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“Around 1855, the institute began taking in the criminally insane, which made matters even worse. Men, women, and children were locked into two wings, often for twenty-three hours a day, and had barely any contact with medical staff. From records, it was discovered there was one doctor per wing, and he managed everything. Which meant lots of drugs being used to keep people calm and sedated.
“Lobotomies became popular in the 1940s until the 1960s; thousands were thought to have undergone this procedure. Cruel water treatments were used, isolation, experimentation with drugs, electric therapy, and so on. And then add in the rapes and beatings. They were inhumane and sadistic. The Andrews Institute would use any method available to control their clients and inmates. Even on children,” Dave said heavily.
“Holy shit,” Celt muttered into the silence.
“That’s an understatement, dude,” Dave replied. “Rumours of hauntings began soon after the institute opened and continued through the years. It was shut down amid a huge scandal in the 1990s. It is known as one of the most haunted places in America, and nobody has been allowed to set foot here to investigate for twenty years. Too many accidents happened, and people were hurt investigating here. But the legends of the hauntings continued.”
“Which are?” Aurora asked, her eyes wide.
“Several nurses have been seen in different wings. There’s a creature known as the Shadow Stalker that stalks individuals from within shadows. Children have been seen and heard. The Wailing Woman is thought to be a mother who had her child taken from her. There are at least supposedly dozens more entities,” Dave explained.
“Yup, walking home,” Apache said loudly.
“Apache!” Phoe growled. Apache glared at her.
“Nobody’s making me walk into one of those buildings,” Apache stated and blanched as he took in the intimidating building in front of them.
“Finished?” Dave asked with humour.
“No, he’s gonna bitch all weekend,” Calamity answered with a grin.
Dave chuckled.
“You all came in limos. Those are your teams. Dave is going to show and explain what all the equipment does. We could have split you into smaller groups, but you’re all a bunch of pussies. The women would be braver than you men. We have plenty of equipment for each team, and now, for a surprise…
“Because of how special this is and how unique this investigation will be. Each team will have a camera crew following them. This is going to be recorded, and depending on how much footage we get, it might become a miniseries. Static and motion cameras have also been installed to catch what you don’t,” Phoe said smugly.
Drake watched his brothers kick-off. Yeah, none of them wanted to be seen wailing like babies on TV. But he was amused at how the women immediately started to preen.
Dave waved them over to a set of tables, where he began describing each item. There were EMF meters, which picked up electromagnetic energy. REM pods, which allowed spirits to touch it and set it off. SLS cameras caught things unseen by the naked eye. There were EVP recorders, which would pick up voices that might otherwise be missed. The Boo Buddies, which Drake understood to be REM pods shoved inside a teddy bear or toy, freaked Drake out.
In addition, the Ovilus 5 Ghost box, which ran through static frequencies and ghosts could use it to form words, was plentiful. Drake shook his head at the array of lasers, which, if a ghost crossed, they’d break the beam. Thermal cameras were on one table, and then there was an array of motion sensors. And finally, the radios they could use to communicate with home base.
Drake was bemused by the time Dave had run through his explanations.
“Now, one final surprise tonight. There will be too many cameras for me to watch over. So, I’d like to introduce Lisa Marks and Jason Coulter from the tv show Haunted Investigations!” Dave said. Two people appeared out of the shadows to be swarmed by the paranormal fans of their group.
“We’d like to thank Dave and Phoe for inviting us to be here. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and Jason and I are over the moon,” Lisa announced with a gentle smile.
“Lisa and I will be heading out on a couple of investigations, but we’re here to help Dave watch the screens. If we see something, we’ll call out to you,” Jason exclaimed with a wicked grin. “And expect you to investigate!”
“Yup, I’ll be going in the opposite direction,” Klutz muttered.
“Man up, you can hide behind me!” Sallie-Anne teased him.
Klutz scowled.
“We’ve put you on floors or buildings but won’t be telling you the activity expected there. It’s for you to discover,” Lisa added.
“In other words, you’re using us to see how many of the rumours are true,” Drake said dryly.
“Well, should you find anything, make sure you call us in, and either Dave or Jason, or I will pop along,” Lisa replied without answering Drake’s question.
Drake felt disgruntled. This was going to be a cluster fuck!
“Drake, your group has the morgue,” Phoe announced with a grin.
“No!” Banshee retorted.
