The Tape Library - Archive of the Paranormal & the Unexplained - Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum: A Real-Life House of Horrors

Episode Date: February 14, 2025

The Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum is one of the most notorious psychiatric hospitals in history. Thousands of patients were sent here, many never to leave. Overcrowding, experimental treatments, and horrifying conditions turned this facility into a nightmare. But what lingers within its walls today? With reports of ghostly voices, shadow figures, and poltergeist activity, this asylum remains one of the most haunted places in the U.S. Join us as we explore its dark past and paranormal legacy. Support the channel with Patreon - www.patreon.com/thetapelibrary Do you have a supernatural story to share? Drop me an email at [e-mail] You can check out The Tape Library in audio form on all of your favourite podcast providers. Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/thetapelibrary Tiktok - https://www.tiktok.com/@thetapelibrary Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/people/The-Tape-Library/100094332411836/ Archive of the Paranormal, the strange and the unexplained. The Tape Library brings you the creepiest stories, to keep you horror junkies up all night. True scary stories of ghosts, cryptids, UFOs and true crime. Additional footage and audio from Evanto, Singularity, Midjourney and Pexels.  All other footage used under fair use. CHAPTERS 00:00 Ghost Hunting 06:09 Changing Attitudes 09:30 Building The Asylum 11:06 The Start 12:53 Committed 15:00 Overcrowding  16:38 Death & Disorder 20:06 Fire 20:22 The White Death 21:35 Disturbing Treatments 24:55 Operation Ice Pick 26:25 The End 28:32 The Haunting of Trans-Allegheny 31:59 Ghost Stories 37:38 Wrapping Up Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

is often said to be the most terrifying area of the trans Allegheny lunatic asylum, if you believe the many ghost hunters that have visited over the years, since its closure in 1994. Specifically, Ward R. Where the creepers are said to live. It likely wasn't the first sighting, but the creepers were apparently made famous by an episode of paranormal lockdown, which saw paranormal investigators Nick Groff,

Katrina Wyatman and their cameraman Rob, staying inside the asylum for 72 hours. The now infamous clip takes place 60 hours into their investigation, deep inside Ward R late at night. The investigators are convinced they keep seeing shadows, walking around, further down the corridors of the ward. The camera, however, doesn't see anything. Just the darkness of the long corridor. But the investigators are anxious. seemingly genuinely scared by whatever seems to keep appearing to them, just out of shot. But of course, they've been inside one of America's most infamous asylums for two days at this point.

It's not surprising that their eyes and minds may be playing tricks on them. It's not just quick movements in the corner of their eyes, though. At one point Nick believes he saw what looked to be a man, standing there, staring at them from the darkness. but as though he were made entirely of shadow. They approached where he saw the shadow, but there was no trace of anyone. Nick suggests they walk backwards, while still watching the space he saw it in.

The cameraman tries to get focus on the pair as they step back, but then, he freezes, telling them to stop with a seriousness that snaps their attention to him. He zooms into the background behind them. desperately trying to get focus. He saw something, but isn't sure what. The investigators ask him what he's looking for, to which he replies, can you hear that? The audience doesn't hear a sound, but then Rob sees it. The investigators keep asking him what's wrong but he struggles to speak. In what feels like a weirdly realistic reaction to something creepy happening

on a ghost hunting show. He doesn't scream. He doesn't get excited. He freezes. His mind shuts down, at least temporarily. When he regains his composure, he tells them that he has convinced he saw something move against the back wall behind them.

Something low to the ground. A shape of some kind. Still shaking. Rob and the investigators head to the back of the hall and look into the room he was sure he saw it move into, but there's nothing there. They push Rob to explain what he saw, but he struggles to put it into words. Saying it was big, but looked like it kind of slivered off, like some sort of snake or lizard. They decided to review the footage. It's dark and hard to make out, but sure enough, it looks like something is there.

It could be about the size of a human, but it's hard to save a certain. because it seems to be almost laying on the floor. At first, it just kind of looks like a white blob that's there as the investigators are looking in the other direction. It doesn't react instantly as they start walking backwards, but suddenly, the shape moves. Crawling or slivering, its movement somewhere between a snake and a crocodile,

as it silently moves towards the doorway to its right, before disappearing out of shot. Many have said to have seen these so-called creepers over the years since, shadowy human-like figures that crawl between the rooms of Ward R, but they apparently aren't the only residents of the asylum that still reside there to this day. But of course, when talking about a Victorian-age mental hospital, ghosts are one thing, but there are undeniably very real-world horrors that have taken place within these stone walls. Welcome to the tape library. This is one quite a few of you have requested I get into. Fair warning, this is obviously going to get pretty dark in places. Just a quick note regarding the name.

Lunatic Asylum is obviously quite an outdated term. In fact, it didn't even keep this name for that long during its early history in the 1800s. But it was the original name given to the building, and subsequently the building has been renamed this in more recent years. But we can talk about that a bit more later. In this episode we'll be exploring the history of the asylum, the various horrific events that took place there during its years of operation, before finally getting into the reported paranormal aspects of the story. I've mentioned in the past that I'm not the biggest fan of ghost hunting shows,

but I found the footage I spoke about at the start of the episode, genuinely unsettling. So I'm curious. Have you ever seen anything on a paranormal show that has genuinely made you consider something supernatural? might actually be taking place. Let me know in the comments. Okay, it's time to jump in. Get yourself a warm drink, dim the lights and get comfortable.

It's time to delve into the horrifying history of the trans Allegheny lunatic asylum. What will happen to Fred now? What happens to all of them? The men and women from every walk of life who each year pass through doors like this into the mental hospitals of our land. It will come as no surprise to anyone that the treatment of mental conditions in the 1800s wasn't a particularly enlightened one.

This was a time where in many cases those with a mental illness were seen as an embarrassment to their families. They would often simply be locked away within prisons and practically forgotten about. One afternoon in 1841, a woman by the name of Dorothea Dix was teaching a Sunday school class at the East Cambridge Jail in Massachusetts. After her class ended, she asked if she would be able to tour the facilities. She had a particular interest in how they kept their patients who suffered from mental illnesses. And what she saw disgusted her. She witnessed prisoners chained to walls in flimsy clothing. There was no heat and no ventilation.

These were not criminals. These were people who had been in many cases, left there because their families either couldn't or didn't want to care for them. When Dorothea asked the guard why they were being kept like this, the guard didn't see the issue, telling her that mentally ill people can't feel heat anyway. Dorothea was spurred on by what she saw and in just a few short years she was able to present her findings to the Massachusetts legislator who agreed to provide funds to improve the facilities for those with mental illnesses. Her work didn't stop there though and she took her crusade across the US and Europe. arguing that we needed a better way to treat such people. This ultimately led to the birth of the state hospital,

institutions that would house people with mental health conditions, and attempt to treat them, rather than simply throwing away the key and forgetting about them in some prison cell. This wouldn't have been possible without the work of Dr. Thomas Kirkbride, who had begun developing plans for how these hospitals should be laid out. He proposed a design that saw a central building that would house offices, staff quarters and kitchens.

Then there would be wings extending off from this central point, where patients would be housed. Each ward within these wings was staggered rather than all being in a straight line, creating a more compact feel rather than just an endlessly long imposing corridor. This would also allow each ward to receive more natural daylight. This was a key part of his plans. The hospitals would have large windows, allowing light and fresh air to pass in, the ground surrounding the hospital would be large and beautiful.

The patients would have as much freedom as could possibly be allowed. Kirk Bride and Dix were very conscious of the fact that the environment these patients were in could be a huge factor in any attempt at treatment. These would be places where the intention was to cure people and get them back into society wherever possible, not to simply lock them away. It was a far cry from the previous imprimand, that many faced and a surprisingly empathetic plan for Victorian culture. But of course, as the old saying goes, man plans and God loves.

In 1858, plans were drawn up for such a facility in Western, a small town in the state of Virginia, nestled in the Allegheny Mountains. The asylum would follow the plans of Dr Kirkbride with the intention of housing 250 future patients. initially started using prison inmates to build it. This would lead to the first of many incidents at the location when a number of inmates staged an escape, stabbing one guard in the process. They were quickly captured and over time the state moved away from using the prisoners to complete the construction. The civil war created some delays as well. In 1861 the war caused all construction

to stop and the partially built facility was used as a fort, changing hand, several times between both sides throughout the war, which saw many of the supplies that had been set aside for the first batch of patients being taken. When the war came to an end, the town of Weston now sat in the newly formed West Virginia, and one of the state's first acts was to push ahead the completion of what was now to be called the West Virginia Hospital for the insane. The hospital initially opened in 1864, housing just nine patients, all of whom were female. the following years the hospital would gradually take in more and more patients. Before the hospital

was finally completed in 1871, the following year the hospital would almost instantly reach its planned capacity when it housed 241 patients. The hospital itself was a stunning building, the largest stone-cut building in all of the US and according to some sources, only the second largest world-wide to the Kremlin. It had the look of a gothic Castle or high-end boarding school, more so than a mental hospital. With its stunning architecture, some points the stone faces that adorned the outside of its walls as providing a slightly more sinister feel. The outside grounds were equally beautiful, with plenty of space to walk around its 27 acres. The facility was designed to be self-sufficient, with a farm, waterworks, and even a cemetery,

or being part of the compound. An account of the facilities was printed in 1860s. A count of the facilities was printed in 1860s. shortly after opening, that commented on how spacious, clean and pleasant everything was, noting that most of the residents were free to pretty much take care of themselves, but still get the help they needed during their stay. Of course, that didn't include the suicidal or the homicidal residents, who were often kept restrained for their own safety and for the safety of others. Following Kirkbride's plan, these more dangerous patients were kept at the furthest wings of the the hospital, away from the general population. It wasn't just adults that were brought in.

Very quickly, children also became resident of the asylum. Children were committed for general mental health issues as well as conditions such as Down syndrome and autism, but more disturbingly, for reasons such as disobedience or unwanted pregnancies. Initially, only white patients were permitted within the asylum, but the construction of a segregated building for African-American patients was completed in 1873. Looking back at the reasons for committal to the asylum back then, paints a very disturbing picture indeed. Within the first 30 years of operation, people have been committed for bad habits, bad whiskey,

a rattlesnake bite, business nerves, cold, multiple masturbation-related committals. including one where someone had been masturbating for 30 years apparently. Disappointment. Desertion by husband. Dog bites. Doubt about his mother's ancestors. Female disease. Greediness.

Ill-treated by husband. Jealousy. Business trouble. Marriage of son. Menstrily deranged. Nymphomania. Novel reading. Overheating.

Parents were cousins. Political reasons. Shooting. of daughter. That one might be fair. Suppressed masturbation, so apparently masturbating too much or too little, were grounds for ending up in a mental institution. Superstition, woman troubles, worms, and even sunstroke. Multiple family members were often kept within the asylum. Some would spend their entire life there because they simply had nowhere else to go, even in some cases being born and dying within its walls, never knowing a life outside. It's also been noted how easy

it was back then for a husband to have his wife institutionalised. In many cases a patient could only be taken out of the hospital by the person who had initially committed them, not by another member of their family. Accusations have been made that rather than go through the process of divorce, some men would instead find a reason to have their wife hospitalized in asylums like Trans-Alegany. Obviously these are just short descriptions we have of why each patient was omitted in the records, so we don't have a full picture of their mental condition. But it's hard not to be concerned that people who have been bitten by a dog were ending up in the same place as murderers.

But to begin with, this mixing of conditions wasn't a huge issue. As I mentioned earlier, the more violent residents, residents were kept in the furthest regions of the hospital. But over time this would change. The population of the hospital didn't stop at the recommended 250. It grew and grew. By the 1950s it was estimated that over 2,400 residents were being kept at the asylum. Rooms intended for one were housing up to 10 people and the halls were full of beds to try and

cover the overspill. When they ran out of beds, patients started sleeping. on the cold floors. This extreme overpopulation led to horrific conditions. Overcrowded rooms, sanitation was abysmal and resources were stretched beyond capacity. Patients suffered from malnutrition, neglect and in some cases outright abuse. While the asylum was designed to be self-sufficient, it was not built for this many people. There was a lack of food available and other basic needs. While construction was started to try and expand the hospital, it was never able to keep up with the demands. The media were quick to jump on the asylum and several exposés were written about the standards that could be found at the Western State Hospital, as it was now called.

Although in some cases, staff did come out publicly to defend the place, saying that while there were issues, they didn't like the picture of abuse that was being painted, claiming that many of the staff were in fact caring people who were doing the best they were. could for their patients, but the funding and overcrowding were making it borderline impossible. Over the years, increasingly violent reports were coming out of the asylum. According to an article by Discover America, female staff members were met with persistent physical and sexual harassment by the hospital's most aggressive inmates. One story is reported in the number of sources, although I struggle to find a name or initial source for this story. But it is said that a nurse work in a late shift one evening, left the main building to go and do a check

on the wards. Only a small handful of staff were working at night so she was forced to do the checks alone. An hour later her colleagues grew concerned when she hadn't returned. A few hours passed before they began the search but could find no trace of her. In the end it took two months before she was discovered. It is a testament to the state the hospital was in at this point that no one was one had noticed the smell. Her decomposing body was found at the bottom of a disused stairwell. She had been sexually assaulted and murdered. Her killer was never discovered. But there were also accusations of staff members sexually abusing the residents of the hospital, including the superintendent

of the hospital back in 1899, who was accused of questionable conduct with the female patients. He was ultimately found not guilty of his crimes, although many in the media and the local community thought that the evidence was hard to deny and that a massive miscarriage of justice had played out. Many patients would not leave the asylum alive. There were constant issues with patients taking their own lives, hanging being the most common method used. While this was an issue from the very start of the asylum's operation, it obviously became more and more widespread as conditions worsened. and the staff were overrun with patients to try and watch. The Boston Globe reported in 1891

that patients were hanging themselves and even boiling themselves to death. At times in full view of the guards, but little was done to try and stop it or investigate ways to stop making it so easy for the patients to do so. Then there were the victims of violence. Numerous murders were said to have taken place within the asylum over the years.

One particularly brutal encounter I read spoke of patients boiling another man to death in the scolding water of one of the baths. One of the most famous and sad stories of murder within the asylum came as a result of the overcrowding situation. In the initial designs, as I said, it was planned that the most violent residents were to be kept away from the rest of the general population. But as intake grew, this got harder to maintain. I'm unsure if this was an example of a resident being placed wherever they could,

or a mistake by an overstretched staff member. but at one point a particularly vulnerable patient was taken into the asylum and placed in a room with two violent offenders. The three men were not checked on for several hours. When staff returned, they discovered a horrifying sight. The new patient had been attacked by the two more violent residents. Being no one had time to check on them, they were effectively given hours to torture the new patient. Initially attempting to hang him numerous times from the water pipes that ran along the tops of many, rooms. They had not been successful in their murderous plan, so instead they proceeded to bash the metal

bed frame into the man's head until he died. The threat of fires was constantly brought up over the years, but nothing was done to improve fire safety, leading to numerous times that patients set fires that destroyed chunks of the asylum. Then there was the white death, tuberculosis. The problems with TB were certainly not just an issue within the asylum. Outbreaks towards the end of the 19th century and into the 20th were a huge issue for the country as a whole. Initially spread through the consumption of unpasteurized cows milk, poor living conditions and crowded the environments, were often cited as major contributors to the spread of the disease. Doctors of the time blamed the poor for the spreading. Public health campaigns warned people of steps they could take to limit the spread,

including quarantine, but these were largely ignored. It was believed that UV light could help cure the disease, and when a TB building was constructed at the asylum, year-round open porches were used for patients, no matter the weather, in the hope that the fresh air and sunlight would cure them. Unfortunately, the disease was airborne, so their attempts to cure the patients simply spread it further. It spread so widely throughout the community that the Charleston Gazette,

put out an article in the 60s that the entire population of Weston would be offered free x-rays to check if they were infected. Countless patients would die from tuberculosis within the walls of the asylum. Like all other psychiatric treatments, no one is quite sure how electric shock works. There are at least 50 theories but no hard facts. If all this wasn't bad enough, there was also the treatments that the patients were subjected to. One of my main sources for this episode was The Haunted History of the Trans-Alegany Lunatic Asylum by Sherry Break. And in her book she lists a whole host of treatments that were considered commonplace in many

Victorian built asylums. I don't believe all of these were carried out at Trans-Alegany, but a number of them were. There was bloodletting, the process of bleeding a patient by opening a vein with a small knife. Seemingly with the intention of letting out whatever bad stuff within a person's blood was causing their madness. This process of bleeding was used in the early days of the asylum. Then there was trepination and early precursor to the lobotomy where someone would draw a small hole into the skull of a patient, a technique that was used for thousands of years. There was hydrotherapy based on the idea that a bath was a calm and experience. The idea was that this could be used

to treat mental conditions. Hyperactive patients were given long hot baths that would tire them out, whereas lethargic patients would be put into icy cold water. At times the temperatures were so extreme that many patients received burns. Variations of this technique were used over the years. Reports from the Western Hospital suggest patients could be left within these baths for hours, restrained while they were. Some had high-powered jets used on them, where they would be chained to a wall and blasted with water from a fire hose.

Various uses of confinement were used in many asylums, including including Trans-Alegany. These ranged from simple isolation cells to cribs that almost resembled coffins, that a patient would be forced to stay in for an extended amount of time. Others were placed in effectively cages or chained to seats with a box of sorts over their heads to block out outside stimulation. This was used as both a form of treatment but also as a way of dealing with troublesome inmates. Some sources claim that if a patient was complaining about the condition at Transalegheny, they would simply be moved into isolation or locked into one of the cribs. The tight confined cribs were noted as having many negative effects, or not just the patient's mental well-being,

but their physical health as well, with some being left inside for so long they struggled to walk afterwards. At times, insulin was used to put patients into temporary comas, which became a trend after they apparently cured a drug addict of her morphine addiction. And of course there was electroconvulsion therapy, the act of hitting the brain with a series of electric shocks, designed to cause mini seizures that would affect the patient's brain function. However, the treatment that certainly was the most infamously used at Western State Hospital was the lobotomy. The surgery causes most of the connections to the prefrontal cortex to be severed. Initially in most American asylums, this was carried out by drilling into the skull,

meaning it had to be done in an operating room by a trained neurosurgeon. But then came along Dr. Walter Freeman, a man who had come up with a quicker and inexpensive way of carrying out a lobotomy. He called it the transorbital lobotomy, although it would become more known to the public by the term, ice-pick lobotomy. Dr. Freeman would charge $25 for the lobotomy. They would give the patient a quick shock of electricity to numb them slightly

and would then insert a metal pick into the corner of each eye socket of the patient, moving it back and forth to sever the connections to the prefrontal cortex. Dr. Freeman traveled the country, offering the service to many asylums to help cure their patients of their mental issues. In many cases, hospitals contacted the families to get permission without explaining what the procedure was. In others, no permissions were needed. In 1952, Freeman carried out 220,

eight ice-pick lobotomies in the span of two weeks in West Virginia. This was referred to in the press as Operation Ice-Pick. Dr. Freeman would go on to perform thousands of lobotomies, the most famous of which was to the sister of John F. Kennedy, Rosemary Kennedy. The procedure left her with severe mental and physical disabilities. While for some people the lobotomy had some beneficial aspects, many were left in a worse state than they were in before the surgery. The death rates from the ice pickler bottom it is debated, but some sources believe it could be as high as 15% of patients. The Charleston Gazette ran many articles on the asylum during its years of operation, most notably one in 1949 when the asylum was at its highest capacity, with its headline claiming

that the conditions would not be suitable even for livestock. Even the once large windows designed to let in natural sunlight were caked with so much dirt and black mold. It was dark at all times of the day. Conditions didn't exactly improve throughout the latter half of the 20th century, with reports as late as 1985 referring to the place as filthy, with dirty wards and feces smeared bathrooms. Deaths, be they natural, self-inflicted or murderous, continued throughout the remaining years of its history. But the population of residents decreased throughout the 80s, and plans were drawn up for a new modern hospital. In 1990s, in 1990s, in 1990s, in 1990s. In 1990s, In 1992, the asylum saw its final recorded controversies take place.

First, a patient would be killed in a fight with another patient, and then separately another patient were missing, before being found eight days later, his body decomposing at the bottom of a disused stairwell. This is a story which eerily echoes the fate of the missing nurse, and it does make me wonder if those stories could have been confused over time. In 1994, the asylum closed down. While it had been built with a cemetery, by the end of its run it was now using three separate graveyards to bury its dead,

with bodies apparently stacked up to three on top of each other in a single plot, many in unmarked graves. The exact number of deaths that occurred within the building are still to this day unknown. The remains of around 4,000 people have been discovered, but different estimations placed the exact number of deaths, somewhere in the five figures range, with some sources saying that up to 30,000 people died within its walls. It's worth keeping in mind as well that the Trans-Alegany Asylum was not unique by any means. Many of these buildings hold truly horrific histories. If you believe such a thing to be possible, that anywhere would be haunted, it would not be surprising for the Trans-Alegany Asylum to be.

In 2007, Joe Jordan purchased the building for $1.5 million and effectively turned the place into a tourist attraction, putting on events and allowing tour groups to visit the building, using the funds generated to begin the seemingly never-ending task of attempting to restore the asylum to its original look. He also returned the name back to Trans-Alegany Lunatic Asylum. The reason given is apparently because historically, this was the original name, but it's hard to. not to see it as a marketing employ. It's a name that obviously sticks out in the current age and isn't one you're likely to forget. During the years that the building was shut, it became a regular destination for two types of people. Urban explorers and ghost hunters. Word of the apparent terrifying experiences of these ghost hunters quickly spread and it became known as one of the most haunted locations in America. The new owners have leaned into this massively, putting on paranormal themed events and even running ghost tours, some of the world's most prestigious ghost hunters

have now walked the asylum's halls. Zach Baggins has also been there. It's hard not to look at the embracing of the paranormal to be a money-driven one for the asylum, meaning it's worth taking all the stories about the supposed ghosts that reside there with a pinch of assault. But if you trawl the internet or read Cherry Breaks book, there are countless claimed experiences within the asylum, made by guests who are visiting paranormal investigators and even the tour guides themselves, many of whom seem to stand by what they have experienced, even after leaving their job at the asylum. People report seeing strange shadows, hearing disembodied voices, objects moving on their own, strange sounds, strong feelings of oppression that make the air almost suffocating. Some have reported being grabbed

or scratched, although it's hard not to chalk up some of these strange events to the many, many bats that have apparently taken up residency in the old asylum. Some sources seem to claim that the paranormal activity was present during the time the asylum being active, that it was effectively an open secret among the staff members that something strange resided within the building. Numerous staff members reported strange sounds, or seeing objects move on their own, including a gurney that would roll down the corridors of one of the wards. One even reported seeing the spirit of a woman who ultimately followed them home. Although I am unsure if these claims are true or have simply been added to the legend in more recent years.

It does appear that numerous staff members would quit soon after beginning to work at the asylum, although arguably that may have been down to the unsanitary, cruel and dangerous working environment, rather than the result of witnessing something paranormal and being scared off. Due to the nature of the tours that take place there, many of the various spirits that are said to roam the halls have been given names and backstories. How much of these tales are true is obviously up for debate, but I was able to find an interesting article

that apparently lays out to all the different residents. So let's start with the asylum's most famous ghost, a young child named Lily. Little Lily's room is one of the most visited. though few can truly say they are alone when they enter. A small collection of toys, stuffed animals, dolls, tiny trinkets, rest in the corner, placed there by visitors who hope to bring comfort to the child that is said to still remain there. Some swear they see the toys move, shifting ever so slightly when no one is looking.

Others have left candy, only to return to find it vanished. But the legend of Lily is not a sweet one. Her mother, Gladys, was sent to the asylum under tragic circumstance. Some say she was raped by civil war soldiers. Others claim she was simply deemed unfit to be a mother. Regardless, she arrived pregnant and alone. She died giving birth, and the nurses perhaps seeing a glimmer of innocence within those cursed walls took to raising the child themselves. Lily was all they had. But the asylum was never meant to be at home. At nine years old, pneumonia took her, and the only world she had ever known went silent. Silent,

except for the echoes of her laughter, that some claims still dance through the halls at night. Not all spirits here are so gentle, though. The darkened corners belong to the tormented and the twisted, and none are more feared than Big Jim and David Mason. Once men, they are now only shadows, and they are said to proud the asylum. Their presence thick like a sickness in the air. Their victim is said to have been a man named Dean, and his story is one we've already spoken about.

Paranormal investigators claim that he never speaks when they are near. He was not their first kill, but he may have been their most brutal. Repeatedly, they tried to hang him, failing time and time again, until finally they found a more sinister method, instead using the metal bed frame to crush Dean's head. Now when their silhouettes creep across the walls, visitors report a shift, a stomach turning drop in pressure, A gnawing sickness that warns them.

They are not welcome here. Some entities have names while others are given titles. Slewfoot is one such spirit. Seemingly no one knows who he was before he became a nightmare. If we don't know who he is, I'm curious as to how we know his past, but apparently this is another particularly dark presence. They say he committed torture, murder, cruelty beyond measure throughout his time in the asylum. He haunted the upper floors in life, and in death he remained after being murdered himself.

The bathroom where he is said to have done the worst of his deeds is a place few dare to linger. It is always cold there, unnaturally so, and the silence is thick, almost suffocating. Many who enter the report the sensation of being watched, and some of being followed. Others have recorded what they believe is the cruel laughter of sleuthbert. Not all spirits are so malicious though, but even the less hostile ones have their own relentless rage. On the first floor, Ruth still walks among the men she despised. During her time at the asylum, she harboured an unrelenting hatred for men, and even in death she has not let it go.

Men who enter her space often feel a sharp, unseen force pushing them. or objects flying towards them with an unnatural precision. Roof may no longer have hands of flesh and blood, but her fury is as real as ever. The echoes of the hospital's former life as a fort still longer too. The Civil War wing is filled with those who came broken and never healed. Once soldiers, now spectres. They haunt the corridors they were forced to call home.

Some claim to hear the shuffle of boots, the distant murmur of voices, and even the occasional moan of the soldiers, who were once stationed there. Nurse Elizabeth is different. She was a caretaker in life, and in death she continues her rounds. Little is known about her fate, how she died or why she remains, but those who glimpse a fleeting figure in an old-fashioned uniform believe she is still watching over the lost souls, trapped within these walls. Perhaps she is trying to offer comfort.

or perhaps she is merely another prisoner. James too is a resident that seems to be shrouded in mystery. Unlike so many others, he was not murdered, nor was he driven mad by the horrors within the asylum. He died simply of a heart attack in an upstairs bathtub, but yet his presence is said to still linger. Then of course, there are the creepers. But we already know all about those particular entities.

If there are truly ghosts wandering the halls of the trans-Alegany lunatic asylum is obviously up for debate. But what isn't is that some truly horrible things happened within this building. While it paints a dark and horrible picture of how many were treated in the past, I hope you can take something positive away from this story. While we arguably still have a long way to go, the strides we as a human race have taken in understanding and treating mental health conditions and disabilities as can't. has come a long way in what is really a short window of time.

Hopefully we can learn the lessons of these places and never repeat the horrifying mistakes that were made ever again. That's all for this entry into the tape library. This was an episode that was requested by a number of you, so hopefully I did this one justice. Before you even think about the paranormal stuff, you have about 130 years of history to unpack.

So sorry of this one jumped around a bit. It was obviously another very heavy episode and to be honest, didn't really have a great time reading about people with mental health conditions being effectively tortured. So I think the next one is going to be something a lot more fun but still very spooky. It's looking like it might be another lengthy one. So if this takes a little longer to put together, please bear with me. It's a subject I've wanted to cover for a very long time and I'm really excited to finally get around to it. If you don't want to miss out on that, please do subscribe.

And if you're watching the video, hitting like is a massive help. So there's nothing left to do than to thank the people who keep the lights on in the tape library archives. A tape library archivist, sumicrym, Sandy Lusk, Riesk one, seven three one, mirror, Judith Hacker, Gabriel, Eric Salas, Destiny M, Ashlaas Books, Dala, G-Raw, Jolly, Jolly, Jolly, Midierze A Bean, Packer, Sirius Wack, The Detective, Degorna Daly, Dirt Nap, Lady Bet Noir, Adeline, Peter McCann, The Crimson DM, Georgia Harvey, Calliago, Dominic De Angeles, Dean Jay Dealey, Simon Ulas, Jay, Joe, Kelly Cott, Midnight Coder, Alfredo Sandoval and Tucker RVB. The lead archivist Van Yell, Brian Baker, Old Soul Like Mine, Lord William, Tracy Toello, Xavier Angle, Tyler Michael, Ridiculous, 1,000th Ghost, London Grace, Melissa Harrison, Creepie Candy, Plague Doctor Is In, Alex Goldberg, and our extreme. extremely generous grand overseers.

For Reven, Morning Rain 2619, Katie, Agent 355, and Bad Diddle. Thank you to you all, all my YouTube members, and to you personally, for making it through to the end of the episode. I will be back with you all very soon. Until next time, my friends. Pleasant dreams.