The Dead House
Page 28
Kaitlyn’s last entry is surprisingly neat, written in a slow, precise hand. Whatever happened between Ari’s confrontation and subsequent murder, and the next entry, seems to have calmed the storm in her mind.
Police reports indicate that the fire that destroyed Elmbridge High originated in the main common room and spread very quickly, indicating the use of an accelerant. The common room is where the charred remains of Ari Hait were discovered, though Kaitlyn’s journal suggests he perhaps died in the chapel. This means that Kaitlyn would have needed to carry his dead weight over 1,800 yards to the main building without being seen, a nearly impossible feat in her condition. How, then, did Ari end up in the common room? Speculation about whether Ari tried to reason with a delusional Kaitlyn and was killed in the common room itself, moments before the fire, abounded for several years, though this is unlikely, given the location near to the dorms and lack of witnesses. The location of Ari’s corpse is only one of the inexplicable elements of the Johnson Incident.
Two more bodies were found in the charred remains of the school. The first was Brenda LeRoy, discovered in her dorm room. She died from smoke inhalation, and toxicology reports of the time indicated she had slept through the fire alarm because of a dose of nitrazepam, which she took each night for insomnia and for which she had a GP prescription. The second was Haji Chounan-Dupré, brother of Naida Chounan-Dupré. The autopsy report indicated that he had died before the fire as the result of a blow to the head with a heavy, cylindrical object. According to Kaitlyn’s diary, Haji was killed by Ari Hait some time after Kaitlyn’s meeting with him. He was scheduled to return to Fair Island that evening but did not make his flight from Tingwall. Some speculate that Kaitlyn murdered Haji when he began to see that she was not under attack by a Shyan or Olen, but was rather quite severely mentally ill. No evidence exists for accusations against either Ari Hait or Kaitlyn Johnson.
The body of John Hutt was found buried in the chapel cemetery—what Kaitlyn referred to as the “Forgotten Garden.” Cause of death was a knife wound to the neck, piercing the jugular vein.
In an interview, Howard McKay, psychology expert and author of Self and Its Distortion, commented on the significance of Kaitlyn burying John’s body in the “Forgotten Garden.”
It really is fascinating. [Kaitlyn’s] reference to the garden somehow being her—“I wanted to show him me, which is what the garden is”—demonstrates something significant. Namely, that she was burying the body in herself. Quite literally concealing his murder, and the evidence of it, within her own being, where he would lie and decay and never really be forgotten.”
The records of Kaitlyn’s history in relation to the death of her parents remain sealed by order of the courts, but there is speculation about social services being involved in an investigation into allegations of possible sexual or physical abuse within the Johnson household prior to the accident. All social service records also remain sealed.
The discovery of Kaitlyn’s journal has renewed interest in the case and sparked online fan forums. Debate has raged about the true story. Earlier this year, amateur researcher and Johnson enthusiast Michael Mooring, aged seventeen, discovered a hidden panel in the wall of the Elmbridge High School attic, inside which lay the curled remains of Juliet McClarin. The cause of death is unknown, as is the identity of her killer, but heavy blood loss is evident from the brown stain on the attic carpet, as noted in Kaitlyn’s journal and videotaped by Naida Chounan-Dupré.
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A police interview was conducted with Naida Chounan-Dupré on 26 September 2005. It was recorded on camera for the trial, which was to take place over the following months. Naida wrote out her replies, but these were then superimposed onto the screen for the jury viewing. The interview has been transcribed below.
Criminal Investigation Department, Portishead Headquarters
Avon and Somerset Constabulary, Portishead, Bristol
Monday, 26 September 2005, 15h22
VIDEO INTERVIEW: Detective Chief Inspector Floyd Homes and Naida Chounan-Dupré
“Tell me,” DCI Floyd Homes says, “why you helped Carly to escape from the hospital. Surely you must have known she was very ill.”
She wasn’t “ill.” She was possessed.
“Possessed. Surely you don’t believe that?”
To the core of my being. Carly was no longer within that form. Kaitlyn was there, and something else was there too. I don’t regret anything, except failing to help her better.
“And the fire? You have no thoughts on that?”
I don’t regret helping my friend.
“And the people who died? Your brother? Regret that?”
Naida folds her arms and looks away.
DCI Floyd Homes leans forward, resting his arms on the table. “Ari Hait is dead. Does that mean anything to you?”
Naida scribbles furiously with the pencil she has been given. He was evil—he was a Shyan! He’s the only one left, so it had to be him. She pushes the note across the table.
“He was an innocent boy,” Homes says, looking up. “An innocent boy who had the terrible misfortune to love Carly Johnson. And it cost him his life.” He sighs, shakes his head. “Do you even know how they found him? Do you know how Ari’s body was discovered?”
Naida hesitates, then shakes her head.
“His neck was broken. Snapped in two. Carly did that to him.”
No. It was an Olen. It was an angry spirit. Ari tried to control it, but you can’t control raw power. How could a tiny thing like Kaitlyn Johnson possibly have the strength to do that? Tell me! How?
“Do you believe he deserved to die?”
He confessed to her. You weren’t there.
“Were you?”
Naida hesitates, but then writes, her lips set firmly. No. But Kaitlyn told me. She came to see me in the hospital. We were friends. She didn’t lie—she told me.
His hand slams down on the metal tabletop. “And did—Kaitlyn—tell you that she killed her own parents? Did she tell you that? She grabbed the steering wheel and caused the car accident. Did she make you privy to that information?”
At these words, Naida shakes her head, then scribbles a hasty reply. That’s a lie. You’re trying to trick me.
“Naida, I think you have been tricked. But not by me. Juliet’s blood was found in the school attic—the only part of the school left untouched by the flames and where, as you know, Carly spent much of her time. When we find Juliet’s body, we’ll know.”
Ari killed Juliet. ARI. He needed a sacrifice to bargain with the Olen.
“Did ‘Kaitlyn’ tell you that?”
It’s the only explanation.
“Kaitlyn was the delusion of a very sick girl.”
No. Kaitlyn was real. She was my friend. You can’t just erase her.
Homes leans in, his expression tired and drawn, his eyes shadowed. “You can’t see the truth, can you?”
You’re a fool.
Homes reads Naida’s last note with dismay, regards her for a moment, and then looks to the officers behind him.
“Cuff her.” He turns back to Naida. “You’re under arrest. Do you understand?”
She nods, and the uniformed officers handcuff her wrists behind her back while DCI Floyd Homes states her rights.
“You are being charged with obstructing a police officer, wasting police time, harboring an escaped prisoner following sectioning, obstruction of justice, perverting the course of an investigation, and willful conspiracy to harm. You do not have to say anything. But it may harm your defense if you do not mention when questioned something which you later rely on in court. Anything you do say may be given in evidence.” He pauses, frowning at her. “I hope they find you mentally incompetent. A girl like you wouldn’t survive prison.”
Naida tries to spit at him, but her missing tongue makes it impossible, and she drools on herself and the table instead.
DCI Floyd Homes sighs, his eyes bright with tears, and he shakes his head. “Jesus.
What the hell is the world coming to?”
[END OF CLIP]
Much analysis has been done of the Johnson Incident. Academics have studied the scratchings in the attic wall—the only remnants of the writing that Kaitlyn described in her journal—and the basement where Naida lost her speech and John Hutt lost his life. Both sites were part of a center for paranormal research for the better part of a decade.
In 2013, what are presumed to be the last words Kaitlyn ever wrote were discovered in an old visitors’ book in the chapel at the top of Elmbridge hill, which had remained boarded up since 2004. Whether these words are, in fact, Kaitlyn’s is yet unknown.
Extract:
My confession to whoever finds it, to anyone who cares:
I am not real. I spent two years trying to convince people that I am, but after everything that’s happened, I realize—I finally realize—that I’m not. Carly isn’t either. Not anymore. I’m a vessel. That’s all I am now.
I want you to know that I didn’t kill him. It was the thing inside me. It’s getting stronger. He wanted to bind it because he loved me. He loved me so much, and I loved him too. Even though he did bad things, I loved him. And that does matter.
But it was my hand on his neck. It was my arm that jerked. And even though I was screaming inside, and even though I wanted to stop, it wouldn’t let me. I have to live with that. But it wasn’t me. And now it’s getting stronger. I can feel it taking over. I am a vessel, but I still have some control. I can still end this.
I am not real.
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The Final Image
The final security footage in the Elmbridge seniors’ common room reveals the last moments before the fire. This image has received a cult following, held dear by those who seek a happy ending to the Johnson Incident. The camera footage has been transcribed below.
Seniors CCTV Camera Footage
Wednesday, 2 February 2005, 12:33 AM
The fire is already lapping at the sofas in the room when Kaitlyn enters the camera’s field of vision. She leaves the frame, and moments later, a flaming ball of some kind—perhaps a towel—is thrown into the room. It lands by the curtains, which quickly ignite.
The curtains burn, the upholstered sofas burn, the tablecloth and the cabinets burn. All obscured by increasing amounts of smoke. It is several minutes before Kaitlyn returns. She walks into the flaming room, pauses, and is engulfed in the fire.
A close inspection of the footage reveals four things.
1. Kaitlyn Johnson died smiling. Indeed, there seems to be a look of complete serenity on her face in the split second before the fire closes in on her. This is in line with her last journal entry, which also has an air of peace about it, implying that she must destroy herself in order to destroy the demon within her.
2. As the fire engulfs her, she raises her hand as though to reach for something—or someone.
3. Her final word was either “Dee” or “Carly.”
4. When the footage is enlarged, a darker shape can be discerned in the flames. Most analysts believe it is a flame shadow or an object in the fire, but some fanatics and devoted followers of the Johnson Incident believe that it is either the snake Kaitlyn spoke of or her long-lost sister Carly. More extreme Johnson Disciples claim that the figure may in reality be the actualization of her journal and closest (imaginary) friend, Dee.
It is certainly comforting to think of Kaitlyn reuniting with her sister. However, her smile suggests a deranged state of mind. On the night of the incident, twenty students had minor injuries and burns.
Naida Chounan-Dupré, tried at seventeen and found mentally incompetent, was detained at Broadmoor mental hospital at Her Majesty’s leisure following her first trial but was found competent in a retrial five years later after additional camera footage was discovered.
Camera Footage Played at Naida Chounan-Dupré’s Retrial in 2010
Video Date Index: Saturday, 22 January 2005, 11:56 PM
The quality of the image is poor, but it is clear that the person holding the camera is in one of the Elmbridge High School dorm rooms. The overhead light is off, but the camera light allows us to see that the dorm is bare, bed stripped, desk empty. One item seems to have been left behind: a purple Post-it stuck to the lamp shade, evidence that we are in the former room of Carly Luanne Johnson.
The person carrying the camera wanders towards a nook in the wall, where a sink sits beneath a mirror. The mirror is broken, the glass spiderwebbing but not shattered. Naida’s broken reflection stares out at us. She backs away, frowning, and turns again to the room. She walks over to the wardrobe and opens the doors. A mirror in the rear wall is also smashed.
“Holy shit…”
She turns to leave, but gasps.
The full-length mirror on the back of the dorm door is zigzagged and broken as well. Naida shakes her head, an expression of horror on her features.
“Oh, Gorro. She broke them all.”
[END OF CLIP]
Not many conclusions can be drawn from this video footage, but the prosecution was able to argue that Naida, at the date of this video, knew that Carly Johnson was responsible for the attack on Michael Bowers and the vandalism of school property. Naida, twenty-two years old at the retrial, wrote a defense stating that Carly had broken the mirror and cut the skin of Mike Bowers only because she was possessed by a demon.
Despite these claims, Naida was found mentally competent and given concurrent sentences of two years for withholding evidence from the police, one year for concealing a suspect, and an additional eight-year sentence for obstructing the course of an investigation, obstructing the course of justice, obstructing a police officer, harboring a suspect, and conspiracy to harm. She served a total of nine years and two months and was released on probation in 2014.
Scott Fromley also faced charges of conspiracy to harm and obstruction of an investigation under juvenile law but was found not guilty and released to his parents. Now thirty-seven, he is a top barrister and remains unmarried. He declined to comment on his involvement with the Johnson Incident or his relationship with Naida Chounan-Dupré. He and Naida have not spoken in twenty years.
Naida’s grandmother, [name redacted], traveled to Britain for the initial trial of her granddaughter but later returned home and has not been heard from since.
Jaime Johnson, now twenty-five, is a nursery teacher for children with special needs. She still lives with her adoptive mother, Meredith Bailey. Both declined to comment.
An investigation into the treatment that Carly Johnson received at the hands of Dr. Annabeth Lansing was carried out in 2005 and 2006, during which all taped session recordings were taken in as evidence. At a private medical hearing in October 2006, Dr. Lansing’s medical license was revoked for malpractice, and she received a fine of an undisclosed amount. The National Health Service declined to comment.
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ParaNormal Internet Radio talks to Dr. Annabeth Lansing
Wednesday, 21 December 2016, 3:00 PM
Interviewer: What do you think is the truth of the incident? Was Carly disturbed? Or was she really under the influence of evil forces?
Lansing: She was disturbed, of course. She had a mental injury—dissociative identity disorder, and psychopathic tendencies. She was a danger to herself after the death of her parents, invented an alter ego, killed Juliet McClarin, Ari Hait, John Hutt, and Haji Chounan-Dupré. There can even be a case made against her for Brett [name removed at request of the family]. Carly Johnson was very sick. It’s a tragic affair, but it is what it is.
Interviewer: And what about the figure in the fire?
Lansing: What figure? There was a shadow—a piece of furniture burning.
Interviewer: And the disappearances on the site for the last decade? How do you explain that?
Lansing: I can’t. Only to say that people should be more careful when walking around a ruin. Accidents happen.
Interviewer: And Naida? Brett, Ari, John, Scott—they all believed.
Interviewer: Do you think you could have done anything differently to help this girl? She was under your care.
Lansing: [Pause] I did everything for her.
Interviewer: Care to comment on the medical hearing of ’06? Why was your license to practice medicine revoked? In ten years, it hasn’t been renewed.
Lansing: Thank you for having me on today. It was illuminating.
In the end, we must decide for ourselves what we believe. To date, twenty-six people have gone missing on the Elmbridge site and five have filed reports of hearing girls whispering in the basement. Despite this, the ruins continue to attract risk-seeking tourists each year, most likely because the site is listed as one of the top fifteen most haunted places in Britain (see editor’s notes for links).
In 2011, Dr. Annabeth Lansing visited the site for the first time in six years. Today, she is a leading paranormal researcher, with a particular expertise on Elmbridge High. Her latest book, The Forgotten Elmbridge, comes out next winter.
To date, she will not speak of what happened during her visit to the site.
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Despite CCTV footage that shows Carly Johnson in the flames of the Elmbridge fire, her body has not been found. Some say she still lingers on the grounds, seeking out the missing half of her soul, Kaitlyn. Others believe she moved on, reuniting with her sister in a better afterlife.
Kaybear? Will you always be here with me? Will you promise?
I promise, Carly-bean. I am not going anywhere.