Speaker 1: Introducing The Fountain Road Files, a new horror fiction podcast
Speaker 1: from Unexplained creator Richard McLean Smith. In March twenty twenty,
Speaker 1: twenty seven year old cafe worker Ben Williams began recording
Speaker 1: an audio diary of the coronavirus pandemic. Two months later,
Speaker 1: he was found dead in the South London flat where
Speaker 1: he was spending lockdown alone, or so he thought. Search
Speaker 1: the Fountain Road Files wherever you get your podcasts, and
Speaker 1: for more information go to the Fountain Road Files dot com.
Speaker 1: Some know it as the Crossroads of America, others as
Speaker 1: the home of Hawkins and the gateway to the upside Down.
Speaker 1: But I've only ever known it as Erie. There wasn't
Speaker 1: much that I wanted more as a kid than to
Speaker 1: be Marshall Teller, uprooted from his home in New Jersey
Speaker 1: to live among the freaks and weirdos of Erie, Indiana.
Speaker 1: And by freaks and weirdos, of course, I mean the
Speaker 1: best kind of people. I have no idea what inspired
Speaker 1: writers Jose Rivera and Carl Schaffer to use the Hugier
Speaker 1: State as the location for one of the greatest TV
Speaker 1: shows of all time, or what exactly they thought was
Speaker 1: eerie about it, but if the following story is anything
Speaker 1: to go by, it certainly earned its reputation. You're listening
Speaker 1: to one, explained, and I'm Richard McClean smith. The doctor
Speaker 1: asked for the family to be sent in, then sat
Speaker 1: back in his chair as one by one, thirty one
Speaker 1: year old LaToya Ammonds and her three children filed into
Speaker 1: his office, followed by Latoya's mother, Rosa. Doctor on Yuquo
Speaker 1: waited for them to take a seat, then asked what
Speaker 1: the problem was. LaToya took a moment to gather her thoughts.
Speaker 1: It's the demons in our home, she said. They're attacking
Speaker 1: the children. The doctor took a moment to process demons,
Speaker 1: he said, as he pulled out a pad and paper,
Speaker 1: what do you mean exactly? LaToya looked at her mother
Speaker 1: for reassurance, and Rosa nodded for her to continue. It
Speaker 1: had all started a few months before, back in December
Speaker 1: two thou and eleven, shortly after the family had moved
Speaker 1: into a new home. The property, a modest, one story
Speaker 1: rental on Carolina Street, a quiet, leafy suburb on the
Speaker 1: outskirts of Gary, Indiana, was meant to be a fresh start.
Speaker 1: Within days, of moving. However, there were ominous signs. It
Speaker 1: was Rosa who noticed it first, the way the flies
Speaker 1: swarmed all over the screen door as if it were
Speaker 1: rotting meat, despite it being the middle of winter at
Speaker 1: the time, and how despite their rigorous efforts to get
Speaker 1: rid of them, their number never seemed to diminish. Then
Speaker 1: one night, not long after the flies appeared, LaToya had
Speaker 1: just put the children to bed when she heard something
Speaker 1: moving above her, like someone pacing about on the ceiling.
Speaker 1: She hadn't thought much of it until a few nights later,
Speaker 1: when she and Rosa heard the basement door creak open
Speaker 1: when no one was near it, despite it being locked.
Speaker 1: From that point on, they continued to hear it open.
Speaker 1: Another time, after Rosa heard the basement door open again,
Speaker 1: she found a series of wet footprints coming away from it,
Speaker 1: as if someone had just walked up into the house.
Speaker 1: Late one evening in March, after a member of their
Speaker 1: extended family had died, a number of friends and family
Speaker 1: were that at the house to mourn. With the children
Speaker 1: in bed, a cry was hurt coming from one of
Speaker 1: the bedrooms, where Latoya's twelve year old daughter and her
Speaker 1: cousin was sleeping. Running to the room, LaToya pushed open
Speaker 1: the door just in time to see her daughter appearing
Speaker 1: to fall from the air onto her bed. Despite being
Speaker 1: fast asleep, the cry had come from the clearly terrified cousin.
Speaker 1: When asked what had happened, she claimed to have seen
Speaker 1: the girl drift up from the bed, hang in the
Speaker 1: air for a moment, and then collapsed back down onto
Speaker 1: the mattress. Concerned that something other worldly was happening in
Speaker 1: her home, the deeply religious LaToya turned to the church
Speaker 1: for help. Following the advice of one representative, she cleaned
Speaker 1: her house from top to bottom with ammonia, then used
Speaker 1: a holy oil to draw crosses on each door and
Speaker 1: window frame to keep out any malicious spirits. That night,
Speaker 1: as she put the children to bed, she used the
Speaker 1: same oil to mark a small cross on each of
Speaker 1: their foreheads. But, as LaToya explained to the doctor, the
Speaker 1: spirits would not be deterred. One afternoon, LaToya overheard her
Speaker 1: seven year old son talking to someone inside a cupboard.
Speaker 1: When she asked him who he was speaking to, he
Speaker 1: replied simply that it was his friend. He always asked
Speaker 1: him to play in the cupboard, he said, but there's
Speaker 1: no one there, said LaToya. You can't see him because
Speaker 1: he's dead, replied her son. It wasn't long after that
Speaker 1: that Latoya's nine year old son began talking in odd
Speaker 1: tones about knowing what death was like, and her daughter
Speaker 1: claimed to be hearing voices telling her she would die
Speaker 1: soon and that she would never see her family again.
Speaker 1: Back in the doctor's office, doctor on Yoku began making
Speaker 1: some notes. Clearly, he wrote, the family were experiencing some
Speaker 1: sort of mass delusion, that there were ghosts in the house,
Speaker 1: or they were hallucinating perhaps, But as he spelled out
Speaker 1: the words, he became aware of a strange gurgling sound.
Speaker 1: Looking up, he realized it was coming from the youngest boy.
Speaker 1: As the gurgle became more of a growl, the boy's
Speaker 1: face began to screw up in anger. In an instant,
Speaker 1: the doctor watched with astonishment as the boy leapt from
Speaker 1: the chair and charged against the wall, almost as if
Speaker 1: something had thrown him across the room, and then he
Speaker 1: collapsed to the floor, unconscious. As LaToya gathered him up
Speaker 1: and cradled him in her arms, the stunt doctor yelled
Speaker 1: for his staff to call nine one one. After being
Speaker 1: rushed to the ear of a nearby hospital. The young
Speaker 1: boy and the rest of the family were thankfully found
Speaker 1: to be in good health. However, with both LaToya and
Speaker 1: her children maintaining that they were under attack from demons,
Speaker 1: a decision was made to call the Department of Child
Speaker 1: Services for help. It had just gone eight forty five
Speaker 1: pm when DCS case manager Valerie Washington arrived at the
Speaker 1: North Lake campus of Methodist Hospitals. After being debriefed by
Speaker 1: the medical staff, she was led into a consultation room
Speaker 1: to speak with LaToya and Rosa, while the children were
Speaker 1: kept in a separate room next door. No sooner had
Speaker 1: LaToya started telling Valerie what had been happening, they heard
Speaker 1: that strange growling sound again coming from the adjacent room
Speaker 1: than her oldest son screamed for help. The women ran
Speaker 1: next door, shocked to find Latoya's youngest with his nine
Speaker 1: year old brother in a headlock. Valerie gasped at the
Speaker 1: sight of his eyes rolled back into his head and
Speaker 1: his teeth bared as he held tight to his brother's neck,
Speaker 1: choking him. It took five members of staff to finally
Speaker 1: pry him away. With his eyes still rolled back in
Speaker 1: his head. The boy started shaking and was placed on
Speaker 1: a bed. When he finally settled down, he claimed to
Speaker 1: have no recollection of what he'd done. Later, with all
Speaker 1: the family gathered together, Valerie is joined by nurse Willie
Speaker 1: Lee Walker and a psychologist to deliver the painful news.
Speaker 1: Given the evident disruption occurring at the home, Valerie had
Speaker 1: little option but to recommend that the children be placed
Speaker 1: elsewhere for the time being. But just as she was
Speaker 1: about to go into further details, Latoya's youngest began to
Speaker 1: growl again, fixing his brother with an uncompromising stare. The
Speaker 1: others watched with alarm as his mouth broke into a strange,
Speaker 1: wide smile, before he then ran head first into his
Speaker 1: grandmother stomach. Again and again, he butted into her, his
Speaker 1: teeth clenched tightly together until Rosa grabbed his hands and
Speaker 1: began to pray loudly over him. It's time to die,
Speaker 1: he said, as he wrestled to get free. Then all
Speaker 1: of a sudden, the boy stopped, walked steadily backwards and
Speaker 1: up the wall. The others could only watch with utter
Speaker 1: confusion as he continued moving up toward the ceiling, until
Speaker 1: eventually he flipped over his grandmother and landed back on
Speaker 1: his feet. Valerie bolted from the room in terror. Later,
Speaker 1: when police asked her to go over exactly what had happened,
Speaker 1: the best way she could describe it was that the
Speaker 1: boy had glided up the wall. That night at the Ya,
Speaker 1: LaToya and her youngest child were kept in for observation
Speaker 1: while Rosa took the other two home. The following day,
Speaker 1: they returned to the hospital, where case manager Valerie Washington
Speaker 1: broke the painful news to LaToya that she would be
Speaker 1: officially separated from her children pending a formal investigation. Though
Speaker 1: she didn't express it explicitly in her report, Valerie had
Speaker 1: come to believe that the family really were suffering at
Speaker 1: the hands of a genuine evil. When the hospital chaplain
Speaker 1: then heard about the peculiar events of the previous night,
Speaker 1: he too came to the same conclusion. That afternoon, he
Speaker 1: contacted local reverend Michael Machineau to ask if he'd be
Speaker 1: willing to conduct an exorcism on the family. Father Machineau
Speaker 1: agreed to help, but only if the family contacted him directly.
Speaker 1: They called him the next day and made arrangements to
Speaker 1: meet at the Carolina Street property. A day later, Machineau
Speaker 1: arrived at the house to find LaToya and Rosa waiting
Speaker 1: anxious outside. Neither had been back since their visit to
Speaker 1: the hospital. Reassured by Machineau's presence, however, they made their
Speaker 1: way inside and invited him to take a seat with
Speaker 1: them in the living room. Over the next few hours,
Speaker 1: they told him about everything that had happened, from the
Speaker 1: abundance of flies in winter, toward the times that they'd
Speaker 1: heard strange noises coming from behind the basement door, to
Speaker 1: the time LaToya caught a glimpse of a shadowy figure
Speaker 1: watching her from inside her closet. They had stayed in
Speaker 1: a hotel that night. Just then, the bathroom light began
Speaker 1: to flicker, but when Machineau walked over to investigate, the
Speaker 1: flickering abruptly stopped. Perhaps the demons are afraid of me,
Speaker 1: he wandered out loud. Returning to the sofa, Machineau was
Speaker 1: just about to speak again when Rosa interrupted. Look, she said,
Speaker 1: pointing to the blinds. They were swaying, but there was
Speaker 1: no breeze inside. After four hours of conversation, LaToya complained
Speaker 1: of a headache. Taking a crucifix from his bag, father
Speaker 1: Machineau placed it on her head, and she began to
Speaker 1: convulse violently, and when he pulled it away, she returned
Speaker 1: to her usual self. It was just as he'd suspected,
Speaker 1: LaToya was possessed. Machineau finished by sprinkling holy water in
Speaker 1: each room and made arrangements to get back in touch
Speaker 1: with La Toya to make a plan for the exorcism.
Speaker 1: In the meantime, he suggested they move out permanently. A
Speaker 1: few days after father Machineau's visit, DCS case manager Valerie
Speaker 1: Washington made her routine visit to the house. The official
Speaker 1: purpose was to assess the family's living standards, in which
Speaker 1: she was assisted by Captain Charles Austen from local law enforcement. However,
Speaker 1: with rumors about the apparent demon house beginning to circulate,
Speaker 1: two other officers tagged along out of curiosity. LaToya and
Speaker 1: Rosa met them outside, but with LaToya too angry after
Speaker 1: having her children taken away from her, it was left
Speaker 1: to Rosa to show them around. An anxious hush came
Speaker 1: over the group as they cautiously made their way through
Speaker 1: the screen door and into the property. Footsteps cracked and
Speaker 1: creaked across the hardwood floor as Valerie made her inspection
Speaker 1: of the three bedrooms, bathroom, and open kitchen, glad to
Speaker 1: find it all in good condition. Finally they arrived at
Speaker 1: the basement door. Rosa led them down. Woe, said one
Speaker 1: of the officers, when he caught sight of the peculiar
Speaker 1: table arrangement in the corner. That's just the altar, explained Rosa,
Speaker 1: comprised of a white sheet over a table with a
Speaker 1: single candle and a small statue of the Holy Family
Speaker 1: on top. They'd been advised to construct it by a
Speaker 1: local self described clairvoyant when the strange events started happening.
Speaker 1: An open Bible and a burned stick of sage had
Speaker 1: also been placed on top of it. And that's where
Speaker 1: we think the demons are coming from. Rosa pointed to
Speaker 1: a large spot under the stairs where the basement's concrete
Speaker 1: floor appeared to have been smashed open, almost as if
Speaker 1: something had erupted out of it from out of the
Speaker 1: black earth that was now visible from underneath. One of
Speaker 1: the officers pulled out a video camera to film it,
Speaker 1: but when he went to press record, he found the
Speaker 1: battery light blinking on and off. The batteries were dead,
Speaker 1: despite being brand new that morning. Luckily, they had a
Speaker 1: spare device on hand. Rosa pointed out the various circles
Speaker 1: of salt they put on the ground toward off the
Speaker 1: malicious spirits as the officer made a quick sweep with
Speaker 1: the camera. Satisfied they'd seen everything, the group returned upstairs,
Speaker 1: relieved that it was over. Valerie and the officers thanked
Speaker 1: Rosa for her time and headed on their separate ways.
Speaker 1: Back in his patrol car, Captain Austin reached for the
Speaker 1: radio receiver when a violent blast of static burst out
Speaker 1: at the speakers were there. Austin drew back in shock.
Speaker 1: What the hell was that? Came the dispatched voice from
Speaker 1: the other end. No idea, replied the captain. Later, when
Speaker 1: the officers watched the recording of their visit, they were
Speaker 1: convinced they heard a voice that didn't belong to anyone
Speaker 1: in the room at the time, and when they examined
Speaker 1: photos they took of the front of the property, they
Speaker 1: noticed something peculiar that seemed to be staring out at
Speaker 1: them from a window, something with unusually large eyes and
Speaker 1: a gaping mouth. It looked as if it were screaming.
Speaker 1: Under further psychological examinations, Latoya's children spoke of shadow figures
Speaker 1: that roamed their home, and how the children would sometimes
Speaker 1: go into trances. They spoke of doors slamming unaided, and
Speaker 1: objects being moved around without anybody touching them. It was
Speaker 1: also discovered, however, that the children had been regularly missing
Speaker 1: school since two thousand and nine. Despite Latoya's protests that
Speaker 1: this had only happened recently because the unusual events had
Speaker 1: kept them awake all night, the DCS investigation concluded that
Speaker 1: she was in neglect of her duties as a parent.
Speaker 1: As a result, a temporary wardship was awarded to the
Speaker 1: state and her children were placed in care, with LaToya
Speaker 1: and Rosa now living with family in Indianapolis. Father Magineau
Speaker 1: took the opportunity to conduct a blessing on the house,
Speaker 1: joining a second DCS visit on May tenth. He conducted
Speaker 1: the ritual in front of two police officers and Samantha
Speaker 1: Ilitch from Children's Services. As the reverend conducted the blessing,
Speaker 1: flicking droplets of holy water into the furthest corners of
Speaker 1: the house, Ilitch made her way into the living room
Speaker 1: when she began to feel a sudden surge of pain
Speaker 1: in her little finger. It was as if something were
Speaker 1: breaking it from the inside. Then a tightness began to
Speaker 1: take hold in her chest. With a growing sense that
Speaker 1: the walls were beginning to close in and all light
Speaker 1: was diminishing, she ran for the door and burst into
Speaker 1: the street, gasping for air as if she had just
Speaker 1: broken the surface from out of water. After suffering a
Speaker 1: string of medical problems in the following weeks, including broken
Speaker 1: bones and burns from a motorbike crash, many of Ilich's
Speaker 1: friends were left wandering if something of the house ended
Speaker 1: up attaching itself to her. A few days later, Father
Speaker 1: Magineau received permission from the local bishop to conduct the
Speaker 1: exorcism on LaToya. One morning in June, LaToya arrived at
Speaker 1: the designated church in Merylville to begin the ritual with
Speaker 1: Father Magineau. They were joined by the two police officers
Speaker 1: who'd assisted in the original house investigation, and one other
Speaker 1: parishioner in case LaToya needed restraining during the procedure. Throughout
Speaker 1: that morning, Magineau railed at the demons he was convinced
Speaker 1: were hiding in Latoya's body. I cast you out, unclean spirit,
Speaker 1: he shouted, along with every satanic power of the enemy.
Speaker 1: Every specter from Hell and all your fell companions in
Speaker 1: the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. With his voice
Speaker 1: rising in volume, he pressed a crucifix against her head,
Speaker 1: and her body volst wildly. And so the session continued,
Speaker 1: with Latoya's energy seeming to ebb and flow as the
Speaker 1: day went on. By the end of that day, sensing
Speaker 1: they'd made progress, Father Magineau gave LaToya a set of
Speaker 1: rosary beads to take home. Later that afternoon, after she'd left, However,
Speaker 1: Magineau found the beads ripped apart and abandoned in the
Speaker 1: parking lot. For the second exorcism session, Magineau decided that
Speaker 1: they'd need the names of the demons that they were
Speaker 1: really going to make it work. He suggested to LaToya
Speaker 1: that she look up the names on the internet, telling
Speaker 1: her that she would know them when she saw them,
Speaker 1: but when she tried to do it, her computer kept
Speaker 1: shutting down inexplicably. Instead, Magineau brought his own list of
Speaker 1: possibilities to the next session and had LaToya point out
Speaker 1: the one she believed were responsible. Armed with two names,
Speaker 1: Magineau conducted the right for a time. This time, LaToya
Speaker 1: convulsed and cried out in pain whenever the names were
Speaker 1: shouted out, until finally it seemed she was too weak
Speaker 1: to carry on and fell asleep. After the second session,
Speaker 1: Father Machineau went on a retreat to prepare for the
Speaker 1: next one, leaving a backup plan with an assistant in
Speaker 1: case there were any problems. While he was gone, a
Speaker 1: piece of paper with the long name of a demon
Speaker 1: written on it that was then tucked into an envelope
Speaker 1: and surrounded with blessed salt. The assistant was to burn
Speaker 1: it if LaToya was in distress. Not long after the
Speaker 1: reverend left, LaToya called the assistant, complaining that she was
Speaker 1: suffering from terrible nightmares. The envelope was promptly burned, and
Speaker 1: the nightmares apparently ended. With Machineau returning soon after, they
Speaker 1: conducted the third and final exorcism, this time in Latin.
Speaker 1: Machineau claimed later that although LaToya didn't understand the Latin,
Speaker 1: she remained quiet during the moments that God was praised,
Speaker 1: but convulsed violently during the condemnations. When the ritual was finished,
Speaker 1: LaToya fell asleep, exhausted. When she finally woke, she claimed
Speaker 1: the demons were gone. That night, after LaToya had driven
Speaker 1: back home to Indianapolis. A storm ripped through the local area,
Speaker 1: knocking the power out for twenty four hours, with local
Speaker 1: news getting wind at the incredible story. Though the family
Speaker 1: were no longer living there, the house on Carolina Street
Speaker 1: became somewhat of a curio, with local police often even
Speaker 1: stopping by to take a look. Landlord Charles Read was
Speaker 1: eventually forced to demand that the police stopped coming because
Speaker 1: they were scaring the lieutenant. He told the press that
Speaker 1: there had been no plus before or after LaToya and
Speaker 1: her family stayed there. After having her children removed from her,
Speaker 1: LaToya was given a strict set of guidelines to follow
Speaker 1: in order to prove that she was capable of looking
Speaker 1: after them, which included the requests that she attend therapy sessions,
Speaker 1: that she no longer discussed the notion of demons, and
Speaker 1: an insistence that she work on different ways to discipline
Speaker 1: her children that weren't directly related to religion or the
Speaker 1: notion of demonic possession. In November two and twelve, having
Speaker 1: successfully demonstrated her commitment to the guidelines, Latoya's children were
Speaker 1: returned to her. She later said it was the happiest
Speaker 1: day of her life. The Department of Child's Services closed
Speaker 1: the case in February two thirteen, stating that there had
Speaker 1: been no demonic presences or spirits in the home. LaToya, however,
Speaker 1: remained convinced it wasn't the psychologists that helped, but God.
Speaker 1: When you hear something like this, don't assume it's not real.
Speaker 1: Because I've lived it, she said, I know it's real.
Speaker 1: If you enjoy Unexplained and would like to help supporters,
Speaker 1: you can now do so via Patreon. To receive access
Speaker 1: to add free episodes, discount or merchandise, as well as
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Speaker 1: Just go to patron dot com, forward Slash Unexplained Pod
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Speaker 1: one time donation, you can go to Unexplained podcast dot
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Speaker 1: or small, are greatly appreciated. Unexplained, the book and audiobook,
Speaker 1: featuring ten stories that have never before been covered on
Speaker 1: the show, is now available to buy worldwide. You can
Speaker 1: purchase through Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Waterstones, among other bookstores.
Speaker 1: All elements of Unexplained, including the show's music, are produced
Speaker 1: by me Richard McClain smith. Please subscribe and rate the
Speaker 1: show wherever you listen to podcasts, and feel free to
Speaker 1: get in touch with any thoughts or ideas regarding the
Speaker 1: stories you've heard on the show. Perhaps you have an
Speaker 1: explanation of your own you'd like to share. You can
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