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The Alabama Paranormal Research Team & Old Bryce Hospital

 By Lauren Stover

As I stood outside the former nursing home, a cool late night breeze sent chills down my spine. I suited up with a flashlight, digital camera and electromagnetic field reader in hand. I had been invited by the Alabama Paranormal Research Team on an investigation. I took a look at the team I would be shadowing for the night. They wore matching investigation vests and jackets with infrared cameras, temperature gages and a whole slew of professional equipment. There was no doubt about it, these were experienced ghost hunters.

    We would begin the night by investigating the former S.D. Allen Intermediate Care Facility, also known as a nursing home. The facility was founded in 1976 for men and women over 65 diagnosed with primary mental illness and conditions that require nursing. However, the facility was built to house 138 patients and closed down in 2003 with only 36 patients. With this building adjacent to the former Bryce hospital, also known as the former


Alabama

Insane

Hospital or "Old Bryce", we expected plenty of spirits waiting to greet us.

    I had much difficulty finding anything on the former Bryce hospital. After digging through old newspaper clippings and reading several dozen articles I managed to come upon some interesting information. After Mims Jemison, brother of Robert Jemison, was killed in the Civil War, the state purchased his country home and the land. This was used to build a second Bryce hospital to house the increasing number of black patients. A large number of the patients were not in fact mentally ill but lived there due to difficult circumstances after the end of slavery. Due to lack of funds, the patients had to be self sufficient making their own clothes and working the fields for food and cotton. It is reported that many patients were kept in the hospital for life for their ability to labor. There were periods of time in which the conditions of the hospital were not just inhumane, but unlivable.

    The Alabama Paranormal Research Team was founded by best friends Faith Serafin and Cassie Clark. The two have had experiences with the paranormal since early childhood.

    "I know from personal experiences and investigating that there's something out there,"

Clark said.

    The group is non-profit and has investigated across the southeast as well as

Gettysburg, PA where they found the ghost of a little boy named Jeremy. The boy played with both Serafin and

Clark's hair while they attempted to sleep in the Farnsworth House. He also seemed to be opening the attic door repeatedly. 

    "A lot of the evidence we find is by sheer accident," Serafin said.

    Prior to entering, the team had warned me about what to expect. In their years of experience, they've heard voices singing, felt something pushing them or touching them and some claim to have experienced stigmata.

    We immediately saw activity under the full moon as Liz Chandler's field meter began moving.

Chandler was a guest investigator of Druid City Paranormal.

    "This is gonna be a fun night," Daniel Watts, also of Druid City Paranormal, said with a laugh.

    Stepping inside the dark corridors of the abandoned nursing home I wasn't quite sure if I was having fun. The paint from the walls was peeling off in layers and most of the windows had been shattered. The doors to all of the dark, empty rooms stood open. I was spinning in all directions with my flashlight on the lookout for a dangerous person or maybe even a ghost.

    Our investigation was interrupted almost immediately by carloads of drunken teenagers looking for a haunted house to party in. As soon as the team scared off one carload another would be following in behind it. We learned quickly that this would be an all night battle.

    Once back inside the nursing home we set off to find the doctor's office. The room seemed to give us all knots in the pits of our stomachs. Something about this room felt wrong. Something was lurking inside this room. As I stepped further inside I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. Something cool grazed my face and I had to remind myself that I don't believe in ghosts. Serafin and

Chandler began searching for activity. The temperature gages fluctuated up and down and the electromagnetic field readers shot up as high as they could go. I may not believe in ghosts yet, but something was happening in this room.

    "Did you hear that," Michelle Smith, another investigator said. "I heard a little girl's laugh."

    "I feel something cold leaning on my leg," said Darrell Owens, one of the team's newest members.

    I was beginning to feel uneasy. Earlier in the night I was confident that ghosts do not exist, but in that moment I was not prepared for what was happening. Just as things were slowing down we got an alert. The drunken teenagers were back on the scene. The team scared them off again, but this time with much resistance. Something told me they would be back again.

    It was about 2 a.m. when we approached the former mental institution. The long dirt road to the abandoned building lined with druid oaks loomed behind us. The cotton fields stretched beyond where we could see and the hospital entrance towered above us. The roof on the top floor had caved in from a fire. Inside, debris from the ceiling, former doors and mattresses lay scattered across the floors and staircase. It looked like a war scene and I felt sad as I tried to picture the beautiful building it used to be.   

    We made our way into the basement to begin investigating. The walls were covered in graffiti and the old skylights were now just holes in the ceiling. Just as we began we heard voices and footsteps above. The footsteps echoed in the empty building as they made their way up the stairwell. The voices laughed and screamed and some tried to whisper. We entered the stair well and started up following the noises. As we reached the main level we noticed an empty car outside. It was the same car of the teenagers so resistant to leave earlier. The team found them one by one hiding in different rooms of the hospital and sent them all home again. Surely these kids were just begging to get arrested. For future reference when ghost hunting this Halloween, this location is private property and under constant surveillance. Do yourself a favor and don't get arrested for trespassing.

    It seemed that it was curfew time and we had finally seen the last of these kids. So we went back inside to try to find one last ghost. The team made their way upstairs ... to the tuberculosis ward. I slipped a mask on over my nose and mouth, just to be safe, and followed the lead. Beds stood in line against the walls just a few feet apart. The windows were barred and little moonlight made its way through. The air was cold and moist and immediately the meters began to flicker. The team acted quickly recording the activity and provoking the source of it. Serafin appeared to have the strongest influence on the spirit.

    "Do you want us to be here," she asked. The meter moved.

    "Do you want us to leave?" The meter flickered uncontrollably.

    Still convinced I don't believe in ghosts, I don't know how to explain what was happening. Eventually, the activity died down and we decided to call it a night. As we stepped back into the night an eerie 4 a.m. fog covered the fields. I bounced my flashlight in all directions checking for any strangers in the night that might pop out.

    "So what did you think," Serafin asked me.

    I was speechless. I'm still not sure how I feel about ghosts but what had made those meters move?

To find out more about the investigation and about the Alabama Paranormal Research Team visit www.alabamaghosthunters.com.