Ghost Asylum – St Vincent’s Mental Asylum – S01E04
For this episode of Ghost Asylum, we head off to Oklahoma City to visit the St. Vincent Mental Asylum – another location I have never heard of. It’s tragic that so many of these asylums have the same checkered past. This one started in the 1940’s as a treatment center for the mentally ill. Things went quite poorly and the story goes that a nurse smothered two patients. It was then taken over by a priest named Frank Dolan who turned it into a drug rehab center. Thing again went quite poorly and Father Dolan was killed on the property by the patients he was trying to help. The facility only lasted until the 1980’s when it was shut down. The property is now in private hands, but it stands abandoned. TWC spoke to the owner and he says it was an investment, although he’s not sure what to do with the place. Perhaps it’ll be renovated, perhaps just turned to rubble.
But many people have come to investigate this location and they talk of shadow figures in different parts of the asylum. They hear creaking and the banging of doors. They also claim to see floating orbs out in the woods. We have to take some of this with a grain of salt. The woods are a stones throw away from a neighborhood with plenty of street lights and traffic. Additionally, this is an old, broken down building with plenty of rats moving around so your going to hear footsteps and hear creaking. This nearly collapsed building will make all sorts of weird sounds.
As the team moves through the building the focus on Father Dolan and whether or not the entities with them had something to do with his death. The meters flash and spike so they feel they’re in the presence of evil. We also get confirmation of the rats in the building.
Armed with some evidence they seek out locals to learn more. Turns out then nurse that smothered the patients was most likely schizophrenic and sadly Father Dolan had his own personal demons and was supposedly arrested for soliciting male prostitutes.
During the investigations they feel they capture several shadow figures moving through the halls. Although this certainly seems like the work of the big rats or perhaps their own bodies casting shadows, they disagree.
Since they firmly believe the asylum is in the grip of a demonic entity, one that has driven the patients and staff to madness, they want to trap it and throw it out of there. The trap of the night has me scratching my head though. I understand the theory of burning sage for good energy and sulfur is supposedly left behind when evil is afoot. However, I don’t understand how they plan to use a wet-dry vac to suck up something from the spirit world. They seem to coat the inside with reflective sheets in hope of confusing the spirit? Can someone explain this one to me? I’m no engineer or scientist, but the validity of this one escapes me. Are they just picking a hardware store at random and basing their trap on what’s available in these small towns? Are we really expecting spirit energy to be trapped by what’s on the shelves of the local janitorial supply store? Good gravy!
Anyway, they burn sage which doesn’t seem to gain any reaction. They then turn to the sulfur which they believe causes more shadow figures. As they chase the spirit around and call it out, the bucket of sulfur mysteriously burns into a roaring fire which "could have burned the building down". A touch exaggeration, but ok, it did flare up. What else was in there? Like an fire, did it just reach a previously unused fuel source? Are demonic shadow figures the only answer?
The meters once again start to go off and they all feel their seeing things crawling the walls and coming to get them. This of course comes with headaches out of nowhere. The team wonders if this is the evil entity trying to get into their heads.
The sage and sulfur don’t draw in the spirits as they had hope so alas the wet-dry vac of demonic holding doesn’t come to fruition. So close though. They feel they have plenty of evidence though and head back to see what they have.
The grainy video evidence shows a blob moving across the wall, which they firmly believe is the shadow figure of the dark energy and they also feel they capture the name "Brannon" one of the investigators on the team being spoken by an unknown voice.
So where does this leave us? Is this place the residence of some dark force that drove the staff and inmates to kill? Are these real shadow figures or just the trick of the light or reflections? Would the trap have worked had the spirit energy moved into the right position?
The verdict is definitely still out on this one, but if nothing else, we have another interesting location. If nothing else we’re seeing some new places. You can check out some really interesting pictures of St. Vincent’s at the link below.
St. Vincent’s Home at AbandonedOK.com
Other Articles of Interest:
- Ghost Asylum – Old Cannon Hospital – S01E06
- Ghost Asylum S01E01
- Ghost Asylum – Ironton Psychiatric Hospital – S01E05
- Ghost Asylum S01E02 – Kuhn State Hospital
- Haunted History – Pennhurst Asylum – S01E04
- Ghost Stalkers – Springfield State Hospital – S01E02
- Ghost Adventures – Route 666 – S13E06 – Part 1
- Ghost Asylum – Missouri State Penitentiary – S03E04
- Ghost Adventures – Rolling Hills Asylum – s04e02
- Ghost Adventures – Lechtworth Village – S05E06
What lies in store if you live Forever?
So ABC presents us with a new show called Forever, a slight twist on the old idea of living forever. No, character at the center of our story, Henry Morgan, isn’t a vampire (thank goodness), or werewolf (not that we know of), or highlander (at least for now there is more than one), but rather a man who isn’t quite sure how he turned out the way he did. He’s been around for 200 years and for the most part seems to be at ease with the world around him. He’s used his time to learn, study and try to do some good in the world. He’s even managed to create his own little family. But now on the horizon something is brewing and Henry comes to realize he’s not the only one.
While the opening story feels a little reminiscent of Unbreakable, there are plenty of hooks that will have me back for another episode. There are some tinges of Sherlock Holmes as well, but that is in no way a bad thing for me. He certainly should be a keen observer after 200 years of watching people. So it looks like Henry will use those powers and the vast knowledge he’s stored up to help people in modern day New York. The Big Apple isn’t too bad a place to pick if you want to be anonymous and working with the police will give him plenty to work on. I wonder if he’ll bump into Sherlock on his adventures?
Anyway, I think this can be an interesting series with plenty of room for some intriguing stories and a look at what it means to be alive. What defines us? What makes us who we are? What will we be known for with the time we have on earth? Perhaps that’s reading a little too much into it at these early stages, but Forever was pretty good. I’ll definitely stick around for another episode of this one. Hopefully, he won’t be a vampire or genetic experiment, that will just ruin the whole mystique of the show. And besides you have to admire a guy who walks around with a 300 year old pocket watch.
Yes, yes, there were tinges of Highlander as well. The first movie in that series was pretty damn good you have to admit.
Other Articles of Interest:
- Forever – Season 1 Complete
- Forever – Interesting stories and an interesting look at life
- True Blood – Season 1
- Hannibal makes it to Season 3, Dracula gets a stake through the heart
- Dracula Season 1
- 666 Park Avenue
- 666 Park Avenue – Episode 3
- American Horror Story
- The Exorcist Files – Infestation – S01E01
- New Shows on SyFy
The Next Chapter of Sleepy Hollow Begins
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow is back and things are looking quite dire and the chain of events to bring about the end of days appears have been set in motion.
When we last left Ichabod he’d had a trying day. He had discovered his wife was the principle member in a coven of witches, his son was not only still alive, but had mad a few bad life choices and was now the Horseman of War, his stalwart companion Abigail had to be sacrificed in Purgatory and when all was said and done, Ichabod found himself tied to the bottom of pine box and buried alive.
We jump into the second season and find Abigail and Ichabod ready to fight the forces of evil with the nefarious Sin Eater Henry trapped in the basement. A key from Benjamin Franklin a new alphabet he created can unlock the secrets of Purgatory. But wait, something feels amiss. This isn’t quite how we left things.
Not all is what it appears to be.
I have to say this was a fun start to the new season. We have twists and turns right out of the gate. Ichabod and Abigail are in some seriously deep water and those experiments from Benjamin Franklin with the kite, the key and the lightning, yeah, there’s another explanation for that. And quite a funny one too.
I’ve been looking forward to the new season and had a wonderful time watching Sleepy Hollow from last year. The Washington Irving story is one of my favorites and I’m very fond of the Disney adaptation. I think this series adds nicely to the "lore" with it’s own interesting plot twists, lots of well defined characters and some very interesting supernatural elements. And don’t forget we have plenty of history from the Salem Witch Trials just to keep things interesting. I think this is going to be a great season and I can’t wait to see how Ichabod gets horseman under control and how he’s discipline his son for acting up in a such a dreadful manner.
Other Articles of Interest:
- Sleepy Hollow – Season 1
- Sleepy Hollow – S01E01
- Hannibal Season 2 Finale
- 666 Park Avenue
- American Horror Story Asylum – Season Finale
- Haunted Collector – Spirits of Gettysburg and Headless Horseman – S03E06
- American Horror Story – Asylum – S02E01
- Hannibal – Season 2 Premiere
- Ghost Mine Season 2 Special – Back on the Mountain
- Whitechapel Season 2
Ghost Asylum – Hayswood Infirmary – S01E03
For this episode the Tennessee Wraith Chasers (TWC) head off to Maysville, Kentucky to investigate the Hayswood Infirmary, also known as the Hayswood Hospital. Like so many other medical facilities of it’s time, the hospital was understaffed and under funded to handle the volume of patients that passed through it’s doors. It was in full swing during WWI and WWII and saw it’s fair share of men suffering from Shellshock or PTSD as we know it today. Unfortunately, the doctors were scarce and medication even more so. The pain medication had to be rationed and most of the wounded suffered through days and weeks of pain. It sounds like a terrible place and you’d be better off it you never got wheeled through the doors.
The place is a wreck now, with caved in ceilings, broken windows and debris littering just about every square foot of the place. The building comes with it’s own bit of legend known as they Hayswood Ghost. Footage was taken on the grounds looking up into a window where a face can be seen coming towards the window then darting back into the darkness. Many claim this to be positive footage of an apparition freely roaming the decrepit building. Others aren’t so convinced. From the absolutely pixelated footage, it’s hard to make out anything.
But the TWC is once again on a quest to identify a paranormal hotspot and set a trap to see if they can contain the energy from the spirit world. After making their way through the multiple floors they investigate a couple of key areas. One is the morgue where they crawl into the coolers to see if there is any activity, which turns out to be quite uneventful albeit nerve racking. The other is the Veteran’s Recovery area where they have constructed a massive Spirit Board in an attempt to communicate. I’m not quite sure how the spirits are supposed to use that board, but their K2 meters supposedly register energy and contact in that area. I really wish someone would just sit down and try to use one like they did in the old days. A good old fashioned séance would be awesome!
At first glance the "trap" they’ve devised appears to be a fish tank with a limestone rock in a mason jar. At second glance, it’s a fish tank with mason jar and a limestone rock. There is a hint of legitimacy in so far as many people believe that water helps to conduct spirit energy and limestone is able to store spirit energy. Water has been brought up numerous times in investigations such as those relating to boats and mills and limestone is supposed to be the cause of the events that take place at the Stanley Hotel in Colorado. The idea here is that they will lead a spirit to the water and then electrify it so the energy is trapped in the limestone.
Well, we all know water is a conductor as are certain types of rocks, so combining electricity, water and an abandoned building is absolutely safe. What could possibly go wrong?
So the team makes contact and then lures their spirit to water. They have meters on the tank that go berserk as they coax the spirit on. There’s a whole of hollering and excitement as they feel they contained a spirit in the limestone. So they pack up the whole thing and check out their findings inside their Faraday cage. Did they nab a spirit?
The reading prove elusive and like Charlie Brown at Halloween all it appears they got was a rock. There are no signs they’ve captured any energy from this outing. From all the activity they got from their Mel Meters and K2 devices they’re quite convinced there is a ton of activity out there, but they weren’t able to bring it home with them.
Additionally, they gave the Hayswood Ghost footage a once over and feel the footage is bogus and is not evidence of the supernatural. In their minds it appears to be CGI or at least staged in some way. I’m going to have to agree with them on that one. The face appears too easy to fake, the picture far too grainy and overall it appears to be the work of pranksters. Oddly, the footage was taken by a friend of those who posted it on the Internet, but they’re not saying where it came from only they believe it to be the real deal. Who knows what we have here, but I’m still going to side with a hoax. Looks like someone trying to start their own legend for the Hayswood Infirmary.
But anyway, another trap was set, but it failed to harness the energy of the spirit world. We did get to see a very interesting location, yet another I wasn’t aware of, so that’s not a bad thing. If you want to get a bit more information and see some interesting pictures of both the building and the inside, have a look at the link below from AbandonedOnline.
I’m still not sure if I like this show or not. They’ve presented 3 very interesting places that are new to me so that’s great, but these inventions of theirs are leaving me scratching my head. I’m all for trying to capture this energy, but I’m not sure capacitors, solar cells, fish tanks and limestone are going to get the job done. I’m not sure what will, but doesn’t appear to be a step in the right direction.
Hayswood Hospital at AbandonedOnline
Other Articles of Interest:
- Ghost Asylum S01E02 – Kuhn State Hospital
- Ghost Asylum – Missouri State Penitentiary – S03E04
- Ghost Asylum – Ironton Psychiatric Hospital – S01E05
- Ghost Asylum – St Vincent’s Mental Asylum – S01E04
- Ghost Adventures – Tuolumne Hospital – S08E03
- Ghost Adventures – Linda Vista Hospital
- Ghost Asylum – Old South Pittsburg Hospital – S03E02
- Ghost Asylum S01E01
- Ghost Asylum – Old Cannon Hospital – S01E06
- Ghost Asylum – Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary
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