Have you ever had the feeling that you knew what someone was going to say just before he said it?
Or have you ever walked into a strange room and had the sensation that you'd been there before?
Well if you have, you've taken a small step beyond.
New England, a favorite American vacation land, specializing in codfish, the legend of witches and their broomsticks, fresh lobster, and haunted houses.
Haunted houses? Well there are many sane and sensible people hereabouts who will swear to you that this house still shelters the unquiet and restless dead.
At any rate, if any ghostly inhabitants do dwell within these walls, they certainly have the place to themselves for a very long time.
We are told that we're more likely to find evidence of ghostly inhabitants in the upper regions.
Well, all old houses are creak and groan, aren't they?
Now look at this. This is perfectly solid wooden plaster.
If there's anything more to it than this, we'll have to look further.
The attic is a likely place to begin.
No inanimate object can have a personality, we are told. But we forget.
For example, we look at a house, we say that it's cheerful, melancholy, gloomy.
Now what we're doing, of course, is simply describing our own reactions.
There are some cases, however, which seem to defy this handy explanation.
On the New England coast, even today, there are certain houses which can be classified only as unfriendly.
Now that's more like it, that's what I've been talking about.
How do you know it's for rent? Well, let's find out, come on.
Come on. Will you come on?
That's locked. Well, of course it's locked.
Isn't that marvelous, huh? I bet that's almost 200 years old.
Now, let's look someplace else. Look someplace else, honey, this is it.
This is what we've been dreaming about.
Yeah, I can't see a thing. Honey, let's go. Let's go, let's go in.
Andy, you'll get us arrested. Oh, don't be ridiculous.
Andy, we really shouldn't be doing this. Will you stop?
Boy, this place really looks lived in, doesn't it?
Now, what is that? Andy, let go.
Wait a minute, wait a minute. Will you look at those columns?
Andy, look at this.
Captain Michael Claussen, 1860 to 1902.
He was a great sailor. He was a great sailor.
He was a great sailor.
He was a great sailor.
He was a great sailor.
He was a great sailor.
Captain Michael Claussen, 1860 to 1902.
Hey, wake up.
Boy, this is really something, isn't it?
You like it very much, don't you?
I like it, I love it. Don't you?
All right, then let's take it, huh?
I hope we're not disturbing your game.
There you are.
Look, we're interested in renting a house. Do you handle that sort of thing?
I do and I don't.
What's that supposed to mean?
I do when there's houses to rent and don't when there ain't.
Right now, there ain't.
What about that two-story job on Cape Ann Road?
You mean the Claussen house?
You know it?
Yeah, I know it.
Well, the place is empty. We thought it might be for rent.
I wouldn't fool with it.
Why not?
It's an unfriendly house, ma'am. It don't like people.
But it is for rent.
Yeah.
How much?
$500 a month.
$500? Listen, I happen to be an architect.
Now, I know a little bit about houses. That's a good house.
But don't you think that's a little steep?
Take it or leave it.
Well, you must do a land office business, Mr. Leach.
What if we decide to take it?
Your concern, not mine.
Well, let's talk business then.
You don't go to house.
What?
Don't go to house.
Bad. Not a happy place.
Yeah, well, we'll make it a happy place.
Oh, oh, oh, oh.
Just a minute, wait.
Oh, don't be silly, Andy. We've been married six years.
Yeah, never really been alone yet. Now, isn't that why we came here?
Come on.
Well, it's ours.
Boy, I'll get more work done here than I ever did in New York.
Hold it. Wait a minute. Don't ruin it.
Let's do it right, top to bottom.
What's the matter?
Nothing.
Well, if you want to back out, you can. I haven't signed the lease yet.
Oh, don't be silly.
It'll be fun cleaning all this up.
Give me something to do while you're working on your plan.
It's a challenge, all right.
And I accept.
I wonder what's in here.
Get away.
What?
Get away from there.
You have no right to look.
What's wrong? Don't you feel well?
What?
I don't know. I feel kind of strange, maybe.
Maybe it's the sea air.
Why'd you get so upset about the trunk?
I was just going to look inside.
The what?
Honey, maybe you're right.
Maybe we shouldn't rent this place after all.
Don't be silly.
You're not going to let the place scare you because it's a little dark and spooky, are you?
There, that's better.
I'll go downstairs and see if I can find a lamp.
The diary of Elspeth Clausen, 1899.
March 5, 1899.
Michael went hunting again today.
August 1, 1899.
Michael spends most of his time these days in the field, hunting.
He shouldn't. It only makes his leg that much worse.
And when he returned, he was limping badly.
Also, there was blood on his hands.
I did not like the way he looked at me.
His face was flushed and his eyes burned.
He is jealous of Gideon, his friend for so many years.
What's she got?
Nothing. Just an old book.
Forget it. Let's go to the other rooms.
Have you seen so many rooms in your life?
What are we going to do with all this?
What's wrong?
It's like someone stabbed me in the leg.
I've never felt anything like it in my life.
It's like someone took my breath away.
Andy!
Andy!
I brought you some lunch. You haven't eaten a thing all day.
Please try.
You're being very solicitous.
I'm worried about you.
I'm sure you are.
Wait a minute.
What is this?
Chicken soup.
Looks thick, looks rich.
Come here. Come here!
Isn't it strange that a man can thrive for years on rum and biscuits and then grow weak and sickly on his wife's cooking?
Isn't that strange?
Everything you say is strange.
I don't know what you're talking about.
No, of course not.
Aren't you going to eat?
It's a different food I need.
What do you mean?
Nothing. Take it away. I'm not hungry.
I wish you wouldn't do that.
Do what?
Drink, the way you've been doing lately.
Andy, listen to me.
I don't know why. Maybe it's my fault.
But something's terribly wrong with us.
We came here to be together and we've never been so far apart. Never.
You'd like to leave here, wouldn't you?
Yes, I would.
Why?
Because we're not happy here.
You're not?
That's quite understandable. You miss New York, don't you?
That isn't it.
No, not exactly. You miss something, someone.
Andy, I don't follow.
Bill! My esteemed partner.
What?
He kept you from being lonely in New York, didn't he?
Why don't you stop pretending? Do you imagine for one moment I didn't know what was going on from the beginning?
That's a dreadful thing to say.
Has it been pleasant for you? Has it, being locked up here with me, away from him?
I don't know what you mean.
You know exactly what I mean, Elsbeth.
Elsbeth?
You called me Elsbeth.
What are you talking about?
Oh, Andy. I'm so frightened. I'm so frightened.
Let's pack up and get out of here right now.
Thou will stay.
Mr. Leach?
Yes, ma'am.
I'm Ellen Courtney. We rented a house from you several months ago.
Yes, ma'am. I remember.
What can I do for you?
Well, I'm not sure.
May I sit down, please?
Why, of course. Of course. Right here.
Now.
I thought perhaps you might... you might tell me something.
Like what?
About the house.
Yes, ma'am.
I know what you mean.
I expected you a long time before this.
It was built in 1801 by a man by the name of Silas Clausen.
He left it to his son, Michael.
Michael was a sea captain, and a good one, so they say.
But he was mean. Mean.
Killed a lot of his men.
Finally, a crew mutinied and they keelhauled it.
What does that mean?
Drug him back and forth across the bottom of his boat.
Barnacles chewed him up pretty bad, I guess.
Ear tore off his right leg.
After that, he was different.
When the mutineers was all hung, he retired from the sea.
Was he married?
He was.
What was her name?
Elsbeth.
And what... what happened to her?
Don't you know, Mrs. Courtney?
Now, where's the master?
He's out hunting.
Andy? Oh, you're kidding. He's never hunted in his life.
Never before now.
That was a pretty mysterious telegram, Ellen.
Why didn't you call me up?
Andy had the phone taken out.
Why?
Ever since we moved into this house, Andy's been... different.
How?
He's changed into another person, a person I've never seen before.
And neither have you.
I couldn't recognize him.
He gets into moods.
He hardly even talks to me, and when he does, I don't know who he is.
Well, he's... he's never had any time to himself before.
This is a pretty tough adjustment to make, Ellen.
Look.
He sits at this board all day long.
And draws things.
It looks like part of an old sailing vessel.
There's something else I'd like you to see.
Andy.
How are you?
Ellen told me you were out slaughtering the local wildlife.
I couldn't believe it.
Well, there are no letters.
I tried to call you.
I had a feeling you were trying to keep something from me.
You don't like me to keep things from you, do you?
Well, it all depends.
You came here for a reason, get to the point.
All right.
I'm kind of swamped at the office, and I thought maybe you might want to help.
Help yourself, Gideon, you always have.
Gideon.
Andy.
I came here because Ellen wired me.
She was worried about you.
Why don't you say what you mean, Gideon?
Why do you keep calling me that?
Why don't you drop this pose?
Admit you came here for Ellsworth.
I'm afraid you're going to have to make yourself clear.
Gladly.
I accuse you of consorting with Ellsworth, my wife.
Consorting?
You have betrayed me and lied to me enough.
Now get out of here.
Andy.
Get out.
Go on, get out.
Get out.
Bill.
I should have killed you both.
Andy, you're sick.
Yes, I'm sick of your deceits and your lies.
Sick of them all, Ellsworth.
I'm not Ellsworth.
I'm not Ellsworth.
Andy.
Andy.
Don't turn him over.
Don't look at his face.
Oh, my God.
Old Mr. Leach, the real estate agent, would tell you that Andrew Courtney was possessed
or taken over by the dead sea captain, whose tormented presence or ghost lived on in the
ancient house.
Once the house was destroyed, the captain was destroyed, and Andrew was restored to
himself.
It's not an entirely satisfactory explanation, is it?
But it's the best we can do right now.
In a moment, a word about next week.
Next week and every week, we'll be bringing you the personal records of the rarest kind
of human experience.
Man's adventure in the world of the unknown.
That mysterious psychic world beyond our five senses.
This is your invitation to take with us that astonishing one step beyond.
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