"Frozen Faith"
Episode 219
(aired the week of 4/27/1998)
Case # 72-1219
Log line: The archangel of death possesses Dr. Anton Hendricks.
Synopsis: The Office of Scientific Investigation and Research (O.S.I.R.) is called in to investigate a home where the living room has become a cavern of ice. The owner of the home, Mrs. Cynthia Bruna, is strangely calm when the team discovers that her grandson Henry has been frozen into a chair in the odd room. Dr. Anton Hendricks, amazed the boy is still alive, rushes Henry upstairs and into a warm bath. While Hendricks defrosts Henry, Chief Data Analyst Lindsay Donner learns from Mrs. Bruna that the temperature in the house began to drop the day her husband (Henry's grandfather) died two weeks earlier.
As Hendricks revives Henry in the warm water, the boy speaks to him in a deep, inhuman voice and a frigid blast of air penetrates the room. Henry then grabs Hendricks and kisses him on the forehead, sending the Doctor into a trance-like state and, apparently, passing on whatever had possessed him.
In the mobile lab, Chief Science Analyst Peter Axon's tests confirm the presence of ectoplasmic residue in the house, suggesting a possible haunting. Ever the skeptic, Case Manager Matt Praeger has doubts about Axon's haunted house conclusion and orders the team to conduct further interviews to get to the bottom of the mystery. Hendricks interviews Henry who can't remember anything about his near death experience in the frozen room. Then, when Hendricks opens his mouth to speak, his usual voice and intended words are replaced by guttural German. Henry bolts from the interview area after recognizing this strange voice as that of his dead grandfather.
The team gets suspicious that something might be seriously wrong with Hendricks when he starts behaving strangely towards them. Then, they know they're in for an interesting ride as he grows more and more unprofessional and unpredictable and, finally, wanders off without any indication of his destination or mention of his plans to return.
As Praeger readies the team to search for Hendricks, he learns that the deceased Mr. Bruna was being blackmailed by a character named Martin Stossel to conceal his dark past as a Nazi. But Hendricks is already on Stossel's trail and gets to him first. As if he was possessed, Hendricks viciously tries to drown Stossel. Terrified, Stossel looks into his attacker's eyes and sees the spirit of Mr. Bruna.
The next morning, Hendricks wakes up in a homeless shelter, disoriented and with no memory of the previous night's events. Finally getting a grip on himself, he goes to a church in a desperate attempt to fight the force that's controlling him. The priest there takes him in and, based on Hendricks' story, determines that an exorcism might be called for.
When the O.S.I.R. team tracks Hendricks to the church, the priest tells Praeger that, in order to conduct an exorcism on their possibly demonically possessed friend, he needs to know the name of the spirit that is involved. Praeger, suspicious of religion and all non-scientific constructs, continues to pursue other reasons for Hendrick's strange behavior.
When Donner and Axon track down Stossel, they learn that Mr. Bruna was really Gunter Hoffner - a World War II era Nazi who drowned hundreds of Jews while pretending to baptize them in a river. In light of this latest religious connection, Praeger visits the church to ask the priest for guidance and discovers that Hendricks has fled from the church. Accepting that Hendricks may actually be possessed and that, if he is, his only hope is exorcism of the demon within, Praeger returns to the Bruna home where he intends to find and confront the demon.
During the ensuing battle, Praeger struggles mightily with the demon and with his own spiritual skepticism. With exorcism the only hope for Hendricks to make it through this crisis, the super-scientific leader of the O.S.I.R. team must hand over his usual analytical control to the spiritual domain. Could Praeger's sudden willingness to accept the unscientific ritual of exorcism in order to save his colleague actually aid the demon spirit's further existence?
Starring:
Matt Frewer - Case Manager Matt Praeger
Barclay Hope - Peter Axon
Nancy Anne Sakovich - Lindsay Donner
Colin Fox - Dr. Anton Hendricks
Dan Aykroyd - Host
Guest Stars:
Patrick Thomas - Henry Bruna
Helen Hughes - Mrs. Cynthia Bruna
Joe Botond - Mr. Bruna
James Mainprize - Priest
Heather Bertram - Dana
Written by: Matt Frewer
Directed by: Ron Oliver