Eli Roth Presents: A Ghost Ruined My Life (2021–…): Season 1, Episode 6 - War With the Dead - full transcript
A United States soldier unknowingly awakens an ancient evil while stationed in Iraq.
No! No!
I'm Eli Roth.
I've spent my life
telling horror stories.
But imagine if those
stories were real
and suddenly you
found yourself stuck
and tormented by an evil spirit
and no one believed you.
These are the actual
accounts of terror
as told by the victims who came
face to face with their demons
and survived.
I consent to this interview.
That was roughly in 2009
when I was in Iraq.
I don't have many pictures
of myself in uniform
but I have this one.
This is right before...
we were heading on our convoy.
There's this official
picture of me...
that's when I was applying
to Officer Candidate School
I remember it's definitely
not a pleasant experience.
I remember somethings that I
really would rather not remember.
I always kinda grew up
with a little patriotic mentality.
And I always felt strongly that,
"It's a job somebody has
to do so why can't I?"
You feel ready to
take on the world
to do whatever's asked of you.
I became an
intelligence analyst.
I was part of a team tasked
out to collect intel on
the local terrorist cell or
network that was in that area.
You don't have any days off.
We're attacked on a daily basis.
We were told coming in, the base
has been around there for decades.
Certain sections of it
was where Saddam Hussein
tortured people on
a regular basis.
It's well-documented.
He tortured an Olympic
soccer team after they lost.
Check it out.
Who knows what's in here.
No man. Day's done.
Come on man.
What the hell is that?
Stay alert.
What did that
bastard do to these people?
Did you hear that?
We shouldn't be in here.
I see you,
Matt...
You get a sense of...
darkness.
I wanna say evil.
Very menacing.
I was just in shock at the
moment, 'cause I was like...
"Is this my mind
playing tricks on me?"
You saw that. I
know you saw that.
Come on, slick. Got all day?
Hey, guys.
- Another day in paradise, boys?
- Yeah.
I guess.
Another day picking
sand out of my teeth.
I hear that.
Oh man.
Incoming!
Hit the deck.
All clear!
Oh, I just was
having a nice dream.
Yeah, keep it to yourself.
Whatever.
The hell?
I... I thought I saw...
Nothing. A spider
or something.
A sp... a spider.
Well, was it armed?
Oh!
Eight legged freaks.
I know my eyes
aren't playing tricks on me.
I know I'm not losing my mind.
I was never prepared for
what's about to happen.
I'm hearing and seeing things and
I feel like I'm just going crazy.
And I wonder if it's
my imagination or not.
Like, this isn't real.
But it is real.
And you're almost frozen in
fear. You don't know what to do.
Hey, once you come back,
I'd really love to do
something with that spare room.
Maybe we can at least
paint or something.
Sure.
- "Sure," what?
- What?
What's wrong?
- Nothing.
- Matt?
It's...
Well, it's just this
place, that's all.
I'm just ready to come home.
Are you regretting it?
Regretting what?
Signing up.
Why would you say that?
Well, it's just that
lately you seem...
- I see what?
- Nevermind.
Besides, it's almost over.
You only have a few weeks
left...
Start a family.
Right?
That is why you
married me, isn't it?
'Cause it wasn't for the money.
Yeah.
Yeah, I'd like that too.
I hope that it'll... -
My thinking at that time was that
maybe if I ignore it, it'll go away.
I felt like I was gonna
sound like a crazy person.
When I say it out loud, it makes
you feel you're out of your mind.
What are you supposed
to do in that situation?
What can you do?
The only thing that I could
do was to try to get help.
Anyone that serves
in the military knows
it's kinda frowned upon to talk
about crazy things like that, um,
it could potentially hurt
your military career.
But I did seek out help on a religious
level by seeing the chaplain.
So, I just don't know
what to think, sir.
Well, I mean...
Yes, it sounds awful, that...
but none of this is real.
I mean, you're not actually seeing
these things, they're just...
a manifestation of your
fears and anxieties.
Well, it feels like
more than that.
Will you pray with me?
Um... I don't think
I'm there right now.
Okay.
You can come back
and see me any time.
I see you.
You okay?
Yeah.
I did feel like a crazy
person telling him these things.
I really didn't get
into too much detail,
because I knew he would probably
report that to somebody that
doesn't need to hear about that.
I'm at a loss.
Is it human? Or is
it something darker?
Maybe it was all in my head.
Man up. Deal with it.
It'll be over soon enough, you'll
go home and that'll be that.
For a lot of people, when deployment's
wrapping up, it's a jovial time.
Everyone's looking forward to going
home, seeing their families again,
just kinda getting
back to normal.
I had a feeling of dread...
like I was about to die.
What does it want?
Where the hell did it come from?
Oh God.
Guys. No, no...
No, what you...
Hey, hey, hey, whoa!
No!
Hey, no!
No!
No! No!
What?
What is it?
- I'm... sorry. I'm sorry...
- No, no, no, no.
- Shh.
- It's...
It's okay. Shh.
I kept having nightmares, like,
evil nightmares
and bad thoughts.
I had the mentality that what
happened there, it's all in the past.
That was Iraq and it
won't happen over here.
You can return to
normal life now.
Whatever.
Food was awful.
Oh yeah. But, the
company was nice.
Mmm. So was the wine.
- You coming?
- A nightcap.
Bring it with you.
I'll do.
Leave me alone.
Leave us alone.
Matt! What the hell?
This thing followed me home. And it
was worse than actually it was in Iraq.
You okay?
Yeah. Just thirsty.
Whoa!
Whoa!
We never left.
Matt!
What are you doing?
It had some kind
of attachment on me
and it was affecting
our marriage.
It was starting to take
a mental toll on me.
It actually wants to
cause havoc in your life.
And it feeds off of that. It feeds
off the more negative things.
I had to fight this alone.
But I don't know how.
My wife and I got a divorce.
It was not good.
Before I knew it
I was drinking,
I was in a very dark
place in my life.
And this dark entity had even
more of a strong hold on me.
Rage.
I'm feelin' really pissed off.
I was angry and I blamed
it for ruining my marriage.
Ruining my life.
They weren't really in
a position to help me.
I don't think, honestly,
they believed me.
Thought it was
just due to stress.
I know there has to be
more to this than just...
normal PTSD.
I don't know why it picked
me, I wish it didn't.
It could be something like, really
old. Something older than just...
a human spirit.
Something evil.
I don't necessarily like
to use the term "Demon."
But that's the only
way I can describe it.
I started researching with history
of Iraq going back thousand of years.
At one point there's large
followings of evil deities.
I did research about dark spirits
attaching themselves to people.
That's a way they
manifest themselves.
Maybe it had ties to you know,
what went on in the space
before we got there
as far as tortures...
and all the prisoners...
what happened to them.
I got the courage and got
onto a online dating site.
And then, I met Heather.
When I
met Matt, he was...
in a really rough spot.
Everyone had given up on him.
My son accepted Matt as a
father figure in his life.
"So, the little
piggy put the cover back on,
boiled the wolf up,
and the three little
pigs ate him for supper."
The end.
And now, you sleep.
Good night, buddy.
What?
Nothing.
I was really hoping it wouldn't
bother Heather and her family.
I don't need Heather and her child
to be exposed to something like this.
They don't need to.
I have to keep it to myself.
Can I help you, sir?
Can we play a video game?
I'm sorry, sir. I'm working.
Let me see.
See?
Very boring stuff.
Okay, let's go.
- Let's get you out of here.
- Why?
Go see your Mama.
No. Go away.
- Go away!
- Matt.
We need to talk.
I should leave.
I don't want you to have
to deal with this thing.
Either of you.
Look at me.
We're
not leaving. You got that?
Matt said that,
"Something's happening
and I think you
should know about it."
He didn't really wanna tell me.
Um, because he was afraid
of what I may think of him.
At this point, I don't
believe in the paranormal
and I have no reason to believe.
I'm certain that there is an explanation
for everything that's happening.
Mommy.
Mommy.
Mommy.
Mommy.
Mommy.
Mommy.
Mommy.
Mommy.
Nash, honey...
Hey...
Oh, God.
I've never experienced
something so terrifying.
I knew it wasn't PTSD.
If it was just Matt's PTSD
then why, why did I see it too?
Having an experience like this
changes your mind forever.
There's no doubt in my
mind that this is real.
After Heather had
that experience,
my biggest fear was that it would
potentially hurt Heather or her son
and I was determined
not to let it happen.
At this point, I'm
willing to try anything.
We did start going to church.
She's introduced me to the
idea of a higher power.
"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 thine is the kingdom,
and the power, and the glory,
for ever and ever. Amen."
Amen.
What's wrong?
It's all right,
honey. Everything's okay.
It's okay.
That's when panic arose
and and I was afraid.
This isn't something that...
that is fun living with.
Sorry.
Sorry guys.
You start to think, "How can we defend
ourselves, um, how can we fight back?"
And one of the things
that came to my mind,
um, was using burning
sage throughout the house.
People will do that
to cleanse bad spirits
or negative energy
from their residence.
"He who dwells in the
shelter of the Most High
will abide in the shadow
of the Almighty.
I will say to the Lord,
My refuge,
my fortress, my God,
in whom I trust."
We felt like...
it calmed down some.
Nash!
Nash!
Nash? Nash, what happened?
Those shadows.
It's still here and it was
like all hope was lost.
I just don't want it harming anybody
else's life like it has mine.
It was 100%
communicating evil.
I felt really, really
scared. I was done.
I do my research and I choose
what I think is the best weapon
to fight this entity.
My only chance is to
face this thing head-on.
Fight fire with fire.
All right.
It's here.
I bought an EMF detector
and a Spirit Box.
What that does is cycle through
radio frequencies at a fast rate.
It's said that spirits are able
to talk through the white noise
that it's cycling through.
And the EMF detector detects any kinda
electromagnetic fields that are in the area.
Ghosts and things demonic in
nature are said to make it go off.
We're hopeful that communicating
with the spirit or whatever it is,
something good might come of it.
Maybe we'll come to
an understanding.
But maybe it'll piss
it off even more.
I was definitely afraid
that we were gonna open doors
to something that would
not be able to be closed.
But my mind's made up.
We're going to end this.
Let's just start
asking questions.
Sure.
All right. Let's do it.
I'm now speaking to the
entity inhabiting our home.
The entity that attached
itself to me in Iraq.
Can you hear me?
Are you present?
Tell us who you are.
What do you want?
It's ridiculous.
Nothing's happening.
You're right.
I...
am...
Please, leave us alone.
I feel it everywhere.
What are you?
Why did you choose me?
What do you want from us?
I see
that you are ours.
That's it.
Enough.
Living here is a...
war...
murder...
Why me?
Why me?
Why me? Why me?
I know you can
feel it...
You belong to us.
What did it mean,
"You would feel it."
I think it knew.
It knew how I felt over there.
Everything clicks. I
know where it came from.
First, when I was in Iraq, I
was really motivated to go into war.
But I just, I had enough.
While that's going on, we're
attacked on a daily basis.
Now, I started thinking,
"What the hell did
I sign up for?"
This spirit found me vulnerable.
It's only purpose is to
cause chaos and disorder
and I became a target.
I see you, Matt.
This is the same damn thing
terrorizing me and my family
as was the one that was in Iraq.
We usually began, just
asking a general question.
Um, is there a spirit here
with us in this house?
Yes or no?
It sounded
like it said "Yes."
Do you know that you
are no longer living?
- "A spirit." Did you hear "Spirit"?
- I heard "Spirit."
There are things such as demons.
There are things
such as possessions.
Knowing something
that's in your home
and you didn't want it to be there
and it's unwelcomed is very unnerving,
it's very unsettling.
We move into a new home
leaving the old house behind
in hopes that we'll
have a fresh start.
This thing followed us.
It's still making
its presence known.
It's a constant battle. But
one I know we can win together.
We've tried everything
outside of actually having,
like, paranormal investigators
or a priest coming
in to our house.
Those would probably
be the next steps.
The only way we can deal with it is
to cope with it and live with it.
Do you have a
supernatural stalker?
We want to tell your story.
Contact us here.
I'm Eli Roth.
I've spent my life
telling horror stories.
But imagine if those
stories were real
and suddenly you
found yourself stuck
and tormented by an evil spirit
and no one believed you.
These are the actual
accounts of terror
as told by the victims who came
face to face with their demons
and survived.
I consent to this interview.
That was roughly in 2009
when I was in Iraq.
I don't have many pictures
of myself in uniform
but I have this one.
This is right before...
we were heading on our convoy.
There's this official
picture of me...
that's when I was applying
to Officer Candidate School
I remember it's definitely
not a pleasant experience.
I remember somethings that I
really would rather not remember.
I always kinda grew up
with a little patriotic mentality.
And I always felt strongly that,
"It's a job somebody has
to do so why can't I?"
You feel ready to
take on the world
to do whatever's asked of you.
I became an
intelligence analyst.
I was part of a team tasked
out to collect intel on
the local terrorist cell or
network that was in that area.
You don't have any days off.
We're attacked on a daily basis.
We were told coming in, the base
has been around there for decades.
Certain sections of it
was where Saddam Hussein
tortured people on
a regular basis.
It's well-documented.
He tortured an Olympic
soccer team after they lost.
Check it out.
Who knows what's in here.
No man. Day's done.
Come on man.
What the hell is that?
Stay alert.
What did that
bastard do to these people?
Did you hear that?
We shouldn't be in here.
I see you,
Matt...
You get a sense of...
darkness.
I wanna say evil.
Very menacing.
I was just in shock at the
moment, 'cause I was like...
"Is this my mind
playing tricks on me?"
You saw that. I
know you saw that.
Come on, slick. Got all day?
Hey, guys.
- Another day in paradise, boys?
- Yeah.
I guess.
Another day picking
sand out of my teeth.
I hear that.
Oh man.
Incoming!
Hit the deck.
All clear!
Oh, I just was
having a nice dream.
Yeah, keep it to yourself.
Whatever.
The hell?
I... I thought I saw...
Nothing. A spider
or something.
A sp... a spider.
Well, was it armed?
Oh!
Eight legged freaks.
I know my eyes
aren't playing tricks on me.
I know I'm not losing my mind.
I was never prepared for
what's about to happen.
I'm hearing and seeing things and
I feel like I'm just going crazy.
And I wonder if it's
my imagination or not.
Like, this isn't real.
But it is real.
And you're almost frozen in
fear. You don't know what to do.
Hey, once you come back,
I'd really love to do
something with that spare room.
Maybe we can at least
paint or something.
Sure.
- "Sure," what?
- What?
What's wrong?
- Nothing.
- Matt?
It's...
Well, it's just this
place, that's all.
I'm just ready to come home.
Are you regretting it?
Regretting what?
Signing up.
Why would you say that?
Well, it's just that
lately you seem...
- I see what?
- Nevermind.
Besides, it's almost over.
You only have a few weeks
left...
Start a family.
Right?
That is why you
married me, isn't it?
'Cause it wasn't for the money.
Yeah.
Yeah, I'd like that too.
I hope that it'll... -
My thinking at that time was that
maybe if I ignore it, it'll go away.
I felt like I was gonna
sound like a crazy person.
When I say it out loud, it makes
you feel you're out of your mind.
What are you supposed
to do in that situation?
What can you do?
The only thing that I could
do was to try to get help.
Anyone that serves
in the military knows
it's kinda frowned upon to talk
about crazy things like that, um,
it could potentially hurt
your military career.
But I did seek out help on a religious
level by seeing the chaplain.
So, I just don't know
what to think, sir.
Well, I mean...
Yes, it sounds awful, that...
but none of this is real.
I mean, you're not actually seeing
these things, they're just...
a manifestation of your
fears and anxieties.
Well, it feels like
more than that.
Will you pray with me?
Um... I don't think
I'm there right now.
Okay.
You can come back
and see me any time.
I see you.
You okay?
Yeah.
I did feel like a crazy
person telling him these things.
I really didn't get
into too much detail,
because I knew he would probably
report that to somebody that
doesn't need to hear about that.
I'm at a loss.
Is it human? Or is
it something darker?
Maybe it was all in my head.
Man up. Deal with it.
It'll be over soon enough, you'll
go home and that'll be that.
For a lot of people, when deployment's
wrapping up, it's a jovial time.
Everyone's looking forward to going
home, seeing their families again,
just kinda getting
back to normal.
I had a feeling of dread...
like I was about to die.
What does it want?
Where the hell did it come from?
Oh God.
Guys. No, no...
No, what you...
Hey, hey, hey, whoa!
No!
Hey, no!
No!
No! No!
What?
What is it?
- I'm... sorry. I'm sorry...
- No, no, no, no.
- Shh.
- It's...
It's okay. Shh.
I kept having nightmares, like,
evil nightmares
and bad thoughts.
I had the mentality that what
happened there, it's all in the past.
That was Iraq and it
won't happen over here.
You can return to
normal life now.
Whatever.
Food was awful.
Oh yeah. But, the
company was nice.
Mmm. So was the wine.
- You coming?
- A nightcap.
Bring it with you.
I'll do.
Leave me alone.
Leave us alone.
Matt! What the hell?
This thing followed me home. And it
was worse than actually it was in Iraq.
You okay?
Yeah. Just thirsty.
Whoa!
Whoa!
We never left.
Matt!
What are you doing?
It had some kind
of attachment on me
and it was affecting
our marriage.
It was starting to take
a mental toll on me.
It actually wants to
cause havoc in your life.
And it feeds off of that. It feeds
off the more negative things.
I had to fight this alone.
But I don't know how.
My wife and I got a divorce.
It was not good.
Before I knew it
I was drinking,
I was in a very dark
place in my life.
And this dark entity had even
more of a strong hold on me.
Rage.
I'm feelin' really pissed off.
I was angry and I blamed
it for ruining my marriage.
Ruining my life.
They weren't really in
a position to help me.
I don't think, honestly,
they believed me.
Thought it was
just due to stress.
I know there has to be
more to this than just...
normal PTSD.
I don't know why it picked
me, I wish it didn't.
It could be something like, really
old. Something older than just...
a human spirit.
Something evil.
I don't necessarily like
to use the term "Demon."
But that's the only
way I can describe it.
I started researching with history
of Iraq going back thousand of years.
At one point there's large
followings of evil deities.
I did research about dark spirits
attaching themselves to people.
That's a way they
manifest themselves.
Maybe it had ties to you know,
what went on in the space
before we got there
as far as tortures...
and all the prisoners...
what happened to them.
I got the courage and got
onto a online dating site.
And then, I met Heather.
When I
met Matt, he was...
in a really rough spot.
Everyone had given up on him.
My son accepted Matt as a
father figure in his life.
"So, the little
piggy put the cover back on,
boiled the wolf up,
and the three little
pigs ate him for supper."
The end.
And now, you sleep.
Good night, buddy.
What?
Nothing.
I was really hoping it wouldn't
bother Heather and her family.
I don't need Heather and her child
to be exposed to something like this.
They don't need to.
I have to keep it to myself.
Can I help you, sir?
Can we play a video game?
I'm sorry, sir. I'm working.
Let me see.
See?
Very boring stuff.
Okay, let's go.
- Let's get you out of here.
- Why?
Go see your Mama.
No. Go away.
- Go away!
- Matt.
We need to talk.
I should leave.
I don't want you to have
to deal with this thing.
Either of you.
Look at me.
We're
not leaving. You got that?
Matt said that,
"Something's happening
and I think you
should know about it."
He didn't really wanna tell me.
Um, because he was afraid
of what I may think of him.
At this point, I don't
believe in the paranormal
and I have no reason to believe.
I'm certain that there is an explanation
for everything that's happening.
Mommy.
Mommy.
Mommy.
Mommy.
Mommy.
Mommy.
Mommy.
Mommy.
Nash, honey...
Hey...
Oh, God.
I've never experienced
something so terrifying.
I knew it wasn't PTSD.
If it was just Matt's PTSD
then why, why did I see it too?
Having an experience like this
changes your mind forever.
There's no doubt in my
mind that this is real.
After Heather had
that experience,
my biggest fear was that it would
potentially hurt Heather or her son
and I was determined
not to let it happen.
At this point, I'm
willing to try anything.
We did start going to church.
She's introduced me to the
idea of a higher power.
"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 thine is the kingdom,
and the power, and the glory,
for ever and ever. Amen."
Amen.
What's wrong?
It's all right,
honey. Everything's okay.
It's okay.
That's when panic arose
and and I was afraid.
This isn't something that...
that is fun living with.
Sorry.
Sorry guys.
You start to think, "How can we defend
ourselves, um, how can we fight back?"
And one of the things
that came to my mind,
um, was using burning
sage throughout the house.
People will do that
to cleanse bad spirits
or negative energy
from their residence.
"He who dwells in the
shelter of the Most High
will abide in the shadow
of the Almighty.
I will say to the Lord,
My refuge,
my fortress, my God,
in whom I trust."
We felt like...
it calmed down some.
Nash!
Nash!
Nash? Nash, what happened?
Those shadows.
It's still here and it was
like all hope was lost.
I just don't want it harming anybody
else's life like it has mine.
It was 100%
communicating evil.
I felt really, really
scared. I was done.
I do my research and I choose
what I think is the best weapon
to fight this entity.
My only chance is to
face this thing head-on.
Fight fire with fire.
All right.
It's here.
I bought an EMF detector
and a Spirit Box.
What that does is cycle through
radio frequencies at a fast rate.
It's said that spirits are able
to talk through the white noise
that it's cycling through.
And the EMF detector detects any kinda
electromagnetic fields that are in the area.
Ghosts and things demonic in
nature are said to make it go off.
We're hopeful that communicating
with the spirit or whatever it is,
something good might come of it.
Maybe we'll come to
an understanding.
But maybe it'll piss
it off even more.
I was definitely afraid
that we were gonna open doors
to something that would
not be able to be closed.
But my mind's made up.
We're going to end this.
Let's just start
asking questions.
Sure.
All right. Let's do it.
I'm now speaking to the
entity inhabiting our home.
The entity that attached
itself to me in Iraq.
Can you hear me?
Are you present?
Tell us who you are.
What do you want?
It's ridiculous.
Nothing's happening.
You're right.
I...
am...
Please, leave us alone.
I feel it everywhere.
What are you?
Why did you choose me?
What do you want from us?
I see
that you are ours.
That's it.
Enough.
Living here is a...
war...
murder...
Why me?
Why me?
Why me? Why me?
I know you can
feel it...
You belong to us.
What did it mean,
"You would feel it."
I think it knew.
It knew how I felt over there.
Everything clicks. I
know where it came from.
First, when I was in Iraq, I
was really motivated to go into war.
But I just, I had enough.
While that's going on, we're
attacked on a daily basis.
Now, I started thinking,
"What the hell did
I sign up for?"
This spirit found me vulnerable.
It's only purpose is to
cause chaos and disorder
and I became a target.
I see you, Matt.
This is the same damn thing
terrorizing me and my family
as was the one that was in Iraq.
We usually began, just
asking a general question.
Um, is there a spirit here
with us in this house?
Yes or no?
It sounded
like it said "Yes."
Do you know that you
are no longer living?
- "A spirit." Did you hear "Spirit"?
- I heard "Spirit."
There are things such as demons.
There are things
such as possessions.
Knowing something
that's in your home
and you didn't want it to be there
and it's unwelcomed is very unnerving,
it's very unsettling.
We move into a new home
leaving the old house behind
in hopes that we'll
have a fresh start.
This thing followed us.
It's still making
its presence known.
It's a constant battle. But
one I know we can win together.
We've tried everything
outside of actually having,
like, paranormal investigators
or a priest coming
in to our house.
Those would probably
be the next steps.
The only way we can deal with it is
to cope with it and live with it.
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supernatural stalker?
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