In the newest Shock Docs, Scream: The True Story, Steve Shippy and Cindy Kaza embark on a quest to try and determine what drove Gainesville Ripper Danny Rolling to kill. After investigating the serial killer’s campsite and checking out a few of his Florida kill locations, Shippy and Kaza travel to Shreveport, Louisiana. Is Rolling’s ghost haunting his childhood home, now owned by Sheila Jackson?
As I wrote in my review of Scream: The True Story, by the time they got to her house, I was past ready to switch off this latest Shock Doc. However, I felt it wasn’t fair to write anything about it without suffering —er, watching all the way to the end.
I wouldn’t say I was glad that I stayed to see the part where Sheila Jackson came in, but she’s why I endured the last half. I had to know if they ended up helping her because at first that looked iffy…
Sheila Jackson’s Haunted House
Mrs. Jackson bought the house from serial killer Danny Rolling’s father in 2005. She said all was perfectly normal until around Thanksgiving 2006. That’s when the paranormal activity started.
Shippy noted that was interesting because Danny Rolling was executed in October 2006.
Anyway, Shippy asked what kind of paranormal activity she experienced. She started in the kitchen, sharing how sometimes when she was washing dishes, an unseen force would knock them out of her hands back into the sink.
She and her husband would also sometimes hear noises coming from the kitchen when they were in the other room watching TV. She explained it sounded like something was thrown to the ground. They’d investigate only to find no explanation for what might’ve caused the noise.
While in the kitchen, she also showed Steve where the bullet holes were from when Rolling shot his dad.
Later, she showed him other parts of the home where weird things happen, including their bedroom. Mrs. Jackson explained it wasn’t uncommon for her and her husband to wake up with scratches on their backs two to three times a week.
And in a part that made me chuckle a little and wonder if she wasn’t having a little fun trying to get Shippy’s goat, she said her husband sometimes complained it felt like something was twisting his nipples. Like trying to cut them off. (See if you don’t spot a little smirk and a mischievous glint in her eye when she says it.)
However, before she takes him on a tour of the other hotspots, while they were still in the kitchen, Steve had already told her that her house was likely haunted by the ghost of Danny Rolling.
She asked very earnestly, “How can I get rid of him?”
Help for Sheila Jackson?
In what I at first thought was a display of the most selfish, self-centered, self-absorbed, callous answer to any concerned haunted homeowner’s inquiry, Steve said, “Well, I mean that’s a whole different story. I’d like to investigate to see if he’s actually here. If that’s what’s actually causing it. But it sounds like certainly something is here.”
Her face fell and my heart dropped.
“Well please investigate and find out,” she said quietly, a bit dismayed.
Had wires been crossed? Was she under the impression they were there to help her, not just make a TV show?
I yelled at the screen, “Steve! Dude! What the hell? Help her out!”
She was easily the most likable person featured in this Shock Docs. I wanted to see her go on to live happily ever after haunt-free in her house.
And Steve is usually pretty compassionate. His reaction was a bit of a departure from what I’ve seen of him before. He would end up helping her out. Wouldn’t he?
Yes!
The Voicemail
At the very, very end, as the credits are rolling, they play a message from Mrs. Jackson. Here’s what she said:
“Hi Steve, it’s Sheila from Dany Rollings House in Shreveport, Louisiana. I just wanted to thank you for coming by and investigating and blessing my house. Listen, Steve, Danny Rolling or whoever was here, is gone. He’s gone. Ever since you left, it’s been quiet. We don’t hear noise and there’s no paranormal activity. My husband is sleeping through the night. Thank you so much, Steve. I appreciate it.”
Phew!
Check-In
Have you ever found yourself hoping a haunted homeowner could be helped and watching just to see if it happens?
Courtney Mroch is a globe-trotting restless spirit who’s both possessed by wanderlust and the spirit of adventure, and obsessed with true crime, horror, the paranormal, and weird days. Perhaps it has something to do with her genes? She is related to occult royalty, after all. Marie Laveau, the famous Voodoo practitioner of New Orleans, is one of her ancestors. (Yes, really! As explained here.) That could also explain her infatuation with skeletons.
Speaking of mystical, to learn how Courtney channeled her battle with cancer to conjure up this site, check out HJ’s Origin Story.
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I remember watching a Dead Files when the homeowner was complaining about paranormal activity and at the same time not wanting to do what Amy recommended. I definitely watched to the very end to see if the homeowner followed through and things got better.
OMG not you’ve got me in suspense…what happened? Did they follow through? Do you know? Or did Dead Files not show/update?
They did not follow through. Things did not get better. You know how some paranormal stories say that the home owner is addicted to ghostly activity? It sounds silly. I mean, how can you be addicted to something unpredictable and scary? But in this case it really did seem like the homeowner was addicted! I recall more of it now. It was a woman, and Amy said the woman had a past life in the area, but I still don’t recall where it took place, what season, hotel or BnB….dunno.
Yep. I totally understand the addicted to ghostly activity. Really, most ghost hunters are to some extent. BUT some people like the drama (and in some cases attention) it brings them so… Well, that’s at least good to know how it might’ve ended up. It’d be neat to see an update show of some of the cases now that you mention all this! lol