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You hear the vibrations in the wire. There's a magnetic pulse in the wires, you feel it. I could test it. |
Test it. |
Yes, this is Doctor Marrow. |
How'd I know it was for you? |
Because it's my phone. Yes... Mrs. Dudley, just leave the boxes inside, thank you. See you soon. Thank you. |
Here's how they're organized. Groups of five, very different personalities: scored all over the Kiersey Temperament Sorter just like you asked for. And they all score high on the insomnia charts. |
Good. |
What's this? What's this... this picture? |
That? That's Hill House. |
This is where we're going? |
Yes. It's perfect, isn't it? |
What happened? |
There were no children. Rene died, and <u>then</u> Hugh Crain built all of this, and then he died. His heart was broken. |
Eleanor, how was the drive? |
You can call me Nell, Dr. Marrow. |
Nell. Good enough. And I'm Jim. |
I'm really... honored to be part of this study, Jim. |
Well... we're glad to have you. |
You wrote that you had trouble sleeping. |
Yes, because someone was always keeping me awake. Ever since I was little. That was my job. I took care of my mother and I had to be there for her all night long, and she woke up all the time. And after she died, well, it's been a few months, but I still, I still wake up, it's... a habit. I know we've only known each o... |
All the carvings. |
But there's a sad catch to the story. |
The cold sensation. Who felt it first? |
Theo I think. You've asked us that three times, Doctor Marrow. What's going on? |
How do you feel about Luke's suggestion that it was just the old plumbing? Water hammer, something like that? |
Sorry. |
For an American you do a good imitation of the British at their most apologetic. Pardon me. Excuse me, sorry, sorry... |
Nell! What's wrong? |
That smell... oh, God. |
What did it smell like? |
It was very specific. |
All right... |
In the bathroom in my mother's room, the toilet was next to an old wooden table. It smelled like that wood. |
So... smell... is... Smell is the sense that triggers the most powerful memories. And a memory can trigger a smell. |
I wasn't thinking about my mother's bathroom. |
What happened after you smelled it? |
I looked at Theo. She had a look on her face. |
Like she smelled it too? |
Yes. |
And then what happened? |
I got more scared. |
Hmm. |
I'm sorry. I'm messing up the study. |
No you're not. Something moved you. You saw something. |
Are you coming to confess? |
I wish I were. I wish I had done it, then I could confess and you'd be at peace. That great moral philosopher Frank Sinatra once said to someone he loved, I wish you had an enemy, so I could beat him up. |
Let's say it wasn't you. Who did it? |
I don't know. |
It was a stupid thing to do. |
It was. |
Welcome Home. |
You'll never see it again. Mr. Dudley's taking care of it. I'm sorry, Nell. Can I show you something you'd like to see? |
Sure. |
Someone is playing with you. |
Why? |
I don't know. |
It doesn't matter. Even if they're tormenting me, someone wants me. What I do with this is up to me. I can be a victim, or I can be a volunteer. And I want to be the volunteer. |
What is that tune? |
I don't know. A lullaby I guess. My mother used to hum it to me. And her mother before that, and so on. Hugh Crain, would you care to dance? |
Nell... please, Nell... take a deep breath... |
And they're all locked together in here... and he won't let go of them! |
I hadn't done a study of how group fear affects individual performance. Mass hysteria is like a story, Nell. A communal story. Someone starts it. Then we all add a little more to it. And then for some reason no one knows how we start believing it. This story shapes what we see and hear. We interpret everything throug... |
It's not real? Crain? He's not real? |
Why would we want to do that, Nell? |
Because that's where he burned them up, the child laborers from his mills! Because that's where their bones are! He killed <i>hundreds</i>. He took them here and he killed them. Their bones are in the fireplace! |
The children want me. They're calling me. They need me. |
Nell. You will come here now. |
But you told me to look in the paper! You told me I'd be perfect! |
Nell, the first time I ever spoke with you in person was the night we met here. |
Then who called me? |
No. |
My mother used to hum this to me. Like her mother hummed it to her. And my great grandmother Carolyn hummed it to her. |
Come on. |
No |
What'll happen to us, Nell? |
Nothing, if you leave right now. There's a war going on all around us. Don't get in the way, please. |
It's still an electric shock! |
Come on Malcolm, it's only seven ohms, it's nothing, it's like a joy buzzer! And it's not about the pain, it's about the interference with concentration... |
Malcolm, this is essential work I'm doing. Just think what my research can do for education. Elementary school classrooms near train tracks or airports, where loud noise is random; this helps to prove the need for sound insulation if the children are ever going to learn to read. |
And that will be a good place to end this study. |
No, Malcolm! Individual performance is only part of it. I know why baseball players choke for no reason, I know why violinists throw up with fear before every concert, and need to, to give a great performance, but what I want to know is, how fear works in a group... |
Not the way you've constructed your group, it's just not ethical! |
But if the group knows it's being studied as a group, you contaminate the results. The deception is minor. |
Are you working with her? |
Mary, I'll meet you outside. |
Why are you working with her? Mary Lambretta was thrown out of the department for trying to get a Ph.D. in psychic studies. |
And after she was thrown out, she needed a job. |
You don't believe in the paranormal. |
No, but she does, and that's all that matters. |
Does she know that's why you're using her? |
No. |
I, I just can't... |
She needed a job, Malcolm. And she's smart. And she helps me. |
I have a bad feeling about what you're doing. |
This is the last chapter. Please, please give me clearance. It's for science. |
The rest of you may hate your insomnia, but I find it the best time of the day for me. I'm alone. Nobody's talking to me but myself. My mind is racing with ideas, and I can think. |
Nah, you're going crazy with doubt, all of your mistakes are coming back up the pipes, and it's worse than a nightmare. |
He said that Hugh Crain... Hugh Crain was a monster. He said that he was a brutal, horrible man. He told me that Crain drove his workers to early deaths. Crain had children chained to the looms in his mill. And listen to this: his beautiful Rene killed herself. |
And why didn't Marrow tell <u>us</u>? Doesn't he trust women? That fuck. |
Hey! I heard screaming... |
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