Case 13-2: Marie's House Part 2

We emerged from Marie’s room about fifteen minutes later, ready to confront the spirit from Leesville once and for all. By now, it was seven in the evening, and as we walked down the stairs, we found that not only had the picture frame and the vase been broken, but so had two plates and a glass Marie had pulled out earlier. “I’ll clean this up,” Marie said as she opened up a cabinet and pulled out a dustpan and a broom. “You guys can go grab the equipment and get ready.”

Armed with three cameras, three digital voice recorders, two photo cameras, and an EMF meter, we were ready to document every little thing in the house now. Me, Yukiko, and Jared all recorded on the video cameras, while Marie and Ashley held the photo cameras. We began our hunt in the basement, which we had not fully explored up until then, and we would then work our way up until Eustace was stopped.

With Ashley taking photos of the musty and undecorated cellar, Marie began an EVP session to confront the spirit from Leesville. “Okay, if you want to keep tormenting us, you’ve got another thing coming. You’re going to reveal yourself to us and stop bothering me, my family, and my friends. Who are you? Give us a name.” Pause. “Why are you attached to me?” Pause. “Did you even live in the house in Leesville?”

We all then heard the sound of a door being slammed shut down in the cellar, but we stood our ground. I told the group, “Don’t be afraid. We’re in this together!” I then challenged the spirit from Leesville myself. “You can’t scare us anymore, buddy! You can try all your little tricks, but it’s not gonna work!”

Yukiko turned to the other end of the cellar and saw a door to a storage room that slowly opened by itself. “Woah, look! The door’s opening!”

“Huh?” I turned to the now-open door and aimed my camera down it. As I did, I noticed what seemed to be two glowing lights. “Wait, what is that?”

“It looks like eyes,” Jared then realized. “Those are definitely eyes.”

We got confirmation that they were eyes when we heard what sounded like a growl come from the room, prompting Marie to look over and admit, “That’s him. That’s the spirit from Leesville.”

The eyes then seemed to fade away, leaving us all puzzled as to where the spirit might have gone. My heart was racing with fear and anticipation as we all looked around in silence, standing still but moving our heads to see if we could find anything. After standing still for about a minute, Ashley said to the group, “I think he’s go-“

A disembodied roar of rage then filled the basement, coming from the same storage room. Marie yelled out, “Shit, that’s him!”

“Come on out,” I challenged the spirit. “Tell us who you are! Don’t run from us!”

“Hang on,” Marie then said as she stopped the recording on her digital voice recorder. “Maybe he gave us an answer on here.” Sure enough, when she played the recording back, we got an answer to perhaps the most important question we had been asking the spirit, that being its identity. When pressed to give a name, it gave us the name of ‘Eustace.’

“Eustace, huh,” I remarked. “Eustace…” I turned back to the storage room and asked, “Is your name Eustace? Why are you obsessed with Marie?”

Getting no response, Ashley suggested, “Let’s head to the first floor. Maybe he moved up there.”

“Or he’ll follow us up,” Marie pointed out. “Either way, we probably shouldn’t stay down here.”

When we made our way to the first floor, we were immediately hit with a blast of cold air. Additionally, just as Jared made his way up, his camera was drained of energy. “Ah shit, my camera just went dead.”

“I ran out of spare batteries,” Yukiko replied to him. “We’ll just have to rely on two from now on.”

“Have mine,” I told Jared as we swapped cameras, with me putting the dead camera on the table.

Ashley then turned on her digital voice recorder to begin a second EVP session. “Did you follow us upstairs? Do you want to say anything to us now?” Pause. “Why did you break things upstairs? We saw you smash that vase and that picture frame.” Pause. “Can you give us a sign you’re upstairs with us?”

As soon as she finished saying her last question, we all heard a man’s indiscernible voice from the living room, the same voice heard downstairs in the basement. “He followed us,” Marie realized. We then heard footsteps from the living room walking towards the stairs to the second floor of the house. “And now he’s going upstairs.” She aimed her photo camera into the living room and took several photos, eager to catch Eustace visually.

“Eustace,” I called out. “Don’t try to run away from us now. If you go upstairs, we’re just gonna follow you up there.”

It was at this moment that Ashley decided to review some of the photos she had taken in the basement, and when she did, she saw something in one that she immediately showed Marie. “Look at this. Is that what Eustace looks like?”

The picture showed a man standing in the doorway to the same storage room where Eustace had been heard, with the man seeming to be wearing overalls of some kind and leaning on a wall. It was the clearest picture we had ever taken of a ghost, and when Marie looked at it, I could tell her blood ran cold. “That’s him… That’s the spirit from Leesville. That’s exactly what he looks like.”

We then heard what sounded like something being toppled over upstairs. Worried about what Eustace was potentially doing, we all raced up the stairs to find that a mirror in the hallway had fallen off the wall and shattered. “A broken mirror,” I commented. “You couldn’t get creepier if you tried.”

“Eustace,” Marie then said, finally calling the spirit by his apparent name. “You need to come out! You need to leave! You’re gonna get exorcised soon anyway! If you don’t want that to happen, leave on your own terms right now!”

Almost on cue, the door to her bedroom flung open, and out from the bedroom came a large shadow figure. In contrast to what Ashley had photographed, this figure had no discernible features. As it entered the hallway, we heard a male voice speak from the entity: ‘You are mine!’

“Holy shit,” Jared yelled out. “There he is!”

Recalling what I had done in Harukawa, I began to use religious provocation to try to keep the spirit back. “In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, I command you to leave this house and leave Marie Desmond alone! You are not welcome here!”

The figure stood still for a few seconds, seemingly pondering what to do next, before it began to charge towards us. I closed my eyes to spare myself from what was to come as the rest of the team began to run back downstairs. Ashley called out to me as she grabbed my shoulder, “Takeo, get down here!”

As I was practically dragged down the stairs and into the kitchen by her, the figure seemed to vanish almost as soon as it had appeared. We all stopped and caught our breath, but as we did, we noticed something was off about Ashley, who was now blankly staring into space as she leaned on the kitchen table. Marie asked her, “Hey, Ashley, are you okay?”

“Ash,” I asked her. “Hey… What’s going on?”

Her eyes seemed blank despite being open, and it was as if nothing was behind them. She told us in a disoriented state, “Huh… I just…”

“This doesn’t look good,” Yukiko commented as she zoomed in on her face. As she did, her video camera captured a chilling EVP that we later found when reviewing our evidence: The voice of Eustace saying to us ‘Serve me’.

Suddenly, Ashley began to cough, and as she did, a black mist partially emerged from her back before re-entering her body. When it did, she screamed, startling all of us. “Out! Out! Get out!” She slammed her fists on the table and looked at Marie with almost homicidal intent in her eyes.

“Ashley,” Marie asked her. “Why… Why are you acting like this?!”

“Don’t tell me she got possessed,” I realized. “God damn it, don’t fucking tell me she got possessed by Eustace!”

As Ashley was resting her head in her hands, another EVP was captured on camera, this time saying to us ‘Just let go’, after which we all heard three knocks on the wall near her. Within seconds, it was as if a switch had been flipped, as Ashley blinked several times and looked around the room, asking us, “What happened? Did I pass out?”

Jared remarked to her, “You have no idea, don’t you?”

“About what?”

“You got possessed by Eustace, albeit briefly,” Marie explained to her. “You don’t remember anything?”

“Not really,” she sighed. “I remember pulling Takeo away and that’s it.” She then rubbed her forehead, clearly in pain. “Ugh, my head is killing me.”

As if there had not been enough surprises that night, the light in the kitchen suddenly turned on, only for the lightbulb inside the ceiling fan to then immediately explode and shatter as if it had been overwhelmed with electricity. This startled Yukiko, who quickly dodged the lightbulb glass as it fell to the floor. Immediately after this, something seemed to grab Marie and pull her to the floor, causing her to yell out in shock and pain when she hit the hardwood. “Agh, shit!”

Jared asked her, “Marie, what happened?!”

“Something pulled on my arm,” she told us as she got up. “It felt like a really cold hand. It just yanked on me and pulled me right down!” She then yelled at Eustace, “Stop it already! You’re not gonna win, Eusta-“ She was then cut off when she got slapped by an unseen hand, causing her to fall over once again as she yelled out in pain from how hard the slap had been, as evidenced by how loud it was for the rest of us.

“That’s enough,” I then exclaimed, putting my foot down once and for all. “This ends now! In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, you are to leave my friend Marie alone! In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, you are to leave this house and never return! In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, you are to leave the rest of us alone too! Get out!”

In response to my provocation, the kitchen cabinets once again began to open and slam shut repeatedly as they had done before. Instead of running away, however, we all stood our ground. Yukiko joined in, yelling at Eustace, “You’re not welcome here! Go back to Leesville and leave us alone!”

“Get out of my God damn house,” Marie chimed in as the cabinets got louder and louder, with one door even coming off the hinges and falling to the floor. “This is my family's house, not your! Get away from me and never return!”

Ashley meanwhile moaned in pain, her headache seemingly getting worse with every passing second. “Agh… Ugh… It fucking hurts…”

I turned to her and asked her, “Ash, what’s wrong?!”

“My forehead is pounding with pain. The banging noises aren’t helping.”

“God damn it, of all times…”

As the cabinets continued to open and slam shut around us, Jared was praying to himself, fearful of what would happen as the chaos continued. “Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day, our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours, now and forever. Amen.” Given that none of us were particularly religious, to see Jared resorting to religious protection was an unusual sight brought about by even more unusual (and extremely terrifying) circumstances.

As if things could not get any crazier, Marie turned to Ashley and saw something we could not see. “Woah, hold on! Ashley!”

Still in pain from what had been happening, she turned to her and asked, “Ugh, what…?”

“Something is touching you,” she told her. “It’s a hand! It’s someone’s hand!” She took a photo camera and snapped a picture of her, eager to see if she could get it on film if the others could not see it.

Yukiko, confused, called out, “I don’t see a hand, Marie! Ashley, are you alright?!”

“My headache is going away,” she replied over the loud noises. “But it’s not really helping when all the fucking cabinets are still banging like crazy!”

I tried to hold a cabinet down to prevent it from shutting, but as I grabbed the handle and pushed down with all of my might, I felt a force suddenly pull me away, causing me to fall to the ground and strike my head on the refrigerator. “Agh, my head!”

“Holy shit,” Marie said as she ran over to me. “Takeo, are you alright?!”

I held the back of my head with my left hand in pain. “Agh… Shit, I banged up my head pretty good.” All the while, the kitchen was still going crazy, and we could now hear horrible, horrible peals of laughter echo throughout the house, all of which was captured on camera. “God damn it, now they’re laughing!”

After another few seconds of this madness, and seemingly having had enough now that I had been hurt, Ashley got up from the table and screamed at the top of her lungs with rage in her voice, “STOP!” With that, the disturbances immediately ceased. Somehow, she had been the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back, as Eustace seemed to have vanished, perhaps scared off by Ashley’s aggression.

As we all looked around, Yukiko cautiously asked, “Is… Is it over?”

“I think it’s over,” Marie replied, breathing a sigh of relief. “God, I hope it’s over.”

Jared asked Marie, “Do you feel any presence besides us?”

Marie paused to see if she could, taking it all in as she took a deep breath. “I… I don’t… It’s weird. I think he’s gone, at least for now. I can’t feel his presence anymore. I do feel another presence, but… This one feels more benevolent. It feels familiar, too…”

Cautiously optimistic, I smiled and told the rest of the group, “We did it… We beat him back…” To say I was relieved would be an understatement.

“You’re right,” Ashley agreed as we all began to hi-five each other and celebrate, relieved that the nightmare was finally over.

“Thank God it’s over,” Jared added. “I nearly pissed myself from how bad it got.”

“I think all of us almost did,” Marie chuckled. She then breathed a huge sigh of relief, almost getting overcome with emotion at the fact the torment had finally ceased. “This… This is the beginning of the end, isn’t it? Tomorrow, the first exorcism session will begin, and from there, this Leesville ghost will be forced out more and more with each session.”

Curious about what an exorcism would entail, Ashley asked her, “What’s gonna happen? How long will it take?”

“We don’t know how long. We do know it won’t be a one and done thing. We’ll be visited at least several times for the next few months by a priest to get rid of him permanently.”

…

Later that night, we all slept like rocks in our respective rooms, although, of course, we woke up at 3:22 AM like normal. Thankfully, nothing else happened, and the next morning, we all ate breakfast together and began to look over our evidence from the night before. “Man,” I remarked as I began to look through the photos we had taken. “It’s gonna be a pain in the ass to look all of this over. There’s a whole boatload of evidence we got.”

“Tell me about it,” Ashley replied before yawning. “I’m just glad we’re taking a break after this.”

“Yeah,” Marie nodded. “No more ghost hunting for the rest of the year.”

“In the meantime,” I explained. “I’m gonna start editing the videos we got and finally get around to posting recaps of our investigations online. I don’t know if we can publish all thirteen of them, but I can publish at least some of them.”

“Thirteen, huh,” Ashley pointed out. “Of course we end with thirteen investigations.”

“We could number this case as Twelve-Alpha,” Jared joked. “Thirteen is an unlucky number, after all.”

“Twelve-Alpha,” I laughed. “Maybe.” I then finished my breakfast, which was only a few pieces of toast, before downing the last of my orange juice and telling the gang, “We did good, guys. I’d say this past year’s been pretty productive.”

Marie remarked, “What, are you a CEO doing an end-of-year review or something?”

Realizing I did indeed sound like that, I played up the part even more. “I think our fourth quarter sales have been incredible this year, and I’ll be sure to give all of the other executives big bonuses as a result, while the rest of you get two whole pizza parties for free!” Everyone else broke down in laughter. “Come on, I’m being generous. Be lucky I’m not laying anyone off this year while I line my pock- I mean, ensure we stay afloat financially.”

“You know,” Yukiko then commented, panning the camera around the whole kitchen. “I’m glad we got to do this altogether. We had a lot of fun, even with all the crazy shit that’s been going on.”

“And I’m glad not only was I able to hunt with my friends and my sister,” I then pointed out. “But also with my beloved girlfriend.” Me and Ashley giggled as I gave her a kiss on the cheek, which she responded to by surprising me with a full-blown kiss on the lips. “I love you, Ashley.”

She told me with a smile, “I love you, Takeo.”

“Come on, get a room,” my sister jokingly scolded us. “We know you two did some stuff while you were house sitting here in January.”

Jared looked at us and remarked, “Really?”

“I don’t give a shit,” Marie shrugged. “They’re a couple. They didn’t make a mess, and the less my parents know about the sex lives of their daughter’s friends, the better.”

“See,” Ashley nodded. “Marie gets it. We all got our own needs, and I gotta say, Takeo takes good care of mine.” All of us once again laughed rather loudly. “When you guys find a boy or a girl you really like, you’ll understand. Naomi certainly did when she was alive.”

The laughter stopped, however, when Marie gasped as she looked at the photo she had taken of Ashley while she was dealing with the aftermath of her possession. “Guys, look!”

I turned and asked her, “What is it?”

“Remember that photo of Ashley I took right before Eustace left us alone? Well, look what else appeared in it.”

As she showed us the photo, Ashley’s eyes widened in disbelief. “Speak of the devil… I…I don’t believe it.”

“Oh my God,” Jared said in shock. “That’s…”

“It’s Naomi,” I realized.

The photo itself showed a figure standing behind Ashley laying a hand down on her head as if to comfort her. The figure was of the same height and build as our long-lost friend, and despite the fact we could not make out any facial features, it seemed like she was looking down at her. Had Naomi really visited us in a time of crisis?

Ashley admitted to us, “That… That would explain why the headache went away… I thought I could sense her watching over me, but I didn’t say anything. I was in disbelief. I thought she would never show herself like this.”

“Maybe she was a guardian angel for us last night,” I theorized. “Perhaps she saw that Eustace had possessed you and was trying to help, Ash.”

“That would explain it.”

Just then, the doorbell rang, and Marie got up to get it. When she opened the door, a priest was standing on the other side. “Good morning. Is this the Desmond residence?”

“It is,” she replied. “Are you Father Lawrence?”

“I am,” replied Father Michael Lawrence, the priest that had been sent to begin the exorcism. “It’s a pleasure meeting you, Miss Desmond. I’ve talked to your parents over the phone already, and I understand you and your friends have some photos and videos they want to share with me.”

…

Father Lawrence watched and listened to a digest version of the evidence we had gathered over the past two days, with me explaining what was going on as I played each of the clips, and by the end, he was clearly disturbed by what he saw. “Oh my… You kids are certainly brave. I would not have been so willing to confront a spirit at your age.”

“It was tough work,” I replied to him. “But it was all worth it. We hope you’re able to help our friend out. She’s been bothered by this for over half a year.”

“I was especially shocked that you were physically attacked in the attic. That video truly shook me to my core.”

I pointed out the mostly-faded red marks on my neck. “They’re fading away, but you can still kinda make out where the wire wrapped around my neck and where the fingers from that unseen entity choked me. I’m not sure if it was the spirit from Leesville who did it, but I wouldn’t be surprised, Father.”

“This spirit… He said his name was Eustace, correct?”

“Yes. After we got a name from him during an EVP session, he began responding to us calling him Eustace. We aren’t sure what kind of connection he has to the house in Leesville where we first encountered him. I can’t remember if any records I looked into mentioned a man named Eustace.”

“I’ll look into it,” Father Lawrence assured me. “You kids need a break. I can tell you’ve been through a lot this past year.”

“We’re going on a break, in fact, Father. We’re gonna hold off on any further ghost hunting at least until early 2024.”

“I’d also be a bit more careful,” he advised me. “You’re dealing with some pretty dangerous entities, young man. I won’t stop you from ghost hunting, but I will say that you should consider using provocation a little less. The last thing I’d want is for any of you or your friends to get hurt.”

“I’ll admit, I’ve been aggressive at times. To be fair, it was only after we got attacked or because a spirit was actively harming the people who lived there, but I understand.”

Still curious about our exploits, Father Lawrence then asked me, “Have you guys been in contact with any other ghost hunters? You know there’s a whole community out there about it, right?”

“We haven’t really shared our evidence with anyone else besides homeowners,” I explained. “I am editing together a video to show off some of our evidence in some locations, but I’m not sure about posting all of our cases due to privacy issues, Father. Also, I do want to focus on school. Maybe next year we’ll link up with other ghost hunters after our little sabbatical from it all.”

“I see.” Father Lawrence then cleared his throat and shook my hand. “Thank you for showing me this. I’ll forward the evidence you sent me to the appropriate people. Are you sticking around for the first session of the exorcism?”

“Not this time,” I chuckled. “We’ve been cooped up in this house long enough.”

“Understandable. I’ll be sure to tell you guys what happens.”

…

After these two harrowing days in Marie’s house and a far more relaxing morning, we stepped aside and let the Catholic Church formally take over later in the day. That Sunday, Father Lawrence led the first of what would end up being six different sessions were conducted to exorcise both the house as well as the spirit attachment to Marie. By the end, even though Marie was still sensitive to the supernatural, no longer were she or her family tormented by ghosts.

In the end, we looked through the records of the abandoned home in Leesville once more, and Father Lawrence did indeed find a man named Eustace in them. Eustace was in fact the name of the son of the first owner of the house, who died at the age of twenty in 1917, just seven years after he moved in with his family. His cause of death was listed as a fall, although no further details about it could be found. The only other thing we found out about Eustace was a police report mentioning that he had been arrested twice for drunkenness and fighting. As for how he was as a person besides this, we may never know. Eerily enough, he died exactly forty years before the son of the next homeowners committed suicide in jail while awaiting trial for the murder of his pregnant girlfriend.

To say our journeys were life-changing would be an understatement. They changed not only our lives, but the lives of those around us as well. Not only did these experiences scare us, but in some ways, they scarred us, too. Even so, I would not want to trade them for anything, and I would do it all again in a heartbeat. Everyone else, even Marie, agrees.

Shortly after the final investigation at Marie’s house, we all visited Naomi’s grave once more. We told her about our experiences, and we even took another group photo with her grave. This time, we did not capture any unusual anomalies in the picture, but we could still sense that she was watching over us from beyond the grave, perhaps even protecting us from the evil that lurks in the paranormal world.

Marie finally convinced the whole group to get into cosplay, even Jared, and we pulled off a group cosplay of Jujutsu Kaisen at a convention in the then-new year of 2024. She also began a part-time job at the Volendam Theater to help pay for her hobbies. Me and Ashley began discussing our long-term relationship plans, and committed to remaining together while we both pursued further education in college. Yukiko began to get serious about pursuing video production and filmography as a potential career, having found she had a knack for it while working with us. Jared began working with his father at a car repair shop, aiming to one day become an automotive technician.

I hope you enjoyed reading about us, and whether you believe in ghosts or not, just know that there are things in this world that we may never understand, and those are the things we look for. Even with the hauntings that follow us home in one way or another, we will never stop on our quest to find more of what we have seen and heard with our own eyes and ears.

…

One last thing.

After our visit to Naomi’s grave following the final investigation of the year, I decided to take a trip up to Marie’s attic once more while visiting her and her family. As I walked up, I took it all in, remembering what had happened to me and even stopping at the spot where I had been pinned up against the wall. Carrying a video camera with me, I filmed the entire attic in silence, not really expecting anything to happen but still prepared just in case.

Nothing had changed in terms of the contents of the attic. All of the same boxes from before were still there, as were the various other objects the family had no immediate use for. As I looked around, I unexpectedly stumbled on the cord that had been used to try to strangle me in that very attic. “Huh… I thought Ash threw this out… This is the exact same cord that got wrapped around my neck.” Just then, I felt a sense of dread wash over me as I looked up at the window to the road and felt a presence besides my own in the attic. “Oh no…”

This presence was not Eustace, but was in fact the woman I had seen in the beginning of the year. As I turned around, I aimed the camera down the opposite end of the attic, and I found myself confronted by a large shadow figure standing still and seemingly looking right at me. Although she had no discernible features, I could tell it was her.

Fearing for my safety, I ran down the ladder and quickly slammed the hatch closed. Once it was shut, I took a deep breath as my heart raced, having gotten up close and personal once more with the same spirit that had kick-started this whole journey. Marie noticed me from down the hall and asked, “Wait, Takeo, you were in the attic?”

“The woman’s up there,” I told her as I caught my breath. “I got it on film, too!”

“Are you alright?”

“Yeah, just got scared a bit.”

Marie then sighed and looked up at the attic hatch. “You know, honestly, I don’t really mind her. Sure, she can be creepy, but she doesn’t mean harm. As long as Eustace stays away, I guess she can stay.”

Pondering her words for a few seconds, I nodded and agreed. “Honestly, I gotta agree. She scared the shit out of me, but she isn’t harmful.” In a way, seeing her again was proof that perhaps no matter how much I said I needed a break from it, I could never bring myself to completely abandon ghost hunting. It was also poetic for my last (intentionally sought after) experience with the paranormal for the time being to involve the same spirit that had frightened me and Ashley all those months ago.

Unlike back then, however, I now had definitive proof of these hauntings.