"Now, children, are you sitting comfortably?" "Then I'll begin." "This story started many thousands of years ago... but it was all over in just seven days." "All that long, long time ago... none of the things we can see now... the sun, the moon, the stars, the earth... the animals and plants..." "not a single one existed." "Only God existed... and so only He could have created them." "And He did." "Simpson." "What a character he was." "I wonder whatever became of him?" "Oh, I imagine he's dead like all the rest." "Ah, those were the days." "Mr. Tuttle, your hair." "Yes?" "Good morning, ma'am." "We've come about the..." "Oh, yes, of course." "Come in." "I wasn't expecting you so soon." "You are?" "I'm Bertha Mills, ma'am." "And this is Edmund Tuttle." "Pleased to meet you, ma'am." "You must be the gardener." "That's right." "The gardener." "And this young lady is called Lydia." "Have you had much experience in service?" "Oh, don't let that angel face fool you, ma'am." "She's older than she looks." "Can you iron?" "What's the matter?" "Has the cat got your tongue?" "She can't talk, ma'am." "The poor little mite's a mute." "Oh." "Oh, but she's a good little worker." "I can promise you that." "All right." "All right." "The other girl I had spoke too much, anyway." "Follow me." "Mrs. Mills, you and the girl... will sleep in the attic room at the top of the stairs." " And you, Mr..." " Tuttle, ma'am." "You could sleep in the shed around the back." "As you can see, the housework has been rather neglected... since the servants disappeared almost a week ago." "You mean they just vanished?" "Into thin air." "No notice, nothing." "They didn't even collect their wages." "They... they just left us." "What a strange thing to do." "You'll soon find out there are times... when this house is not exactly an ideal home." "Hence my advertisement in the newspaper... requesting honest, hardworking people." "There's nobody more honest or hardworking than us." "Isn't that right, Mr. Tuttle?" "Oh, aye, we're very honest." "And, um, very hardworking." "The kitchen." "I have breakfast at 8:00... the children at 9:00." "Lunch will be served at 1:00 and dinner at 7:30." "And the master, ma'am?" "The master went off to war... a year and a half ago." "I've had no news since the war ended." "Which of you does the cooking?" "I'm so sorry, ma'am." "Which of you does the cooking?" "You'll notice what I'm doing." "In this house, no door must be opened... without the previous one being closed first." "It is vital that you remember this." "It's not as easy as it may seem." "There are 15 different keys for all of the 50 doors... depending on which area of the house you're in at the time." "Mrs. Mills, from tomorrow onwards..." "I will be leaving a set of keys in your charge." "Yes, ma'am." "The music room." "That old piano was already here when we moved in." "Please do not let the children thump away on it." "It sets off my migraine." "Silence is something that we prize... very highly in this house." "That is why you will not find a telephone, a radio... or anything else that makes a racket." "Oh, we don't have electricity, either." "During the war, the Germans kept cutting it off... so we learned to live without it." "Let's continue." "Ma'am, there's no need to show us the whole house." "Yes!" "Yes, there is." "Most of the time, you can hardly see your way." "It's often difficult to make out... if there is a table, a chair, a door, a sideboard... or one of my children playing hide and seek." "What do you mean, ma'am?" "Perhaps I should introduce you to the children." "Mr. Tuttle, you can see to the garden now." "You'll find tools in the shed." "Yes, ma'am." "You two can start closing the curtains." "All of them." "Come." "I'll wake them." "You wait here." "Whatever you do, don't open the curtains." "Wakey, wakey." "Now, come on." "Eyes closed, hands together." "Let it be, at light of day..." "Jesus, to whom now I pray." "Blessed be the Virgin pure... whom I greet with faith too short." "Jesus, Mary, spotless rose... keep us till this day doth close." "They're still half asleep." "What sweet little children." "Well... what do you say?" "How do you do?" "How do you do?" "How do you do, children?" "My name is Mrs. Mills... but you can call me Bertha if you like." "What are your names?" " Anne." " Nicholas." "Anne and Nicholas." "What pretty names." "Are you going to be our new nanny?" "Mm-hmm." "Yes, my dears." "I'm your new nanny." "It's time for their breakfast." "Lydia, go to the kitchen and close every shutter." "The doctors were never able to find a cure." "For what?" "Their condition." "The children have a very serious allergy to light." "They are photosensitive and must never be exposed... to any light much stronger than this." "Otherwise, in a matter of minutes... they will break out in sores and blisters... and begin to suffocate." "It would eventually be fatal." "Good heavens." "I don't like this toast." "Oh?" "Why not?" "It tastes funny." "I liked it better before." "That's because before, somebody else made it." "When are they coming back?" "They're not coming back, child." "Just like Daddy." "Daddy is coming back, though." "Mrs. Mills, our father's fighting in a war in France." "It's the World War." "I know, but he's in France." "That's enough, chatterboxes." "Finish up your breakfasts." "Are you going to leave us, too?" "Of course not!" "Why should I leave you?" "The others said they wouldn't... but they did, and then it happened." "Be quiet!" "What do you mean, Anne?" "What happened?" "Mummy went... mad." " Nothing happened." " Yes, it did." " No, it didn't!" " Yes, it did!" "Be quiet." "What's going on?" "I want those plates empty... in less than a minute." "Is that clear?" "Mrs. Mills, would you come outside a moment?" "I'd like a word with you." "Yes, ma'am." "The postman usually comes every Wednesday." "But I just checked the letterbox... and this week he hasn't." "I'm afraid I don't follow, ma'am." "This letter should have been collected... and delivered to the newspaper five days ago." "It's an advertisement for servants." "Since it was never published... would you explain what you're doing here?" "Oh, I understand." "Ma'am, that's what I was going to say to you... when you opened the door to us." "The truth is that we just come by... on the off chance." "A big house like this... is always in need of someone who knows the ropes." "You've served in a house like this one before?" "This may come as a surprise to you, ma'am, but... we, in fact, used to work here." "Here?" "Oh, now, 'twas a few years ago." "If you don't mind my saying so, ma'am... they were the best years of my life." "That's why we come by, because this house... means a lot to us." "Perhaps I'd best show you our references, ma'am." "No, no, no." "Don't bother." "There's no need." "So you say you know the house well?" "Like the back of my hand." "That is assuming the walls haven't sprouted legs... and moved in the meantime." "The only thing that moves here is the light." "But it changes everything." "It's rather difficult, to say the least." "One might almost say... unbearable." "The only way of enduring it is by keeping a cool head." "Oh, yes, ma'am." "I don't like fantasies." "Strange ideas." "Do you know what I mean?" "I think so, ma'am." "My children sometimes have strange ideas." "But you mustn't pay any attention to them." "Children will be children." "Yes, of course, ma'am." "All right." "You can stay." "Thank you very much, ma'am." "It did happen." ""The Roman governor tried to make them..." ""change their minds afterwards..."" ""To make them change their minds." Full stop." " "Afterwards..."" " Mm-hmm." ""He ordered them to be beaten." ""But Justus and Pastor, far from being afraid..." ""rejoiced and showed themselves willing to die for Christ." ""When he saw this..." ""the Roman governor was filled with rage..." ""and ordered their heads to be cut off."" "What do you find so amusing?" "Well..." "Well, what?" "Those children were really stupid." "Why?" "Because they said they only believed in Jesus... and then they got killed for it." "And what would you have done, deny Christ?" "Well, yes." "Inside I would have believed in him... but I wouldn't have told the Romans that." "Is that what you think, too, Nicholas?" "I see." "So you would have lied to the point of denying Christ." "You'd have saved your heads from the Romans... that's true." "When?" "In the next life." "The one waiting for us after we die." "Where would you have gone?" "Ahh." "Where, Nicholas?" "To the children's limbo." "What is the children's limbo, Anne?" "One of the four Hells." "Which are?" "Me, me, me!" "Me!" "No." "Let him answer." "Which are?" "There's the Hell where the damned go... then there's Purgatory..." "Yes." "And the bosom of Abraham where the just go... and limbo where children go." "At the center of the earth." "Where it's very, very hot." "That's where children go who tell lies... but they don't just go there for a few days." "Oh, no." "No, they're damned." "Forever." "Think about it." "Try to imagine the end of eternity." "Close your eyes." "Close your eyes and try to imagine it." "Forever." "Pain... forever." "I'm getting dizzy." "Heh." "Now do you understand... why Justus and Pastor told the truth?" "All right." "Open your readers at lesson six." "Can't we play?" "You most certainly cannot." "First you're going to read the lesson... then you're going to learn it by heart." "All of it?" "Any more protests... and there'll be no playing at all today." "In fact, I think you can study in separate rooms." "No, no, no!" "Yes, yes, yes!" "But we get scared if we're separated!" "Scared?" "As if you weren't used to this house by now." "What if we see a ghost?" "I haven't told him anything!" "If you see a ghost you say "Hello"... and continue on studying." " Come to the music room." " Why me?" "Because I say so!" "Now come on." "Take your book." "Nicholas, I want to see that lesson learned... in less than an hour." " Mummy..." " What?" "Give me a kiss." ""Give me a kiss." "Give me a kiss."" "Anne, wait for me outside." "You know I can't." "Over there." "Mrs. Mills, close all the curtains." "My daughter is going to cross the living room." "Yes, ma'am." "All right, Anne." "Darling..." "Mummy can't be with you all the time, hmm?" "You must learn to be on your own." "Where's your rosary?" "Ahh!" "Whenever you feel afraid..." "I want you to squeeze it with all your might... say an Our Father, and your fear will go away." " It won't." " Yes, it will." "Honestly." "Don't you see that when you do that... the Lord is with you?" "There's no reason to be afraid." ""The house and the family." ""We all live in a house with our family." ""The family is usually made up of parents..." ""children, and their grandparents." ""We must be obedient..."" ""...and kind towards other members of our family..." ""and we must never argue or fight..." ""with our brothers and sisters."" "Do you have any children?" "No." "Mr. Tuttle and the girl Lydia are all I've got... and I'm all they've got." "Was she born like that?" "Beg your pardon, ma'am?" "The girl." "Was she born a mute?" "No." "I think I've finished here, ma'am." "If you'll excuse me, I think I'll go... and see if Mr. Tuttle needs a hand." "Nicholas!" "Nicholas, I'm coming!" "Oh!" " Nicholas?" " What's the matter?" "Why were you crying?" "I wasn't crying." "I was reading." "But I just heard you..." "Anne!" "Anne!" "Anne?" "I haven't learned it yet, Mummy." " Are you all right?" " Yes." " Why were you crying?" " I wasn't." "I just heard you a moment ago." "There's no need to feel ashamed, darling." "I don't." "If I'd been crying, I'd tell you." "Oh, really." "So I imagined it, did I?" "No." "It was that boy." "What boy?" "Victor." "Who's Victor?" "The boy that was here a moment ago." "I told him to let me study... but he wouldn't stop crying." "I think he's a spoiled brat." "He said we'd have to leave the house." "Oh, did he, now?" "And why was he crying?" "Because he doesn't like this house... but he has to live here." "His father's a pianist..." " His father's a pianist?" " Yes." "I already told him he's not allowed to touch the piano." "He isn't, is he, Mummy?" "So, you've spoken to his father as well?" "No, only with Victor." "His father's with the others in the hall." "I've just come from the hall." "There's no one there." "They must've gone upstairs." "They're viewing the house." "That'll do, Anne!" "That's enough!" "Now why were you crying?" "It was Victor!" " So where is he now?" " He went out through there!" "Would you mind telling me how a boy... can get in and out of this room if it's locked?" "I thought I made myself quite clear." "No door is to be opened... without the previous one being closed first." "Is that so hard to understand?" "This house is like a ship." "The light must be contained as if it were water... by opening and closing the doors." "My children's lives are at stake!" "But, ma'am..." "Do not argue with me!" "Be quiet!" "Which was the last of you to enter that room?" "Lydia?" "She hasn't got a key." "I already told you that." "That leaves you, then." "But I was in the hall the whole time." "And then I went out into the garden." "You saw me with your own eyes." "I hope you are not suggesting that it was me!" "Do you think that I would overlook such a thing... and endanger the life of my own daughter?" "You're not supposed to read at the table." "Oh, really?" "Who's going to tell Mummy?" "You?" "Or perhaps you?" "Did you really see a boy?" "Yes." "He's called Victor." "Is he a ghost?" "Don't be stupid." "Ghosts aren't like that." "What are they like?" "I've told you a thousand times." "They go about in white sheets and carry chains." " How do you know?" " Because I've seen them." "They come out at night." "Fibber." "Where?" " You're stupid." " Not half as much as you." "I don't believe you saw that boy." "Believe what you like." "You'll soon be begging us to play with you." "Nicholas!" "Huh?" "What?" "Look." "Why have you opened the curtains?" " It wasn't me." " Who was it, then?" "It was Victor." "He's been doing it all night." "You're lying." "I'm going to tell Mummy." " So I'm a liar, am I?" " Yes." "Victor, come out from behind that curtain... so my stupid brother can see you." "Leave me alone." "So you don't want to see him now, eh?" "You're a cowardy custard." "Cowardy cowardy custard." "I'll just have to do it myself, then." "That's enough, Victor." "Nicholas." "Nicholas." "Tell him to leave the curtains alone." "He won't listen to me." "Stop it." "Get off my bed, both of you." "This is our bed." "No, it's mine." "Anne, please stop putting on that voice." "You be quiet, cowardy custard." "Listen, if you don't stop, I'll call my mother... and she'll kick you out." "You don't know my mother." "And you don't know my parents." "Anne, I'm going to tell Mummy about you." "Don't be stupid." "Can't you see it's not me?" "Victor, touch his cheek so he knows you're real." "Aah!" "Mummy!" "Help!" "Help!" "Help, Mummy!" "What is it?" "What is it?" "What is it?" "She was fighting with me, and I told her to be quiet." "I'm fed up." "Do you hear me?" "I am fed up with you!" "I didn't do anything!" ""Therefore the Lord God sent him forth..." ""from the Garden of Eden..." ""to till the ground from whence he was taken." ""So he drove out the man..." ""cherubims and a flaming sword..." ""which turned every way to keep the way..." ""of the Tree of Life."" "There." "I finished." "Very good." "Now you can ask the Virgin for forgiveness." "What?" "That's not what we agreed!" "We didn't agree anything, young lady." "Today you're being punished, and you'll do as I say." "You can't make me ask the Virgin for forgiveness." "How dare you!" "Mummy, I won't ask forgiveness for something I didn't do!" "You told your brother someone else was in the room!" " There was!" " You're lying!" "I am not!" "Anne... do you remember the story about Justus and Pastor?" "Children who don't tell the truth end up in limbo." "That's what you say, but I read the other day... that limbo's only for children who haven't been baptized." "And I have!" ""And Abraham took the wood..." ""of the burnt offering and laid it upon Isaac his son." ""And he took the fire in his hand and a knife..." ""and they went, both of them together." ""And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father..." ""and said, 'My father... '" ""and he said, 'Here I am, my son. "'" "Did you look in on Nicholas?" "Yes, ma'am." "The little angel is fast asleep." "What about Anne?" "Is she still on the stairs?" "Oh, yes, ma'am." "I'd prefer to have her where I can see her... but I can't embroider in such poor light." "How long is this punishment going to go on?" "It's been three days now." "It's up to her." "She's got to learn to swallow her pride... and ask for forgiveness." "Anyway, it's time she started to read the Bible." "The priest will be very pleased to hear that, ma'am." "If he ever deigns to pay us another visit." "He knows perfectly well that the children can't go out." "He told me yesterday... he'd be by as soon as possible." "I'm beginning to feel totally cut off from the world." "This fog doesn't exactly help." "It's never lasted this long before." "Oh, that's true, ma'am." "Even the seagulls have gone quiet." "Anne!" "Anne, I can't hear you." "Ohh!" "Incidentally, Mrs. Mills..." "I've had to put up with the noise... of Lydia running around above my head." "She's been hurtling backwards and forwards... as if there were three of her." "Would you kindly tell her it's not necessary... to kick up quite such a rumpus... just to do a little cleaning?" "I couldn't bear to get another migraine attack." "I'll tell her, ma'am." "Thank you." "Now she's really gone too far." "Lydia!" "Lydia!" ""...in the mount of the Lord it shall be seen." ""And the angel of the Lord..."" "What's going on up there?" "Nothing, Mummy." "I'm just reading." " Did you hear it as well?" " Hear what?" ""And the angel of the Lord..." ""called unto Abraham out of Heaven..." ""the second time and said..." ""'By myself, I have sworn,' saith the Lord..."" "Shh!" "What was that?" "I don't know." "Anne, tell me who's making that noise." "I can't tell you, Mummy." "You tell me." "I told you there was someone in the room... and you punished me." "Now I don't know what to say." "Anne, I want the truth." "Tell me if there is someone upstairs." "There." "In that junk room." "Mummy, you're letting the light in." "Shh!" " She's a woman." " She's what?" "Where did they go?" "They just came past here." "Didn't you see them?" "Which way did they go?" "Over there, over there, and down there as well." "They're everywhere." "They say this house is theirs." "And they're going to take the curtains down." "Ma'am, stay calm, please." "I will not stay calm!" "For five whole years during the occupation..." "I managed to avoid a single Nazi stepping foot in this house... and now there is someone here, opening and closing the doors." "Ma'am, this is a very old house." "The floorboards squeak and the plumbing clanks..." "There were voices." "I'm telling you." "Mummy, look." "A boy and two women, talking together." "Mummy, look!" "I did it yesterday." "This is the father, this is the mother... this is Victor, and this is the old woman." "What do these numbers stand for?" "That's the number of times I've seen them." "I've seen the old woman the most." "Oh, God in Heaven." "Mrs. Mills, go and call Mr. Tuttle." "We have to search the whole house immediately... before it gets dark." " Yes, ma'am." "There, now." " Mummy!" "Yes, darling." "It's all right." "Nothing will happen to you while Mummy's here." "Look, Mummy." "She really scares me." "It's as if she's not looking at you... but she can see you." "And she's always around saying "Come with me"..." "No, Anne, don't lie to me." "Honestly, Mummy." "And she asks me things." "Victor told me she's a witch." "What does she ask you?" "Things." "Her breath smells." "We have to open all the curtains." "I don't want any dark corners where someone could hide." "Yes, ma'am." "You both search the right side... and I'll take the left." "Then we'll search upstairs." "Perhaps they're ghosts... who lived in this house before." "Don't be stupid." "I've already told you." "Ghosts go about in white sheets... and carry chains and go "Ooo."" "Now, Anne." "Why do you make up such stories?" "I don't." "I read them in books." "Well, you shouldn't believe everything... that you read in books." "That's what our mother says." "She says all this stuff about ghosts is rubbish... and then she expects us... to believe everything written in the Bible." "And don't you believe it?" "I believe some things." "But, for example, I don't believe... that God made the world in seven days." "And I don't believe that Noah... got all those animals into one boat... or the Holy Spirit is a dove." "No, I don't believe that, either." "Doves are anything but holy." "They poo on our windows." "Have you mentioned any of this to your mother?" "Oh." "Ma'am." "Yes?" "They've searched everywhere, ma'am." "There's no one." "I see." "Mrs. Mills." "Yes, ma'am?" "Do you have any idea what this might be?" "'Tis a photograph album, ma'am." "No, but look." "They're all asleep." "Look." "They're not asleep, ma'am." "They're dead." "'Tis a book of the dead." "In the last century, I believe... they used to take photographs of the dead... in the hopes that their souls... would go on living through the portraits." "There are even group portraits." "And children!" "Oh, it's macabre!" "How could these people be so superstitious?" "Grief over the death of a loved one... can lead people to do the strangest things." "Get rid of it." "I don't want it in the house." "Yes, ma'am." "Mrs. Mills, it's cold." "Why don't you come and sit by the fire?" "Thank you very much, ma'am." "So... tell me about when you worked here before." "Did you have to look after children then?" "No, I was in charge of organizing the housework." "Hmm." "Were there many servants?" "Oh, about fifteen." "Though in the end... there were just the three of us left." "Why?" "My employers moved to London." "They came here less and less... it being so out of the way like." "So gradually the house just became empty." "Everybody ends up leaving this damned island." "My family left in the summer of 1940... just before the invasion." "That was the last I've heard of them." "Ohh." "I don't blame them." "Actually, we left, too." "Although, you know... sometimes when you leave a place... it's like it's there with you all the time." "I always felt like I never left this house." "Why did you leave?" "Oh, 'twas on account of the tuberculosis." "The whole area was evacuated." "Ohh." "Was that when Lydia went dumb?" "Yes, I think so... though my memory's a bit rusty these days, ma'am." "What happened to her?" "It was suddenly one day." "She just... stopped talking." "There must've been a reason." "People don't just stop talking." "These things are always the result... of some sort of trauma." "Something must've happened to her." "Did your employers treat you well?" "Oh, they were always very kind to us." "They treated us just like family." "You know, ma'am, I think I will go to bed." "I'll never be able to get up in the morning." "Off you go." "I'm going to stay here a while longer." "Yes, ma'am." "I'm sorry I was so hard on you." "Can you forgive me?" "Anne." "Mummy." "What?" "When's Daddy coming home?" "When the war's over." "Why did he go to war?" "I mean, nobody's done anything bad to us." "Daddy went..." "Daddy went because he's very brave... and because he wasn't prepared... to let the Germans tell him what he had to do." "Why?" "Charles... where are you?" "Oh!" "Mrs. Mills!" "Mrs. Mills!" "What's the matter, ma'am?" "The key to the music room, give it to me!" "Quickly!" "What's happening, ma'am?" "Come on!" "Oh, my God." "Ohh!" "I checked that room myself." "It was empty." "Take these tablets, ma'am." "They'll do you good." "And yet I felt as if there was someone else there." "And it wasn't human." "There is something in this house." "Something diabolic." "Ma'am..." "Something which is not... not at rest." "I know you don't believe it." "You don't believe it, do you?" "I don't blame you." "I used to not believe these things." "I do believe it, ma'am." "I've always believed in those things." "They're not easy to explain... but they do happen." "We've all heard stories of... the beyond... now and then... and I think sometimes the world of the dead... gets mixed up with the world of the living." "But it's impossible." "The Lord would never allow such an aberration." "The living and the dead... will only meet at the end of eternity." "It says so in the Bible." "Ma'am... there isn't always an answer for everything." "Where are you off to, ma'am?" "I'm going to the village to pay Father McGraw a visit." "If he won't come here, then I shall go to him." "I shall bring him back." "Ma'am, you should wait till the weather improves." "I've waited long enough." "Ma'am, the priest told me that..." "I don't care what he told you!" "I want him to tell me personally!" "He must come today!" "But what are you going to tell him?" "That we have searched every room inch by inch... and now I need them to be blessed." "Ma'am, please, wait." "Still, it's very early." " Mr. Tuttle." " Morning, ma'am." "I need you to search the garden for gravestones." "Gravestones?" "Yes." "When my husband bought this house... we were told there was a little cemetery." "I think it was over there, amongst the trees." "I've not seen anything." "Check carefully." "It could be overgrown." "Yes, ma'am." "I need to know if there was a family buried here... and if they had a little boy..." "Victor." "Now she thinks the house is haunted." "Do you think it's safe to let her go?" "Oh, don't worry." "The fog won't let her get very far." "Oh, yes, the fog." "The fog, of course." "And when do you think... we should bring all this out into the open?" "All in good time, Mr. Tuttle." "All in good time." "Speaking of which." "Oh!" "Wha..." "Oh."