CoNCEPCIÓN, CHILE
- No, thanks, buddy. - Americans?
Yes.
They're out of it. It could be something in the air.
- Maybe now's a good time. - Yeah.
Father Bońilla...
I am blind... help bring light to my eyes.
The guy has been dead 40 years.
A month ago, the earthquake broke open his tomb.
No. Don't put that in her mouth. You'll only make her more sick.
Tell her.
There is no cure here.
Your girl will not get well this way.
only the Devil...
...would try and stop God's miracle.
What did she say?
She thinks you're the devil.
Tell her I don't believe in him either.
Ben, check this out.
What do you think's under here?
What is that?
Yeah, well...
All right.
Katherine.
It's okay. It's okay. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry.
- Hey. - It's okay.
Hey, hey, hey.
Hey. Hey. Relax. Hey. Buddy, buddy, relax.
Hey. All right. All right, relax.
Deep well injection.
That's what it's called when a factory drops hazardous waste down a dry oil well.
This kind of illegal underground disposal...
...has been common practice in Third World countries for years.
In this case, ethanol and methanol...
...mixed with the aromatic compound DMSo and benzene...
...seeped out after an earthquake...
...running off into the sewer system below the monastery...
...the fumes of which has the dual effect of preserving human tissue...
...and, if inhaled, creating intense hallucinatory effects.
Throw in a population economically deprived enough to believe in almost anything...
...and you've got yourself a miracle.
A miracle created by a greedy, cost-cutting corporation.
Instead of providing cures for the faithful...
...it provided them with lungfuls of toxic waste.
This puts me at 48 miraculous occurrences I've investigated...
...with 48 scientific explanations.
I'm sorry to say, the only miracle is that people keep believing.
Have a great weekend.
- Go, Tigers. - They need a miracle.
LoUISlANA STATE UNIVERSITY
Professor, don't you have a TA to help you carry that stuff?
I did, but once he got his master's, they gave him an office next to mine.
Sounds like a bright guy.
And forgetful. My class was looking forward to their guest speaker.
Sorry about that. I had a thing.
What was her name?
Her name was Theresa and we met in church.
For old time's sake.
Professor Winter's office.
Father Costigan.
- Yeah, hold on. - No. No.
Michael. It's been a long time.
It's nice to hear your voice.
What's going on?
I know how hard it is for you to talk to me.
To remember.
I want you to know that that's why I stopped calling.
I thought you stopped calling me because you hate what I've become.
I could never hate you.
Katherine, you're going to think I'm crazy.
I have all these photos of you in Africa...
...but-
But what?
In every photo I have of you, your face is burnt.
It happened in front of my eyes.
Wait. What happened?
I think God has sent me a message.
He wants me to warn you.
If God was gonna send me a warning, he should have done it a long time ago.
I understand why you stopped believing.
You've lost so much.
But, listen, Katherine, the burns in the photos...
Put together, they formed a pattern.
- A pattern. - Yes.
An ancient symbol. I believe you're in danger.
I am not in any danger and I'm really sorry, but I have to go now.
They formed the shape of a sickle. An upside-down sickle.
- I'm sorry, I can't do this. I have to go. - Please, wait.
- Bye, Michael. - Don't hang up.
Katherine, why don't you go find Sarah?
Katherine, this is Doug Blackwell.
- Professor. - Hi.
- I hope I'm not interrupting. - No.
Doug has a problem you might help with.
- Could Doug explain on the way to class? - Sure.
- Thank you. - All right, buddy.
You've got three bike paths and a quad to make your case.
Well, I'll try.
I'm from a place called Haven. A few miles past Fausse Pointe in the bayou?
Sounds nice.
Yeah. Up until three days ago, yeah.
Some of the fellas were out fishing on the river.
Water kind of went red on them. Dark red.
- Like blood. - That's what it looked like.
Still does, in fact.
And nobody knows what's causing it?
They put me in charge of finding out.
I teach science and math, grade three through 12.
Kind of makes me the town brainiac.
Well, when I'm called in, there's usually a religious angle.
Well, that's why I'm here.
Some of the folks in town are worried that this is a sort of plague.
As in old Testament plague?
As in God, Moses, the whole deal.
They think there might be more plagues on the way.
Heard a lot of Exodus the last couple of days.
I could give 100 reasons why your river's turned red.
Great. All I need is one.
Call TV stations. They'll round up 10 scientists begging to solve your problem.
No. Thank you.
our town's the best secret in the Bible belt.
I'm not interested in becoming a punch line.
- I'm sorry. I wish that I could help- - Professor.
They're blaming it on a little girl.
She found her brother dead on the river the day it turned red.
Have they considered the thing in the river?
They think she killed him.
They think she turned the water into blood.
Girl's only 12 years old, Miss Winter.
Morning.
Did you sleep last night?
Yeah. Where are we?
Far enough that all I'm getting is this guy.
Jesus is the food on your table and the gas in your car.
He is the beer in your bottle and the bullets in your gun.
- You gonna be all right with this? - I grew up in a place like this.
Every bump in the night's a devil at the door.
Turn on the light, speak in a soft voice, and they'll come right around.
Yeah, I meant because of the girl.
I'll be fine.
Thanks for asking, though.
Hi.
Yeah. Still no service?
All he wrote down was 17 miles to the turnoff.
I'd rather talk to you anyway, over.
Well, ain't that sweet?
Copy.
Well, we're deep in it now.
I think it's kind of cute.
Sort of.
Hi. You must be the folks from the college.
I'm Isabelle. They told me y'all would start showing up right on about now.
All right, well, come on, then. Let's park this thing out of the sun.
I kind of have the catbird seat from over there inside the store.
- Thanks for meeting us. - Don't thank me.
You are doing us a big old favor.
I tell you, this town ain't seen nothing like this.
The McConnell boy, then the river.
Well, we all swim in it. Hank.
Look, he's my eldest. That's him over there with his daddy.
Hey, baby.
- Hey, how you doing? - Fine.
He just bought himself a Ski-Doo. Hadn't even got it wet yet.
- How y'all doing? - Good.
Don't y'all just love that sound?
- What is that it's made of? - Fulgurite.
It's what happens to sand when lightning strikes the ground.
You all must get a lot of lightning.
Most in three parishes.
We've been selling chimes all over.
Soon there'll be a piece of Haven everywhere.
You know, we're even thinking website.
Hey, Janet. How you holding up?
Hey, pud.
Hey, little man.
Church is this way. Come on.
See you.
We were only a week apart. It's number two for the both of us.
Know what you're having?
Heck, doesn't matter to me.
- Morning. - Morning.
You got kids?
No, I don't.
They must be upstairs.
They?
The town council. Doug, the mayor, and whoever else ain't doing their real job.
Boys sure do love to act important.
We certainly do, ma'am.
- Can't have a field trip in a damn gym. - Then we'll postpone.
Gonna get real suspicious-
They'll get suspicious if every kid comes down with a staph infection.
oh, hi.
- Mayor Brooks. - Hi.
These are the folks I was telling you about.
I'm hoping Katherine here can help us with our problem.
I understand you're not a Bible reader.
Well, I've read it.
Just don't put much stock in it.
Yeah.
Some folks just don't wanna go to heaven.
Maybe it's time to look at your river.
It ain't getting any better.
When did the fish start?
This morning. Bubbled up like farts in a bathtub.
How far does it go?
That way, up to the channel. And then down this way...
...almost half a mile to the dam.
- That could be your problem. - How do you mean?
A dam gives pollutants a place to build up.
Longer they're there, the more toxic they get.
Is it blood?
You know, I wish I could tell you.
Never seen that before.
- Black's not even on the chart. - Bad phenolphthalein?
- I hope not. It's the only we've got. - Get more samples.
We'll overnight to the lab. I'll get the waders.
Can't take it in any further. Too shallow.
okay. We'll walk.
You gonna be all right if I leave you alone?
oh, yeah. Yeah, I'm loving life right now.
Katherine?
Easy there. You all right?
I'm fine. I just hit my head.
I saw a girl.
- What? Blond? - Yeah.
Kind of thin?
It's not how I figured on you two meeting.
That's the girl everyone's worried about?
Loren McConnell.
We're not far from where her brother, Brody, died.
They live out here?
And that's pretty much how the rest of the town likes it.
- What's everyone have against these people? - A single mom letting her kids run wild?
- Doesn't exactly fit the town's self-image. - Where's the father?
Brody's dad drove his truck off the causeway.
Loren's father was a traveling preacher.
Really? Covered wagon or a tent?
No, I think it was a Pontiac.
He only stayed around long enough to leave her mom in a fix.
Folks been looking at her cross-eyed ever since.
I haven't been out this way in a while.
- Nobody has. - What did this place used to be?
A haven. About a hundred years ago.
Until three hurricanes in three years pretty much wiped it off the map.
They buried all their dead in that mausoleum.
- Then they started over on higher ground. - Thought you said no one came here.
Katherine?
- Yeah? - Yeah...
- Where are you? - I'm close. Be right there.
I know I tend to jump to conclusions on these things-
- Don't say it. - If this town is thinking plagues...
- ... they got one closer. - Don't you think it's early to go biblical?
Seeing I was waist-high in blood, dodging dead frogs, no.
They died because the pH level of the water was off the charts.
- We're gonna need to see the body. - I'll call, see if I can arrange it.
Is there any way I can overnight these samples?
Sure. We got a post office in town. I'll point it out on the way to my place.
Your place?
Well, I hope you don't mind...
...but we don't have a motel here, but I got two extra rooms all ready to go.
- I wasn't sure if you two were... - No, we're not.
No accounting for taste.
- So that's okay? - It's fine.
You wanna ride with me? I can clean off the seat.
Sure.
Hey, Katherine, if you need me to disappear so you can get acquainted...
- ... I can find a Stuckey's... - Get those samples in...
...before it's too late.
- Your hair looks nice. - Shut it.
What do you think?
It's probably Pfiesteria.
- Excuse me? - oh, it's a micro-organism...
...which gets lethal under the right conditions.
Toxins bloom. Fish die. Your river turns red.
Right.
You meant the scenery.
No, that's good. Very efficient.
I have a tendency to miss the forest for-
Literally.
It's beautiful.
From a ways off, maybe.
I've been trying to restore it since my granddad gave it to me.
You must have been a good grandson.
Well, he didn't have a lot of choice.
I come from a long line of only children.
- I got it. - Thanks.
This is a pretty big job for just one guy.
Yes, it is. Kind of.
I got it.
Katherine?
I got a bed set up in here.
- Thank you. - It's not much.
No, it's great. Thanks.
And I got a couch in the other room. I thought Ben could use it.
I hope he doesn't mind.
You folks really like these things. These.
Damn.
What?
My bracelet.
I must've lost it at the swamp.
Was it valuable?
only to me, I guess.
- It might be a little hard to find in the dark. - It's okay, really. I'll live.
Maybe I'll look in the truck.
- Yeah, sure. - Yeah.
Well, I hope you like fish.
Well, where exactly did you get the fish?
Grocery store. Seafood section.
- Great. - oh, well, then, grill on.
- oh, shit. I forgot the Tabasco. - I'll get it. Ben needs a refill anyway.
Cupboard above the sink.
So I guess it's safe to say you're a church-going man.
oh, yeah. Ten years, every Sunday.
How's that fit with disproving miracles?
You know, it's easy to lose faith.
Look at Katherine. If an ordained minister can turn her back on God...
...then what hope is there for the rest of us, right?
Plus, I think people need to believe in miracles.
Find any real ones yet?
Yeah. Yeah. Two semi-automatics, at 10 feet.
Punctured my liver, my kidneys, both arms. Shattered my hip.
18th Street, when I was young, doing dumb stuff.
Hell, I was still hooked to the IV when they rolled me into court.
Yeah, I knew I was supposed to die.
I guess Katherine doesn't have the same tattoos.
No, I keep telling her to get a question mark right here, but no.
- Weren't you getting me a beer? - Guess you didn't pray hard enough.
Well, the first wave's done. I hope everybody's hungry.
Amen to that because I'm starving.
Hey.
Yeah, sure. I'll ask.
We'll be right over.
That was Cade.
Jim Wakeman says his cattle are acting strange.
- Well, did he call the vet? - Can't until tomorrow.
Is their place close to the river?
About half a mile.
- Might be worth a look. - Yeah. I'll go get the stuff.
I don't know. I mean, the maggots and the flies.
Where did they come from so fast?
Katherine, do you still think this is...? What do you call it?
Pfiesteria. It makes the most sense.
- Are we here yet? - Yeah, farm's just up here.
- How many head of cattle do they-? - oh, God.
What the fuck was that?
Doug?
Shit.
Goddamn bull tore right through my holding pen.
- Nearly gutted my boy before I got him clear. - When did the cows start getting sick?
At milking this morning some didn't wanna give.
Now most of them can't even stand.
Seems like they're shriveling up.
Have you changed their food? Give them any new supplements, hormones?
Ain't nothing like that.
All my cattle's corn- and hay-fed.
What about pesticides? Could they have gotten into another field?
I did a line walk.
Fences are all good.
Anyhow, there ain't any growing farms around here.
Cows drink up to...
...12 gallons of water a day.
If whatever's contaminating the river got into the water-
My animals get their water from a well. Same as we do.
We're gonna go in.
This is getting a little hard to ignore, Katherine.
We're four for four, chapter and the verse. And I mean actual verse.
- Blood, frogs, flies, dead livestock. - These cows aren't dead.
No, not yet. But from where I'm standing, it looks pretty damn serious.
God sent the plagues as warnings to the Pharaoh to let his people go.
What is he supposed to be saying here?
Yeah, well, maybe it's not from him.
The Pharaoh's sorcerers used magic to match God, plague for plague.
- Evil against good. - Who is responsible? Satan?
I didn't say that.
I don't know, but what I do know is that we are witnessing biblical events.
All right.
- You wanna talk plagues? - Yeah.
- Let's talk plagues. - okay.
In 1400 B.C., a group of nervous Egyptians saw the Nile turn red.
oh, God. Come on.
But what they thought was blood was actually an algae bloom...
...which killed the fish, which prior to that had been living off the eggs of frogs.
Those uneaten eggs turned into record numbers of baby frogs...
- ... who subsequently fled to land and died. - Right.
Their little rotting frog bodies attracted lice and flies.
The lice carried the bluetongue virus, which killed 70 percent of Egypt's livestock.
The flies carried glanders, a bacterial infection which in humans causes boils.
After, the Nile River Valley was hit with a three-day sandstorm...
...otherwise known as the plague of darkness.
- Katherine. - During the sandstorm, heat can combine...
...with an approaching cold front to create not only hail, but electrical storms...
...which would have looked to the Egyptians like fire from the sky.
The wind would've blown the Ethiopian locust population off course...
...and right into downtown Cairo.
Hail is wet, locusts leave droppings...
...spread both on grain, and you've got mycotoxins.
Dinnertime in Egypt meant the first-born got the biggest portion...
...which meant he ate the most toxins, so he died.
Ten plagues. Ten scientific explanations.
Gotta wash up.
Late night, huh?
Can't sleep.
I bet.
Are those your cows? The ones out there?
of course.
Who's that with them?
Girl from before.
Before?
When she made the cows lie down.
Did you see her?
Hey, you know, that's a really pretty picture.
Do you think maybe I could have it?
okay. I'm drawing a fire truck now.
Thank you.
I let you handle things when the McConnell boy died. Didn't I, Cade?
- Yeah. - And, Doug...
When that river turned to blood where Loren found him...
- ... I let you handle it, didn't I? - You did.
No one's done a damn thing.
Now this town's living in fear waiting for the next plague to come.
If you're doing your job, why am I looking at a man's livelihood...
...lying dead on the ground not two miles from where the McConnells live?
Now, do I have to bring this family in myself?
How did Brody McConnell die, sheriff?
- I don't know. - What do you know?
Well, I got the call about 2.
The girl found Brody by the river and he wasn't moving.
Which is where and how he was when I got there.
And there wasn't a mark on him.
Somebody just snuck up and stole the life right out of him.
That doesn't mean Loren did it.
Loren, her mother...
...or one of their degenerate friends.
There's something unnatural. I want it stopped. Hear me?
Stopped before God ups and makes an example out of this whole town.
What do you mean by "unnatural"?
It was Wake's wife what saw it.
Last Christmas...
...Brynn and some of the other ladies brought cookies out to the McConnells.
Community outreach or something.
Brynn said when she got there, there was a bunch of motorcycles out front.
Then she heard some singing.
More like chanting.
Then she stuck her head in the window.
She saw something big butchered in the sink.
It wasn't dead yet.
You didn't think to tell me?
It's a rumor.
The worst kind.
Brynn don't got the imagination for it not to be true.
Father?
Are you all right?
Yes. Thank you, Sister. I'm fine.
Come here.
There you go.
Katherine.
Doug?
Hello?
Doug?
She seems like a good person.
Katherine.
The power is out. I didn't mean to disturb you.
It's probably the breaker. I'll flip it.
It's okay, really.
Take your time.
At least let me buy you a drink.
What is it?
It's local.
Some folks think it tastes like bourbon.
Have they ever had bourbon?
Yeah.
Sam used to clean her paintbrushes with it.
- How long were you married? - Seven years.
Six of them cancer-free.
We wanted a big family and were trying for our first kid, you know?
She started feeling sick.
Went to the doctor thinking we were having a boy and came out...
I'm sorry.
Still hear her in the kitchen sometimes.
- That goes away after a while. - I'm not sure I want it to.
When did you...?
Five years ago. David and Sarah.
So how'd you pick the Sudan?
I had a friend, Michael Costigan, a priest who ran a camp there.
He asked me to come.
David, my husband, didn't wanna go, not with Sarah being so young...
...but I was the one with a calling.
I'd just been ordained and I knew what was best.
- You were doing a good thing. - So I thought.
We showed up with our crate of Bibles and our clean T-shirts...
...and our very good intentions.
And then it didn't rain a drop for a full year.