Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities is finally fully on Netflix but for anyone confused about The Murmuring ending, we’ve got you covered.
The four-day, double-episode event dropped on the streaming site on October 25 with the tales debuting daily through to today, October 28, to get viewers ready for the Halloween season.
However, as episode eight dropped fans have been left questioning the ending.
**WARNING: this contains spoilers of Cabinet of Curiosities**
What happened in The Murmuring on Netflix?
The Murmuring episode of Cabinet of Curiosities follows the story of Nancy and Edgar arriving at an isolated island to begin their research on Dunlins.
The research starts off well and the pair are friendly, but things take a turn when Edgar makes a move on Nancy which she rejects. Almost immediately after this Nancy begins hearing noises of the house and is struggling to sleep. This leads her to discover Dunlins that have roosted in the attic despite the fact they typically never roost above the shrubbery.
As Nancy continues to record the Dunlins she begins to hear noises on the recordings, as the ghost of a child begins talking to her and visiting her in the night. This leads Nancy to become obsessed with the family that lived in the house they’re staying in, decades ago.
Edgar gets annoyed with Nancy’s obsession and the viewers eventually learn the couple had a daughter they lost. Nancy continues to see ghosts, including when she’s in the bathtub where she sees the ghost of a little boy drowned, and the mother ghost bangs on the door screaming “what have you done.”
She also upset the gentleman that was providing the house for the pair after she asks too many questions, but she does learn that the mother was the one that drowned after the isolation of the island drove her mad.
The next day she sees the ghost of the boy being chased by his mother but when Nancy comforts the boy he’s able to go to the other side and move on. Nancy then goes into the attic where she sees the mother ghost who is in shock over killing her son.
As Nancy tries to approach her the ghost jumps from the window – but there’s no body on the ground to be seen, but she does see the Dunlins fly away. Nancy is then overtaken by the murmuring Dunlins surrounding her and becomes breathless and realises she needs to talk to Edgar about their lost daughter so she can move on.
The Murmuring Ending Explained
Edgar wasn’t able to see the ghosts because he’d come to terms with the loss of his daughter, whereas Nancy was more susceptible to them as she hadn’t moved on.
By helping the little boy move on she was able to learn to move on herself and then the Dunlins swarmed around her through their murmuring, which was symbolic of her finally moving on from Ava’s death, setting herself free.