- The Control Voice: Ghosts. Haunted houses. Many maintain that such concepts have no place in our computerized twentieth century reality. But until man conquers death, one inevitable question will always linger within the recesses of the human mind: What lies beyond?
A woman whose son disappeared asks a supernatural debunker to investigate a seemingly haunted house where her son was last seen.
- The Control Voice: What lies beyond? For each of us, the answer awaits at the end of life's journey. Until then, we must live with the ghosts that dwell, not in some musty basement, but within the recesses of the human soul.
If These Tropes Could Talk:
- Agent Scully: The physicist Dr. Leviticus Mitchell is a debunker of the paranormal who is presented with evidence of its existence in the form of a house which absorbs people.
- Big "NO!": The excavator's reaction when the chandelier reaches out to grab him.
- Came from the Sky: The alien substance which has assimilated the house originates from inside a meteorite.
- Crazy Homeless People: Luther, the alcoholic squatter. He thinks that the house is God, and that "it's hungry."
- Genius Loci: This episode has a mansion that would eat unsuspecting people. Since the story was partially based on Who Goes There?, alcohol was like acid to it.
- Living Structure Monster: The house, which turns out to be alive rather than haunted.
- Mad Scientist: Abrams, at the behest of Genodyne Biochemical, was experimenting was a dormant enzyme found inside a meteorite. Abrams took the meteorite home with him and continued his experiments even after Genodyne was shuttered by the EPA.
- Meaningful Background Event: Abrams, the previous homeowner, disappeared mysteriously 6 years ago.
- Playing with Syringes: Abrams, the previous owner of the house, was experimenting with a dormant enzyme found in a meteorite in his own home. He ended up activating the enzyme, which then infected the house and ate him.
- Sapient House: An Alien Kudzu lifeform that crashed down on Earth has been slowly overgrowing an abandoned mansion, effectively becoming a living house in the process. It eats people by absorbing their biomass into itself.
- Secret Room: Mitchell discovers a hidden door leading to a secret laboratory while scanning the wall for paranormal activity.
- Shout-Out: Fans of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd Edition will recognize the house as a House Hunter Mimic, right down to its weakness to alcohol. Fans will recognize that it also possesses features of a Living Wall.
- Treacherous Spirit Chase: The main plot concerns a house "infected" by an alien substance. Not only does the house absorb people into its structure, it's able to regurgitate Doppelgangers of those people to lure in their friends and loved ones when they come searching for answers.
- Weaksauce Weakness: Turns out that ethanol is extremely toxic to the house. So much so that it cannot absorb drunken humans.
