All that we see or seem is but a dream within a dream.”
Edgar Allen Poe
Resting on the banks and levees of Grundy, Virginia, a dark history looms where a young family of three comes to begin their lives. Or so they thought. In 2010, John and Candice St. Claire settle into what they considered their dream home in a quiet area of the Virginia community. Secluded enough to be isolated from the city noise, but a close drive to town for day to day life. One day, they took it upon themselves to explore their new surroundings and go on a hike. On their journey they stumble upon an abandoned dark tunnel shrouded in mystery and curiosity.
On the outside, the archway was covered in moss and graffiti. The aging of the bricks showed that it had to be at least a couple hundred years old. They pointed their flashlights into the dark abyss of the tunnel which showed very little from the outside. John took this opportunity to share the local legend of the tunnel with his wife. Allegedly, back in the early 1800s, there was a wealthy businessman who built this tunnel using slave labor. At some point, he caught his wife having relations with one of the slaves and in a fit of rage sought severe punishment. He didn’t want to punish just the one; he wanted to punish all of them. The slave master forced them all into the tunnels alive and sealed up the entrance and left them for dead. Of course, this was just a lingering legend in the town that people chalked up to as a grand ghost story.
Being the adventurous couple, they decided to be bold and explore the dark, haunted tunnel for themselves. Guided only by their flashlights, John tried provoking the so-called spirits. Immediately, they both felt the temperature in the air plummet. What began as a playful joke quickly turned to an air clouded in menacing fear. Candice didn’t hesitate and pulled John by the arm and demanded they get the hell out of there.
After returning back to their new home, something felt off. The air felt stagnant and heavier than usual. Not as warm and inviting as before. Almost like a cold tomb with an invisible weight pressing against them. That night their five year old daughter, Jacey, tossed and turned in her sleep. The noise woke her mother up and Candice went to her room to check on her. What she found her daughter doing was bone chilling. Jacey wasn’t asleep, but sitting up right on her bed staring into the corner of the room next to the closet. When Candice asked Jacey what she was doing she replied, “The Man from the tunnel is here, Mommy.”
Her blood turned ice cold. Jacey had no prior knowledge of her parents’ little adventure into the tunnel system that day. Neither of them even mentioned it in her presence.
Following that night, Jacey would not only continue to have nightmares, but would start sleepwalking. She would appear next to her parents’ bed. Needless to say they were frightened when they woke up to see their child standing next to their bed with a blank, dead stare on her face. Calmly, her mother would guide her back to bed knowing that you’re never to wake someone while they are sleepwalking. [If you do, it runs the risk of the person not being able to distinguish between reality and a dream. Not to mention can cause severe panic.]
As time went on, this sinister urge lingered throughout the home. One night, when Candace was upstairs sewing pageant clothes she heard loud noises of glass breaking coming from the kitchen. She ran downstairs to find their kitchen completely decimated. John came up from basement where he was working and thought that it might be an intruder. He scoured the house but found no one. He then ruled it out when he saw that all the doors and windows were locked. From that point on, their daughter began sleeping with her parents.
One night, while John was out, Candace puts Jacey to bed and goes to fold laundry, but soon hears that she is still awake. Upon checking on her, she sees the room is empty and hears laughing and heavy breathing from the other room. She follows the sounds back to her bedroom and finds her daughter fast asleep. She proceeds down the hallway and notices a dark figure that looks to be ten feet tall and slowly and menacingly walks towards her. Towering over her with long sharp horns and slimy scales; she froze in place. The creature inches towards her and reaches its boney hand out with its claws protruding a mere distance from her face. Candice musters every ounce of strength in her to let out a blood curdling scream. She tries to push herself back and away from this hellish demon, but can’t because she unknowingly backed herself into a corner.
She then hears her name being yelled out. It’s John who has come home to find her at the end of the hallway hysterical. He does his best to calm her down. He starts to think it’s the stress and exhaustion from the move to the new house and all the changes that have been happening. The two start to grow distant.
One night they try to relax together as a family and have some TV time together. Suddenly, the channels started changing on its own. John quickly dismisses it as an electrical shortage. After he unplugs the TV, it soon turns back on. Candice starts to give up and says she needs to leave. This started to break their relationship.
Later on, John was downstairs by himself drinking. Candice was asleep in bed and was awakened by being strangled by the gargoyle-like entity. She claimed it was semi-human in appearance. John runs to her aid after hearing the commotion. She reveals three long claw marks across her stomach. Now desperate and not knowing what to do; they reach for outside help from the local churches. To no amazement, they said they could not help. Confused and angry, she takes it upon herself to “cleanse” the house with a Bible in one hand and anointed oils in the other.
Afterwards, things started to calm down. Until one night, John was changing clothes and heard a strange noise behind him. He turns around and was greeted by a scaly creature towering over him and places its grim looking hand on John’s heart. He wakes up in a panic realizing it was a horrible yet very vivid nightmare. With his adrenaline pumping, going back to sleep was not an option. He then hears mysterious footsteps in the house. He’s hesitant on investigating the origin of these strange noises, but he feels compelled to protect his home at all costs. Wandering through the darkness with just a flashlight, he finds nothing but shadows on the walls that easily play tricks on one’s imagination. Turning a corner here and a corner there, John begins to think his mind is doing just that.
He breathes a sigh of relief and turns to go back upstairs. BAM! John is thrown against the wall and suddenly can’t breathe. He drops the flashlight on the ground shooting the light upwards illuminating a silhouette of a monstrous beast that seems to drink the light around him. John’s eyes, big and full of terror, simply beg the entity to spare his life. Instantly, he’s thrown to the ground and gasps for air. His wife comes running to his aid from hearing the commotion. It’s safe to say that John is now fully convinced that his wife was telling the truth.
Instead of calling upon the church this time, they call the “Southern Highlands Paranormal Investigation Group.” Stacey Koechner, the head investigator, is quick to take the case.
During the investigation, Candice surprises everyone that ever since she was a young girl she’s always been “in-tuned” with the other side. Moreover, she is “sensitive to the paranormal” as she put it. This was, of course, news to John, as well. The team theorizes that an entity could have attached itself to Candice when they explored the tunnels. For additional help, Stacey calls a catholic priest to help bless the house at which he calls upon St. Michael [the archangel who casted out Lucifer during the Fall].
Shortly afterwards, things go back to normal. A few weeks go by of normalcy with no incidences of strange paranormal activity. Then came the final straw.
This was when Candice saw her daughter playing in her room and then heard her and John at the bottom of the stairs. She then turned back to Jacey’s bedroom and who she thought was her child looked at her with a hazy grin and black, abyssal eyes. Followed by a loud scream from Jacey, they see a vicious scratch across her face. In a panic, they immediately leave the house leaving all their belongings and abandon their dream home. They believe the demon attached itself to the house because the following months were calm and peaceful. They’ve since found another place to live and started their own paranormal investigation team to help others.
What do you think it? Could it have been a demon? A mimic? Or something far worse?
