"Damon, you open this door right now." "Damon!" "I called the police, Damon." "They're" "Damon!" "Damon, I'm warning you!" "Open the damn door, Damon!" "Mrs." "BaIIard?" "Thank God you're here." "It's my husband, he's beating my son." "You gotta stop him." "michael!" "michael!" "Code blue." "Request paramedics." "Come here." "Come here, baby." "Oh, my God." "Damon, what have you done to him?" "Lisa, Iisten" "How could you?" "I didn't." "You bastard." "You will never touch him again." "It wasn't me." "It wasn't you?" "Who else was in the room with you?" "Something." "Someone, I don't know." "You son of a bitch!" "Lisa, listen to me." "He's still in danger." "You have the right to remain silent." "please!" "Anything you say" "Don't do this." "Lisa, no!" "You're making a terrible mistake, don't you understand?" "Dr. Rayne." "Damon, I know what she said, it's just not right." "Derek, hi." "You remember my father." "Yeah, Mr. BaIIard, how are you?" "Then I'II speak to the attorneys this afternoon." "It's all right, really, I can handIe" "Your wife's indiscretion?" "Forgive me, but this is a family matter, not for strangers." "Times change." "Not so much that a wife should betray her husband." "Dad, please." "well, that's your trouble." "You've always too weak for your own good." "If it'd been your mother she'd never have considered going to the police, I'd have seen to that." "Right." "Okay, Dad." "I'II" " I'II call you tomorrow." "Nice seeing you again." "I'm sorry about that." "You know my father." "I'd forgotten what the man was like." "I read about the arrest." "I didn't do what they said I did." "You want to tell me about it?" "Why don't we step inside." "The servants were out, and Lisa was in town." "I was upstairs when, suddenly, I couId hear michael screaming." "And I found him there his hands covering his ears, just shrieking." "Are you certain there wasn't someone else in the room?" "Positive." "The look on his face, he was terrified." "And then, before I couId reach him...." "You're gonna think I'm nuts." "What do you mean?" "Some force, I don't know what sIammed the door behind me and did this." "Can you describe this force?" "Something...." "Someone striking me." "only there was nothing there." "Has anything like this ever happened before?" "No." "Ever since he turned 1 0 last spring, michael's had problems." "talking back to teachers, getting into fights at school, but this?" "Did you strike him?" "I was drinking." "Lisa and I have been having a rough time lately." "You know how these things go." "We're in the process of separating." "She was late." "She'd found a house to lease." "Just temporarily, you know, until we work things out." "Were you drunk?" "I didn't think so." "I remember standing in the study, michael on the floor Lisa's voice shouting through the door but I have no idea how I got there." "And there wasn't anyone else in the house at the time?" "No." "No, the doors were locked." "There's a security system." "could the boy have inflicted the bruises himself?" "No." "No, whatever attacked me, attacked him." "I just don't know what it was." "With your permission, I'd Iike to have one of my associates look at the boy." "Her name is Dr. Corrigan and she's a board-certified psychiatrist." "There's gotta be an explanation for this because if there isn't I think I'm losing my mind." "PoItergeist?" "Like hell." "Sounds like child abuse to me." "possibly." "But I've known Damon BaIIard since boarding school." "He's someone I'd trust with my own life." "It's not your life we're talking about here, Derek, it's a child's." "I know he's your friend, but don't let him fool you." "Okay, what are the facts?" "well, according to Damon his son was attacked by some unseen force." "And when he tried to help his son, he claims he was attacked himself." "unfortunately, neither his wife nor the police believe him." "Now, why should they?" "Hey, what if he's telling the truth?" "Now, I say it's premature to rule out the possibility of some sort of poltergeist or spirit." "personally, I think if we're gonna err, we do it on the side of the child." "You've no idea how many child abusers will claim that some outside force, ghosts, demons, whatever made them do it, in the hopes of evading prosecution." "I agree." "But if we fail to look into this we may be turning our backs on a child that may truly need our help." "What does the child say?" "He hasn't spoken since the night it happened." "The boy's at Mercy hospital." "You think you can look in on him?" "certainly." "Good." "Did you get the photographs?" "Yeah." "It's hard to believe that Damon BaIIard did this to his own son." "well, isn't that the problem?" "I mean, no one is willing to believe a father would do this to his own son?" "These were taken when the boy was admitted." "According to the medical reports over 40 percent of his body is covered in contusions." "He said it was possibly made by something blunt a stick, possibly a cane." "The son of a bitch." "And look at this." "The mark of the Iamb." "Excuse me?" "The mark of the who?" "The lamb." "An innocent lamb hung for slaughter." "Certain ancient manuscripts make references to such stigmata." "Any child that carried it was thought to be pursued by demons." "This text belonged to SavonaroIa." "The martyr?" "He led the Legacy House in florence in the 1 5th century." "The marks are the same." "Come on." "Don't let coincidence pass for fact." "We really have no choice." "We will pursue the investigation." "However, given the very real concerns expressed by Nick and alex we should be prepared to withdraw our support should it be clear that the boy has been abused." "I agree." "philip, I need your assistance." "absolutely." "To maintain an objective point of view we're going to need a full history of Damon BaIIard and his family." "Every little detail should be screened." "Leave it to me." "Just one more point." "I know there's a school tie involved here and loyalty is something I understand but I'II be damned if I'II let you or anyone in this room put friendship before facts." "Point taken, my friend." "michael?" "Hi." "I'm Dr. Corrigan." "I spoke to Dr. Ross and he said it was all right if we stopped by to see how you're coming along." "This is philip." "He's a colleague of mine." "How you doing there, michael?" "So, what do they call you, then?" "Mike?" "Mick?" "Mickey?" "michael, then?" "Good." "Okay, michael." "I don't want you to be afraid but I'm just gonna move this down a little bit so we can have a little peek." "Open your pajama top here and let's see how you're getting along." "Okay." "So, what we need to do here is find out how much it hurts." "You hold on to my hand like this." "I'm just gonna touch the places where you've been struck and if it hurts, you squeeze my hand, okay?" "Here we go." "How's that?" "Okay." "There." "There, you see, it's all right." "You're okay." "There you go." "And what about this one?" "How's that?" "Michael." "There we go, michael." "That's okay." "There you are." "There's a good boy." "Let's try one more, okay?" "You tell me how this feels." "Okay, michael." "It's okay." "It's okay, it's okay." "You okay, michael?" "This is Room 703." "We need help in here, stat!" "I can't breathe." "michael?" "Do you have anything on BaIIard?" "The family goes back to one of San Francisco's original robber barons." "apparently, BaIIard's great-grandfather was importing Chinese laborers to work on the railroad." "Then he swindled his partners in some kind of dirty land deal." "family made their money the oId-fashioned way:" "They stole it." "You know that case I've been working on?" "I've figured it out." "Figured what out?" "The Virgin of Verhagen." "It's a hoax." "You're kidding." "How?" "The building records." "Come here, look." "local police have gotten dozens of calls about this." "Now, this is the steeple from the Church of the blessed Virgin." "It sits on a hill overlooking Verhagen, here." "The wall where they've been seeing the sign of the virgin is over here." "Any reflection off the steeple would be blocked by the old town hall." "well, exactly, that's where the city records come in." "So when did the first sighting occur, before Christmas?" "well, December 1 3th, to be exact." "I went through the town records and I found there's a new bank being constructed right here." "Now, taking into account the angle of the sun as well as the angles and the thickness of glass the light reflecting off the copper roof of the church steeple hits the southeast corner office on the fourth floor of the bank and is refracted through four panes of glass before hitting the wall here." "Impressive." "You've any idea how many old ladies of Verhagen you've just disappointed?" "Of course." "None." "old ladies aren't going to believe any explanation they can't wrap their hearts around." "At least we know the truth." "Nice work, alex." "Thanks." "So I spoke to Damon BaIIard this morning." "His pretrial hearing is today." "According to the database, BaIIard's father's been grooming him to take over the family business." "well, knowing Damon's father for more than 30 years I'm not sure "groomed" is the right word." "My guess is he wouldn't do anything against his father's wishes." "So, what else did you find out?" "apparently, his wife called the cops three times in the Iast six months." "Each time he was cited for drunk and disorderly but never formally charged." "He mentioned they were having trouble." "trouble?" "Derek, this whole poItergeist thing is a dodge." "We shouldn't be helping this guy, we should be hunting him." "When I'm convinced of his guilt, we will." "until then, keep digging." "That's right, the boy is stabilized." "I gotta go, alex." "I'II call you as soon as we have anything." "There you are." "Yes." "emily said we had to come straight from school." "well, emily was quite right." "I can take it form here, thanks." "We stopped for a snack on the way." "Make sure she shows you her art project." "It's impressive." "Oh, it's not finished yet." "well, this is the perfect place to finish it, isn't it?" "Bye, Katherine." "See you at home." "Bye." "See you later." "Okay." "AII rise." "The superior court of the state of california is now in session." "The honorable Amanda Kern presiding." "AII right." "Let me just remind both parties that this is a preliminary hearing held to determine if cause exist to bind the defendant over for trial." "We're not looking here to establish guilt or innocence merely whether or not the evidence justifies a trial." "Mr. Roper, I take it you're here on behalf of the district attorney." "will you please proceed?" "Thank you, Your Honor." "Now, in the 1 1 years that you've been married has your husband ever struck or abused you in any way?" "The truth is, my husband can be a wonderful person." "But he has a problem." "He drinks." "Sometimes so much that he loses control." "And when he loses control, what happens?" "He becomes abusive." "verbally or physically?" "Both." "usually it begins with an argument over nothing or something that his father said." "Damon is a very conscientious son." "If his father objects to the color of my dress or the time that it took me to get ready he would say nothing until we got home." "And then what would he do?" "He would begin to drink." "And the more he drank, the more violent he would become." "Did he ever hit you or your son?" "No, not until this last time." "That's not true." "I would never do anything to hurt him." "Mr. BaIIard, one more outburst like that and I'II have to have you removed from the courtroom." "Do I make myself clear?" "Yes, Your Honor." "Can you describe for the court exactly what you saw when you opened the door?" "Yes, the room was torn apart as if they'd been fighting." "really?" "michael, my son, was Iying on the floor across the room." "What about your husband?" "He was standing." "He looked angry, upset." "The way he looked at me when we fought." "A purple cow?" "What made you decide to make her purple?" "Because the moon's gonna be yellow." "Paging Dr. Corrigan." "Right." "Dr. Corrigan to the East Wing nurses' station." "I've gotta go see a patient for a few minutes." "I won't be long." "But you can stay here and finish your artwork, okay?" "Okay, one right here." "Okay." "I'II be right back." "Okay." "Bye." "Bye-bye, honey." "Nick?" "Yeah?" "You've been at it for hours." "You all right?" "Yeah." "This is like fantasy time." "What's with this BaIIard?" "It seems like everyone was afraid to dust him up." ""Dust him up"?" "Make him look bad." "I'm surprised the police even answered the 91 1 call." "I know this guy's guilty." "I just have to find a way to prove it." "Hey, why don't you take a break." "I will when I've found what I'm looking for." "Excuse me, coming through." "rachel, we got here as quick as we could." "Is the boy still sleeping?" "He was the Iast time I Iooked in on him." "That's his workup?" "Yeah." "Everything has come back negative." "We've even had specialists examine his vocal cords." "There's no physical manifestation to explain his lack of speech." "It's completely psychosomatic, totally post-traumatic." "But what is really troubling is that these bruises continue to appear." "His condition is getting worse?" "well, I've identified a half a dozen new marks since philip left." "Can you show us?" "Oh, sure." "It's just downstairs." "I've posted the photos in the lab." "Michael." "Michael." "Are you all right?" "His room's down here to the right." "I wanna tell Katherine where I'm going." "Katherine, I" "Katherine?" "Katherine?" "Stop it!" "Stop it!" "Katherine!" "Katherine." "Katherine." "Why didn't you stay where I Ieft you?" "There was another boy." "I followed him." "What other boy?" "Did you speak to him?" "No." "He's very angry." "What is it?" "There's water on the floor." "A trail." "It looks like footprints." "Excuse me, why has my son been--?" "What are you doing here?" "If Damon sent you, I'd Iike you to leave." "Mrs." "BaIIard?" "Excuse me." "Mrs. BaIIard, I'm Dr. Corrigan." "There are things going on" "There's reason to believe your son may be in danger." "There's nothing wrong that getting him away from my husband won't fix." "Now get out, all of you." "Mommy's here, michael." "Sweetie." "He's here." "Mommy!" "Stay down." "What's happening?" "Mommy!" "Look at Mommy, honey." "Mommy's here." "Look!" "Yeah, "David."" "What does it mean?" "I don't know." "Are you all right?" "Okay, baby." "michael, answer me." "You stay here." "Baby, answer me, please!" "Lisa, Lisa, Lisa." "What's wrong?" "What do you think?" "His pupils are dilated, pulse weak, the bruising's much more pronounced." "What's wrong with him?" "What's happening to him?" "Mrs. BaIIard, I wish I had an easy answer but whatever this is, this hospital is not equipped to handle it." "Look, we've gotta move your son to a more isolated environment." "Now." "I realize we're asking you to accept a Iot on faith but unless you allow us to act immediately, we may be too late." "Okay." "Just please take care of him." "I'II organize the helicopter." "On three." "One, two, three." "One, two, three." "Thanks for everything." "I really appreciate it." "finally." "What kept you?" "I had to post a bond." "We need to talk." "Why, what's this?" "The papers I told you about." "It's for our own protection." "Our protection?" "tell me you're not this naive." "You're about to go through a divorce." "You need to protect yourself while you still can." "Can we please talk about this some other time?" "No, damn it." "You have to close your accounts, cancel your credit cards." "Look, I've seen to everything." "Just do as I say." "Sign the papers and leave the rest to me." "Do as you say?" "What about me?" "AII I ever did was to please you." "The way I treated Lisa, God, no wonder she wanted a divorce." "You're pathetic." "Like father, Iike son." "Come back here." "What do you think you're gonna do?" "You don't wanna know." "I'm going to see my son." "He just looks so helpless." "well, we have amazing recuperative powers especially when we're young." "Sometimes it just takes time." "What's the kid doing here?" "We needed to isolate him before the next visitation." "Visitation from who, his father?" "Listen, Nick I know how strongly you feel about this but whatever is attacking him has nothing to do with child abuse." "Hey, what's going on here?" "This isn't you." "You think you know this guy?" "I bet you think you knew my father too." "But you didn't know him when he was drunk." "He'd fly into a rage, beat my mother up." "And when I would try to stop him, he'd beat me too." "Your father?" "I had no idea." "Nobody ever does, Derek." "He was a great guy, wasn't he?" "A great provider." "Never slept around." "But nobody had to live with him but us." "I'm sorry." "I can see now how hard this must be for you." "But it doesn't change the facts here." "Whatever it is we're dealing with literally broke into michael's hospital room through the window seven floors above the street, and trashed it then followed us when we attempted to move him." "We couldn't stay there." "We needed a place we could control." "So if you really want to help this boy, you've gotta get past your own pain." "What do you want me to do?" "We've put him in the library, so as soon as we're set lock the doors and get ready for anything." "deal." "emily, thanks for coming so late." "Oh, it's not a problem." "But I don't wanna go home." "I know you don't want to go home." "You heard the noises." "I wanna know what happened." "Nothing happened." "Mom." "well, even if something did, I want you home in bed now, okay?" "She's had dinner, needs to brush her teeth." "And I'II be home as soon as I can." "Okay, don't worry about a thing." "You listen to everything emily says." "Straight to bed." "What about you?" "I'II be okay." "Kiss." "Okay, you guys." "Now, drive carefully, seat belts on and sweet dreams." "Bye." "Bye." "Maybe you should go with her." "Maybe I should." "But I can't." "Any other recommendations?" "well, actually, I've been thinking, for your daughter's sake maybe you need to seriously reconsider the level of your involvement here." "For her sake?" "clearly, she has The Sight." "The question is, is she going to grow up too fast?" "I'm not sure." "I can't tell her it doesn't exist." "So she sees it as normal?" "The last thing I want is my daughter to feel like she's some sort of a freak." "Yeah, fair enough." "I guess we just take it moment to moment, right?" "I guess." "Anyway, what's going on up there?" "well, whatever it is that's been attacking the boy it's much stronger than we thought." "please, I need to know what's going on." "If you're ready, we'd Iike to start." "What are you going to do?" "well, the first step is to get whatever it is to manifest itself." "Once we know exactly what we're up against, we'II know what to do." "Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name." "Thy kingdom come" "michael!" "Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us." "Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from all evil." "Amen!" "What are you doing here?" "Get out!" "Damon?" "No!" "I can't breathe." "Oh, my God." "No." "I can't breathe." "David?" "When dealing with these phenomena it's critical to identify patterns as they emerge." "The spirit has followed him, just as we hoped." "Hoped?" "You mean you knew this would happen?" "Look, your son was attacked at home, twice in the hospital." "It's not so surprising it followed him here as well." "At least now we know what we're confronted by." "Which is what?" "Your son is being attacked by a ghost." "The ghost of a child." "please don't take offense though our questions must be answered." "Did you have a stillborn child?" "No, never." "And michael isn't a twin?" "What are you talking about?" "Of course not." "You had no right to come here." "Lisa, please, just Iisten" "No, you listen to me." "This whole thing started because of you." "I don't want you anywhere near michael, understand?" "I want you as far away from him as you can possibly be." "Fine, be angry with me, do anything you want but take michael and get out of here before this ghost comes back." "Weren't you listening?" "We can't outrun this." "She's right." "No, take michael and go." "Now!" "Guess again." "Get out of my way." "That's not gonna happen." "Sorry, he asked for it." "And you didn't?" "Whatever it is that's happening, it's a response to something." "What?" "There's nothing to say." "I think there is." "When you arrived and the spirit was raging I was afraid we wouldn't be able to contain it." "Yet the moment it saw you, everything ceased." "It was as if the entire ordeal was created to bring you here." "Why?" "You've got to let me help you." "Go to hell." "Why?" "Is that where I'II find the answer?" "Damn it, we're friends." "You've got to tell me what this is all about before this ghost comes back." "If the ghost isn't here for michael, then he's using michael to get to you." "And if it can recognize you then you must know what it is we're dealing with." "You've got to tell me." "Oh, Jesus." "Why won't it die?" "Perhaps because it needs something only you can give." "What am I gonna do?" "Start by telling me the truth." "We were so young." "Her name was Laura." "I met her when I was in college." "She worked in the bookstore." "She was so beautiful." "So bright." "Her family didn't have money, no position, no power but she was everything I wanted." "Everything my father hated." "I got her pregnant." "My father went crazy." "He insisted she have it aborted." "She refused." "She had the child out of wedlock, a boy named David." "My father demanded that I disown them but she tried to bring a paternity suit." "He called the judge, pulled a few strings." "I just stood by." "What happened to them?" "Ten years later, I received this." "Don't ask me why I kept it." "call it guilt." "Two days after she mailed it to me, she committed suicide." "They found the boy lying face down in the tub." "Drowned." "Wet footprints, same age as michael...." "I'd say he's attempting to do to michael what was done to him." "And there's only one way to stop him." "You've got to atone for what you did." "Derek!" "It's starting." "What the hell does it want?" "If we knew we might be able to stop it." "The warmth's gone out of his body." "We're losing him." "You've got to talk to him." "But he can't hear me." "He can't respond, but he knows your voice." "Speak from your heart." "It's not his body that's in danger, it's his soul." "michael?" "michael, I Iove you so much, michael." "I couldn't live without you." "please don't leave me." "Listen to me, David." "Stop before it's too late." "Show yourself!" "David." "I can't breathe." "No." "No, no!" "Oh, my God, no." "Why doesn't it tell us what it wants?" "It is." "The sins of the father." "Damon, time of atonement." "David." "I can't." "You must." "David, my son." "I can't breathe." "Forgive me." "I was wrong." "But taking an innocent life won't make it right." "I killed you, caused your death and your mother's." "It was me." "I'm the one who deserves to pay, not your brother." "Take me." "Spare him." "Come with me, Father." "Lisa, I" "Take my hand." "Damon, no." "Not you too." "michael!" "Oh, baby, I was so worried." "I'm so glad you're safe." "It's over." "It's over, the curse is lifted." "If you're busy, I can come back." "Not at all." "Come in, sit down." "About what happened...." "Yeah?" "My old man?" "Thanks." "For what?" "Understanding." "Your father hurt you." "He did things even I didn't know about." "Some wounds never heal." "But nobody can change the past." "You have to make your own peace and move on."