Moonlighting, Season Three

Poltergeist III – DiPesto Nothing


Air Dates: 13 Jan 1987, 21 Jun 1988

Synopsis:

Margaret Renbourn's home is in an uproar. For the past couple of months, the house she lives in with her husband, Jake, and her sister, Emily, has been plagued by strange occurences: noises coming from deserted rooms, anonymous screams in the middle of the night, mysterious music playing throughout the house, etc. Margaret and Emily are understandably alarmed, but Jake is skeptical. Even after Emily is committed to a psychiatric hospital due to the intensity of the disturbances, he sees no reason to leave. Margaret turns to Blue Moon in the hope that they can collect documented proof that her house is haunted.

Meanwhile, Agnes has become disturbed by the news that, after a mere two and a half months of employment, Burt has been doing case work (or rather "fact-gathering") for Maddie and David. And when they turn down Mrs. Renbourn's case, Agnes launches into pursuit, with Burt not too far behind her.

The two of them learn from Margaret that, through the seances with Emily, the ghost has identified herself as "Velma Boulet," a forty-some years deceased heiress, killed by a man named Barno. As the thunderstorm outside reaches its height, the electricity is knocked out in the house, pushing Margaret to her limits and causing her to shoot Jake accidentally. Agnes and Burt are questioned by the police and sent on their way. But the pair inevitably return to the house on the suspicion that the Renbourns' butler, Ludwig, whom they met earlier, knows more about the haunting of the house than he initially let on. There, they encounter Dr. Beddows, the Renbourns' family physician who aided in getting first Emily, and now Margaret committed to a sanitarium. Pushing their way into the house, Agnes and Burt find the bodies of Ludwig, and later Emily, both dead – killed, they soon learn, by means of a fatal injection administered by Dr. Beddows.

At gunpoint, the good doctor informs them that the "haunting" of the house was a scheme conjured between Emily and himself to eventually seize the assets from the emotionally distraught Margaret, particularly the house itself, which sits on a fertile oil well. As Beddows aims the gun at the would-be detectives, the lights go out once more and the two of them are able to apprehend their attacker. Puzzled over who could have aided them at that moment, Agnes and Burt listen, dumbfounded, as "The Black Bottom" – the song that supposedly signals "Velma's" presence in the house – begins to play.

Some time later, they find themselves in front of a displeased Maddie who, while she admits being pleased with their initiative, tells them neither of them had better do anything like that again. Neither of them raise an argument, though they both leave the office smiling.

Synopsis written by Rebecca Perlow.

Directed by Chris Hibler

Written by Karen Hall and Charles H. Eglee

Guest Stars:

Memorable Dialog and Additional Links:

Music:

Notes:


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