Supernaturally-obsessed Spencer, his friend Vanessa, and new kid Charlie decide to try out a gadget Spencer bought in a novelty shop, The Howler, which is supposed to contact the dead. But it's when they're not using it that they see three figures in the light it sends off, saying something unclear. They think they're kids who disappeared in an abandoned hangout construction site, "The Pit". and get a message in their cereal prompting them to go there to communicate with them. When they do, a beam of light goes toward each of them, though the only effect seems to be on Vanessa, who's suddenly is eager to try it again. She has really been trapped in the machine while her body is inhabited by one of the ghosts who wants to let her friends into Spencer's and Charlie's bodies. It isn't until they get a warning from Vanessa the next night that they realize it, but the ghost in her body lets one of the others take over Charlie. Spencer has to hurry to think of how to save himself, and the others.