Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum, Part 3...

About the Third Floor....

The third and second floor layout was virtually the same with the only real difference being the living quarters on the south side of the center main building were designated for the nurses and unavailable to us this night. The center main area was brightly lit this evening, and had several couches and chairs scattered about the area. Light from this area spilled into, and illuminated about a third of the way down the Ward C corridor, just east of the center main, and where we entered the third floor. Whereas on the second floor the center main opened directly into the west and east wings, on the third floor there was a door that you had to pass through to enter the west wings. Presumably this was to protect the patients on the west side, mostly geriatrics, from the patients on the east side, which housed the violent female, and male wards.

Violent History....

The most notorious room on this floor was the Bed Post Murder Room in the furthest east ward, Ward F, the Violent Males Ward. This had been the site of a grisly murder during the institution's history, and was noted to have a lot of paranormal activity. The story relayed to us was that two patients who had become angry with another, mute patient, sneaked into his room while he was asleep, and beat him severely with the bed posts from his bed. Then, not completely satisfied, laid the bed frame across his head and proceeded to jump up and down on the frame until his skull was crushed; after which they ran to the nurses station to report the murder claiming they had witnessed a ghost kill the patient.

Hunting With Amy....

Upon entering the third floor, Ward C (east of the main building), we were almost immediately greeted by an enthusiastic Amy Bruni. This floor had been a hot bed of paranormal activity so far this evening and Amy was eager to tell us all about it. Amy stated she herself had been touched three times in the isolation wards which were Ward C, the violent females ward, and Ward F (the furthest east ward), the violent males ward. The previous groups had also had a lot of success conducting flashlight tests in the Geriatric Ward, Ward Six (the furthest west ward). Which was where she was testing a new toy TAPS would be using this season on Ghost Hunters, the laser grid.

After a brief run down of the history and layout of this floor Amy invited anyone who wanted to join her to come to the Geriatric Ward for a 10 or 15 minute EVP session, and flashlight test she would be conducting. As we followed along I noticed our entire group was with Amy. I suggested to Tabitha we should stay back and head to the Bed Post Murder Room to investigate alone.

Seemingly a good idea at the time we changed direction and headed down toward the end of the corridor alone. The tiny amount of light that filtered in from the center main building quickly faded to a pitch black in front of us as the end of the hall drew closer. About halfway down the corridor the last person passed through the door to the west wing with Amy, and the door slammed shut behind them with a resounding thud that reverberated through the corridor. As the sound of the slamming door was absorbed by the darkness an eerie silence fell into step around us. Now, with flashlight in hand to guide our way, the dim red glow slowly crawled up on the windowless steel door to Ward F. I reached out to pull the bulky door back and reveal the ante room between Ward C and Ward F. Then, casting the light into the room, Tabitha stepped through the doorway. Suddenly and immediately she was overcome by an intense penetrating feeling of unease. Spinning on her heels she quickly reversed direction out of the room exclaiming "I'm not going in there", and almost knocking me down in the process. Tabitha stood shuddering behind me as I released the door handle and let it slam shut. We decided it best to rejoin Amy and the group to observe the flashlight test.

A Flashlight Test Observed....

By the time we entered the Geriatric Ward the flashlight test and EVP session were well underway. Amy had asked to borrow three flashlights from the group explaining she liked to use multiple lights to reduce the likelihood of random or coincidental responses by directing the spirits to turn on, or off specific lights. The lights were then arranged a couple feet apart in a line from right to left across the hall. Once everything was in place Amy would ask a question and direct the spirits to answer yes, or no by activating a specific light. During the test Amy stated she had been conducting this same test throughout the evening with other groups and had been getting pretty good results overall. But she admitted the level of interaction had declined with each session. This being the third time this evening what we observed was a mix of what seemed like intelligent interaction, and random occurrences. It's hard to believe what I witnessed was completely coincidental. Lights just turning on and off by themselves, considering how they're set up, is certainly possible, but with the level of consistency that this occurred immediately following a direct request toward a specific flashlight makes it hard to believe it's entirely coincidental.

As the flashlight test ended, and the group disbanded, most of them headed toward Ward F. Tabitha and I followed suit stopping along the way in Ward Three, and Ward C to do a couple EVP sessions, but to no avail. With only about 20 minutes left to investigate this level we set our sights on Ward F.

Braving Ward F....

I'm not certain you can call it "braving" when you come in behind a large group who have already entered the area ... But let's run with that.

By this time several groups had entered Ward F and fanned out into different areas. As Tabitha and I entered through the ante room there was Zach in the midst of one of his war stories; a group of young women huddled around him. I heard him telling how he'd provoked a ghost in this area during a flashlight test once, and had the flashlight flung across the floor. "This being the violent men's ward", he admonished, "you don't want to do that unless you know what you're doing". He even told them a young girl had been pinned against the wall by a ghost during a Halloween tour this past year, and to be careful.

Not feeling the uneasiness from earlier we made our way to the end of the corridor. The Bed Post Murder Room was to our right, but was already occupied. In the center of the corridor was another room with a door, so we decided to do an EVP session in there. Not having really experienced anything that we knew of, since the first floor other than feeling uneasy earlier I decided to get a little playful with the EVP questioning. After all, being someone who is sometimes not comfortable alone in the dark, I can feel uneasy getting up to use the bathroom in the middle of the night.

Seriously, the waiver we signed warned against "provoking" the spirits, and if discovered doing so you could be asked to leave. While I wasn't willing to challenge a violent criminally insane spirit to a wrestling match, I was willing to ask some playful, or off beat questions. It wouldn't be until days after I got home, and analyzed the EVP recordings, that I'd find out I got an answer to one of those questions.

We didn't spend that much time in this room, but it was long enough for Ward F to have essentially cleared out leaving us once again ... alone in the dark. Of course that wasn't immediately apparent to us.

As we ended the EVP session, stopped recording, turned off the camera and headed out the room door I felt a pronounced tug on my right shirt sleeve. The tug had come from about a quarter ways around the front of my arm and just below the shoulder. Not the side. But just to make sure I stopped and shined the light on the door, and doorway looking for anything that might have snagged my shirt. Then turned the light on my shirt to see if there was a snag or a pull; nothing. Then we heard the door at the end of the corridor shut.

Looking down that long dark hallway there was no light emanating from any of the rooms; no sounds of EVP sessions; and no people. Realizing, ahead of Tabitha, that we were alone with roughly a football field between us and the door, I continued the conversation about the tug on my shirt, while switching my flashlight from the unintrusive dim glow of a single red LED, to the brilliant white light of six Light Emitting Diodes and flooded the hall. About the midway point of Ward F the conversation stopped, and the pace quickened....

Exiting Ward F was a relief. It definitely evoked a creepy feeling in both of us to be in, or near that ward alone.

Something Else in the Darkness....

With only a few minutes left I was psyched to try the flashlight test ourselves in the Geriatric Ward. After witnessing what we had earlier I felt certain we were in for a successful flashlight session. But we had to hurry to get to the complete opposite end of the building.

As we made our way toward the lighted center main building I kept catching glimpses of something dark darting about my head on one side, then the other. My first thought was it's too large to be an insect, and certainly too small to be something paranormal. And there seemed to be more than one. Either we had discovered the worlds smallest shadow figures, or something else was afoot in the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum this night. When we finally made it closer to the light it was then I was able to make out what it was..., bats. They had mentioned this to us earlier on the first floor that there were bats in the building, but until now I hadn't noticed them. I think I would have rather them been tiny flying shadow figures; at least shadow figures don't poop on you. And if they do, ghost poop is probably not a health hazard.

Did That Ball Just Move...?

That was the question Tabitha posed to me as we settled in for the flashlight test, and EVP session in a large open area of the Geriatric Ward. As we set up the equipment, and watched the rubber ball on the floor, it appeared to rock slightly a couple more times. Figuring we would try to catch this I set the camcorder up and trained it on the ball. Because there wasn't enough light I switched the flashlight back to red and laid it beside the camcorder and illuminated the ball, and started an EVP session.

We spent several minutes with the camcorder recording the ball, and the digital recorder running while we asked if anyone could move the ball. After a couple minutes Amy came in with one of the Trans-Allegheny guides and checked the windows to see if they were open, or broken. We could find no explanation for the movement we had witnessed prior to setting up the equipment, but upon analyzing the data found no evidence of it moving while the equipment was recording either.

It was now after 12:00am, to late for the flashlight test, so we had to shut everything down and head to the fourth floor.

Third Floor Evidence....

We had high hopes because of all the purported activity on the third floor, and our own personal experiences, that just maybe we had caught something really interesting. I was very disappointed the video of the ball didn't show any movement, nor did the accompanying recordings pick up anything unusual. After the first run through of everything we collected it seemed we had nothing to show for what we experienced. It wasn't until I put on the headphones and went back through the EVP session in Ward F, and the room where I felt the tug, that I discovered a response to one of my somewhat "provoking" questions.

It was during the flashlight test that I asked the question "if you would like for me to jump off the third floor", then paused, "turn on the light". The light never came on, but when I listened to the recording … during the pause … you can clearly hear the response; "yes".

The Final Floor....

Where walking with Ghosts will be explained...