The Changeling Page #2

Since I've been with the Society,

the house has been empty.

John, you're working very hard.

You've been through

a terrible emotional strain.

- Are you saying I'm hallucinating?

- Excuse me.

Minnie?

Claire, there's a call for you-

your mother.

- Should I tell her you're busy?

- I'll be right there.

Excuse me just for a minute.

You know there's some question

about your lease, Mr. Russell.

- What do you mean?

- That house shouldn't have been rented.

Miss Norman rushed those papers

through our attorney's office.

She did not use proper channels.

Why should anyone object?

That house is not fit to live in.

No one's been able to live in it.

It doesn't want people.

Then there has been trouble

in the house before?

Listen, it's note for note.

Same tempo, even the same key.

What do you think?

I don't know.

It's a startling coincidence.

But that melody must have been

very popular at one time...

or it wouldn't be

on the music box.

I agree,

but I swear I never heard it...

before I played it and recorded it

that day you came over.

There's something-

Something.

It's happened before here.

I'm not the first.

I went over the files

very carefully...

all the way back to 1920.

- Nothing out of the ordinary.

- Miss Huxley.

Minnie's a highly eccentric

old woman, but she'd never-

She said the house didn't want people.

She's mistaken.

Whatever it is is trying

desperately to communicate.

The bangings, the water taps,

the broken window panes.

All the glass fell outward.

It had to be done from the inside.

Everything that's happened

has been designed...

to get me into that attic room.

I want to see it.

Look at that book

on the desk there.

"C.S.B. January 4, 1909."

It's a little child's writing.

Who could've lived here then?

That's where I found the music box,

on the mantle.

Look at this wheelchair.

Oh, my God.

It's so small.

What was this room?

Former residents:

William Sarachino and family. Architect.

Bought the place in 1965.

Sold it in 1967.

Purchased from the Society

for Historical Preservation...

November, 1967, through a generous

grant from the Carmichael Foundation.

- That's the senator?

- Yeah.

- Great philanthropist.

- Where is the rest of this file?

Previous occupants-

No previous occupants listed.

There's nothing here before 1920.

Minnie, we're looking for

the Chessman house file, pre-1920.

- Do you know where it is?

- What is it you want to know?

We're trying to find out

who lived in the house in 1909.

A man named Barnard.

A doctor.

- Did he have any children?

- I believe a son and a daughter.

There was some kind

of family tragedy, I think.

He sold the house in 1909.

Fine.

It's all ready to go.

The scanner's on the right.

Thank you so much.

Let's have a look here.

February 9.

These are want ads.

Financial page.

Real estate.

More want ads.

Wait, wait, wait.

"Cora Barnard, seven-year-old daughter

of Dr. Walter Barnard...

prominent Seattle physician,

was struck and seriously injured...

when she ran in front

of a passing coal cart...

outside her Chessman Park home

yesterday.

She was hastened to

St. Margaret's Hospital...

where her condition remains grave."

- So forth and so on.

- Cora Barnard.

C.S.B.

There.

"Cora Barnard, daughter of-

succumbed in

St. Margaret's Hospital...

to injuries sustained in

a February 15 accident.

She is mourned by her parents.

Miss Barnard will be interred

in the family plot...

in the Brookfield Cemetery."

There's the doctor...

and his wife.

There's the brother, Lloyd.

This little girl, Cora...

was killed in the street.

It was an accident,

almost the same as Kathy.

What is it

in that house, Claire?

What is it doing?

Why is it trying to reach me?

- John-

- Is it because of my daughter?

I can't go through all this again.

You must get out of that house.

I believe everything you're saying,

Mr. Russell.

The noises, the lights,

the teleportation of objects-

all very familiar.

- Fascinating stuff.

- But the point is...

what do I do now?

I tell you, off the record.

We have coming here...

many mediums

and spiritualists and so.

We test them.

Ninety-nine percent are the frauds.

But the one percent-

astonishing.

A medium.

- Mr. Russell?

- Yes.

- How do you do?

- How do you do?

- My wife, Leah.

- Come in, please.

- Thank you.

- It's just to your left.

Could we have

these lights off, please?

Sure.

I thought I'd record what happens.

- Is that all right?

- Yes, of course.

That's fine. Mr. Russell,

would you sit there, please?

I'll sit here.

Thank you.

You've suffered a cruel loss,

John Russell.

You've lost a wife and child.

The presence in this house is reaching

out to you through that loss.

The presence is very strong here.

It is a child's presence...

a child who is not at peace...

who cannot rest.

The presence is with us.

We sense that you are with us.

Will you talk to us?

Will you communicate with us?

Will you come through to us?

Will you speak to us?

We are here to help you.

What is your name?

Will you speak to us?

Yes.

What is your name?

Are you the child Cora?

Are you the child killed

by the coal cart?

What is your name?

Joseph.

Did you die in this house, Joseph?

How did you die?

Is there someone here

you wish to communicate with?

Help. Help. Help.

Mr. Russell,

will you sit over here now, please?

Will you speak to John?

Will you tell us

why you are not at rest?

Speak to John.

John is with us.

What do you want of John?

Why do you feel no peace?

Why do you remain

in this house, Joseph?

What is in this house?

Speak to John.

John is with us.

How did you die?

Did you die in this house?

Why do you remain in this house?

How did you die?

Joseph, did you die in this house?

We are here to help you.

What is your name?

...killed by the coal cart?

Are you the child

killed by the coal cart?

We are here to help you.

What is your name?

Joseph.

Did you die in this house, Joseph?

House.

My room.

Can't walk.

Will you tell us

why you are not at rest?

My father.

Joseph, did you die in this house?

- My room.

- How did you die?

Father.

The well.

Ranch.

Sacred Heart.

My medal.

Father, don't.

Help.

Body. Ranch.

The well.

My name- Joseph Carmichael.

Yeah.

I'm sorry to-

I just-

Can you come-

Will you tell us

why you are not at rest?

- My father.

- Joseph, did you die in this house?

- My room.

- How did you die?

Father, don't.

I shouldn't have called you.

It's just that I needed someone.

I wrote some words on the paper.

I wrote "Sacred Heart."

There used to be

a county orphanage...

named Sacred Heart.

It was closed down years ago.

What?

Their child, Joseph Carmichael.

He was murdered in this house

in the attic...

and buried.

And then an orphan-

Stop it, John,

just for one minute, please!

Miss Huxley's on the phone, Senator.

It's the third time this morning.

- She says it's important.

- All right, I'll take it.

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