Top-rated
Thu, Nov 14, 1985
Dr. Jonathan MacKensie, professor of anthropology at Georgetown Institute of Science & Technology is 'persuaded' to take over the directorship of Dr. Moorhouse's newly established Paranormal Research Unit to investigate unexplainable phenomena, starting with reports of poltergeist activity in a little town in northern California. Once in Fartham, his reluctant investigation leads him to a dark cemetery and a fateful meeting with Edgar ('Call Me Benny, Edgar's Just For the Press') Benedek, who is also prowling around the tombstones on the scent of the same story. Although the flamboyant, self-aggrandizing author (and infamous tabloid reporter) immediately grates on Jonathan's nerves, he recognizes that Benny is considerably more experienced in the investigation of paranormal phenomena than he is (or ever wishes to be) and a partnership is born. The inhabitants of Briarwood Road feared their neighbor, Robert Pence, a professional occultist who claimed to derive his dark powers from his infamous ancestor Angelica Pence, a Salem witch. When Pence died in a mysterious fire, the neighbors stayed behind locked doors and drawn curtains while Pence's young son, Billy, futilely begged for their aid. Now those same neighbors are being plagued by mysterious and threatening phenomena, as though Pence were reaching out from beyond the grave to exact his revenge. Before long, Jonathan and Benny are on the trail of what's really behind the seemingly paranormal attacks, but not before their own lives are threatened by the same circumstances that took Pence's life.
