House in suburbs-night
Michelle Hoth walks into Peter's, her teen aged son, room, and finds him playing a handheld computer game. She tells him he should go to bed since it's late. He reminds her he's 15 and Dad doesn't make him go to bed early. Michelle tells him that his father and she disagree on many things and that's why he lives with her. With a loving smile, she reminds him to brush his teeth. He gets up to do so.
Same house - downstairs
Michelle hears a noise from the dining room and cautiously enters, muttering, "not again." Suddenly a wind comes up in the room. Plates move from the breakfront and are set on the table in perfect formal dining pattern. Silverware follows and the candles light by themselves. She screams and Peter comes running out. She tells him things are moving by themselves. He looks in and it's as if nothing happened. She declares that she's sure it was real and that she's "calling him tomorrow." Peter gets upset and tells her that ‘he' is a fake and can't help her, to which she replies, " I have to do something." She leaves and Peter says to her departing figure, "it's just the stress, everything will be OK." Just then, from behind him, a ghostly apparition of a woman with long black curly hair appears behind him and says, sarcastically, "Happy Anniversary, darling."
Next morning- Hoth house
Michelle greets a man at the door and lets him in. He apologizes for being late and she tells him how happy she is that he came, admitting she's quite frightened. As he holds her hand, he shuts his eyes and, as if he feels her thoughts, tells her she doesn't know if she can take the strain and doesn't know what the future holds. He then opens his eyes and looks at her saying, "But I do Michelle." He then assures her that by calling him she took a critical step toward putting the whole thing behind her.
He asks about Peter and his whereabouts and she says he's out and doesn't approve of any of this.. He tells her he understands and walks around the room "divorce can sometimes make children suspicious." As he walks, he seems to be entering into a trance and then he shuts his eyes and winces, telling her he feels the entity and senses last night's disturbance in the family room. Michelle corrects him, "dining room." He looks out of the corner of his eye, nods and continues, "the family room and the dining room." He proceeds to tell her the entity is in great pain and needs to find peace in order to move on. He holds his forehead, comes out of the trance and tells her needs to know he has her full commitment and asks, "Do you have the check?"
She hands him a check made out to Jeffrey Starr for $250 dollars dated May 11, 1997. He pockets it and tells her to be strong.
Living room - Hoth house
Jeffrey and Michelle Hoth kneel on the floor facing each other. . Jeffrey is conducting a seance. He calls to the spirit and tells it to come through the "veil of darkness" and use him as a catalyst, a conduit and to come into this existence. He is in a trance-like state as he beckons, "Yes, I feel your sorrow, come, show yourself so we can help you."
From behind the couch smoke arises accompanied by a moaning noise. Jeffrey startles as Michelle, facing the couch, calls his attention to it. He turns to the couch and addresses the smoke and tells it not to be afraid. An image of a civil . war soldier is barely visible through the smoke. He addresses the soldier, telling him that he died far from home and announces, somewhat triumphantly that, "this was your home, wasn't it?" Michelle , looking puzzled, offers, "This house was built in the 20's!" Jeffrey, facing away from her, looks alarmed and quickly recovers, saying, "on this very spot where his cabin once stood." He tells her the soldiers name is Lieutenant Nathaniel Swanson of the California volunteers and he died before his time.
He then launches into a dramatic soliloquy and speaks directly at the apparition, telling him he must stop his wandering and shouldn't be taking his torment out on the innocent. His voice gets more and more dramatic as he beseeches the unmoving soldier figure to "stop the suffering, stop living in the past. The war IS OVER!!!. It's time to move on!!"
Just then, the light's come on in the room. Jeffrey looking up, exclaims, "What the hell?" When the lights came on, the apparition vanished.
Peter comes in and Jeffrey lectures him that he's just interrupted something critical for his mother and him. Peter looks at Jeffrey, crosses his arms saying, "What a crock." From behind Peter, Derek and Alex walk in slowly. It's obvious they both know him. They tell him he has no business there. Michelle Hoth demands to know what's going on and Peter tells her he went to the police and they introduced him to Miss Moreau and Dr. Rayne. "They've dealt with this guy before."
Alex tells Mrs. Hoth that indeed, they knew him. Jeffrey's angry and calls Alex and Derek "modern day witch-hunters." Derek tells Mrs. Hoth that Peter came to them because of his concern for her. Meanwhile, Alex has gone behind the couch and picks up a large suitcase. As Jeffrey protests and tries to get Alex to leave it alone, Derek reaches over and takes a remote control out of Jeffrey's hand. Alex opens the box and Derek clicks down on the remote. The smoke comes out of the box and the ghostly growling is audible.
Alex looks at Michelle Hoth, "this man is a fake, you're not his first victim."
Jeffrey, angry, grabs the case, and the remote. He tells Mrs. Hoth not to believe them telling her that "they're the fakes."
With that comment, Derek stares at him, "Oh, Really?"
Alex adds, "Jeffrey Starr, AKA Danny Jones, AKA Chet Sinclair, the list goes on."
Jeffrey looks at everyone and tells them its not against the law to change your name. With that, he turns to leave, opens the front door and walks into a uniformed police officer who takes him into custody.
Police station - Cell area
As Jeffrey is taken to his cell he speaks in a derogatory tone to the officer telling him since he's sure he doesn't have a college degree, he'll speak slowly and exclaims loudly, "You cannot do this to me!" The cop puts him in the cell and locks the door. Inside the cell are 7 other prisoners but Jeffrey hasn't looked at any of them yet. He continues calling to the policeman. From behind him, a huge, muscular burly man tells him to shut up. Jeffrey, without turning, tells the man to "shut up, yourself."
The guy gets up and walks to Jeffrey's side. Jeffrey now looks at him and sees how much taller and bigger he is but he says anyway, "I'm going to guess it's a glandular problem?" With that, the guy grabs Jeffrey and throws him against the wall, where he strikes his head and is knocked down. He stays conscious. The guy that hit him leans over and Jeffrey makes eye contact and has a vision of the guy killing a woman with a knife. He loses consciousness.
Hoth House
Peter calls his mom to the dining room. The dishes and the silverware are flying. The candles are lit and the wind is blowing. A ghostly screaming emanates from the area. Peter tells his mom he's going to make the call this time.
Street - somewhere outside the jail
Jeffrey, out on bail, walks home from jail carrying his belongings in a manilla envelope. As he walks, he steps in dog poop and stops and leans against a lamppost to wipe off his shoe on the grass. He gets a pain in the back of his head then and has a vision of a car that stuck that same lamppost. He's extremely startled but keeps on walking.
Outside Jeffrey's apartment
Still walking, he opens the manila envelope and finds the check that Michelle Hoth gave him. As he nears his building, Derek steps out of his 4 X 4 and announces that there's been a stop payment put on the check. Derek wears a grey suit, black shirt, long grey coat and a dotted grey scarf.
Jeffrey angrily asks Derek if he's come to gloat. Derek tells him somewhat sarcastically that he came to give him an envelope which happens to be the case histories of people he helped. An old lady who spent her life savings trying to get rid of a non existent ghost. A teenager who quit college based on psychic advice. Jeffrey responds by saying he just gives the "boneheads what they want to hear," and says he's not responsible for them.
Derek smiling slightly, tells him that the police found his client list in his briefcase and were kind enough to make Derek a copy. Jeffrey angry, tells Derek that the list is privileged information. Derek, making eye contact and with a killer smile on his face says, "And, it was my privilege to call them." He then adds that a smart lawyer will keep him out of prison but not bring back his customers. Jeffrey tells him that with a new name and new ad and some late night commercial time he'll be back in business.
Derek grinning, "You never learn, do you?"
Jeffrey, now very frustrated, replies, "Learn what, that people believe in me?. Come on , Rayne. I give them what they want and they give me money. Just blow off." He then turns and walks up the steps to his building and Derek returns to the 4 X 4.
Legacy House- Control Room
Alex, at the keyboard, has sent newspaper ads to the overhead screen saying to Nick, "heres a good one. $3.00 a minute. That's 180 dollars an hour!. How can they get away with this?" Nick looks at the screen which shows ads for ‘the psychic buddies line' and other psychic services, including complete phone readings. Nick turns, smiles slightly, shrugs and says "people are willing to spend a lot of money for piece of mind."
Derek, meanwhile, is in another part of the control room looking at a newspaper.
Alex responds to Nick by saying "It's hardly peace of mind if what they're selling is a lie. Why aren't we doing something about this?"
Rachel enters and sees the screen and quotes, "Know your future! That's rich. Most people have a hard enough time dealing with their past." As Rachel entered the room, Derek folded the paper and headed towards the group. Rachel asks Nick what's going on and he replies with a smile, "Alex has found herself a new crusade."
Alex smiles at Nick and then proceeds to say that there are so many scam artists she thinks they should do something.
Derek, agrees but says they need to start with exposing the worst of them, like Jeffrey Starr. Rachel asks if that's his real name and Alex tells them its "Harold Churikian." As Rachel comments that it's no surprise that he changed that name, the phone rings. Derek picks it up, asks if anyone was hurt and tells Peter to go back to class and that they'll talk to both of them later and hangs up. He tells the team that Peter told him something happened after they left and it might be the real thing. Derek leaves.
Jeffrey's apartment
Jeffrey talks on the phone to Mrs. Silverman, trying to get her to believe that it was a misunderstanding and that other people are threatened by what he can do. His pleading doesn't convince her and he loses his cool and yells, "Lady, we had a deal!" Then he apologizes and tells her he's under a lot of pressure. He looks at the TV then and sees a special news report which shows the crash at the lamppost. He hangs up and turns the volume up to hear the announcer say they driver was under the influence and was in critical condition. Jeffrey, looks astonished, "I don't believe this."
On the table is the manila envelope with the check from Mrs. Hoth sitting on it. He puts his hand down on top of it and suddenly gets a sharp pain in the back of his head, causing him to grasp the check tightly in his fist. When he does that, he sees a vision of a woman sitting on the edge of a bed, a revolver on the night-stand. He returns from the vision, opens his fist and sees the check, "Oh man!"
Hoth house
Alex and Derek are in the house looking around as Mrs. Hoth tells them she has lived there for 3 months and used the money from a divorce settlement for the down-payment. Derek tells her that the disturbance she described could mean the house is haunted.
They walk into the living room, and Michelle, angry, says, "she keeps moving furniture." With that, she starts moving chairs back to their original spot. She tells them she's heard a woman's voice and surmises that the ghost is putting the furniture in a past arrangement. She gets angry then and says loudly and emphatically, "but I like it, here!". She then looks at them and says, "I guess this is where you tell me I'm crazy."
Just then, a wind blows in the room. A framed photo of Peter is flung against the wall, breaking the glass. Alex assures her she's not crazy.
They hear a car door close and Michelle sees Jeffrey coming up the walk. As he gets to the door, he notices that a window has been broken (from the previous night's disturbance) and is now replaced with plywood. Just then, Michelle Hoth comes out and tells him to leave threatening that she'll get a restraining order. Jeffrey tries to tell her he got hit in the head and can now see things. Alex and Derek come out and he tells them he saw a woman crying with a gun in the bedroom.
Derek tells him to leave. Jeffrey agrees and then asks what the broken window is all about, reaches down and picks up a piece of the shattered glass that still lays there. As he does he gets a pain in his head and sees a vision of someone throwing a woman through the window.
Derek ushers him away, and Jeffrey pushes Derek's hands away and stops, looks at him, stares, and says, "You saw your father die in that cave. What's a sepulcher?" Derek stares at him and tells him to leave.
Legacy House - Control room - Day
Rachel wearing brown slacks and a gold suit coat and looking very professional, tells Derek that they did a search and found an unusual death in that house that may account for the haunting. Nick has the computer put up a newspaper clipping on the overhead screen. Sandra Bruskin, shown in the picture with her husband Victor, owned the house. It was built for them in 1927 by William Carter. Two years after they were married, on June 2nd, 1928, she committed suicide, a self inflicted gunshot wound. They hadn't been living together as man and wife in the house. Alex looks up and says, the suicide gives them the unresolved death they were looking for.. Derek tells them that Michelle Hoth had a history of abuse prior to her divorce, and that the ghost may have found a kindred spirit.
They discuss Starr and that he could have found out about Sandra the same way they did. But Rachel reminds them it doesn't explain how he knew about Derek's past. Derek agrees and tells them that there have been verified accounts where a blow to the head has resulted in ESP.. Rachel "Like Peter Herkos." Derek agrees and tells them that he and Rachel will continue to work with Michelle, while Nick and Alex are to learn more about Jeffrey Starr to find out if he has something up his sleeve.
Hoth house
Michelle tells Derek and Rachel that the stuff in the house is from the original owner. The house was sold by Sandra's father, William Carter, after she killed herself. It seems that he owned a lot of land and farmed it. Sandra, his daughter, fell in love with the foreman so he built the house. They go up to the attic. Rachel begins to look through a trunk, and Derek looks around the room telling Michelle they're looking for reasons. The more they know the better they can help Sarah.
Rachel finds newspapers and a handwritten journal. As they touch the journal's pages, a ghostly voice cries, "You're not going to hurt me anymore, Victor." The wind blows through the attic and the journal is ripped apart by the entity. Then the spirit is gone as quickly as it came. Rachel picks up the pieces as Derek tells Mrs. Hoth to leave. She refuses, but decides that when Peter comes home from school, she'll send him to stay with his friends until this over.
Outside the house
Peter returns from school and as he gets to the house, he hears a woman giggling in the side yard. He follows the laughter and sees a woman's apparition. She has long black curly hair and is talking to an unseen person, She giggles and says that she picked the spot for the house and Daddy wasn't happy, tried to tell her she was too young but she knows it was because she's not supposed to marry the hired help. She giggles again and says she wishes her mother was alive to watch him squirm. She then calls the unseen person ‘Victor', and tells him she doesn't know if she can wait. She tells him they're going to have such a good life, raise a family, grow old together and make love whenever they want. Then her head is jerked back as she is struck by Victor. She looks confused, asks , "What's wrong?". Victor replies, "You're, what's wrong." She screams and disappears.
Peter stands there. Michelle comes outside and he tells her what happened. She tells him to go stay with Mrs. Rollins.
Outside Jeffrey's apartment
As Jeffrey walks up to his steps, Nick and Alex walk down and they meet him on the sidewalk. Nick tells him they want to talk. Jeffrey tells them he thinks there is something really going on at the house. Alex asks what he sees. Jeffrey replies, "You guys do the real thing!" Nick urges him to tell them what he saw and Jeffrey gets agitated saying they wouldn't believe him anyway. Nick disgusted, says "He's a fraud, let's go." And starts to walk away. Alex tells Nick to wait and give him a chance. Jeffrey asks Alex to give him her hand. Nick warns, "You hurt her, I hurt you." She puts her hand on his. He looks up and states, "You got it too!", then has the pain in his head and a vision starts. In it, he sees Alex thrown backwards. He comes out of the vision frightened and tells her he saw her in the house and warns her that she's going to die.
Legacy House - Night
Derek, wearing a stunning purple shirt, listens while Alex explains she doesn't think Jeffrey is faking, she has no proof just a feeling. Rachel comments that Jeffrey is hitting on her. Alex smiles and asks why he went back to Michelle's then. Nick reminds her that Jeffrey saw her dead on the floor. Alex replies that she thinks it scared Jeffrey more than her though and comments "who knows what he really saw since he has no real experience?". She wishes she could test him to see if he really has the sight. Derek warns her to be careful and asks Nick if he reconstructed the journal pages.
Nick puts up on the screen the most pertinent ones, and explains, there are 2 journal entries, same date, a year apart. It seems that Victor Bruskin became a different man once he married into money. He started beating Sandra and she became despondent, felt trapped and helpless. On their first anniversary , he left her and she felt more depressed .
Rachel tells them that "unfortunately that follows the pattern, the victim fears loneliness more than they do the actual abuse."
Nick tells them the last page is a rambling suicide note. She claimed she couldn't take it anymore. She hid her secrets in the attic and that night she killed herself, it was her second wedding anniversary.
Derek looks at Alex and says "there's your test. Just take one of the scraps of the journal and ask him to touch it."
Jeffrey's apartment
Alex is at his apartment looking through his psychic paraphernalia . One of them is a crystal ball with a lighted base. She turns it on and inside the ball is a picture of a miniature poodle. She looks at Jeffrey who explains that some lady wanted to talk to her dead dog. She asks him "Did you have to bark?" He tells her even he wouldn't stoop that low. Alex resumes looking around the apartment and sees an old time circus poster, "The Mystical Churikian's". He explains that they were his old man's parents and that he modernized their routine. His grandmother always claimed to be the real thing but that "All I needed was a whack on the back of the skull to bring it out from me."
Alex asks him to describe the visions. He tells her he always thought it would be misty and obscure but that he sees things from both the past and the future and it's different each time depending on what he touches. He asks if he can change things from the future since he can see them. Alex replies it's not clear cut but that knowing what happened might be creating the very future you're seeing. He tells her the visions are scaring him.
She puts the scrap of journal in his hand. He sees the attic, there's a closet there and he hears screaming.
Attic - Hoth house
Derek and Nick with fiberoptic cameras and equipment, find the closet and begin to drill into the chamber. Jeffrey and Alex enter the attic and Jeffrey tries to get them to stop drilling. Alex relates that she gave him the scrap and he saw the closet in the attic. Jeffrey is astonished that his vision is real. Derek reminds him that real or not, this isn't a game and tells him to stand back. Nick drills a hole into the chamber and puts a camera scope inside. Jeffrey implores them not to open up the wall as Alex moves him back across the room.
The camera shows lots of newspapers in the closet. One is dated June 2, 1927. That's one year from the day that Sandra Bruskin committed suicide.
Michelle Hoth comes in and sees Jeffrey and asks how he got in.. Derek tells her he let him stay because "we must explore every possibility", and he might know something. She demands that Jeffrey leave. He does and Alex follows.
Outside the house
Jeffrey runs out of the house and Alex follows behind. He tells her he can only stick his neck out so far. She reminds him he has a gift and should use it. He looks at her, "this isn't me, Alex. I was a fool to think I could be a part of this." He tells her he should hit his head on a brick wall to get rid of it since it's wasted on him.
Alex tells him, "It doesn't have to be this way." Jeffrey is angry and tells her "just go and play with your ghosts, I'm going back to the real world." He leaves and Alex returns to the house.
Phone booth- nearby
Jeffrey is on the phone, trying to get a booking in Vegas for a new act. He promises the person on the other end of the phone that he doesn't expect payment unless they are fully satisfied. A deal is made and Jeffrey agrees to be there within a day or two. He gets the phone number in Vegas and he writes it down on a page from the public phone book, then hangs up. He then rips out the page and leaves the booth. As he puts the page inside his jacket pocket, he finds the envelope that Derek gave him that contains the client list. The envelope is embossed with the "Luna Foundation" logo. As he holds the envelope, he cries out and grabs his head from the pain. He sees a vision of Nick sawing through the closet wall, then everything goes white, a fierce wind blows through the attic and a force comes from the cut opening and throws Alex, Nick, Derek and Michelle Hoth backwards where they lay unconscious.
When Jeffrey comes out of the vision he yells, "No!" and runs back to the house.
He runs up the attic steps and sees all four lying on the floor. He goes to Alex , leans down over her crying that he told her but she didn't listen. Alex slowly regains consciousness and Jeffrey is amazed she's alive. Derek and Nick slowly regain consciousness. Alex tells Jeffrey to tell her what he saw.
He gets up and goes to the wall and tells her he saw them cutting through the wall, then there was an explosion of light. He reaches for the wall and takes a board off that Nick had sawed through. Alex tries to stop him but he pulls it off. A light from the closet becomes intense and mist, accompanied by ghostly growling, comes from the opening and into Jeffrey. He falls to the floor unconscious as Derek and Alex rush to him.
Downstairs - living room
Jeffrey is lying unconscious on the couch and Rachel is taking his heart rate and checking his pupils. She comments she got there as soon as she could and that whatever got him must have been trapped in the wall for years. Nick tells her he "remembers it hitting me when we were cutting through the wall." Derek replies that the four of them absorbed the initial release and Jeffrey caught the full force when he pried off the board.
Michelle Hoth wonders if Jeffrey saw it before it happened. Rachel believes that he did and tells Michelle she can stay at her place until this is finished and listens to Jeffrey's heart rate once more. She declares "he'll be regaining consciousness in a minute or so." Alex tells her she'll take care of him.
Michelle asks Derek how long she has to stay away and he tells her maybe all night but its was hard to tell. They promise to call Rachel's house when it is over.
Nick suggests that assuming what was up there is now dispersed, he wants to see what's behind the wall.
Attic
Derek and Nick, wearing workmen's gloves, tear off the boards that encase the closet. The look inside and find lots of old newspapers.
At the same time, downstairs, Jeffrey regains consciousness and Alex asks how he feels.
Upstairs, - all the papers are from 1927. They pull them out and find a skeleton underneath. Nick sardonically says, "Looks like whoever built this house had a skeleton in the closet, literally." Derek, looking at the skeleton, says, "the question is, who?"
Downstairs, Jeffrey remembers getting hit with the force of the spirit. He looks at Alex and says, "It's Victor."
Attic, Derek touches a bone from the skeleton and has a vision. He hears Sandra saying "Happy Anniversary, darling", sees Victor beat her and throw her against the door breaking it. Then he sees Victor sleeping in bed while Sandra comes in carrying a carving knife. She stabs him several times, saying "Happy Anniversary, darling."
Derek comes out of the vision and tells Nick, "It's Victor, Sandra's been haunting this house because Victor's soul has been trapped in the attic. Sandra committed suicide after she killed him."
Downstairs, Jeffrey/Victor looks at Alex. when she asks what's wrong he hits her backhanded, sending her falling to the floor. As he gets up he says "You're what's wrong." A woman's voice says, "Victor." and materializes and walks towards him. It's Sandra. She tells him "You're not going to hurt me anymore," and she lunges at Jeffrey with the knife. As she raises it to plunge it into him, Alex grabs her and stops her from stabbing him.
Attic, Nick and Derek hear Alex scream, "Derek!". They turn and run down the stairs.
Downstairs - living room
As Alex struggles with Sandra, Jeffrey/Victor reaches for the knife and takes it way from Sandra, saying, "I have waited for this. Now you'll both pay." He moves menacingly towards the women.
Nick and Derek rush into the room and Nick immediately grabs Jeffrey and throws him down and pins him to the ground. Derek grabs the knife from Jeffrey's hand then goes to Alex to be sure she's OK. She responds, "I have her," since she continues to hold on to Sandra. Derek returns to help Nick saying, "we have to force the spirit out."
Derek is now on the ground with Nick and they are both holding Jeffrey, pinned to the floor. He continues to struggle, while Derek tries to address Jeffrey, "Victor's sprit is using your body, you have to fight back. Retake control!"
Jeffrey struggles and says "I can't do it."
Derek yells, "You must!"
Victor's voice comes out of Jeffrey's mouth, "Let me be!" but then the spirit leaves Jeffrey. Wind blows all around the room. Sandra starts to dematerialize, she is nearly transparent and moves away from Alex. Victor's spirit starts to materialize and both apparitions meet face to face. Sandra's voice says, "No more Victor, this is where it stops."
As the wind continues to blow around the room, Derek and Nick continue to hold Jeffrey to the floor. Victor screams, "No!" and advances towards Sandra, who screams and the spirits disappear. The wind stops.
Derek, who's had much of his weight leaning on Nick to help hold Jeffrey down, gets up and, pats Nick on the shoulder. Nick moves off Jeffrey and sits against the wall, saying, "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned."
Jeffrey sits partly up and asks, "Is it over?"
Derek replies, "Yeah, I think it is."
Alex asks Jeffrey if he's all right and he wonders if it's always that rough. Nick trying to catch his breath nearby, offers, "it has it's moments."
Alex tells him that having the sight isn't always a blessing, but Jeffrey's excited that he's "still gonna knock ‘em dead in Vegas!" Derek, looking stern, says, "You've been given a gift. Don't abuse it."
Nick smiles, "Another knock on the head, maybe it's all gone."
Jeffrey, "Really?"
Alex, "You never know."
Jeffrey tries to get up to leave and gets dizzy and sits back down. Derek asks him about the people he duped and Jeffery promises that since he still has the list, he'll make good.
Jeffrey looks at Alex and asks if she believes him, She grins and says "yeah." He sighs happily, "I knew you would."
Derek, Nick and Alex all smile at him and shake their heads.
Jeffrey looks at them and offers, "Maybe I'll come back and give you a hand sometime." Derek looks at him , "With any luck, let's hope it doesn't come to that." He turns and walks out of the room,
Legacy House library - night
Alex sits at the long table and writes in her journal: