The Demons of Ludlow

For God's sake, Sybil, lay off that stuff, will you?

The celebration... everybody in town will be there.

I don't want any scenes.

Then I won't go, then.

Sybil, please?

God, I'm so sick of it!

"Be nice, Sybil." "Why don't you be more sociable, Sybil?"

"Don't smoke, Sybil." "Don't drink!"

Oh, God, I can't stand it anymore.

Don't worry, I'm gonna be sober by the time we get there.

Thank you, boys! Thank you, boys!

Sure is a nice turnout, ain't it, folks?

We ain't big, but we are a proud little community.

As old as the country itself. Now that's something to be proud of!

Two hundred years old, now that's something really worth celebrating.

And the man who founded this little speck of earth should be congratulated.

We're proud of him, and we wanna thank him with this celebration.

And remember him because he's done good for all of us.

Here we are, like a big, happy family.

Many of us have our roots here. Most of us, come to think of it.

Oh, I know we've had our little fights,

disagreement now and then, but as we all know,

time heals all wounds.

Now, I have a special surprise for everyone!

All right, boys, roll it out!

Roll it right out there.

Yes, clear a way there, let the boys roll it out.

That's fine, that's fine.

This is a gift to all of us all the way from England,

from the estate of Ephraim Ludlow Ill,

the deceased great-grandson

of that same man who founded our little community

exactly 200 years ago!

All right, boys, take it off!

Ooh!

I don't wanna get too close to that thing.

It's quite beautiful, but I wonder what they're gonna do with it.

I don't know, but I sure as hell am gonna photograph it.

All right, folks, hold it down. Hold it down!

Tonight, folks, during our closing services and giving thanks,

we will listen to a demonstration of this beautiful instrument.

It will be placed in our town hall for everybody to enjoy.

I wonder how much this is worth.

Oh, plenty. Looks like real gold.

Come here.

- Let's disappear. - Are you crazy? Someone will see us.

OK. Later, then?

- Promise? - OK.

- Promise. - Later.

'A lot of unexplained things happened in Ludlow.

'It has a colorful history, but it's cold and unfriendly,

'and, as you can see, decaying.

'A family by the name of Brubaker lived here.

'They were plagued by one strange accident after another.

'Mrs. Brubaker, the last one to survive, committed suicide

'by thrusting a knife into her stomach.

'There's one heck of a story here.'

And grant us your blessing this day as we observe the 200th birthday

of our community.

In so doing, we ask you to forgive us all of our past transgressions,

and to renew our faith in you.

There are many things we would like to forget.

But we must always remember

that your divine guidance has steered us through the darkness of those bad times.

And we place ourselves and our future...

in your hands.

Amen.

And now, to highlight this wonderful occasion,

Mrs. Ann Schultz is going to honor us by playing this beautiful instrument.

Ann...

Are you ready?

Ready as I'll ever be.

Let's go.

It's pitch black in here.

Hang on a minute. I'll take care of it.

Here, hold this.

- You be careful. - I will.

- Nice ass. - Do it to me again! Ha-ha!

Do you know anything about that piano?

No, I'm sorry, I don't.

- Be careful. - I will.

Easy.

- It's a pretty night. - Not bad, yeah.

- So, fella, do you come here often? - Sometimes.

- What the hell was that? - Just the door.

- Don't worry about it. - But what was that?

It was the door. Nobody's gonna come up here.

- You sure? - Hm-mm.

- Hmm? - Yes.

Come on, why don't you go check that?

- It's all right. - Well, it's not. It's not all right...

- Please, Andy? - It's just the door!

Just the door? Go check it, OK?

- Please? - All right.

OK, I'll be back in a minute.

Go.

Andy? Andy, are you all right?

Yeah, I'm fine.

OK...

I love you!

I've a surprise for you when you come up.

You coming, Andy?

Andy!

You haven't said a word since we left the town hall.

That old harmonium?

It was here before in Ludlow. It was just returned.

- Why didn't the mayor mention it? - How do you know?

I was born and raised here.

Until we moved.

My grandfather was an avid storyteller.

You sure had me fooled.

You've got "city" written all over you.

So you must know most everybody there, then.

Oh, I do. But they don't know me.

I was only nine when we moved.

- You don't act much older now. - Thanks.

Come on, throw a couple of bucks on the table. We got a lot of work to do.

Winnie!

Chris? You coming up?

Yes, dear.

I'll be right up.

Oh, God, Chris. You frightened me.

Yeah, er... look, er... I'm going out for a minute.

- Where are you going? - Just over to the hall.

I, er... I think I left my keys in the lock.

I'll just be a minute, all right?

I'll be in bed, dear.

Try not to kill that bottle before I get back, all right?

Chris?

Chris?

Chris, are you back?

Chris?

What are you doing?

Chris, will you answer me?

What's going on?

Nothing, dear. I'm coming right up.

I swear, I thought I heard you come in earlier.

I don't understand. What's going on?

'Ludlow, population: 47.

'Farming, industry, tourism, unincorporated.

'That's it.

'Yeah, but why now? I mean, don't you find it...?

'Debbie, you've always been a very curious young lady.'

And the fact of the matter is, I don't have the answers.

'I don't have the answers.'

I'm looking for some historical data.

Do you know where I can find any information like that?

Sorry, Debra, everything this town had

burned up when we lost our town church.

'You must've heard about that fire from your ma or your grandpa.'

Besides, we've had our share of trouble. Why bring it up?

'Yeah, I remember stories grandpa used to tell me.

'About the piano, er... the one from the Ludlow estate?

'That was here before.'

'I'm sorry, Debra. I've gotta go.'

Debra...

Debra. Debra.

Sam, I don't expect you to get all bent out of shape about this,

but maybe we ought to get rid of it.

Bullshit! Don't you start giving me that superstition garbage too!

I've got other problems.

Have you any idea why the Harpers left? And Dan Willard was gonna move, too.

I don't know, and I don't care!

But you know damn well, we've got no jobs no more.

Westchester's getting all the business.

Why do you think I'm working so hard trying to keep this community alive?

We've got too damn many old people and nothing to attract the young.

Speaking of the young, Eleanore Peterson and Andy Koch ran away together.

Gone! Poof!

Can't say I blame them, with parents like that.

- What are you gonna do about that? - Nothing!

Nothing? There's a law against that, you know?

Wrong! Andy's 18, and tomorrow's Eleanore's birthday.

And do me a favor, Chris.

In your sermons, watch what you say.

There's no need for reminders.

Remember, it's our 200th birthday.

Whatever happened was a long time ago.

I'll give that some serious thought, Sam.

See you later.

You frightened me.

Um, I'm sorry about the picture.

I didn't mean to, the door was ajar.

I was sure I'd locked it last night.

Which is strange too, because I seldom lock our community hall.

Wait a minute. I know you.

Debra, isn't it?

What brings you back to Ludlow?

MY job, I suppose.

But without it, I would've visited anyway.

Um, I really am sorry about the picture.

I didn't even touch it. I was standing over there when...

It's all right. I can fix that, no problem.

Um... you mentioned a job. What do you do?

I'm a writer. Not infamous yet, but maybe someday.

- Reverend... - Yes, go on.

This piano...

It was here before in Ludlow, right?

I don't know what you mean, Debra.

I think you do.