Latest / Mystery Archives Episodes / The Untold Story Of A Haunting In Appalachia - The St Claire Family Story - Virginia

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The Untold Story Of A Haunting In Appalachia - The St Claire Family Story - Virginia · Mystery Archives Episodes

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After exploring a tunnel with a dark and terrifying history, a
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couple soon learns that their home has been invaded by an
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uninvited darkness. The Presence toys with them, and
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in due time it would reveal the true horror of its nature.
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Will they survive or will the Abyss take them?
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This is the true and terrifying story of Candace and John St.
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Clair's Haunting, which took place in Appalachia in 2010 and
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this one. As with most of the stories I've
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researched and covered on this channel, I wouldn't recommend
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watching this episode in the dark unless you like looking
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over your shoulder and jumping at every small noise that goes
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bump in the night. Nestled on the banks of the
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Lovisa River and surrounded by the mountains of Appalachia lies
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the small town of Grundy, Virginia, a place now known for
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community pride and also has a dark history.
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From slavery to mine, explosions and other accidents, these
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events weave a complicated web of despair.
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Despair that could have perhaps played a role in the story that
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I'm about to tell. Candace St.
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Clair shivered despite the warm Virginia air as she and her
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husband, John stood before the gaping mouth of an abandoned
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tunnel. A jagged arch of crumbling stone
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loomed over them, covered in streaks of Moss and graffiti.
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The surrounding forest was eerily quiet, as if even the
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animals avoided this place. Grippy as hell, huh?
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John smirked, his flashlight cutting through the darkness.
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The beam barely penetrated the tunnel's interior.
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It was swallowed almost immediately by thick blackness
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within. Yeah, let's just get this over
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with. Candace murmured, gripping his
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arm. Their friend Stacy had told them
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about the tunnel's legend, a story that intrigued the couple,
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the one that almost made them air on the side of caution.
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The story was that a wealthy man back in the 1800s had built this
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tunnel using slave labor. One night he had caught one of
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the slaves with his wife. Angered at this discovery, he
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punished the slave responsible, and as a result the other slaves
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had begun to rebel against him in an act of rage and malice.
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The slave master then took the majority of his slaves and had
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them sealed within the walls of the tunnels, alive, forever
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encasing the human souls within the tunnel itself.
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The whispered stories of phantom voices in the dark, feeling
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unseen, hands brushing against visitors, and worst of all, the
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belief that something unexplained lurked inside,
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watching and waiting for the unsuspecting.
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It was just a legend, they had told themselves.
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A story. But even standing at the
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entrance, Candace felt an inexplicable weight pressing on
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her chest. Candace adjusted the recorder in
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her hand. She'd always been sensitive to
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the paranormal, and while John treated their ghost hunting
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adventures as a joke, she felt drawn to this place, as if
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something was calling her. As they stepped inside.
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The temperature plummeted then, as John whispered a mocking Come
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out, come out wherever you are. Almost as soon as the words left
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his lips, A rush of chilly wind blasted past them, and the
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couple believed that they had heard a series of whispers, ones
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that were just beyond their ability to make out what they
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were saying. Candace's stomach twisted.
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They weren't alone. Frightened, she then asked John
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to leave. That night, when they returned
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home, things felt off. Their new house had felt warm
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and inviting, but that night, the air inside felt stagnant,
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damp and heavy, like the inside of a tomb.
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It felt smothering, as if an unseen weight pressed against
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their chests. The couple had recently
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purchased and moved into their home, which was located on the
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outskirts of town. Just close enough to town for
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errands and just far out enough for peace.
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And things hadn't at all felt this way before.
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Deciding that perhaps their nerves were getting the best of
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them, the couple, along with their daughter, decided to lay
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down for the night for some much needed rest.
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But as the moonlight cast its shadow upon the rocky exterior
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of the mountains surrounding them and nocturnal predators
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haunted their prey, perhaps a different hunter of swords now
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also stalked its prey within the walls of the Saint Clair home.
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Their five year old daughter, Jaycee tossed and turned in her
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sleep. She seemed to be calling out to
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someone or something. Her cries caught the attention
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of her mother, who quickly got out of bed herself and began to
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head toward her room. However, when Candace entered
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her room, expecting to see her daughter laying in her bed,
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perhaps having a nightmare, she instead found the little girl
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sitting straight up in bed. She was staring at the corner of
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her room by her closet. Sweetie.
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Candace whispered, stepping closer.
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Are you OK? Jaycee turned to look at her,
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blinking slowly as if waking from a dream.
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The man in the tunnel is here, Mommy.
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Candace's blood turned to ice. They had not taken Jaycee with
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them to the tunnel, nor had they mentioned it to her or around
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her. Following that night's events,
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Jaycee would have nightmares night after night.
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She would say that the man from the tunnel was there with her
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and it scared her. Accompanying these nightmares,
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the young girl also soon started sleepwalking, often times
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startling her parents awake in their own room by standing next
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to their bed with a glazed look in her eyes.
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But when she'd be asked by her parents what she was doing, she
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wouldn't be able to remember what had happened.
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Trying to playoff the mention of any man from the tunnel.
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They figured their poor daughter was just struggling to get used
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to a new environment. That perhaps the stress of the
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move alongside other changes had caused the sudden development.
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That she would get used to things in due time.
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Perhaps she would, or perhaps not, with her husband working on
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a project in the basement and her daughter at dance practice,
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Candace, who sewed pageant clothes for Jaycee and her spare
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time, was doing so. One evening, as she toiled away
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on her sewing machine, the calm, rhythmic hum was abruptly
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shattered by a deafening crashing noise that echoed all
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throughout the house. Unsure of just what on earth the
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sound was, with her heart hammering inside of her chest
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and her adrenaline surging, she made her way from the upstairs
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sewing room down the stairs, apprehensively checking all
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around with each step. As she descended.
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She then heard it again, the sound of glass breaking.
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It seemed to be originating from the kitchen, but just what or
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who was doing this? As she approached the kitchen,
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she would be shocked by what she would find before her very eyes.
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Every single cabinet door stood open their contents.
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Her dishes lay in shattered remains on the floor.
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Bowls, plates, and cups of every kind lay in pieces.
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Everywhere scattered as if someone or something had removed
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them from the cabinets and with great force threw them down with
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incredible impact. In her own words, every single
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cabinet door was open and every single dish I had was broken.
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I didn't have a plate or a glass left.
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Everything I had was completely smashed.
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That was except a small decorative plate that was on
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display there in her kitchen. However, before her very eyes,
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she watched as it began to move on its own, wobbling back and
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forth. It then flew across the room
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towards her and shattered on the wall next to her.
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With her daughter and husband nowhere near the general
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vicinity and in a state of shock, Candace screamed for her
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husband. Hearing the cries of his wife,
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John soon arrived by her side from elsewhere in the house.
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He too couldn't believe what he was witnessing, asking her just
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how this happened, with her telling him that she came
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downstairs. To this, his mind immediately
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thought that there could perhaps be an intruder within the home.
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Quickly going into protector mode, John began sweeping the
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house. Not only did he not find anyone,
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but all of the doors and windows were still locked.
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This just further added to the mystery.
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Jaycee, who has continued to struggle with nightmares and
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apparent sleep walking, has begun sleeping with her parents
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in an effort to quell everyone's fears.
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A few nights later, following the kitchen incident as the moon
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hung high over the Saint Clair residence, Candace wakes up out
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of a sound sleep. The air in the house felt heavy
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and damp yet again. She was sweating and there
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didn't seem to be any circulation in the air.
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Getting up to turn on the air conditioner, she walks down the
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stairs and towards the thermostat on the wall at the
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bottom. Wiping sweat from her brow, she
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then reaches out to turn it on and adjust the temperature of
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the house when all of a sudden she felt a hand grip her wrist
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and her own words yet again. I felt something grab my wrist
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and I knew my family was asleep upstairs.
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My heart skipped a beat. I turned around, there was
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nothing there. I was terrified.
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I looked down the hallway and I didn't see anything.
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There was nothing there. I thought, am I going crazy?
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Am I just really sleepy? I wasn't sure.
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So, not knowing what to make of the bizarre experience, she
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slowly starts walking back up the stairs.
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Still scared but certainly unsure.
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She decides that this time she'll keep the experience to
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herself. But whatever force that seemed
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to lurk in the shadows was far from finished.
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Over the next several weeks to come, Candace continues to
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experience strange manifestations within her home,
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things that begin to make her second guess herself and
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question her own sanity. One night, while John is at
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work, Candace puts Jaycee to bed, in her own room this time.
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Or so she thinks. As she folds laundry downstairs,
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she hears her daughter, still awake, heading back upstairs and
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approaching her room to tell her that it's time for bed.
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She instead comes face to face with nothing.
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The room is empty. Then from behind her she begins
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to hear multiple things that are very odd to say the least.
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She begins to hear the sound of her daughter giggling and
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laughing from the other room. Now she walks towards these
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sounds. She begins to hear something
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else, the sounds of labored, heavy breathing.
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Continuing to follow the sounds of her daughter's laughter, she
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finds herself approaching her own bedroom.
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Upon opening the door, thinking her daughter is playing some
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sort of trick on her, she instead finds her fast asleep in
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her and John's bed. Unsure yet again what to make of
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this very unnerving experience, she turns around and quietly
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shuts the door behind her. After doing so, she takes
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several steps down the hallway toward the direction of the
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stairs. The lights begin to flicker.
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Looking around, slightly disoriented at first, she finds
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her eyes landing on a figure at the end of the hallway.
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This figure is much too large to be a man.
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It stands at least 10 feet tall, and at first, given its distance
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from her, it appears dark as the night.
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However, as it begins slowly and menacingly walking towards her,
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she starts to make out horrid features and Candace's own
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words. This thing was huge, easily 10
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feet tall. It had horns and scales.
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I began to freeze. It's like everything froze.
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My thoughts and everything. There was just this one moment
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of absolute silence. Time stands still briefly, and
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then you're jerked back into reality and then you go into
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survival mode. As the creature gets closer to
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her, she makes out it's abhorrent and terrifying
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features. It then, staring at her with jet
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black eyes, protruding teeth and horns, reaches towards her with
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clawed hands. Almost as soon as it makes
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contact with her skin, a scream erupts from her lips.
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She is touched, but not by this creature.
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Instead, her screams are interrupted by her husband, who
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has found her screaming at the end of the hallway in front of
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their bedroom door. In John's words, I had worked
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late that evening and when I had got home I found her like that
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and she was incredibly upset. Asking his wife Candace what's
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wrong, she then tries to explain what she had seen and
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experienced, but words can only do so much with first their
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daughters night terrors and their dishes being broken and
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now this. She believes that there is
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something here in the house and that she may have just seen what
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it is. John however feels differently.
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He just thought his wife may have been having a bit of an
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emotional breakdown, not only from being overworked, but with
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him having to often times work long hours.
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He thought maybe she just needed a break to recuperate.
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But Candace knows what she saw. She tells him, You know what,
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you can take it or leave it. But I know what I saw, and I
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know that there's something in this house.
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There's something going on here that's deeper than either of us
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can imagine. And I don't feel safe here
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anymore. This event proves to be a
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diverging event for the couple following it.
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Candace finds it hard to confide in her husband, and the two grow
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distant. One afternoon, shortly after
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Candace had seen the creature, she was measuring her daughter
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for a new pageant dress in the family living room.
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John, who was off work that day, was watching TV.
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Occasionally the TV had done strange things such as cycle
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through the channels, emit a loud high pitched noise or turn
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itself on and off without any involvement of the remote or the
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physical pressing of buttons. It started doing this again as
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the three were in the room together.
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Believing it to be an electrical short within that part of the
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house, John dismisses the TV's strange behavior.
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He then goes and unplugs it as it's cycling through the
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channels and making the high pitched noise.
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The screen then goes black. As he gets back up to head to
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get some of his tools to take a look at the wiring in front of
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all three of them, the TV turns back on with Jaycee asking just
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what the television was doing as Candace and John stare and
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bewilderment at it, for it's on and acting erratic and with no
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power source at all at that, neither of them know what to
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tell her, or even what to say for that matter.
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Finally, after a few seconds that feel like hours, Candace
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breaks the silence. She says I don't feel safe here,
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we need to leave. She then tells Jaycee that the
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two of them are going to go to the park.
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In her own words, that was my breaking point with John.
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He was looking around and thinking, what do I check now
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because he had checked everything and the TV was on
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without being plugged in. Several weeks would pass by
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after this event and the once happy couple had further drifted
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apart. Their once thriving marriage and
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relationship were practically non existent.
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Communication had broken down and a blanket of sorrow now
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covered them all. One night, as John had some
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beers downstairs by himself while his wife and child slept
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upstairs, Candace is suddenly and brutally woken up by large
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clawed hands strangling her. She can't scream and she can't
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breathe. She's then thrown from her side
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of the bed to the other. As she rolls gasping for air,
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she looks up and sees what she describes as a gargoyle like
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creature, the same one she had seen in the hallway good while
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ago now. Its skin was like leather, its
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eyes were black is the abyss and its face was semi human in
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appearance. She would later say that while
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she was in that moment I felt as if this thing had taken
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everything else from me and now it was going to take my life.
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All I could think about was that I'm going to die, I'm not going
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to be here anymore, my family isn't going to have me anymore.
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And it was the most terrifying feeling imaginable.
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Now off the bed and her back against the bedroom wall, the
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creature once again comes after her.
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As John sits downstairs, he is soon called to action when he
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hears the shrill screams of his wife upstairs.
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Rushing to their bedroom as fast as he possibly can, he finds
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Candace crying out in pain and in a ball on the floor.
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After helping her back onto the bed, she tells him that this
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thing, this creature attacked her.
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She then, when singing pain, lifts up her shirt to reveal 3
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long and huge bleeding scratch marks across her stomach.
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John doesn't know what to make of the situation.
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Candace is now far past the point of trying to convince him
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that something is haunting their home.
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She instead puts her faith in her higher power.
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But after reaching out to dozens of churches and religious
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organizations and having no help or the offer of assistance from
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any of them, she knows that it's up to her to fight this battle
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for the sake of herself and her family without their assistance.
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After doing research on the Internet, she puts together a
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list of specific prayers and gets several bottles of anointed
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oil. She then, after a deep breath,
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begins the cleansing of her house.
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She goes room to room, putting the anointed oil on each doorway
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and calling out from her Bible for God to clear the home of any
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negative beings that could be there uninvited.
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From the back of the house to the front, she is cleansing and
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reclaiming her home. Following her efforts, she
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immediately notices that the environment as a whole feels so
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much lighter. The air seemed fresher and
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easier to breathe. In the coming weeks this would
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continue to be the case, but in the back of her mind she was
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frightened that whatever this entity was could potentially
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come back. Life for a time seemed to go
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back to normal for the Saint Claire's and although weary they
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all tried to resume their normal day-to-day activities.
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That was until 1 solemn night. John is in the bedroom changing
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his clothes after a work day, when he soon gets the sneaking
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suspicion that someone is watching him.
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Turning around and expecting to perhaps see his wife standing in
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the room, he is instead greeted by something very different.
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In his words, it looked like a person in the face, but it was
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distorted. It had these long horns and
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teeth and these scales. It just kept getting closer and
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closer to me, and the closer it got to me, the hotter I got.
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Now sweating profusely with the creature mere inches away from
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him, it then points its clawed finger towards his chest.
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And within seconds, it's holding his beating heart as he stands
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there, petrified with fear and struggling to breathe.
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This creature is just staring back at him with black eyes,
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holding his heart. John suddenly wakes up out of a
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dead sleep. Thankfully, it was just a dream.
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I'll be it. A horrible one at that.
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After calming himself down, which takes several minutes, he
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finally lays his head back down to try and rest again.
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But when his head hits the pillow, he then starts hearing
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footsteps from somewhere else in the house.
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With his adrenaline surging and already on the edge from his
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nightmare, he quickly gets up to investigate.
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Peering out into the hallway, he sees nothing.
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With Candace still asleep in their bed and now checking on
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their daughter, she too was asleep.
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Continuing to hear footsteps downstairs, he slowly makes his
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way down to the base level further fearing what he may
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find. Glancing around at first he sees
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nothing yet again, but turning back after looking behind
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himself, he is suddenly face to face with a massive figure.
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It's skin is rough and cracked, like aged leather stretched too
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tight over jagged bones. The eyes were pits of blackness,
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voids that seemed to drink the light around them.
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It didn't move, and it didn't blink.
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It only watched, but in an instant, with incredible speed,
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it surged toward him and grabbed him by his throat with its
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gnarled, clawed hand. In John's words, in the blink of
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an eye, it grabbed my neck and lifted me straight up and off
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the ground. It seemed like it was letting me
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know that it was there, that it was in control, and I wasn't.
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Then, almost as quickly as the attack had begun, it was over.
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John was thrown to the ground, discarded like garbage as he lay
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alternating between gasping and screaming.
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Candace soon rushes to his aid. The touch of her hand on his arm
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causes his adrenaline to spike and he shoots up to the sitting
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position. Then, realizing that it was his
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wife and not that thing, he begins to apologize profusely.
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After validating one another, with John now absolutely
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convinced that there is something malevolent and
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paranormal dwelling within the walls of their home, the Saint
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Claire's know that they must try and seek help immediately.
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Together, they begin researching and eventually come across the
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Southern Highlands Paranormal Investigation Group.
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Upon speaking with one of its members, a man named Stacy
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Kuchner, the group soon agrees to come and conduct a formal
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investigation of the property. Upon arrival, Stacy and one of
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his colleagues decide to conduct a series of questions to
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whatever force may be lurking there using the flashlight
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method in conjunction with an audio device in the hopes of
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capturing Evps or electronic voice phenomena.
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The flashlight method. That one places a flashlight
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upright on a table and asks the spirits to reply using yes or no
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responses through turning off and on the light.
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For a good while, the team is unsuccessful in making any sort
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of contact. However, upon asking if whatever
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stalked the family had followed them from another place, the
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flashlight suddenly turns itself on.
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A follow up question is then asked.
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Are you a malevolent force? The flashlight once again lights
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up these questions and the following frighten and confirm
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what Candace and John already knew.
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The final question is are you demonic or non human in nature?
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To which the flashlight, once again brighter than ever,
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illuminates the room. Stacy then tells the couple that
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it's important that they try and figure out why this entity
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followed them and from where, in order to try and rid themselves
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of the attachment. Candace tells him that ever
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since she was little, she seemed to be able to sense certain
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things, almost as if she's in tune with the other side.
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This is not information she has ever shared out loud before with
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anyone believing that Candace could perhaps be sensitive to
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the paranormal, and upon further inquiry, the couple remembers
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the tunnel all those months ago. With this information, Stacy
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thinks that it's possible that a demonic entity may have attached
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itself to Candace while they were there due to her abilities.
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In Stacy's words, due to all the evil that had taken place there,
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and also due to its secluded nature, it was really a prime
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breeding ground for something dark to manifest itself.
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Someone who is psychic may inadvertently be open in a
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spiritual sense and must be extra careful when traveling to
32:21
different locations because any negative forces may realize
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their presence and seek them out, leading to attachments.
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Believing the presence to be demonic, he tells the couple
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that they must cleanse the home immediately, that only good can
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conquer evil. In the coming days, he puts them
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in contact with the Catholic priest that he has worked with
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in the past to come and bless the home.
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Upon the priest's arrival, he debriefs the family.
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He tells them that they must be in solidarity with one another
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and with him. He hands them prayer cards to
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assist him with the cleansing itself.
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Then all together, they begin to pray.
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They call upon Saint Michael the Archangel and ask for his
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assistance in riding the home of demonic forces.
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At the end of the blessing, the house feels better to everyone,
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lighter, as if whatever dark force that had infested their
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lives had perhaps been vanquished.
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In the coming months, the family slowly begins to slip back into
33:42
a life of normalcy, one they had craved, but it almost all but
33:47
forgotten. Beauty, pageants, closeness, and
33:52
love had returned. One day as the Saint Claire's
33:57
get ready to go out to dinner, Candace tells JC to quickly
34:01
finish getting ready while standing outside her room.
34:05
JC is sitting on her bed with one of her toys facing away from
34:10
her mother. Almost as quickly as the phrase
34:14
exits Candace's mouth, she hears her daughter reply to her, but
34:18
not from the top of her bed in front of her eyes, but rather
34:24
from behind her at the bottom of the stairs with John.
34:29
Confused because she was hearing and seeing her daughter behind
34:33
her, but also seeing her daughter in front of her,
34:37
Candace tells Jaycee to stay with her father.
34:41
The Jaycee sitting before her then slowly begins to turn its
34:46
head towards Candace. In her words, this child's face
34:51
was almost hazy, like blurry, as if there was something missing.
34:58
As the being stares at Candace, its eyes begin to turn a
35:02
familiar black color, just like the very same light absorbing
35:08
abyssal spheres that have belonged to the demon that had
35:12
plagued them just months ago. It then vanishes, but as it
35:19
does, Candace hears the scream of her daughter at the bottom of
35:23
the stairs, rushing down to her. It quickly becomes apparent that
35:29
she has a long and now bleeding scratch across her face.
35:34
This was the last straw for the Saint Claire's.
35:37
It was horrible enough that the demon had attacked the two of
35:41
them, but to attack their child? They could no longer handle it.
35:47
Although the demon could potentially follow them, they
35:50
decide to take their chances. Seeing no other alternative, the
35:56
family abandons what was supposed to be their dream home,
36:00
leaving behind all of their belongings and fleeing with just
36:05
the clothes on their backs. In the months to come, the
36:10
family would find another place to live.
36:14
Fortunately, although they believed that the demon had
36:17
attached itself to Candace initially, they now believed
36:22
that it had attached itself to the home because no further
36:25
activity plagued them. No more horrendous
36:29
manifestations, day or nightmares or hellish attacks.
36:37
Although I did my best to try and find an update on the
36:39
family, I wasn't able to find out exactly how they're doing
36:44
now. But I hope, wherever they are,
36:47
that they are safe and truly no longer tormented by the demonic.
36:54
I'm not sure if they still own the original home in which the
36:56
case took place, but I do know that following their departure
37:02
as soon as 2016, the house has remained vacant.
37:07
In the aftermath, Candace and John turned their frightening
37:10
experience into a calling. They founded a group called
37:14
Spirit Seekers Paranormal Investigation Research Team in
37:19
2012, aiming to help other families deal with hauntings.
37:25
This is their team's website, spiritseekersteam.wixside.com.
37:32
By forming Spirit Seekers, the couple sought to do more than
37:36
document ghostly activity. They wanted to actively seek and
37:41
help remove evil entities and protect others from suffering
37:46
like they did during their own experiences with their haunting.
37:51
Candace discovered she had a spiritual gift, and as
37:55
previously explained, they believed that the demon targeted
37:59
her because she is sensitive to the spirit world.
38:03
She has since embraced her role as a psychic medium, becoming
38:07
the team's resident medium. Candace is described as a medium
38:12
psychic and a magnet for paranormal activity who can
38:16
communicate with spirits and help them move on.
38:21
This marks a dramatic personal change from haunted victim to
38:26
healer as she channels her gift to ensure others don't have to
38:31
flee their homes like she once did.
38:35
Before we go, I did want to share some of my thoughts on the
38:38
case as a whole, in no particular order.
38:43
I do think it's possible that the demon followed them from the
38:45
tunnel. The tunnel, along with many
38:49
others in that area, and really the area as a whole has a lot of
38:53
dark history associated with it. I think Stacey said it well when
38:58
he said it seemed to be a breeding ground or evil.
39:02
I think that traumatic events like the legend the Saint
39:05
Clair's were originally told by their friend that prompted their
39:09
interest in going in the 1st place could very well have
39:12
attracted a creature of hell in my opinion.
39:17
It always amazes me how often husbands don't believe their
39:20
wives or have to literally be mauled by an entity in order to
39:25
believe that what they've been told is actually taking place.
39:30
Referring to John and many others in cases I've covered.
39:33
It's not always the case, but it certainly occurs enough that
39:37
it's become a bit of a trope in these stories.
39:41
I also find it interesting how Candace was experiencing these
39:45
daymare type experiences with the demon.
39:48
The way she describes time essentially standing still as if
39:52
she's entered a different plane of reality or is frozen in her
39:56
own time while this entity is in proximity to her.
40:01
I've heard of this in other cases and figured it was worth
40:05
mentioning. Is it truly is interesting.
40:08
I've heard about this in other cases and figured it was worth
40:12
mentioning. It is also very interesting that
40:15
Candace's cleansing as well as the priests ultimately both
40:19
didn't work. Albeit they both seem to stave
40:23
off the demon for a short period of time, but they didn't banish
40:26
it altogether. I wonder personally if they
40:30
tried any other methods or belief systems, or if they would
40:34
be open to doing so if they still own the house.
40:38
Also, I'm curious if they dealt with a mimic considering it
40:42
masqueraded itself in various forms throughout their
40:46
experiences. The whole concept of mimics
40:49
terrifies me personally. There's just something about it
40:53
that's just creepy. There are many questions with
40:58
this case and I'd like to hear what your thoughts are down in
41:01
the comments below. Please also give this video a
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please give it a five star rating if you like it.
41:44
Other than that, guys, I apologize for the wait on this
41:46
one. I wanted to craft a story and
41:49
video that I'd be proud of. And over the course of this last
41:53
week, I have just had a lot of personal things going on and
41:57
things to do with my family. And I just was not in the right
42:00
space mentally to be able to do that.
42:03
But thankfully we overcome as we do and all around, I hope it was
42:09
worth the wait. I appreciate you guys.
42:12
This community as a whole is amazing.
42:15
This has been Cody here at Ministry Archives and I'll see
42:18
you soon. Another brand new video.
42:21
Make sure to stay safe out there and take care.