The House On The Lake: Season 3, Episode 12

Saranac Lake was a beautiful spot to live in upstate New York. There was so much fresh air, and beautiful homes just appearing out of nowhere. Mike Todd had decided to start a business in property development, and one of those old homes caught his eye.

Mike purchased the property. Unfortunately, the property was in a bad state. With nine apartments in the building, he was going to have a lot of work ahead of him to remodel. When he found the third floor apartment gutted and full of junk, it was not something he was looking forward to tackling. He decided to save that for last.

Mike began work that night. He briefly took a break and sat his drill down to get something.  When he reached for it again, it was gone.  The bathroom light flickered. When he went to investigate, he found his drill sitting in the middle of the bathroom floor. He knew he was tired, but could he have been that tired?

Mike went downstairs to do the laundry. He found an odd handkerchief under one of the machines. As he was studying it, he saw a set of legs sprint up the staircase. Mike gave chase, and ended up face-to-face with something in the closet on the third floor. He walked over and opened the closet.  A pile of antique items fell out, but nobody was in there.

Cynthia was Mike’s first tenant. One night, as she was putting clothes into the wash, her dog Buddy sprinted up the stairs. She found him at the door on the third floor, attracted to something. There was something creepy, even angry about that hallway. She grabbed Buddy and got out of that part of the house.

Veronica Montez and her son Ashton moved in. Eventually, even Ashton began feeling something was wrong. He froze in place the first time he felt something breathing down his neck. Veronica dismissed it as a breeze, even though the apartment was very chilled.

When Cynthia, alone, turned and saw a face, she took off running. She felt something strange, and turned to see two children in the third floor window. When she told Mike, he was genuinely surprised. That door was locked. Nobody could get in. Now, they had something. Mike immediately went to investigate.

Finally convinced the house was haunted, Mike began to hang crosses in hopes it would be enough. As Jodi Gagnon experienced while Mike showed her an apartment, it wasn’t. She began to tense up, and she felt something like a child hugging her leg. Meanwhile, Veronica’s son Ashton was seeing a little boy in their bathroom. Veronica thought it was nothing, until a rubber ball rolled through the apartment and into the hall on its own.

Mike tried to sleep, but heard footsteps behind him. When he turned, the ghost of the little girl was standing on the other side of the glass doors in his apartment.  The next morning, Mike tried to forget about it. He was so far in denial, he could see Khartoum.

As Mike and Nicolle Harris stopped one night to inspect a recently vacated apartment, they were disturbed to see all of the walls and doors covered with crosses. Nicolle experienced sharp pain, and suddenly needed to get out of the apartment. Mike followed, and they drove off. As they left, a figure stood in the road. It disappeared when they reached it. 

Mike called his friend Cheryl to ask for help.  Cheryl suggested blessing the house, and they made the attempt.  Halfway through her prayers, Cheryl began hearing whispers.  Then she was attacked.  Mike tried everything to alleviate his friend’s suffering.  When he finally drew a cross on her back with the Holy water, her suffering ended.  It was not in vain, as the house felt peaceful afterward.

What Mike found out about his property amazed him. In the early 1900s, his house had been a tuberculosis “cure cottage”, where many TB patients went to for fresher air and to try to cure the dreaded disease. Hundreds had been cured, but thousands had also died. 

Mike decided to leave one small part of the third floor unchanged, to let it stay as it had been when it was the Williams cure cottage. He placed some of the artifacts in there as a peace offering to the spirits, telling them that he wouldn’t forget the house and those who’d died there. The house became and remained peaceful.