Sinister Page #4

- We missed something. I get that.

But if you want me to run interference

for you while you get this worked out.

I gotta be in the loop

just a little bit.

- You really wanna help?

- It's my home, Mr Oswalt.

What happened here

happened to all of us.

All right. Come here.

Who is that?

I don't know.

That's what I'm hoping to find out.

- You think these are serial murders?

- Maybe.

More ritualised than necessarily serial.

But really spread out.

And not just regionally but over time.

The first one dates back to the '60s.

- The 1960s?

- Yeah.

That would put the guy,

what, in his 70s?

- Yeah, or his 60s.

- Yeah, I...

- I don't know.

- Well, look at the methodology.

Toxicology reports. Some cases

the killer drugged his victims.

- With what?

- Well. They couldn't tell for sure.

But by drugging them, the killer

removes his need to overpower them.

Here he used a tree branch

to do the heavy lifting.

In Sacramento he lit a family on fire.

In St Louis he slit their throats.

- The first family he drowned.

- Drowning? You...

You never said anything

about anyone being drowned.

The only other significant link

between the murder cases

is that in each instance the killer

murdered the entire family except one.

A child which he took with him.

That and this symbol appears

in several of the crime scenes.

That looks like something

from out of the occult.

Look, you might wanna

call the university.

There's a professor over there.

Professor Jonas.

He's an occult crime expert

and the state police bring him in

on some of the... the weirder stuff.

I think this qualifies.

So where do you think

that drowning happened?

That's what I need you to find out.

OK.

- Professor Jonas?

- Yes.

Hello. Hey, thank you for getting back

to me so quickly. I appreciate that.

Of course. I'm a really big fan.

I'm flattered that you emailed.

Once I saw the photos that you sent,

I knew exactly what

cases you were studying.

Wait. How would you know

what cases I was looking at?

The symbol that you sent me is...

isn't a pentagram.

It's not something that

you would see teenagers

or a Non vegan black metal band paint

on a wall in goat's blood to be edgy.

- Right.

- Or to piss off the Christians

No. This is a little bit more obscure

than that.

I know the one in the hallway.

That's from the late '90s in St Louis.

The other one. The... the car hood.

That is from Sacramento.

That's about 30 years ago

Tell me about the one in Sacramento.

It's a symbol associated with

the worship of a pagan deity

A deity? What kind of deity?

A very obscure one.

Dating back to Babylonian times

Named Bughuul. The eater of children

- Did you say eater

- Yes. of children. Thank you. Jessica

The crimes that you're dealing with.

They all have the element

of a missing child, correct?

Yes. Yeah. That's correct.

Well. Bughuul eats children

Now, the fragments of stories

that have survived,

they all revolve around him needing

the souls of human children to survive.

Now each story involves a different way

that he lures or tricks these children

away from the physical world

and traps them in his own nether world

and he consumes their souls over time

Now any worship of this deity

would include a blood sacrifice

or the wholesale eating of a child.

So you're saying the person that made

this symbol is... is eating children?

Well that would fit the stories.

Of course the few times

that this symbol has shown up.

None of the crimes have been related

in any way to any of this.

So this might be more

of a cult initiation

rather than you know.

The actual actions of any one man

There's been another one. Hasn't there?

I think so, yes.

Tell me everything you can.

Shh.

- I appreciate you coming by, Officer.

- Yeah, it's not a problem at all.

- So we're becoming friends right?

- I... I suppose, yeah.

- I mean, I can trust you, right?

- Yeah, absolutely.

So if I were to ask you

something in earnest.

You wouldn't read too much into it?

Um... All right.

Was there anything... weird

about the Stevensons?

No complaints from them

about anything... strange?

No, not to my knowledge.

The investigators. Did they notice

anything odd or inexplicable

about the house, any...

any weird stories?

No.

Mr Oswalt. Is there something

that you wanna tell me?

Clearly something happened and you wanna

talk to somebody about it, right?

Yeah.

OK, well, does your wife

know about it?

Wait.

Does she know whose

house this is... was?

Man. That is a conversation that

I would not wanna be around for.

- No, me neither.

- I'm sorry.

So.. So, what. You saw something weird.

Heard something spooky in the house?

- Yes. Precisely.

- What exactly?

Now...

I don't believe in any, you know. stuff.

Stuff? You mean the supernatural.

The metaphysical, the paranormal.

- That type of stuff?

- Right.

Right. Of course you don't.

You never would have moved

into a crime scene if you did.

But here we are having

this conversation.

Yeah but... but there was...

there was none of that, you know.

None of that with the Stevensons?

No. In the short amount of time

that the Stevensons lived here,

they never called the police, they

never had the police called on them

or reported anything bizarre that

came up in the investigation.

- Do you wanna know what I think?

- Yes.

I think that you moved yourself

into the house of murder victims

and immediately set about trying

to put yourself in their head space.

I also think that you've begun

discovering things about this case

that go to darker places

than you were prepared for.

I also think that every time

that I've been to your house.

There's a whisky bottle that

doesn't appear to be neglected.

- No, no, no. I...

- Mr Oswalt. listen. I don't. I don't...

I'm not saying that you have a

drinking problem. I don't think that.

Nor do I think that you're

making any of this up...

- No!

- ...to get attention.

What I do think is that...

that you are under so much stress.

You've put yourself

under so much stress.

That your mind is trying

to process all of it at once.

So you don't believe any of

that otherworldly stuff. Right?

Are you kidding me?

I believe in all that stuff.

I... I wouldn't sleep one night

in this place. Are you nuts?

Four people were hung by their necks

in the tree in your backyard

and that little girl is probably

God knows wherever.

- OK.

- I'm... I'm sorry. You know what?

You should try and get out more,

Mr Oswalt, try to clear your head.

Total honesty?

Last night I thought

something was in the house...

and I woke up on the couch

holding a baseball bat.

Well... I guess if I thought

something was in my home at night.

I'd be a little bit freaked out too.

But listen. Mr Oswalt.

If you sleep in this house.

It's just gonna do terrible

things to your head.

Ellison!

- Ellison!

- What's going on?

Your daughter thought there wasn't

room on her walls for her new painting.

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