Beyond Belief - Season 3, Episode 9 - Full Episode | Forensic Files

beyond belief fact or fiction [Music] hosted by jonathan brakes tonight your challenge is to separate
what is true from what is false five stories some real some fake can you judge which
are fact and which are fiction to find out you must enter a world of both truth and deception
a world that is beyond belief [Music] perception is something that can often change right before our very eyes
here's an example a contoured sheet with obvious valleys and peaks but when we take another look we see
that it's perfectly flat so what's the reality it all depends on our perception tonight you'll be asked to judge five
stories on whether they're fact or fiction what will your perception tell you some
of them are inspired by actual events while others are total lies and remember what you may perceive as plateaus of
truth may actually be mountains of deception blood is not only thicker than water
it's also more informative through the analysis of blood types chemical makeup and dna we can learn much about a
person's family ties even after that person's been dead for centuries samples of thomas jefferson's
dna have proved this point of course most of us don't need to submit to extensive testing to confirm
our family relationships we have only to look in the mirror to get the genetic links to our parents and our siblings
lorine has never felt that way she's never looked like or acted like her parents and all her questions
are about to be put under a microscope i was about to marry my childhood sweetheart
we were perfect for each other we had absolutely everything in common of course to get our marriage license
the state required a blood test that's when an old fear of mine was confirmed and i had to confront it with
my mother sweetheart you don't really believe you were adopted i'm sorry mother but i do you and dad
are both blood type a it wouldn't be possible for me to be blood type b i always suspected i was adopted now i
have proof i broke these you've seen them before they were all taken when you were a
little girl do you remember me telling you about the night you were born the blizzard your arrival wasn't exactly
convenient but it was a blessing i never said i didn't feel loved but i was always different my interests
my talents the only blonde in a family of brunettes and taller and you grew so fast
but look how beautiful you turned out but mom the blood test was wrong the lab made a mistake
[Music] you're still not convinced i could have been adopted as a newborn but why would they lie is there some
awful family secret honey you have terrific parents and someday when we have children
they'll be terrific grandparents so even if you really were adopted so what so what that's in the past honey and
right now we have a wedding to plan and a future to consider i can't possibly think about the future
until i know my history don i'm sorry but i can't marry you until i know the truth
honey we're soul mates remember we're born to be married it's our destiny best friends born on the same day new
year's babies if i was adopted maybe my birthday really isn't january 1st maybe that's a
lie too i've always loved that we had the same birthday it was something extra special that we
shared i'll still love you either way but if it's important to you we'll find out the truth
[Music] together [Music] well these are the old files before everything was done on computers
medical records you're asking about it here somewhere you know i could get somebody to do this
for you maybe take a few days i really need to find the record today thanks okay you need anything else come get me
[Music] this is it here's a copy of your birth certificate january 1st length wait parents russell and edna atkins
so i'm legit here's the emergency room admitting form time of arrival patient already in labor
it's all by the book honey i wasn't adopted after all relieved [Music] it's odd someone wrote boy then crossed
it out and wrote girl well you're definitely a girl i can vouch for that maybe we're not done
it's odd we don't usually deliver babies in the emergency room there's a maternity ward for that
well it was january 1st there was a blizzard with the bad roads my parents barely got to the hospital in time
73 and i remember that night i was an attendant nurse new year's eve power lines were down the hospital was
working on backup generators ice on the highway caused some awful accidents we were doing double shifts to
care for the injured and two women in labor came in that night and look on my mother's admitting form
baby boy is written and then marked out well it was so hectic i suppose the nurse wrote it down wrong and then the
doctor corrected it i was born the same night in the middle of the same chaos but my mother's record
said baby girl but it's crossed out and changed to boy one boy baby and one girl baby
the paperwork must have been mixed up is it possible that the paperwork wasn't mixed up but that the babies were
an impossible story or is it is it too much to believe that two people raised by different families could fall
deeply in love and turn out to have been switched at birth certainly switched at birth stories and
become more common over the years but one combined with a love story strains credibility
but it's now up to you to decide the truth or falsehood of our story have we presented you with the facts or
have we pulled a last-minute switch we'll tell you whether this story is true or false at the end of our show
next the spirits of halloween are out for revenge on beyond belief fact or fiction
next to christmas the most publicized and merchandised holiday is halloween pumpkin patches are as numerous as
christmas tree lots every year millions are spent on costumes decorations of course trick-or-treat candy but like
christmas halloween has its scrooges too take harold ratcher harold not only hates the holiday he's a troublemaker
and the trouble he makes is for anyone foolish enough to ring his bell on halloween night
and so we come to another year and another halloween but beware because on this halloween
nobody can predict what we'll find every community has a home like the ratchet house it's the one owned by the
meanest man in town luckily the townspeople didn't have to interact with harold much
he lived on the other side of the bridge the only time anyone bothered to cross the creek to
see him at all was on halloween storm's blowing in hope it waits a while so children won't be disappointed
you know it's halloween tonight i thought i'd put some candy in a bowl there's gonna be no kids coming by here
tonight not after the lesson i taught them last year i wouldn't be so proud of that
harold ratcher scared those children so badly one had to go to the hospital well they were trespassing on my
property time was i was too spread out around here for kids to come begging for treats
besides i won that case in court the town's grown up suburbs are just to the other side of
the bridge now have to expect some children coming over yeah with their greedy hands out
playing tricks on anybody who doesn't give in to their extortion they're just harmless little children
yeah well what about the year they covered the tree in toilet paper smash raw eggs in the mailbox
well mind you any little hoodlums come across that bridge tonight they'll wish they hadn't
oh frightening costumes you know how i feel about that i'm playing by the rules halloweens are a two-way street they
wear scary costumes so can i harold don't [Music] [Applause] here you are there they don't all fall for your nonsense
you're a little big for a trick-or-treater huh so are you oh we won't get any more
trick-or-treaters tonight probably best that way in this weather ah i see you out there
carol who are you hollering at some kid he has a dummy dressed up to look just like me and
it's like i told you up to no good he's probably trying to get even after last year
i don't see anybody out there you're making more out of this than need be you think so huh
[Music] it's just the tree of course what else would it be i don't know what you're getting
yourself all worked up about but i'm going to bed before you do the same to me [Music]
you should have cut those branches they're going to be scraping all night whoa lousy kid
[Music] oh uh i think my husband's having a heart attack no he doesn't have a history he said
some boy was terrorizing him he's shaking can hardly breathe please hurry it'll take a while for the ambulance the
storm flooded the creek the bridge between us and town washed away hours ago that's impossible the bridge washed away
and how did the kid in the monster suit get over to our house [Music] was harold ratcher victimized by his own
cruel imagination or did someone sneak across the bridge before the rain washed it out
someone who was perhaps out for revenge against harold ratcher or was the culprit as something harold's
wife mary but then how do you explain the grim reaper it couldn't possibly have been her could
it in this tale of trick-or-treat have we opened the door of truth or are we leaving you
holding the bag we'll tell you whether this story is true or false at the end of our show
next a young woman lives with the ghost of her favorite cat on beyond belief fact or fiction
do you have a pet chances are it's a dog or a cat and while dogs retain the title of man's
best friend cat owners number over 27 million in the united states alone these are a few of the products aimed at
feline fanciers wendy baker is a proud cat lover in fact you might say that the attention she
pays to her cat named precious is obsessive it's enough attention to fill a lifetime or
for that matter nine lifetimes [Music] as a child psychologist i had worked with hundreds of cases
but never before had i entered a situation not knowing the nature of the problem
the parents urged me to meet their daughter with them in their own home i guess they felt if i didn't see it
with my own eyes i'd never believe it oh she actually takes better care of the cat than she does herself
you know we moved about six months ago wendy was upset about leaving her old school and her friends so we thought
we'd get her precious i tried to explain to her we had to relocate for this job i was taking but
well you know kids oh and wendy really loved that cat i mean precious slept on her bed every night on a
special pillow followed wendy around like a shadow it was really sweet where is the cat oh well
about two months ago it ran out into the street and wendy hasn't gotten over the loss no
we figured give her a little time yeah but it's been two months it's a little bizarre
maybe i should have agreed to seek out help sooner but kids teenagers they're supposed to act eccentric you know at
first we thought it was some sort of uh hallucination and then we thought she was doing it on purpose just to make us
angry and now we don't know what to think except that she is taking this way too far and
we really need some help what do you mean by eccentric oh hi hey pumpkin hey um wendy this is the uh
the doctor we talked about hi wendy i'm dana dana white [Music] hello we asked dr white to um talk to you
oh about precious good baby you're hungry today huh did you miss me i missed you too
um you know i've got that algebra test tomorrow i'm going to study she pretends precious is still alive
the food actually disappears in the morning it's half eaten and my husband thinks that maybe wendy
is actually me have you tried to make her stop well for a while we went along with the
charade we thought maybe it would be better for her but then last week we finally confronted her
we told her how we felt and begged her to stop and the next morning we found this
told us precious was upset i have an idea [Music] i'd like to tell wendy that i want to
photograph precious maybe she'll warm up to me more quickly that way would you mind if i used your
camera and play right into her fantasy this is a strange case mr baker i am willing to
do anything that might help wendy i can't say i have a lot of experience in situations like this but
something in my gut just tells me that this is the right move is there film in that camera well looks
like it's loaded only 11 shots used and we haven't used it in a while [Music] okay let's give it a try
great come in hey wendy i know you want to study but i was hoping we could talk for a few minutes
or just to get to know one another they just don't get it i don't need a shrink they need glasses
it's a nice room yeah it's all right the old house was nicer your parents say you spend a lot of time in here
yeah well they won't leave me alone out there they're always mad about precious hey how would you feel if i took some
pictures of precious are you trying to make me like you a little sure go ahead take her picture
she always loves taking her afternoon naps in this pillow oh hey you scaredy cat did that sound frighten
you it's okay precious it's just a camera hey how about if i take a picture of you
holding precious sure okay [Music] great that's beautiful i think it is the right decision hi
if you would develop this role of film as soon as possible i think that when she sees there is no
cat she'll be able to accept it let's try this first before we proceed with the therapy
oh thank you thank you so much for coming to our home thank you thank you very much oh it's my
pleasure i just hope it does the trick you know what to say about pictures sometimes seeing is believing yeah well
i'll walk you out i was surprised to receive a call the next day mrs baker asked if i could come
right over so i did hi um i called my husband but he's not here yet please come in
i just got back from the photo lab now i knew why mrs baker was so upset what's the explanation here how could an
image of precious show up in the photograph remember the role of film was already in the
camera was it an old photographic image left over from when precious was still alive
perhaps a double exposure if so why were there no other images of precious on that same role
or is it possible that precious still existed on some spiritual level the soul that could be
seen and felt by the person who loved him most wendy baker does this story of the
invisible cat deserve to be deposited in the bank of truth or have we tossed another lie into the
kitty we'll tell you whether this story is true or false at the end of our show next a showdown with death at a roadside
motel on beyond belief fact or fiction [Music] observe keys that unlock doors to hotel
and motel rooms something most of us take for granted but think about the mysteries that exist
in the simple act of opening a motel door who has stayed here before what activities took place here
has anything been left behind and what will await you during your stay in most cases those questions are
unimportant but for joe bender and his wife angie this key is more than a device to open
their door it's a passport to the unexplained [Music] my husband was once a good cop but the
years on the force it made him cold and hard about criminals and lately he was burned out and getting
himself into big trouble his suspension gave us a chance to take a few days for ourselves
something we really needed i wanted to believe in joe but i knew the police force had changed
him he wasn't the same man i married we got a quiet room they're all quiet around here
california's license you and the mrs on vacation just getting away for a while twenty-three
[Applause] [Music] this trip will be good for both of us i don't care if i ever see la again
i had seen the old woman's reaction to the paper through the office window she knew who joe was all right i just
wish i did and then something totally strange happened hey joe what are you doing
i i thought i saw my god did you hurt yourself that's blood i couldn't get joe to change rooms he
just wanted this one cleaned up i was feeling very uncomfortable well it's gone now
strange place unbelievable are you okay sure i'm not gonna let them beat me honey
it's just it's all this stress you've been under the way these internal affairs people in
the press have hounded you bastards after everything i've given and of course you know the courts they
protect guilty and don't think that i don't know which ones are guilty that guide crucifying me over punk
he deserved everything that he got just just try and get some rest [Music] [Music]
[Applause] huh why what the hell do you want what's the matter joe you wanted me to
go for my gun oh who what are you talking about we're alone joe no no there's no one here you're you're
dreaming was here he was right here [Music] we gotta get out of here joe come on come on
wake up hey [Music] right now you're going to tell me what's in our room what is it i don't know what
you're talking about [Music] i only know what other people have told me what a long time ago
a man named william bonnie was killed in an unfair gunfight and some people believe that his spirit
remained here you're telling me that this hotel is haunted william bonnie died on this ground i've never seen him
but i'll tell you this tonight isn't the first night that i've had to mop up blood
i'm gonna go get our stuff you stay here we're checking out do you really believe all this about a
ghost a lot of people believe it some think he's waiting on a chance for revenge
you see in that gun fight william bonnie was shot dead by a lawman [Music] [Music]
do [Music] did joe bender fall prey to a ghost or was he the victim of his own guilty conscience did his stressful
situation lend to his own suicide was his demise caused by the spirit of billy the kid
a man who was unfairly shot to death years ago by another lawman in judging the merits of this story you
must decide the winner of the showdown that takes place every day truth versus falsehood we'll tell you
whether this story is true or false at the end of our show next a married couple encounter a
strange drifter on beyond belief fact or fiction these are all things that come in handy
when your car gets a flat tire of course many people choose to just stay in their car and call the auto club
but sometimes phones aren't available the husband in our next story isn't very handy but like most men he
takes a certain pride in his ability to read his manual and change a tire in any
situation but the strange situation he and his wife are about to encounter isn't covered in any manual
when we started to david's mother's house that morning we were already arguing i was completely on edge because i love
david but i knew our marriage was slipping away i'd feel better if you put on your seat
belt just stop worrying you look fine your dress is fine you're not listening to me
besides which i'm wearing slacks whatever you look all right whenever we visit your mother i feel like i'm being
scrutinized imagining things my mother is not that critical really then why do you always feel like you
have to please her yeah you're not in competition with her rebecca i make plenty of time for you oh
just like you make time for your boss your friends your golf buddies you always make me feel like i'm last in
line you know when i'm working late it's for us when i'm golfing with a client it's for us i understand
you don't notice what i'm wearing when i'm sitting eight inches away from you you expect me to believe you understand
how i feel great i think we have a flat i can't get any service out here are you sure you're doing that right
you know these tires are new there's no reason for this to be flat looks like you need help oh yes
you're the guys at the tire center they uh use a power drill let me try knock yourself out
i don't know is this a good idea we'll give him a couple of bucks sometimes the direction we choose is not
the right one you uh you were turning the wrench the wrong way it's not a wrench it's a tire iron
my mom is not gonna be happy sometimes we try to please so many others we lose sight of those who are most
important the ones we truly love it's easy to take them for granted they're always there for us
yeah well uh you know we really appreciate this can i give you a lift somewhere [Music]
at first i was concerned david invited this strange man into our car i'd feel better if you put on your seat
belt so how far are you going i'll know when the time comes to leave you so you just travel from place to place
family must miss you you know i envy you doing whatever you want not having anyone to answer to
complete freedom life's just one big adventure huh that it is but when you see how much can be gained
when two joined together as one to have someone who knows your private most personal pain and can replace it
with joy that is an adventure [Music] yeah well everything takes work life is work
[Music] any heavy load can be made lighter when two work together as opposed to pulling in opposite
directions when love is held in an open hand it can flourish instead of being crushed
[Music] it's like you know us david oh my god he's gone what the hell he must have fallen out
well he's wearing his seat belt [Music] [Music] after searching the area and not finding
him we felt like we needed to report what happened so when david spotted a police officer
we pulled over just it was there and gone i've been up and down this stretch of highway so many
times i know every crack in the pavement i could look for that drifter but i won't
find him you're the fourth couple that's told me this story and that's just this week
[Music] come on honey we gotta go when we finally arrived at david's mother's house things were different
she sent something had happened something that brought us closer together it was if our wedding vows had been
respoken and we owed it all to that drifter whoever or whatever he was so was the strange hitchhiker that
disappeared from the car a ghost if he was real how did he disappear from the back seat
some who don't believe in spirits have suggested that perhaps the hitchhiker was a professional escape artist
if so what could have led him to spend his life lending spiritual enlightenment to drivers along the highway
drifter angel or ghost is this story of a stranger who hopped a ride true or is there a hitch to it next
you'll find out which of our stories are fact and which are fiction when beyond belief fact or fiction
returns now it's time to find out which of our stories was inspired by an actual event
and which ones are total fiction what was your opinion of the story of the couple in love who turned out to be
switched at birth well it was so hectic i suppose the nurse wrote it down wrong and then the
doctor corrected it i was born the same night in the middle of the same chaos but my mother's record said baby girl
but it's crossed out and changed to boy one boy baby and one girl baby the paperwork must have been mixed up is
this one too fantastic to be true not really our research shows that a similar story took place involving a
couple in the northeast around the late 70s [Music] now let's take a look at the evil
halloween scrooge who was paid back for his treachery by an unexplainable force trick or treat
i see you out there did you think our research staff found a story inspired by an actual event
not this time it's the creation of a writer how did you judge the story of the girl
with the imaginary cat that turned out to be more than just imagination hey how would you feel if i
took some pictures of precious are you trying to make me like you a little sure go ahead take her picture she
always loves taking her afternoon naps in his pillow oh really did we make up this story of
the young woman obsessed by a cat that nobody but her could see no this story is inspired by an actual
event that took place near paris in the mid-50s what did you make of the tale of the
crooked policeman who apparently received his revenge from the ghost of billy the kid
was this one true you're gonna tell me what's in our room what is it i don't know what you're talking don't lie to me
i only know what other people have told me what a long time ago a man named william bonnie was killed in
an unfair gunfight and some people believe that his spirit remained here you're telling me that this hotel is
haunted according to our research a similar event to this one did occur in a period between the world wars and
the american southwest it's fact now let's review the story of the mysterious hitchhiker who changed the
lives of a married couple true or false there is no reason for this to be flat david looks like you need help
if you thought this one was based on an actual event you're right it's a story that has been reported by
travelers along a highway in new york state it's fact [Music] how was your perception tonight did it
stay constant or did it change before your eyes the perception of truth must include the
awareness of falsehood but where does one begin and the other let off that's the challenge of discerning fact
from fiction and that's why we're often left with a choice that's beyond belief i'm jonathan franks
the story entitled for the record is true based upon first-hand research conducted by author robert treylands
for beyond belief fact or fiction this is don lafontaine [Music] you

This episode features the following cases: For the Record, Halloween, Precious, Get Your Kicks at Motel 66, Phantom Drifter.

Brief Summary

Five stories challenge perceptions of truth and fiction, including blood type mysteries and ghostly encounters.

Key points

The Challenge of Truth. Tonight, you must separate fact from fiction in five stories. Can you judge which is which?
A Blood Test Revelation. Lorine confronts her mother about her blood type and the possibility of being adopted.
A Haunting Question. Is the motel haunted by the spirit of a man named William Bonnie seeking revenge?
The Mysterious Hitchhiker. A couple encounters a strange drifter who changes their lives forever.
The Ghost of Billy the Kid. Exploring the legend of Billy the Kid and its impact on the living.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

I always suspected I was adopted; now I have proof.

2:45WatchJan 20, 2021

Tension

65/ 100Some tension

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