The two episode Silent Night arc of Ghost Hunt is absolutely heart breaking. As it reaches Christmas, the group is asked by Father John to come help with a case at a local church. A young boy named Kenji died thirty years prior and has been possessing the children of the orphanage/ day care run in the church since. John has driven him out of children many times, but he always returns. The possessions have not really been malicious and still really aren’t, but they are increasing in frequency and length so it’s best if they can get to the source of the problem and make it so the spirit rests for good.
Dropped off at the orphanage by his father many years ago, Kenji was mute. Still, he was a happy child that got along well with others and the other kids there made a form of hide and seek that could be inclusive for him that was called ‘Stick’. In which he would tap the stick once to show he wasn’t ready to be found, and multiple times to show that he was ready. So when any kid was possessed by him, they would run off and play Stick.
They find the boy he’s possessing this time and bring him back, when Kenji latches onto Lin and calls him ‘Daddy’. Apparently Lin bares a strong resemblance to the father that left Kenji behind. So he clings to him, and when Father John tries to drive the spirit of Kenji out this time. He resists and immediately comes back, this time not possessing one of the children though, but possessing Mai. Who takes on Kenji’s attitude and also clings to Lin as if he is the lost father.
Naru seems to think the key to ending the haunting and the possessions is to find Kenji’s body, which was never found. He keeps returning to this game, always knocking more then once indicating that he is ready to be found. So while they investigate where the body could be, Lin is left to babysit Mai. Which is something he isn’t entirely enjoying and it’s clear. Naru isn’t very up front with him about why he wants Lin to be keeping such a close eye on Mai/Kenji either. So when Lin can’t take it anymore and snaps that he isn’t his father and Mai/Kenji runs out to hide.
While Naru is disappointed in Lin, I can’t really blame him for his reaction.
Monk has the good idea of having the kids help look for Mai. He notices something in watching the kids, they always seem to be looking in the places they can see. In other words, places low to the ground. He realized none of them had been looking up either. They go out and find Mai/Kenji who was hiding up in a tree and help her down. Naru comes over and speaks to Kenji, he tells him that Lin isn’t his dad. That his real dad is gone and waiting for him up in heaven. He doesn’t have to wait for him any longer, and he doesn’t have to wait to be found. He asks where his body is and Kenji points. There is a alcove, high on the church where three angel statues sit.
He’d climbed up there, but the scaffolding used in the building broke down and he got stuck and since he was mute. He couldn’t call out for anyone, and so he died up there. Frozen and alone. Waiting all these years for someone to find him.
He can now pass on to where his real father is. It’s sweet. In the end, Kenji gets to be reunited with his father right in time for Christmas. Mai, Naru and the others have their Christmas office party and the church can now move on without the ghost of the past haunting it.
These episodes are honestly so sweet. It’s a sad and yet heart warming story and it’s two of my favorite episodes in the series.