"OFFICE" "Just one box?" " It's for my office." "It's fragile." "Sissy." "You're gonna go deaf!" "An autograph?" "I just thought that..." " Are you kidding me?" "Ma'am?" "Sheriff?" " Is your husband around?" "Ashley?" "Ashley?" "Honey." "Sweetheart?" "What are you doing?" "Painting." " Yeah I know, I think your mom wants some help with the unpacking." "I know." " So why don't you come outside with me, you can finish your painting later." "Because I didn't want to move here." "I shouldn't have to carry boxes." "We had to move here and we all have to help carry boxes." "Uh-uh, you wanted to move here." "No, I had to move here." "The new story I'm writing is here." "Why couldn't you just keep writing in the old house?" "Because I was going to have to write college textbooks to pay for the old house and I can't do that." "Why not?" " Because I just can't." "But I miss my school." " Well you know what?" "The school here is supposed to be pretty good." "But I want my old one." "I know." "How about this, alright?" "I'll tell you what." "If we don't like it here once I sell my book ... we'll move back." "But only if we don't like it here." "Really?" " Really." "You promise?" "I promise." "But you have to promise to try to like it here." "I promise." " Ok, all right my little artist, what's the number one rule?" "Paint only goes in the bedroom." "And where doesn't it go?" " Anywhere else in the house." "Right." "Now come with me, we'll move some boxes." "The sheriff's here." " Already?" "Be nice this time." " I'm always nice." "I'm not kidding." "I'm tired of driving 5 miles under the speed limit only to get ticketed anyway." "Be nice." "Afternoon." "Is there a problem?" " No sir, just a friendly visit." "I appreciate that." "I'm Ellison Oswalt." " I know who you are." "So you're not a fan?" " No." "What can I do for you?" "Not much, I expect, unless I can convince you to load those boxes ... back in that truck and leave as soon as you're able." "No, I don't think so." "But you know what, I do have a couple of extra copies of 'Kentucky Blood' in my office if you want me to get one out and sign it for you, I'll do that." "No, thanks." "What, is it the writing?" " More a matter of content." "You don't seem to care much for our profession." " Not everyone in your profession gets it right." "I've read your books, neither do you." "Look..." "You got it right with "Kentucky Blood", I'll give you that." "It's a fine piece of writing." "But, 'Cold Denver Morning', you got it wrong." "It wasn't my fault." " Your bad theory helped a killer go free." "You ruin people's lives." "This town doesn't need that." "It needs to heal." "It needs to forget." "And we sure don't want that circus that you bring with you." "Well, there is a missing girl involved here." " She ain't missing, she's dead." "Come on, you don't know that." "If that girl is still alive, and it ain't no miracle, then we ain't ever gonna find her." "Well then I guess we should just let it go, huh?" "You don't think the town deserves an explanation?" "Something like this?" "You can never explain something like this." "And if you were able to, the odds are you wouldn't much care for the answer." "Now, we did our job." "You'll see that." "And this is just another waste of your time, like your last two books." "If writing true crime has taught me one thing ... it's that whenever an officer of the law says I'm wasting my time ... it just means, he thinks he's wasting his." "That's clever." "You ought to write that down." "Well, I'm going to go out on a limb and assume that your department is not my disposal?" "Well, what do you know." "You can still get things right on occasion." "Oh, and uh, I find this to be in extremely bad taste." "What was all that about?" " The usual." "He wanted an autograph, but he left his copy at home." "He'll be back later." "Was it that bad?" "Why was he pointing at the house?" "Ellison, we didn't move a few houses down from a crime scene, again, did we?" "Tracy.." "No, just don't say anything." "If we did then I don't want to know about it." "We didn't." " Promise?" "I promise." "Here, make yourself useful." "Kitchen." "It's going to be good here, all right?" "You'll see." "You gotta be kidding me." ""The Family Hanging Out 11 '?" "'Barbecue 79'?" "I also bought noodles and fortune cookies." "Enjoy it kids." "We're not likely to be eating out much this time." " Why not?" "You know why." " I don't." "We haven't sold the old house yet." "Once it's gone, we'll be able to afford a few extra things." "Well then sell it already, lower the price if you have to." "We've already lowered it as much as we can without losing money." "The market's terrible." "Once we're not paying two mortgages we'll be fine." "Once I sell my new book, we'll be on easy street." "Is the story a good story this time?" " Yeah it's good, of course it is." "Will you take me and show me where it happened?" " Trevor." "Come on, I'm old enough to know about that stuff." " No, you're not." "Even I'm not old enough to know about that stuff." "Your father writes about terrible terrible things, and I don't want you knowing anything about that." "You say that like I shouldn't be writing about that." "That's not what I meant." "That's the way you say it" "Well, I'm gonna hear about it in school, anyway." "Kids'll hate me again and tell me nonstop about what happened." "Hey, nobody hates you." " Well, I might as well hear it from you." "Are you listening to this?" " Yes I'm listening." "At least let's make sure that your office stays locked." "It's one thing to hear about it, another thing to see it." "I wouldn't want him walking in again." "He is 12 years old." "Mom, he knows how old I am." " Hey, stop it." "What's the first rule?" " Never go in Dad's office." "And what's your rule?" " Always lock Dad's office." "That's right." "And I don't want to hear another thing about why we're here from anybody." "Yeah." "You brush your teeth?" " No, not yet." "You're no coming to bed?" " No, I thought I'd set up my office first and get started." "How long is it gonna be?" " Oh, just an hour or two." "No, I mean, How long are we here for this time?" "Oh, God, I don't know." "It could be a long one." " I liked it better when you were writing fiction." "Nobody likes my fiction." " Maybe you should try again." "I can't do this without you by my side." " I'm sorry." "I'm on your side." "I just want to see you enjoying your work again." "When you're happy, we are all happy." "I just need another hit, that's all." "Just one more." "What?" "You know I'm behind you on this." " I know, but that's not what you were going to say, what were you going to say?" ""Kentucky Blood 'was ten years ago." " And?" "And, what if that was your 15 minutes?" " Ok, what if it was?" "If it was, then you can't spend the rest of your life chasing after it." "If you miss out on all the years with the kids, you can't get them back." "I just need one more chance,just one more." "I got a really good feeling about this, I really do." "I don't really think I can do this again." " You're not going to have to ." "I mean it." "If this goes sour, like the last time, I'll take Trevor and Ashley and go back home to my sister." "Is that fair?" " Yes." "But it's not gonna go sour." "Give me some love." "WHERE ARE YOU?" "BOX OF FILMS HOW DID IT GET THERE?" "What the hell, let's do this." "WHO MADE THE FILM?" "WHERE'S STEPHANIE?" "Why would you film it?" "Daddy, I can't find the bathroom." " Come on." "Thank you, Daddy." "Look at all these new paintings." "You are really getting good at it." "Thank you." "Maybe one day I'll paint something good and I'll be as famous as you." "I'm sure you will, princess." "All right, get some sleep." "And Daddy?" " Yes?" "Are you gonna write a really good book this time, so we can go home?" "I gonna write the best book that anyone's ever read." "Operator." " Yeah, The King County police, please." "Isthisan emergency?" " Uh, yes, yes it is." "KingCountyPoliceDepartment, how may I direct your call?" "KingCountyPoliceDepartment, how may I direct your call?" "You came back and left the box?" "Why?" "WORKING IN THE GARDEN '86, SLEEPYTIME '98 POOL PARTY '86" "Wake up, Trevor." "Wake up!" "Oh my God, is he okay?" " He's having one of his fits again." "Come outside." "Wake up now." "Wake up." "Look at the stars." "Why are we outside?" " you're good." "You were having a bad dream, just one of those night terrors." "Just go back to sleep." "I thought these were over." "It's just the stress of the move." "I found him in one of the moving boxes." "Poor baby." " It'll be all right in a few hours." "What is it?" "What's the matter?" "I want to tell you something." "I'm just really sorry." "It's not your fault." "Come on." "It's cold." "Let's go inside." "I was in a box?" "You were in a box." "I don't remember any of that." "Well, it's not the strangest place we ever found you." "Please don't talk about the dryer." "Are we talking about the time we saw Trevor trying to pee in the dryer?" "God, Mom, No!" " Sorry, I thought that's what you were talking about." "Did Trevor try to pee in the dryer again?" " Ashley, no, your brother just had a night terror." "Is that like a bad dream?" " Kind of." "Oh, I think I had one of those." " No, a night terror is a special kind of bad dream." "We would have remembered if you had one..." "Don't do that!" "So, Ashley, you excited about your first day at the new school?" "Mmm-hmm." "What about you?" " I guess." "It's nice to see you're so enthusiastic about our adventure." " You two, stop it, stop it." "Be the bigger person." "You gonna take them?" " Yes, I've got some errands to run." "I think I'm gonna get the lay of the land and let you get some work done." "Eat up kids, you're running late." " You heard your mother, grab some road breakfast and skedaddle." "I left you a fresh pot of coffee." " Thank you." "Have a nice morning with your murder book." "Trevor, where's your notebook?" " It's in my backpack." "HOW TO EDIT SUPER 8 FILM" ""Super 8 was founded in 1966 by Eastman Kodak. "" "BASIC EDITING TECHNIQUES" "Don't walk away from me while I'm talking to you." "Trevor, what were you thinking?" " You asked me that, and I'll tell you again, I wasn't thinking." "That's your problem, you don't think!" "You want to be treated like an adult, but you don't act like one." "You and dad need to do lots of thinking, if you would, we wouldn't be here!" "You don't know what you're talking about." " I know more than you." "Go to your room, Trevor!" "I don't want to see you again until dinner!" "Whoa!" "Hey, hey, hey!" "What happened?" " Mom's overreacting." "Your son is acting out again." " What did he do?" "So, you're already mad and taking her side?" " What did you do?" "I drew a picture." " He drew a picture with a permanent marker on the classroom whiteboard." "Tell him what you drew." " I drew a tree." "With four people who were hanging from it." "Go to your room, Trevor, I need to speak to your father." "His first day at school, Ellison, and he's already hearing all the grisly details of your mystery." "What did he hear?" " Exactly what he drew." "Your book is about a family, who was hung!" "Christ, Ellison!" "Is that all he has heard?" " Is that not enough?" "I'm sorry that he had to figure it out like this, but come on, it was bound to happen." " That's your response?" "You think that makes it ok?" "No, it doesn't make it ok!" "Nothing about what happened to those people is ok." "But bad things happen to good people, and they ... still need to have their story told." "They deserve that much." "You're a real man of the people." " Oh, come on." "I put the kids to bed." " Kiss them goodnight for me." "You getting good work done?" " Yeah." "Good." "Please keep the door closed." "SCIENCE FOR KIDS ST." "LOUIS" "SLEEPYTIME '98" "1998 St. Louis family murders." "St. Louis triple homicide - son still missing." "The Miller family murders - 1998." "Newdetailstodayinthegrislymurder ofalocalfamilyfoundearlierthis week." "Policehavereleasedthisphotoof Christopher Miller, themissing13 yearold son of William and Penny Miller." "TheMillersalongwiththeiryoungersonwerefound stabbed inside their home ... andthepolicenow are askingforanyinformation that could lead to Christopher's return, ortheapprehensionofanysuspectsinvolved inthisviciousmultiplemurder and child abduction." "No!" "The family hanging out." "Pool Party." "Barbecue." "Sleepytime." "Really, I'm fine." " I'd prefer to take you down to the hospital and have this checked out." "I think you should get stitches, can't force you, though." "I'm not gonna go." " Well, the bleeding stopped for now, but if the bleeding starts again or there's any more swelling, call a doctor immediately." "Thank you." "I appreciate it." "So, let's go see this hole." "So you say you heard a loud thump and footsteps in the attic, after the power went out?" "Yes." " But the ladder wasn't down?" "No, it wasn't." " It's not possible to close it from the inside of the attic?" "No." " So, how can an intruder get up there?" "I didn't say anyone was up there, I said it just sounded like there was an intruder." "I did see a small snake, though." " Snakes don't have feet." "No, I'm guessing that you got squirrels." "No way in or out up there,and with all the power gone off in the neighborhood" "I bet they got spooked from the sound of everything shutting down at once." "You know how they are." " Not really, I'm not really a squirrel guy." "I did kill a scorpion, when we first moved in here." "So, maybe I should get an exterminator." "Scorpions have feet, but you wouldn't hear them the way you would squirrels." "Thank you very much, uh.." "I will.." "Is there anything else I can do for you?" " Actually, there is." "I left my copy of 'Kentucky Blood' down at the station." "It would really mean a lot to me if you signed it." "Of course, I have a few extra copies in my office." " Thank you so much, that's so great!" "Oh, wow." "This is like one of those FBI profiler's offices." "I mean, you got a map with pictures connected with yarn and everything, this is crazy!" "Deputy, I need you to step outside.." "No, no, this is my private office." "I'm serious" "Wait outside." " Listen, there's, there's a ..." "You know there is a page in your book where you always say nice things ... about all the people that helped you out?" "The acknowledgments?" " Yeah." "And in each one there's always like a line that says, you know like..." ""I couldn't have done this without the tireless efforts of Deputy So-and-So from the local police department..." "Right." " Well, you know, I could be... like, your Deputy So-and-So, you know I mean, If you don't already have one." "Yeah, are a few things you could do for me, actually." "Really?" "Yeah, this could be perfect." "Do you have a notepad?" "Yes!" " Do you need a pen?" "Yes!" "I need the street address of a crime." "In 1998, St. Louis, a family was stabbed to death." "They had their throats cut." "It was a pretty ugly affair." "I also need any details you can get me on another murder." "In 1979, a family was burned alive, parked inside their own car in their own garage." "What city?" " I don't know, all I have is the year and the method of execution." "You think that the two cases are related?" "No, i'm just doing research." " Ok, I can definitely get this for you." "I gotta wait until the sheriff leaves the office, but I will get it." "Thank you very much, Deputy So-and-So." "I'm sorry" " For what?" "I was angry at Trevor today, and I took it out on you." "Don't be sorry." "I know the move's been hard on you." "I'm trying, El, I really am." " I know." "I just want you here with me, that's all." " I've always been with you." "And I'm with you now." "We'repleasedto haveEllisonOswaltonour programtonight ." "Hisnewbookiscalled," KentuckyBlood'." "It's so good to have you on." " Thanks for having me, it's a real pleasure." "Man, I got into this." "This is pretty graphic stuff." "Soletme startbyasking,whydo you spendsomuchtime  investigating such grisly content?" "Fameandmoney?" "No, I'm just kidding." "The honest answer is that, I'm really driven by a sense of injustice." "Youknow,whenIthinkabout theawfulthingsthathappentothesepeople ... andthatthoseresponsible were never even identified, let alone caught," "IknewwhenIstartedthisparticularcasethatI might stumble on a few things thatmaybesomeonemight have overlooked." "MIGHT stumble?" "No, you in fact DID uncover some additional information that the cops had overlooked." "Well,look,firstoff ,let mesaythattherearealot ofgoodpolice officersout there,andIdon'twant toinanywaydisparage whattheydo ,allright ?" "But the police work, getting something wrong, means ruining people's lives." "Andgoodcrimewritingcan set things right." "Soultimately,whatfeelsbetter?" "Seeing justice done ... orseeingyourbook"KentuckyBlood "number oneontheNewYorkTimesbestsellerlist?" "Thejustice." "Without question." "I'drathercutmyhandsoffthan write a book for fame or money." "Are you making Daddy his coffee?" " Yes." "Can I help?" "I want to bring it to him." " Sure, honey, but we have to make it just right." "He is very particular about his coffee." "I brought you your coffee, Daddy." " Thank you, sweetheart." "Hello, Mr Oswalt?" " Hey, Deputy So-and-So." " Hey listen, I'm sorry to get back to you so late today" "I couldn't make the calls from the office.You know, the sheriff." "Yeah, I understand." " But, I got what you asked about." "There was a Martinez family in Sacramento, California that died in their garage in 1979." "Their car was set on fire." "And one of their sons was 9 years old, they never found him." "Do you have the street address?" " Yes, 8224 Billington in Sacramento." "What about St. Louis?" "The address of the house where the Miller murders occurred is 2976 Piedmont Way St. Louis." "That is excellent!" "All right. 29 ..." "Wait, did you say 2-9-7-6?" "Like 29-76?" "Yeah, what?" "Does that mean something to you?" " Uh, no,no, it doesn't." "Thank you, thank you, Deputy." "Before the Stevensons moved here, they lived where the Miller family murders happened." "Holy shit!" "Oh God!" "Is he ok?" " I found him outside." "We have to put a lock on his door." "It's way worse than it was." "I'll call the doctor in the morning." "All right now, you stay with him." "I left something outside." "Good dog." "Good dog." "I don't wanna hurt you." "I just wanna get my bat." "So if you come at me I'm gonna bash your head in." "That's fine, you keep it." "You ok?" " Yeah, I'm fine." "Come on." "Trevor is too old to still be having these." "He's supposed to have outgrown them by now." "Oh, he's all right." " Just stop." "Stop what?" " Drop the book." "Look, we can pack up, get out of town, and never look back." " Why?" "Because he's having some night terrors?" "No, it's more than that." "He's never been this bad." "You've never been this bad." "You've been at this book less than a week and you're already a mess!" "You never crack into the whiskey this early." "So now you're saying I'm a drunk?" " No, I'm saying there's something you're not telling me." "Something that's eating you up, and whatever it is,it seems to be getting to Trevor as well." "Something's different." " Yeah something's different." "Do you wanna know what it is?" "How much do you wanna know?" " I want to know why you're different." "Something is different because I have never been onto something this big before." "Do you remember how it was when I was writing 'Kentucky'?" "Do you remember that?" "Well this is much bigger than that!" "Much!" "I'm talking about a potentially important work, here!" "I'm talking about a mega hit." "This could be my " In Cold Blood"!" "A movie deal, talk shows, right?" "A national book award." "And more money than.. we could live on it forever if we wanted to." " I don't care about any of that!" "Yes you do!" "Everybody does!" "This is my shot, Tracy!" "What?" " I'm just worried about you." "Well, don't be." "Nothing is wrong." "Then why did you come in white as a ghost?" "Because I saw a dog." "A dog?" " A very big dog." "Like Cujo, baby, I had never seen him before." "Is he gone?" " Yeah, he's gone." "I just need a little more time." "I promise it's worth it." "Every minute that we're here, we are a minute closer to the happy ending that we always dreamed of." "We're almost there." "Deputy." " Mr Oswalt, these came in this morning." "I had a few of the pertinent files pulled for you and had them faxed over." "Really?" "Thanks." " No problem." "You think I could come in for a second?" "Yeah, sure." " Thanks." "Look, I know what you must think of me, some small-town deputy... that's starstruck with the famous writer, but I'm not some local moron." "I didn't say that you were.. you know..." "I have a degree in criminology and I've taken my fair share of forensic science courses." "I also know a series of connected murder cases when I see one, Mr Oswalt." "Look, listen, 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 want to 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 that these are serial murders?" " Maybe." "More ritualized than necessarily serial." "They're really spread out." "Not just regionally but over time." "The first one I found dates back to the 60s." "The 1960s?" " Yeah." "Wait, that would put the guy, what, in his 70s?" " Or his 60s." "Yeah, I don't know." " Look at the methodology." "In the toxicology reports.. in some cases the killer drugged his victims." "Wait, with what?" " Well, they couldn't tell for sure." "But by drugging them, the killer removes his need to overpower them." "Here it is the tree branch that did 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 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 is a professor, over there, Professor Jonas." "He's an occult crime expert, and the state police bring him in on some of the weirder stuff." "I think this qualifies." "So where do you think that drowning happened?" " That's what I need you to find out." "Professor Jonas?" "Yes." "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 would even..." "Thanks." "When I saw the photos that you had sent to me, I knew exactly what cases that you were studying." "How would you know what cases I was looking at?" "The symbol that you sent me, isn't a pentagram." "It's not something that you would see teenagers or a Norwegian black metal band ... paint on the wall in goat's blood to be edgy, or to piss off the Christians." "No, this is a bit more obscure than that." "I know.. that one from the hallway." "That's from the late nineties in St. Louis." "The other one, 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 pagan 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, uh, of children." "Thank you, Jessica." "The crimes that you're dealing with, they all have the element of a missing child, correct?" " Yes, that's correct." "Well, Bughuul eats the children." "Now, the fragments of stories that have survived, they all revolve around him eating the souls of 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 netherworld." "where he consumes their souls over time." "Now, any worship of this deity would include blood sacrifice ... or the wholesale eating of the child." "So you're saying the person who made these symbols 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 the actual actions of any one man." "There's been another one, hasn't there?" "I think so, yes." " Tell me everything you can." "So, I appreciate you coming by." " Yeah, that's not a problem at all." "So, we're becoming friends, right?" " It suppose, yeah." "I mean, I can trust you, right?" " Absolutely." "So if I were to ask you something in earnest, you wouldn't read too much into it?" "Was there anything weird about the Stevensons?" "No complaints from them about anything... strange?" "No, not to my knowledge." " The investigators, they didn't notice anything odd or inexplicable about the house?" "Any weird stories?" " No." "Mr Oswalt, is there something you want to tell me?" "Ok, look, clearly something happened and you want talk to somebody about it, right?" "Ok, well does your wife know about it?" "Wait, did she know whose house this is... was?" "Oh man, that is a conversation I would not want to be around for!" " Me neither." "I'm sorry, so, what?" "You saw some thing weird, heard something spooky in the house?" "Yes, precisely." " What exactly?" "I don't believe in any.. you know, stuff." " By stuff, you mean ... supernatural, metaphysical, paranormal, that type of stuff?" "Right, of course you don't." "You would have never moved into a crime scene if you did, so.." "here we are, having this conversation." "But, there was none of that with the Stevensons, huh?" "No, in the short amount of time that the Stevensons lived here, they never called the police ... and never have the police called on them or reported anything bizarre that came up in the investigation." "Want to know what I think?" " Yes." "I think you have moved yourself into the house of murder victims ... and set about immediately trying to put yourself in their headspace." "I also think that you've begun discovering things on this case ... that go to darker places than you were prepared for." "I also think that every time I come to your house, there's a whiskey bottlein your office." "Mr. Oswalt, 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 to get attention." "I don't think that." "What I do think is that you are under so much stress ..." "You 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... otherwordly stuff?" "Are you kidding me?" "I believe in all that stuff." "I wouldn't sleep one night in this place, are you nuts?" "Four people were hung by their necks ... in a tree in your backyard." "And that little girl, God knows, where..." "God knows what.." "I'm sorry, you know what?" "You should try to get out more, Mr Oswalt." "Try to clear your head." "Total honesty?" "Last night I thought ... that something was in the house." "And then I woke up on the couch holding a baseball bat." "I guess if I thought something was in my home at night, I would be a little bit freaked out, too." "But, listen to me, Mr Oswalt." "If you sleep in this house ... it's just gonna do terrible things to your head." "What's going on?" " Your daughter apparently thought there wasn't enough room on her walls for her new painting." "Ashley!" "No, that's not it!" " We talked about it!" "I only gave you one rule ... it was a big deal for us to let you paint on your wall." "What was it?" "What's the rule, Ashley?" "Paint only goes in the bedroom." " What makes you think you could paint out here?" "I wanted to paint her picture, but she didn't want it in my room, because that used to be her brother's room" "What?" "Who are you talking about?" "Stephanie." " Who is Stephanie?" "She used to live here." "She's the one Daddy's writing his book about." "Ashley, go to your room and shut the door." "What the hell were you thinking?" "Did you think I wouldn't find out?" "Of course I knew you were gonna find out, eventually, ok?" "But don't blame me for not telling you, because remember, you never wanted to know." "Don't try and pin this on me!" "I asked you!" "I asked you if we were living in that house." "You asked me if we were living two houses down from a crime scene." "I said, no." "We never should have come here!" " Nobody died here." "It's not like we're sleeping where somebody was killed!" "It's not like they had to wipe the blood off the walls!" "So you're saying it didn't happen here?" " No." "It happened in the backyard." " Oh, that is so.. and you think that makes a difference?" "No Ellison, it doesn't.You have done some crazy shit in the past.." "but this really takes the cake." "What on earth possessed you to move here?" "We've never been this broke before." " That's no excuse." "This came on the market and was a steal ..." " Gee, I wonder why." "So, what Trevor drew last week, that happened here?" "The previous owners of this home were hung from a tree in our backyard?" "That is so sick, Ellison." "And you let our little girl play back there?" "Why shouldn't I?" " Our son is having night terrors ... and drawing pictures of this crime at school and our daughter just painted a little dead girl on our walls." "Technically, she's missing." " I don't want to hear about technicalities!" "Do you understand what you've done this time?" "The kind of jeopardy you put your children in?" "Your marriage?" " Yes, I understand." "I see." "Is there anything you won't do for your goddamn book!" "?" "Apparently not." "I guess this is all worth it to you." "What is it worth?" " Putting your family at risk." "Risk of what?" "Of more paintings?" " Don't!" "Your daughter..." "My daughter has a father who loves her, that is always around, who encourages her to be herself." "The worst thing that ever happened to her ... is one time, she moved into a house where a family was killed ... she found out about the murders, she felt sorry for that little girl ..." "So she painted a fucking picture!" "That's what she does, that's what she always has done." "What else do you want from me?" "How about a home where we feel safe?" "How about neighbors who don't hate us ... a town where I can buy groceries without getting strange looks?" "How about a life that doesn't involve our kids... drawing or painting the sick details of some horrific tragedy ... or working out their deep-seated anxieties by doing bizarre shit in the middle of the night." "How about that?" "Would that be ok?" " I can give all that to you as soon as the book is finished!" "This book isn't for us, it's for you." "Don't say that." "It's not true." " It IS true." "There are plenty of other ways you can provide for this family." "Doing what?" "!" "Teaching?" "Editing journalism textbooks?" "Don't you understand?" "That writing is what gives my life meaning." "These books are my legacy." "I have always supported you doing what you love" "But writing isn't the meaning of your life." "You and me, right here, this marriage, that's the meaning of your life." "And your legacy?" "That's Ashley and Trevor." "Your kids are your legacy." "Did I get Daddy in trouble?" " No, sweetie." "Your daddy got Daddy in trouble." " I'm sorry I painted on the wall." "I know." "Get a good night's sleep." "What is happening?" "One, two, three, four ... five, six, seven, eight ..." "Three, four, five, six ... seven, eight, nine, ten." " What the hell are you doing?" "We have to leave here." "What's the matter?" "What's happened?" " You were right." "I made a mistake." "We should have never come to this house." "We have to leave now." "You're freaking me out." " Get the kids and pack the car." "We have to leave." "Go!" "Honey, slow down." " I just want to get to the highway." "I want to put as much road between us and this town as we can." "Where are we going, Daddy?" " We're going home, honey." "Our home?" "Like you promised?" " Yeah, like I promised." "What about our stuff?" " We're going to call the movers in the morning, all right?" "It's ok." "Evening, Oswalts." " Sheriff." "License and registration." "Driving pretty fast for this time of night, don't you think?" "Anything I oughta know about?" "Just trying to take your advice, that's all." " Which advice would that be?" "Leave town and never look back." "You weren't bullied away, were you?" " I'm sorry?" "I don't wanna be reading in your book that angry townsfolks chased you out of here." "If you've been mistreated, I wanna know about it." " There isn't gonna be any book." "No book?" " No, sir." "Well then, I don't see any reason for me to have your autograph." "One more favor?" "Hold it under 60 until you cross the county line?" "Then you're somebody else's problem." "Yes, sir." " Did you mean that?" "About the Book?" "Yes." "Promise?" " I promise." "Let's go home." "That goes in the office." "over there on the right." "$10 says that Trevor sleeps through the night." "No, I'm not taking that bet." "THREE SCANNED IMAGES FOR YOU" "Mr Oswalt!" "I'm sorry that it took so long to get back to you." "There's been so little written about Bughuul ... that no one has actually bothered to scan this material before." "Well, what am I looking at?" "You're looking at an engraving, an old sketch from the Dark Ages, and fragments of a deteriorated fresco." "There just isn't a lot left." "Everything else has been destroyed." "Why?" " Superstition." "Early Christians believed that Bughuul actually lived in the images themselves... and that they were gateways into his realm." "Gateways?" " Yes, the ancient church believed that he would take possession of those who saw the images ... and cause them to do terrible things." "Or in some cases, he could even abduct the viewer into the images themselves" "Children exposed to the images were especially vulnerable to to Bughuul's possession and/or abduction." "What if you destroyed him?" " Sorry, I don't follow." "If you destroyed the images..with a fire, what would happen then?" "Do you mean literally, or in the stories?" "In the stories, if an image was destroyed, then the gateway would be closed ... and Bughuul would no longer have access to this world, right?" "Mr Oswalt, what kind of book are you writing, exactly?" "I don't know." "I'm not even sure I have a book anymore." "But, thank you for your time." " Anytime." "DEPUTY SO-AND-SO" "DEPUTY SO-AND-SO" "Do you know what time it is?" " Yeah, I know, I'm sorry, but I've been trying to call you all day." "What's the problem?" " Ok, the problem is that you moved." "How is that a problem?" " I was compiling all the data that you've had me collecting and once I started putting it together in a nice readable package, I saw the connection." "It was obvious." "What was it?" " The dates!" "The addresses!" "Each family that you had me look up had previously lived in the house where one of the earlier murders took place." "Each family?" "All five of them?" " Yes." "When you put them in chronological order ... you can actually draw a line from murder to murder to murder." "We knew that the Stevensons previously lived in the same St. Louis house where the Millers had their throats cut." "But, before the Miller family was killed, the Millers lived in the same house in Orange County ... where the De Luzio lawn massacre occurred." "Guess where the Luzio's lived before they moved to Orange County?" "In Sacramento, where the Martinez family was burned to death in their garage." "Exactly." "The pattern goes back to 1966 Oregon drownings." "Listen Mr Oswalt, you just moved out of the last house in line!" "If this guy is still out there, you not only just sped up his timeline, you put yourself in it!" "Thanks, Deputy." "Stephanie." "It's the missing kids." "Goodnight, DADDY" "I like that you made the movies longer." "They're better this way." "Don't worry, Daddy." "I'll make you famous again." " Thank you sweetheart, Oh.." "Yeah Hello, Hey, Mr Oswalt?" " Hey, Deputy So-and-So." " Hey listen, I'm sorry to get back to you so late in the day" "I couldn't make the calls from the office.You know, the sheriff." "Yeah, I understand." " But, I got what you asked about." "There was a Martinez family in Sacramento, California that died in their garage in 1979." "Their car was set on fire." "And one of their sons was 9 years old, they never found him." "Do you have the street address?" " Yes, 8224 Billington in Sacramento." "What about St. Louis?" "The address of the house where the Miller murders occurred is 2976 Piedmont Way St. Louis." "That is excellent!" "All right. 29 ..." "Wait, did you say 2-9-7-6?" "Like 29-76?" "Yeah, what?" "Does that mean something to you?" " Uh, no,no, it doesn't." "Thank you, thank you, Deputy." "Before the Stevensons moved here, they lived where the Miller family murders happened." "Holy shit!" "Oh God!" "Is he ok?" " I found him outside." "We have to put a lock on his door." "It's way worse than it was." "I'll call the doctor in the morning." "All right now, you stay with him." "I left something outside." "Good dog." "Good dog." "I don't wanna hurt you." "I just wanna get my bat." "So if you come at me I'm gonna bash your head in." "That's fine, you keep it." "You ok?" " Yeah, I'm fine." "Come on." "Trevor is too old to still be having these." "He's supposed to have outgrown them by now." "Oh, he's all right." " Just stop." "Stop what?" " Drop the book." "Look, we can pack up, get out of town, and never look back." " Why?" "Because he's having some night terrors?" "No, it's more than that." "He's never been this bad." "You've never been this bad." "You've been at this book less than a week and you're already a mess!" "You never crack into the whiskey this early." "So now you're saying I'm a drunk?" " No, I'm saying there's something you're not telling me." "Something that's eating you up, and whatever it is,it seems to be getting to Trevor as well." "Something's different." " Yeah something's different." "Do you wanna know what it is?" "How much do you wanna know?" " I want to know why you're different." "Something is different because I have never been onto something this big before." "Do you remember how it was when I was writing 'Kentucky'?" "Do you remember that?" "Well this is much bigger than that!" "Much!" "I'm talking about a potentially important work, here!" "I'm talking about a mega hit." "This could be my " In Cold Blood"!" "A movie deal, talk shows, right?" "A national book award." "And more money than.. we could live on it forever if we wanted to." " I don't care about any of that!" "Yes you do!" "Everybody does!" "This is my shot, Tracy!" "What?" " I'm just worried about you." "Well, don't be." "Nothing is wrong." "Then why did you come in white as a ghost?" "Because I saw a dog." "A dog?" " A very big dog." "Like Cujo, baby, I had never seen him before." "Is he gone?" " Yeah, he's gone." "I just need a little more time." "I promise it's worth it." "Every minute that we're here, we are a minute closer to the happy ending that we always dreamed of." "We're almost there." "Deputy." " Mr Oswalt, these came in this morning." "I had a few of the pertinent files pulled for you and had them faxed over." "Really?" "Thanks." " No problem." "You think I could come in for a second?" "Yeah, sure." " Thanks." "Look, I know what you must think of me, some small-town deputy... that's starstruck with the famous writer, but I'm not some local moron." "I didn't say that you were.. you know..." "I have a degree in criminology and I've taken my fair share of forensic science courses." "I also know a series of connected murder cases when I see one, Mr Oswalt." "Look, listen, 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 want to 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 that these are serial murders?" " Maybe." "More ritualized than necessarily serial." "They're really spread out." "Not just regionally but over time." "The first one I found dates back to the 60s." "The 1960s?" " Yeah." "Wait, that would put the guy, what, in his 70s?" " Or his 60s." "Yeah, I don't know." " Look at the methodology." "In the toxicology reports.. in some cases the killer drugged his victims." "Wait, with what?" " Well, they couldn't tell for sure." "But by drugging them, the killer removes his need to overpower them." "Here it is the tree branch that did 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 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 is a professor, over there, Professor Jonas." "He's an occult crime expert, and the state police bring him in on some of the weirder stuff." "I think this qualifies." "So where do you think that drowning happened?" " That's what I need you to find out." "Professor Jonas?" "Yes." "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 would even..." "Thanks." "When I saw the photos that you had sent to me, I knew exactly what cases that you were studying." "How would you know what cases I was looking at?" "The symbol that you sent me, isn't a pentagram." "It's not something that you would see teenagers or a Norwegian black metal band ... paint on the wall in goat's blood to be edgy, or to piss off the Christians." "No, this is a bit more obscure than that." "I know.. that one from the hallway." "That's from the late nineties in St. Louis." "The other one, 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 pagan 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, uh, of children." "Thank you, Jessica." "The crimes that you're dealing with, they all have the element of a missing child, correct?" " Yes, that's correct." "Well, Bughuul eats the children." "Now, the fragments of stories that have survived, they all revolve around him eating the souls of 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 netherworld." "where he consumes their souls over time." "Now, any worship of this deity would include blood sacrifice ... or the wholesale eating of the child." "So you're saying the person who made these symbols 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 the actual actions of any one man." "There's been another one, hasn't there?" "I think so, yes." " Tell me everything you can." "So, I appreciate you coming by." " Yeah, that's not a problem at all." "So, we're becoming friends, right?" " It suppose, yeah." "I mean, I can trust you, right?" " Absolutely." "So if I were to ask you something in earnest, you wouldn't read too much into it?" "Was there anything weird about the Stevensons?" "No complaints from them about anything... strange?" "No, not to my knowledge." " The investigators, they didn't notice anything odd or inexplicable about the house?" "Any weird stories?" " No." "Mr Oswalt, is there something you want to tell me?" "Ok, look, clearly something happened and you want talk to somebody about it, right?" "Ok, well does your wife know about it?" "Wait, did she know whose house this is... was?" "Oh man, that is a conversation I would not want to be around for!" " Me neither." "I'm sorry, so, what?" "You saw some thing weird, heard something spooky in the house?" "Yes, precisely." " What exactly?" "I don't believe in any.. you know, stuff." " By stuff, you mean ... supernatural, metaphysical, paranormal, that type of stuff?" "Right, of course you don't." "You would have never moved into a crime scene if you did, so.." "here we are, having this conversation." "But, there was none of that with the Stevensons, huh?" "No, in the short amount of time that the Stevensons lived here, they never called the police ... and never have the police called on them or reported anything bizarre that came up in the investigation." "Want to know what I think?" " Yes." "I think you have moved yourself into the house of murder victims ... and set about immediately trying to put yourself in their headspace." "I also think that you've begun discovering things on this case ... that go to darker places than you were prepared for." "I also think that every time I come to your house, there's a whiskey bottlein your office." "Mr. Oswalt, 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 to get attention." "I don't think that." "What I do think is that you are under so much stress ..." "You 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... otherwordly stuff?" "Are you kidding me?" "I believe in all that stuff." "I wouldn't sleep one night in this place, are you nuts?" "Four people were hung by their necks ... in a tree in your backyard." "And that little girl, God knows, where..." "God knows what.." "I'm sorry, you know what?" "You should try to get out more, Mr Oswalt." "Try to clear your head." "Total honesty?" "Last night I thought ... that something was in the house." "And then I woke up on the couch holding a baseball bat." "I guess if I thought something was in my home at night, I would be a little bit freaked out, too." "But, listen to me, Mr Oswalt." "If you sleep in this house ... it's just gonna do terrible things to your head." "What's going on?" " Your daughter apparently thought there wasn't enough room on her walls for her new painting." "Ashley!" "No, that's not it!" " We talked about it!" "I only gave you one rule ... it was a big deal for us to let you paint on your wall." "What was it?" "What's the rule, Ashley?" "Paint only goes in the bedroom." " What makes you think you could paint out here?" "I wanted to paint her picture, but she didn't want it in my room, because that used to be her brother's room" "What?" "Who are you talking about?" "Stephanie." " Who is Stephanie?" "She used to live here." "She's the one Daddy's writing his book about." "Ashley, go to your room and shut the door." "What the hell were you thinking?" "Did you think I wouldn't find out?" "Of course I knew you were gonna find out, eventually, ok?" "But don't blame me for not telling you, because remember, you never wanted to know." "Don't try and pin this on me!" "I asked you!" "I asked you if we were living in that house." "You asked me if we were living two houses down from a crime scene." "I said, no." "We never should have come here!" " Nobody died here." "It's not like we're sleeping where somebody was killed!" "It's not like they had to wipe the blood off the walls!" "So you're saying it didn't happen here?" " No." "It happened in the backyard." " Oh, that is so.. and you think that makes a difference?" "No Ellison, it doesn't.You have done some crazy shit in the past.." "but this really takes the cake." "My God, What on earth possessed you to move here?" "We've never been this broke before." " That's no excuse." "This came on the market and was a steal ..." " Gee, I wonder why." "So, what Trevor drew last week, that happened here?" "The previous owners of this home were hung from a tree in our backyard?" "That is so sick, Ellison." "And you let our little girl play back there?" "Why shouldn't I?" " Our son is having night terrors ... and drawing pictures of this crime at school and our daughter just painted a little dead girl on our walls." "Technically, she's missing." " I don't want to hear about technicalities!" "Do you understand what you've done this time?" "The kind of jeopardy you put your children in?" "Your marriage?" " Yes!" ", I do, I understand." "I see." "Is there anything you won't do for your goddamn book!" "?" "Apparently not." "I guess this is all worth it to you." "What is it worth?" " Putting your family at risk." "Risk of what?" "Of more paintings?" " Don't!" "Your daughter..." "My daughter has a father who loves her, that is always around, who encourages her to be herself." "The worst thing that ever happened to her ... is one time, she moved into a house where a family was killed ... she found out about the murders, she felt sorry for that little girl ..." "So she painted a fucking picture!" "That's what she does, that's what she always has done." "What else do you want from me?" "How about a home where we feel safe?" "How about neighbors who don't hate us ... a town where I can buy groceries without getting strange looks?" "How about a life that doesn't involve our kids... drawing or painting the sick details of some horrific tragedy ... or working out their deep-seated anxieties by doing bizarre shit in the middle of the night." "How about that?" "Would that be ok?" " I can give all that to you as soon as the book is finished!" "This book isn't for us, it's for you." "Don't say that." "It's not true." " It IS true." "There are plenty of other ways you can provide for this family." "Doing what?" "!" "Teaching?" "Editing journalism textbooks?" "Don't you understand?" "That writing is what gives my life meaning." "These books are my legacy." "I have always supported you doing what you love" "But writing isn't the meaning of your life." "You and me, right here, this marriage, that's the meaning of your life." "And your legacy?" "That's Ashley and Trevor." "Your kids are your legacy." "Did I get Daddy in trouble?" " No, sweetie." "Your daddy got Daddy in trouble." " I'm sorry I painted on the wall." "I know." "Get a good night's sleep." "What is happening?" "One, two, three, four ... five, six, seven, eight ..." "Three, four, five, six ... seven, eight, nine, ten." " What the hell are you doing?" "We have to leave here." "What's the matter?" "What's happened?" " You were right." "I made a mistake." "We should have never come to this house." "We have to leave now." "You're freaking me out." " Get the kids and pack the car." "We have to leave." "Go!" "Honey, slow down." " I just want to get to the highway." "I want to put as much road between us and this town as we can." "Where are we going, Daddy?" " We're going home, honey." "Our home?" "Like you promised?" " Yeah, like I promised." "What about our stuff?" " We're going to call the movers in the morning, all right?" "It's ok." "Evening, Oswalts." " Sheriff." "License and registration." "Driving pretty fast for this time of night, don't you think?" "Anything I oughta know about?" "Just trying to take your advice, that's all." " Which advice would that be?" "Leave town and never look back." "You weren't bullied away, were you?" " I'm sorry?" "I don't wanna be reading in your book that angry townsfolks chased you out of here." "If you've been mistreated, I wanna know about it." " There isn't gonna be any book." "No book?" " No, sir." "Well then, I don't see any reason for me to have your autograph." "One more favor?" "Hold it under 60 until you cross the county line?" "Then you're somebody else's problem." "Yes, sir." " Did you mean that?" "About the Book?" "Yes." "Promise?" " I promise." "Let's go home." "That goes in the office." "over there on the right." "$10 says that Trevor sleeps through the night." "No, I'm not taking that bet." "THREE SCANNED IMAGES FOR YOU" "Mr Oswalt!" "I'm sorry that it took so long to get back to you." "There's been so little written about Bughuul ... that no one has actually bothered to scan this material before." "Well, what am I looking at?" "You're looking at an engraving, an old sketch from the Dark Ages, and fragments of a deteriorated fresco." "There just isn't a lot left." "Everything else has been destroyed." "Why?" " Superstition." "Early Christians believed that Bughuul actually lived in the images themselves... and that they were gateways into his realm." "Gateways?" " Yes, the ancient church believed that he would take possession of those who saw the images ... and cause them to do terrible things." "Or in some cases, he could even abduct the viewer into the images themselves" "Children exposed to the images were especially vulnerable to to Bughuul's possession and/or abduction." "What if you destroyed him?" " Sorry, I don't follow." "If you destroyed the images..with a fire, what would happen then?" "Do you mean literally, or in the stories?" "In the stories, if an image was destroyed, then the gateway would be closed ... and Bughuul would no longer have access to this world, right?" "Mr Oswalt, what kind of book are you writing, exactly?" "I don't know." "I'm not even sure I have a book anymore." "But, thank you for your time." " Anytime." "DEPUTY SO-AND-SO" "DEPUTY SO-AND-SO" "Do you know what time it is?" " Yeah, I know, I'm sorry, but I've been trying to call you all day." "What's the problem?" " Ok, the problem is that you moved." "How is that a problem?" " I was compiling all the data that you've had me collecting and once I started putting it together in a nice readable package, I saw the connection." "It was obvious." "What was it?" " The dates!" "The addresses!" "Each family that you had me look up had previously lived in the house where one of the earlier murders took place." "Each family?" "All five of them?" " Yes." "When you put them in chronological order ... you can actually draw a line from murder to murder to murder." "We knew that the Stevensons previously lived in the same St. Louis house where the Millers had their throats cut." "But, before the Miller family was killed, the Millers lived in the same house in Orange County ... where the De Luzio lawn massacre occurred." "Guess where the Luzio's lived before they moved to Orange County?" "In Sacramento, where the Martinez family was burned to death in their garage." "Exactly." "The pattern goes back to 1966 Oregon drownings." "Listen Mr Oswalt, you just moved out of the last house in line!" "If this guy is still out there, you not only just sped up his timeline, you put yourself in it!" "Thanks, Deputy." "Stephanie." "It's the missing kids." "Goodnight, DADDY" "I like that you made the movies longer." "They're better this way." "Don't worry, Daddy." "I'll make you famous again."