04x03 - The Spirit Photographer

[bunniefuu]

[theme music playing]

NARRATOR:
Man lives in the sunlit world

of what he believes
to be reality.

But... there is,

unseen by most, an underworld.

A place that is just as real

but not as brightly lit.

A dark side.

[footsteps]

MAN [in distance]:
Good God! How much further?

Algernon? Algernon?

Algie, where are...? Algie!

What are you doing all the way
up here on the third floor?

[chuckles]:
Harry.

l brought a new present
for your collection.

lt's a housewarming present.

[Algernon chuckles]

[Harry sighs exhaustedly]

Now, where is that drink
you promised me?

[Harry panting]

Ah.

So, this is it, huh?

This is the infamous
Jackson Townhouse.

This is it.

After all these years,
it's mine.

Algernon Colesbury,

photographer of spirits
and apparitions,

is now the proud owner

of New Haven's
most celebrated haunted house.

What'd it set you back?

What do you think?

Well, there can't have been
too many takers

for a house with the hellish
history this one's had, right?

[chuckles]:
Exactly.

But don't tell me you believe
any of those legends, Harry.

Not the ghost stories, no.

But the things that went on here

while old Henry Jackson
was still alive

were certainly peculiar.

Orgies...

t*rture...

suicide.

Maybe you shouldn't have
bought this place, Algie.

You can almost...
smell the evil.

lt's perfect for what
l have in mind.

Mm. Those are my best, l think.

The ones even you,
the supreme rationalist,

haven't managed
to completely debunk.

Algie, l've said it before
and l'll say it again--

whatever these images are
that you've collected

over the last 20 years,

they are not photographic
evidence of ghosts!

For the thousandth time, Harry,

''spirits'' or ''entities''

or ''manifestations
of ectoplasmic being,''

but not ''ghosts.''

l've spent my life
in pursuit of them.

Oh, l know what
you think, Harry.

You've told me
over and over again.

You've even said it
in newspaper articles.

You know l'd love to believe
that, after we die,

we continue on!

But why is it that whenever
any of you fellas

takes a picture of a ghost--
a spirit--

or a UFO or a sea serpent,
for that matter,

this is what we get?

Grainy shadow images,

indistinct outlines,
blobs of light.

They could be anything,
for heaven's sake.

Never a clear, definitive,
irrefutable image.

Never any proof.

You've got a point, Harry.

l've never denied it.

You know l've struggled with
that problem my whole life,

but now, old friend...

l think l've finally
found the answer.

ln the history of photography,

there's never been
anything like it.

You see, Harry, the energy level
of the average spirit

is extremely low,
so low that most

aren't even visible
to the naked eye,

let alone the camera.

l have also discovered

that the camera,
for some reason,

places an additional drain
on the spirit's energies.

Uh, being photographed
is unpleasant for them,

even painful.

l quite share the feeling.

l invariably find it humiliating
to be photographed.

lt may even be lethal.

That's why any photography

in a place where spirit activity
has been recorded

often causes a halt
in the phenomenon altogether.

The spirit, or spirits, flee,

their energies drained...
and dispersed.

Get to the point!

This...

is the point, Harry.

Very impressive.

What is it?

ALGERNON:
l call it... a spirit attractor.

lt's going to help me
to take the world's first

technically perfect photograph
of a spirit entity,

and capture the clear,
definitive,

irrefutable image you speak of.

Aren't you gonna ask me
how it works?

l don't have to ask,

because you're going
to tell me anyway.

lt's simple, Harry.

Beautifully simple.

This machine generates
an energy field

conducive to spirits.

lt actually nourishes them.

Then with the attractor
counteracting

the camera's drain

on the spirit,
the spirit can be photographed.

This really is too much, Algie.

Even for you.

l thought you'd congratulate me.

Congratulate you?!

l think l'm only
seeing you clearly

for the first time
in all the years l've known you.

This obsession has
dangerously eroded

your sense of reality.

That's what the skeptics
said about Galileo.

l should have encouraged you
to get married, Algie.

A good woman would've kept you
more in touch with reality.

This is my reality, damn it.
lt's my life!

All right, all right.

Listen, Theresa and l are
going out for dinner.

Why don't you join us?

You don't believe me.

How about it?

Over a leisurely dinner,
we could catch up.

Theresa's missed you.

You don't believe me.

No, l do. l do, really.

Put this stuff aside,
just for tonight.

Come and have dinner
with us, Algie, come on.

Not tonight, Harry, thanks.

l've got to get started.

Yes, l suppose you do.

Thanks for dropping by
to see me, Harry.

Good-bye, Algie.

[whirring, clicking]

Time: 4:00 a.m.

lt is now 12 hours since
l switched on the attractor.

So far, l've observed
no unusual phenomena,

but l believe l can expect
some activity at any time.

The original owner
of Jackson Townhouse,

Emmerich Jackson,
took his own life here in 1933.

Since that time,
there have been numerous reports

of an apparition in the house.

This apparition is...

invariably described
as a veiled woman in white.

This is the spirit
l hope to photograph,

and, if possible, to identify.

l believe her
to be the same spirit

Emmerich Jackson mentions
in his last will and testament.

''Furthermore, l swear
on my immortal soul,

''damned though it is,
that l was compelled

''to the obscene and sinful acts
committed in this house

''by the devious and malevolent
spirit of a woman

''who possessed me,
coerced me and seduced me

''into all that l have done.

''With death

''as my only means
of escape from her evil,

''l hereby take my own life.

l pray that God, and man,
will forgive me.''

[spirit attractor
continues whirring quietly]

l'm now going
to attempt to contact

the soul of Emmerich Jackson,

using my own slight gifts
as a medium

with the aid of a Ouija board.

l call upon the soul

of Emmerich Jackson
in the name of scientific truth.

[attractor continues whirring]

Are you there...

Emmerich Jackson?

Yes.

Time: 4:06.

Contact with the soul
of Emmerich Jackson established.

Will you materialize?

No?

Emmerich Jackson...

can you tell me anything about
the malevolent female spirit

said to walk the halls
of this house to this very day,

the one you say possessed you?

[whispers]:
Yes.

l knew it.

Can you tell me... her name?

L...

E...

N...

O...

R...

E.

Lenore.

Her name's Lenore.

B...

E...

W...

A...

R...

E.

[laughs]:
Beware.

Oh, l am in no danger,
Mr. Jackson.

l merely wish to photograph
this spirit.

[chalk scraping]

Oh, unbelievable.

[attractor continues whirring]

Are you still there?

Emmerich Jackson,
are you still there?

Don't go, please--
l have so many more questions.

Mr. Jack...

[panting softly]

Contact with the soul
of Emmerich Jackson

terminated at... 4:08.

[sighs]

[sighs]

[phone ringing]

Just a little over 26 hours

since l first switched on
the attractor.

Still no sign

of the spirit Lenore.

l've noticed an unfortunate
and unexpected side effect

from the attractor.

lt seems an exposure
to its emanations

drains the life energy
from living things.

My own condition
and that of a plant

which was healthy only yesterday
seems to bear that out.

[whirring intensifies]

Wait a minute here.

There it is again.

Electronic sensing devices
activated.

[electronic tones
oscillating]

[woman moaning in distance]

Lenore?

ls that you?

You may come in, Lenore.

The door is open to you.

[wind whistling, gusting]

The room door has just opened,

then closed by itself.

l believe the spirit
Emmerich Jackson called Lenore

is now present in the room
with me.

lncredible. One of my crystals
has just began to glow--

an eerie, luminous glow.

[intercom buzzer sounding]

Damn!

Who in blazes is it?!

lt's me-- Harry.

[lock buzzing open]

Algie...

What's going on here?

Algie... you look terrible.

What's wrong?

Nothing's wrong.
l couldn't be better.

The experiment is going
beautifully.

She's here... right now

in this room with us.

Who is?

The spirit Emmerich Jackson
told me about.

The one who haunts this house.

He calls her... Lenore.

l called you half a dozen times,
but you didn't answer.

l was so worried about you.

l haven't been taking any calls.
Too busy.

This Lenore--

you say Emmerich Jackson
told you about her?

That's right.

Emmerich Jackson is dead, Algie.

l have it all here
on tape, Harry.

l know it sounds fantastic,
but it's true-- listen.

[footsteps]

[woman moaning]

You hear that?

-[intercom buzzer sounds]
-ALGERNON: Damn!

l believe she was on the verge
of materializing when you rang.

That sounds to me like

you're just getting clumsy
in your old age.

lt is not a rampaging ghost!

Spirit, damn it, not ghost!

She-She's still here, though.

l can feel her.

Listen, Algie,
you are not yourself.

l mean it. You look ill.

Now, turn that thing off
and get into bed.

l'll call a doctor.

Put down that phone!

Algie,
listen to what you're saying!

l know exactly what l'm saying
and what l'm doing.

Good-bye, Harry!

All right, do what you want.

k*ll yourself with this idiotic
experiment of yours.

Spirit attractor, my eye.

Where's your spirit, Algie?
Where?

You've finally gone crazy.

All right, all right, just go.

l am going.

Say my good-byes
to Lenore for me.

l would myself,

only l might say good night
to your armchair by mistake.

[door slams]

[clicking and whirring]

[wailing]

[wailing]

[wailing continues]

Lenore... it's you.

You have come.

[wailing continues]

Time-- 11 :33 p.m.

ln the wake of a visit
from that idiot Bainbridge,

the spirit Lenore has made
an auspicious entrance.

[Lenore wailing]

Lenore...

l want to help you.

To send you on.

To release your troubled spirit
from this place.

But to do that,
l need your help.

l ask you now,

does Emmerich Jackson

say the truth about you?

[groaning]

[wailing]

lt's-lt's all right, Lenore.

-lt's all right.
-[wailing continues]

Now, will you please
come over here

so that
l may take your photograph?

lt would help me,

and help me to help you.

Look this way.

[camera shutter clicks]

[wailing]

lnconsolable girl.

[wailing continues]

There, there.

You don't have to cry anymore.

[wailing continues]

You can move on now.

[guttural hiss]

Lenore?

[eerie laughter]

What's wrong with you?
What are you doing?

Come to me!

Like Emmerich Jackson!

Stop!

And all the others before.

[cackling]

What have l done?!

[laughs]

[gasps]

[wailing]

[sighs]

[attractor whirring]

[bell tolling, birds singing,
children chattering]

[sighs]

Hm! l feel fantastic!

Ah.

[busy signal]

Huh. Hello, Operator. Op...

[busy signal continues]

Hmm. Have to have
that thing looked at.

Haven't been the same
since Ma Bell's breakup.

[camera shutter clicks]

What in the name of heaven?

Who are you?

What do you want?

Harry.

You did it, Algie.

You really did it!

Your spirit attractor worked!

lt worked?

lt worked!

Where's the photograph, Harry?

Show it to me.

Ah.

Ah, look at it.

lt's magnificent!

Harry?

lrrefutable.

Absolutely irrefutable.

l'm sorry l said
you were crazy, Algie.

l was crazy not
to believe in you.

No. Think nothing of it.

This makes all the difference
in the world.

HARRY:
So you can move on, Algie.

You've done it.

Move on.
What do you mean, move on?

There's been a whole team
of parapsychologists

in here for the last few days
looking for you, Algie.

They finally gave up,
but l didn't. l came back.

Oh, the suit's
just to protect me

from the side effects
of your machine, that's all.

Bainbridge,
what are you talking about?

Algie...

don't you understand?

Understand what?

Please, Harry, be direct.

Nothing ever stopped you before.

The newspaper, Algie.

On the table.

''Algernon Colesbury,
famed spirit photographer,

''died three days ago
of a stroke,

''just after taking the first

''technically perfect photograph
of a spirit

''in the living room
of his New Haven home,

''reputed to be the city's
most infamous...

haunted... house.''

What do you know?

l'm dead.

Buck up, Harry.

Don't look so sad.

l'm dead.

Think of all the adventures

waiting for me
on the other side.

You have enough pictures
of me, Harry?

Enough.

Mind if... l do the honors?

[switch clicks, whirring stops]

Good-bye, Harry...

old friend.

We'll meet again one day.

Don't worry about that.

NARRATOR:
The dark side is always there.

Waiting for us to enter.

Waiting to enter us.

Until next time, try
to enjoy the daylight.