3 Horrifying Cases Of Ghosts And Demons

Anastasio Velasco

Eric Enzbrenner

**3 Horrifying Cases Of Ghosts And Demons** is a video made by Ryan Bergara and Shane Madej, uploaded onto YouTube on October 26, 2016. It was the third episode of the first season of BuzzFeed Unsolved: Supernatural, and was the eleventh episode overall. You can find it here.

## Notable Events

This episode was the first ever *BuzzFeed: Unsolved* episode filmed outside the United States and in Mexico, and one of the only episodes where Father Gary Thomas was featured. This was also a special-length episode, covering three supernatural places instead of only one. It was also the first episode in which the Maglite flashlight was used.

Ryan and Shane had many special guests on the episode, including Father Thomas, Pepe Hernandez, Anastasio Velasco, and Eric Enzbrenner.

## Background

The episode films primarily in three locations: the Winchester Mystery House, the Island of the Dolls, and the Sallie House.

Before setting off, Ryan and Shane interview with a Vatican-ordained pastor, Father Thomas, who blesses Ryan's water and advises the two on dealing with spirits, most notably telling Ryan "do not be afraid."

The Winchester Mystery House, in San Jose, California, received its name from Sarah Winchester (born Sarah Pardee in 1840), who lived there in her later years. Earlier, in Boston, she had married William Winchester, the son of the founder of the Winchester Repeating Arms Company, whose success in making rifles earned them money and enemies.

Unfortunately, Sarah Winchester suffered the deaths of her daughter and husband, and, according to legend, reached out to spiritualists in an effort to understand their passing. One medium famously informed her that her family was being haunted "by the spirits of those killed by the Winchester rifle," and if she was to appease the spirits, she would have to move west and build a house that would never be completed. If she would never stop building, Sarah would be able to live forever.

Ryan and Shane investigate the Blue Room, also known as the Séance Room, supposed to be "the most active room in the house." Ryan's camera drains a brand new battery within seconds, and Shane initiates an individual ghost search, where each of them are locked in a small room for a few minutes, with no results. Ryan also investigates the basement, with no results.

The Island of the Dolls, a *chinampa,* or a man-made floating island, is located in the ancient Aztec canals of Xochimilco, on the outskirts of Mexico City. In the 1950s, Don Julian Sanatana Barrera, persecuted for an overzealous religious outlook, abandoned his wife and child and moved to the island. The legend of the island tells that Julian found a body of a young girl (still unconfirmed) off the shore of the island. Shortly after the discovery, a doll appeared where the corpse once was.

Thinking that the doll belonged to her, Julian hung it on the island, and soon collected more dolls. As the island's reputation grew, visitors would trade dolls for produce grown there, thereby expanding his collection. Friends and relatives believed that Julian's fear of evil spirits grew into paranoia that there were dark forces possessing the dolls. In 2001, Julian's nephew Anastasio Velasco, who was helping him plant pumpkins, found Julian's body in the canal. The body was supposedly found drowned in the same place where the girl's body was discovered, and Anastasio later moved to the island.

Ryan interviews Anastasio with translation from Pepe. Anastasio claims that Julian and the dead girl haunt the island, "because at night you can hear a girl's voice. And my uncle, when he was alive, walked with a cane. At night you can hear the cane." The three then explore the Island of the Dolls, including various sheds and strings of dolls, and a famous shrine that Julian built for his favorite dolls, including the original. Ryan puts his own doll in the lap of the original as an offering, and they all hear a loud rattling and unidentified noise.

The Sallie House was built between 1867–1871 in Atchinson, Kansas. The house is supposed to be haunted not only by the three who have died inside it (Michael Finney in 1872, William True in 1918, and Agnes True in 1939), but also by a demon who takes the form of a young girl named Sallie.

On December 31, 1992, Debra and Tony Pickman, along with their child, moved into the Sallie House. They reported minor paranormal activity, but were not seriously concerned until major events occurred, such as finding stuffed animals arranged in a perfect back-to-back circle and discovering scratches on each other's backs. After moving out of the house for a few days, a medium reported feeling the presence of Sallie, a little girl who apparently had freckles and wore blonde pigtails; although, historically, the only Sallie who ever lived in the house was a thirty-four-year-old black woman: Sallie Isabel Hall.

On the morning of Halloween 1993, Tony went to the kitchen and reported seeing Sallie "in early 1900s clothing." Later, he testified that "it got to the point where [he], when [he] was in the house, [he] could not think any happy thought. It was just strictly '[he] wanted to hurt [Debra].' [He] ... [He] was a whole different person. ... As much as [he] [hated] to say it, [he] had planned on slitting [Debra's] throat." Finally, in 1994, the Pickmans moved out.

A visit from Les Smith, landlord of the Sallie House, revealed that previous tenants not including the Pickmans, had been Satanists, sacrificing animals and holding rituals in the basement, where a large pentagram was burned into the floor. It is believed that this activity summoned more demons, of which some apparently reside in the large hole at the back of the basement wall.

Ryan and Shane invite Eric Enzbrenner, a paranormal investigator, into the house. The three set up the stuffed animals in the nursery into a circle with a Maglite flashlight on, set to in between on and off, and call for Sallie. With no result, they move to the kitchen, setting up the flashlight the same way and asking for any demons to turn on the light. The flashlight is turned on when Shane says "if you don't like us, turn it on," and turns off when Eric asks them to. Ryan's flashlight also goes out repeatedly.

They then move to the basement and set up another flashlight, also set to between on and off. Eric's EMF detector goes off with a false read, but Eric explains that because of the high electrical field, it could feed a spirit. Shane lies down on the pentagram, asking the demons to turn the light on, which it does. Eric then departs and Ryan and Shane set up to sleep in the Sallie House until five o'clock in the morning.

Ryan sees something out of the corner of his eye, and the light outside turns out. The two wait until three o'clock in the morning, when, Ryan explains, sometimes there will be three knocks to mock the Holy Trinity. After waiting and hearing nothing, the two leave early.

A few days later, Ryan and Shane discuss the events. Shane remains confident in his faith that neither ghosts nor demons are real, and Ryan admits that "after the first two places, [his] confidence was starting to waver, even at the last place, 'til, like, about halfway through," but says that the flashlight proved to him that the spiritual activity was real.

## Theories

* Sarah Winchester's arthritis caused her to build the never-ending house.
	+ In the Hall of Fires featured in the Winchester house, a row of fireplaces were built, possibly to help Sarah's arthritis.
* Sarah Winchester needed a change of scenery after her husband's and daughter's deaths, and built the house to keep her occupied and her mind off of the grief.
* Sarah built the house through an interest of architecture. This was posited by historian Mary Jo Ignoffo.
	+ According to Ignoffo, letters from Sarah revealed that building stopped for months at a time. Unfinished rooms would be attributed to an earthquake in 1906, destroying some of the structure, and rather than remodel, Sarah simply built more.
	+ Even though there was an apparent séance room, there was also no "evidence" that Sarah communicated with spirits.
* Julian Barrera hung the first doll on the Island to honor the girl's spirit.
* Julian Barrera hung the first doll in order to appease the girl's spirit and protect himself and the island.
* Julian Barrera hung the first doll to protect the girl's spirit from demonic forces in the afterlife.
* The possessed dolls killed Julian Barrera.
* Sallie is a ghost of a little girl that died in the house.
* Sallie is a demon with no relation to Sallie Isabel Hall.

## Quotes

* Ryan (on what Fr. Thomas said): "He said if anything happens, just do not be afraid ... [Jesus] said it a bunch of times in the Bible."
	+ Shane: "Jesus said chill."
* Shane: "Nobody is building a house like this because they have arthritis."
	+ Shane (over Ryan): "That's not a―that's not a―no one says 'oh, my knuckles feel a little funny, *I'm going to build a house with five hundred rooms.*'"
* Shane (laughing, after scaring Ryan): "Hey, man, calm down!"
	+ Ryan: "You piece of shit, Shane!"
	+ Shane: "My mic went out, and then I was looking for you..."
	+ Ryan: "He's crouching in here like some sort of cave creature!"
	+ Shane: "And then I d―all I did was I went 'huhhhh,' I was just coming to say hello to you!"
	+ Ryan (over Shane): "Oh, yeah, you're just looking for me while grunting like a zombie!"
* Ryan: "Why do you not believe ghosts are real?"
	+ Shane: "Uh, because I've never seen one."
	+ Ryan: "Okay, I mean, there's a lot of things that you can't see that are real."
	+ Shane: "What can't I see?"
	+ Ryan: "You can't see gravity, that's real."
	+ Shane: "Yeah, I can drop an apple."
	+ Ryan: "... Fuck."
* Shane (on the Island of the Dolls): "So, Pepe, you're telling me that you don't come here every weekend?"
	+ Pepe: "No, I... this is not one of my favorite places."
* Pepe: "He probably fucks the dolls, can I say that?"
	+ Shane: "(wheeze) I thought you would have some respect for this place, but..."
	+ Ryan: "Nope, went in straight with 'he fucks the dolls.'"
* Ryan (narrating): "Some people think that the dolls, or the spirits that inhabit them, might have killed Julian."
	+ Shane: "Uhh, sure. If that's what it's gonna take to get us out of here, then yes, I believe in all of this. Put it on Wikipedia and let's leave!"
* Shane: "Oh, shit, whaddup, I'm taking a selfie with some demons, yo! Hell yeah, whaaaat! ... Great, that'll be good, gonna Snap that."
* Shane: "Jesus Christ! If you slit my throat tonight, I'm gonna have a hard time forgiving you for that."
	+ Ryan: "Will you haunt me for the rest of my life?"
	+ Shane: "No, 'cause I'll be dead. Ghosts aren't real."
	+ Ryan: "Oh, okay. Fair enough."

* Shane: "Here we go!"
	+ Ryan: "You're out of your mind."
	+ Shane (lying down on the pentagram): "Rock n' roll, buckaroo! If you wanna eat my heart, turn that light on... if you wanna eat *Ryan's* heart, turn that light on!"
	+ Ryan: "Don't―stop putting me in your shit!"
	+ Shane: "Our old pal Ryan Bergara, we're a package deal!"
* Ryan: "There's a part of me right now that feels foolish for getting up, but..."
	+ Shane: "You should feel foolish."
	+ Ryan: "Are you trying to convince me to stay in here?"
	+ Shane: "Well, no, I just think it's silly to just give up at the last minute, but whatever. You know, it's no big deal. Look, you've made up your mind, you're done. You don't have it in ya."
	+ Ryan: (wheeze) "Stop saying that, you're making me wanna do it!"
	+ Shane: "No, I'm just saying, you don't have it in you, it's fine."
	+ *Fr. Thomas (flashback, with dramatic music): "Do not be afraid."*
	+ Ryan: "...You're right, I don't have it in me, yeah, let's go."

## Trivia

* This episode was the first *BuzzFeed: Unsolved* episode to not be filed under the BuzzFeed IRL series.
* This episode was voted the best *BuzzFeed: Unsolved* episode of all time.
* The flashlight at the Sallie House was voted the best piece of supernatural evidence of all time on the show.
* This is the only episode in which Ryan and Shane work with another paranormal investigator, Eric Enzbrenner.
* This is the only episode in which Ryan and Shane are featured in the credits as "Idiot #1" and "Idiot #2," and where Father Gary Thomas is featured as a "legend."
* At the Sallie House, TJ Marchbank threw up on a tree from food poisoning.
* Also at the Sallie House, Shane had planned to scare Ryan by moving a Bible. However, as the night progressed and Shane saw that Ryan was afraid, he reassured Ryan by saying he had moved it.
* This is one of the only episodes to be revisited: Ryan and Shane came back to the Winchester Mystery House in Return To The Horrifying Winchester Mansion.
* Ryan and his younger brother later revisited the Winchester House for Travel Channel's TikTok as part of Ghostober.
* Ryan unfortunately lost the holy water that Father Thomas blessed for him when leaving it in his carry-on luggage, and TSA made him throw it out.
* In chat, Shane remarked, in response to a question asking if he had ever considered not doing the episode, that "It sounded really fun from the get-go, and [he] hadn't really done much traveling for work, so [he] was really excited to do it. All in all it was super fun. For [him], anyway."
* In chat, Shane commented that "Important to note: Pepe is probably [his] favorite person [they've] ever worked with. Guy is so fun. [They] went out and got drinks with him after Spider Island."
* In an interview, Ryan commented that their trip turned dangerous in Mexico City, adding that "it involved some shady dealings in Mexico City that [he and Shane] thought were locked down. ... Have an exit strategy! An exit strategy is always important on a ghost hunt. Know where the exits are, and if the exits are only through one person, then you got issues." Shane added that "Just know if you ever get on a boat with someone, make sure you know what kind of person you’re getting on a boat with."