1972 Yellow House (2013) - full transcript

I think
it's creepy.

I think there's
something going on.

I think something
happened in this bathroom.

But something worse happened
in that swimming pool.

I mean, there's no reason
why there wouldn't be

a pool there,
right?

It's full
of dirt.

Well, let me tell you
what happened.

You know
what happened?

That night,
I was about to...

And I saw the little girl
and followed her.



I feel like
a creep,

but I followed her
to the pool

because she asked me
to go swimming with her,

'cause I thought
she was real.

Did you know
it was full of dirt?

I didn't know
there was a pool.

I was saying,
"There's no pool."

So you crawl
out of the bathtub

and followed her
thinking,

"Okay, it's
somebody's kid.

I'm just gonna go
swimming with her."

I put my swimsuit on and I
followed her to the pool.

Which is
full of dirt.

♪



You think that
little girl was real now?

Do you think
that she was a ghost?

Or do you think
she was a real kid?

It's hard
for me to...

I mean, obviously
she wasn't real

because Curtis
couldn't see her.

♪

She thought
she was swimming

and she was, like,
playing in dirt.

Wow.

Well, there's
a reason why

she was able
to contact you.

Have you had a death
of a child in your family?

Is there something
that's happened to you

that's made you
more sensitive to children?

We lost a baby.

Okay.

Well, you know,
that could make you

more sensitive,
more aware,

more approachable
to a spirit,

especially
a child spirit.

I think you need
to get to the bottom of this.

I really think
you need to figure out

what she
needs to say,

because I don't think
she's gonna leave you alone

until you know
what she's trying to tell you.

And spiritualistically,
that's how it was named.

Right.

And that's how
it was founded,

was that way
before people came here

in the 1930s,

way back
from them,

the American-Indians,
the Chumash Indians,

we wanted to see what this place
really had left.

So spiritually,
we felt that same thing.

And we have,
every summer,

they came
and set up tents,

and they have
huge séances

where they would speak
with (unintelligible).

That pool
is creepy.

There's something
happened in that pool.

Something happened
in this bathroom too.

So, I think
a séance is in order.

And what we can do
is set that up

and try to contact
whoever it is

that wants
to talk to you.

I guess we could
do it right here.

No, I think we ought
to do it out by the pool.

It really feels
to me like something...

(film rolling)

Before we do
the séance,

I just (unintelligible)...

I just wanna ask
the Lord to watch over us,

and keep watch
and keep us safe, Lord.

Lord, we just
wanna find out

what's going on here
so that we can all

just keep going
on with our lives.

Just watch over us
and give your power

(unintelligible)
to protect us

(unintelligible).

And now we will
join our forces together

and we will attempt
to contact

someone
on the other side

who has something
that they need to say to us

because something's
wrong here.

Something's
not right,

and we
can feel it,

but we're
confused,

and we cannot
understand,

and we need the help
of someone on the other side.

Let them speak.

Let them come
into this dimension

so that they
can bring themselves

to where we are,

and they
can let us know

what it is they want
us to solve.

Her mother is...

is upset.

She says...

Find that.

♪

Oh, my God.

Oh, my God,
look, look.

I told you
they're buried here.

- Go.
- That's a skull.

♪

Cheyenne's here.

♪

Cheyenne is here.

She says
that she is here

and she has
to speak to us.

She has something
that she needs to say,

and she needs
to communicate it.

What is it,
Cheyenne?

What is it
you need to tell us?

She says...

She says that
she needs the pool

to be water again

because she needs
to live here

and be a mermaid
forever,

and unless
it's water,

she can't
do that.

And she's unhappy because
it's all dirt in there.

And she says
she wants you

to be able
to swim there

with your daughter

because you're going
to have a daughter.

♪

Our bags
are packed.

Yup.

We've got
a map.

I'm gonna pick
somewhere to live...

You should be
over there, doll face.

Okay,
is that better?

- That's better.
- Okay, doll face.

Come on,
can't handle it.

- Oh.
- Oh!

Oh.

Okay,
action!

♪

This is not working.

Am I doing it right?

What are you doing?

You're a little feisty
this morning, aren't ya?

You're
a little sweet.

- Okay.
- You're sour.

- Okay.
- You're sour patch.

Nobody to talk to.

Close your eyes.

And...

I'm gonna count
to three

and wherever
your finger stops,

that's where we're
gonna start a new life.

- You ready?
- Yeah.

Your eyes closed?

'Cause I can't tell
from over here.

This sort of thing.

All right.

One...

Two...

And...

Three.

All right,
sweetie pie,

what's it say?

Summerland.

- Where?
- Summerland, California.

That's not
a real place.

It is, it's right next
to Santa Barbara.

Are you
still filming?

Yeah, I'm gonna document
this whole trip.

You can't drive
and film.

- Yeah.
- It's not...

Did you take the
(unintelligible) to be cleaned?

♪

It's nice and clean,
you got plenty of closet space.

What's back there?

It's not such
a good view.

What is that?

Looks like it
could be...

I think that's part
of the neighbor's lawn.

- Oh.
- Oh, what happened to the...

Should we call
the maintenance guy?

Oh, he was supposed
to repair that.

(unintelligible).

So what, it looks like
that was a swimming pool.

I think
there was a pool.

They just buried it?

They just filled it
with dirt?

That's so creepy.

...the bathroom.

So, it's uh,

it's a two-bedroom then?

No, it's
a one-bedroom.

What's this?

That's a closet.

- This is locked.
- It's a closet?

It's locked,
it's a storage closet.

It seems like
it'd be a room.

No, no,
it's a closet.

Do you have
a key so we ca...

No, I don't,
no, I don't.

But, um, yeah,
it's always locked.

There's
a bathroom.

It's clean.

♪

Missin' a couple things,
but, um, that's it.

I need
two months rent.

Should we do it?

Yes, you needed
to ask?

Is that it?

Yeah,
it's perfect.

♪

(ghostly wailing)

♪

♪

Summerland is like
the gateway to heaven.

For the Chumash people,

that's where
the spirits went.

So it seems
like this town

has a very
unique history.

So, wait,
we're in heaven?

Basically,
we're in heaven.

We're in Indian heaven.

We're in Indian heaven.

I just wanted
to pull up here

and show you guys
the big yellow house.

♪

(train horn blowing)

♪

♪

Over there.

They did a lot
of séances back in the day,

and um...

There's a restaurant,
there's this place

that's really,
really eerie, man,

and it holds a lot,
a lot of spiritual stuff.

They went big

with the séances
a long time ago,

but this place
is known...

this whole area's
known for the spirit.

And my grandma,
actually, used to read

with a lot of people
on some spiritual energy stuff.

Yeah, every time
I drive by here,

I always get
this fuckin' just eerie,

eerie,
eerie feeling.

Some things
have happened here

and it's pretty much
the mecca

of hauntism, right,
in California.

This is
the haunted place.

Is it vacant?

Like it
just looks so...

Yeah, it's vacant,
I believe.

I'm not sure.

I don't really keep
tabs on it.

I do drive by it
a couple times a week,

but, um, yeah,
I think it's vacant.

But it kinda trips me out,
to be fair, you know,

but she was doing
séances,

I know they did tons of séances
here back in the day...

We're gonna do
a séance tonight.

Why is it vacant?

People from
all over the world

will come here
to check this place out.

There's a lot of paranormal
activity, man, like...

(static)

♪

Whoa.

♪

♪

♪

♪

♪

♪

(unintelligible whispering)

Come here,
hold the camera.

Hold it.

♪

Come on.

Keep it there.

♪

(footsteps)

♪

(unintelligible whispering)

♪

♪

♪

♪

♪

♪

♪

God, it's so cold.

♪

So cold.

What's that
on the ground?

(unintelligible whispering)

♪

♪

♪

Let's go.

We're out of here now.

♪

(unintelligible whispering)

♪

(film rolling)

♪

We're out of here,
let's go.

♪

(unintelligible whispering)

♪

♪

Oh, fuck.

♪

♪

♪

♪

(clatter)

♪

♪

What's this one,
right here?

This is
bad luck.

Let's go.

♪

♪

(squeaking)

This is where
we think they were.

She wanted
to kill me, man.

♪

♪

♪

You're gonna
be okay.

We're all scared,
brother.

I'm not.

You're not
at all?

You should be.

The thing that
I don't know, you know.

You're fine,
you're gonna be ok.

Like, we're
all scared, brother.

I'm not.

You're not
at all?

You should be.

♪

(unintelligible)
just last night.

♪

(knife carving on wood)

♪

♪

♪

♪

♪

Okay,
let's do it.

Put your fingers
on this thing.

Here.

♪

Ask the spirits

if they're
gonna hurt you.

♪

Oh, shit, I have
a bloody nose, Curtis.

Close that door.

(unintelligible).

♪

(gagging)

♪

(heaving)

♪

♪

♪

♪

North,
the acreage

of Summerland,
California.

When it first
got converted

from tents
to actual buildings

in the late 1800s.

♪

There are some
of the first houses

on the cliffs
of Summerland.

They were followers
of Spiritualism religion.

♪

Here are some
of the shots

of their
very first oil rig.

Offshore oil rig,

the very first one
was in Summerland.

♪

The main streets.

♪

Summerland
is the birth place

of offshore
oil drilling.

There was hundreds
of piers here.

♪

And we have
one of the founders

of Spiritualism,

H.L. Williams.

He owned the oil

and he also
started the town.

And his religion
was Spiritualism,

so, he brought
like-minded followers

to Summerland.

♪

The new Summerland

is a journey
to the other side.

♪

The big yellow house

was actually
where they...

That was
their church.

That's where they did
the séances,

was the big
yellow house.

It's still there
today,

and it was
H.L. Williams' home.

♪

♪

♪

We're gonna have
to get used to this.

Yeah,
how horrible.

Not a bad thing.

Oh, my gosh,
I am so...

It's so windy.

I wonder
if it's really cold.

♪

Baby,
I love you.

Will you marry me?

Really?

Really,
here's the ring.

Yes.

Yes!

- Yes?
- Yes!

- Yes!
- Yes!

- Yes!
- Pushy!

- Yes!
- Okay, kiss me!

Cheers.

I love you.

♪

All the geese.

(static)

♪

♪

♪

That's really weird.

(unintelligible).

♪

What, no?

♪

♪

Oh, my God.

This is so weird.

♪

This is disgusting.

♪

This doesn't make
any sense whatsoever.

♪

This town
is just weird.

Founded by some spiritualists.

They fill in swimming pools
with dirt.

Something must have
happened here.

You don't just fill in
a swimming pool with dirt.

And there's still
lawn furniture over there.

It's like
something happened

and they just didn't
even clean up the area,

they just filled it
with dirt.

Plant
a tree.

♪

Something awful
happened here.

♪

I really wanna know
what happened here.

♪

Especially because
we live right next to this.

This is
our swimming pool.

♪

I don't feel good
right now.

I need to get
out of here.

♪

I wanna know the truth
about this town.

Was it really founded
by keeping in contact

with the other side?

♪

Is the yellow house
really the center

of séances
for California?

I need
to know.

♪

The sink just backs up
in the dirt and it...

♪

This place
is just really weird,

and I feel
sick to my stomach,

and I don't think
we should live here.

I think
we need to move.

I think
we need to move.

♪

This place
is super weird.

We need
to move.

This place
is weird.

This place
is so weird.

♪

Do you want a bath, is that what
you're saying?

Oh you do, okay, I'll get
that started for you, okay?

Okay, thank you.

You're welcome.

♪

Love, love, love.

Is that hot enough
for you there?

Very, very hot.

Do you want a bath, is that what
you're saying?

Oh you do, okay, I'll get
that started for you, okay?

Okay, thank you.

You're welcome.

♪

Love, love, love.

Is that hot enough
for you there?

Very, very hot.

How was... how
was your bath?

Actually very nice
thanks to you.

Thanks to my guy.

Oh.

Oh.

Aw.

Oh.

Oh.

♪

(inaudible)

I know you want
to make a documentary,

and I know this
is important to you,

but I was just
thinking...

maybe we could turn
the camera off.

But...

Trying to relax
and take a bath.

It's been a long day.

I just wanna relax

and it's like a third person
in the room constantly.

I just want to be alone
for five seconds.

(water running)

♪

♪

Baby, are you all right?

♪

It's 1:00, I'm gonna have
to go find her any minute.

I'll be right back.

I'm gonna go find...

♪

(inaudible)

(leaves crunching)

♪

♪

♪

Ashley, is that you?

Ashley?

♪

(groaning)

Ashley, what're
you doing out here?

♪

Yow!

(giggling)

♪

That's dirt,
get out, get out!

(moaning)

♪

Honey, come swimming.

It's so wet.

Feels amazing.

What're you doing?

I'm swimming.

Get up.

The dirt is so nice.

Get up!

♪

(gagging)

(vomiting)

♪

♪

♪

♪

♪

♪

This is it
right here, buddy.

I know, I think I'm late.

Hasn't been anybody
here in ten years.

Probably not, how y'all?

Hey.

My brother.

Oh yeah.

Have you seen what he's been
double-teaming with, right?

♪

You don't mind if I...

If I have a little bit?

Have a little sip.

♪

So good.

Mm, ah.

♪

Ooh, nice.

♪

My bones is
glad it's here.

I only gotta walk about 50 yards
to get some of this.

♪

I guess you guys are having
a good time over here.

Let me tell ya something,
there's some good times

and some bad times
in this place.

You may have noticed
the pool back there?

All shady and filled
in with dirt.

You know somebody came in?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Not all the pools in California
have dirt in them,

let me tell
you something.

I've never seen...

Well, anyway,
after the accident...

that's the term,
it was an accident.

It was an accident.

Either the kid jumped
in himself or...

Too many chemicals,
too many chemicals.

What do I look like, huh?

A murderer
or something like that?

I just did what Ron
told me to do.

Isn't that right?

Yeah, a real charmer,
isn't he?

I bet he liked the two
of you a whole bunch.

Yeah.

Well, same way
with the Collinses.

Yeah, gave 'em free rent
for two months

and that surprised me.

And, of course, after
the accident, you know,

it was the daughter
in charge of paying rent.

I was surprised
they stayed here.

♪

But Ron's a real
character, man.

He got on the roof
there one night.

He'd been drinking
real bad, real heavy.

Started yelling and screaming,
"Cheyenne, Cheyenne!"

He fell off the roof

and right onto the terrace
there, almost cut him in half.

And the ma, well, we don't
know what happened to ma.

Nobody knows what
happened to ma.

Like I said, should be
around as a spirit one day.

♪

I don't know why.

I don't know
where she went.

Just... just... just gone.

What was the daughter's name?

Cheyenne.

(inaudible)

♪

Some say she's still around.

Do you believe in spirits?

Hm?

How about you, Curtis?

Do you believe in spirits?

I don't know.

If there's any spirits
here, I'm not scared.

Oh I tell you what,
I tell you what I believe in.

I believe in Curtis
from Wyoming

who should take a pretty
young lady of yours

and get the hell outta
here as soon as you can.

I don't want to.

You want to wait till
you're dead to find out?

♪

(inaudible)

Did you fix the thing?

No.

I wouldn't try using it.

Thanks, man.

Yeah, call me
if you need me.

I'm right across
the yard over here.

♪

Good night.

♪

Good night.

♪

Come on.

Let's just...

One hit.

One hit?

One hit.

Okay.

That's hittable.

I love you
because you're funny,

because you always
make me laugh.

- Oh yeah?
- Yeah.

And that's why I love you.

So you love me
because I'm funny looking?

No, I love you
because your spirit

is always
uplifting and funny and...

and you're trying to make
this a joke as usual,

but that's what I love about you
is you can joke and have fun.

Yeah.

Yeah, and I don't know, this is
like a good time to do that.

♪

Oh.

I love you.

♪

It's true.

It's good money.

Bartending is great.

Yeah.

What're you gonna do?

I don't know.

What should I do?

Male strip?

Male strip?

Mm-hm.

I'll just make this movie about
us and we'll be millionaires.

I'll just be
your sugar mama.

Yeah.

Watch out for that tree.

That would've been
bad, funny though.

(inaudible)

♪

Got ya.

You can't get me.

You need to give up.

Yeah.

(inaudible)

Wouldn't that be
a really funny joke.

♪

I actually...

We're trying
to see if this place

is somewhere where we
can be safe and happy.

I'm not sure it is.

Well, I know that there's
a little girl's ghost there

because there's...

♪

Oh my God, oh my God!

What did you?

(panicking)

♪

♪

♪

♪

That shit that happened last
night was pretty outta bounds.

Mike, you have
to face life.

You don't run from everything
that goes wrong.

You face it.

You just deal with it.

You can't just keep
running from everything.

You need to be a man.

You can't...

Sometimes we do need to run.

We do need to leave.

And this is one
of those times.

We can't be hanging
out there when there's...

you're, like, acting
like a total freak.

I'm just tired of running.

I'm so tired of running.

I'm tired of running too.

Obviously not.

I don't wanna run.

I don't wanna
live somewhere

where my wife
is seeing dead people

or seeing little girls

or waking up in the middle
of the night.

Like, you don't...
that's not normal.

Okay, there's
a million other places.

There's a million
other towns we can go to.

We just got here.

- There's no reason.
- Exactly, we just got here.

We just got here.

Well what do
you wanna do then?

I don't know, I just don't
wanna run anymore.

I just... I'm tired
of running.

I'm tired of moving.

We just got here.

I just... honestly,
I just wanna go home.

We're gonna go to a new place,
we might as well just go home.

That's where our friends are,
my family, Curtis.

We can't go home.

There's no... there's no home.

You know that.

We talked about that.

There's no way
we're going home.

♪

Look, I promised that I would
take care of you and I will.

And I'm telling you...

You think taking care of me

is just moving me
around everywhere?

Taking me away from my friends,
my family, everything?

♪

Look, we had to move.

We had to move
and we need to move now.

Okay, we're here now.

So now what?

You wanna
just leave again

and just keep going
and going and going.

Like, I can't live like this;
I can't do this.

I can't do this relationship
that's gonna be like this.

If you're gonna be this way...
I just can't do this.

Well, wait, what
do you wanna do?

Because I just want
you to be safe, okay.

I love you and I don't...
you're not being yourself, okay.

Just understand that.

You're not being yourself.

Look, maybe we should,

like, I think
we should move.

I don't... I mean, what other
option is there?

If we don't move,
like, what're we gonna do?

Like, just burn
some sage or something?

Yeah.

Or a séance or something.

I can't... I don't
wanna do a séance.

We can't do a séance.

That's...

You'd rather just move.

♪

♪

♪

(tape running down)

♪

(banging)

♪

♪

♪

♪

♪

♪

(groaning)

♪

♪

Help me.

What're you doing?

We have to find them.

♪

(spooky chanting "Yellow house")

♪

♪

♪

♪

♪

♪

♪

♪

♪

♪

♪

♪

♪

♪

♪

♪

♪

♪

Baby, wait, it's okay.

♪

♪

♪

(inaudible whispering)

♪

♪

...big yellow house.

♪

♪

♪

♪

♪

♪

♪

♪

♪

♪

♪

♪

♪

♪

♪

(rapid footsteps)

♪

(screaming)

♪

♪

(ghostly moaning)

♪

During a recent remodel
of the big yellow house,

crews discovered
the remains of a little girl

and a super 8 movie camera
with the footage still inside.

The footage has been released to
the media by Summerland police

who hope that someone out there
can help solve this mystery.

Investigators confirm the film
was shot by the missing couple.

Believed they were murdered
by occult members.

We know they moved to Summerland
in 1972 to start a new life

after their only child
died of a miscarriage.

Ashley picked
Summerland off a map

to start their
lives over again.

Now Summerland
was founded in 1883

by real estate speculator
H.L. Williams.

He divided
the land into parcels

and then promoted the tiny lots
to fellow spiritualists.

The houses they built
included bizarre features

such as doors
that open to walls

and stairways
ascending to no where.

And the spiritual center
of the town

was a community séance room

which is now the site
of the big yellow house.

They believe Summerland

had a special gateway
to contact the dead.