My Paranormal Nightmare

Girl: La-la-la, la-la-la.

Narrator: For some,

their hauntings from the past...

...Still haunt them today.

Oh, my god! Do you see it?!

Christine: You could actually see fingers

running down the side of the tent.

the thing was hovering right overtop of me.

get out!

Wendy: I still get shivers thinking about it.

my name's christine.

And this is my story.

the type of neighborhood that we lived in,

it was a really nice, laid-back neighborhood.

Everybody knew each other. I was constantly outside.

Looks good. Yeah.

Psych!

My relationship with my brother dave growing up

was really a close relationship.

We had a lot of fun, and we played,

and we did a lot of things together.

Typical brother, sister.

We had a pretty good upbringing. Our parents were great.

Come on. Dinner.

Christine: It was a really nice area to live in...

Except for that house.

The moment I stepped through the door, I hated that house.

You felt like there were eyes on you.

Narrator: Christine senses a negative presence whenever she's inside.

Christine: I would hear different noises in the house.

scratches on the wall.

doors would keep opening.

it was very unnerving.

I tried to stay out of that house as much as possible.

Narrator: That's true, even when christine has friends over.

Christine: It was a summer night.

I had a friend come over, and we wanted some girl time.

We decided we were gonna camp outside in the backyard.

"so cool!"

narrator: At first, everything is fine.

Christine: Me and my friend were out in the tent.

We were just talking about, you know, school,

everyday stuff.

do you hear that?

Footsteps? Yeah.

I think it's fine. Probably just my brother.

Hopefully.

I saw a shadow.

Looked just like my brother dave.

Same height, same body build, everything.

So the first thing I thought was, you know,

"oh, he must be sneaking around the backyard,

'gonna try to scare us' kind of thing."

I'm like, "knock it off, dave."

so I poked my head outside the tent.

I didn't see anybody.

Well, that was kind of odd.

me and my friend started talking again,

and a few minutes later...

...We heard walking by the tent.

So we just sat there for a minute.

look!

Oh, my god! Do you see it?!

What is that?! What is that?!

You could actually see fingers running down

the side of the tent.

we both jump up out of that tent,

and we ran right into the house.

My mom, she was sitting on the living-room couch

watching tv.

We both jumped on the couch with her.

And she goes...

What's going on?

I thought you were staying in the tent overnight. No!

And we told her about the shadow and the footsteps

and the hand across.

She's like, "oh, that's just your brother

playing tricks on you."

just ask him.

What's all the noise?

That wasn't very funny, dave!

What?

She accused me of playing jokes on them in the backyard,

but I was out with my friends.

If I want to play a joke on you, I'd laugh and let you know.

But, no, it wasn't me.

Narrator: Christine then comes to a realization.

There's no area

where I was looking that he could have in a split second

get out of my line of vision and hide from me.

There was no way he could have done it.

No way.

I can't explain it.

Narrator: Christine doesn't know who or what she saw...

Oh. Come on. I'll take you home.

...Except it definitely mimicked her brother.

Pisano: Mimicry is when a demonic entity mimics

another person in the household to gain the attention

and the engagement of that person

they're targeting.

In christine's case,

a spirit taking the image of her brother

first appears as non-threatening,

and then they reveal their true selves,

which tends to be evil.

narrator: Christine tells all her fears to her favorite toy.

christine: I talked to my doll.

And I don't know what to do.

She was a really good listener. I could talk to her.

That was something that I hold near and dear to me

because it helped so much.

narrator: While her doll provides comfort,

it can't protect her from the house's dark energy.

Christine: Probably a week later,

dave and I, we were playing hide-and-seek.

Ready or not, here I come.

So I'm tucked behind the door.

I put my hand through the crack of the door.

And I wiggled my fingers.

Gotcha!

My brother found me.

Good night, loser. Good night.

And it was time for me to go to bed.

as I'm walking down the hallway,

the atmosphere started feeling thick, started feeling heavy.

I felt like I was being watched.

And I turn my head, and I look.

and I see a hand come through the crack of the door

and wiggled its fingers.

it looked almost like it was burnt flesh.

But looking back on it,

I think it was more decayed flesh,

because you could see sores on its fingers.

you could see under the nails were black.

Almost like it was digging through dirt.

And I started screaming.

as soon as I started screaming, the hand stopped

and quickly drew back.

what?

Dave: I was in my bedroom, and I heard her screaming.

I remember her talking about, like, a burnt hand

coming around the corner.

What's going on? Oh, my god!

Oh, my god, dave!

what did you do?

Christine: And mom's like, "oh, honey,

you're just overly tired."

let's get you to bed, okay?

narrator: And when christine replays the incident,

she comes to a frightening conclusion.

Christine: Oh... My gosh.

The thing was mimicking exactly what I had done

when we were playing hide-and-seek.

I don't know what's worse -- actually

seeing the hand come through the door

or knowing that it can see us and it mimics.

Narrator: Christine's anxiety

grows with each passing day.

Christine: I didn't want to be alone in that house.

Not after what I saw.

narrator: But a few nights later, she's not so lucky.

Christine: My brother had gone out with my mom.

Dad was gone working.

And I was home alone.

Narrator: Or so she thinks.

christine: I thought I had heard something rustling

in the backyard.

I'm looking, and I'm straining my eyes,

trying to see if maybe there's a raccoon back there.