Episode 107

## Summary

Alex enlists the help of a well-known psychic as the abduction of Sebastian Torres leads her deep into the woods, and deeper into Dr. Strand's mysterious past.

## Synopsis

Because of their recent contact with Sebastian Torres, Alex and Dr. Strand are called in for questioning by Los Gatos police chief Stan Collins about his disappearance two days prior. Collins tells Alex and Dr. Strand that Sebastian's mother pointed the police in their direction, and hypothesizes that exposure from the Black Tapes Podcast may inadvertently have sent a "religious nutjob" in Sebastian's direction. Strand denies any culpability, claiming that the Torres family has been a victim of unusual events long before he and Alex were involved in telling Sebastian's story. After being released from questioning, Alex tells Collins that she and Strand will stay in town until Sebastian is found.

Outside the police station, Alex and Dr. Strand run into Tannis Braun, a famous psychic who has been enlisted to help find Simon by the police department. Alex plays an audio clip from a 1993 PNWS episode about Tannis, in which he predicts with 88% accuracy the color landed on by a spinning wheel in another room. Tannis claims to have accomplished this through bilocation. Strand denounces Braun as a fraud, or at best an "excellent detective", and claims that Braun's Institute for Higher Learning indirectly funded the color wheel experiment.

Alex accompanies Tannis on his search for Sebastian at Portola Redwoods State Park, which he says he felt "pulled' to after talking with Sebastian's mother and getting a sense of who Sebastian is through photos and personal belongings. Tannis says he also got the sense from being in Sebastian's room that Sebastian was in the presence of something very dark. Braun explains he's known he's had a gift since he was three years old and that everyone has these abilities to one degree or another, but that the particular way his brain is organized enables him to better utilize them. Alex asks Braun about his ability to bilocate, and he claims that there's evidence that Vladimir Lenin had the same ability.

Tannis and Alex's search is unsuccessful, but at noon the next day, a hiker and his dog find Sebastian Torres in an abandoned cabin in the park, 5 miles northeast of where Braun and Alex were looking the day before. Sebastian claims to have no memory of his abduction or his time in the cabin. Once the police have finished their investigation, they permit Tannis to conduct an "on-site reading" at the cabin, accompanied by Alex. They discover that its walls are covered in the same disturbing symbols as the walls of Sebastian's closet and Simon Reese's room at Three Rivers Hospital. Braun insists Sebastian didn't create the drawings himself, and becomes increasingly agitated, telling Alex that something "not good" is in the cabin with them.

Alex sends photos of the cabin drawings to Dr. Strand, who tells her they are evidence that someone was trying to summon a demon, based on the arrangement of numbers forming a pentagram around a central figure.

Alex calls Simon Reese at Three Rivers State Psychiatric Hospital to find out more about the drawings. When she tells him about the cabin, Simon tells her that it must once have been a place of worship. He also displays some knowledge of Sebastian, referring to him as "the boy from San Francisco", and begins to laugh when Alex says that Sebastian is "lucky to be alive." He becomes unresponsive to Alex's questions, instead laughing and repeating the phrase "he's coming".

The following day, Alex invites Dr. Strand to investigate the cabin with her. They notice that as the sun passes through particular boards in one window, a cross is formed on the opposite wall. Strand determines that since the drawings were made on the cabin's south-facing wall, along with the inversion of the Golden Ratio, whoever drew them had intended to "let something in" from another plane, something "bad".

Alex receives an irate message from Dr. Strand's daughter Charlie, who accuses Alex of “drag[ging Dr. Strand] into the spotlight to increase [the podcast's] ratings”, and asks her to stop discussing Charlie and her mother on the show. When Alex returns her call, Charlie maintains that Strand didn't kill "[her] dead mother", and reiterates her request for privacy.

Alex also reveals that Sebastian's parents refuse to speak with anyone at PNWS, saying they just want to put the incident behind them. Nic believes PNWS should be glad they have not decided to sue.

## Characters

### Main Characters

Alex Reagan, producer/host

Dr. Richard Strand, paranormal investigator

### Recurring Characters

Sebastian Torres, son of Robert and Maria

Simon Reese, patient at Three Rivers State Hospital

### Guest Appearances

Stan Collins, Chief of Police, Los Gatos Police Department

Tannis Braun, psychic and parapsychologist

Charlie Strand, Dr. Strand's daughter