Interview with Emily Lavalee, 2007, September
Q: What happened Tuesday night?
A: There was a frantic knocking at our door, late. My husband bolted up out of his chair and I told him, don't answer it. Call the police. He's so trusting. He was so trusting.
Subject cups face in hands
Q: What happened next?
A: John opened the door. At first I thought it was...it looked like the creature from the Black Lagoon...scaly, or something, and wet...though it wasn't raining. It burst into the foyer, and there was a muffled screaming.
Q: Did it say anything? Could you make out any words?
A: No, just this muffled screaming. Then one of the scales detached itself. It was bloated...it was a leech. It looked like a frog's...you know, a frog's throat when it expands? It was purplish. Horrifying.
Q: What did it do when it detached?
A: It unfolded these wings, and then it tried to fly...there was this horrible, loud buzzing...then it hit the corner of the coffee table and kind of... (Long pause) It exploded. There was blood in my coffee cup...one of the wings was fluttering on top of a book...
Q: What was John doing at this point?
A: He was getting a lighter from the kitchen. He flicked it and put it on one of the things...on the man's face. I swear to you that the thing screamed. It screeched and then it...sort of undulated. Have you ever seen a cat throw up? It was like that, like someone was turning a lever...
Q: It was regurgitating into the wound.
A: Ugh. Ah.
Q: What happened next?
A: I just started pulling the things off, prying them up between their heads and their tails, sliding my hands back and forth. John did too. We cleared the man's neck, and part of his face. I think. I think he. I think he was dead. Those things were holding him up. They all started fluttering their wings. The ones we'd pried off were struggling to fly, or crawling around blindly.
Somewhere in there John must have called 911. The police came. They had no idea what was going on. John and I just got down on the floor and put our hands over our heads. They shot the man. He wouldn't fall. He just wouldn't fall.
Q: How do things stand now? What happened next?
A: We told the police everything they told you. An ambulance came, and then a pest control service. Slaughton's Pest Control, I think they were called. They declared the house uninhabitable until further notice, and the police contacted the Red Cross and got us a room at the Best Western by the highway. We were allowed to pack.
Q: And then?
pause
A: John was undressing to shower when he found it. He started screaming for me, and when I came in...It was like John was hanging in midair...face towards the ceiling. He was breathing in these...in jagged rasps. A leech had him, see? It was burrowed into his chest. It was huge...like a giant fat fly...its wings were a blur and it had him. John looked at me, but his eyes...he couldn't see me. His mouth opened and it was...it was like the sound of static, like bursts of static, and then some horrible laugh, and this voice. This dripping, venomous voice.
Q: What did the voice say?
A: It said, "It worked. It works. It has begun."
A: There was a frantic knocking at our door, late. My husband bolted up out of his chair and I told him, don't answer it. Call the police. He's so trusting. He was so trusting.
Subject cups face in hands
Q: What happened next?
A: John opened the door. At first I thought it was...it looked like the creature from the Black Lagoon...scaly, or something, and wet...though it wasn't raining. It burst into the foyer, and there was a muffled screaming.
Q: Did it say anything? Could you make out any words?
A: No, just this muffled screaming. Then one of the scales detached itself. It was bloated...it was a leech. It looked like a frog's...you know, a frog's throat when it expands? It was purplish. Horrifying.
Q: What did it do when it detached?
A: It unfolded these wings, and then it tried to fly...there was this horrible, loud buzzing...then it hit the corner of the coffee table and kind of... (Long pause) It exploded. There was blood in my coffee cup...one of the wings was fluttering on top of a book...
Q: What was John doing at this point?
A: He was getting a lighter from the kitchen. He flicked it and put it on one of the things...on the man's face. I swear to you that the thing screamed. It screeched and then it...sort of undulated. Have you ever seen a cat throw up? It was like that, like someone was turning a lever...
Q: It was regurgitating into the wound.
A: Ugh. Ah.
Q: What happened next?
A: I just started pulling the things off, prying them up between their heads and their tails, sliding my hands back and forth. John did too. We cleared the man's neck, and part of his face. I think. I think he. I think he was dead. Those things were holding him up. They all started fluttering their wings. The ones we'd pried off were struggling to fly, or crawling around blindly.
Somewhere in there John must have called 911. The police came. They had no idea what was going on. John and I just got down on the floor and put our hands over our heads. They shot the man. He wouldn't fall. He just wouldn't fall.
Q: How do things stand now? What happened next?
A: We told the police everything they told you. An ambulance came, and then a pest control service. Slaughton's Pest Control, I think they were called. They declared the house uninhabitable until further notice, and the police contacted the Red Cross and got us a room at the Best Western by the highway. We were allowed to pack.
Q: And then?
pause
A: John was undressing to shower when he found it. He started screaming for me, and when I came in...It was like John was hanging in midair...face towards the ceiling. He was breathing in these...in jagged rasps. A leech had him, see? It was burrowed into his chest. It was huge...like a giant fat fly...its wings were a blur and it had him. John looked at me, but his eyes...he couldn't see me. His mouth opened and it was...it was like the sound of static, like bursts of static, and then some horrible laugh, and this voice. This dripping, venomous voice.
Q: What did the voice say?
A: It said, "It worked. It works. It has begun."