"Little People"

Episode 310
(aired the week of 11/29/1998)
Case # 79-0002

Log line: When two girls are frightened by what they claim are trolls, the O.S.I.R. team comes to investigate.

Synopsis: Praeger's daughter, Dana is sleeping over at the country home of her friend, Vanessa, when the girls hear a strange noise coming from upstairs. They follow the sound to the bedroom of Vanessa's adopted brother, Cameron, where they are shocked to see the boy's bed floating across the room toward the window. Cameron is fast asleep, oblivious to what is happening. When the two girls scream in horror, the bed suddenly drops to the floor and tiny, shadowy figures scamper through the open window and disappear into the nearby bushes.

The next morning, Praeger and the rest of the OSIR team arrive at the house to conduct an "unofficial" investigation. Examining Cameron's bedroom, Praeger and Cooper discover torn curtains at the window and scratches on the window sill. Cooper determines that the claw pattern indicates three talons. Then he sees what appears to be a footprint made by a tiny moccasin.

In a conversation with Vanessa and Cameron's mother Madeline, Donner learns that Cameron may have social and emotional problems stemming from his adoption. She also considers the possibility that he may be endowed with telekinetic powers and may have moved the bed himself.

While conducting an examination of the wooded area surrounding the home, Cooper and Axon find a small crop circle, in the middle of which is a dead crow, its wings and feet cut off. Because the bird has apparently been stabbed to death, Cooper dismisses any thought that it was attacked by animals. He suspects that it was either killed by the same creatures that entered Cameron's room??by Cameron himself.

Hendricks conducts a psychological examination of Cameron. He concludes that the boy is a "repressed, angry child" who is so obsessed with violence that perhaps he had killed the crow. He may even have set up the whole bedroom incident as a way to get attention. Meanwhile, Cooper accompanies Vanessa's mother as she searches outside for the family's missing cat. The woman tells Cooper that the house used to belong to her aunt, who constantly cautioned her not to go into the woods because of the "little people." However, the warnings were dismissed as the ramblings of a crazy old lady.

Cameron confesses to Axon that he hasn't been completely honest. But instead of claiming responsibility for the events, he tells Axon that he has been in contact with the "little people" who live in the woods. Scared that they might harm him, he has complied with their demands for various household items such as knives and knitting needles. He believes they were trying to kidnap him the night Dana and Vanessa came into his room. To prove he's telling the truth, he leads Axon to the trolls' home in the woods. It is a structure much like a termite mound but no trolls are to be found. However, they do find the cat. It has been stabbed to death with knitting needles.

Later that day, as Cameron sits in his room, the door suddenly slams shut and locks from the outside. A troll enters through the window and abducts Cameron. The team immediately begins to search the woods. Axon hears Cameron yelling for help and finds him in a tree, suspended in a net. Before he is able to free the boy, Axon is knocked unconscious from behind. The trolls tie him up but he regains consciousness and is able to break free. He grabs hold of Cameron, who's being dragged into the woods by the trolls and, after a tug of war, manages to pull the boy from their grasp. The trolls disappear into the forest. They are never seen again.

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:
Heather Bertram - Dana Praeger
Erica Lancaster - Vanessa
Kyle J. Downes - Cameron
Deborah Grover - Madeline

Written by: Rick Drew
Directed by: Craig Pryce