Reprieve
Page 22
I punched him! comes a tiny voice to his left. I punched him!
Jaidee? Bryan says.
I tore his mask off and punched him! I tore his mask off and—
From Jaidee’s corner, Bryan sees a flicker of blue. Jaidee shouts.
The envelopes! Bryan shouts as loud as he can. They’re on the actors. Get ’em, Jaidee! Find ’em! Find ’em! Find ’em!
Witness: Jane Roth
Cross-Examination Excerpt
September 17, 1997
Q. It’s not a stretch to say that you’re a fan of these types of attractions, is it, Ms. Roth?
A. Not a stretch. I love everything Halloween. I’ve been to so many mediocre haunts in my life and that’s why Quigley means so much to me. It’s considered the best.
Q. Some people say that you have to be sort of masochistic to like things like this. How do you respond to that?
A. These haunts are therapeutic, actually; all the research says this. We have all this pent-up energy that goes wasted every day because we have to be nice, we have to be polite, we can’t be too loud or too physical when we’re feeling negative feelings. At these places, you get startled, and scared, and your adrenaline is sky high, and all that pent-up energy releases itself every time you scream. Ask anyone: people feel extremely calm after they’ve done an extreme haunt. They feel focused. They feel centered. It’s the most incredible experience.
Q. Ms. Roth, when Leonard was standing behind Bryan with a knife in Cell Five, did you think it was all an act? Did you think it was part of the game?
A. Yes. I mean, it seemed like that was the end, almost like someone had shouted the safe word, but nobody had, so yeah, I assumed we were still in it. I assumed they were trying to trick us.
Q. Did you want to rush at Leonard? Did you want to find the envelopes you presumably thought were on him?
A. At that point, to be honest, no. I was finished with the game.
Q. But why? If you were so sure that both Leonard and Bryan were deceiving you?
A. I was tired. And honestly? There was a part of me, a small part, that thought it could be real. I’d just been in a jail cell with a bunch of rats and some big demonic gnome. I’d been shocked. I’d had tape around my mouth. My hands were cuffed. Everything was insane. So yeah, I thought that what was happening could be actually happening. I mean, I had real bruises.
Q. Did you tell Victor this?
A. That I thought it might be real? No.
Q. Did you try to stop him from rushing Leonard?
A. Not directly, I guess. I did tell them it was over. I told them we were done, that we should stop.
Q. Did they listen to you?
A. No.
Q. Ms. Roth, what’s your degree in?
A. My degree?
Q. Yes, your college degree.
A. Marketing.
Q. Marketing? Not psychology?
A. No.
Q. Do you have any graduate degrees in psychology?
A. No.
Q. Have you taken any graduate courses in psychology?
A. No.
Q. Interesting. Now, earlier you mentioned studies, or research, right? On the benefits of attractions like Quigley? Where did you read these studies?
A. I dunno, various magazines.
Q. Can you name a few?
A. The Horror Monthly, for one.
Q. The Horror Monthly? Is that a scholarly journal I’m not aware of?
A. It’s a magazine.
Q. What kind of magazine?
A. They conduct real studies.
Q. Yes, I’m sure they do. Can you discuss how they go about their research?
A. I don’t know the specifics right off-hand.
Q. But you’re certain they’re a credible resource.
A. Yes.
Q. Interestingly, Ms. Roth, I have a copy of The Horror Monthly right here. Could you turn to page twenty-five, read the first paragraph?
A. I mean, this isn’t really representative . . .
Q. Can you just read?
A. “It’s a known fact: most children between the ages of nine and thirteen are possessed by a demonic spirit. Nobody knows exactly how this happens, but investigations have shown higher levels of paranormal activity in households that contain children within this age range. It’s widely accepted that the hormonal changes that come with adolescence thrust these demons out of the child’s body, and that demonic control is at its peak right before this occurs.”
Q. Ms. Roth, do you believe the assertion in this article?
A. No.
Q. But it says right here that it’s a “known fact.”
A. I don’t believe everything I read.
Q. But you just cited this as a valid source. A source that does “studies.”
A. That doesn’t mean that they don’t mess up.
Q. But a minute ago, you called them credible.
A. Overall, but not everything in a credible source is always true.
Q. Well, what would make it credible, then? If only a few things are true, how can it be credible?
A. Most of the things are true. Just not all.
Q. Interesting. Okay. Can you please tell us about your time in Cell Four?
A. Cell Four?
Q. That would be the butchery, yes?
A. Yes.
Q. Please tell the court about your time in that cell.
A. Um. That one was different from the others.
Q. Different? Different how? Different good? Different bad?
A. Just different.
Q. Can you explain, please?
A. There were all these hanging people. They looked real. The envelopes . . . were inside.
Q. Inside where?
A. Inside the people.
Q. But the people weren’t real?
A. No. But they looked real. They were dangling.
Q. So you were supposed to eviscerate these dangling people?
A. Yes.
Q. And what happened? Did you do it?
A. I couldn’t, not at first.
Q. Even though they weren’t real? Even though you knew that they weren’t real?
A. They looked so real. And the only sound in the room was screams, like from some record player or something.
Q. But you knew they weren’t real?
A. Yes.
Q. So why couldn’t you do it? Why couldn’t you cut into these mannequins to find the envelopes?
A. I don’t know. I just couldn’t.
Q. Is it safe to say that this cell manipulated you emotionally? So much so that you couldn’t go through with something you knew would harm absolutely nobody?
A. I don’t know.
Q. But you couldn’t do it. You made everyone else in the group do it while you sat in the corner and cowered. Victor came over to you, right? Tried to coax you, but you wouldn’t budge, is that right?
A. No, I mean. I eventually—
Q. No?
A. I mean, yes. That happened, but I eventually got up. Bryan helped me up.
Q. But it’s safe to say that you’d been consumed by emotion, emotion elicited by the house itself.
A. I was just taken aback. I didn’t expect to see that.
Q. What you’re saying is that the house startled you? Isn’t that what it’s supposed to do? Isn’t that what you said results in calm and focus?
A. Well, yes, but—
Q. But in you, in that room, it resulted in the opposite, didn’t it? It resulted in disorientation, in terror, in paralysis?
A. The calm and focus happens after the haunt’s over.
Q. I see. So inside the haunt you’re anything but calm and focused?
A. I guess.
Q. And who designs the haunt, creates that sense of disorientation, terror, and paralysis?
A. The owner? I don’t know.
Q. The owner. Okay. Ms. Roth, in Cell Four, there’s a lot of fake blood, isn’t there?
A. Yes.
Q. Every time you
had to cut through one of those fake bodies you got doused, right?
A. Yes.
Q. Cory Stout has already told us the components of the fake blood, but I want to hear a few things from you. Can you describe what it feels like?
A. I’m sorry?
Q. What does the blood feel like on your body?
A. I don’t know. Wet.
Q. And when it eventually dries, what does it feel like?
A. Sorta waxy, I guess.
Q. You mean it leaves a film?
A. Yeah, a little bit.
Q. So if someone were to touch your skin after the blood dried, it’s conceivable that they’d think it wasn’t actually your skin, that it was some sort of covering, maybe even a molding?
A. I don’t really think so. I mean, it’s not that thick.
Q. But wouldn’t that depend on how much was on you?
A. Yeah, I guess.
Q. And in Cell Four, who’d found the most envelopes?
A. Bryan.
Q. So he’d have the most fake blood on him.
A. Yes, I suppose.
Q. He must’ve been completely covered in that fake gore by the time he got to Cell Five.
A. He was. We all sorta were. But yeah, he was the most.
Q. And if we rewind all the way back to Cell One, he’d been in a cage with someone who basically hosed him down with that stuff, right?
A. Yes.
Q. So there was plenty of time for it to dry.
A. I mean, I think he wiped some of it off between cells, but yes, he got the brunt of the fake blood.
Q. Was the fake blood coating his neck?
A. It was everywhere.
Q. Everywhere including his neck?
A. Yes.
Q. And you said when the fake blood dries, it leaves a waxy coating.
A. Yes.
Q. So when Leonard had the knife to Bryan’s throat, he was touching this waxy coating.
A. Well, yeah.
Q. Ms. Roth, let’s switch gears a bit now. When you saw my client standing behind Bryan Douglas with a knife, you said that you thought he was one of the actors.
A. Yes.
Q. So you thought he had some envelopes on him. Maybe hidden in a pocket or something?
A. Yes, I did.
Q. But you didn’t rush at him, not like your fiancé, or Jaidee afterward?
A. No.
Q. Did you think that Bryan Douglas was in danger?
A. No.
Q. So you thought the knife was fake?
A. Yes.
Q. Ms. Roth, in your deposition you said that you saw something in Leonard, something that made you think he could be a killer.
A. Yes.
Q. Can you describe that again? What you saw?
A. Desperation. Like he was capable of doing something terrible.
Q. Thank you. When Victor rushed the defendant, what did you do?
A. I didn’t do anything.
Q. But you thought you’d seen the shimmer of a real killer in Leonard, a desperation.
A. Yes, but I didn’t actually think he was going to hurt Bryan.
Q. But you saw the potential. You said so yourself, Leonard was capable of doing something terrible. So why didn’t you try to stop them, even if there was a chance that Bryan might be hurt? Why didn’t you try to hold your fiancé back?
A. It happened fast. I don’t know. And then Cory came over, and then Jaidee . . .
Q. Ms. Roth, how many haunted attractions have you visited?
A. A lot.
Q. More than ten?
A. Yes.
Q. More than twenty?
A. Yes.
Q. More than thirty?
A. Maybe.
Q. And in those thirty haunted attractions, have you ever witnessed this shimmer before? Like on an actor that you thought was capable of committing a grisly murder?
A. I don’t know.
Q. Oh, come on. I’d think if you’d seen it it’d be memorable, right?
A. I don’t know.
Q. Maybe because you never actually saw that shimmer? Maybe because you were confident that Leonard was acting?
A. I saw it.
Q. But yet you didn’t do anything.
A. I already said! It happened so fast. I didn’t know. How could I have known? How could anyone have known?
Q. Did you feel manipulated and confused? After it was all over?
A. Yes! Of course!
Q. And once again, Ms. Roth, who was the mastermind behind this manipulation? Who led you to question the reality of a man standing behind another man, holding a knife to his throat? Who’s in the very business of making you question reality?
A. John Forrester, I guess.
Q. John Forrester, yes. A man who keeps coming up in these testimonies. A man who orchestrates horror shows for a living. And a man who might just have orchestrated his best show yet.
Witness: John Forrester
Direct-Examination Excerpt
September 17, 1997
Q. Can you tell the jury what compelled you to start the Quigley House?
A. The house is a family house, passed down to me from my parents, passed down to them from their parents, passed down to my grandparents from their parents. I grew up there. My family grew up there. The house means everything to me. But I have no children. My siblings are estranged. I’m not married. The house essentially ends with me, and I knew this ten years ago—I understood that I would be the last Forrester to own it.
Q. Is it fair to say that your siblings are estranged because they didn’t approve of what you did with the house?
A. It’s fair to say that, yes.
Q. Why did you transform the house into Quigley?
A. It was my way of carrying on a legacy.
Q. But why a full-contact haunt? Why not something more innocent, like a small museum or a gift shop?
A. I wanted people to interact with the house, or to at least interact with how I’d fashioned the house.
Q. But again, why a full-contact haunt? Why not just a regular haunted house?
A. This is legacy we’re talking about. A regular haunt is fine, but boring. There would be no memory of the house after Halloween. I wanted to give visitors an immersive, memorable experience, and the only way to do that, I knew, was to differentiate myself from the rest of the haunted-house attractions.
Q. Do you hurt people?
A. No. People might leave with cuts and bruises and minor shocks, nothing major. Everything is timed, everything is staged, everything is choreographed, but people don’t necessarily know that—they think there’s a chance they can be hurt, and because of this, something in them changes, they become entirely new people, primitive.
Q. Do you want your contestants to succeed?
A. More than anything.
Q. Mr. Forrester, do you know the defendant?
A. Yes.
Q. In what capacity?
A. The Quigley House works with the Claymont Hotel. He works—or rather, worked—at the Claymont.
Q. Would you consider yourself a friend of the defendant?
A. At one time I did.
Q. At one time? Meaning you don’t anymore?
A. I’m afraid he wanted more than I could give as far as friendship. I’m a busy guy. He and I hung out when I had the chance, and that was good for me. Most of the time, my mind is wrapped up in the house, but these social outings with him got me out of that headspace for a while.
Q. And what would you do during these social outings?
A. Just drink a bit. Unwind.
Q. And during these outings, did you ever talk about the Quigley House?
A. Unfortunately, yes.
Q. And did you ever show the defendant the inside?
A. Yes. One day in January. It was cold. We were closed. It was one of those rare days I was alone in the house. I knew he had the day off, so I called him up. We met at the house, drank some bourbon. He asked if he could see the haunt. I said
no at first. Nobody’s allowed down there that doesn’t work there. But he kept asking, kept saying that we were friends so why not? I guess I felt some sort of camaraderie, and nobody was around, so I opened it up, gave him a bit of a tour.
Q. And this was in January. The incident with Bryan Douglas happened in April. Was the house set up already?
A. You mean the cells?
Q. Yes. Were the cells set up just like they were in April?
A. Yes.
Q. So the defendant, when he came into the house on April twenty-seventh, would’ve known the layout.
A. Yes.
Q. Did the defendant ask questions during the tour?
A. A lot of questions.
Q. Such as?
A. He asked about all the pulleys and levers. He asked if there were alternative ways to get into each cell. He was trying to figure everything out.
Q. You said that you no longer consider the defendant a friend. Why is that, exactly?
A. He became hostile.
Q. How so?
A. He was seeing this woman in Thailand.
Q. Boonsri Pitsuwana?
A. Yes. But before that, he’d broken up with Mary Kenilworth and was very depressed about it. I told him to go on vacation.
Q. A vacation that you helped arrange?
A. Yes. We were friends. I knew Bangkok, had contacts, could get him some deals. He needed rest. So he went to Thailand, and apparently fell in love with this woman. And he became obsessed with her. When he got back, he told me all about her, wouldn’t shut up about it, and I was getting busy, so I distanced myself, anyone would. But he kept calling. It got to be too much. I blocked his number. These things have happened to me, you know? People like Leonard idolize my success.
Q. Did he ever threaten you?
A. Yes.
Q. Please explain.
A. Like I said, he wouldn’t stop calling, so I agreed to meet with him in person, at Pete’s.
Q. The bar in Havelock?
A. Yes.
Q. Go on.
A. Leonard told me that he was extremely lonely, that things were falling apart, that he didn’t know if he could keep it together. I told him that I was busy, that I was trying to put together this spring competition, and it was taking up a ton of my time. I apologized for being out of touch. I told him I wished him well. And that’s when he got angry.
Q. What did he say?
A. He said he’d ruin me. He said that he would do everything he could to take me down.