The narrative shifts into the past. After Margaret was chased by the man on the stairs, she decided to learn more about the house’s history. She found out that the house was built in 1882 by a prominent local family, the Vales. George Vale and his wife had several children, although newspaper accounts initially differed on whether the number was two or three. Margaret learned that the entire family died under mysterious circumstances during the month of September. Their deaths were attributed to the mysterious third child, Theodore. He was an out-of-wedlock child born to George’s wife before their marriage, and George was rumored to have gravely mistreated him. George was hard on his wife and all of his children, and the town was full of gossip about his abuse. After the deaths, Theodore continued to live in the house alone. Each September for six years, a local child went missing and was never found.

The missing children’s photographs in the paper match the ghosts that Margaret has seen around the house. She is sure that Theodore Vale killed them. The only child ghost to have lived there later was Elias, and according to bank records, he lived in the house with his mother after Theodore died.