The Hopewell Haunting (2023) - full transcript
On the morning of September 3, 1931, Brother James Howell arrived at church earlier than usual to once again find the same mysterious man and woman asleep in the pews. Again, they told him of the horryfing events that took place the night before that drove them from their home in terror. Brother Howell had already visited the rural and delapidated home twice, each time giving it his holiest blessing and each time not finding a thing. What was it these people were seeing? What kind of thing could drive someone from their home? After realizing the stressful toll the family was under, it was then that Brother Howell decided to stay the night in the old house to see for himself what exactly was happening after the sun went down. As a skeptic at first, it wasn't long into the night before he realized that he was not alone. For it didn't take long for him to realize why the couple had fled in terror.
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- No! No!
No! No!
Stop! Stop!
No! No!
Stop!
No! No!
No! No!
No! No!
Stop!
Please stop!
No! No! No! No!
Stop!
No! No!
- Hey!
You all can't be
sleepin' in here!
- Sorry.
Sorry.
Are you the pastor?
- Yes, I am!
- Um, my name is Newt Fryman.
This here's my wife, Ollie.
- Okay?
What's the matter with you boy?
- Do you go out and bless
houses and all of that?
I need you to take a look
at this house we just got.
- Why?
- You believe in haints?
- Is that why you
come pilin' up in here?
- Yes, sir.
Sorry about that.
We didn't know
where else to go.
Well, this ain't the place,
so you best
just go on down the road.
- We don't know
who else to go to.
- Where are you all from?
- Sir, we just moved here
from Jackson.
- Sounds about right.
- Look, I know you're busy
and I hate to bother you,
but you think you could just
come and take a look at it?
It ain't too far away.
Please. It's just,
we just need something
so that we can go back
and stay there.
- Where's it at?
- It's off route 6
there by the wooden bridge,
but you can't
see it from the road.
It's down a little lane there,
past the bridge,
off to the left
just down a ways.
- Well, if it'll make you able
to sleep in your own place.
- Yes sir.
Thank you, brother.
Sorry to bother you.
Sorry.
- Son-of-a-bitch!
Hello?
Heavenly father,
I come to you today
to ask that you
fill this home with your joy,
your love and your presence.
Lord so that this couple
can peacefully dwell here,
and use it for all
your eternal glory.
In your most precious
and glorious name, Amen.
- Workin' for Mr. Graves
should get us by
until tobacco season is over,
but we should be good
until about winter time.
I guess I'll have to start
makin' some liquor
if he don't have any
work for me after that.
Did ya find it?
- I guess?
It's that big ole
brick house upon a hill,
the one that looks like
it's about ready to fall in?
- Yes, sir.
- I gotta tell ya,
it's a wonder I didn't get lost.
That place is clear out
to Harrison County!
- It's a little further away
than I realized I guess.
Did ya find anything?
- No!
Other than piles
of crap everywhere
and a dead raccoon, no!
I didn't see or hear a thing!
The surprise is
you didn't get sick
livin' in a place like that!
- Yeah well,
we was gonna clean it,
but we just moved in last night.
You say a prayer?
- Yep!
- Thanks, brother. Really.
Let's get goin'.
- Lord, I am not in the mood
for this again.
Did you let them in?
So what is it today?
Huh?!
- It's still out there.
- What is?
- Didn't you say a blessing?
- I swear!
Alright Newt,
I know you been
lookin' around that house,
now haven't ya?
And I know you saw the dead
raccoon upstairs, now didn't ya?
Well what does that tell ya?
- I saw it again.
- What does that tell ya?!
That that barn of a house
that you're livin' in
is probably infested
with God no telling what!
- Brother.
- What?
- There's somethin'
else out there.
- Okay, what then?
- Would you please go out
there one more time,
and say a blessing
or a prayer or somethin'?
- Newt.
A prayer and a blessing
ain't gonna run off
a bunch of raccoons
or whatever else
is livin' in your place,
and common sense
should tell you
that you shouldn't
have to bless a house
every day just to live in it!
Especially one
that looks like that!
I ain't goin' back out there.
I don't know
what else to tell ya!
- Thanks for makin'
this so easy on us.
I hope you go home to a nice,
big house, a nice family,
and sleep well tonight.
- Alright!
If it'll make you feel better,
and it'll make you happy,
then I'll go back out there!
And I'll tell you what!
This time I'm gonna
stay there all day long,
until I see or hear whatever
it is that's scarin' you
so bad that you up and run!
- Well, hey there!
- Hey, Mr. Pierce! How're you?
- Nice day for a drive.
Can't' complain.
- Yeah.
- Yeah. You get settled in yet?
- Yeah. I guess.
- You been out
to see Mr. Graves yet?
- Yeah. I went up
and saw him yesterday.
Said he's got
somethin' for me today so...
we're headed out there.
- Well, good. I was able to
put in a good word for ya.
- Appreciate that.
Thank you, sir.
- Trust me,
if you do good work for him,
he'll always have
somethin' for you to do.
- I hope so.
- You're goin' there now?
- Yeah.
- Well, hop in.
Save yourself some time.
- Okay. You sure?
- Of course.
- Mighty appreciate it.
Here, Ollie.
- How's miss Ollie today?
- Ah, she's good.
A little tired, I reckon.
Yep, that's it.
Thank you
for wasting another day!
No! No! Nooo!
Stop!
- Stop! No! No!
Stop!
- Thank you, Mr. Pierce.
- Say hello to
brother James for me.
- Will do.
You saw it.
Brother?
- I don't know what you
two are trying to pull,
but I'm in no shape
to deal with it!
- What?
What do you mean,
what we're trying to pull?
What do you mean,
what we're trying to pull?
- Listen, I'm 71 years old
and I can't deal with it.
I want you all out of here,
okay?
- Brother.
- I said,
I want you two out of here,
and I don't want you
to come back.
- Brother,
I don't know what else to do.
- I don't care.
This is my church,
and I don't want you
or whatever this is around it.
- We don't know
where else to go.
- I'm sorry.
I can't help you anymore,
but you can't stay here.
No, no!
- Mrs. Frank,
how are you this morning?
Listen,
I just got some country ham
and wondered if
I could bring over
a couple slices
for you all next week.
Would you appreciate that?
Preacher is
a little late this morning.
Hey Sears, how are you doin'?
Isabelle, how are you?
Still not here?
- No, sir. Not yet.
- Christine,
have you heard from him at all?
- No.
- Should we just
start without him?
- No.
Brother James?
Brother James?
- What do you want, Charles?
- What do you mean,
what do I want?
I'm coming to see
if you're okay.
- I'm fine.
- Then why didn't you
show this morning?
I guess I just
didn't feel like it.
- What? Are you sick?
- No.
- Well here, get up.
We gonna have us a little talk.
- Come on! Get up!
What's the matter with you?
- Nothin' is the matter
with me, Charles.
Now what do you want?
- Well, besides you
not showing up this morning,
do you want to tell me
why you ran Newt
and Ollie Fryman off yesterday?
- Now how do you know them?
- You don't worry
about how I know them.
I know you told them to leave
and not come back now.
Didn't ya?
Didn't ya?
- Yes, I did
because I don't want them
around my congregation.
- And why is that?
All they did was ask you
to go out to that house
and figure out
what was wrong with it.
Is that somethin'
you can't handle?
I went to that house twice,
and I blessed it
just like they asked me to.
- Then why are they too scared
to go back out there then?
- You know how them ole'
backwards mountain people are!
They believe everything they see
and hear is a haint,
and I do not want that thinkin'
around my congregation.
- James,
Newt Fryman is a good fella.
His wife has her problems,
but you don't know how hard
they got it right now.
A lot harder than you,
trust me!
Least you could do
is help them out!
- Now why aren't you helpin'?
- I am helping them out!
I'm the one that got them
that house out there
and now they're stayin' with me
because you can't do your job!
- You gave them that house?
- Yes!
- Well, why would you
give that place to anyone?
- Because it's still
a good house
and he didn't have
nowhere else to go.
- Charles,
it ain't fit to live in!
Trust me!
- And why is that?
- Because it just ain't.
- No! I want to know!
Tell me!
Alright, whatever.
Ignore me then, but I'm
gonna tell you somethin',
and you better listen.
If you don't get
your ass together
and help these people,
then you better start packin'
and lookin' for a new town
to go preachin' in!
You know,
I held my tongue for years
and watched you
run good people off
after they brought you
problem after problem,
and you ignored it!
And I ain't gonna do it anymore!
- What problems?
- And don't even
get me started on that church.
It's hideous!
Now I don't know
what you're goin' through,
or what your problem is,
and I don't care!
You better do somethin' and
you better do somethin' soon!
You know I ran that old joker
off that was there before you,
and by God I ain't afraid to
do it again! You hear me?!
You heard me.
- You said he's okay though?
- Oh, he's fine.
He's still piled up in the bed
if you can believe that.
- He didn't say
what was the matter?
- He didn't say anything.
More than likely, it's just
another one of his spells.
- I didn't know if it was
because of me or what.
- Oh, no. It had nothin'
to do with you, Newt.
- I hope not.
- He's been like that for years.
More than likely, he's still
hung up on the same thing;
some girl he used to court
a long time ago.
- He ain't married?
- Nope. Never has.
- I figured he was married.
- Well, I wanna say they were
supposed to get married,
but then one day that girl
just up and ran off on him,
found another fella,
got married,
and he found out about it.
- How long ago was that?
- Oh, that's when
he first got here.
About eighteen and eighty.
About fifty years ago, lordy.
- Jeez.
- I don't think he's ever
courted another girl since then.
That's probably
what his problem is,
but then again
I never seen him so bad
that he missed services before.
Somethin' else
may be botherin' him.
God, help me.
Please, help me. Please.
- I can't imagine how much
money Mr. Pierce has.
Must be pretty nice.
Aw, baby.
Come here.
It'll be alright.
What I got is better than any
amount of money you can give me.
- Oh, there ya are.
Y'all about ready to go?
- Yes, sir.
I was looking at that
painting over there.
Is that your wife?
- Oh, no.
That's my sister,
if you can see the resemblance.
I used to be
a lot thinner in those days.
- Yeah, I guess I can now.
She was a beautiful lady.
- She was, but no,
I tried courtin' once
and just decided
I'd be better off on my own.
Shew, not me!
- Lord, give me strength.
Who are you?!
- No... No... Stop!
Stop!
No! No! No! No! No! No!
No!
No! No! No! No!
- What do you want?!
You're not scaring me!
You hear?!
Lord, give me strength.
I can't run away from this.
Heavenly father,
give me the strength
to face this thing.
Come lord, come holy spirit
and fill this place.
Fear, evil leave!
In the name of the Father,
the Son,
and the Holy Ghost,
who are you
and what is it that you want?
Come here!
- I've never seen such a mess!
- Any way of tellin' who it is?
- You know, they've been
down there a good long time.
Makes it a lot harder, ya know?
- Well, what do you
normally do then?
- Well, check the missing
persons report--
I'm not aware of
any in the county.
Basically file
a report and bury 'em.
Yep.
- I'd say whoever it was,
was probably killed
and put down there,
don't you think?
- You may be right.
No way of knowin'.
Well, I'm gonna go
back to the office,
file a report, check on things
and probably
bury 'em later today.
That reminds me,
I'm gonna need
somebody to bury 'em.
Would you be willing?
- No. I don't want nothin'
to do with that.
- Okay.
No, I probably should.
Whoever it was ,
is deserving a proper burial.
- Okay.
If it's alright with you.
- Yeah.
- I'm goin' back to the station,
and I'll probably see you
later this afternoon,
or sometime this evening.
Charles.
- James.
- I was just stopping by
to see if Newt
and Ollie were here.
- No,
they're not here right now.
Why?
- I just wanted to
apologize to them,
and tell them that
the house is okay now.
- Oh yeah?
Alright, I'll tell them.
- And I wanted to apologize
to you too, Charles.
I'm sorry for handling
things the way I did.
- Yeah?
- I went back out there,
and the house
is gonna be okay now.
- Good. I'll let 'em know.
- Okay. Thank you.
- See you at bible study
Wednesday.
- I'll see you then.
- Do you want to
say somethin' for them?
Oh lord...
Amen.
Hello.
- Brother.
- Charles tell you
everything is okay now?
- Yeah.
Thank you, Brother.
- Newt, I wanted to
apologize to you
for treating you
the way that I did.
You didn't deserve that.
- It's okay, brother. Really.
- I'm sorry
I'd like you to know that you
and Ollie are welcome
in my church any time.
- Thank you.
- I'd love to have you start
comin' on Sunday morning.
- Okay.
- And Newt,
don't be scared to ask
for whatever help you may
need from now on, okay?
- We won't.
- I guess I'll let you start
enjoying your house finally.
- Thank you, brother.
Thanks again.
Come on, babe.
---
- No! No!
No! No!
Stop! Stop!
No! No!
Stop!
No! No!
No! No!
No! No!
Stop!
Please stop!
No! No! No! No!
Stop!
No! No!
- Hey!
You all can't be
sleepin' in here!
- Sorry.
Sorry.
Are you the pastor?
- Yes, I am!
- Um, my name is Newt Fryman.
This here's my wife, Ollie.
- Okay?
What's the matter with you boy?
- Do you go out and bless
houses and all of that?
I need you to take a look
at this house we just got.
- Why?
- You believe in haints?
- Is that why you
come pilin' up in here?
- Yes, sir.
Sorry about that.
We didn't know
where else to go.
Well, this ain't the place,
so you best
just go on down the road.
- We don't know
who else to go to.
- Where are you all from?
- Sir, we just moved here
from Jackson.
- Sounds about right.
- Look, I know you're busy
and I hate to bother you,
but you think you could just
come and take a look at it?
It ain't too far away.
Please. It's just,
we just need something
so that we can go back
and stay there.
- Where's it at?
- It's off route 6
there by the wooden bridge,
but you can't
see it from the road.
It's down a little lane there,
past the bridge,
off to the left
just down a ways.
- Well, if it'll make you able
to sleep in your own place.
- Yes sir.
Thank you, brother.
Sorry to bother you.
Sorry.
- Son-of-a-bitch!
Hello?
Heavenly father,
I come to you today
to ask that you
fill this home with your joy,
your love and your presence.
Lord so that this couple
can peacefully dwell here,
and use it for all
your eternal glory.
In your most precious
and glorious name, Amen.
- Workin' for Mr. Graves
should get us by
until tobacco season is over,
but we should be good
until about winter time.
I guess I'll have to start
makin' some liquor
if he don't have any
work for me after that.
Did ya find it?
- I guess?
It's that big ole
brick house upon a hill,
the one that looks like
it's about ready to fall in?
- Yes, sir.
- I gotta tell ya,
it's a wonder I didn't get lost.
That place is clear out
to Harrison County!
- It's a little further away
than I realized I guess.
Did ya find anything?
- No!
Other than piles
of crap everywhere
and a dead raccoon, no!
I didn't see or hear a thing!
The surprise is
you didn't get sick
livin' in a place like that!
- Yeah well,
we was gonna clean it,
but we just moved in last night.
You say a prayer?
- Yep!
- Thanks, brother. Really.
Let's get goin'.
- Lord, I am not in the mood
for this again.
Did you let them in?
So what is it today?
Huh?!
- It's still out there.
- What is?
- Didn't you say a blessing?
- I swear!
Alright Newt,
I know you been
lookin' around that house,
now haven't ya?
And I know you saw the dead
raccoon upstairs, now didn't ya?
Well what does that tell ya?
- I saw it again.
- What does that tell ya?!
That that barn of a house
that you're livin' in
is probably infested
with God no telling what!
- Brother.
- What?
- There's somethin'
else out there.
- Okay, what then?
- Would you please go out
there one more time,
and say a blessing
or a prayer or somethin'?
- Newt.
A prayer and a blessing
ain't gonna run off
a bunch of raccoons
or whatever else
is livin' in your place,
and common sense
should tell you
that you shouldn't
have to bless a house
every day just to live in it!
Especially one
that looks like that!
I ain't goin' back out there.
I don't know
what else to tell ya!
- Thanks for makin'
this so easy on us.
I hope you go home to a nice,
big house, a nice family,
and sleep well tonight.
- Alright!
If it'll make you feel better,
and it'll make you happy,
then I'll go back out there!
And I'll tell you what!
This time I'm gonna
stay there all day long,
until I see or hear whatever
it is that's scarin' you
so bad that you up and run!
- Well, hey there!
- Hey, Mr. Pierce! How're you?
- Nice day for a drive.
Can't' complain.
- Yeah.
- Yeah. You get settled in yet?
- Yeah. I guess.
- You been out
to see Mr. Graves yet?
- Yeah. I went up
and saw him yesterday.
Said he's got
somethin' for me today so...
we're headed out there.
- Well, good. I was able to
put in a good word for ya.
- Appreciate that.
Thank you, sir.
- Trust me,
if you do good work for him,
he'll always have
somethin' for you to do.
- I hope so.
- You're goin' there now?
- Yeah.
- Well, hop in.
Save yourself some time.
- Okay. You sure?
- Of course.
- Mighty appreciate it.
Here, Ollie.
- How's miss Ollie today?
- Ah, she's good.
A little tired, I reckon.
Yep, that's it.
Thank you
for wasting another day!
No! No! Nooo!
Stop!
- Stop! No! No!
Stop!
- Thank you, Mr. Pierce.
- Say hello to
brother James for me.
- Will do.
You saw it.
Brother?
- I don't know what you
two are trying to pull,
but I'm in no shape
to deal with it!
- What?
What do you mean,
what we're trying to pull?
What do you mean,
what we're trying to pull?
- Listen, I'm 71 years old
and I can't deal with it.
I want you all out of here,
okay?
- Brother.
- I said,
I want you two out of here,
and I don't want you
to come back.
- Brother,
I don't know what else to do.
- I don't care.
This is my church,
and I don't want you
or whatever this is around it.
- We don't know
where else to go.
- I'm sorry.
I can't help you anymore,
but you can't stay here.
No, no!
- Mrs. Frank,
how are you this morning?
Listen,
I just got some country ham
and wondered if
I could bring over
a couple slices
for you all next week.
Would you appreciate that?
Preacher is
a little late this morning.
Hey Sears, how are you doin'?
Isabelle, how are you?
Still not here?
- No, sir. Not yet.
- Christine,
have you heard from him at all?
- No.
- Should we just
start without him?
- No.
Brother James?
Brother James?
- What do you want, Charles?
- What do you mean,
what do I want?
I'm coming to see
if you're okay.
- I'm fine.
- Then why didn't you
show this morning?
I guess I just
didn't feel like it.
- What? Are you sick?
- No.
- Well here, get up.
We gonna have us a little talk.
- Come on! Get up!
What's the matter with you?
- Nothin' is the matter
with me, Charles.
Now what do you want?
- Well, besides you
not showing up this morning,
do you want to tell me
why you ran Newt
and Ollie Fryman off yesterday?
- Now how do you know them?
- You don't worry
about how I know them.
I know you told them to leave
and not come back now.
Didn't ya?
Didn't ya?
- Yes, I did
because I don't want them
around my congregation.
- And why is that?
All they did was ask you
to go out to that house
and figure out
what was wrong with it.
Is that somethin'
you can't handle?
I went to that house twice,
and I blessed it
just like they asked me to.
- Then why are they too scared
to go back out there then?
- You know how them ole'
backwards mountain people are!
They believe everything they see
and hear is a haint,
and I do not want that thinkin'
around my congregation.
- James,
Newt Fryman is a good fella.
His wife has her problems,
but you don't know how hard
they got it right now.
A lot harder than you,
trust me!
Least you could do
is help them out!
- Now why aren't you helpin'?
- I am helping them out!
I'm the one that got them
that house out there
and now they're stayin' with me
because you can't do your job!
- You gave them that house?
- Yes!
- Well, why would you
give that place to anyone?
- Because it's still
a good house
and he didn't have
nowhere else to go.
- Charles,
it ain't fit to live in!
Trust me!
- And why is that?
- Because it just ain't.
- No! I want to know!
Tell me!
Alright, whatever.
Ignore me then, but I'm
gonna tell you somethin',
and you better listen.
If you don't get
your ass together
and help these people,
then you better start packin'
and lookin' for a new town
to go preachin' in!
You know,
I held my tongue for years
and watched you
run good people off
after they brought you
problem after problem,
and you ignored it!
And I ain't gonna do it anymore!
- What problems?
- And don't even
get me started on that church.
It's hideous!
Now I don't know
what you're goin' through,
or what your problem is,
and I don't care!
You better do somethin' and
you better do somethin' soon!
You know I ran that old joker
off that was there before you,
and by God I ain't afraid to
do it again! You hear me?!
You heard me.
- You said he's okay though?
- Oh, he's fine.
He's still piled up in the bed
if you can believe that.
- He didn't say
what was the matter?
- He didn't say anything.
More than likely, it's just
another one of his spells.
- I didn't know if it was
because of me or what.
- Oh, no. It had nothin'
to do with you, Newt.
- I hope not.
- He's been like that for years.
More than likely, he's still
hung up on the same thing;
some girl he used to court
a long time ago.
- He ain't married?
- Nope. Never has.
- I figured he was married.
- Well, I wanna say they were
supposed to get married,
but then one day that girl
just up and ran off on him,
found another fella,
got married,
and he found out about it.
- How long ago was that?
- Oh, that's when
he first got here.
About eighteen and eighty.
About fifty years ago, lordy.
- Jeez.
- I don't think he's ever
courted another girl since then.
That's probably
what his problem is,
but then again
I never seen him so bad
that he missed services before.
Somethin' else
may be botherin' him.
God, help me.
Please, help me. Please.
- I can't imagine how much
money Mr. Pierce has.
Must be pretty nice.
Aw, baby.
Come here.
It'll be alright.
What I got is better than any
amount of money you can give me.
- Oh, there ya are.
Y'all about ready to go?
- Yes, sir.
I was looking at that
painting over there.
Is that your wife?
- Oh, no.
That's my sister,
if you can see the resemblance.
I used to be
a lot thinner in those days.
- Yeah, I guess I can now.
She was a beautiful lady.
- She was, but no,
I tried courtin' once
and just decided
I'd be better off on my own.
Shew, not me!
- Lord, give me strength.
Who are you?!
- No... No... Stop!
Stop!
No! No! No! No! No! No!
No!
No! No! No! No!
- What do you want?!
You're not scaring me!
You hear?!
Lord, give me strength.
I can't run away from this.
Heavenly father,
give me the strength
to face this thing.
Come lord, come holy spirit
and fill this place.
Fear, evil leave!
In the name of the Father,
the Son,
and the Holy Ghost,
who are you
and what is it that you want?
Come here!
- I've never seen such a mess!
- Any way of tellin' who it is?
- You know, they've been
down there a good long time.
Makes it a lot harder, ya know?
- Well, what do you
normally do then?
- Well, check the missing
persons report--
I'm not aware of
any in the county.
Basically file
a report and bury 'em.
Yep.
- I'd say whoever it was,
was probably killed
and put down there,
don't you think?
- You may be right.
No way of knowin'.
Well, I'm gonna go
back to the office,
file a report, check on things
and probably
bury 'em later today.
That reminds me,
I'm gonna need
somebody to bury 'em.
Would you be willing?
- No. I don't want nothin'
to do with that.
- Okay.
No, I probably should.
Whoever it was ,
is deserving a proper burial.
- Okay.
If it's alright with you.
- Yeah.
- I'm goin' back to the station,
and I'll probably see you
later this afternoon,
or sometime this evening.
Charles.
- James.
- I was just stopping by
to see if Newt
and Ollie were here.
- No,
they're not here right now.
Why?
- I just wanted to
apologize to them,
and tell them that
the house is okay now.
- Oh yeah?
Alright, I'll tell them.
- And I wanted to apologize
to you too, Charles.
I'm sorry for handling
things the way I did.
- Yeah?
- I went back out there,
and the house
is gonna be okay now.
- Good. I'll let 'em know.
- Okay. Thank you.
- See you at bible study
Wednesday.
- I'll see you then.
- Do you want to
say somethin' for them?
Oh lord...
Amen.
Hello.
- Brother.
- Charles tell you
everything is okay now?
- Yeah.
Thank you, Brother.
- Newt, I wanted to
apologize to you
for treating you
the way that I did.
You didn't deserve that.
- It's okay, brother. Really.
- I'm sorry
I'd like you to know that you
and Ollie are welcome
in my church any time.
- Thank you.
- I'd love to have you start
comin' on Sunday morning.
- Okay.
- And Newt,
don't be scared to ask
for whatever help you may
need from now on, okay?
- We won't.
- I guess I'll let you start
enjoying your house finally.
- Thank you, brother.
Thanks again.
Come on, babe.