"The Haunting"

Episode 215
(aired the week of 2/23/1998)
Case # 604-215

Log line: Hendricks sees images of his wife and daughter at a haunted hotel.

Synopsis: Businessman Nick Tanner gets more action than he'd bargained for when he checks in to the luxurious Ashe Plaza Hotel with Dawn, his call girl companion. In the bathroom of room 1033, Tanner suddenly sees a horrifying spectre...which triggers a fatal heart attack. Looking for her partner, Dawn also sees the phantom and flees in terror.

Hotel owner Harold Ashe enlists the Office of Scientific Investigation and Research (O.S.I.R.) to uncover answers before the media starts asking questions and damages his establishment's reputation. As Case Manager Matt Praeger begins the investigation, Ashe reveals that other guests have reported ghost sightings on the tenth floor for months. O.S.I.R. Senior Science Analyst Peter Axon rigs room 1033 with sensors to track the alleged spectre, while Praeger tries to track down Dawn for questioning; meanwhile, Senior Analyst Lindsay Donner finds hotel manager Mitch Galbraith oddly unsympathetic to Tanner's demise and the hotel's predicament.

In the midst of the investigation, Praeger is taken aback when Chief Medical Officer Dr. Anton Hendricks matter-of-factly notes he's taking time off - until the other team members explain that Hendricks always observes the October 16 anniversary of the disappearance of his wife and daughter. Twelve years earlier, the Hendricks family was involved in a freak car crash that left absolutely no sign of the two women. Hendricks still clings to the hope that they are alive in some parallel existence, and the hotel case is amplifying his desire to reconnect with them.

When another guest is haunted by the spectre, Ashe puts pressure on the O.S.I.R. team to close the case - fast. Learning that Ashe's former business partner, Perry Fischer, died under suspicious circumstances in that same room four months earlier, Donner suspects the hotel owner might have more involvement in the case than he's admitting. She finds that after the partners had a contractual dispute, Ashe retained sole ownership of the hotel while Fischer and his family were left broke except for a yearly payment and permanent occupancy of one room in the hotel: 1033. Ashe's possible motivation comes to light when the O.S.I.R. learns the partner's death ended Ashe's obligation to pay Fischer's annual stipend.

The whole team comes running when Axon's ghost monitors go haywire, then find 1033 ransacked and the equipment trashed. Axon and Praeger do a thorough sweep of the room in search of any clues - as they do, the bathroom door locks behind Praeger and Axon disappears while investigating the closet.

Searching for Axon, Hendricks and Praeger see ghostly images of Hendricks' wife and daughter at the far end of a hallway. As Hendricks runs towards them, they suddenly vanish - leaving in their place an open elevator shaft. Praeger, leaping into action, grabs his colleague seconds before the doctor plummets to his death. Fearing for his team's safety, Praeger checks out the hotel security cameras and discovers that they've been tampered with. With this lead, it appears that the real reason behind the hotel haunting begins to make sense. But, as they O.S.I.R. move in closer and closer to the truth, they must determine whether they've experienced a haunting, a hoax...or both.

Starring:
Matt Frewer - Case Manager Matt Praeger
Barclay Hope - Peter Axon
Nancy Anne Sakovich - Lindsay Donner
Colin Fox - Dr. Anton Hendricks
Nigel Bennett - Frank Elsinger
Dan Aykroyd - Host

Guest Stars:
David McIlwraith - Harold Ashe
Ron Payne - Nick Tanner
Lorry Ayers - Dawn
Ted Simonett - Mitch Galbraith
Michael Rawley - Perry Fischer

Written by: Rick Drew
Directed by: John Bell