Restless Asylum

“I’m so fucked! I knew this was a bad idea, it’s ghost hunting 101, never go anywhere alone. I should have known better, man I am so fucked. 

Okay, just calm down. My phone doesn’t have much battery life left, and I need to tell whoever listens to this audio file what happened to me in case I don’t make it out of here alive. 

To start with, my name is Darren Smith, and I am a paranormal investigator. I had heard about a mental hospital that has been abandoned for decades, and anyone who knows anything about the paranormal knows that mental hospitals are hot spots for getting good evidence. 

I decided that I was going to check the place out before I brought the whole team here to do a full investigation. Originally my buddy Jeff was going to join me, but he cancelled on me at the last minute. Not wanting to waste the day off I took from work; I decided I’d go check it out by myself. It shouldn’t have been an issue, because I went early enough in the day that there was still plenty of daylight. 

When I arrived, I eagerly found the front entrance and was surprised that it wasn’t locked or chained. This should have been my first clue that something was amiss, but in my excitement, I ignored the warning and just assumed I was having good luck. 

The building looked like many asylums that had been abandoned. It was an old brick building that had ivy growing up the sides in many places. Several of the windows had been broken, but the bars on the outside were still intact. There was enough space in the broken windows that certain animals could get inside, but not a person. I made note of this and went inside. 

Armed with only a flashlight and my phone, I walked the empty halls taking pictures of locations that I thought would be the best place to set up our equipment when the whole team was here. It’s always eerie to explore abandoned places, but something about an abandoned mental hospital just amplified the experience. 

The halls were littered with debris; some looked like it remained from when the hospital was still operational, but much of it looked like it was brought in from kids thinking it was a great place to party unseen.  

I ended up on the third floor in what looked like a recreational room. A place where the patients would hang out doing puzzles and get some socialization. Initially, the room didn’t impress me. It was too big and would need multiple cameras to get every angle of the room. However, as I went to continue exploring, something caught my eye.  

In the center of the room, I saw a rectangular piece of wood lying on the ground. I’d seen these before and had feared that some of these kids had decided to play around with it. I slowly flipped the board over, and my fears were true. It was a Ouija board. Why people think it’s fun to mess with these things is beyond me. 

I snapped a picture of it and continued exploring. As the sun began to set, I decided to head back down and leave. This is when shit hit the fan. As I reached the entrance that I had come through a few hours before I was horrified to find that it was locked and chained from the outside. I quickly searched for another exit. A place like this didn’t have many exits, and every one of them was chained from the outside. 

My mind began to race. How was this possible? I am sure that no one else was here when I got here, so why would someone randomly show up just the put a chain on the door? 

I took a deep breath and pulled my phone out of my pocket. I found Jeff’s number and tried to call it. I waited for a few seconds and didn’t hear any ringing. I looked back at my phone and saw that I had no signal. I was sure I had a signal earlier. 

Now I was trapped in a potentially haunted building, with no way to contact anyone on the outside. I found a broken window and looked outside, trying to see if someone was around. My vehicle was the only one in the lot. I screamed for help, not sure that I expected anyone to answer. 

However, when I did get a reply, it came from deeper in the building. When I tell you that my blood went cold, I mean it went deathly cold. I swear to God that after I yelled for help, I heard a voice reply with “No”. 

I spun around almost expecting to see someone standing behind me. There was no one. Was I really alone? Did I really just hear what I thought I heard? In the failing light it was hard to make out anything. I clicked on my flashlight and frantically surveyed the room I was in. 

I took a deep breath. Surely my mind was playing tricks on me. I’ve investigated for more than a decade and never had an experience like that. Shit like this only happens in movies, right? 

I began moving from room to room looking for a possible exit. At first, I was moving slowly, but as the asylum got darker with every passing second, I soon began picking up my pace. I had to get out of here, or I risked needing a mental hospital myself. This was certainly not the one that I wanted to spend any more time in. 

After I had exhausted all the options on the ground floor, I knew that I had to go up or down if I was going to find a way out. Down lead to the morgue, which I was certain I did not want to go. Up was the only logical choice. Maybe I could find a way to climb down from the second story. 

At this point, it was completely dark inside the asylum. I was trying to conserve the batteries in my flashlight, so I was using what little moonlight that shone through the windows to navigate as much as possible. 

The second story contained lots of rooms where the patients would spend their evenings in solitude. The stairs I came up were in the middle of the long hallway. No matter which way I looked, the darkness was imposing. I was getting more scared every second. I looked to the left and then to the right, trying to decide which way I wanted to go. I looked to my left again and then as I went to look back to right, I saw a figure standing at the end of the hallway. I did a double take and the figure was gone. 

“To the right it is.” I said as I started down the right side of the hall.  

After a few steps I stopped dead in my tracks. I knew what I needed to do but didn’t want to do it. As a paranormal investigator, we must assume that what we see has an explanation. I had to verify that there was no one down the left side of the hall where I had seen the figure. Maybe they hadn’t seen me, or maybe it was someone playing a sick joke on me for being here without permission.  

I turned to the left side of the hall and clicked on my flashlight. I scanned the hall as far as I could see and saw nothing. I started walking down the hall, looking into the patient rooms as I passed. The windows in these rooms weren’t big enough for me to squeeze out of even if they were broken. As I neared the end of the hall, I thought I heard something move behind me. I spun around and moved my light from side to side trying to find an explanation for the noise I heard. There was nothing.  

“Is someone there?” I yelled, my voice echoing through the empty asylum. 

I was relieved when I didn’t get an answer, at the same time I was hoping that someone had answered me so that I knew I wasn’t going crazy. I sighed heavily and scanned the hallway again. That’s when I saw it again, a shadowy figure, now standing at the base of the stairs leading to the third floor. It startled me so much that I let out a girlish squeal and dropped my flashlight.  

This is how people die in horror movies. Was I going to die? Did I just see a shadow figure or were my eyes playing tricks on me? I scrambled to the ground and hastily grabbed the flashlight. I tried to click it on, with no success. I smacked the top of the flashlight with my palm and blinded myself when the light flickered on. I cursed myself as I shined the light back to where I had seen the shadow figure. 

At first, I thought it had just vanished. Then I just made out a its feet as it made its way upstairs. I rushed down the hallway. Was I really trying to chase down a shadow figure? What if it’s not a shadow figure? If this was someone playing a trick on me, I’d likely have gone to jail. 

I reached the stairs and took them two at a time. By the time I made it to the top, I was out of breath. I surveyed both hallways and saw nothing. I found myself just staring into the recreational room. Could the Ouija board be the reason I was having the experiences I was having? Was the shadow figure trying to lead me back to this room? Why would it want me to go there? I certainly wasn’t going to use the damn thing. 

I thought about burning the Ouija board, even though I had no idea if that would help me in my current situation. I took a few steps towards the recreational room. I noticed the flashlight was shaking in my hands. I did my best to steady my hands and crept closer to the entrance.  

“I don’t mean you any harm.” I said as I reached the entrance, “I’m just looking for a way out.” 

I walked slowly into the room and scanned the windows for potential exits. At this point, I didn’t care who or what was messing with me. I just knew I wanted out of this damn asylum. After I was sure that I wasn’t going to find a way out here, I turned to leave. 

I suddenly heard a scrapping noise coming from somewhere in the room. I looked around and didn’t see anything. That was until I looked down at the Ouija board. I stared in horror as the planchette moving on its own. I watched as it spelled out the words “LEAVE OR DIE”. A tear streamed down my face. I was trying to leave. I wanted nothing more than to leave. 

“Who are you?” I asked after I took a second to compose myself. 

The planchette remained still, and I thought I wasn’t going to get an answer. But then it slowly started moving and spelled out “LUCIFER”. What the fuck. I knew it was likely trying to scare me. The jokes on them, I was already terrified. 

The planchette began moving again. This time it spelled out “GET OUT NOW OR DIE”. 

“I’m stuck here.” I screamed, “The door is chained shut and there is no other way out.” 

The planchette moved again, spelling out “THERE IS ONE WAY OUT”. 

“Where?” I asked. 

The planchette moved again, this time only four letters. It spelled out “JUMP”. 

“What do you mean?” I asked. 

Its response this time was much more terrifying. Rather than moving the planchette to spell out words, the Ouija board and planchette flew off the ground and nearly hit me in the head. If that wasn’t terrifying enough the whole room was filled with an otherworldly voice. 

“LEAVE!” It wailed. 

Without a second thought I took off running. As fast as I could I ran down the flight of stairs, skipping multiple steps at a time. I crashed into the wall as I rounded the stairs. Once I got back to the ground floor, I quickly ran to the entrance, hoping that I had imagined the chains before. I did not; they were real. 

I paced in front of the reception desk, not sure where to go. Could I hide from this thing? Could it really hurt me? I leaned against the desk, trying to catch my breath and clear my head enough to think clearly. It didn’t give me a chance. 

From the second story I heard a voice echoing down the stairs. 

“Darren,” it said slowly, “Are you ready to die?” 

I certainly wasn’t ready to die. I got back to my feet and looked around again. I saw a flight of stairs leading down to the basement. Was this really my only option? Damn my luck. I took off and ran down the stairs.  

In the basement, there were several storage rooms, an autopsy room, and a morgue. I hid in the first storage room I came to. I waited for several minutes. The asylum was quiet, and in the basement, there was no moonlight.  

After about a half hour of silence I crept out of the storage room and looked around. It was very dark; the only light came from the moonlight shining down the stairs. I didn’t dare use my flashlight. I didn’t want it to see the light and know where I was. I crept closer to the stairs, trying to see if I could see anything. Just then, something moved through the moonlight, blocking some of the light for a moment.  

I panicked and headed further into the basement. I attempted to open several of the storage rooms and found that they were either locked or stuck. With no other options, I hurried into the morgue.  

The smell in the room made me believe that they had left dead bodies here when the place was abandoned. I resisted the urge to throw up and found a spot to hunker down and hide. 

This is where I am currently. It’s been an hour and I am too terrified to move. Too terrified to sleep. I figured I would use this chance to at least chronicle the evening in case I don’t make it. All it wants me to do is leave, and yet there are no exits. Even though it said there was one way out, but when I asked it to clarify it didn’t give me an answer. It only told me to jump. 

Shit. I think I know what it means by jump. The only way out is to jump off the roof. So, my options at this point are to either jump off the roof, which will surely kill me from this height, or let it kill me, if it can even do that. Or I can stay put and wait for daylight, and hope that the front door will be unlocked when the sun rises. It is currently 3:00 AM, great, the witching hour. My battery life is flashing red on my phone. This is the end of my audio. 

Wait, are those footsteps I hear?