Ostensibly a little boy in a sailor suit, his careworn face is only vaguely human. His nub of a nose looks like a pair of pinholes. He is covered in brown nicks, like scars. His eyes are beady and black. He wears a malevolent smirk. Clasped in his lap he’s holding his own toy, a dog with garish, popping eyes and a too-big tongue lolling crazily out of its mouth. Here are some other things that people also agree is true about Robert: That he’s haunted and that he has caused car accidents, broken bones, job loss, divorce and a cornucopia of other misfortunes.

Sumitra Singh of Etawah District in India appeared to die and then revived, having apparently lost all awareness of her former personality but rather showing the knowledge, behaviours and personality traits of a quite different woman, Shiva Tripathi, who had lived in the same district but had died suddenly by being crushed by a railway train two months earlier. On visiting Shiva’s family, Sumitra made accurate recognitions of family members, relating to each person in the appropriate customary manner. The Tripathi family accepted Sumitra as Shiva in a different body, and she retained the new identity for the rest of her life. This highly unusual case was investigated by multiple researchers and has been interpreted variously as one of reincarnation, possession, or both.

Abott Mount Church is haunted by the spirits of Dr. Morris and his patients, who he killed in the name of experiment. But are these the only entities that haunt that land now?