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Deciding to Stay Overnight in Pennhurst.

As we pulled up to the Asylum, you realize how vast the property was...

By TwylaPublished 2 years ago 5 min read
3
Deciding to Stay Overnight in Pennhurst.
Photo by Patrick Pierre on Unsplash

Quick note: This is part one of a short story series!

“Pennhurst Asylums’ new owner, Brad Larks, is accepting applications from people who want to stay the night for a cash prize. He is offering a two thousand dollar cash prize. You must last eight hours, use the paranormal tools, and record your findings. Brad says only one group of friends has tried since he reopened Pennhurst. They failed. Do you think you have what it takes? Gather a group of friends and check out the application on www.Pennhurstovernightstay.com”

The commercial ended and started the episode of Vampire Diaries, which my best friend Everly and I were watching. We remained silent and picked at the bucket of popcorn and ate chocolate candy bars.

“We should do it,” Everly spoke.

I stared at her in confusion. “Do what?”

“The Pennhurst contest. We can get Kade and Griff to come with us. That’s two grand. We could split it between us. Or -“

“Um, are you crazy? I’m not going there. Have you heard about the history there? That place was brutal.”

“Or we could do the two of us and get one grand each.”

“You aren’t listening to me. The staff used to torture people for no reason.”

“There is a chance to go into the Pennhurst grounds to investigate. You love this stuff. You watch paranormal investigations on YouTube, so let’s do it.”

I mean, she wasn’t wrong. I did religiously watch paranormal investigations on YouTube, but doing one was different. Um, no thanks. I know Everly won’t let it go if I say no.

I sighed, and threw my head back, “Fine, but the guys have to go.”

Everly grinned so hard that it looked sinister.

“What?”

“I already texted the guys; they are in.”

“You did? When? “

“When you were all deep in thought,” she said as she laughed.

Us staying in Pennhurst was going to happen. Great!

We jumped at the sound of the doorbell and laughed. I peered through the peephole; it was the boys.

“You invited the boys?” I called out to Everly as I opened the door to let them in.

“Ay, yo!” Kade yelled as he walked into my house.

“Let’s get these applications filled out, ladies. You can’t bail on us now. We are one hundred percent in and doing this.” Griff said, holding out his phone in mine and Everlys’ faces.

I grabbed his phone and scrolled through it. Everly peered over my shoulder, “You guys filled it out already and drove ten minutes across town?”

“Yup, we did. Two grand split it between us, or we can all go on a vacation.” Kade said, sliding an arm around Everly’s shoulder. She shrugged him off.

My phone’s notification went off with a link for the Pennhurst overnight stay application from Griff. I hesitated before I opened the application and filled it out. It asks us to pick a date and time, but the times are nine and after. Does that place even have power?

“What day and time did you guys choose?”

“We haven’t yet. We waited to get here.”

I looked at Everly just as she got to the same part of the application.

“Next available date is tomorrow at nine. Let’s do it!” Everly said, excited.

We all locked in tomorrow’s date and time and hit send. Within a few minutes, we got our confirmation email telling us to meet outside the front gates of the Pennhurst property fifteen minutes before to get the equipment.

******

The following night, the four of us drove to Pennhurst in Griff’s car and listened to music. We were too nervous to talk about the night ahead. At first, it was all fun and games, but now we were doing it. 

As we pulled up to the Asylum, you realize how vast the property was. They set thirty tall brick buildings on this property, including the admissions building, where we will meet Brad Larks for our equipment. Overgrown grass and bushes took over the cracked sidewalks of Pennhurst.

“Welcome To Pennhurst Overnight Stay challenge.” A tall, skinny, blonde-haired man in a navy blue suit said, “This is my assistant, Melanie. She’ll be explaining the rules and giving you your devices.” 

She smiled at us, “Okay, a little back story. Pennhurst kept and treated over four thousand mentally and physically disabled patients. You’ll have access to two main buildings with the most activity of paranormal findings: the dining hall and the main housing. A full-body apparition of Dr. Evil has been spotted lurking in the halls of these buildings. Doctor Evil created an injection for patients who misbehaved, which would cause them excruciating pain without killing them. Research said nurses and other housing staff were to chain patients to beds, and cage children, since they were so overpopulated and understaffed that they needed to control their movements. It was said they would set in their feces.” She looked at all of us with a slight smile. 

She handed Everly a black coffin-shaped device with color markers, “This is an EMF detector. Paranormal investigators say that this device can detect spirits. When you are close to one, the meter will spike.” 

“You also have the spirit box,” she continued as she handed me a small box with an antenna that looked like a small radio, “This device scans radio channels, but only certain words come out clear, which is what the spirit is trying to communicate. You can turn them on and ask questions to see what you get.” 

“Then last, we have the rem pod,” She handed a small circular black box with a red top that had four small lights around an antenna to Griff “For this device to go off, something has to be touching the antenna, and there are also temperature gauges on here that can tell you where a spirit is standing or moving.” 

She stopped to catch her breath, and looked at the group, “Do you guys have questions?” 

“Alright, that’s it. You ready to step into Pennhurst and try to win two thousand dollars?” Brad spoke with a grin.

“Oops, one last thing,” Melanie handed Kade a video camera and two battery packs, “Keep this rolling for as long as you can, and you have extra battery packs, just in case.” 

We looked at each other as Brad opened the building.

“Have fun. See you in eight hours.” He and Melanie gave us a warm smile and a wave goodbye. 

Series
3

About the Creator

Twyla

Creative Writer | Currently writing my debut novel | Single mom of one handsome son | Full-time employee | Full-time college student | Love writing horror and fantasy | I write for myself and share with you guys! Hope you enjoy it. 🖤

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  • Katt Noir2 years ago

    Very cool 😎 Definitely like how you used “Kade” and “Everly” as names in here. Eagerly awaiting part two!!!

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