The Dead House

The quality of the image is poor, but it is clear that the person holding the camera is in one of the Elmbridge High School dorm rooms. The overhead light is off, but the camera light allows us to see that the dorm is bare, bed stripped, desk empty. One item seems to have been left behind: a purple Post-it stuck to the lamp shade, evidence that we are in the former room of Carly Luanne Johnson.

The person carrying the camera wanders towards a nook in the wall, where a sink sits beneath a mirror. The mirror is broken, the glass spiderwebbing but not shattered. Naida’s broken reflection stares out at us. She backs away, frowning, and turns again to the room. She walks over to the wardrobe and opens the doors. A mirror in the rear wall is also smashed.

“Holy shit…”

She turns to leave, but gasps.

The full-length mirror on the back of the dorm door is zigzagged and broken as well. Naida shakes her head, an expression of horror on her features.

“Oh, Gorro. She broke them all.”

[END OF CLIP]




Not many conclusions can be drawn from this video footage, but the prosecution was able to argue that Naida, at the date of this video, knew that Carly Johnson was responsible for the attack on Michael Bowers and the vandalism of school property. Naida, twenty-two years old at the retrial, wrote a defense stating that Carly had broken the mirror and cut the skin of Mike Bowers only because she was possessed by a demon.

Despite these claims, Naida was found mentally competent and given concurrent sentences of two years for withholding evidence from the police, one year for concealing a suspect, and an additional eight-year sentence for obstructing the course of an investigation, obstructing the course of justice, obstructing a police officer, harboring a suspect, and conspiracy to harm. She served a total of nine years and two months and was released on probation in 2014.

Scott Fromley also faced charges of conspiracy to harm and obstruction of an investigation under juvenile law but was found not guilty and released to his parents. Now thirty-seven, he is a top barrister and remains unmarried. He declined to comment on his involvement with the Johnson Incident or his relationship with Naida Chounan-Dupré. He and Naida have not spoken in twenty years.

Naida’s grandmother, [name redacted], traveled to Britain for the initial trial of her granddaughter but later returned home and has not been heard from since.

Jaime Johnson, now twenty-five, is a nursery teacher for children with special needs. She still lives with her adoptive mother, Meredith Bailey. Both declined to comment.

An investigation into the treatment that Carly Johnson received at the hands of Dr. Annabeth Lansing was carried out in 2005 and 2006, during which all taped session recordings were taken in as evidence. At a private medical hearing in October 2006, Dr. Lansing’s medical license was revoked for malpractice, and she received a fine of an undisclosed amount. The National Health Service declined to comment.





111


ParaNormal Internet Radio talks to Dr. Annabeth Lansing

Wednesday, 21 December 2016, 3:00 PM

Interviewer: What do you think is the truth of the incident? Was Carly disturbed? Or was she really under the influence of evil forces?



Lansing: She was disturbed, of course. She had a mental injury—dissociative identity disorder, and psychopathic tendencies. She was a danger to herself after the death of her parents, invented an alter ego, killed Juliet McClarin, Ari Hait, John Hutt, and Haji Chounan-Dupré. There can even be a case made against her for Brett [name removed at request of the family]. Carly Johnson was very sick. It’s a tragic affair, but it is what it is.



Interviewer: And what about the figure in the fire?



Lansing: What figure? There was a shadow—a piece of furniture burning.



Interviewer: And the disappearances on the site for the last decade? How do you explain that?



Lansing: I can’t. Only to say that people should be more careful when walking around a ruin. Accidents happen.



Interviewer: And Naida? Brett, Ari, John, Scott—they all believed.



Lansing: Unfortunately, group hysteria happens too.



Interviewer: Do you think you could have done anything differently to help this girl? She was under your care.



Lansing: [Pause] I did everything for her.



Interviewer: Care to comment on the medical hearing of ’06? Why was your license to practice medicine revoked? In ten years, it hasn’t been renewed.



Lansing: Thank you for having me on today. It was illuminating.




In the end, we must decide for ourselves what we believe. To date, twenty-six people have gone missing on the Elmbridge site and five have filed reports of hearing girls whispering in the basement. Despite this, the ruins continue to attract risk-seeking tourists each year, most likely because the site is listed as one of the top fifteen most haunted places in Britain (see editor’s notes for links).