Six investigators from The Atlantic Paranormal Society (TAPS) visited “one of the world’s most notorious madhouses” on the second episode of Season Seven of “Ghost Hunters,” which was shown for the first time last night on the SyFy Channel.Last night’s episode featured an investigation of Pennhurst State School and Hospital in Chester County, Pa. This institution opened in 1908 and was “forcibly closed due to the maltreatment of patients” in 1986.
TAPS members taking part in the investigation included lead investigators Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson, investigators Dave Tango and Amy Bruni, tech manager Steve Gonsalves and investigator-in-training Adam Berry.
Property owner Richard Chakejian gave TAPS members a tour of the property and noted that the asylum had about 3,000 residents when it closed. The tour consisted of stops in the Mayflower Building, Quaker Hall and Devon Hall, all of which are located on the institution’s lower campus. They also went into a spooky set of extensive tunnels that connect 26 buildings.
Chakejian described a long list of paranormal incidents that have happened in each of these locations of the years. These included voices, whispers, a piano playing, screaming, doors banging and slamming, a mysterious woman in a white dress, a ghostly girl with blond hair and “half torsos of men.”
In the Quaker Building, Chakejian said that there was an incident in which a crow bar was inexplicably thrown down a flight of stairs. He also said that some people have claimed to have seen faces in the building’s windows, but upon further investigation, no one was found to be inside.
Once the investigation began, TAPS members had a number of personal experiences and found a few pieces of interesting evidence.
In the tunnels, where investigators commented on the “weird acoustics,” investigators heard a bang, what sounded like a person walking and a loud “groan.” They also had heightened K2 meter activity. Adam and Amy thought they heard a cow and when they went topside, they discovered that there was a dairy farm next door.
In Devon Hall, investigators heard voices, banging, shuffling, knocking and possible “crying.” Jason and Grant also thought they saw a dark figure that looked like a “shadow that turned and darted,” but found nothing after a search. They also had heightened K2 activity in this building.
In the Mayflower Building, investigators heard dragging sounds, the sound of a door shutting, footsteps and knocking. Adam and Amy thought they heard a large animal on the third floor, but after a search they found all of the rooms and closets empty. They also experienced malfunctioning flashlights, and Adam was hit in the face with a bug during an especially tense moment.
In Quaker Hall, investigators heard shuffling sounds and footsteps in the basement. Dave and Steve also heard a loud metallic noise and eventually chalked it up to the sound of a heavy window screen slamming against a window frame. They found nothing to explain why the screen moved on its own. There was also heightened K2 meter activity in this building too, which Jason and Grant thought may have been caused by some type of natural interference in the building. They thought the meter was pulsing too regularly for it to be paranormal.
Dave, Steve, Amy and Adam conducted the analysis of all the evidence, and Jason and Grant conducted the reveal.
During the reveal, Jason and Grant told Chakejian about their encounter with the “black mass” in the Devon Building and discussed what they thought was a disembodied voice in the tunnels saying “Spring City.” (Spring City is a small town located in Chester County, Pa.)
Jason and Grant also talked about how Adam and Amy heard footsteps in the Mayflower Building and then a voice saying “go home” in the tunnels. They also played a recording of the two footsteps Steve and Dave heard in the basement of the Quaker Building. They also discussed the heavy bang from the window screen Steve and Dave heard in the Quaker Building.
Last but not least, Jason and Grant played a five to eight second EVP that sounded like a female laughing. This was recorded in the Mayflower Building and no one heard it when it happened even though it was audible on the recording.
In the end, I thought this was a pretty decent episode, an episode that was much better than the season premiere. I especially liked this week’s location, which had a dark history and looked very run-down and creepy.
This is actually not the first time that the asylum has been featured on a show like “Ghost Hunters.” It was the subject of an investigation that aired on an episode of the Travel Channel’s “Ghost Adventures” on Nov. 6, 2009.
How many of you saw last night’s episode? What did you think about it? What did you think about the evidence they collected? Let us know in the comments section below.
In next week’s episode of “Ghost Hunters,” TAPS investigators will check out the U.S.S. Olympia, the oldest steel-hulled ship in the world.
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