Melissa “Missy” Carlysle

In May 1985, Melissa Carlysle began experimenting with a tape, referred to by paranormal investigator Alexander MacFarland as the “Z. A. Tape.” Melissa was nineteen at the time of these event and attending the local community college. MacFarland had been invited to investigate Melissa Carlysle by her mother after the girl was found with her sister—naked or wearing only underwear in the home end zone of the New Hope Solsbury High School football field on the 20th of August 1985. The mother reported that Carlysle had managed to turn on both the public address system and field lights by mysterious means. In the presence of the investigator, Carlysle demonstrated an ability to conjure a voice which spoke under white noise coming through the stereo system in her bedroom. MacFarland also reported seeing two shadowy beings after making contact with Carlysle’s skin. Rumors circulated that Melissa and her sister were possessed or otherwise haunted by demons, and Melissa chose to leave the town of New Hope as early as November of that same year.

Teresa Carlysle

There are conflicting accounts of Teresa’s involvement with Melissa’s “Z. A. Tape;” however Teresa herself seemed to indicate in an interview with Alexander MacFarland that she had not become involved with Melissa’s experiments until the night of August 20th 1985 when she walked in on her sister listening to the tape. Teresa apparently only ever listened to the tape on this one occasion, but she began conducting her own unusual ritual in the backyard of the house she lived in with her mother and sister around a circular burn mark on the patio. She gathered three rocks, chosen according to instructions she received in a dream, and the rocks conveyed messages to her of peace and healing that only Teresa was able to hear. Teresa, who was seventeen at the time of these events, was accused of disinterring corpses, and left the town of New Hope after her high school graduation.