But what if you'd never come along? You had the boldness and curiosity as a child to go there in the first place, and as an adult, as haunted as you've been, you still had the strength to come back and face it, and to acknowledge that what you were seeing was real. If it weren't for you, no one would ever have known. That spot could be back in use today. The dead would never have been laid to rest, and more lives could have been lost. I know the last thing you feel like is a hero, but you are.

Tbh I think you did the right thing getting away from the institute. There may have been more you could have learned, but for anyone thinking this family should've kept Harper under Nova's so-called control... Nova recommended the playdate, remember? They said this kind of thing had proved beneficial for ecto families, suggesting similar get-togethers had been arranged plenty of times before. They knew exactly how much fun your little backyard picnic was going to be.

You may want to rethink your choices of friends.

Just thought of something. René Allaire, family from Quebec... how's his French? Maybe he could lend a hand with the House of 1000 Gropers

I'm wondering whether you could find someone safe to conduct another seance so you could talk to Martina again. Maybe one of her friends could give you some direction? I doubt Martina would have discussed taxes with them, but if they're close in age and background, it's possible they were raised with the same beliefs that led Martina to take this stuff seriously in the first place.

And those ones seemed to me to be the least malicious. Boundary issues, though. Definite boundary issues.

I thought you were gonna say she might as well go for it with Rene

I see there's more to the story so I can't be sure you're even around to read this anymore, OP, but there's another lesson to be taken from what you just experienced. If you find yourself in Martina's place a few decades from now, introducing your young and confident kids or grandkids or whomever to this wholesome family legacy of yours, do whatever you can to prepare them before the first storm. There's more she could and should have told you. There may not have been time for deeper explanations, but there was enough to brace you just a little bit more for what you were about to see and hear. Maybe it wouldn't have lessened the trauma, but I think it could have. When your turn comes, give the next generation the warning you didn't get.

That's how it goes with fundamentally weak people like that. They prey on children and the powerless. The second they see their victim gain even one ally, start to grow even a little stronger, they turn and run.