What happened to the Wheelingstones

The tragedy of the Wheelingstone family began far from the New Mexico desert, brewing in the suffocating, metallic heat of a ship’s hull. In the summer of 1958, James “Big John” Wheelingstone moved his family from Perth, Scotland, to the American Southwest. During a fateful detour in Detroit, James took his family aboard the S.S. Ste. Claire, a famed Boblo boat. But while his wife and children enjoyed the sunlit decks, James wandered into the ship’s deafening engine room. It was there, amidst the churning iron and isolation, that an ancient, predatory demon latched onto his soul.

By the time the family settled in the small town of Carlsbad, New Mexico, at 4012 National Parks Highway, the dark entity had fully consumed him.

In October 1958, the quiet community was shattered by a crime so depraved it defied human comprehension. An anonymous local witness entered the Wheelingstone home and was assaulted by the overwhelming stench of death and floors slick with blood. In the living room, James sat slumped lifelessly over a piano with a self-inflicted gunshot wound, while the mutilated remains of his wife, Freya, lay nearby. The true horror resided in the children’s room, which had been warped into a makeshift torture chamber complete with locks, chains, and torn strands of hair. Daughters Adair and Allison had been butchered in a manner so gruesome it drove the witness to his knees in sickness. Terrified city officials and law enforcement deliberately buried the evidence, locked away newspaper archives, and erased the tragedy from history. Eventually, the cursed land was paved over to build what is now the Walter Gerrells Performing Arts Center.

For decades, the property was plagued by unexplained banging and disembodied voices, but the town maintained its silence. That all changed in 2018 when Curtis McKinney and his investigative team finally unearthed the hidden archives. Seeking to expose the horrific truth, they launched the Don’t Scream haunt, transforming the modern facility to recreate the brutal 1958 murders for the public. However, disturbing the blood-soaked spiritual footprint of the property acted as an invitation. As paranormal activity escalated at the facility, the team unearthed an old audio recording in 2019. On the tape, a preacher addressing a congregation mourning Freya, Adair, and Allison delivered a chilling warning: the original tragedy was not the work of a deranged father, but a demon that had possessed James’s body. The recorded voice warned that the entity was never properly cast out, continues to dwell among the living, and is actively searching for new souls. Simultaneously, a massive fire gutted the S.S. Ste. Claire in Detroit, severing the demon’s nautical origins and permanently anchoring its dark power to the Carlsbad arts center.

In 2024, Curtis McKinney and the Don’t Scream paranormal team traveled to the skeletal, charred remains of the Ste. Claire to investigate the origins of the curse. Descending into the flooded engine room, they captured EVP recordings identical to the guttural growls heard back in New Mexico. They realized James’s bizarre torture devices had been desperate attempts to recreate the mechanical cage of the ship where the evil first took root. The entity had been following its own bloodline, and by exploring its birthplace, the team inadvertently widened the doorway between the burnt vessel and the desert stage.

Now, in October 2026, the nightmare culminates with Don’t Scream Chapter V. Curtis McKinney’s team has returned to the venue with a dangerous, offensive strategy: pierce the veil and summon the spirit of Freya Wheelingstone. As the demon’s first true victim, forced to witness the desecration of her family, Freya’s soul remains trapped in purgatory and holds the key to breaking the curse. But transforming the massive performing arts center into a spiritual conduit carries unimaginable risks. As chilling invocations echo through the dark halls, the freezing temperature of a flooded ship’s hull settles over the desert property. The demon is waiting, hungry for new victims, and those who enter must decipher if the agonizing cries reaching out from the void belong to a mother finally speaking her truth—or to the devil wearing her voice to lure them into the dark.