A Second Knock at the Door Page #4

human experience.

One in five of us will have it

at some point in our life.

It wasn't like

I was paralyzed,

because I think when you're paralyzed,

you don't really feel your body.

who have sleep paralysis

experience some kind

of hallucination.

It's not actually

like a hooded person

or like a floating black cloud.

Out the corner of my eye,

I could see these dark shapes.

I have a maybe,

like, nine-foot ceiling

and it nearly reached that.

I know nobody's in the house.

You can imagine

how freaky that is.

I don't think it was

anything I wanted

to really look at for very long.

It's interesting how many

people are coming together

and discussing these things now.

I'm really fascinated

by all the stories coming in.

There's so many people calling in

with their experiences.

The numbers keep growing.

Are they all making it up?

I don't think so.

The shadow people...

can it all be real?

Oh, sh*t.

As the first EIS officer

on the scene,

I went to the coroner's office

and was able to examine

the second victim...

a 21-year-old female.

So the tissue sample

showed no pathogens?

No. White blood cell

counts:
Normal.

Died in her sleep

just like the first victim.

Two cases like this,

two days apart.

- Did the two have contact?

- Don't know.

Why, the CDC think this condition

may be contagious?

Well, that's what I'm here

to determine.

No heart defect.

Toxicology's negative.

Which is odd because the male victim

was reported to be hallucinating.

- Hallucinating?

- That's what the police report said.

He was checked

into the hospital

where he saw, like, delusions

of shadows moving all around him.

Hmm.

Strange.

Maybe hallucinations

are a possible symptom.

- What about brain biopsy?

- Normal.

And we're looking for someone

who's possibly overweight

or someone who has

high blood pressure

or someone who has,

like, diabetes

or just a history in their family

of stroke or heart attacks.

So these victims were,

you know, young,

they were completely healthy.

You know,

we checked their blood,

and there's nothing

in their blood that shows

that they have any

fatty deposits in their heart.

No history of diabetes

in the family, you know,

no history of stroke,

no history of cancer.

If this was in Cambodia,

the diagnosis would be easy.

Very scared?

It was first noticed

in the Hmong immigrants

who came from Vietnam

to the United States

right after the Vietnam War.

We did get a team

of microbiologists,

pathologists,

epidemiologists.

We did blood cultures,

urine samples.

We did sputum cultures,

we tested for heavy metals.

The most disturbing

part of this

is we did not find

a biological agent.

In the archives,

I found a condition

called sudden unexplained

nocturnal death syndrome,

and I believe that this

is very likely a resurgence.

This condition

had very similar circumstances

to these young people who have

died here in Eastern Kentucky.

Did anyone do a trip report?

If I remember correctly,

the first EIS officer

went on-site in 1981.

Initially, we thought the disease

triggered cardiac arrest during sleep,

yet more recent studies indicate

that lack of oxygen to the brain

may be the cause.

The victims showed

no genetic history

of myocardial infarction

or sleep apnea.

And we're still unclear on a cause?

The data was inconclusive.

It seems hundreds

of healthy immigrants

just died in their sleep

without cause.

One more question,

Dr. Lacombe.

Does the syndrome

appear to be communicable?

The truth is we really don't

have enough evidence

to make a conclusion

either way.

Well, I don't think that explanation

is gonna fly with the public.

- Mr. Crowe?

- Yeah.

Hi, I'm Sophie Lacombe.

I'm with the Center

for Disease Control.

I got your address

from Tom at the station.

Disease control?

What kind of diseases?

Well, I'm here investigating

the local deaths and their causes.

It seems there may be

some new cases of a disease

that we call sudden unexplained

nocturnal death syndrome.

Okay, I'll save you some time.

Those deaths weren't caused

by a disease.

In fact,

they were caused by...

Shadow people?

I was just brewing

some coffee.

- Thank you.

- You want a cup?

No, thanks.

Come, sit.

So I'm looking for a link

between these deaths.

After interviewing some people

about the victims,

I was told that some of them

were listening to your radio show

before they died.

- Can you explain that?

- No, I can't.

I'm just reporting

what people are telling me.

I'm trying to give them a voice.

If anything, I'm trying to help.

Well, so am I, Mr. Crowe.

That's why I'm here.

You see, the victims reported

hallucinations, sleep paralysis...

symptoms that you

talked about on your show.

Perhaps if I could get

your call logs,

I could track

the infected victims.

Yeah, I'll give you anything you want,

but it's not gonna do you any good

unless you realize that

what these people are seeing is real.

A lot of people think just 'cause

they can't explain it scientifically

that it doesn't exist, but I can

tell you that our ancestors

knew about nightmares

and how harmful they are.

Well, I'm certain that bad dreams

can't harm you.

I'm not talking about bad dreams.

I mean nightmares.

The actual word nightmare

is an Old English word

that means evil spirit.

A maere... M-A-E-R-E...

that comes in the night

to attack its victim.

Now, in modern times,

we've changed that meaning.

I think we've changed it

to cover up the truth.

Look, here's one.

A real one.

A real nightmare.

Now, every culture

documents this.

The Native Americans

called it the Raven Mocker.

It was a shadow that comes

to steal your soul.

In the Middle East, they call it jinn,

and they believe they were created

at the same time as us by God,

but to live in a different dimension.

Now these are cultures

that are far older than ours,

but they've all reported

the same thing

from different parts

of the world for centuries.

And now, for the past 100 years,

we've started to deny their existence.

I think it's us

who's being naive.

I think it's one of those things

you're not ever gonna truly believe...

Until you see it for yourself.

You got a knack for finishing

people's sentences, lady.

Well, that's the point, isn't it?

Seeing is believing?

Yet there's no proof of these claims.

- I have proof.

- You do?

These don't really

prove anything.

I mean, for all I know,

it could be a hoax.

That's what I thought,

but this Dr. Ravenscroft

published a scientific journal.

Huh. I'm gonna have to

get over to the college

and talk to someone about

Ravenscroft and his research.

Maybe he found something about

this disease that I don't know about.

Yeah, but I keep telling you,

it's not a disease.

It's more... it's like a...

- Curse?

- Yeah.

Like I said, lady,

you have a knack.

- Bye.

- See you tonight.

Professor Fisher?

Hi, Sophie Lacombe.

Oh, yes, from the CDC.

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