Doris Gates Room Childrens Program

Description: Original camera footage edited for broadcast for KNTV San Jose Channel 11 news. No broadcast script exists for this date. This appears to be a story about a haunted house, based somewhere in Monterey-based reporter Dennis Rowedder's area. The first shot is inside a dark, abandoned wooden house or cabin. The next shot is two men, seated at a Formica table, chuckling. One of the men is signing a typed letter that appears to be addressed to the Chamber of Commerce. After signing, the man is given what appears to be an aerosol spray can by the other man. A different man is seen entering the abandoned house, and sits down on a chair, holding the can. Rowedder then interviews the man seen at the Formica table. Rowedder: "What did you see? What did you hear?" "Well, when I went into the house, I took the little penlight, and I went into the five different rooms, made a tour of the place, and of course the storm was up and it made it sound very eerie outside, and noisy inside. And there was a considerable amount of tapping and sounds of movement in the house." Rowedder: "You think this was significant?" "Well, with the wind blowing it was just hard to tell what it was. Every time I heard a sound or a tapping or a loud knock, I went into that room and examined the walls and there's so many loose boards in the place, and then the sound of the rain coming through -- had there been any actual unusual sounds in the house it most likely would've been covered by the noise of the storm." Rowedder: "Were you scared at any time?" "No, the only thing I was afraid of was that I wouldn't see anything interesting --" Cut to another room, where the man seen previously sitting in the dark with the aerosol can is now seated on a sofa in the dark, with his face illuminated. Rowedder, off camera, says "Scrub that last interview" then "1, 2, 3, 4" and begins next interview. "Mr. Rickman, what did you see or hear during the hour you just spent in the house?" "Well, I heard the various creaks and groans of an old house as the wind's blowing, then there was the piece of the tin on the roof that was banging against the side to make it sound like someone was knockin' on the side of the wall or somethin'. Then there was a slight flutter in one of the front parts of the house, so I went in to where I assume would've been the kitchen. There was an ice box there and above it was an owl. I thought that maybe could've been it - knocked the owl off its perch or somethin'. And then there was the flapping of the canvas or something that was on the outside of the house covering one of the screen windows. That's about it." Rowedder: "There was no unnatural phenomenon?" "None that I could see, no." Cut to Rowedder, in a raincoat and holding a flashlight, going into the house and shutting the door. He then emerges and runs away from the house in fast motion as though terrified. 11/20/1966 A 658