We're gonna have a lot of fun with this camera.
What's the matter?
It was the most thoughtful present he'd ever given me.
- Aah! - Ahh!
I know it sounds crazy that a watch could ruin someone's life.
- What are you doing? Aah! - Help me!
I do not know what's happening.
Some people believe that a violent death
can play over and over.
I was positive I was losing my mind.
- Aah! - Justin!
Hello?!
Captions by vitac... www.vitac.com
captions paid for by discovery communications
- Eggnog? - Of course.
Remember how this destroyed my stomach last year?
Drink up. It's worth the nausea.
- Merry Christmas. - Cheers.
It was Christmas Eve...
I guess, about 15 years ago.
I'd been dating Tom about three years by then.
And every year at Christmas time,
he went completely insane.
It was pretty adorable.
No. what?
This is back before everybody
had smartphone cameras in their pocket.
Tom! How did you pay for this?!
I really wanted a video camera,
but we were pretty much flat broke.
This is way nicer than what I got you! Thank you!
It was the most thoughtful present he'd ever given me.
Just let me borrow that next weekend.
Yeah. any time you want.
Here.
Say something.
Um...
We're gonna have a lot of fun with this camera.
Oh. are we?
I think so.
Couldn't wait to use it that weekend.
We had a tradition of going camping
with my friend Natasha and her husband, Jake,
right after Christmas.
It's a lot colder than it was last year.
Yeah. it's probably why we're the only ones out here.
No kidding.
And every year, we'd go a little deeper into the woods
to, you know, get away from the crowds.
I didn't see a single other campsite on our way in here.
Yeah, well, we're idiots.
I thought we banned the guitar.
Oh. I've been taking lessons. You'll love it.
Mm-hmm.
Could always shoot a music video.
Please don't encourage him.
That was horrible.
- Gosh. - Can I tell them?
No.
Tell us what?
Are you pregnant?!
I've had like five beers, idiot.
We're, uh, starting a business together.
Really? what is it?
It's a...
A restaurant sort of.
Sort of?
Actually, it's more like a mobile restaurant.
What are you talking about?
Instead of an actual restaurant,
we're gonna sell food out of a truck.
Go park around different places in the city and...
A food truck.
- Yeah. yeah. - Yeah. Yeah. Exactly.
That's a terrible idea.
Nobody wants to buy food from a truck.
- Well, we think you're wrong. - I'm not wrong.
That was close.
I mean, of all the times we've ever gone camping out there,
we've never heard a single wolf.
I don't see anything. They must be in the tree line.
Oh. wait.
This... this thing has an infrared setting.
And then it just stopped.
I'm gonna sleep great tonight.
And a few hours later,
everyone's fast asleep in their tents...
...except me.
Tom.
Hmm?
Did you hear that?
Hmm. mm-hmm.
I was used to hearing other campers,
you know, partying, having fun,
but this didn't sound like that.
This sounded like a scream.
The next afternoon, we went for a long hike.
We were almost back to our camp when...
Whoa, guys. Check this out.
Whoa.
- Creepy. - Yeah.
Doesn't look like anybody's lived here for a long time.
That's a good thing.
Yeah, so you think we should head back?
Yeah. give them some private time.
Let them talk about their food-mobile wagon.
Dude, it's truck! It's a food truck.
Nobody cares.
I remember I was glad Tom wanted to head back...
...'cause it was going to be dark soon.
I thought Jake and Natasha
we're gonna be a couple of minutes behind us.
It's almost 10:00. They've got to be lost.
They're not lost.
Probably just having sex.
That's not funny.
We've been camping with them hundreds of times.
They've never done anything this stupid.
Ohh. all right.
All right.
- Let's go find them. - Thank you.
It was pitch black, and Tom had only brought one light.
So we used the camera that I had gotten for Christmas
so that I could see in the dark.
- Jake?! - Jake?!
Natasha!
- Jake? - Natasha!
Jake?
Natasha?
Jake!
Natasha!
Jake!
Natasha!
Kara!
There's someone out here!
What? what do you mean, someone? Who?
It was... it was... It was a woman.
She was... She was crying.
Who was it?
I don't know.
Hey! What's going on?
I heard you screaming from way over there.
S-she saw a woman.
- Really? - Yeah.
- What? - Who?
You guys didn't see anyone?
No, nobody.
Hello?!
And they didn't need to say it.
It was pretty obvious that they thought
I had imagined the whole thing...
- Hike. ooh. - Nice.
...not that I blamed them.
That was good.
So she was just crying?
Kara.
Yeah.
Yeah, she looked really scared...
...like she was running away from someone.
I don't know.
I think I heard her crying in the woods last night.
What?!
It was in the middle of the night.
Okay.
So either there's some woman running from a guy
trying to kill her in the woods...
Or there's some schizophrenic lady
who may or may not stab us in our sleep.
I'm not sure which one I like better.
Well, option "C" is that I'm just crazy.
I played it off as no big deal.
But I couldn't stop thinking about her.
Did you hear that?
I think I heard her crying in the woods last night.
Natasha!
Jake?
Natasha!
I knew what I saw.
I couldn't ignore the fact
that there was a woman out there alone and afraid
somewhere out near that cabin we'd seen.
So I grabbed my camera,
and I went back out to where I saw here.
And what can I say?
I hope someone would help me if I was in trouble.
This time, I recorded the whole thing.
Hello?! Are you out here?!
Hello?!
We're gonna have a lot of fun with this camera.
This thing has a infrared setting.
Natasha!
There's someone out here!
Hello?!
I heard crying...
Someone in there?!
...I mean, just for a second.
But I definitely heard her.
Do you need some help?!
I'm not gonna hurt you!
I completely freaked out.
I ran all the way back to camp and woke everyone up.
Come on.
Okay. Just let me help you.
- Hey, you okay? - No, Tom, I'm not okay.
T-there's something going on.
No, look! Right there! Press play. Press play.
Okay. okay, okay.
I couldn't believe it.
That doesn't make any sense. Just that one part cuts out.
There was nothing but static,
but only where I recorded the man and the woman.
How many beers have you had tonight?
I had two beers like five hours ago.
I swear to you I'm not lying!
You believe me, right?
Yeah.
Yeah, of course.
Fine.
I'll just be in the car until morning.
And the next morning, I convinced Tom
to go back to the cabin where I'd seen them.
You said he was bleeding, right?
But there was no sign of them.
No blood. Nothing.
Tom and I drove the four hours home barely saying anything.
The next morning, I called my friend Mike,
who's a camera guy at a local news station.
I thought he might be able to explain it.
I can't explain it.
Great. um...
I mean, the fact that it goes to static
at these exact moments but it's still recording,
I... I don't know.
I mean, it's not like you accidentally tapped the button.
Mnh-mnh, no.
I don't know.
- Sorry. - It's okay.
I asked Mike if I could borrow one of his cameras.
I had an experiment I wanted to try.
I knew I was seeing things that weren't recording to my camera,
but I wondered if they would record to another camera.
I pointed the lens of Mike's camera
at the viewfinder of mine.
I wanted to make sure Tom witnessed it for himself.
So I filmed us sleeping.
I knew it was a stretch,
but I was desperate for an explanation.
I let it record all night.
Two seconds of static.
It distorted exactly the same way it did
when I saw those people in the woods.
So I fast-forwarded to the same spot on Mike's camera
so I could see what was there.
I think I heard her crying in the woods last night.
Just that one part cuts out.
I was expecting just more static.
Oh, my god.
Tom!!
I must have watched that tape 50 times,
and I was sure it was the same man I saw in the woods.
How is that even possible?
I have no idea who or what... what that is.
Uh...
But I guess I should tell you something.
Um...
I-I got your camera at a police auction.
What?
I got it dirt-cheap at a police auction.
I couldn't afford a new one, so...
I also went online and found somebody
to sell me packaging for $5 to make it look new.
Tom...
You are the weirdest person in the world.
- Let's go. - Where are we going?
To the police station!
I needed to find out who owned the camera before me.
I thought maybe that has something to do
with what I'm seeing.
I have no idea how this thing
found its way out of the evidence room.
Yeah, this should not have been in the auction.
W-why not?
Uh, it belonged to a pretty bad guy.
Was he a-a murderer?
Yeah.
I don't think I really wanted to know
the answer to my next question,
but I had to ask.
A-and did he kill a man and a woman
a-and tie one of them up?
Sure looks like it.
And did he film it with the camera?
Yeah.
I read about something called residual energy.
Some people believe that a violent death
can play over and over,
like a movie that never ends.
I don't know.
Maybe it's true
and somehow the energy got stuck inside a camera
that filmed two people being murdered...
- Help me! - Aah!
...the same camera my boyfriend gave me for Christmas.
We're gonna have a lot of fun with this camera.
It might make me sound crazy,
but I don't have another explanation.
Do you?
I still don't understand the things that happened.
It's hard for me to talk about.
We should really try cooking for ourselves sometime.
Why is that?
It's what normal people do.
Oh, yeah.
I don't like cooking, and you're awful at it.
Tina and I had been married just over a year.
It was good. First year was good.
So...
That thing that you said
you were too tired to talk about last night
and that we were going to talk about it tonight.
Hmm. talk about...
Mm-hmm. you know.
It's just...
You know, I mean, are we ready to...
I mean, donate 100% of our time
taking care of someone that we haven't even met yet?
I had a real crappy childhood,
so having kids of my own wasn't really high on my list.
I think I just kept pushing it off.
We're never gonna feel like we're ready to have kids.
That's kind of how it works, you know?
You just... Jump in.
Justin always carried a lot of baggage because of his dad.
I was hoping I could eventually convince him
he wasn't anything like his father.
- Morning, Michelle. - Morning.
Hi. this is Justin.
Yes.
Oh.
At first, I had no idea
why a sheriff from some little town in Montana
would be calling me.
Really?
He said he found my father in some cabin
in the middle of nowhere.
He'd been dead for about two weeks.
He walked out on my mom and me when I was 6,
packed a bag and left.
Just basically disappeared.
And he was...
I mean, was he alone?
I see. Um... Yeah.
If you...
If you want to ship it to me, I can reimburse you.
He said they'd send me his things, but it wasn't much.
Thank you.
Yeah, I'm sorry about your loss.
I don't know why I didn't tell him
just to throw it all in the trash.
Wish I had.
Nothing really changed since I was a kid.
I just went on with my life without him.
Then the package arrived.
A single envelope.
Guess he really didn't have much.
So...
Yeah.
He'd been such a non-factor in my life.
I wasn't even sure I really wanted
to find out what he left behind.
It was some crumpled-up receipts
and an old watch that said "I will never leave you."
Kind of ironic, right?
What?
This is Justin.
I had no idea why a sheriff in Montana would be calling me.
If you want to ship it to me, I can reimburse you.
What?
It felt like a jolt through my head, like electricity.
I'm... I'm sorry. Uh...
It didn't hurt, not exactly.
Sorry.
But I remember thinking,
"maybe I'm more upset than I think I am."
It's okay.
Mnh-mnh.
He was clearly bothered the second he saw that watch.
After I opened that package,
I couldn't stop thinking about my dad.
Did the inscription on the watch mean something?
Was it a message meant for me?
You finish the install yet?
Install. Which install?
The software.
The efficiency package we discussed
in the meeting with Rhonda and Mike.
Uh...
I can't tell if you're joking.
It's supposed to be done E.O.D.
I didn't know what Tim was talking about...
Uh...
Yeah. yeah.
Of course, man.
...but he was right.
There was an e-mail chain including e-mails that I'd sent.
I didn't remember any of it.
I figured I was just distracted by everything that was going on.
That night, I remember walking in the door.
Hey, babe.
- Hey. - You look cute today.
Tina was watching TV,
and the next thing I know, I blacked out.
What's the matter?
Nothing. I'm good.
But I was still awake, I think.
Our tests don't show anything that would explain blackouts,
especially prolonged ones like you're talking about.
Okay.
Do you drink much?
Couple nights a week.
We'll obviously need to look into this further.
In the meantime, I would completely avoid alcohol.
We'll get to the bottom of it.
For a couple days, things went back to normal.
I thought it might be over.
Yo, bunch of us are heading to thirsty's for happy hour.
Ooh. uh... I'm good.
I'm not drinking right now.
Okay. are you eating wings and watching basketball?
Come on. It's almost 6:00.
Yeah. good point. Okay. Let's do it.
Blowing off steam was exactly what I needed.
This will be fun. See you tomorrow.
So even though I couldn't drink, I went out with the guys.
But it happened again.
What?
What's the matter?
When I woke up...
...I had no recollection of anything, no clue.
Hey, Ashley.
It was obvious something was up.
But I had no idea what.
Thank you.
Dude, what happened to you?
Tim.
What happened?
I still haven't decided if I'm pressing charges.
Pressing charges? What are you talking about?
If I were you, I'd pretend I didn't remember, too.
Tim, what are you... You're scaring me, man.
What... What do you mean?
What happened, man?
We were watching the game at thirsty's,
and I said that Johnson was an awful point guard, and you went nuts.
Over the game?
- I don't care about basketball. - Cut the crap, man.
Stop pretending you don't remember.
I never hit anyone in my life.
Tim, I do not know what's happening.
But I am blacking out all the time. I don't remember.
Tell me what happened. Please.
You got in my face,
and when I finally told you to back off,
you sucker-punched me twice.
Everyone saw it.
Bouncers threw your ass out of there.
You're home late.
Have you noticed anything strange about me lately?
No more than usual.
What?
Something's really wrong.
What do you mean?
I keep...
I don't know.
I keep forgetting things.
I think you just need to get some more sleep.
Come to bed.
Okay.
I didn't know how to tell her what was going on.
And maybe I was just scared to say it out loud
because if I did,
I wouldn't be able to deny it anymore.
Justin.
What's the matter?
I still haven't decided if I'm pressing charges.
Something's really wrong.
Justin.
Justin!
Justin!!
Wake up!!
What? what?
What are you doing with that hammer?!
His eyes were wide open like he was sleepwalking.
No, no, no, no. Are you okay?
I'm sorry. Are you okay?
No, what... oh, no!
But why in the hell did he have a hammer?
I had already hurt my friend Tim.
God knows what would have happened...
Our scans still aren't showing anything.
...if Tina didn't wake up when she did.
I'm sorry.
The doctor gave me a referral to a psychiatrist,
but he couldn't get me in for like three weeks.
What are you doing?
You need to sleep in here and you need to lock me out.
Justin.
In case I sleepwalk again.
What am I supposed to think of this?
We just got married.
We're supposed to be having kids,
and you want me to lock myself...
No. Just do it, okay?
Given how Justin was acting,
I was happy to lock him out of the bedroom.
I was positive I was losing my mind.
I called in and took the rest of the week off work.
I didn't trust myself around people.
Truth is...
I didn't trust myself around myself.
Tina!
Please, please, please, please. Come on, come on, come on.
Come on. Come on. Come on, come on, come on.
Do you know how worried I've been?
Oh, my god! You're okay. You're okay.
Of course I'm okay. Where were you last night?
Justin?
I don't know.
It wasn't Tina's blood,
and it wasn't mine.
Why are you calling me?
Tim.
Are you okay?
I'm fine. What do you want?
Man, I'm sorry. I...
Man, you don't know what I've been going through.
I really don't care what you're going through.
Yeah, I don't...
I looked online.
I couldn't find anything about a crime in the neighborhood.
NYPD, precinct 105, Queens.
Yeah, I just needed to find out about an assault
that happened in Queens last night.
Name of the victim?
I don't quite know.
Sir, were you the victim?
No. not... not me.
Nothing had been reported.
I didn't know what else to do.
I called my mom. I asked her to come over.
I'm scared, mom.
When did this start?
Couple weeks ago.
She blamed my dad's death.
You had an emotional or a psychological response.
I didn't have an emotional response.
I guess when I got that package with his stuff...
What package?
I guess with everything that had been going on,
I had forgotten to tell my mom about the watch.
"I will never leave you"?
It was also the first time
I bothered looking at those receipts.
This.
That's the same day.
That's the day he left us.
He bought that watch
on the exact same day he walked out on us,
and the receipt said "watch with inscription"...
...which meant the watch was already inscribed
when he bought it.
I guess I hoped my father had had the watch inscribed himself.
I tried to contact the pawn shop,
but the owner had died years ago and they shut the place down.
My dad ran away from his family the day he got that watch,
and he died alone in a cabin.
Did he leave 'cause he was trying to protect us?
I know it sounds crazy that a watch could ruin someone's life.
But that's what almost happened to me.
So I drove upstate and threw it in a creek.
And I promised myself I'd never tell anyone where.
I still have no idea what I did that night
when I was covered in blood,
but I do know that after I got rid of that watch,
I never blacked out again.