Description: Dena prepares for the worst. Julien’s struggle to stop Fincher’s execution takes a devastating turn.
The Maniwauk Caves is intended for mature audiences. It contained strong language and depictions of bullying, violence, and sexual assault that some may find disturbing. Listener discretion is advised. Also, this is an extremely immersive experience and headphones are recommended. You're listening to The Maniwak Caves, a production of iHeartRadio, Blumhouse Television, and Psycopia Pictures.
I drove to Nashville with tears in my eyes.
I knew my father loved me.
I didn't know he was the love of a monster. Come on, come on, pick up, pick up, pick up, pick up, pick up.
Come ontill Campbell, j.
Julian, where are you?
On my way to meet LeBlanc and ask her.
Where are you?
I have something something new?
What do you mean, I have some new evidence? I know who did it?
Okay, Chilien, Just slow down.
Now what are you saying?
I know who killed them?
The beasts of dough to the tree.
To leave.
Ye, the dread saw.
You know we got your bunny Tyler here too, right.
Yeah, he's right across the all and he's already told us the truth. So what's it gonna be?
Your story or his?
Now?
Talk James Venture wanted to take them out to the caves, didn't.
He for me?
Maybe so.
Maybe those dark evil games, even God go near their.
Small desperate voices going out.
But I believe someone else did hear, and I imagine, but he made miss O'Leary an offer.
This is the same scarf here in my hand, I believe, And you see here why it's been stretched and torn.
Missus solas, I have a little hunched matches the fabric found at the crime scene, red won fibers, just like the ones found under Thomas Hedley's fingernails, sturt around.
Face the scene. You gonna shoot me?
Paul Finch was going to be executed in a matter of hours for a crime he didn't commit. I drove to Nashville, and as I looked at the red scarf on the passenger seat, it triggered something just lodged a memory.
Dad.
It was a memory of the day my father broke.
The fog retreated in the memory of it slammed across my mind hard and pointed a perfect reprisal of his backswing.
This is your fault.
I remember.
The impact felt wet when he did, it smelled metallic, and when I touched the back of my lips. My fingers came back red.
Dead, edible, Have I bleeding?
That's not your blood, boy, I'm your father. Use my job to protect you. This is all because of that boy. If he hadn't shown up right after your mother died. Now I have nose how any boys, was unfortunate mistake, horrible, horrible accident.
Sure, sure.
Good.
I should have taught you better, but I was. I was too soft and let your mother stop me. But it was a mistake. If someone hits you, you hit that harder. If only you would have told me, If only, if only I knew they were beaten, my boy, I could.
Have stopped it.
I would have.
I would have pulled Bobby Hadley out of his fucking yukon, get the living shut out of him in.
Front of his tool rad face, little fucking cat.
Damn.
But I didn't. They want to take you away from me?
That just you just sit down.
What am I supposed to do to you? Can listen to me. You were gonna step up, step right up on that stand. You hear me, and you're gonna tell them exactly what they want to hear.
What you tell.
Them under oath James Fincher killed Deacon and Thomas Hadeny.
What what do you say now?
You saw it happen to James Fincher killed Deacon and Thomas Adney, But he didn't didn't What did I just say to you? They wanted to be James Fincher, hold down Hooper's begging for it, and you you are gonna give them what they want. They'll take you away. They'll take you away from me. So better him than you say away what they want to Men't do that for me, for your mother? Please, I'm begging you. Don't hear what I just said?
Do you hear me?
This memory had been so perfectly, so neatly hidden, my father stepping into the doorway from my room, hesitating, reaching down and picking it up. The red scarf, the same red scarf, now tattered and kate to a dirt, lying here in the passenger seat beside me, and my father held the scarf to his nose. Still smells Lacker, he said, it still smells like your mother.
And as I remember this, this image of my father silhouetted in the doorway, wearing coveralls and cradle in the red scarf, delicate lane is cracked in galowstands.
I knew that he's never left, not completely.
No, he's still here.
Or what remains of his tortured soul, A gray man who lurks in the fog of Manawa County, or at least in the long shadows of my mind, watching trying to make contact, trying to tell me something.
Of your behind now more until the out of school.
Good morning, LeBlanc.
I need to see him.
He's expecting me.
Yeah, that looks let's let's not over there, mister LeBlanc.
I uh, Jesus, Julian, where are you covered in dirt? Mister LeBlanc?
And Julian, I was just explaining to Ed that you may have found something.
The hell is that a scarf?
That's a scarf.
Just listen, Alsole, you were under arrest. You have the right to remain, Okay, I'm sorry. That's my dad.
I'm not like you. That's my father.
I won't do anything I have to do.
My boh, my god, to take the Smith's car was found in the gorge down below Orlon.
It wasn't Fincher, it was my father.
Julian, I think you should.
Have sitt out.
I'll get some water.
It was my father.
My God.
I don't need to get these to the lab.
We don't have much time.
LeBlanc and Joe Campbell pairing materials for the governor's review. So I left LeBlanc's office and headed for the River Been Maximum Security Prison.
It's only thirteen.
Miles from the Blunk's office. I went to tell Finch everything that I'd found new evidence that could save his life, to tell him that I'd uncovered the truth once and for all about who murdered Thomas and Deacon Hadley. Julian hey man, listen, thank you for putting me on the list today of old days, Finch. I am here to tell you something, something big.
Come on, man, No, no, no, I'm not kiddings, Sonny or as a folk.
You're my last visitor after this. They're moving me where.
The death house, and I'm looking forward to the ride over because it will be the last time that I get to see the light of day.
So I was hoping for some shine.
It won't be your last. There is still time for a petition for a of execution, and we.
Have enough evidence now we can stop this.
Oh no, okay, listen.
I went to my old house and what I found.
I mean, I'm still trying to understand it.
Finish backed red scarf.
It found it under the old oak tree, right.
You talked to Dina. No, how do you know about that.
Shit?
Man?
You had that fucking scarf on the day I met you.
I don't remember. You really don't remember the red scarf.
My mom made it from my father.
Not exactly.
I guess that's part of the deal.
What deal?
You're not making any fucking sense.
Finished deal.
It's a deal.
As old as mankind, remember, miss o'larry Finch.
I don't want to talk about that mail deal for a.
Daughter, please Finch.
We don't have much time.
And all their bloodline to protect her family treat from extinction.
She sold it.
She sold it to that devil in the caves, and.
Every poor soul descended from that line as forever more old a debt to him.
I don't understand.
Yeah, well you will. You will remember.
That scarf too.
The first time I saw you in the red scarf, I thought you was a poser.
I want to or some shit. BETI. I used to laugh and pick on you for it, because I used to wear that red ass thing every day, even that hot ass summer.
You were nice to me. No one else would even talk to me, hated me before I even said a word, But you were nice to me. Why were you.
Nice to me?
All of a sudden, all of my fear and confusion melted away urgency too. The whole world seemed to stop, and the past and the future stretched endlessly outward.
From this point.
For the first time since we were just.
I dropped into the present moment with them, just the two of us, momentarily protected from the inevitability of time itself.
Why were you nice to me?
Because you were alone, you were suffering.
I know what that feels like, when the whole world is cruel to you and you feel like something is wrong with you, and like you don't belong, like you are unlovable.
You had someone, though, someone that loved you.
More than anything. Strange.
I forgot all about that scarf, but it's coming back to me now.
My mother, that's right. I thought she made it from my father, but no, she made it.
For you, maybe while she was dying.
You know, it's interesting how an object can travel through time and come to represent something completely different than it once did.
For you.
That scarf was a gift from your.
Mother, Laura.
Her hands almost skeletal, they shook so bad from the little mind. She could barely hold the knitting legal. She couldn't grab through the back of the stitch with her forefinger and her thumb, so she used her teeth. That's why it smelled like her lip bomb, the only thing she had to keep her lips from cracking.
She was so frail there at the end, it's.
Gone pale, all skin and bones and ball, but her lips they were still shining, and she still smiled wide. She finished the scarf though something I remember it bout. She did something to keep her boy warm after she was gone, to shelter you against all the cold and all the darkness in the world, and most of all, to shelter you from the devil from him. She was tough, though your mother. When the devil came to collect his debt from Laura Solace, she refused, you know, but that she refused. She refused, and the devil took her instead. But he didn't take her right away. He took his time. He made her suffer. And now that same red scarf has traveled through time.
Now it's something else.
Now it's evidence, torn pieces of it were found near the bodies by the cave, wool fibers underneath Thomas's fingernails, but the prosecution could never find the article of clothing. Those fibers belonged to him. They never knew about the red scarf. Poor Thomas Hadley. His legs didn't work anymore because of the fall, but he clawed with all the strength he had left in him, his fingers grasping desperately, blindly catching hold of that scarf and hanging on for dear life. Anyway, what once represented everlasting love and warmth and protection is now just a emblem of death.
But right before she died, your mother, right before she closed her eyes for good, do you remember what she told you?
No, tell me, Please tell me.
I don't remember.
Forgive him, forgive Your father said he's got the darkness inside him too, said you all did though, said it was in your blo uh, the family curse. But for kif him, because.
He loves you.
It was him, Finch, it was him, It was him.
Your dad.
Yeah, yes, you do that, didn't you?
You've known all along well.
I thought you might say that. I dreamed you thinking it.
It's true, isn't it?
I've said too much already. Besides, that's for you to figure out, Julian, And when you do, you'll you'll know what you need to do, what.
Exactly do what I need to do?
Remove yourself, remove yourself from the situations.
If you know the truth. And why have you never said it?
Why are you waiting in this fucking cell until they put you to death?
Why keep it a secret?
Why give them what they want?
Why do you want to be their monster when you know that you're not.
You're not a monster, Finch, You're my friend.
And it it's taking me a long time to forgive you after you betrayed me. What did you I don't have a choice. Those feelings of betrayal are never gonna help. Forgiveness is a powerful thing. It is the most powerful thing. I can almost see her now, your mama sitting on her death bed, devil binder. You had to lean into her speak because she was too weak to sit up herself. And she placed that red scarf around your neck, and she looked you in the eye. Do you remember what she said? Forgive yourself too?
Mm hmm, Dina, Dina.
Yeah, I'm here.
What is it?
I don't know exactly. It's a package. Just got home and found it here my front steps. It's for you mey're Julian for you?
Wait, who's it from?
That's from Dollar.
I'll light over right now.
Hey, Tina, Julian, you look really nice.
I do.
Yeah.
I actually haven't wont to dress, probably since I was a little girl. It's Grandma's half a century old or something, got a few mouth holes. But I thought i'd wear it for the observance. I mean, what are you supposed to wear to your brother's execution? I do not know when it's the last time you'll ever see me again, so I figured I should wear something pretty, just my abode dress.
There's still a chance.
Have you heard from.
Jill or talk to her twenty minutes ago? The governor has the letter.
Has he said he wouldn't consider the request.
Hasn't said anything, hasn't responded at all.
There's still time.
Six hours, thirty five minutes either way, I gotta be prepared, don't. I'm gonna no you ate religious hub, but he please say a little prayer for James.
Yes, come in.
Hello, Wait, what are you for real? Are you really telling me this right now? Oh? My god? Oh, my god. What okay, okay, what do I do right now?
What?
What channel?
Okay?
Thanks Jill? What there's that been in? They're gonna delay the execution? Is there not the TV channel? Nun?
As Christians, we can't let a man be put to death when new evidence has come to light they could prove his innocence.
Next question, the appeals have all been denied?
Is there a.
President for all appeals have been tonight? Those appeals and court decisions were made before this new evidence, and we need to open this thing back up and go.
Okay, I guess I could take this dress off.
Yes, ma'am, it's a nice dress.
Though.
You look.
Really nice, he thinks, So I don you like.
Sult me just for.
I held her for a long time, standing in her living room. Outside, the wind began to blow and the rain began to fall.
A storm was coming.
She gave me the package from Tyler, my name with her address. He'd overnighted it, a small white box with only his initials and no return address. Finch wasn't a free man, but we'd want a huge battle gotten the noose off from around his neck at least for a little while.
Even if the war was still raging.
It felt like a victory.
I drove back to the cemetery. There was something I needed to do. I should have done it when I first arrived in Pottsville. I needed to pay a visit to someone. Mom and Dad are buried at the top of a rolling hill in the middle a plot reserved for our family. I took Tyler's package and walked up. The plot was overgrown with grass and weeds.
Laura Solace.
The letters engrave that my mother's stone were worn away from the harsh winters. I sat down beside Mom's gravestone, leaned my back against it. I could look out and see all of Pottsville. From here, the white steep over the first Baptist Church stretching up above the small town, clutching its crucifix high in the sky.
Toward off the devils and the demons.
Off in the distance.
I could see where the swirling gray light in storm had settled into the valley, where the caves were like a vortex lighting in arcs flashing across the sky.
Okay.
I peeled open the package from Tyler. The first thing I found was a handwritten note, Julian, Julian, I've had.
This thing hidden away all these years.
But I been here in my house because they're going to search the place after they find me. But it ain't for them. Almost burned it. But it's not really Minded's or either. It's yours. It's your truth, and it's your decision about what to do with it.
No one else.
This has all the answers you were looking for.
Good luck, body tie.
It was a video camera, Sony handycam Mini DV. I felt the weight of it in my hands, less than a couple pounds, but I could barely lift it. My mind was instantly flooded with memories that summer after we met Finch, all the videos we made. It was the video camera, the one Tyler used to record everything, everything that happened in the caves, the night that the Hadley brothers died.
Hey, Jill, congrats, it looks like we could.
All take a breath.
I mean, not the doubt come I expected.
Well.
I was trying to hold on to hope for Finch, but it felt like a losing battle, so I didn't expect something to actually go right for a change.
I guess the universe is full of surprise.
It's uh huh.
Well, I have.
Another one for you.
Oh yeah, what's that?
If you are driving? I need you to pull over before I can tell you.
I'm not driving.
James Bencher just confessed to killing Dincon and Thomas Hadley.
M uh wait.
Sleeve so so.
Off, so as I.
Go, Man, you're gonaterry your house down O the first Thomas Darling Corey she was sing Banks service Fanow for the four rounder bally E Bangel.
On The Manwalk Caves stars Jonathan Tucker as Julian Sawace, Eddie Gaftheggy as James Fincher, Clark Peters as Detective Solomon Smith, Nick Cercy as Sheriff Kirby Hooper, Justin Welborn as Tyler Wilson, Jill Jane Clements as Jill Campbell, Brad Carter as Dooley Tappert, Scott Poethrus as Reverend Perkins, Samantha Ashley as Dina Fincher, Justin Matthew Smith as Paul Sawace, Tara Oaks as Laura Sallace, Jonathan Horn as Deacon Hadley, Alden Karanovitch as Thomas Hadley, Mike w Anderson as Griff Washington, Body, Walterroff as Jimmy Fincher, Brian McClure as Ian Speinks, Larry Clark as Bobby Hadley, Paydon Fallis as ed LeBlanc, Vic Palisis as William Fowler, Nick Takosky as Richard Rydell, and Aileen Loy as The Darkness, with additional performances by Clint McGowan, Dina Dill, Edward Howard, Henry Foster Brown, Jamie Joseph, Juan Monsalvez, Christopher Curry, Bailey Hineman, David Mitchell, and Bernard Sataro Clark. Created by Connell Byrne and Dan Bush. Written by Dan Bush, Zoe Cooper and Nicholas Dakosky, featuring our theme song Killer Inside, written produced and performed by Lear Lynn. Our executive producers are Matt Frederick, Alexander Williams, Michael Monty, and Courtney de Frees. Our executive producers at Blumhouse Television are g Jremy Gold, Chris Dickey, and Noah Feinberg. Produced by Dan Bush, music by Ben Lovett. Additional music by Alexander Rodriguez. This episode features the song darln Corey, performed by Helena Rose, Edited by Dan Bush Chris Childs, Stephen Perez and David Chen. Sound design by Benjamin Balcom, Additional sound design by Alexander Rodriguez. Dialogue editing and sound mixing by Juan Campos. Recorded at Studio Awesome in Los Angeles, sound Byte Studio in Atlanta, and Echo Mountain in Ashville. Casting by Sunday Bowling, Kennedy and Meg Mormon. Our dialect coach is Linda the Sesti, Assistant director, Michael Monty, second assistant director, script supervisor and production coordinator Sarah Klein. Supervising producer Josh Thain. Special thanks to Mary Ellen and Jason Davis, Jonathan Dieter, and Joe Rickman. The Manowak Caves is a production of iHeart Radio, Blumhouse Television and Psycopia Pictures.