Amy Bruni, Kris Williams, Jason Hawes, Grant Wilson, Dave Tango, Steve Gonsalves

Story By: Chad Alan

Pennhurst Asylum - Chester County, PA

Built in 1908 for the mentally and physically disabled, the Pennhurst Asylum is composed of 26 decaying buildings filled with graffiti and peeling paint.  It was forcibly closed in 1986 after constant stories of patient mistreatment and its' ballooning population of over 3,000.  The state hospital was originally built to house six to seven hundred, so living conditions became very tight.  The caretakers of the property are constantly greeted by loud bangs, doors slamming, screaming, footsteps, and unseen beings telling them to "Get Out!"  A lady in a white dress, which is probably nothing more than a patient gown, has been seen in multiple places in the asylum.  Apparitions and shadow figures have also been reported sticking their heads around the corners as if to tease or play games with their living visitors.  There have also been reports of people not only being touched, but being pushed as well. The team will have their hands full covering the 100 acres of paranormal grounds.

The Asylum may not be around much longer and the viewers could see why.  There's few windows not blown out and every room has standing water, broken down wheel chairs, or abandoned pieces of furniture that need to be burned.  Steel beams are rusting out and forget much electricity.  One item of concern was that the hollowed out corridors really carried sound and it doesn't take much for any noise coming from the outside world to come into the building. 

TAPS co-founders Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson started their investigations in the area called "The Tunnels" which connect the 26 buildings of the asylum. It wasn't long before they began hearing noises, whispers, and footsteps.  After things settled down they headed to the next building where, after hearing some noises, their K2 meter began registering activity.  Not long after this they took off in the direction of a shadow figure that shot through the hallway.  No one was around and there was no other way out of the building.  Grant, in trying to make contact, mentioned out loud that the building may be torn down and he asked "Where will you go?"  The answer came, "Spring City," which is were some of the residents went after the closing of the asylum.  Later on, they got an EVP that sounded like a woman giggling.

Steve Gonsalves and Dave Tango headed to the basement one of the buildings where someone reported a crowbar being thrown in their direction.  They heard some footsteps but nothing more paranormal to note.  They did get these footsteps on their audio recorder.  They took off to the "Quaker" building where screams and voices have been reported.  A loud bang got their attention and they were able to track it down to a window frame that definitely needs a good push to close.  They decided to leave a camera aimed at it for the rest of the investigation, hoping for one last act while they were there.  Unfortunately, the window frame did not slam again.

Amy Bruni and Adam Berry headed to one of the residential floors of what is called the "Mayflower" building.  A door bang coming from the third floor got their attention and when they headed up there they continued to experience noises from dragging to knocking to doors closing.  Amy was convinced something or someone was with them and then....everything stopped.  Next stop was the tunnels and they grabbed a very deep growl in response to one of their questions which was picked up by their audio recorder. 

The team had a lot of personal experiences and seemed pretty convinced that there was definitely paranormal activity going on in the asylum. 

Ghost Hunters airs Wednesdays at 9/8c on Syfy.  Check your local listings, especially since the HD channels offer different times for the show.

(Image courtesy of Syfy)