A light breeze rustled the Spanish moss, bringing a small moment of relief from the thick and muggy summer air. An abandoned antebellum mansion just outside New Orleans stood surrounded by the overgrown trees of what was once a thriving plantation. The year was 1935 and the sight of abandoned buildings had become commonplace for many. But this one was different. Amy and Rory had wanted to visit old New Orleans to partake in some Mardi Gras festivities but, as was usually the case, The Doctor had missed his mark by a few months.

It was the middle of July and the sweltering heat was more than Rory could handle. He rolled his eyes in frustration and wiped the perspiration from his face as they walked past the rusted iron gates. They creaked and slammed shut behind them with an ear splitting metallic clang. "Still anyway of convincing either of you to turn back around?" Rory asked, his anxiousness more than a little obvious.

"It's a haunted house, Rory." The Doctor put his arm around his companion's shoulder and swayed excitedly. "Where's your sense of adventure?"

"It'll be fun." Amy replied. "Not like ghosts are actually real. Right, Doctor?" They got up to the front steps and the front door swung open on it's own.

"Not in the human sense of the word, no." The Doctor walked in slowly followed by his companions. Rory turned on his little pocket torch and looked around at the foyer.

"What's this writing on the wall?" Amy whispered. "Why can't we read it?"

"I'm not sure." The Doctor replied. They walked down the hallway beside the staircase and the home suddenly grew cold and drafty.

"This isn't foreboding at all." Rory scoffed.

"Help me!" A voice echoed and made the trio jump.

Rory's first instinct was to reply. "Hello? Are you hurt?" They waited for an answer and got nothing.

Amy's skin crawled. Rory and The Doctor stood in front of her as she felt something touch her shoulder. She quickly spun around and saw nothing but darkness. "Who's there?" She called out, a hint of fear made her voice quiver.

"More writing." Rory pointed his torch to another wall. This time they could clearly read the words 'HELP ME' on the walls. A whisper spun him around. "Doctor!" Rory stared at a strange ball of light floating towards them.

"What's it saying?" Amy asked.

"Can't make it out." The Doctor took out his screwdriver and got to examining the luminous orb with no luck. The floating light went down the hall and around a corner. "Let's go!" The Doctor took hold of his companions and followed the mysterious light.

They found themselves in a room with no furniture of any kind, just eerie portraits on the walls. The door they'd walked though suddenly closed and the orb disappeared. Amy ran to where the door once stood. "There's nothing here!" Amy pounded on the wall. "There has to be a secret opening." She began to turn the nearby portraits around to look underneath them. "A hidden switch to reopen the door or something."

"It's completely sealed." Rory placed his hands on the wall and felt it slowly. "There's no crack indicate an opening anywhere. It's a solid wall."

"We just walked through it! How could it be solid?" Amy replied.

"There's no windows either." The Doctor looked up. "Except that." He pointed to the skylight. The bright blue summer sky suddenly turned grey and rain began to beat down on the glass roof. Nothing but bolts of lightning and Rory's torch illuminated the room.

The skylight seemed to move further and further up into the sky as though the room were stretching. Amy took hold of Rory's hand. A sudden scream cut through the darkness and a bolt of lightning illuminated a figure hanging from the ceiling. The three screamed in terror before the room suddenly fell back into it's original shape and the skylight revealed the blue mid-summer sky once more. "What happened? There was someone up there. They were hanging up there like..." Amy put her hand around her neck. "They're gone."

"What is this place?" Rory asked.

"Was it a hologram of some sort maybe? Or a crack in the rift? A spaceship in disguise?" The Doctor jumped excitedly. "What a delicious mystery!"

"I really don't like this." Rory looked worried at the new door which was now on the opposite side of the room from where they'd entered originally. Rory pointed his torch towards the open door. It lead to a long dark corridor. Unnaturally cold air came running through it. The glowing orb suddenly reappeared. Amy began to follow it without question. She felt it almost drawing her in. "Amy." Rory reached for her hand but the opening to the corridor shut behind her; separating her from her boys.

"Amy!" Both The Doctor and Rory cried out from the other end of the wall but Amy was hypnotised by the glowing spirit. It lead her to a library with a high vaulted ceiling. It's walls were completely covered in books. She looked around excitedly at all the books around her as the orb disappeared. She walked over to a shelf and looked through the ornate 19th century hardback covers. As she went to reach for a book, she gasped and dropped it at the sight of a man sitting quietly at a desk on the other side of the room.

"I'm so very sorry. I didn't mean to startle you." The man stood and bowed politely as he approached Amy. He was dressed in an old fashioned manner as if he were as old as the books surrounding them. He himself didn't look a day over 40. "Edward Gracey." The man extends his hand for a shake. He gave Amy a strange melancholy smile.

Amy took his hand tentatively. "I'm sorry, do you live here?"

"This manor has been in my family for generations." Gracey replied.

"It's just that it looked pretty abandoned from the outside. No offense." Amy chuckled. "And not to alarm you or anything but... Did you know your house was haunted?"