Jan 22, 2008

The Devil's Hour


A few days ago, our good Blogger friend Kat posted about some possible paranormal activity in her home. Was it the cat? Was it da debbill? Who knows, but she mentions that it happened between 3AM and 4AM which she referred to as "dead time"...the hour in which paranormal activity is at it's highest.

I had really never heard of this hour and it's sinister meaning. Witching hour, at least from my readings on the matter, occurred at Midnight. Midnight makes the most sense to me. The middle of the night. When things go bumpity-bump.

Then I watched the film The Exorcism of Emily Rose, and they spoke of the 3AM hour as the true Witching hour...the Devil's hour...dead time. According to the film, 3AM is when evil spirits mock the Holy Trinity because it is the exact opposite of 3PM - supposedly the time when Christ died. All the freaky happenings in the movie occurred at 3AM.

Guess when I watched this film?

That's right. I started to watch it around 1:45AM and I soon realized that I would be approaching the last act of the film right around 3AM, and it really freaked me out. Let me state here that, normally, scary movies don't freak me out. Or at least they haven't since I've grown pubic hair. But this movie really freaked me out. The story was so-so, but the concept of court-room drama centered around demonic possession was fairly novel. It was the performance of Jennifer Carpenter (Dexter), however, that truly raised one's hackles while watching the film.

She is really a sight to see in this film. The director wanted to do most of her contorted possession scenes with a good dose of CGI to maximize the horror, but Ms. Carpenter suggested that she could do most of the contortions herself. And she did. And it really freaked out the crew of the film as well as the audiences. Myself, in particular.

Anyway, so I'm watching this film with one eye on the TV and one eye on the clock as it ticks inevitably towards 3AM. It was bugging me so much that I eventually propped a pillow on my chest to block my sight line to the clock. This didn't really help because I kept having to check to see if it was 3AM yet. And it always seemed as if only a minute had passed since I last checked. It was excruciating.

Then 3AM came and nothing happened. Phew!

Except that at 3:02AM a fucking bird flew directly into a closed window in the living room with a tremendous "BANG!!!" Scared the shit out of me! I jumped up to see what had happened, because I obviously couldn't tell what it was just by the sound and when I looked out the window I saw a small dazed bird hopping away from the window before flying away. Do birds even fly around at night? What the fuck?!?!

I watched the rest of the film with my heart rate going about double what it normally runs and didn't really get a good night of sleep after that. For the next week, no matter what time I went to sleep, I seemed to wake up right before 3AM. Just so I could re-live the nightmare of that stupid bird flying against the window. Thanks!

Anyway, that's my "dead time" story, Kat. Hope you enjoyed!

As a post-script, I would like to add that I have never really experienced any paranormal activity that I can categorize as such. One time I stayed at a friend's house outside of Boston, and they put me up in a loft bedroom that used to be an attic or something. Right before going to bed, they warned "Oh, by the way...there's a ghost of a Revolutionary War officer living in that loft, but he's harmless. Have a good night!" Who does that? I didn't see or hear anything that night, but I also didn't sleep very well. Thanks again!

13 comments:

i am the diva said...

holy hell, that movie scared the bejeezus outta me... i totally feel for you. I can hardly believe that woman was acting, she was very very believable. shudder.

my parents house was haunted. creepy.

Verdant Earl said...

It's funny to go on the IMDB bulletin board for that film because there are all these 3AM stories for you to read. And the haters wondering why folks didn't have a 3AM story until AFTER the movie. Dicks!

Kat said...

That movie still didn't scare me as much as the re-make of the Exorcist. Or at least the adding of the backwards-walking-down-the-stairs-scene.
And of course,
you ROCK. ;O)

~Kat

Verdant Earl said...

I know. ;)

jiggs said...

I don't watch scary movies. I don't like to be scared by anything but the threat of nuclear war.

Elise said...

I love watching scary movies... Something always makes me jump afterwards; sudden phonecall, bang on the door etc

Can't say I've ever had the flying bird though xx

Suzi Q said...

I can't watch scary movies, if I do I can't sleep for weeks on end. Just reading this post scared teh crap out of me...

Verdant Earl said...

Jiggs - I believe that Bunny from "Platoon" said it best when he said "The only worry you got is dying. And if that happens you won't know about it anyway. So what the fuck man?"

Elise - I was waiting for a phone call after watching "The Ring", but it never happened.

Paige - Then it was a job well done. ;)

FourLeafClover said...

3 AM, eh? Now I know when to do my ghost hunting.

Verdant Earl said...

Ghosts I don't mind.

It's the demons that'll getcha!

Anna said...

Don't watch scary movies. Can't handle them. But FUNNY scary movies lit Shawn of the Dead and Lost Boys - AWESOME.

Also - it was Snatch. you are a good good man.

Verdant Earl said...

So I've been told ;)

Madeline Lee said...

I've always had a fear of 3am (which everyone thought very strange) and now i know why. I never knew there was so much meaning attached to a specific time.