Director Stephen Cognetti is back with another documentary-style Hell House LLC edition. The Carmichael Manor revolves around the brutal murders of Eleanor Carmichael and Catherine Carmichael during the 1980s. It was an unsolved murder case because the two possible killers, the father and the son, were missing from the scene. It was assumed that Patrick was not involved in the killing because he had a fractured arm as a result of a car accident, and the only remaining suspect was Arthur. Footsteps were found leaving the house and into the woods, but there was no blood found on the snow. How is it possible that the suspect left the house without any blood dripping from his body? Where did the father and the son disappear?
Spoiler Alert
What was Margot’s objective?
Margot owned a website dedicated to internet sleuths. The amateur detective was determined to solve every possible cold case and was assisted by her girlfriend, Rebecca. She was not another keyboard warrior; Margot believed in going to the locations of the crime while solving the cases. Margot contacted Donald, the person looking after the house currently, and convinced the board to allow her to stay for five days at the ominous manor. The Carmichael Manor was situated in a remote location that could be reached after crossing dense woods and dirt roads. Rebecca agreed to be part of Margot’s adventure, a decision that she would regret soon. Margot’s childhood had a role to play in her choosing to become an internet detective. When she was ten, she traveled with her parents to the Rockland County Fair, where a man tried to lure her away. She screamed when she realized something was wrong, but she failed to identify the man. Margot blamed herself for not remembering the perpetrator because that night, it was not just Margot that the man targeted but several other kids who went missing and were never found. After growing up, Margot tried to compensate by solving cold cases.
Rebecca supported Margot in every way she could, but at the same time, she had to be practical. She got a job that helped pay their bills, and she realized that she could not always be physically present for Margot because she had to prioritize her job to keep them afloat. Joining Margot and Rebecca at the Carmichael Manor was Margot’s brother, Chase Bentley. Chase was mentally unstable, and Margot wanted to include him in her plans to monitor his mental health. The mansion was elegant and luxurious, but the knowledge of the past contributed to the uneasiness that everyone experienced. Now that Margot had the layout of the house, she intended to track the steps of the perpetrator to find out the secret behind the disappearances and the murders. They were all equipped with cameras to record every spooky incident that they experienced. Margot opened the storage room that was off-limits since Donald did not have the keys. She found three mannequins dressed in clown clothes, and they looked eerily real. There was also a chest full of clown clothing, balls, toys, and a hand-drawn picture of a clown. On the first night, they heard a girl sing. The next day, Catherine’s ghost was caught on camera, and later that morning, Chase came across Margaret’s ghost dressed in a mask. The mansion was haunted, but would that deter the interest of our internet sleuth?
What Happens At The Abaddon Hotel?
An abandoned hotel was turned into a tourist attraction in Rockland County, but on the day of the inauguration, a tragic accident led to the deaths of fifteen people, including attendees and members. The hotel was burned to the ground, and all that was collected was displayed at a nearby antique store. When Rebecca noticed a secret chamber in the German clock, she opened it and found pieces that perhaps had never been taken out since the fire. Rebecca pulled out a pendant, a film canister, and a bunch of letters and notes stacked together. While it was expected that the footage would be of the Abaddon Hotel, it was surprisingly a collection of all the videos recorded by Catherine Carmichael, one of the murder victims.
Catherine wanted to become a filmmaker, and she practiced the art at any given moment. Her videos went on to show how her brother’s behavior drastically changed after the car accident. He could not cope with Margaret’s death and, therefore, started spending most of the time alone in his room. Catherine was frightened when she saw three clown mannequins in his room. Patrick used to work at the Abaddon Hotel, and the owner of the place wanted him to store a few of the hotel’s junk. Catherine was left petrified when she noticed the clothes and mask that Margaret was wearing for the show the morning she died. Patrick stored the blood-stained dress in his room, and he refused to give any explanation about it. From the recording, it seemed that Patrick was hopeful about bringing Margaret back from the dead. This suggests that he came across people who promised to bring back his sister in exchange for a blood sacrifice.
The owner of the Abaddon Hotel, Andrew Tully, and several other cult followers committed suicide together. As far as Tully’s history goes, he lived in Arkansas with his family during the 1960s, and he was said to be a deeply religious man. After the death of his younger daughter, Andrew Tully went off-grid. It is said that he traveled to West Virginia and met Thomas Rollins and Freddy Perkins. Rollins and Perkins ran a gaming stand known as “Down a Clown” before they moved to Abaddon, New York. It is believed that the Satanic cult started at a fair in West Virginia, between Tully, Rollins, and Perkins. The hotel was believed to be a cover story for the cult practices, and locals were hired to work, and Patrick Carmichael was one of them. As The Carmichael Manor progressed, it became evident that there was a strong connection between the Carmichael murders and the Abaddon Hotel.
Who Killed Margot, Rebecca, And Chase?
Rebecca was resolute about leaving the mansion when she experienced a horrifying incident during a video call. The ghosts were not just haunting them in the house but had also taken over their digital devices. She believed it was enough reason for them to leave, but Margot was not on board with her. She wanted to get to the bottom of the truth, and she believed things were drastically getting worse because they were closer to the truth. She begged to stay for a day more, and things started to get worse from then on. One of the clowns from the storage room moved on their own to the bedroom, while the other moved to the cupboard. The next morning, Chase was found missing, and his cell phone and bag were left in the mansion. Rebecca started to panic; deep down, she knew there was a sinister explanation behind every occurrence.
In the end, we get to see the video recording of the last night Chase spent at the mansion. While he was busy drinking, there were constant knocks at the door. Each time Chase opened the door, there was no one outside. When Chase finally turned off the lights and went to sleep, someone opened the door of his room and entered. He pointed the camera and found the clown dressed in black and white in his room. He begged the clown to forgive him and allow him to leave, but there was no escaping from the clowns. After waiting for Chase to return the entire morning, Rebecca and Margot decided to leave the mansion, but their car was out of order. Margot suggested they walk to the city since that was the only way they could make it out of the hellish place. They started to walk through the woods, but soon, they came across strange objects that suggested ritualistic sacrifices had taken place at the estate. They also came across a trailer and a hearse randomly parked in the woods. Out of nowhere, two people dressed in all blacks appeared, and they started following Rebecca and Margot. The internet sleuths had no other choice but to head back to the mansion—clearly, that was exactly what the ghosts wanted them to do.
During The Carmichael Manor‘s ending, Margot receives a text from Chase saying that he is back at the mansion. He mentioned meeting new friends he wanted to introduce Rebecca and Margot to. Margot asked him and his friends to enter the room, and suddenly the door opened. Margot received another text from Chase stating that his friends were already in the room. Rebecca panicked, and she rushed out and got into the car parked outside the mansion. Margot later found Chase in his room—his eyes were gouged out, and blood dripped from his lips. Evil souls possessed the clown mannequins, and they returned to the Carmichael Manor to murder Margot and Rebecca. There is a reason why the storeroom was locked, and the deaths of the amateur detective and her partner explain why some things are better left untouched.
Who murdered the Carmichael family?
Catherine’s footage showed that on the day of the mass suicide at the Abaddon Hotel, Patrick returned home a new person. His arm was fixed, and he had confidence in his voice. He stated that he was locked in jail for getting into an argument when the mass suicide occurred at the Abaddon Hotel. He added that it was not a suicide but simply crossing over to the other side, and he, too, was supposed to be there. It makes one wonder if Patrick was possessed during that time. Did he give away his soul for Margaret to return from the dead? Or, possibly, that was the night he joined the cult, and he felt more clear about his intentions. The mass suicide was a cult ritual, and the murders at the Carmichael Manor can be considered its aftermath. Patrick was sentimental in the last footage that was recorded on Catherine’s camera. He had submitted himself to the higher power, and he sacrificed his entire family to please Satan. We also learn that Patrick was the murderer, but he was controlled by an evil force, and an entire cult was behind the incident. The only explanation for Arthur’s missing body must be a supernatural factor, or possibly his body was used for a ritual.
Not only is the Carmichael murder mystery solved, but we also find out that the man who tried to lure Margot out of the county fair when she was a little girl belonged to the clown cult. And it will not be too far-fetched to assume that the man was Andrew Tully. The clown cult surely leaves a great scope for more exploration. For now, it is established that Tully is the mastermind, and he and the other followers continue to haunt and capture souls to feed their master.
