Beyond Belief - Season 2, Episode 5 - Full Episode | Forensic Files

[Music] it's time once again to cross over the boundary between the real and the unreal beyond belief
fact or fiction hosted by jonathan frakes we live in a world where the real and the unreal live side by side
where substance is disguised as illusion and the only explanations are unexplainable can you separate truth
from fantasy to do so you must break through the web of your experience and open your mind to things beyond
belief sometimes to see the truth we have to look at things from another angle take this portrait of a single cloud
when viewed from a different perspective it becomes an entire circus we encourage you to view our stories
tonight with an open mind examine them from a variety of angles we'll tell you at the end
if they're true or false so follow the clown as he turns the corner our circus is about to begin
but mysterious forces caused some soil to be fertile while other gardens yield nothing but
wilted dreams what is the secret of the green thumb joss myrtle doesn't possess a green
thumb in fact lately his efforts to cause his land to bloom are mostly all thumbs
but joss myrtle loves his land and even though he has no financial resources he is determined to see it thrive again
no matter what the cost i was just a teenager when it all happened i worshiped my father
but he was putting our family through terrible times our farm was going under nothing was
growing but papa refused to admit it joss did you hear what i said i heard you well look at it the land is worthless
it's been barren for two years your mortgage is about to go on the receivership look joss i understand what you're going
through but the best financial advice i can give you is to sell now cut your losses and
give your family a chance paula he's going under he's dragging you down with him when are you gonna wake up
you're my brother harold and i love you but i won't have you talking about my husband that way
in his own home well you're gonna lose your home you're gonna lose everything josh i brought the papers with me we're
making you the best offer you're gonna get i'm gonna leave them i urge you to take
a look at them and i urge you to accept joss i strongly urge you to accept our offer
you gotta get your farm out of he's hopeless he's utterly hopeless papa papa are you okay
this land means everything to me april it's been in our family for generations it's been good to us it's
it's given us life i owe this land my soul uncle harold says we're gonna have to
leave we're not leaving the farm stays in the family it's always been handed down and that's
the way it's gonna be i'm gonna make the land rich again so it'll grow how you gonna do that papa don't you
worry how just know we're gonna stay a few nights later i was tossing and turning going in and out of sleep
i had lived on the farm all of my life and the idea of giving it up and moving somewhere else frightened me
i didn't know any other life but as scared and sad as i was papa was going through a lot worse
i'm not sure what made me get out of bed at that moment maybe it was the voices i
heard downstairs one boy sounded like papa's but the other i had never heard before
you got here quick you called i came what can i do for you will you give my family 20 years of props
there's no saying exactly what i'll do you're not the one who calls the shots here
josh look this means everything to me but i don't know if i can go through with it
now we're never just make up your mind do you have everything you need to do just come with me
i wasn't sure who the stranger was i thought maybe it was mr johnson the rich man who lived in the next county
i'd seen someone who looked like him hanging around the barn once and that's who papa told me it was i
couldn't help but follow them out the door to see what was going on it was really cold that night that i
didn't even think about getting a coat nothing could take away the chill i was feeling
i had no idea what they were doing and i was too far away to hear what they were
saying the only thing i do know is the one thing i'll never forget that was the last time i ever saw my
papa alive [Applause] [Music] hmm i'm telling you i went outside and i saw it he wasn't there i think he went away
but he disappeared what do you mean he disappeared it had to have been a night no it wasn't
a nightmare i know what i saw he's gone mama said she didn't believe my story she said papa had just
up and left and i was making the whole thing up to ease her pain but i knew deep down she didn't believe
her story either [Music] [Music] when she thought i had gone back to sleep she went out to the part of the
field where i had seen papa and the man in black go and that's where she found it
the pile of papa's clothing the wind took care of the rest [Music] stay stay stay on the land
the wind never stopped howling for the rest of that night mama and i kept hearing what we thought
was a voice a voice that sounded like papa's finally we fell asleep in each other's arms
exhausted scared and strangely at peace in the morning the wind had died down and when i opened my eyes
i knew something was different i could feel papa all around me in fact i was sure that if i opened the
door i would see him standing outside in the field mama mama mama wake up what what is it it was
something wrong nothing's wrong come on [Music] it was the most beautiful sight we had
ever seen fields were green and the crops were growing i wanted papa to see it too but i had
the feeling he knew all about it [Music] did joss myrtle really disappear and become part of his land
or did he simply go away one night never to return was his daughter dreaming when she saw
him hit by lightning that night then how do you explain the sudden greening of the myrtle farm
and what about that pile of clothes and who was the mysterious stranger is there truth blossoming here or is it
just another home-grown lie we'll find out whether this story is true or false at the end
of our show next a luxury liner hits an iceberg on beyond belief fact or fiction the luxury liner very
much in our thoughts these days the image of a giant ship cutting through the waters combines our
fantasies of opulence with the undeniable romance of the open seas no wonder these miracles of the
waves have a way of capturing our imagination this next story of a seafaring disaster
is set in a time earlier than most of our tales but the inspiration for its telling
is as fresh as tomorrow it was a cold winter's morning when harris fisher an author who hadn't had a
best seller in much too long met with his publisher it's a good idea harris but it's just
not what people are reading true stories are where interests lie nowadays jack the ripper that's what's selling
i'm a writer i'm not a newspaper reporter the stories come from my imagination and
the tide will change until it does pick up a paper look at the headlines it's not me zachary ah
fiction is still greater than anything you could read in a newspaper you'll see [Music]
back in his apartment fischer struggled once again with the writer's block that was crippling his creative process
story after story would start in his head only to go nowhere he knew his publisher's suggestion of
stealing a plot from the headlines was a good one especially for a writer with no ideas
but fisher was determined to come up with an original plot but then an article caught his eye
[Music] a grand story took shape in front of him his story as rich as the day's headlines
that's it [Music] suddenly it was all so easy the chains around his imagination seemed to be
breaking off link by link if it was a story that came from the headlines that people would buy
then that was what fisher was going to give them always one who worked better from a visual concept
he began to draw on a sketch pad fisher could see the ship in front of him like the titanic it would be a giant
luxury cruiser like the titanic it would have huge smoke stacks that would tower above its
decks [Music] there was no stopping the direction that his mind was heading now so he
let it go yes and like the titanic the massive ship would set sail from england this was the story fischer knew he could
sell and so this was the story he would write soon fischer's apartment was filled with
a sound it had not heard in months the furious clacking of typewriter keys fisher's imagination was sailing as fast
as any ship his story would follow the same plot as the titanic his ship would also be traveling to the
united states in fact its destination was new york crowds would gather on the docks to wish it bon
voyage this wondrous unsinkable legend [Music] there were periods when fisher questioned his project
could he really get away with this idea wouldn't readers reject the concept yet it all seemed so clear why not give
in to the words that were crying to be let out after several hours of inner struggle
fisher knew he had no choice he must go ahead with this book the similarities to the titanic were an
intrinsic part of fisher's story right down to the name he chose for his ship there was no stopping fischer now the
world outside his apartment ceased to exist all right i'm coming coming i'm sorry to disturb you mr fisher but i
thought you'd want your food brought up to you again oh thank you mrs clark there's going to
be a big storm coming in tonight do you have enough wood yes yes i'm fine you know
my husband and i marvel at your talent your stories are always so original thank you mrs clark goodbye
goodbye back to his typewriter the parallels would continue both the titan and the titanic were the
same approximate length and width each ship had three propellers and each carried over 2 000 passengers
both ships were the most expensive luxurious sea going structures of their time and the creme de la creme of society
spent fortunes to book passage and then fisher added his most outrageous touch of
all his ship the titan would be hit by an iceberg and like the titanic great numbers would
die of exposure in the icy waters of the atlantic ocean harris come in come in i just wanted to
stop by to see if you read my story yet please sit down [Music] harris a 70 000 ton ship on its maiden
voyage carrying over 2200 passengers and it hits an iceberg and sinks over 1500 people die
come on harris it's not gonna happen i told you people aren't interested in fiction the
only difference between fiction and non-fiction is that fiction hasn't happened yet
and this never will all right harris give it another try and in the meantime i'll give this another look harris
fisher's story was written in 1898 the titanic went down in 1912. an amazing story especially when you
consider the titan was written 14 years before the titanic ever sailed could harris fisher really have imagined
all those parallels to the titanic was there some newspaper article about plans to build the titanic that he
lifted his ideas from or was it another example of art foreshadowing life the same way jules verne wrote of
submarines long before their invention or da vinci sketched flying machines centuries before the wright brothers
as our story of the ship that hid an iceberg the truth or is it simply a titanic hoax
we'll find out whether this story is true or false at the end of our show next a diary predicts disaster beyond
belief fact or fiction [Music] once private thoughts were kept in locked diaries hidden away from prying
eyes today's high-tech generation are more than likely to record their deepest secrets
on a computer kim maddox is a lonely girl who feels safe recording her thoughts on a computer
but what happens when outsiders invade the private sanctuary of her innermost feelings
we are about to see the frightening consequences i never fit in people think i'm weird
because i see things before they happen [Music] can you believe that little geek
actually had the nerve to talk to me what did she say something about brad's party
this is it let's go hey cam hey we've got something for you i wasn't popular and rasha and daley were so i loved it
when they paid attention to me did you see the look at her we got her so good i didn't hate them i hated
myself i decided to take a walk adorable i realized now they must have been hiding
the freak left her computer behind well she must be going someplace special who cares where she's going i have a
better idea let's take a trip into kim world my mind was so preoccupied i never remembered to lock up
i can only guess what happened next daley do you think anybody saw us no no one saw us come on
let's try the back door they really should lock their doors there it is her computer
let's see what we have go to diary yeah let's see what's on the little freak's mind
look she's got stuff about all the kids in school no way how does she know that wait are
we in there march 13th i saw daley and her boyfriend travis in the school hallway today
i'm afraid they'll be breaking up soon poor daily that is so not true russia is going to
fail civics and spend the summer in school too bad she'd really rather go to europe with her parents
her teacher is so mean please just ignore it she's so weird she's coming let's go
when i came back i didn't know they had been there when i saw that the computer was turned
on i thought maybe i had forgotten to turn it off but i wasn't sure it was a creepy moment
that i didn't like it's dumb luck everyone knows i hate civics hello hi travis what what do you mean we need space
the only reason why i went out with you in the first place was because i felt sorry for you
jerk that stupid idiot daily believe it what it's coming true everything she wrote in the diary oh
yeah well let's find out what else she knows i can't believe we're just breaking in
look we're just gonna find out what the little witch is predicting this week that feeling is coming over me again
something bad is going to happen smoke lots of smoke at daley's house what oh my god they're at my house
my predictions were just for me to read i couldn't control them they just came over me i was starting to
feel something really terrible was going to happen to rasha and daly i didn't know if i could stop it from
happening but i had to find a way to warn them hi kim hi we just wanted to come over
and say hi look i i know we haven't always gotten along we just wanted to say that we're
sorry and that all is forgiven right yeah yeah sure do you want to come in sure i'm glad you guys stopped over
my parents are going away for the night and i was going to see a movie would you like to come i really need to
talk to you okay okay yeah we will um meet you there okay eight o'clock show sure we'll see
you there as if freak i never told them what i wanted to say then they'd never want to be my friends
but i guessed if they were reading my diary they would find out on their own but maybe we shouldn't do this and come
on let's just leave her alone we will we will but you just can't trust these computers
they can get really sick wait we should look and see what she wrote first i can't believe this we are going to
brad's party anyway i knew they would never make it to the movies to be with me brad's party was going on at the same
time the sad part was i knew they'd never make it there either i didn't wish anything bad on
russia and daily it wasn't their fault they were mean to me and it's not my fault that i always
end up the same way alone our story ends before we find out the exact fates of rasha and daly
sad to say that shortly after reading kim's diary they were involved in a fatal traffic accident was their
untimely end really predicted by kim or were they so frightened upon reading the diary entry
that they were driving in a state of blind panic bringing about their own demise
but then how do you explain the accuracy of all those other prophecies on kim's computer
this story may be fact then again it may be fancy what's your prediction we'll find out whether this story is
true or false at the end of our show next a woman explores the hidden secrets of her past
of beyond belief fact or fiction [Music] the human brain much too complicated to
be understood by the human brain repressed memory total recall deja vu all found here
and all basically unexplainable jane doe has no recollections of her past yet on the blank wall of her memory
images appear that she seems to remember you are about to enter her world to experience a tale of amnesia
you will never forget after the accident i had completely lost my memory i hated the name jane doe but that's all
they could call me nobody knew who i was or where i came from i had no identification or records
all i had were these flashes in my brain and i was beginning to get one now stop stop stop the car susan please
susan was an attendant in the hospital where i was staying she was assigned to drive me to a
specialist several hundred miles away but what i was starting to experience was more important than any help a
doctor could give me i was starting to experience my past all of a sudden have this funny feeling
that i've been in this town before and i think i've even been in this diner well it certainly is quaint
something told me there was a counter area upstairs that i had visited many times
good afternoon ladies well it'd be i'd like a gardenia float please a gardenia float please
with extra whipped cream kind of fancy for this place two scoops of ice cream root beer and some nuts sprinkled on the
top and it's served in a in a dish that looks like a flower now in all the years i've
been here i've never heard anybody order a gardenia float would you settle for a piece of bud
special pie sure why not it's gonna be all right jane stop calling me jade [Music]
my name isn't jane doe [Music] she's suffering from post-traumatic memory loss that's just a fancy way of saying i've
got amnesia gosh i'd really like to help you out but i've never seen you before now annie here might know more than i do
after all she's been delivering mail in these parts for about 100 years now why don't you talk to her while i go
freshen up in the ladies room oh it's just uh past those two booths take a right and a left and it's across
from the jukebox that's exactly right i think i'll have my usual lemonade with two sugars
how'd you know that did did you use did you used to buy lemonade from a little girl on spring street
spring street that that's that's part of the i-90 interstate that's been gone for years
are you okay hon i don't know my head is splitting open i see flashes and they just disappear
what is it this table there's something special about it [Music] [Music] aw loves bp
what does that mean do you know those people i don't know but it sounds familiar
ep is billy palmer they said he was in here all the time poor kid he was killed in a bad
crash years ago he's on his way to elope it happened on the bridge outside of town
maybe around midnight yeah is the cemetery still across the road in saint mary's church
hasn't moved come on susan thank you there in the cemetery i was sure i would discover the link to my past
i stared at the headstone of billy palmer praying that it would open some closed door who was he
i felt if i stood there long enough it would become clear i had a few false hopes
but in the end billy's grave gave me absolutely no answers at all i felt i was so close to finding myself
and nothing [Music] just a blank i was so sure this was gonna lead somewhere our jane doe never knew the possible
truth for only a few feet from billy's grave was the grave of the girl who died with him that same night
her photo a dead ringer for our jane doe angela wright born 1930 died 1950. [Music]
did our jane doe actually live a past life in the town she was visiting was it really her who died in that
accident years ago was that photograph in the cemetery just someone who looked like her
is this the first time you were being asked to judge the truthfulness of this tale
or as that great philosopher yogi berra once said is this deja vu all over again
we'll find out whether this story is true or false at the end of our show next spontaneous fires invade a home
on beyond belief fact or fiction [Music] many say that fire is man's first great
discovery for centuries it has allowed us to cook our food heat our dwellings and light our pathways and everything
that has been invented since either relies on fire or imitates it but fire is inspiring
something else in the lives of stuart and laura freeland the destruction of their security and
when we cannot control our own safety that all we have left are the fires of fear
[Music] detective harold peters had been a cop for over 20 years he has seen more than he cares to
remember but the only cases that keep him up at night are cases like this that's why he's here today searching
through the rubble for answers and remembering when this was a dream house whose dreams
kept going up in smoke [Music] steward honey honey get back [Music] you folks have somewhere to stay tonight
yeah yeah i don't understand it we just bought the house they said everything checked out fine
well i've never seen flames shoot out from an outlet before i'm sure an electrician will be able to figure it
out good luck [Music] you sure this is the right one yes of course yeah i can't figure it out i mean it
looks brand new not even scorched i don't understand i don't know the insurance company wants me to change it
and check out the wiring if there's a problem with the electrical i'll find it god stewart
honey what's that smell i don't know but it just started getting really bad it's in here too where's it coming from
i don't know call 9-1-1 [Music] the fire department confirmed the overwhelming odor of sulfur
by now they had been called to the freeland's residence on five different occasions
another fire and another dead end that's when police detective harold peters was
assigned to the case freeland nice to meet you might have asked you a few questions no
your name is uh stuart freelance yes and your name laura sloane freeland is there an e at the end of sloan
no detective what's this all about why the police well we're trying to figure that out mr
freeland i mean the fire department can't keep coming out here i will tell you what's baffling here
though there are no scorch marks on this wall here there's the fire's touching the wall you
figure you got to leave a mark but uh nothing right the insurance company has sent
inspectors electricians even soil specialists no one can figure it out shame where do you work mr freeland
take aerospace and uh business good yeah it's good what are you saying detective did we
have something to do with this oh no no no no no let me be honest with you i can't figure this out i mean there's
no scorch marks on the floor or the walls i mean it's the damnest fire i've ever seen
for the fire department too what do you think we should do damn if i know maybe ought to get yourself a psychic
the next day the freelance called dr lloyd cameron a man with an incredible success record
in spirit depossessions well there are no fluctuations in temperature or energy levels
what does that mean it means that i don't see anything in this house where is another answer maybe the energy
has attached itself to one of you come on that's crazy how how could that happen something
somebody's done something bad oh god what it's me when i was nine my brother scott and i set fire to the
woods next to our house it got out of control and it burned the whole lot my father said that whoever did it
would be followed by fire i mean he scared us so bad we never said anything i never told anyone
now you have what does that do well it clears the conscience and it uh releases the spirits
repression and denial are the fountainhead of paranormal activity it's over mr friedland
but it wasn't over the fires continued to burn inside the house finally the insurance company determined
that the blazes were caused by undetectable gases and ordered the house torn down
the same day stewart and laura freeland moved to another town but something was left behind a member
of the wrecking crew found it and handed it over to detective peters at first it seemed like a useless
memento but it turned out to be much more it was an old scrapbook filled with memories
memories that should have been discarded long ago but were saved like some horrible lesson you don't want to
remember yet are afraid to forget the book showed that laura sloane freeland as a little girl
was involved in incident of criminal arson the fire she started killed several people
so the psychic was right only it wasn't the husband that the evil energy had attached itself to
it was the wife all along detective peters had his answers the question was did he believe them
[Music] could this story have actually taken place can spontaneous combustion occur
with no scientific explanation or could the fires have been caused by some repressed spirits and to punish a woman
who had crossed the gods of flame in the past is this story real or unreal that is the burning question coming up
we'll find out which of our stories tonight were fact and which were fiction when beyond belief returns
and now let's find out if you were able to separate fact from fiction tonight and how about the farmer who vanished
into thin air and then seemed to use his spirit to replenish his land how do you judge this one
[Music] [Music] three if you guessed this was a work of fiction you guessed right
we made this one up what about the author who foretold the tragedy of the titanic 14 years before
it sailed a 70 000 ton ship on its maiden voyage carrying over 2 200 passengers and it
hits an iceberg and sinks over 1500 people die come on harris it's not gonna happen i
told you people aren't interested in fiction if you guessed this was a story based on reality
you were correct it's fact let's take another look at the story of the student whose electronic diary
seemed to predict the future look maybe we shouldn't do this and come on let's just leave her alone
we will we will butcher you just can't trust these computers they can get really sick
wait we should look and see what she wrote first okay i can't believe this we are going to
brad's party anyway i knew they would never make it to the movies to be with me brad's party was going on at the same
time i didn't wish anything bad on rasha and daley it wasn't their fault they were mean to
me and it's not my fault that i always end up the same way alone was this story based on an actual
incident yes it was it happened [Music] and now it's time to decide the honesty of the tale of amnesia
and a life lived before let's see a brief reprise i think i'll have my usual lemonade with two sugars
how'd you know that did you use did you used to buy lemonade from a little girl on spring street
spring street that that's that's part of the i-90 interstate that's been gone for years
are you okay hon i don't know my head is splitting open i see flashes and they just disappear
was this story of a woman whose memory was based on a past life true not this time it's fiction
let's look at the strange story of the house invaded by flames real or not my father said that whoever did it
would be followed by fire i mean he scared us so bad we never said anything i never told anyone
now you have what does that do well it clears the conscience and it uh releases the spirits
repression and denial are the fountainhead of paranormal activity it's over mr friedland the story of fire that
couldn't be controlled or explained is inspired by a similar incident so where is the line between fact and
fiction who among us can see it so clearly that there is never a question of what is
true and what is beyond belief i'm jonathan franks join us for more stories on beyond
belief fact or fiction [Music] foreign you

This episode features the following cases: The Land; Titan; The Diary; Town of Remembrance; The House on Barry Avenue.

Brief Summary

A farmer vanishes, a writer predicts the Titanic, a girl's diary foretells tragedy, and a woman with amnesia seeks her past.

Key points

The Secret of the Green Thumb. Joss Myrtle struggles to revive his barren land, determined to keep the family farm.
The Mysterious Disappearance. Joss Myrtle's father vanishes, leaving behind only his clothes. What happened to him?
The Writer's Block. Harris Fisher battles writer's block until he finds inspiration in a tragic story.
The Diary's Prophecies. Kim Maddox's diary predicts disasters, but are they mere coincidences or something more?
The Unexplainable Past. Jane Doe experiences flashes of memory after losing her identity in an accident.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

Can you separate truth from fantasy?

0:42WatchJan 13, 2021

Tension

60/ 100Some tension

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