Shadow People Page #5

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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.

They told me I'd have

a visitor today.

- Please.

- Thank you.

What can I do for you?

Well, I'm looking for some

information on Dr. Ravenscroft.

Do you know where

I might find him?

Resurrection Cemetery

last time I checked.

Sorry.

Well, I'm looking for

some information

on a research study

he did in 1971.

A sleep study, if I'm not mistaken,

and hallucinations.

Ravenscroft was a bit

of a loose cannon back in those years.

What was he researching?

The story that I heard

was that he was adamant

that he could prove that the mind

could influence matter.

He wired

several of his subjects

to a door.

The goal was to use their minds

to open the door

by getting them all

to concentrate

on the same intention

at the same time.

To do that, he had to get them

to a very intense

brain wave state,

a state between

wakefulness and sleep.

A most intense signal.

He would amplify the brain waves

among several subjects

and, channeling it to the door,

he hoped to produce a result.

So what happened?

Well, he produced a result,

but it was not the one

he intended.

All of the subjects died.

Really?

I'd guess it was either

the equipment

or the intensity

of the testing procedure

that disrupted

the normal brain function.

But the truth will only be

in his write-ups

or any films that he may

have made of the experiment.

And do you have no idea

where this material might be?

He said it was too dangerous

for mankind.

I'd guess he'd

have destroyed it,

- except that...

- Except what?

Well, you're a scientist.

You know how difficult

it would be

to suppress your own findings.

I mean, it's what

we live for, right?

He wasn't that good a scientist

in terms of his methodology.

In terms of his thinking,

he was incredibly creative.

With what we know now, we could

look back at what he discovered

and what he was working on

and maybe make better sense of it

than he was able to at the time.

I suspect it is lost.

I think so.

If he didn't destroy it,

then I think the college might have.

He lived in this big old house...

on the corner of Elm and Maple.

I went down to the house

to see him

and there was no furniture

in the house.

The house was completely empty,

as though the movers

had been in

and cleaned it out,

yet he was still living there.

(JUKEBOX PLAYING)

SPARKY:
- That's it.

(MUSIC STOPS)

Charlie,

hate to kick you out, man.

I gotta go.

(SCREAMS)

MAN ON TV:

Outside under the window.

You know where.

You're not afraid,

are you, Raymond?

Who, me? Scared?

(LAUGHS)

It's just that I don't think

that there's gonna be

any murder here done after all.

MAN ON TV 2:
If that's true,

then why did you declare her dead?

MAN ON TV 3:

I had my own good reasons.

MAN 2:
Would you give me

one reason why you like to go around

getting hit on the head?

That must become

a little monotonous.

MAN 3:

Mr. Lee, are you sure

that you saw

what you thought you saw?

RAYMOND:
- What's it say?

MAN 2:
- Aw, come on, Doctor.

Don't hold out on us.

DOCTOR:
I didn't understand it

at first, but I do now.

There were no marks of violence

on the body and we found

- no internal disturbances.

(STATIC BUZZING)

MAN 2:
What does this all

add up to, Doctor?

RAYMOND:

Yes, let's have it.

DOCTOR:
She was literally

scared to death.

(DISTANT DOG BARKING)

TAITT:
There's radio waves

going through this room

and I can't hear them now,

but if I pick up a little device

like this called a radio

and I turn the knob to 28.6 FM,

there's music

playing on my radio.

There's so much more energy

in the atmosphere,

in this... what we perceive

to be empty space.

You've got what's called

the visible light spectrum,

and it's, like, 5% of all

of the other waveforms

that exist in

the electromagnetic spectrum.

You've got Wi-Fi,

cell phones,

radio, television, satellite...

it's all there.

Well, if there were something

in your environment

that had a color

that was outside

of our visual range

and it stood in front of you,

it wouldn't be invisible,

it would just look black.

So it's possible

that these things can grab

your favorite

radio station's frequency

and say, okay, here's something

I can latch onto

and I can manifest myself with.

Where the hell have you been?

You were supposed to take

Preston this morning.

Oh, sh*t, Ellen.

I'm sorry. I overslept.

- Yeah, big surprise.

- What are you doing?

Getting a video game

Preston left here.

What is up, Ellen?

I overslept one time, okay?

- I'm sorry.

- It's the least of what you've done.

- What's that?

(SIGHS)

Exploiting that poor kid's death

for your radio show.

That's low...

even for you, Charlie.

Whoa, hey.

Hold on, okay.

- I'm doing that out of concern.

- The hell you are.

You can't tell me you actually

believe that crap.

The shadow people?

What is that?

You know, what does it matter

to you anyway?

Whoa.

You still listen to my show.

No, Preston does.

Hey.

Radio.

It's cruel, you know that.

You were with me.

Working all those crap markets

all over the country,

trying to make it big,

and now...

I have a chance

to really reach people.

Reach them and give them what?

This is my shot, Ellen.

One day Preston will know that.

REPORTER:
Can we talk to you about

your ex-husband Charlie Crowe?

- No. No.

- Can we talk to you about...

- Nothing to say.

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