The Massacre at St. Laurent Hospital for the Criminally Insane

"Doctor Wingate, we have visitors." Doctor Malcolm Wingate, Chief of Psychiatry at St. Laurent Hospital for the Criminally Insane, looked up from his desk. Pipe smoke swirled around his head. Squinting through his black horned rim glasses, he stared at Marcy Bedford. After a moment of silence, he scowled, "For Pete's sake, Marcy spit it out. Who?"

After all these years as the good doctor's secretary, she never took his crap. Both hands went to her hips; she bit her lip slightly. "I assure you. It is not the members of the state review board. I don't recognize them. You will have to come to see who they are for yourself. They are on the dock looking the place over. Perhaps they will decide to get back in their boat and leave."

Malcolm lowered his eyes. "I am sorry. You don't deserve my rude behavior."

Doctor Wingate relit his extinguished pipe and then stood to follow Marcy out of his office. He watched as she walked in front of him. For twenty-five years, they worked together. She has a few wrinkles around her eyes and mouth, yet she is still beautiful and shapely. "Why didn't I ask her to marry me when I had the chance?" Regrets rolled off the old doctor like sweat off a pig on a spit. He sighed, "I don't know why I get so irritable sometimes. After the incident with William Shade, I expect the state review board to come to shut us down every time I hear we have visitors. Doctor Melvin Potter, the Chairman, has had it in for me since the executive board hired me over him."

Marcy paused and waited for the doctor to catch up. "William Shade is not your fault. The orderlies became too chummy and sloppy around Shade. You may be responsible for this facility, but Shade was a diabolical genius who manipulated them and escaped. Everyone underestimated him."

Tears formed around Marcy's eyes. "All those dear souls he left dead or dying on the floor. The elevator is out again. We must take the stairs." Rolling his eyes, he said, "This darn elevator has never worked right." Malcolm put his arm out to stop Marcy. "I need to tell you something." Hesitating, "I have always…lov…appreciated your loyal service. I will call the elevator repair company personally to fix this contraption. It seems they were out here not so long ago."

Malcolm and Marcy silently walked down the long corridor; the only noise they heard was their footsteps echoing off the walls. As they drew closer to the secured entrance, they heard voices in the hospital's main lobby. The doctor and Marcy quietly stepped into an observation room built to observe incoming patients. The space allowed them to see and hear activity in the lobby without being detected.

Four young adults, two males, and two females, had set up a high-tech camera, lighting, and sound equipment.

Marcy leaned over and whispered, "I have never seen equipment like this before."

Malcolm nodded, "Me neither."

A young blond woman stood at the center of the security desk, facing the camera while holding a microphone. "How do I look?" The cameraman looked into a camera on a stand. "One more tweak, and I think we have it." He stood back, smiled, then gave her a thumbs-up. "Great, you look so good. How about we have drinks later?" The woman stuck her tongue at him, then sheepishly grinned, "Maybe, if you are lucky and I don't get seasick on the way back. The choppy boat ride here made me queasy. Besides, I think you owe me dinner anyway."

A tall, slender, redheaded woman wearing mirrored sunglasses and headphones said, "If you two can stop flirting long enough, I need a soundcheck. Marsha, count down slowly from five to one while I adjust the sound. The acoustics in these old buildings can be tricky."

Marsha put the microphone several inches from her mouth, then counted, "Five. Four. Three. Two. One. Test complete." The redhead smiled and nodded.

The fourth person, a man, bald on top, with curly black hair on the sides and a goatee, walked around the room with some kind of electronic tester that crackled like a Gieger counter. He spoke, "Humpf. No cold spots or ectoplasmic activity identified here."

The cameraman raised his and said, "Take one in five, four, three, two, one, and action."

The young woman smiled, "Hello, I am Marsha Bradwell with The Hudson Valley Institute for Paranormal Research. We are here today on the fiftieth anniversary of the massacre at St. Laurent Hospital for the Criminally Insane. A serial killer and patient, William Shade, subdued an orderly, killed him, and then murdered his way to the office of Doctor Malcolm Wingate, the Head and Chief Psychiatrist, and his secretary, Marcy Bedford. Doctor Wingate and Ms. Beford were Shade's final victims. Shade barricaded himself in the doctor's office. After torturing Doctor Wingate and raping Marcy Bedford in front of the doctor, William Shade slit their throats. The New York State Police killed William Shade while he tried to flee the facility. The Asylum closed shortly after the horrifying incident. Many — mostly adventurous teens — have claimed that St. Laurent is haunted. With state-of-the-art electronic technology, we are here today to test the veracity of these haunting rumors."

Doctor Wingate and Marcy turned to each other, "Must be a mistake. We are not dead."

Are we?