A Haunted House 2 -2014- -

The video cut to a Ouija board planchette sliding on its own, spelling out “MORE SCARES.” A chandelier fell in slow motion—but a cushion landed exactly where it hit. A ghostly figure in a bedsheet stood by the stairs, holding a clapboard that read: TAKE 2 .

The tape showed a family—mom, dad, two kids—sitting on the same living room floor where Steve’s cot now sat. They looked exhausted. Dark circles. Twitching. Then a title card appeared, handwritten in marker: A HAUNTED HOUSE 2 — 2014 — a haunted house 2 -2014-

Steve laughed. Then he noticed the date burned into the bottom of the frame: 10/31/2014. And in the corner of the video, reflected in a dark window, stood a figure that looked exactly like him—wearing the same clothes he had on right now. The video cut to a Ouija board planchette

By week two, Steve was desperate. He’d tried sage, salt lines, even a poorly worded Craigslist ad for a “paranormal plumber.” Nothing worked. Then he found the videotape in the attic. No label, just a dusty VHS wrapped in a 2014 grocery store receipt. He dug out a combo VCR/DVD player from Goodwill and pressed play. They looked exhausted

The lights went out. The grandfather clock chimed fourteen again. When they came back on, the Ouija board was on his cot. The planchette moved. It spelled: S-T-E-V-E—then—D-I-E—then—C-U-T—then—L-A-U-G-H.

Steve didn’t laugh. But somewhere in the dark, a phantom audience did. A slow, recorded clap. And the feeling that this wasn’t a haunting anymore. It was a franchise.