Dan Turner

**Dan Turner** works for Virgil Davenport, fixing tapes that were stuck in the Visser building. He starts finding weird things in the tapes and wants to help Melody.

## History

A man sells tapes on the street to Dan, who tells him that he needs a VCR so he knows exactly what he is selling. Dan buys a tape and the seller tells him that Jill had told him to say hi to him.

Dan walks away and heads into the subway, heading into his work and then sitting on a bench looking towards the Brooklyn Bridge. He makes it to the Museum of the Moving Image and is told by a woman that a package should have arrived that day, also mentioning that the footage was in terrible shape.

Dan reaches a package and opens it. Inside is a film reel, which makes him smile. He tries fixing the wheel, which has a horror movie from 1958 called "The Circle", which a woman had never heard of. However, she recognizes the director and Dan tells her that the director's daughter Evie had found the tapes buried in his estate. Dan says that the reason he had restored everything was to give Evie a piece of her father back. The woman hands Dan a tape sent by Karen, who tells him that the tape is confidential, but asks for it to be restored and digitized.

Dan gets home and starts working on the tape. He was able to digitize it and sees a woman named Melody on it, who was a doctoral candidate in sociocultural anthropology at NYU. She wonders if the people involved in her project would talk to her and her friend encourages her, saying that maybe she should go with her for protection, but Mel doesn't know what she needs protecting from. The film ends with Mel's friend wishing her luck.

Dan rewinds the tape and looks at Mel, later searching for Visser Apartments, in which there was a huge fire which left 13 lives unaccounted for.

At Mystery Signals, people record a horror podcast called True Tales of the Secret City. Mark Higgins introduces himself and the audience applauds. Mark tells Dan about the story, but Dan does not believe in supernatural phenomena. Before he leaves, Mark asks him to tell him if he was feeling low again, demanding that he ask him for help if he needs it.

Karen congratulates Dan on his work on the Hi8 footage, which Dan says that it did not seem like something the museum would be interested in, but she tells him that it was a favor for a donor named Virgil Davenport, who wanted him to go to his office so he could thank him personally.

Dan walks to LMG, where Virgil is President. When he makes it to Virgil's office, he thanks him for coming and offers him a seat. He thanks Dan for his work on the tape and wonders if he wanted to come work for LMG temporarily, but Dan does not even know what they do because when he looked them up he did not find anything. Virgil says that the same thing happened to him, but they are looking for an artist who could restore videotapes damaged by fire at the Visser building. Virgil offers him 100,000 dollars to do it, but he would need to do it at their remote research facility in the Catskills. Virgil tells him that finding those tapes would mean a lot to the families of the people lost to the Visser Building fire. He knows that Dan had lost his parents in a fire, which startles Dan, so he leaves but Virgil asks him to let him know about the job.

Dan does not know how Virgil found out about his family since it was not public information, but Mark does not know either and invites him to go drinking with him.

Dan keeps walking and remembers the day his family died.

In the middle of the night, Dan wakes up startled. He plugs a USB into his computer and watches Mel and her friend talking again. He zooms into a picture of her and looks at the dog in the photo, which looks a lot like his family's dog. He tells Mark that the dog could be his, but he does not understand how. Mark says that to him, 13 unrecovered bodies meant that they died, but Dan is not sure since he had looked for Mel and could not find her. Mark asks if he was asking all of this because of Jill, but Dan says that he was not, telling him that he had saved up three weeks of allowance to buy his dog Cleo a red dog collar, but Mark does not believe it. Mark tries to convince Dan not to take the job, but Dan sees the picture as a sign and says that he will accept it.

In Virgil's car they are both taken to the Catskills until they reach a small house in the middle of nowhere. Virgil points him to everything he would need. He tells him that food deliveries would be once a week and tells him that the property was bought in the late 80's for research. All tools were of the best, but there was low cell service and no internet, but there was a landline so he could make calls. He takes Dan to the archive of many tapes recovered from the fire and tells him that he also had the camera that was used to record the footage. Dan says he has no questions and walks Virgil back to his car, where he is handed a pedometer, which really served as a button for emergencies in order to get medical professionals there. This also included mental health, and reminds Dan that they had done a thorough background check and knew that his breakdown was behind him. After that, Virgil leaves him to it.

Dan looks at the camera and sees a locked door, which he cannot open. He starts working on a tape and plays it, seeing Mel once again on March 11, 1994 on her first day of the oral history project on the Visser apartment building. Mel explains historical details about the building, saying that it was not known when it was finished or who was the architect behind it, saying that there was some strange detail on the building. A man opens the door and asks her if she was going to walk inside. He says his name is John Smith points her to where everything is. He hands her a key to the building and to the front foor. She asks for Julia Bennett, but he says he could not answer that question. She asks for advice for getting to know people in the building and he simply tells her to stay away from the sixth floor. Mel shows her apartment, saying that she had never lived alone and wishes herself good luck.

In her sleep, Mel hears faint chanting and starts recording. She hears the noise coming from her air conditioning, and when she opens it, the chanting gets louder. Dan is confused by what he sees as well, but the chanting suddenly stops. Mel calls out as Dan keeps watching until he suddenly hears a loud high-pitched whining, which hurts his ears. Mel tells herself to get a grip and records herself the next morning, saying that she was now going to knock on some doors.

Dan watches Melody's tape meeting the composer and decides to call Mark, but he does not pick up. Dan leaves him a message telling him that he was doing alright but wants him to look up a composer named Tamara Stefano. He hears static on the phone and hears breathing.

Dan tries using his phone and looks for signal until he reaches a large metal fence. He walks back into the house and tries looking around, but many doors are locked. He gets a call, so he picks up. Virgil asks to see how he was settling in and Dan says that he had already started working.

Dan looks around for movies and finds one he wanted to see. He watches it and gets some dinner, when he finds a rat in the kitchen, so he sets a bunch of mouse traps around the house. The next morning, Dan wakes up and sees the rat had been caught in his trap by its tail. Feeling bad for it, Dan puts it in a box and tells him that he could stay until his tail healed.

Jess tells Melody that she sometimes got low blood sugar as well. Mel starts interviewing her, asking her to tell her about herself. She introduces herself as Jessica Lewis, a student in the ninth grade at East Village Community High, born on March 8th, 1980 on the stairwell of the Visser building. Jess asks if being born in the building was bad luck, but Mel says that it was a fun story. Jess wonders why she wants to know about the Visser and Mel says that there used to be another building there until it burned down and the Visser was built and now wanted to know why people chose the building. Jess says that something pulled them there and wonders if Samuel had told her about it, but brushes it off when Mel says she does not know Samuel. However, she starts breathing heavily and gets uncomfortable, looking past Jess and moving her chair back. Mel asks if she is okay, but Jess stands up quickly and starts gasping for air until she collapses and starts having a seizure. As Dan kept watching, he heard Melody yell out, albeit distorted and the camera started moving very strangely as he heard snarls and growls, which scared him.

Dan runs out and looks for signal desperately; he is able to find it and calls Mark. Mark asks him what had happened because he had not heard back from him, but Dan tells him that LMG had been listening. Dan says he is okay, but thought he had seen something, but brushes it off, saying that the place was messing with him. He asks about Tamara Stefano, but Mark says he had not found anything. Dan asks for him to look up anything he could about LMG and Melody Pendras. He hears noises around him as he ties a lace to a tree.

In the past, Dan and his sister play the piano until their father tells them to stop playing that tune. He tells Dan to take Cleo out for a walk, which he agrees to do. During the walk, he hums the tune and as he got back, he saw ambulances, firefighters, and cops heading towards his house, which was in flames.

Dan untangles some tape and fixes it, putting it into a new cassette. He looks at the rat and wonders if he would tell him if he saw something on the tape. He the next tape which showed Jess on the floor, but then showed her just fine. Jess asks for Mountain Dew, but Mel wonders if she should call her mom. However, Jess says that it was something that happened to her sometimes, but the doctors all said that whatever happened was just part of her imagination. Her mother takes her to see a Father, but Jess says that she never remembers what she sees. She asks Jess who Samuel is, but Jess asks if she believes that there was another world, different to theirs, but Mel simply apologizes and thinks that she should ask her mom for permission to interview her. Jess wonders if she could be more than she is and be strong enough to hold a new world inside of her and Mel tells her that she could be anything she wanted to be. Jess wonders if she could tell her something, but the video cuts, confusing Dan.

After that, Mel is holding the camera pointed to her scared face. She says that Jess had been taken and is approached by John, who tells her that the sixth floor was off-limits. Mel asks where Jess is and is approached by John as she yells at him that he had taken her. Another man stops her and tells her that Jess was gone; two men stop her and tell her that she needs to go with them. Mel begs to be found and asks for help. A man shows up and tells them that everything would be fine. Dan recognizes his father and sheds a tear, not being able to believe it. Mel yells at the men to get off her.

From a distance, Dan is being watched by Virgil as a bunch of cameras were placed inside the house.

Dan reaches his lace and calls Mark, telling him he saw his father in the footage at the Visser in 1994 in some kind of ambush. Mark thought his father was a psychology professor at NYU, which makes it strange that he was there. Dan says that Davenport was a liar, because he must have known that his father was involved. Mark tells his friend that he could keep his cool or try to fight, but Dan simply asks him to go to his aunt's house and gather his father's files, which Mark agrees to.

Dan grabs another tape and starts working on it and playing it. In it, Mel is with Jess as they walk on the street. Jess was doing a client services run and says that she does not remember what she was about to say. At a store, Father Russo greets Jess and Melody, who Jess says is who she used to talk to. Jess records Melody and says that she makes movies as well, but says her mom does not know about her camera.

With Beatriz Reyes, Melody is told that she had come to stay with her cousin who ran off with some pothead. She prepares to read Melody's cards as she tells her that residents there are very strange because there was a sex club, meeting in the community room at night. Melody cuts the cards and is told that her past was full of grief and pain; in the present, there was something hidden and had guided her to the building - someone. Melody mentions that she is trying to track down Julia Bennett, who she could not find. Beatriz tells her to check mailbox 4G and tells her that her future contained death, but she tells her not to take the card literally, which shocks Dan.

At night, Melody is getting ready to go to the opera, but gets a voicemail from Dr. Turner, which surprises Dan. Turner wonders if she had been getting his messages and said that he talked to her roomate Anabelle, knowing they did not end on a great note, but felt like they had made great progress together. Melody walks up to her phone and deletes the message before static covers the screen.

Dan runs to the woods and sees a small sort of cellar, but is not able to open it. He sees a ladder to the side and calls Mark, telling him through voicemail that Melody did know his father, as she was his patient, so he wanted him to look for patient files. Suddenly, he sees someone in the distance in a red jacket and calls out, running towards the person, who manages to lose him.

Dan calls Virgil, but is told that he was "in the field". However, he does not want to leave a message. He says he needs to know if there was someone else in the compound besides him. The woman asks if he was in mental distress, but he says that he is not in mental distress and tells her to have Virgil call him back. Dan talks to the rat and wonders if he was just some sort of board game beta-test for LMG. He watches a movie after that and turns around to see his father in the red jacket standing behind him.

Dan's father turns around, so Dan walks after him, but loses him in a large hallway. Footsteps echo and Dan walks towards the noise and sees a woman using keys to walk into a room and closing the door behind her. Dan knocks on door 2D and sees Melody open up. After that, Dan wakes up shocked and sees he had fallen asleep watching TV. After this, he takes a pill and keeps watching Melody's video.

After watching the tape, Dan rolls it back to when Anabelle closes up on Melody's face. He walks out and sees the rat, which he calls "Ratty" had made a mess with paper. As he grabs a broom, he sees that the pantry wall is very thin, so he clears it out and uses a big tool to hit the wall and break it. He shines a light through the hole and sees a big space and some stairs which lead underground. In there, he sees a lot of files locked behind a bunch of different doors. At the end, he makes it to a big room, where he looks at a pew with engravings in it.

Virgil shows up behind Dan, telling him he did not know he was religious and holding the pipe wrench Dan had used to break the wall. Dan asks him what that place was and is told that Virgil's family had a nominal relationship to Christianity. He tells Dan that he was in the debate club and chose Jesus in his last debate, telling the audience to imagine Jesus' death as a blessing because his light was a dangerous one and believes that Jesus was a demon. Virgil says that he did not win and got expelled, which Dan says did not hold him back. Virgil asks him why he should not just fire him for going into areas which were clearly off-limits, but Dan says that he knows that Virgil would not fire him since he knew he was only hired because his father was in those tapes. Virgil invites him down and asks him if he had ever used genetic services, pointing out that he had started Wellspring in 2006 since he believed that it was a gift being able to let people know who they really were. He tells Dan that he did not know for sure that his father had been involved and did think that there was a connection.

Virgil tells Dan that he knows that by now, he should know that Melody was a patient of his father's at NYU, which he did not mention before because he did not want to make him a promise he could not deliver on, not considering it right to get his hopes up. He tells Dan that he does not know what is on those tapes, but understands if it is too much for him or if he was too afraid of what he might find because he had read reports in which authorities believe that his father started the father himself, but Dan says that the fire was undertermined. Virgil tells Dan that he might not be aware that NYU had opened an investigation into his father shortly before the incident and says that he had found a notice of temporary leave. He tells Dan that he needs the work done quickly, and there would be a bonus for an accelerated timeline if he decided to stay. Virgil tells Dan that the area they were in was off-limits for him going forward.

While saying good-bye, Virgil tells Dan that there were a couple of bikes in case he wanted to use them and the nearest town was 14 miles south with a good coffee. Dan says that he knows how to ride, and Virgil says that they are very much alike since they liked putting puzzles together.

After that, Dan goes to work on the next tape in which he sees Melody breathing shakily hearing some faint chanting coming from the air conditioning. She tries to wake Anabelle up, but she does not listen, so she turns the light off and walks downstairs. She reaches the community room and hears a woman sepeaking an ancient language through a speaker. As she keeps walking, she sees the tenants chanting. Samuel opens his eyes as Dan is confused while watching. The tenants are all chanting while looking forward at statue of a creature in the middle. They start breathing heavily until they stop suddenly and get up, greeting one another afterwards. Melody hides in the coat closet and walks out once everyone leaves. When she heads up, she heads to the statye, but hears a Samuel and Tamara approach, so she hides. Alone, Samuel and Tamara make out and start moaning until Samuel climaxes and suddenly there is a large buzz, which hurts Dan's ears.

Melody gets a knock at her door, which Anabelle tells her not to answer. However, she gets up and sees nobody there. Dan remembers when he knocked on a door in his dream and Melody opened up as the tape cuts.

Dan walks up to the piano and plays the melody he used to play as a kid. After that, he grabs a bike and heads to the nearest town in order to meet up with Mark. There, he tells Mark that he believed that his sister had come up with the melody he used to play, which he thought she had made up, but now it turns out it was the "Visser Historical Sex Society's sex cult theme song". He hands Mark a piece of paper which says Kalaygo, which he thinks is creepy. Mark tells Dan to keep investigating the house, but Dan knows it is under surveillance, so he asks for the other stuff he asked for. Mark tells him that Legacy Management Global is an iceberg because he could not find anything. He says that at Dan's aunt's house he was not able to find any patient records for Melody Pendras, but he has his father's recorded patient sessions and has the ones marked with Melody's name. He wonders if Melody had filed the complaint against Dan's father, but Dan does not think so even though he knew that Melody was mad at him. Mark says that maybe he could ask for himself, since Melody Pendras did not die in the fire and was alive and well in Pittsburgh, so she could know what happened to his father.

In the woods, Dan tells Mark that he had listened to a few of the tapes he had brought him, which could contain some interesting things. Mark says that he did some digging on the letter and realized Dan's father could have been publishing some things that went against NYU policy. Also, Mark tells him that a musicologist that he used to date listened to Dan's song and mentioned she had never heard anything like it. Dan says he spent all night taking his bathroom apart, opening up the mirror and disassembled the fixtures, but found no cameras in there. Virgil had said that there was no internet there, but there was a data port on the wall, so he opened up the plaster and found many cables, tapping a feed using vampire tap, so he now has access to all the cameras in the compound, both inside and out, so now all he has to do is finish mapping the camera positions. Dan also tells Mark that he is working on going back down to the basement, and asks him to be gentle with Melody when he sees her since she had been through a lot.

Dan turns the shower on and starts watching the cameras in order to map the compound out.

Later at a circle, Dan is seated when approached by Melody, who walks in and starts talking to him. Dan says he can leave the room, but Melody tells him that it is fine since he was in the community room and part of the community. She introduces herself, and so does he; she tells him that she just moved in, so he says that he is new too. She asks him if he thinks the building is weird and he agrees, so she tells him that they should grab a drink sometime.

Dan is interrupted by a knocking at the compound door, where through the camera he sees the person in the red jacket. He asks who it is and a gray-haired woman answers "Bobbi". She tells him that she works for Mr. Davenport and heard that the shower was running a long time. She also mentions that Davenport was supposed to put him in a different room since the bathroom has a mold problem, but he says there is no mold and tells her that Davenport had promised him privacy, so if there was a problem he could take care of it himself. She tells him that if he needs anything, he should let her know.

Dan starts working on the next tape, where Anabelle tells Melody to make it official, so Melody is in the community room telling Anabelle about the cabinet with a sort of totem inside and a recording of some strange voice that came from a stereo, which plays a normal song. Anabelle says that maybe Jess knew something, but Melody feels bad about dragging a 14 year-old into the situation. Cassandra walks in and pins something on the bulletin board; Melody greets her, but gets no response as Cassandra walks up to Anabelle and starts smelling her, telling her she is lovely. Melody asks if she had seen her there the night before, but Cassandra says that she does not think so. However, when Melody asks about her meeting with Samuel and other people, Cassandra simply asks if she plays canasta because they could sign up on the board.

Dan starts looking through tapes and finds one which he plays on his walkman. In it, Melody takes Jess to Dr. Turner, who tells him she cannot remember when her episodes started. She says that right before they happen, she feels as if she is being pulled somewhere, but then comes back. Dr. Turner asks if she likes fogs and hands her a treat. After that, Dr. Turner opens the door so Jess could greet Cleo. Now alone, Dr. Turner tells Melody that what Jess has could be anxiety, stress or a seizure disorder, but needs to do a full neurological workup, which he cannot do without written parental consent. Melody says that she is worried about her, but Dr. Turner asks her how she is doing. She says that she went looking for her mother, which she knows he does not approve of, but he says that it is not his place to have an opinion, but does not want her to get hurt. Melody says that maybe her mother wants to see her, but is scared to do so. She asks Dr. Turner if he ever gets scared of his kids and he says that they scare him all the time because he is afraid that they won't love him as much as he loves them. Jess's mother shows up and asks Melody who she thinks she is taking Jess to a doctor behind her back, but Melody says that she thought Jess had permission. Jess admits tht she did not have time to ask, so her mother tells her to stay out of their business. Dr. Turner tells her that she cannot parent other people's kids, but she tells him that she used to pray that somebody would go and parent her and leaves.

As Dan sees the cameras again, he sees the woman in the red jacket looking at the tapes. He approaches her and asks her what she is doing, to which she replies that she is double checking his power strips. Dan asks her if she was the groundskeeper or tech support, but she does not reply and simply tells her that everything looks good. He asks her if she could open up the chapel for him and she leaves.

Dan talks to Ratty about Cleo, which he had insisted on getting. However, Cleo ran away after the fire since she was not really a city dog. Dan leaves the room and heads downstairs, where he sees Melody waiting for him. She tells him about the fantas and says that she had probably made the wrong choice once again. He tells her that she does not let people down, but she says that he does not know her. However, he says that she is a good person who cares about people. After that, Dan wakes up and keeps watching the tapes.

Dan walks into the chapel which is now open while Mark pours himself a drink. Mark tells him that Melody did not show and nobody was at her house, so he would go back later. Dan tells him that there was a housekeeper who he convinced to let him into the chapel. He tells Mark that the chapel had no cameras but it did have an entrance to the tunnels, so he now had 7 hours of an empty corridor recorded which was now looped back into the feed, so now he has to get a code for the door. Mark tells him they could have used his skills all these years, but Dan says he is only halfway there and Mark admits that he lied about Melody and says that it was not her, but someone different who had bought her identity and had enough details to fool anyone who might come looking. Dan asks if he could keep looking and Mark says that the only way stealing another person's identity like that is if the real person is dead. Dan thanks him for making the trip and says he would talk to him later.

Dan keeps watching the videos, where Melody hopes that Jess will get some real help now. Dan pauses the tape and plays it again, seeing Melody talking to him and glad he had come. She shows him her pineapple Fanta and starts drinking it. She tells him that she really needed to hear him say what he had said earlier. He asks if that was really happening and she asks why it would not really be. Anabelle causes some trouble outside, so she goes to help her, saying she would be right back. Dan waits and after a while, Cassandra walks into the store and walks towards the camera. When she reaches it, she looks at Dan and tells him to stay out, putting her hand through the screen and reaching for his throat. Dan wakes up startled and gasping for air.

Dan washes his face as he remembers Cassandra telling him to stay out and grabbing him by the throat in his dream. He takes his medications and walks to the basement, where he tries guessing the code to a door. He tries breaking the glass, but to no avail. He tries calling Mark and tells him that he cannot get into the basement, so he wants him to find someone who could hack it. As he walks back to the house, he stumbles upon Melody, who calls him; he is confused, and she is as well, not knowing how she had gotten there.

However, Dan is called by Bobbi, who asks him if everything is alright. He is told that it was night now and was just standing in the woods. He makes it back to the house and is called by Virgil, who tells him that the best part about having a paper route is the routine and comments that he had not sent them anything that day. Dan tells him that he had lost track of time and is asked if he wants a doctor. However, Dan tells him that he would get back to it.

Dan goes to the basement and works on the next tape in which Melody tries to comfort Jess, who says she is fine. Jess says that she would stick to her exercises, but Melody says that one of her exercises is watching Secret of NIMH. Jess says that she has homework and talks about a comet which would be visible in a few weeks. She tells Melody that Samuel got her a new telescope so that they could watch the comet together. Anabelle knocks and tells Mel that they have an interview, so they visit Cassandra.

Cassandra tells them that she had moved there with her sister Eleanor in 1974 because she thought it was spiritual, which Anabelle finds funny. She also tells Anabelle that most of the objects in her house were irreplaceable and she only sells them when the need arises. Melody finds the cabinet that was in the community room, which Dan catches as well. Melody tries to open it and is told by Cassandra that it was one of a kind and Estonian - inside was a sculpture, but she misplaced the key. Melody asks what Cassandra finds spiritual about the Visser or if any other tenants found it spiritual like the group that meets in the community room. Cassandra tells her that she is asking about the cult, but is interrupted by Anabelle, who asks about a painting - a portrait of Cassandra.

Dan feels as if he is being watched and remembers when as a kid his sister would play the ominous tune. She tells him that their father says that ghosts are real and she sees them all the time. She describes them as lost and don't know where to go.

Dan gets up from bed and walks through the house as he hears rustling and whooshing. He sees Melody waiting for him and she asks if he had written those notebooks. He tells her that he had not and does not know who. He asks her what she is doing there and grabs a wooden box, which she says was there on the bed. However, he says that that is impossible, as he had not left his room and tells her that it is a tape that his father had made for him and given to him for his birthday. In the end, he smashed it with a baseball bat since he had found out he was not who he thought he was. Melody grabs her necklace and says that the ring was the only thing she had left of her mother was that. Dan tells Melody that she knows his father and she is shocked by that because she knew that her doctor's son was young. She also recalls him saying that he is dead; lights starts flickering and the bulb shatters, so they both call for one another, but are unable to see each other.

Dan grabs notebooks from a closet which are all signed T. Bellows and sees a bunch of numbers until one is circled. He walks downstairs and enters the code, which happens to be the right one and walks into the room. Inside, he finds a file on his father which has a study on paranormal perception in non-schizophrenic adults.

Mark finds Dan's father's studies weird and says that that might have gotten him in trouble with the department. Dan says that he found a bunch of stuff from the Visser apartments such as clothes, pictures, and books, also finding Melody's ring and journal. Dan says that the man writing the journals must have been working there as well. Mark asks him if he is okay, but Dan says that he does not want to talk.

Jess wonders if Patricia told Melody about her tapes, which surprises her. Samuel brings a guest named Evie Crest who was outside and says she forgot the code. Cassandra introduces her to everyone as Dan wonders what she is doing there. Evie says that she had always been fascinated by Eleanor's work, as Samuel apologizes for sitting next to Melody. He explains that Cassandra rarely lets men stay, so he could not refuse, but Melody says it is fine. Cassandra tells them that Evie is William Crest's daughter. They say that he filmed The Circle, which was lost and inspired by a snuff film, which was about some sort of ritual sacrifice, which Cassandra is very interested in seeing and getting information on. Tamara interrupts and says that William died because of suicide, which provokes a lot of tension, which Evie admits to be true, but she does not want to accept that he had abandoned them. Cassandra tells her that there may be a way to speak to him from beyond since Beatriz is a very talented medium. After they both accept, they start making room as Melody grabs a pick and heads towards the cabinet.

When she reaches the cabinet, she starts picking the lock and is approached by Samuel, who asks her if she made that a habit, showing her the key and opening the cabinet. Inside, they see the figure, which was a self-portrait, as Cassandra described it.

Dan is surprised as Melody appears behind him, asking who that was and asking what he is watching. He says that he is just working on some tapes by restoring them. Melody looks at the video and says that she knows or knew the person there, who was Beatriz. Dan asks if she remembers his name, which she does and says that he lives at the Visser, but he says that he does not and has never been there. However, she tells him that they met at the community room, which he says is impossible because he lives there, and is unsure where they met. Melody says that she is supposed to ask him for help, but she does not know what kind of help, since everything in her head is jumbled up. She asks Dan what the notebook on his desk is and recognizes it as her notebook, which is damaged. Dan says he found it like that; inside, was Melody's ring, so she asks if he had stolen it, which she does not understand. She asks him what is going on and Dan remembers his sister telling him about ghosts. Dan looks at her and tells her that she is dead, having died at the fire in the Visser 25 years ago. She asks if he is crazy, and he tells her that the footage he is working on is hers, wanting to understand what happened to her, how she knew his father, what caused the fire and wants to know if she ever found her mother. Melody asks him what is wrong with him, but he says that he is trying to help like she asked. However, Melody screams that she is not dead and causes a temporary power outage, disappearing after that.

Dan keeps watching the tape and sees as Beatriz's eyes get white. She looks at Melody and says that she can get out of her way. She tells Melody that she knows she is a good person and that she cares about people. Beatriz thanks the other person and says she does not understand as Melody asks what is going on. Dan realizes that Beatriz is repeating the conversation he just had with Melody and she gets confused as well, saying that Beatriz could not know what was going on in her dreams and in her head. Casandra stops Beatriz, but she finishes what she was saying and starts scratching her face so hard, she starts bleeding. Tamara and Samuel get up, stopping her from scratching herself and tell the rest to call an ambulance.

Dan realizes that Melody was real and calls Mark, saying that he could save her since there was still time. Mark does not know what he is talking about and Dan explains, but Mark looks at the card Virgil sent him.

Melody walks back into the Visser, asking Samuel if he had bought the paintings, telling him not to mess with her. He pretends he does not understand, saying that Cassandra had only asked him to stop by as a favor, but assuring her that he did not buy any paintings. She asks him what kind of game both she and Cassandra were playing since she knew about the 6th floor, but he pretends to not know. She asks him who he is, naming Alistair Spare, Samuel Grant, and Virgil Samuelson, wondering if Father Russo had discovered who he was and that was why he had shoved him onto the tracks. Samuel tells her to turn her camera off, but she asks if Julia had also been a part of his cult. He tells her that she was clearly drunk or high as suddenly, Chris falls from the building. After Chris fell, Dan sees Virgil approach Samuel on the tape.

Dan walks up to a camera and yells at Virgil, asking who he is after seeing him on the tape. Later, Virgil walks into the house as Dan waits for him. Virgil starts by saying that Samuel was his brother, mentioning that he had a lot of potential, but had channeled it into all the wrong places. Dan asks what he was really doing there restoring all the tapes, to which Virgil replies that he believes Melody had murdered his brother and believes the evidence would be found in the footage. He says that Samuel was charming, but did go quite down a rabbit hole with his occult nonsense. Dan says that Samuel was leading some fucked up cult at the Visser, but Virgil says that it was not real since it was just Samuel's overactive imagination. Dan says that that cannot be real, but Virgil says that Melody had let it all go to her head and that was what killed Samuel, but Dan does not believe it. Virgil asks if he had seen anything which contradicted what he was saying, stating that he does not even know her. He asks Dan to wonder if Melody had not been the one to set fire to everyone, including his family, which he says is impossible, but Virgil asks him to wonder. He tells Dan to finish the tapes so they could both get some closure.

Dan restores his father's tape from when he turned 8 and starts thinking about the past. The telephone rings, so he picks it up. Mark tells him that he is outside and Dan tells him that he cannot let him in since the place was under surveillance. He tells him that he is doing fine and apologizes for him having come all that way, but Mark gets him to come back by telling him that he found Thomas Bellows, who was offered a ton of cash by Davenport to restore VHS tapes, but she signed some NDAs after a car accident he had in Nova Scotia. Mark tells him that Thomas had lost his shit up there and Mark tells Dan that he said he had been seeing Melody. Dan tells him that he is fine and tells him to go home. Dan walks back into the house and starts destroying the cameras, so that Virgil could no longer see him.

Dan starts working on the next tape, which starts with Melody sleeping. When Melody wakes up, she grabs her camera and plays the video of her sleeping. She says that she woke up in someone's apartment, but she does not even know where she is or how she got there. She sees Chris' bloodstain on the floor outside and leaves.

Melody goes downstairs and sees the room full of mold. She touches it and hears chanting behind a door. However, as she is about to open, she turns around and sees Samuel and the tape starts altering, so Dan needs to give it a fix. When he grabs the cassette, he opens it and the VHS as well, finding mold growing inside as well. He tells Virgil about it, but he simply responds that he does not know how the mold had gotten there and he had asked him to be meticulous and Dan says that it was the same thing that was growing at the Visser, wondering how that was possible. Virgil asks if he was experiencing a mental health emergency, but Dan says that he is not. Virgil asks if he looked for the spare unit in order to keep working, so Dan hangs up looks for it, finding Ratty biting on a cable.

Dan finds a camera and looks through the photos, where Thomas Bellows talked through his experience at the compound and describes the soap operas he was fixing as stupid, also keeping journals of what he saw. Through the videos, Thomas says that the job is sucking the life out of him, but he would have a lot of money after that. He finds Davenport's Wellspring folders, which he thinks is a front for personal data. He knows that Davenport was looking for someone, but does not know who. After that, Thomas finds blood in refrigerators and says that he knows Alicia must think he is crazy, but she had not been answering his calls. Thomas says that there is a face in the screen and insists that he is not crazy. He tells Patricia to fuck herself and her tapes, wondering what she had put in them.

Dan remembers Melody interviewing Patricia, who described herself as someone who stayed home and recorded things, especially soap operas. She says that she has two VHS top of the line and feels like they have a message for her. Dan walks downstairs with a bat and breaks the door open to the tapes Thomas had fixed. He finds a tape belonging to Patricia and sees they really all belonged to her.

Dan calls Mark and tells him that Thomas Bellows was digitizing tapes belonging to Patricia. He also adds that he saw the same face Thomas had seen. The call ends and Bobbi approaches him. He tells her that he found the replacement deck and asks what had happened to the man before him. She tells him not to make the same mistake; advising him to do the job, take the money and never look back.

Dan repeats to himself that he should just finish the job as he works on the tape. In it, Melody sees Samuel approach her, who tells her that he had come back with breakfast, but she was gone. Melody asks what she was doing in his apartment and how she had gotten there. He tells her that she fainted and he carried her up to his apartment, apologizing if that had scared her. Melody asks what the room they were in was, to which he replies that it used to be storage before it flooded. However, she asks about the figures the mold formed, but he says he does not know. Melody tells him that she does not believe him, since he had been sending Jess to scrape the walls and knows about the drugs and what Cassandra puts in Jess's tea. She also knows that it is in the paint that drove Anabelle insane, so she asks once again what it is, to which Samuel finally answers that it is proof of their devotion and a manifestation of the divine.

Walking back into her apartment Melody cries when she realizes her mother had never been there. She starts packing her things and repeats what Samuel had said about a vessel. Melody grabs a tape and starts playing it, which Dan does as well. In it, Jess asks if she thinks she could be more and hold a world inside of her. Melody realizes that Jess would be the vessel.

Dan pauses the video and looks at his father, also seeing a face in the screen, which appears to be leaving it. Dan grabs a bat and hits the screen, but the face appears on another screen as well, punching it. Dan uses the bat to hit the second screen, destroying it as well. On a third screen, the face starts to come out of the screen and into the room where Dan was in, snarling. However, Dan manages to destroy that screen as well before it comes out. After that, Dan throws the tapes to the ground and starts destroying them and Patricia's tapes as well. He breaks through a thin wall and looks inside, seeing that the walls were filled with mold. From underground Dan can hear faint chanting. He opens a cellar door and goes downstairs as the prayer gets louder.

When he makes it all the way downstairs, he finds a room playing all of Melody's tapes and sees a room identical to the Vos mansion. Down there, he also sees the Kaelego figure and a big book next to it. Melody calls for help in her tapes repeatedly, asking to be found, but as Dan watches, he is suddenly hit by surprise.

Melody asks for help in her recordings as Dan wakes up startled. He feels his head, but feels fine. When he looks at his teeth, they are black and he throws up mold. He wakes up once again, startled hearing a car honk outside. He looks for something, and asks a man for his phone, calling LMG.

Dan heads towards LMG on by foot and wants to see Virgil, who he is told is not there yet. Virgil calls him from a television and he asks why he is in the city, to which he is told that he had pushed himself a little too hard and collapsed from exhaustion, so they had provided him with medical attention. However, Dan says that he was knocked out and drugged. Virgil says that he has his patient file there with him and had all sorts of observation, so Dan simply asks what the underground chamber that he found was, which he finds weird since it was identical to the basement at the Visser and it was where Virgil's brother was planning a human sacrifice. Virgil says that Dan was hallucinating when they found him, so Dan asks what he and Thomas Bellows were doing there. Virgil asks him if he is feeling okay and Dan realizes that he only wants to know what his brother was up to. Virgil asks him how he thinks he sounds accusing the owner of a Fortune 500 company of being an occultist, also mentioning that Dan had destroyed a lot of very expensive equipment at the compound, which they did get on camera. He tells Dan to take the money and go back to his life so he would not press charges against him.

Outside, Dan loses his temper and goes back to his apartment, which was open. There, he sees Mark, who walks up to him and hugs him. He tells him that he had to get something for him, but Dan asks if he had gotten his message because he has Thomas on video mentioning a face in the screen. Mark thinks he is strange, but Dan says that he saw it too and describes it as unhuman. Mark says that people used to believe cameras could capture demons and says that he wants to show him something as well. He shows him the William Crest collection, telling him that Evie Crest had died. Mark tells him about the Vos society, which did a lot of dark magic and had an instruction manual from witches called Baldung. He tells him that they were trying to raise Kaelego from an alternate dimension. He hands Dan the snuff film Samuel wanted, which William Crest dedicated his life to figure out. He shows him the Vos family ghost photos and asks if he had been seeing something similar, but Dan is not sure. However, he looks at one of the photos and recognizes a woman, who Mark says is Iris Vos, but Dan says that was the woman that Anabelle was painting.

Mark tells Dan that the Vos mansion was destroyed in a fire as well as the Visser, so they realize that Iris had done the same ritual trying to bring the demon to their world, which means that Samuel must have done the same thing at some point. Dan says that Melody's tapes just ended, so he has no idea what happened to her after his father took her to Rockland. Dan says that Samuel could not have killed Melody since he needed her, so Dan wonders if there is someone left who could help them. Dan asks about Anabelle, who would be 50, but Mark wonders if they should leave it. Dan needs to know what happened since his father was a part of that and they stole her life. Mark asks what Anabelle's last name is and Dan gives it to him, so they start looking for her.

Walking into Rockland, Dan and Mark are taken to Anabelle. She asks if he is Dan and he asks if she knows him. She asks what took him so long and opens the door for him. Inside, Anabelle tells him that "she" had been waiting for him, which he does not understand until she mentions Melody, who was painted all over her wall. Dan wonders where she is and Anabelle tells him that in the Otherworld just like Iris was and tells him that he needs to get her out.

Anabelle tells Mark and Dan about how Melody escaped and Dan asks if she is sure that his father was not working with Samuel, but she says that that was what she remembers. Anabelle says that she has been painting Melody for a long time and hears her calling. Mark tells Anabelle that Melody died in a fire at the Visser, but Anabelle says she did not and wants to go home, needing Dan to find her. Anabelle also says that Jess left something for Dan and hands him a box of tea bags, which she wanted to keep safe. Mark says that he looked up Jessica Lewis but did not find anything and Anabelle lets them know that her new name is Sister Mary Cecilia and went to Haiti just recently. Dan wonders what is in the tapes, but Anabelle does not know.

Mark and Dan watch the tapes, where they hear a distorted growl and different noises. Dan brings out a video camera made for kids and knows that Jess had one. There they see a video Jess shot asking Melody what she wanted to do growing up. The other videos show static except for another one that shows Melody, saying that she is looking for Jess, who was being held against her will. She says that her footage is submitted as proof against Samuel, also adding that if something happens to her, Samuel is responsible.

Mark summarizes everything, saying that the ritual was done at the Vos mansion, which had collapsed with no survivors or bodies found with the same thing happening at the Visser in 1994. The ritual was done again and disaster struck, but now they had a better look. Mark says that if he believes everything they had seen, they got a glimpse into The Otherworld and the ritual opens a door, where the worlds intersect. Iris had tried to pull Kaelego out, but was pulled inside instead, so Dan realizes that Melody could be there as well and the visions that he has been having are a way Melody has of saying she is trapped, but they do not know how to get her out. Dan says that Davenport probably has a plan, but Mark tells him that he is lucky Davenport had not killed him before. Dan says that his father had tried to help and failed, so Dan says that perhaps everything he lost all comes back to that moment and he has a chance to make things right.

Dan is at Virgil's front gate and he says that their agreement was clear, but Dan tells him that there is another tape, which Virgil says is impossible. Dan tells him that something else was left behind the night of the fire - the end of Samuel's story, which makes Virgil open the gate. Dan leaves his car behind and walks inside with Virgil, where he shows him how Samuel killed Tamara. The tape ends and Virgil wants to know if there is more, but Dan wants to ask some questions. Dan says that Virgil knew what was on the tapes before he even touched them, but the latter says that is not true, but Dan knows that Virgil believed something was on those tapes about his brother's cult and the Vos film. Virgil says that Samuel had told him all about it and he believed his brother was crazy at the time. Dan asks what is on those tapes and Virgil tells him that they are a glimpse into another world and waited 25 years to see them because he did not have the tapes, only getting them at an auction the year before.

They ended up at a facility because Dr. Turner had put them there, but Virgil does not know why. He tells Dan that they burned down his house in order to destroy them, also saying that there are people that wanted to raise that demon more than anything and people who wanted to avoid that more than anything and his father was on the other end of those people - his family paying the price and Dan's survival being purely accidental. Dan tells Virgil that Melody is still alive and in the Otherworld and needs his help to get her out, which Virgil says is impossible since it is not a hospitable environment for a human being, having spent the better part of 20 years researching the properties of that dimension, but Dan tells him that Samuel is in there as well, playing the rest of the tape for him. Virgil describes Samuel as irrational and has no reason to rescue him from the tomb he had trapped himself in willingly, which angers Dan, so he charges at Virgil and the two fight until he pulls out a gun. Virgil says that he is sorry because he really does like him, but Mark shows up and hits him in the head.

Dan walks into the hole he made in the pantry and goes downstairs with Mark, who is nervous about Virgil sending people to kill them. However, Dan says that he went there to get Melody out and says that everything they need is there. Dan tells Mark that they know how to do everything, but his friend reminds him that both rituals ended in total destruction and would not let himself get his throat slit. However, Dan says that he is not trying to raise the demon, but open a door instead, which Mark says that he would not let him do because it is suicide. Dan tells him to go since it is not safe and it would make a great story for his podcast, but Mark says that he had not been doing all that for the podcast, but because he cares about him and does not want him to die. He says that if Dan was really going to go through with the plan, then he would not leave him there and both of them hug.

Mark and Dan head downstairs to the room identical to the Vos mansion with Melody's tapes playing, which surprises Mark, saying that the place was very weird. Mark grabs the book and hopes that Melody is inside, but is called by Mark who has a gun pointed to his head by Bobbi. Bobbi tells Dan that she does not know if Virgil was going to make it; he says that the hit was in self-defense, but she says that he only wanted to hijack the place. Dan says that Melody was trapped and they needed to help her, which makes Bobbi ask why he would risk his life for somebody he does not even know, but only a shadow. Dan says that it is not like that and Melody was counting on him. However, she tells him that the ritual did not work for the others, and it would not work for him since they did not have everything they needed. She tells them that the book should have been destroyed since the Vos family stole it and it did not belong to them, but they failed to acquire the key they needed.

Mark realizes that Bobbi is a Baldung and Bobbi tells them that only a Baldung could open the door with both the spell and key. Dan wonders if she would get Davenport inside, but she says that she would never do that - he was only a means to an end. Mark wonders if she was going rogue and raising Kaelego, but Dan realizes that she was not there for that and wants to get Melody out too. Dan realizes that Bobbi is Melody's mother, and she tells them that she thought that if she gave her up, she would be safe and would not have to bear the burden of their bloodline, having no idea that she would go looking for her. Bobbi says that she has spent 25 years trying to get her back, knowing she was in there because she dreams about her every night, but she does not have magic anymore, so she needed Davenport to make that possible, someone to thin the veil enough to crack inside, which is what playing the footage does.

Bobbi, Dan, and Mark begin by trying to find the frequency to enter the other world. Dan mentions that Davenport had told him no human could survive there, but she tells him that Davenport has no idea what he is talking about, but it would be disorienting, and Kaelego would want to keep them there since he is lonely and would want them to surrender. She tells Dan that she could hold it open for five minutes and begins the ritual, telling him to follow the sound of the key to go back home. She covers the Kaelego figure in blood and begins chanting in the ancient language, opening the door to the Otherworld.

Dan walks into the door and wakes up, hearing birds chirp outside of what appeared to be Davenport's compound. He looks at his watch and hears a metronome clicking and his sister playing the eerie melody she would play before. She greets him, but keeps playing as he sits next to her. He tells her to stop playing and Dr. Turner walks down, saying that he liked what she was playing, also greeting Dan. His mother walks down and sets the dinner table, so they all sit down, as Dan realizes that he was living as if the fire had never happened. Dan remembers Melody and says that he needs to leave, but his father says that they could start again with the life he was supposed to have, but his voice distorts.

Dan runs through a hallway and calls for Melody, getting no answer until he walks into a door, which looks like the Visser community room. In there, he hears music and walks through a curtain which takes him to a church. There, he sees Melody playing music and she asks if it is him. He tells her to go with him, but she says that she is waiting for someone. Dan tells her that it is a trick, but she does not think so. He asks her to trust him and she admits she thought he was only a dream.

Melody grabs his hand and a loud sound starts breaking all the glass in the church, also hurting their ears. Dan and Melody run together until Dan realizes that they are supposed to be in the compound. Looking at the TV, he sees the compound there, and when he changes the channels, he gets different views of it. While Dan moves the TV around, Melody calls out while hearing faint chanting and gets separated from Dan. She hears the noises through the AC, but it stops when she opens it. Looking at herself in the mirror, she sees Kaelego approaching her, so she screams and Dan runs towards her, taking her through the hallway again until they reach a place where Dan can hear the key resonating. Through a door, Samuel appears and grabs Melody, dragging her through the door with Dan unable to follow.

Melody calls for Dan, but sees Bobbi there, who reaches her hand out and helps her get up. Melody asks if they know each other, but Mark asks where Dan is. Melody says that she does not know because he was right next to her, but Samuel was there as well. Mark calls for Dan, wanting to know where his friend is.

In the meantime, Dan wakes up at a hospital; he calls out to see if anyone was out there. A nurse walks up to him, saying that they were worried he would never wake up. She tells him he was out for 10 days. He asks for Mark, but tells him he had had no visitors. He asks how he got there and she says that he was luckier than the rest of his neighbors at the Visser building. He asks what year it is, but she says that she would get the doctor for him. On the TV, Dan sees that the year is 1994 and Kurt Cobain is pronounced dead, which makes him realize he is stuck in the past.