Over the years, Netflix has uniquely staked their claim in the horror space. From fictional shows to an assortment of true crime documentaries, you could lose hours upon hours getting scared by their programming.
The streaming service’s newest title, True Haunting, is already joining that conversation in a pretty big way. No, it’s (unfortunately) not another chapter of Mike Flanagan’s anthology series The Haunting of Hill House and The Haunting of Bly Manor. Instead, it is a documentary series that combines “immersive reenactments and present-day interviews” to show some of the most horrifying real-life supernatural stories.
The five-part documentary series, which is executive produced by horror icon James Wan, made its debut on Netflix on Tuesday… and it already has people talking in a major way. In particular, the story chronicled in the first three episodes — of “Eerie Hall’s” Chris DiCesare — has left some viewers truly baffled.
The retelling of the story begins in the fall of 1984, when DiCesare began staying at the Erie Hall dorms in upstate New York’s Geneseo College. DiCesare started hearing his name being called out by something that he couldn’t see… and after a while, he suddenly saw a shape in his room that was indescribable.
To make matters worse, Ed and Lorraine Warren — yes, the real-life couple who inspired the Conjuring movies — were called in to speak at Geneseo. Upon meeting DiCesare, Lorraine refused to shake his hand, which seemed to indicate that the vibes were truly bad.
Ghost Boy?
While some could have written off DiCesare’s visions as an extreme case of freshman year homesickness, some of his new college friends began to corroborate his story. His roommate, Paul, also saw the mysterious shape… and was so horrified that he moved back in with his parents. DiCesare moved out of his dorm room until another friend, amateur photographer Jeff Unger, decided to help investigate. After taking and developing photos of DiCesare in the room, Unger spotted a skeleton-like being… and accidentally ended up telling their mutual friends about it.
DiCesare started being dubbed around campus as the “Ghost Boy,” and although he struggled massively with this reputation and the haunting themselves, he ultimately gave the ghost a name: Tommy. He began to be violently haunted by Tommy while he was asleep, to the point of beginning to lose his grasp on reality. Eventually, he confided in a religious representative on campus, Father Charles Manning, who performed a ritual on the dorm room. While the ritual did help DiCesare’s worries, Manning later admitted that he’d felt Tommy in the room, and didn’t think it would be easy to get rid of him.
Other people on campus — friends, friends of friends, and even the campus janitor — started to see Tommy as well. The hauntings even started to get physical, with DiCesare claiming that he felt Tommy touch him in the shower and leave marks on his back. DiCesare’s father, Vito, was called in to literally stand guard while his son slept… and eventually felt Tommy’s presence, as well.
After Chris and Vito went on a run, they discovered a plaque on campus that seemed to hold all their answers: “Parker Boyd Memorial.” After investigating, they discovered that the campus was the site of a former battleground in the American Revolutionary War, and that two deceased soldiers — Michael Parker and Thomas Boyd — were immortalized by the plaque. Boyd, in particular, had been tortured while tied against a tree… a tree that happened to be on Chris’ running route. Chris and Unger decided to record their conversation with Tommy, and could hear him asking for help. Chris eventually ran to the tree in question and asked Tommy to stop… and somehow got his wish, being left alone for the rest of his college tenure.
Towards the end of True Haunting‘s third episode, another piece of the puzzle clicks into place. A book, Journals of the Military Expedition of Major General John Sullivan Against the Six Nations of Indians in 1779, revealed that one of Chris’ ancestors discovered the real-life Boyd’s body all those years ago. This connection could’ve explained why “Tommy” was so drawn to Chris during his college years. Regardless of whether or not Chris DiCesare’s story is 100% true — something that is arguably left up to the viewer to decide — that connection definitely puts an interesting button on the story.
(featured image: Netflix)
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