documents
and a year of investigation couldn't.
What caused all the strange and terrifying phenomena here.
Any vibes on the way out here?
[Cindy] Yes.
I feel like this is a really weird case.
It's going to take a while to really put all the pieces together.
I don't know yet.
How are you feeling?
-[Steve] There's kind of an ominous feeling... -[Cindy] Yeah.
[Steve] ...I guess is the best way to describe it.
[Cindy] Right as I step in the driveway,
when I look at this house, I see like the house is alive.
But you know what? I just heard
"Burn it to the ground."
-There's a terrible fire for sure. -[exhales sharply]
It doesn't feel accidental.
It feels like arson. It feels intentional.
Okay.
I also want to go behind the house.
But I look over here, I'm seeing this woman
and she's looking at me, luring me, she is saying, "Come this way."
The energy in this house or whatever this haunting is,
people will think at times they fixed it
and then it goes, it goes flat and people think they're safe,
and then it comes back with a vengeance.
[sighs]
Like the man who first built this property, he hasn't found peace.
That's the sense that I get.
That's a very accurate statement.
He hasn't found peace.
And it has to do with his wife or his...
[knocking]
-Did you hear that knocking? -[Steve] Yes.
[Cindy] I heard it inside of the house.
[Steve] I bet no one's in the house.
[scoffs]
What the hell did you get me into? [laughing]
This is like, 'What the hell is happening?"
It's a case unlike anything else.
You know, I see so much poltergeist activity in there, like dangerous...
-So much poltergeist activity? -[Cindy] ...poltergeist activity,
so much poltergeist activity
to the point where people are terrified to even be in the house.
Things are flying off shelves.
People are getting thrown against the wall.
[Steve] What the hell was that?
[Cindy] I don't know, dude.
[Steve] I don't know if that was an animal. I don't know what that was.
There's nothing that can stop this force from moving forward.
It still hasn't been stopped.
I could see windows breaking too,
-just windows, shattering windows. -[Steve] Whoa, whoa, whoa.
[Cindy] They're just exploding out of the house.
I'm gonna, I'm gonna tell you this right now,
because I have to, like, I have chills throughout my body.
-You stopped here and said that. -[Cindy] Yeah.
[Steve] That window blew out and shattered in the middle of the night,
and that's when everything started.
[Cindy] It is crazy.
I... I could feel it.
Who brought this into the damn house, though?
That's the thing. Where did this start? What happened?
Like, that's what I want to figure out.
[Steve] I wanted to just come out here and have you get a baseline.
But are you picking up anything?
[exhales sharply]
Has anybody ever said that when they're in this house, when they're laying in bed,
they've woken up to something floating above them?
Yes.
One time I was sleeping in the bed and I was... there was like a flash.
That's it. It can shape-shift.
What do you think it is?
I have no idea, Steve. I don't know yet.
But I feel like it's something I haven't encountered in my career yet,
and it scares me a little bit.
Honestly, I don't know what it is.
I mean, I think with what's happening,
I almost wouldn't mind a little impromptu investigation
with my equipment.
-You feel up to it? -Yeah, I'm up to it.
-[Steve] Okay. -Yeah.
[Steve] That knocking definitely came from over here.
I'm thinking three different spots right here by the house.
Okay. We're recording there.
I'm gonna try some communication real quick.
[device chimes]
Boom. Did you see that right there?
I feel like something is here.
Are you setting off the device?
-This is insane. -Yeah.
There's nothing that would account for these readings.
Cindy and I heard you knocking on the--
[device chimes]
It literally went off as we came over here.
What the hell was that?
[knocking]
I know no one's in the house.
But honestly, it looked like something white moved right here.
[Steve] A quick check of our footage reveals
what looks like a white orb moving throughout the house.
I feel like something is on the other side of that window.
-There is. -I mean, I saw it with my own eyes,
but I can tell it's... it's looking at us.
We're definitely not alone here. That's for sure.
Every time I go to walk to this window, the meter goes off.
I cannot believe that just happened.
I'm gonna place the recorder here.
Can you tell us your name?
Why do you watch people when they sleep?
[Steve on recorder] Every time I go to walk to this window,
the meter goes off.
-Every time. -[Cindy on recorder] Every time.
[Steve on recorder] Definitely not a coincidence.
Can you tell us your name?
Why do you watch people when they sleep?
[gasps]
-"You're all gonna die." -Steve, that is the scariest [bleep]
I've ever heard.
-You heard it. I heard it. -[Cindy] I am so [bleep] freaked out.
-No, that was scary. -[Steve] At the very end.
[Steve on recorder] Why do you watch people when they sleep?
-[gasps] -[Steve] "You're all gonna die."
I'm not kidding, that's fricking terrifying.
That's the worst EVP I've ever recorded.
Dude, that is... seriously, that is so messed up.
Female voice.
I'm shaking because that... that legitimately scared me.
-Yeah. That's... that's disturbing as hell. -Wow.
Everyone's gonna have to be really careful moving forward on this one.
I mean, that's... you want to talk about an omen.
It's not safe, for real.
Yeah. I completely agree.
Whatever is in that house, I feel like it's a force to be reckoned with.
And people that have lived here and live here are terrified of the house
that they live in and what it can do.
[Steve] Cindy was really tapped in last night.
Many of her visions matched the most terrifying
and well-documented elements of the story.
Last night was extremely intense.
-Definitely. -I want to talk to you about what happened out there.
Um, if you notice, I got these boards turned around.
There's a lot of information I have here in the room
-that I know you don't want to be privy to. -Right.
There was a lot of things yesterday that you hit on,
you know, from that baseline reading.
Uh, before we go into that though, I can't get over that EVP.
I've played it over and over.
It was really scary.
And I've been scared before,
but that's probably the most terrifying EVP that I've ever heard.
Yeah, I agree.
[gasps]
-"You're all gonna die." -[Cindy] Steve.
-It's a woman for sure. -Yes.
That leads me to something else.
You said that you were picking up on a woman
that was trying to lead us behind the house near the barn.
-[Cindy] Mmm-hmm. -What can you tell me about that?
[Cindy] She felt like she was trying to lure us
somewhere that wasn't in her best interest.
The fact that you use luring is very interesting.
We had an experience out there of hearing knocking.
[knocking]
Did you... did you hear that knocking?
-It was three knocks. -Yes, three knocks.
This is how it all began with pounding, with knocking on the outside of the house.
The minute you went out there,
you were hitting on things left and right.
You instantly picked up...
You kind of stopped and started talking about a window being broken.
What I believe is that night, that's when evil came into the home.
But what brought it in there?
That's what we need to figure out.
Exactly.
[Steve] Knowing what happened during those first days of unexplained activity
could be the key to unlocking the mystery of the Hell House.
One of the first police officers to respond to the home
in the summer of 1974
was retired sergeant, Charles Frisby.
He's agreed to meet with me and go over the shocking case.
[Charles] I received a call.
I think it was 1974.
A prowler call. Chapping in, Dice Road see Mr. Pomeraning.
So I get there.
All he says, "I've heard some really strange noises."
He says, "My heart's beating on my ass."
"Okay," I said, "I'll go out and look around."
But when I went outside and looked,
I saw no evidence of anybody being around there,
no tracks and anything.
I said, "Well, okay, we'll keep an eye on it."
So...
I... I left.
[Steve] But the knocking continued.
I had that fear every night, just didn't know what was going to happen,
and if we were going to make it through the night or not.
[Steve] Over the next few weeks,
other witnesses outside of the family experienced the phenomena,
including their friends, Doug and Vicki Buckley.
So you live right next to the Pomeranings.
This is happening right next door.
We were sitting in the living room
and the knocking came from the north side by the front door.
The stuff that was on the wall was shaking.
So it was that loud.
He'd go out one door
and I would go out the other door and didn't see nothing.
The knocking continued.
Boom, boom, boom!
[Pam] We were just sitting around the table,
all at once, we heard this bang, bang, bang.
Wow. I mean, bang, bang, bang.
Yeah, it sounded like somebody was...
Like, if you stood here and beat on a damn wall.
[Steve] I mean, what was that like if you didn't know who was the suspect?
What were you guys thinking as this first began?
Well, at first I thought, you know, these new neighbors moved in
a month before and this stuff started happening in our house and...
In the beginning, they were really nice people.
[Terry] It seemed like anyway.
In the end, they were not.
[engine starting]
[exhales sharply] [bleep]
Can I help you with something?
I want to buy your home.
Why would you buy a brand-new house and then be asking to buy the neighbor's house?
Good question. I have no idea.
My dad said, "Sell our house?
Why are you asking about selling our house?"
And she would never answer.
[Steve] The new neighbors made a strange first impression.
But another encounter between Duane and the unusual newcomers
still haunts the brothers to this day.
Duane doesn't even really know...
I went to their house, and I don't know how I got there.
[Terry] He doesn't even know why or how he even got there.
I looked out, and I said, "I don't see him anywhere."
And here... he comes home then that night and he just started...
he was acting a little sort of weird, too,
and he started telling us that she took him all through their house
and she even cut his hair, and he just... just passed right out.
And wasn't coming to.
By the time the ambulance got out there, he was turning blue.
We thought he was going to die.
[Steve] Thanks to an emergency tracheotomy,
Duane narrowly escapes death
and doctors diagnosed him with epilepsy.
But further testing told a different story.
Everybody thought you had epilepsy,
but I have a report from the Mayo Clinic that said you did not have epilepsy.
I mean, they are the definitive authority in health care.
I mean, I've been seizure-free now for years.
Before that, there was no problems.
So then really what caused that seizure?
It almost sounds like you almost kind of had
a gut feeling about these neighbors,
which were next door to you guys.
-Yeah. -[Duane] Right.
[Steve] Duane has no memory of what happened during those missing hours
at the neighbor's home.
From that day forward, Mabel refused to let him go on the neighbor's property.
But still, throughout the summer,
the knocking continued
and the police reports on the Hell House were piling up.
[Charles] Well, I have never, ever seen
this much paperwork done on a prowler call
and why this continues to escalate, continues to escalate.
[Charles speaking]
-This was the Halloween night stakeout. -This is Halloween night.
[Steve] That Halloween night, investigating officers assembled a special task force
to conduct a large scale stakeout.
[Charles] We put cars east, west, north, south,
had the whole place surrounded with cars,
staked it out, get it off the roads and I don't see anything.
[Steve] The family was completely unaware
that the entire home was surrounded with officers lying in wait.
Around midnight, the captain who was stationed inside the home
radioed that the knocking had begun.
The task force surrounding the home could not hear the knocking outside
but could hear the knocks coming through the captain's radio transmission
as he called for backup.
[officer 1 on radio] The knocking is coming from inside the house.
I repeat, the knocking is coming from inside the house.
[officer 2 on radio] Like one of the boys or something.
[officer 1 on radio] All I know is someone's knocking in here.
Well, I was the first suspect.
He said, "Captain is going to take you
to the state police post in Bay City, Michigan, for a lie detector test."
[Steve] Both boys were prime suspects and subject to polygraph test.
And life at the Hell House was only about to get worse.
By early 1975, the unexplained activity at the Hell House
went from bad to terrifying.
[Davis speaking]
[Steve] The nightly knocking and pounding turned into violent blasts.
[Davis speaking]
[Steve] While the paranormal activity continued to escalate,
the polygraph results came back,
officially clearing the family of any involvement in the strange happenings.
[Davis speaking]
[Terry] And after that, we had lot of those voices.
[Duane] It said several times it's going to kill you.
Just the voice just came like out of nowhere through the house.
"I'm going to kill your family!"
I mean, to this day, I still... I can still hear that voice,
and it just scared the living crap out of me.
But a lot of people would just say, "We'd get the hell out of there
and never... never go back," you know.
But now we were fighters and we had our faith and we thought,
"God will, you know, take us through this."
[Vicki] They were tortured for so many years,
seems like they were robbed of life.
But I hope they do get closure.
[Steve] The local police finally threw their hands up.
They simply couldn't figure out
what was causing the strange activity at the Pomeraning home.
We didn't really have a lot of investigative equipment.
Matter of fact, we turned to the state police a lot in those years
because they had all the technology.
It amazes me.
I mean, literally cutting-edge technology of this time was used on this case.
[Steve] The Michigan State Police enlisted investigators
to search for logical explanations.
The power company, Bell Telephone, Dow Chemical, the FAA,
the US Geological Survey, brought out seismographs.
The state police did a full sweep of the home
looking for any trace of foul play.
Officers even moved in to monitor the home 24/7.
Yet no one found any explanation
for the strange knocks and blasts tormenting the family.
The Pomeranings are growing desperate
and the state police quietly acknowledge
what many had already suspected,
that there was something paranormal happening in the home.
[Charles] I believe, uh, state police called in a paranormal expert,
but I had never heard of that being done
by a police agency.
I'll give the police department, the sheriff's department credit.
They came out every night.
You know, they did everything.
-Yeah. -[Terry] And one of the officers
told my dad that he knew this guy that worked
with one of these spirit boards.
My dad said, "Well, okay."
He came home.
The spirit will communicate to us through the letters on the board.
Let the spirit take over.
First letter is K.
That's an N.
I.
F.
E. Knife.
Knife?
Knife, what's that supposed to mean?
Look out!
[Terry] It was a big knife, and it came out of that knife block,
like at 50 miles an hour.
I mean, it just... If someone had been in that area,
they would have gotten hurt real bad or killed.
It was just unreal.
I mean, you'd have to see it to believe it.
We even asked our pastor to, you know,
come to our house and bless the house.
And he would not come to our house.
So it ended up the priest from the Catholic church.
He came out to our house and blessed the inside with holy water and outside.
And after he did that, all hell really broke loose that night.
Things would be tossed across the room that they didn't touch,
more things and more things.
[Terry] It was hard on everybody, and especially my parents.
This evil was just constantly in the house.
[Duane] I mean, we prayed about it.
And the more we prayed, the worse it got.
[Steve] It was now clear to the family that this evil wasn't going anywhere.
It was, in fact, determined to drive them out of their family home.
But why?
These puzzles seem as impossible to piece together as shattered glass.
So with no options left, the Michigan State Police do something unprecedented.
With funding from an anonymous donor,
they reached out to the parapsychology lab at Duke University,
run by world-renowned parapsychologist, William Roll.
His group had investigated the most famous poltergeist cases in history.
I went to the Hoyt Public Library
to meet with William Roll's associate Jerry Solfvin,
who investigated the Hell House in 1975.
I arrived on February 7.
State police drove me to the house.
[Steve] So you actually stayed with them, right?
[Jerry] Moved in.
So when I first arrived,
uh, the first thing I did is I mapped out the house
and I made a two-dimensional model.
And I interviewed people, "Where did this happen?"
And they would point on the map and make a mark
because there's so many things that happened
and so many witnesses.
Before I arrived, it started with banging, then the explosions.
But then it goes to the next level.
Object movement, the lamps,
figurine, the fruit basket,
the flower basket, the cup of hot tea, and a pillow.
The pillow, that... that's a big incident. Wasn't it?
It attacked Mabel.
[telephone rings thrice]
[Steve] According to the notes from Jerry's files,
Terry, Duane, and his two adult cousins were present
when the attack occurred.
It took all four of them to save Mabel from suffocating.
I was on the way.
My goodness, this case was exploding with phenomena.
[Steve] Like everyone else who came to evict this unknown horror,
it wasn't long before it turned on Jerry.
[Jerry] When I took a shower in the morning, I took a towel,
tossed it over the sliding glass doors,
and I just left it there to dry.
And sometime later, I said, "Mabel, did you smell something?"
And I saw smoke coming around the edge of the bathroom door.
So I opened it and there was, uh, my towel.
Never seen a fire like that.
I was stunned.
I was like deer in the headlights.
"My God, that's incredible."
Now, that fire was also investigated,
correct, by the, by the State Fire Marshal?
[Jerry] He did.
But he said there was nothing that could be investigated.
That was an amazing thing. This doesn't follow any physical laws.
And secondly, that it might have been aimed at me.
How many fires took place in the week you were there?
-Three. -Three fires?
Three fires.
The second fire would be that roll of toilet paper.
And the report says language that when I first read it, blew my mind,
"humanly impossible".
-This is a State Fire Marshal. -[Jerry] That's right.
For any season, State Fire Marshal
-declares the origin of a fire... -Yeah, yeah.
..."Humanly impossible" in nature.
Yeah. It's really amazing. It's really amazing stuff.
[Steve] Whoever or whatever was targeting the family
was growing more deadly by the day.
And finally, the third fire occurred.
I brought with me a number of electronic devices.
Different kinds of tape recorders.
You know, there's one part of this that I listen to.
This is on when the third fire occurred.
-So the third fire was... is on one of these recordings. -[Jerry] Yes. Yes.
[Steve] Thanks to a tip from Professor Solfvin,
I listened through nearly 30 hours of audio
and eventually found the most terrifying moment caught on tape.
I'm playing it for the brothers
and their neighbors, the Buckleys.
Take a listen, and I think you'll understand the reason
I'm sitting here today with you.
It's the first time they've heard these sounds in nearly 50 years.
[indistinct whispering]
[growling]
[indistinct whispering]
[Mabel] Duane.
[explosion]
[siren wailing]
-Oh, my God, Steve. -That's amazing.
Wow.
Wow. Kind of brought chills remembering.
-I hear this and just, you know? -Yeah.
Yeah.
I guess probably scares you 'cause that was close to our home, you know?
[Vicki] Yeah.
I looked out my west window and I could see the smoke
and Mabel and the boys was standing out in the yard,
and it was bad enough that they had to leave their home.
[Steve] Like the other two blazes, the State Fire Marshal was called in to investigate.
That report is here from the Michigan State Fire Marshal.
I'm just going to read this.
Um, "It should be noted that
two members of the Duke University Cyclical Research Center Foundation
have been conducting extensive testing at the residence
to determine the source of the strange noises
and strange occurrences taking place there.
It is felt by all parties involved,
that there is some supernatural phenomenon occurring at this location.
[indistinct whispering]
And then it also could be the cause of the fires which have occurred."
That's a bold statement.
Especially with state police.
They called in a paranormal expert.
He says, "It's a poltergeist."
I said, "What the hell is a poltergeist?"
I just want to get really clear with you.
What exactly is a poltergeist?
When we say poltergeist, it brings to mind one thing.
The anomalous phenomena.
It's a burst of them over a short period of time.
It's unexplainable,
but that is paired with the social psychological setting,
and it's usually a family going through some sort of a stress.
About 80% of cases have a distinct individual
who are the focus or the agent of the activity.
I see. Okay. So at first, you're identifying the anomalous force?
-[Jerry] Yes. -Then you're looking for the agent?
Right. Right.
[Steve] Thanks to Professor Solfvin,
I now know that identifying the agent,
the center of all the poltergeist activity, has to be our next step.
So, Cindy, the other night you've said a statement about extreme poltergeist activity.
Right.
This literally is one of the most prolific poltergeist cases,
poltergeist-like activity.
But see, now we're facing, you know, with poltergeist activity,
we have to look at who is fueling this activity
or what dynamic within the family is creating enough chaos
to support poltergeist activity.
-Well, tonight I want to go into the house. -[Cindy] Mmm-hmm.
We actually go into the house.
I want to take some of these items in the home,
basically by proxy bringing the family back,
their voices and just see what happens when we bring these trigger objects in.
-[Cindy] Yeah. -But I have no idea what to expect.
Yeah, I know.
Well, I guess we have our work cut out for us on this one, Steve, right?
[Steve] Everybody, the crew, ourselves,
we have to be beyond careful.
It's time to figure out what caused this poltergeist.
[Steve] Tonight, Cindy and I will meet up at the Hell House.
Using projectors and audio recordings,
we'll be attempting to virtually bring back
the family in the house for the first time in decades.
-You ready? -Yeah. Let's do it.
-I'm gonna grab some gear. -[Cindy] All right.
[door creaking]
[Cindy] You got it?
There is something menacing here.
You're already picking that up?
Oh, yeah, for sure. It's like, game on.
[Steve] In order to reawaken the entity lurking inside the home,
I'm setting up several trigger objects,
pictures, projected photos, and audio recordings from 1975.
If whatever happened out here is really attached to this family,
I have no idea what's going to happen.
-[Cindy] Okay. -[Steve] All right.
-I'm gonna grab some gear. -[Cindy] All right.
[Steve] We're here right now.
Let me show you one of the items that I have for tonight's investigation.
[Cindy] Oh, this is the couple.
Who's Harry?
Harold. This is Harold.
-This is Mr. Pomeraning. -Oh!
[Steve] Oh, my God, Cindy.
[Cindy] My heart is exploding.
You just see... something happened.
Did he have a heart attack?
-What happened? -This man died of a heart attack.
That's it. He... that's... Okay.
And he went before...
-[Steve] Yes. -Before her. Um...
She's so sad.
And I keep feeling it has to do with the boys.
[device 1 chiming]
[device 2 chiming]
[Steve] Oh, my God.
Something is definitely moving in the adjacent room.
The boys' room, as a matter of fact.
As you talk about the boys, this is Terry Pomeraning.
[Cindy] Terry! I got to talk about Terry.
That kid, he wants to protect the mom or take care of her.
[Steve] He absolutely adored his mother,
and his mother, Mabel, went through a lot of trauma here, you know.
What was happening here was wearing her down to nothing.
-I see-- -[device 1 chiming]
That is really strong.
[device 2 chiming]
[Steve] Each time Cindy taps into the family members, the entity responds.
The trigger items seem to be working.
It's time to up the stakes and bring our most powerful trigger object
back to the Hell House.
So I'm gonna play some of those audio recordings that I got from that university.
-Okay. -And these are incidents, of course,
that happened here in this house.
Is it the fire we're hearing?
Fire, explosions.
[Cindy] I just keep hearing, "He didn't do it.
He didn't do it."
Did they blame Duane for the fire?
Duane was the suspect, I believe, in everything.
He didn't do it.
I'm hearing, Steve, it was the man behind him.
[device chiming]
[Steve] What is happening right now?
Actually, uh, I think maybe we ought to stand over here for a moment.
There's quite a horrific story regarding a knife block...
[Harold] Look out!
[Steve] ...lunged at a police officer.
That's the spot.
Okay. Something is right there, Cindy.
[motion sensor chiming]
Motion sensor.
[devices chiming]
I feel like the walls are shaking.
[devices chiming]
Motion sensor.
-This room has a lot of paranormal activity. -[Steve] Yes.
It's a lot of poltergeist activity.
When I stand here, I feel like there's an earthquake happening.
[device chiming]
Why do...
Did Duane go to prison or something?
Did he get in trouble with the law?
Both boys were suspects, and Duane was considered the number one suspect.
He has demons.
[Steve] Yeah, Duane was very troubled.
-[Steve on recorder] Motion sensor. -Oh, my God,
the Ovilus just went off.
[Cindy] What did it say?
[automated voice] Son, wrong, devil.
[gasps]
[Steve] Son, wrong, devil.
That thing just fired off response after response.
Steve, can I ask you something?
Is there any chance somebody did some sort of a sacrificial thing with an animal?
I'm seeing something like that.
Is it possible? Yes.
I wouldn't take that off the table.
I'm gonna tell you exactly what I just heard.
There was a presence of spirit...
that had influence somehow on, I believe, Duane.
I believe Duane could sense this spirit, this man, but I feel it shape-shifting.
I'm not saying it's actually-- I don't know yet.
I feel that Duane would speak to people that weren't there.
He would be talking to spirits that nobody else could see,
but he would be talking to them.
Something was leading him.
[device chiming]
[Steve] My opinion right now, it's toying with us,
because it's showing us, "I can manipulate everything."
I feel like the more like you're tuning in, tapping in, it's like--
It's so much that I don't even know where to begin
other than I... I... like, I'm getting so much stuff
and it's coming at me from all directions.
[devices chiming]
Please back off!
I can't even, like, think.
I need to step outside for a second
because I can't work with all this stuff going off.
[Steve] The evil entity is trying to force us out of the house
to stop Cindy from tapping in and getting a clear vision.
She must be getting close to the truth.
So we're taking the investigation back outside,
where Cindy is going to try a technique called scrying,
using a mirror to see beyond the veil.
I'm very interested to see what happens when you try this,
especially how tapped in you're to this land.
Yeah.
So really, I'm just going to relax my gaze
and really allow whatever impressions come to me.
It's gonna take me a second to kind of get into it,
but then I'll... I'll get going.
-Okay? -Okay. Absolutely.
Okay.
[exhales sharply]
This is not what I expected to start seeing,
but I keep seeing a house having its own life force.
It's like the perfect storm, Steve.
Underneath here, I feel like, I don't know
if there's a rock bed or some sort of elementals
around here but it drives it.
-It fuels it. -Okay.
[Cindy] The land is not cursed, but there is something...
there's something fueling, that fuels the poltergeist activity.
It... it fuels... maybe it's elemental, I don't understand,
but it's like...
I feel like all these men marching towards me, now that's so wild.
Like, I'm looking over here and I just feel all of these spirits
just walking towards me.
There's been shadow figures scene, there's been faces.
[Cindy] They're everywhere!
And I'm looking and I see them, not one.
I'm seeing more than one.
I need to come back again 'cause I'm like... I'm at capacity,
but there's a piece I'm missing.
We gotta get to the bottom of it.
We've got to get to the bottom of it
'cause we want to find that piece.
[Steve] Last night's investigation,
-that was chaotic, extremely chaotic. -Mmm-hmm.
[Steve] I mean, I wondered what would happen bringing these objects in,
but I never expected everything to go off constantly.
[devices chiming]
[Cindy] Yeah, for me, it was a little bit of a nightmare.
This could be an accumulation of energy shooting around, an intelligent energy, right?
-Yeah, a poltergeist, perhaps. -[Cindy] A poltergeist.
In this particular situation, I question whether or not this is something else,
because last night, I felt some connection to Duane
having the ability to communicate with spirits.
Remember when I saw something with animals
and I'm seeing blood and I feel like occult activity?
Occult activity.
Remember when I said, "Is there anything with animal sacrifice?"
-Yeah. Yes. -I felt that he was influenced by the man behind him.
So do they ever implicate Duane as being part of any occult practices?
No, not Duane.
But there's a huge theory about occult activity in the surrounding area,
an occult activity which could have contributed to the activity here.
Let me show you a report here now that we're on the subject of occult activity.
So the sheriff's department,
they learn of a strange commune of people living in the woods...
-Wow! -...doing weird things.
[Steve] The report goes on to say, this commune of hippy types
were living in the woods nearby,
and it also noted that the information was withheld from the Pomeraning family.
Another report states that Duane and Terry witnessed their neighbors
and a group of strangers contorting as if worshiping the Sun,
just before the barn behind the house caught fire.
Evidence is mounting that an occult group centered around their next-door neighbors
was haunting the family.
Why was I seeing an image of Duane going out
and participating in these occult activities?
Is it because he was the most influenced by this force?
I think I may have the answer in a sense.
Um, so I'm gonna tell you something.
Duane doesn't remember, but at one point,
in his words, and again, going back to the baseline reading,
you said that we were being "Lured".
-You've used that word specifically. -[Cindy] Yes.
Duane tells me that he was lured by this woman across the street to her home.
To this day, Duane doesn't even really know...
I went to their house, and I don't know how I got there.
He never really had nothing to do with them from the start, really.
And he started telling us that she cut his hair.
He remembers nothing else.
-Goes home, has a grand mal seizure that night. -[gasps]
Wow.
What was she doing? A ritual?
He doesn't recall.
We need to find out what happened to Duane that day.
[Steve] Urban legends about occult activity in Merrill have swirled for some time.
But in light of these new reports,
they take on a disturbing new meaning.
There was some talk about a witch.
"You know, there's a witch. She lives on Dice Road."
Mabel fully believed that there was witchcraft going on,
and she thought she knew who the witches were.
[Bea] It was the fellow that lived across the corner from them.
Harold told me. He thought he was a warlock.
[Terry] The new neighbor lady was always buying witchcraft books,
going outside and doing all those different things
with her hands and arms and looking up in the sky
and talking away and... and screaming sometimes.
The biggest thing that I remember
is that she said she had been ordained as a witch.
I truly believe she was a witch.
[Duane] Yeah, she was definitely a witch
because there was a lot of witchcraft in Merrill.
[Steve] Tonight, after months of negotiating with its current owners,
I finally got permission to enter the house across the street,
where the witch once lived.
If Terry and Duane agreed to enter the house with me,
it may jog Duane's memory of that fateful day
when he was lured to the witch's house,
had his hair cut and then blacked out
and had a grand mal seizure that nearly killed him.
First, I meet up with them back at their old home, the Hell House.
I can't imagine what it, you know, must feel like
going back into this house, everything you guys dealt with,
but I think we need these answers.
-All right. We good? -Let's do it.
All right, let's go, guys.
Wow.
[Terry] Oh, my God.
Well, still brings back a lot of memories.
Oh, hey, Terry, I'm doing another load of laundry, so I need your shirts.
[Terry] I can just see my mom, you know, walking around in the house,
you know, and, you know, just stuff like that.
Still bringing back a lot.
Yeah.
-I've been on this case for a long time. -Yeah.
You know, seven years, we've been talking on and off.
I've been researching this.
We all know the neighbor always comes up.
You know, Duane, when you were lured over to the house,
do you remember anything from that night?
-No. -Even the smallest, vaguest memory whatsoever?
I can't remember anything.
[Steve] Nothing?
It's a blank, like it was magic.
Well, I might have a solution.
I'm not sure how you guys are gonna react to this.
But I have obtained permission
to be able to go across the street and go into the house.
Is that something you would consider doing with us, Duane?
[Duane] I don't know how I feel about it right now.
I wish I could.
I mean, this is how I'm looking at it.
All roads in this investigation are leading me to that house.
If we can go in there, maybe, Duane, you can walk around and look,
maybe it will jog your memory.
[Terry] I'm all for it. Duane is.
How about you, Duane?
-Yeah. -Okay.
[Duane] If it helps the case, I'll go over there.
As far as I can remember, that was the only time he ever was in that house.
Only... only time.
-This is where we need to go. -[Terry] Yeah.
-Follow me. -Okay.
[Steve] Just across the street from the Hell House
is the home of the alleged witch.
Like the Pomeranings, she moved out of her house nearly 50 years ago.
This is the first time Terry has ever entered the home,
in the first time in nearly 50 years for Duane.
-Oh! -[Terry] Okay.
-[Terry] You all right? -No, not really.
I don't remember being in this place.
Go ahead and take a moment.
How do you feel being in here when you think about the things
that, you know, were happening across the street here when you lived there?
I don't know because it seems a little...
a little weird,
a little funny, but I just saw the stuff that they did,
especially what I seen them do outside.
She would look up in the sky and she'd be, like, talking to somebody,
even screaming sometimes, motioning with her arms.
She would go out there with their trash barrel
and it could be downpour and tremendous thunderstorm,
and she'd start the bags on fire and burn it all up.
[Steve] It almost sounds like, uh, they referred to it as exercising their powers.
So, now that I'm sitting here in this chair, there's a lot of things
that I think is coming back to me
because I remember she was playing with her hair.
I don't know what the hell... what that meant.
Latch on to those things that you remember,
and I think it's going to keep coming.
I remember now she had a black lipstick.
-[Terry] I remember... -[Steve] You remember this?
...him telling me and my parents that...
I'm starting to remember a little bit when I'm back in here.
She was always in black.
That little bit of memory that was jogged by you coming in here,
the fact that she was wearing all black, that means something to me.
-That... that helps. -She brought me in from the other way.
She brought you in the other door?
-Yeah. -Okay. So you're remembering right now.
-Yeah. -[Steve] You come in the back door,
what happens next?
There was candles in every room.
Do you remember what color candles?
Just try to put yourself there just for a moment.
There was different colored candles, yeah.
Okay.
How did it get to the point where a haircut got involved?
[Duane] She got some iced tea.
It didn't taste right, you know?
I told her I didn't need a haircut.
And this is what she said.
"I think I should just give you a trim."
And this is amazing.
She actually put the hair in her mouth and swallowed it.
She put the hair in her mouth and swallowed the hair?
Yes.
[Steve] Have you ever heard any of this?
No.
-No, this is all new to me. -[Duane] Yeah.
Let me ask you guys something. I've got my gear out in the car.
Would you be willing to sit here while I place some meters around
and just kind of ask some questions
with you guys being present?
Yeah.
-[device chiming] -[Steve] Okay.
This device here, guys, it's ITC communication.
Look at it as a radio to connect with the dead.
If you have any questions, I want you guys to ask the questions, okay?
We're gonna try to get some answers.
Huge meter hit.
Are you here now because they're back in the house, back here on this land?
It said curse them.
[device chiming]
[Steve] Whatever it is, guys, it's right here.
Who are we communicating with?
Give us a name.
[Jamie] I've got an anomaly.
-[Steve] You got something? -[Jamie] Next to Duane.
Guys, it's right by Duane.
Did somebody conjure you to go after the Pomeraning family?
Yeah.
-Did you hear that? -Yeah. I heard that.
-Yeah. -Yeah.
You're setting off our meter. Who are you?
-[Steve] Did you hear it? -[Jamie] Yeah.
-Satan. -[Jamie] Yeah.
[Steve] Were you sitting in the chair? Did we see you?
-[Jamie] Yeah. -[Steve] Yes. Yes.
Today, November 18,
there was a police report filed at your old residence.
Voices threatening to kill the family.
-Yeah. -[Steve] Well, that's today's date.
-Yeah. -I want you to ask the first question, Duane.
I'm gonna hit record.
I'm gonna set it here.
Are you always just here or you go somewhere else?
Where do you, where do you go?
[Duane on recorder] Are you always just here or you go somewhere else?
Where do you, where do you go?
Here.
It said here.
All right, let's try a few more, guys.
Am I tonight sitting here after all these years pissing you off?
[device beeping]
I got the best of you, didn't I?
Duane, while you were talking, Jamie just caught an anomaly
right behind the cameraman standing there.
Yeah, I felt, I felt it.
Let me try asking a couple questions real quick.
[Duane] Okay. Go for it.
[Steve] Why do you still linger on this property, on this land?
Lastly, where are you in this room?
[Steve on recorder] Why do you still linger on this property, on this land?
[Steve on recorder] Lastly, where are you in this room?
Holy... [bleep]
[Terry] I heard that. I heard that.
-Yeah. -"Everywhere."
That's what I heard. "Everywhere." "Where are you?"
"Everywhere."
-I pissed the demon off. -[Steve] Yeah.
Well, listen, we never want to challenge something like this.
Between the intense responses from the GeoPort, between the anomalies,
all these EVPs, I think this is good enough.
Quit while you're ahead.
Yeah.
[crickets chirping]
[Steve] After nearly 50 years, Duane was able to remember key details
about the terrifying encounter that changed his life forever.
With mounting evidence that the incidents at the Hell House
were related to occult activity,
I've called in the help of an expert.
Miss Aida is an ordained witch and an expert on occult rituals.
So where would you like to begin with this case?
I know I briefed you over the phone a decent amount about the activities
that took place out here.
-I'd like to walk around the property outside... -Okay.
...and then on the inside.
All right. Sure. Okay.
Would you this way?
-I'd rather go... -[Steve] This way around?
-Okay. -[Miss Aida] Yes.
Absolutely. I'll follow your lead.
[crow cawing]
Has anyone mentioned having seen any entities lately through the windows?
Yes. They said a face would appear in the window like this.
We were home alone and we both seen it.
And it was almost like a white thing, like a shadow, almost with like hands.
And we freaked out.
There was no footsteps. Nothing.
I always felt like someone was watching me at all times.
I'm feeling something on this side.
What about the neighbors, their neighbors?
So the story goes that the woman that lived across the street
came over here one day.
Just bought that house.
It was brand-new at the time.
And said to Mr. Pomeraning, "I'd like to buy your house."
Why did she want that house?
Allegedly, she said that she had some friends that wanted the house.
But what's strange is she had no friends or family in the area.
And when Harold said, "It's not for sale,"
she kind of muttered a little something ominous, I guess.
You know, you'll regret that or we'll see about that.
And then she just kind of walked on back to the house.
You know what my feeling is, she wanted that house as a residence
and this house to conduct the coven activities.
My feeling is she didn't want any of the energies attacking her house.
She'd rather have it here.
Okay. I have a police report.
Uh, they came over here and apparently
they were out there in the yard.
And the way that the police described it was
they were seen doing contortions.
That's their wording.
-Okay. -Contortions, strange movements
and what looked like worshiping the sun
with hand gestures.
They would also see her across the street, you know, out here in the rural areas,
they used to burn trash in barrels.
Even when it was pouring rain, thunder and lightning,
she would be out at this trash barrel
and she would be... I guess, doing things with her hand.
The fire would just keep climbing and climbing,
and several people actually saw that.
-So I don't know, you know, what to make of it. -That's powerful magic.
That is absolutely powerful magic.
She was demonstrating her power.
That's what it sounds like to me.
[Steve] Okay.
And something else that's important, basically straight across from us,
there's kind of a circle in the grass
where the grass is different.
You can clearly see it's not the same.
And that's where she used to do that with the fire.
[Miss Aida] Interesting. I am very anxious to see that.
-This is kind of the edge of it here. -Yeah.
You can kind of see where the grass is a little bit different.
There's kind of that circular spot.
[Miss Aida] Oh, I see that.
-Yes. -Yeah.
[Miss Aida] This is where she practiced the magic.
[Steve] Yeah, right here.
I will tell you that I feel a little dizzy here.
Yeah, kind of disorienting a little bit?
-Yeah. Do you feel that way? -Yeah.
I did. Honestly, I was just kind of avoiding my eye contact
with this area, because when I look at it, it feels a little...
[Miss Aida] Yeah, I feel uneven.
That's why I'm wondering if it's a possibility that it could be a portal.
Right?
Now, would it be best for me to stay outside of this circle?
Maybe I'll just stand here.
I can feel it.
I can actually feel when I'm in and out of it.
That's why I'm leaning toward a portal.
Okay.
Right above that garage door,
there used to be three black Xs.
They would say that they were iron Xs.
Iron is a repellent.
I think she put three up as a way of saying get out or stay away.
It sounds to me like something scared the hell out of her.
Maybe she sacrificed her soul for the power
and maybe someone came along and said, "It's time,"
and she didn't wanna go.
Obviously, with all the bad things that have happened,
what type of a cult would do horrible things to another person?
It certainly wouldn't be a Wiccan community.
It sounds to me like a satanic cult.
I believe that she summoned something that was horrific.
They unleashed more than what they bargained for, something demonic.
They unleashed something that was totally out of their control.
It makes me wonder, did she see Satan?
[Steve] For seven years, I've been struggling
to uncover the cause of the paranormal activity at the Hell House.
Was it a poltergeist,
witchcraft, or something demonic?
I now may finally have the answers.
It was all of it.
Using black magic, the Pomeranings' neighbor tried to drive the family
from their home so she could claim it for her coven.
Stress on the family, caused by the constant
knocking and disembodied voices, created a poltergeist
centered around Duane.
But with the family determined to stay in their home,
the witch next door went darker,
performing satanic rituals
that unleashed a demon so powerful, it went well beyond her control.
It's clear that demon is still here and needs to be sent back to hell.
But first, before we attempt to close that portal,
I want to see if we can put a name or a face on the one
who tormented the Pomeraning family.
It could be our last chance to face it, and it's going to be dangerous.
So right now I'm standing in the circle that Miss Aida believes is a portal
that the neighbor here opened up.
A little nervous, a little hesitant to be doing this.
Um, I'm gonna be using my GeoPort
to try to establish communication.
This is all happening while Cindy is doing her spirit art.
[Steve] I've positioned Cindy across the street overlooking the portal.
She'll tap in and attempt to sketch an image of this evil entity.
I'm just gonna go ahead and start this up and see what happens.
Who are you?
[bleep] it literally said, "Satan, the demon."
What was done here in this spot?
Cindy? Did it just say Cindy?
What do you want to say?
[Steve] Magic?
It said magic.
What kind of magic?
Magic ritual.
I don't like that it keeps... it keeps saying...
it keeps saying Cindy. I don't like that.
I don't like that at all.
[Steve] I mean, Cindy can't hear any of this.
She has no idea what's going on.
Cindy.
It just keeps saying Cindy.
I don't know, man.
I'm sure... I'm kind of worried about her.
This isn't good.
I don't know.
I think we should cut off communication.
I want to check on Cindy.
I'm just going to head over there.
You all right?
[Cindy] Good, man. How is it out there?
Crazy.
Um, I actually left because it kept saying your name.
-It did? -[Steve] Over and over again.
And so, I started to get a little concerned that finally I just
shut off communication, I came up here to see how you were doing.
I'm fine.
But this drawing was interesting to me because,
right, you like tap into what you think she maybe conjured up, right?
So at first, I started drawing, I'm like, "Oh,
it's a face of a woman coming through," right?
I'm like, "Oh." Do you see the side of this?
[Steve] Yeah, I do.
[Cindy] Is it elemental?
Is it demonic? Like...
[Steve] It looks like a, like a demon.
The GeoPort kept saying Demon.
[Cindy] Oh, my God.
I've seen this woman luring us, saying, "You're all gonna die."
We're thinking maybe it's the neighbor.
Maybe it's this, maybe it's this that can shape-shift into this.
-Mimicking. -Mimicking.
I don't know, Cindy.
I think whatever's out here has been following us the whole time.
[gasps]
-[Steve] "You're all going to die." -Steve.
[Steve] Son, wrong, devil.
-It said Satan. Sound like it said Satan. -[Jamie] Yeah.
-Did you hear it? -[Jamie] Yeah.
It literally said, "Satan, the demon."
-This has been happening everywhere we go. -I know.
I mean, she literally could have brought something demonic in.
I think there's no doubt that portal needs to get closed.
[Cindy] Yeah.
[Steve] Nearly 50 years after it was unleashed,
the demon that terrorized a peaceful Midwestern family
is finally going to be sent back into darkness.
We are going to perform a ritual to do just that.
But first, Cindy and I invited the Pomeraning brothers
back into the Hell House one final time.
Will the demon show itself with the brothers present?
Cindy, I'll let you take over.
I have to tell you, Duane, the other thing I saw,
there was somebody behind you all of the time, somebody attached to you.
Initially it felt like a man but as the investigation went on further,
what we discovered was...
[devices chiming]
Here we go.
[Steve] Now everything is going crazy.
[Jamie] I didn't mean to interrupt but there's an anomaly
right behind Cindy and Duane.
I felt that right now.
-[Cindy] Yep. -Yeah, this is, this is strange.
-Is it still there now? -[Jamie] Yeah.
It'd be a great time to capture that.
Jamie, what's it doing?
[Jamie] Um, it's touching Duane.
It's touching Duane?
[Jamie] Touching his head.
Uh, now one is behind in between the two.
And this is literally when Cindy is saying
that man that's always behind him,
-and you're getting this now? -[Jamie] Yes.
[Duane] Is there any way that we can pray
to just get that demon off me?
Yes. That's why we're here because we want to help with that.
-[Duane] Yeah. -[knocking]
[Cindy] I heard that, too.
-[Steve] You guys hearing these knocks? -Yeah.
Yes, like it's '74 all over again.
After all these decades, it's still, it's still here.
I think it's time that we bring in Miss Aida that...
you know, that person I was telling you about earlier.
Um, she's our best bet at this point.
She has the ability to help us and help bring this to a close.
I think, Duane, you really need this,
-maybe more than anybody at this point. -Hmm-mmm.
Right.
All right. I think it's time to get her involved.
[Cindy] Yeah, definitely.
-[Terry] Yeah. Miss Aida. -[Miss Aida] Yes.
[Terry] Yeah, please come in. Please come in.
Thank you so much for coming out here tonight.
-[Duane] Hi. -Terry, Duane.
Cindy, this is Miss Aida.
You are Duane?
-[Duane] Duane. Yeah. -I'm Terry.
Terry, my name is Miss Aida.
-Nice meeting you. -Nice to meet you.
-Steve has told me a lot of what had happened to you. -Yeah.
From what I understand, you went to the witch...
I'm gonna call her the witch because she's obviously a witch.
-You went to the witch's home. -[Duane] Yeah.
[Miss Aida] And she gave you some sort of a potion to drink?
[Duane] Yeah, and a haircut, yeah.
[Miss Aida] And she took your hair?
Yeah.
So hair is a personal concern that we say in witchcraft.
Anything that contains our DNA, such as hair,
they now own an essence of you.
So she...
-She, uh, danced around me, was acting strange. -I'm sorry.
When she danced around you, did she dance around you in a circle?
Sort of like that, yeah.
And then you passed out.
You came home, you had a grand mal seizure.
[Duane] Correct.
What unusual feelings did you have prior to the seizure?
A strange feeling came over me.
I don't know how to explain it, you know?
Somebody watching me.
It just seemed like he wasn't himself.
[Miss Aida] You felt a presence around you.
Did it feel as if it was a part of you?
Part of me, no.
I was very stressed out.
[Miss Aida] Okay.
So it's a part of you.
So there we go with the attachment.
So the witch, what happened at the end?
[Terry] The priest that came here and blessed our house
inside and out with holy water.
[Miss Aida] A Catholic priest?
[Terry] Yeah, catholic priest, Father Horton.
My mom and dad, they got up that one Sunday morning
and they said, "You know what, we should go out
to Father Horton's service this morning."
The neighbor lady, that's where she went to church.
The witch?
-[Terry] Yeah. -Okay.
[Terry] And she was the very first person to leave the church that day.
She went up to Father Horton first, and she fell into his arms
and started crying and crying and crying.
He arrived to their house that Monday morning
and he didn't leave till, like, 6:00 o'clock that evening.
He called my dad and said, "I told them leave yous alone or to move away."
Well, then a month later, they put the house up for sale.
[Miss Aida] At this point, I get it.
-I get what she did. -Okay.
You unknowingly partook in a ritual.
What was the spell or what was... what did she do?
[Miss Aida] Well, what she did was she did a satanic ritual.
She bonded him and hers, almost like a marriage.
Would it be easier for somebody like that
to prey upon somebody who is open more...
-Absolutely, yes. -...to the spirit world?
Absolutely, yes.
[Cindy] So my sense is that Duane is open.
Um, Duane, have you ever had experiences
with seeing spirits when you were younger?
Yeah. When I was younger, yeah.
[Cindy] But, you know, Duane, here's the thing.
I think that you're open. Since you were a kid,
like me, you might have had some media mystic abilities,
and with that, it can create an entry or a place for spirits to come in.
I do want to ask you about that circle and in... in their yard,
there is a brown patch there.
-I walked over that circle, I felt a little dizzy. -Hmm.
[Miss Aida] So it could be a portal she may have brought the demons in.
[Cindy] Mmm-hmm.
And I've been consulting with a demonologist,
and I'm going to do something about that.
-I'm going to try and stop that... -Hmm.
[Steve] Just before midnight, Miss Aida will perform
a ritual to close the portal and send the demons
that were conjured here 50 years ago back to hell.
While she and Cindy prepare for the ritual,
I'm setting up devices inside the Hell House.
If the entity is agitated, these will certainly detect it.
Because of Duane's strong connection to the evil here,
Miss Aida asks both Duane and Terry to leave this area
entirely until the portal is closed.
All right, Miss Aida, we're back in this spot
where you and I felt really uneasy, that portal.
How would you want to close this?
What's the next step?
So what my plan is, is I'm going to recite a Psalm
that keeps away bad entities.
When I'm in the circle, I wish for you and Cindy
to be in the circle with me, to protect me.
You will be protecting me with an iron cross because
iron repels negative entities.
I'm asking you to hold up the statue of Saint Michael...
-Okay. -...over me.
And as we all know, Saint Michael kicked the devil's butt.
Then I'm going to spray this entire area with holy water
and close this area with sea salt.
I will drive an iron knife into the ground to keep them there.
Also, for you to know, if I faint or if I get dizzy,
right, I want somebody
to grab the holy water and spray the hell out of me,
the crown of my head where entities like to attach themselves initially
and the back of my neck.
Just don't be afraid to soak me.
Saint Michael's statue.
"I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills,
from whence cometh my help.
My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth.
He that keepeth thee will not slumber.
He will not suffer thy foot to be moved.
The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil."
[device chiming]
Dear God, I am your daughter, Aida.
I beg of you to protect us while we close this portal,
to protect us, Your children.
In the name of the Father, Son, Holy Spirit, amen.
Now... I will drive this iron knife
into the center of this circle.
[devices chiming]
[Miss Aida] Remain in the ground.
Remain under the ground from whence you came.
[devices chiming]
I command thee in the name of God.
How do you feel, Miss Aida?
-It feels different. -[Cindy] Thank you.
[Steve] Yeah. Thank you so much.
Thank God.
Don't thank me. Thank God.
[Steve] Okay, yeah.
[birds chirping]
[Steve] Terry, Duane.
Thank you guys again for having me over.
You know, I made a promise, years ago, that I would see this thing through to the end,
I would find everything there is to find
and explore everything there is to explore because I know it's real.
Even 40-some years later, you know, still there's a lot of days,
you have bad days, you know, thinking about it.
And I think that I can get through days better now.
[Duane] You know, you reopened the case,
...it helped a great deal with me and my brother.
And if my parents were living today,
they probably would have thanked you,
because had you never found us,
God knows what would have happened.
It's, uh... it's not the end.
It's just... I feel like it's just the beginning.
I want to thank you for that.
[birds chirping]
[Steve] I never got to meet Harold and Mabel,
but I pored over countless reports of their case,
listened to hours of audio recorded in their home,
and heard their sons reveal the terror of the Michigan Hell House.
I feel I know the Pomeraning family.
They didn't deserve to suffer like they did.
No one does.
Ultimately, they had faith, strength, and survived.
So for their family and the town of Merrill,
I pray that demon conjured across the street will stay in hell where it belongs.
Me, I will continue to keep a watchful eye
because evil spirits never rest.