Jessabelle 2014

As Jessie navigates the uncharted territory of life without Mark by her side - his sudden passing leaving an indelible mark on her soul - she’s forced to confront the harsh reality of her own mortality. The fateful day their car is struck by a truck, claiming Mark’s life and ending her pregnancy, serves as a stark reminder that fate can be cruel and capricious. Two months later, Jessie finds herself confined to a wheelchair, struggling to come to terms with her new circumstances.

With the weight of her grief still fresh, she makes the difficult decision to move in with her estranged father, Leon, in St. Francisville, Louisiana - a place where memories of her mother, Kate, linger like the scent of jasmine on a warm summer evening. As Jessie settles into her mother’s former bedroom, she’s met with a tangible sense of nostalgia and longing.

It’s here that Jessie stumbles upon a box containing four videotapes shot by her mother. The tapes, a window into Kate’s past, reveal a woman who was not only her caretaker but also a mystic attuned to the mysteries of the universe. As Jessie watches the tapes, she’s drawn into a world where death is not an end, but rather a transition - a concept her mother taught her through tarot readings and whispered secrets.

However, Jessie soon realizes that Kate’s presence extends far beyond the realm of mere nostalgia. She begins to sense an unwanted presence haunting her every move, a feeling that’s confirmed by the eerie apparition of a gaunt black-haired woman who seems to appear out of nowhere. This otherworldly visitor is a constant reminder that Jessie’s reality is not her own - and that she’s trapped in a web of supernatural forces beyond her control.

Leon, sensing his daughter’s distress, tries to intervene, breaking the first tape and sending Jessie’s wheelchair tumbling into the bayou. But Jessie’s curiosity is piqued, and she continues to watch the tapes, desperate for answers about her mother and the strange occurrences that seem to be plaguing her life.

As the mystery deepens, Jessie finds herself face-to-face with the same woman in a terrifying encounter during a physical therapy session. Leon, ever the pragmatist, attempts to shield his daughter from the truth, telling her that Kate is not her mother - that she’s just an illusion born of grief and trauma. But Jessie knows better. She senses that there’s more to her mother’s story than mere mortal life could ever reveal.

In a desperate bid to exorcise the malevolent force that’s consuming her, Leon tries to burn the tapes, only to meet a gruesome end in the yard shed - a victim of the very supernatural forces he sought to destroy. As Jessie stands amidst the ashes of her father’s failed attempt to rid herself of the evil presence, she realizes that she must confront the darkness head-on if she hopes to reclaim her life and find some semblance of peace.

As mourners gathered at Leon’s funeral, Jessie was suddenly reunited with an old high school friend, Preston, whose unexpected appearance seemed almost providential. But the reunion was short-lived, as Jessie’s gaze fell upon a figure so gruesome it left her reeling: a severely burned man (Vaughan Wilson), his body a testament to the horrors that lay ahead. As Preston excused himself to tend to Jessie, she felt an inexplicable pull to watch the remaining tapes, each one revealing more of Leon and Kate’s idyllic life before its brutal unraveling. The third tape showed the couple’s joyous outing and Christmas party, marked by the announcement of Kate’s pregnancy - a moment that would soon be forever marred by tragedy. The fourth tape, meanwhile, focused on the ominous tarot readings and Kate’s anguished cry: “You’re dead!” The footage ended abruptly, but not before Jessie noticed a figure lurking just beyond her reflection in the mirror. As she turned to confront the stranger, the glass shattered, revealing a small hidden compartment containing a mysterious tape with no label - one that Jessie hesitated to play.

The next day, Jessie and Preston embarked on a journey across the treacherous bayou, their suspicions piqued by the glittering lights and eerie flames that seemed to dance just beneath the surface. As they navigated the murky waters, they stumbled upon a graveyard of voodoo icons and disturbing effects - including a grave bearing the name “Jessabelle” and the ominous date of Jessie’s birthday. The discovery sent chills down their spines, and they hastily turned over the findings to Sheriff Pruitt for DNA testing.

Their investigation led them to Mrs. Davis, the mother of one of their friends and former cook for the Laurents, who spoke in hushed tones about Moses Harper, Kate’s friend from her church - a man whose name seemed etched into the very fabric of Jessie’s nightmares. Convinced that Moses might be connected to the supernatural forces at play, Jessie and Preston paid a visit to his voodoo shrine within a ruined church, only to be chased away by a group of menacing figures.

As they fled the scene, Preston confessed his long-held feelings for Jessie - a revelation that left her reeling. He offered her a place to stay with his mother, an offer she gratefully accepted. But just as Jessie was about to finish packing, Preston’s world came crashing down around him: he was suddenly attacked by the ghostly woman and left unconscious at Jessie’s feet.

As Jessie stands alone, she embarks on a mystical ritual to summon the enigmatic Kate. The air thickens as she completes the ancient incantation, and suddenly, Pruitt’s voice pierces the silence, revealing a shattering truth: the infant in question is not Leon’s daughter, but rather Kate’s own flesh and blood. As Jessie’s mind reels from this bombshell, she plays the blank tape, which transpires to be a haunting recording of Kate casting a voodoo curse on an innocent white baby girl, followed by a heart-wrenching confession that Jessie and her supposed father, Moses, are actually dead. The audio cuts off abruptly, leaving Jessie to confront the eerie presence of Kate’s spirit. In this moment of clarity, Jessie uncovers a long-held secret: the videotapes she’d always believed were her father’s sentimental keepsakes were, in reality, a testament to Jessabelle’s existence – the daughter born of an illicit interracial affair within the same church that had been a recurring motif throughout the tapes.

As the truth begins to sink in, Jessie realizes that Jessabelle was brutally slaughtered on the night of her birth, along with her father, at the hands of Leon. The gruesome tableau unfolds: Leon scolded Kate for her infidelity, retrieved Jessabelle from her crib, and snapped her tiny spine in two before discarding her lifeless body into a baby carriage, weighted down by stones to ensure it would never resurface. The cold calculation continued as Leon drove up to the church where he murdered Moses and set the building ablaze, leaving the lifeless body to smolder amidst the flames.

Seething with resentment, Kate’s spirit had conspired with her deceased lover, Moses, to transfer Jessabelle’s essence into Jessie – a newborn white girl whom Leon had secretly adopted on that very same fateful night. As the darkness closes in, Jessie is drawn toward the bayou by an unseen force, where she finds herself face-to-face with the vengeful spirit of Jessabelle.

In a stunning turn of events, Jessabelle’s biracial essence swims up and claims Kate’s bracelet, reemerging within Jessie’s physical form. As Preston rushes to her aid, Jessie plants a kiss on his lips before requesting that he take her home. The eerie silence is finally broken when Pruitt queries “Miss Laurent” about her well-being, only for Jessie to respond with an unmistakable certainty: “It’s Jessabelle.”