"Pennsylvania Asylum" - Chester County, Pa.
Pennhurst Asylum
As fans of the show know, we always have luck with asylums! Let's hope this show/asylum delivers ...
Starting off in the boys' home town of Warwick, Rhode Island, we see the guys hard at work. Good to know that Roto-Rooter is still employing them! But I have to question if they even still need to work there. When the show began, it was kind of a fun novelty: regular, working class "Joe's" that (as a hobby) sought out the paranormal. But the show has grown since then and Grant and Jason are small time celebrities now. I'm left feeling as though someone is trying to sell me an image that doesn't look quite right.
Anyway, Amy calls the guys while they are at work and tells them she's got the Pennhurst Asylum set up for the team. Grant seems mildly enthused and reports the info to Jason - also mildly enthused. That's about as much as you're ever going to get out of these guys; in fact, it takes a full on apparition staring them in the face to get their engine's started. Back at home base, Amy fills them in.
The asylum is huge and was in business until the late 80's. It was closed due to reports of abused patients and all sorts of other nasty goings-on. Since then, other investigators claim to hear a woman screaming and crying for help - along with all sorts of other scary shit. Sounds great!
Steve gives us a tour of the group's newest toy: a big ass van. It's pretty huge, guys - I mean, you can stand up in the friggin' thing! It will act as home base during investigations; you can plug all the equipment into it instead of relying on generators or the power supply from whatever establishment you're investigating. Dave thinks it's pretty sweet.
On the road! Amy reports more of the claims, which include: a glowing apparition of a young girl, people being pushed, doors opening and closing on their own, violent banging and heavy footsteps. Throughout the entire complex, people report apparitions that peek around doorways or out of windows and loud dragging-type sounds. Guys, this place is bananas.
At the asylum we get a few quick shots of the grounds. It's SPOOKY. There's even an old, jacked looking play ground. NO THANKS. Richard Chakejian, the owner (why would you own this place?!), gives them a tour. The place was only supposed to house 600-700 "feeble-minded" patients but by the time it was closed, the number had risen to about 3,000! No bueno! There are tons of stories of abuse, you can imagine.
The first building they check out is the Mayflower Building. A security guard talks about hearing a solid "Get out!" and, then, a pressure on his back guiding him out of the building. Another guard, with him at the time, also witnessed the phenomenon. Screaming, doors banging, piano playing have all been reported in the area. On the third floor (where the dorms were) there is a woman in a white dress, loud noises, doors slamming and (worst of all) dragging noises.
In the Tunnels (which run beneath almost all the buildings and are super creepy) we get more reports of the "gal in the white dress" (thanks, Richard), a younger girl with blond hair, half torsos of men (gross) and the usual doors banging/voices tomfoolery. Lots of visuals!!
Quaker Hall was also a residence hall and looks pretty damned run down. This is where the violent patients were housed. No kidding; reports include people being pushed and a crowbar being thrown. This is also where people see apparitions in the windows.
Over at Devon Hall we find out that this is where the children were housed. There's mostly the usual doors banging and voices here but one story sticks out: a guard heard someone say "There's no teeth" while on duty. According to Richard, there were a lot of gruesome dental experiments here. Ugh.
By the way, during the entire tour, Steve was taking tons of notes. Have I mentioned just how much I adore Steve? Because I do.
That's it! Time to set up.
Jason and Grant head into the Tunnels and immediately hear a bang. The EMF meter is blowing up and the guys are hearing noises right away. I hear them too! WHAT IS THAT?! Seriously sounds like people are chatting with each other. Grant interviews that the acoustics are really wacky down there, so they were careful to speak deliberately so they would know when it was them or the ghost. As Grant tries to chat up the ghosts, Jason notes that it sounds as if whatever is out there is getting closer.
COMMERCIALS!
Back in the Tunnels Grant wants the ghosts to speak a little louder. Jason asks where everyone will go if the asylum gets knocked down and they both hear "Spring City." SPOOKY! They decide to let things settle for a little bit and move onto another spot.
In the Quaker Hall basement, Steve and Dave do some investigating. They discuss that the entity hanging out there has thrown a crowbar, which, they decide, is "not nice." True dat. Dave suggests they just settle and absorb the atmosphere, try to get something to happen and make contact. Steve is totally down with that. Once Steve suggests they they become friends, we hear some footsteps. Like, full-on footsteps. Steve invites it to come closer. It disappeared after that though.
Onto the second floor of Mayflower Building, Amy and Adam begin their investigation. Adam, also, suggests they chill and just listen. They start asking questions and Amy claims she hears dragging noises, so she radios Steve and Dave. But they are over at the Quaker Building. Right as he says that, I swear I hear something being dragged across the floor. Amy reacts to it and they give chase. However, they think it was a door closing - whatever, man, just find it! Adam's flashlight starts going bonkers. Upstairs they don't see anything but hear tons of shit.
COMMERCIALS!
Now on the third floor, shit gets real. They hear footsteps and noises. Adam notes that "this is craaaazy!", which is very true. His flashlight keeps going on and off. The Amy loses her shit in one of those freaked out giggle seizures. Something ran across the floor and she's sure it wasn't an animal. In another room, a bug totally attacks Adam. But Amy is sure that something else is in the room with them, in one of the closets. When they check it out, there's nothing there. That was craaaazy, yo!
Jason and Grant hit the Devon Building. The place is already awesome. There are all sorts of noises: voices, banging, footsteps - just like Richard said. Jason claims to have seen someone from around the corner. Everyone (including the camera guy) hears something behind them. Dude, it's so freaking quite in there! Jason hears a knock and they look for the source. Everywhere they go, they see things out of the corner of their eyes - things moving around corners. Grant finally sees it too and gives chase.
COMMERCIALS!
Jason interviews about the dark shadow they both saw and how there was nothing there when they chased after it. He's pretty animated about it. They way the building is situated, if there was another person in there with them, they would have had to pass the guys to escape being noticed. Obviously, that didn't happen. Grant thought there was "a punk in here." Since it was probably paranormal, Grant thanks it for showing itself and suggests that it doesn't run away next time.
Amy and Adam are in the Tunnels and she mentions that she hates having "earth above" her. Adam is disinterested in this. They set up the laser, Matrix-looking thing and sit. Adam suggests that the ghosts can probably hear him even if he uses his inside voice. Amy backs that up by hollering "HELLO?!" Thanks. Amy hears voices but Adam sees something blurring out some of the lasers. I don't see it but I have no idea what to look for, so what do I know. Amy finally catches on and they give chase. Around the bend, there's a door. Damnit! They are worried that someone might have been in there with them - not a ghost. They stand next to the door (which looks bolted shut, but, who knows) and ask if there's anybody with them. Then you hear what sounds like SOMEONE BREATHING INTO THE CAMERA. Amy hears it too, and her head snaps around so fucking fast I get whip-lash looking at it. Adam is curious. They replay the recorder and they hear it.
Over at the Quaker Building, Steve and Dave check things out. Steve is stoked by how jacked the place looks. Dave notes that "everything has to be messed up" and points out that even a ladder, leaning against the wall, is crooked. Steve checks the EMF base reading. With that done, they wander the building trying to make contact. Steve goes flashlight off and focuses his eyes on a hallway. Then they hear something metallic coming from the first floor. They follow the noise and look around. AND THEN A DOOR SLAMS.
COMMERCIALS!
Steve gets really serious when the door slams. Dave asks if whoever is with them could make the same noise again. Steve replays the noise and gets stoked by it. They look around for what made the noise and discover that it was one of the windows. Both guys are pissed that there wasn't a camera in the room and Dave decides to leave one, just in case. He also observes that the entity could be intelligent, since it waited till they were gone to make the noise. Steve seems to agree and suggests they make the same noise and compare it to the recorded noise. It's spot on, guys. Dave interviews that the window is very heavy and would need a lot of force to be shut.
Jason and Grant head over to the creepy Quaker basement. One of them taunts, asking if someone has something they want to throw at them. Grant busts out the K2 Meter and notes that it goes off the hook from time to time, as if they catch something and then it moves away. The discover it by a mattress and ask that it light up the K2. They do get some sporadic pulses but then they become fairly regular, so Jason brushes it off as not paranormal.
Amy and Adam head back into the Tunnels. They bang on a door, crying out for help. Then they hear a cow. Not even joking - it's a cow! Above ground, there are cows at a neighboring dairy farm and you can hear them mooing. Hilarious! Everyone wraps it up and Jason states that it's been a great investigation.
The grunts sift through the evidence. Dave has something to show: a recording of footsteps in the Quaker basement and the breath into the camera. Amy has a giggle recorded and it is wicked creepy.
COMMERCIALS!
Back at Pennhurst, Jason and Grant sit with Richard to show him the evidence. They talk about the black mass they saw dicking around with them. Richard thinks that's freaking stuff. Well, hold on buddy. When Grant talks about the "Spring City" voice, Richard informs them that when the asylum shut down and patients were let go, a lot of people moved to the neighboring community of ... yup, Spring City. Then there's Amy and Adam's bonkers encounter, as well as the super fucked up breath. Richard thinks it said something like "Go home" but I just hear breathing. Steve and Dave's phantom footsteps are next and it's even louder on the recording. And finally, the bang! Richard notes that the windows open from the INSIDE. Spooky!
Oh, there's one more. It's the giggle. There's even kind of an echo on it. SPOOOOKY!!
They guys are confidant that the place is pretty haunted. But it's a small comfort - I mean, Richard (and by extension, the staff) now know that they are not crazy, but, is it really that much better? The place is jacked up and they have to go in there. For the most part, the activity was harmless but there was some weird shit in there. The window slamming was a little much for me. Hopefully they go back!
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