The Phantom of the Hungry Hollow

By D.H. REID and Ginger Reid-Parker

It has been twenty years since a team of sleuths have solved a series of crimes in their hometown and a strange request would reunite them in one final mystery to solve. A strange series of murders are being committed and it is up to the team to find who is responsible and why. Their investigation is filled with sinister plots around each corner, because the criminals want their actions to remain secret. They are using an old asylum as their base and the group will travel to Salem to find the answers. They learn about the past and must use their wisdom to solve the clues in their path, which leads them on a one-way journey into the pits of death and destruction. Only careful cunning and wisdom will see the group succeed, but everyone won't survive the quest. Join Pauline Jacobs and her friends as they tackle a plot that is so sinister and evil that it will lead them to the politicians in Washington. Will they survive, the answer lies in an exciting conclusion to unmask the phantom.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Apr 17, 2015
• ISBN: 9781329072589

Book preview

The Phantom of the Hungry Hollow

THE

PHANTOM

OF THE

HUNGRY HOLLOW

BY:

D.H. REID

GINGER REID-PARKER

© 2013 by D. H. Reid and Ginger Reid-Parker

All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publishers or author, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review to be printed in a newspaper, magazine, or journal.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, corporations, institutions, organizations, events or locales in this novel are either the product of the author’s imagination or, if real, used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, (living or deceased) is purely coincidental.

First Printing in the United States of America

Published by Lulu.com

DEDICATION

This book is dedicated to everyone that makes me feel special in life and is always there to offer encouragement and support when needed. There are many trials and tribulations that everyone will face, but nothing exists that can’t be overcome through faith, prayer, and obedience to the words of our Heavenly Father. May everyone choose wisely and the things in life that are available to bring happiness, joy, and personal satisfaction into our lives could be obtained. It is the end of days for the Earth, before the great and terrible Day of Judgment and we will all ask ourselves – are we ready? Have we all lived our lives in a manner that could allow us to pass the sentinels that stand at the gates of Heaven? Choose ye this day whom ye shall serve, for no man can serve two masters. Everyone will walk down the path of righteousness to God’s kingdom, or they will be on the path that leads to Satan and his kingdom. The choice is ours! Special thanks to my sweetheart Ginger and all the support she gives me each day.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER - 1:                  THE ASYLUM                                            

CHAPTER - 2:                  A GRUESOME DISCOVERY                     

CHAPTER - 3:                  THE ARRIVAL                                            

CHAPTER - 4:                  THE INTRODUCTION                               

CHAPTER - 5:                  AN UNPLEASANT ENCOUNTER             

CHAPTER - 6:                  A FRIEND IN NEED                                  

CHAPTER - 7:                  A STRANGE TALE                                      

CHAPTER - 8:                  THE MANSION                                          

CHAPTER - 9:                  FINDING A HOSTAGE                              

CHAPTER - 10:                SAVING A LIFE                                          

CHAPTER - 11:                APPEARANCES ARE DECEIVING            

CHAPTER - 12:                A CONSPIRACY                                         

CHAPTER - 13:                TAKING PRECAUTIONS                           

CHAPTER - 14:                THE SUPERNATURAL                               

CHAPTER - 15:                A THEORY IS DEVISED                             

CHAPTER - 16:                TRAGEDY STRIKES                                    

CHAPTER - 17:                THE TUNNELS                                            

CHAPTER - 18:                SETTING PRIORITIES                                

CHAPTER - 19:                GATHERING INFORMATION                  

CHAPTER - 20:                AN ALLIANCE IS FORMED                       

CHAPTER - 21:                JUSTICE IS SERVED                                   

CHAPTER - 22:                EXPLORING THE UNKNOWN                 

CHAPTER - 23:                THE ASYLUM BECKONS                           

CHAPTER - 24:                ENLIGHTENMENT                                    

CHAPTER - 25:                THE STRANGER                                        

CHAPTER - 26:                THE DISCOVERY                                       

CHAPTER - 27:                SIGNS OF CORRUPTION                          

CHAPTER - 28:                A STRANGE TWIST                                  

CHAPTER - 29:                LIES AND DECEPTION                              

CHAPTER - 30:                THE UNKNOWN                                       

CHAPTER - 31:                A SECRET IS EXPOSED                             

CHAPTER - 32:                THE DEN OF THE SERPENT                     

CHAPTER - 33:                THE MEETING                                          

CHAPTER - 34:                THE SURPRISE                                          

CHAPTER - 35:                THE RESCUE                                             

CHAPTER - 36:                WHEN TRAGEDY STRIKES                      

CHAPTER - 37:                A DARING ESCAPE                                  

CHAPTER - 38:                A NEW BEGINNING

Chapter 1 - The Asylum

It was early in the spring, in the year of our Lord 1826. The funeral procession marched slowly behind the wagon that carried one of their prominent citizens to the cemetery. Many tears were shed along the path that led up the hill to the small settlement that was used to honour the dead. It was a journey that everyone in the small settlement would have to make eventually and no one would be spared.

The skies over their heads were overcast and the dampness in the air had sent shivers racing through their bones and joints. The citizens had to walk through an atmosphere of mud, water, and the remaining snow from the previous winter. The spring is always volatile, but the weather showed signs of warming that day.

As they reached the top of the hill, the lone man was standing beside the hole that is dug to bury their friend. The bagpipes could be heard echoing through the region and the pipes were playing ‘Amazing Grace’ for everyone that had now entered the stone walls of the graveyard. 

When the group stopped next to a hole in the ground, the pall bearers removed a pine box from the back of the cart and set it next to the opening. A minister said a few words of praise and the box was then lowered into the ground, where an undertaker is given the responsibility of sealing the box under the dirt shoveled in again. There would be either a marble headstone or wooden cross placed at the top of the grave. The engraving told everyone who was buried there.

It was an area where the citizens could look out over the valley and the peace in the air was felt by everyone. It was always difficult to say goodbye to someone that was loved dearly for their acts of kindness towards others. When the person put others ahead of their own wants and needs, respect grows, and his presence in the area would now be missed. It was known that special people enter their lives for only a short period of time.

As everyone walked out of the cemetery, after giving their farewell, only one of the mourners remained behind. It would be the daughter of the man they had just buried and the loss of her father would be very difficult to overcome. He had raised her for the past nineteen years and her mother was confined to an asylum, where her husband could give her the constant care she needed.

Her father built the facility and he added new wings as the population grew. It would be located in an area of the town that was named Hungry Hollow and it was a facility that monitored the mental health of the patients. The hospital was built in 1816 and the man that was now deceased was the first director of the new facility.

His name is Doctor Walter Stoneking and his daughter Valerie helped him for many years in his duties. Walter had studied at Cambridge University in Britain for his degree in medicine. Both psychology and psychiatry were specialties for him at the asylum and he had always treated everyone with respect and dignity. Helping a man or woman to recover from many of their ailments, his goal was to help them at overcoming adversity, so they could return to society. 

Now that he was deceased, their asylum would be taken over by a man that had never felt compassion or empathy for anyone in his life. He was selfish, arrogant; a tyrant that felt everyone should feed his ego, instead of caring for their needs. Now that he was in charge, he subscribed to the policies of other asylums that are found in the world and the people would suffer as a result of his arrogance.

It is no secret that the sanitarium under his rule was nothing like the asylum in place for Doctor Stoneking. It had quickly developed a reputation that resembled many of the horrors that modern society would view in horror movies. The new director had advertised for not only those that suffered mental-health issues, but he would also accept those with their deadly diseases. They were forced to live in conditions that were anything but humane.

The new director was named Doctor Payne and it was appropriate. He arranged for state-of-the-art equipment that permitted many to suffer through something he called electro-convulsive shock treatment. Once all the equipment arrived, many staff members were fired and Valerie was one of the nurses that he told to leave.

The atmosphere surrounding the asylum changed overnight and atrocities that many would find offensive started taking place. Doctors were brought in that indulged in questionable surgical procedures that involved balloons implanted in a patient’s lung. Lobotomies were also performed through the frontal lobe of the brain. That is responsible for leaving many of their patients in a zombie-like state of existence. They were unable to think or live in a normal manner.

Patient management would now be seen as barbaric and the actions of the staff should have seen them arrested for cruelty against others, abuse, both mental and physical atrocities, and inhumane treatment of patients. Since they are a hospital, the corrupt authorities in their government ignored it. The acts would grow more deliberate and degrading on a daily basis.

The doctors would often put their patients in small cells to live; they were put in rooms they called isolation holes that deprived them of human interaction and many patients were continuously deprived of cold water to drink. The doctors had started removing the ribs of patients, because they believed that their lungs would expand easier. At the time, their medical procedures were terrifying to the patient. It was easier to let a patient die that became unmanageable in the asylum.

The local bureaucracies were bribed to overlook all the atrocities committed in what was called science and laws were enacted that made it possible for men to drop off an annoying or nagging wife at the asylum. They would then be interned permanently, so their husbands could carry on affairs with their mistress.

With the local authorities ignoring what happened behind the asylum walls, it was a scene of utter pandemonium now, as sexual assault, beatings, starvation, poor sanitation conditions, and a lack of good food became prevalent. Dr. Payne ensured that his chambers of horror were kept secret from the outside world. He went to great lengths to ensure that none of the citizens in the region questioned his experiments of horror.

As the years began to pass, the asylum was passed down to men that were evil or more corrupt than their predecessor. Acts of brutality were introduced that led to the mass genocide of patients. Cemeteries would be created on the grounds of asylums that wouldn’t attract attention to their atrocities.

Patients were often strapped in chairs, put in internment boxes with one small, or an access window of a few inches, which was devastated on the inside by men and women going insane. Their fingernail marks that are now on the inside of the boxes showed that they were desperate to escape the abuse of the doctors.

New wings were built onto the original asylum and some of the patients earned their passage into the nicer rooms being offered. Women would give up their chastity, it led to them doing unspeakable things to the interns on call, and better food would be offered for their services. Many were normal women that entered, but they were eventually driven mad through the selfishness of their husbands that didn’t want them in their lives any longer.

They were told that they were going for a ride that day in a buggy, but when the couple arrived at the asylum, she would become very angry, which was just cause to admit her. Straitjackets were used on women that were outraged that the man they loved in their lives would be so heartless and cruel, which led to many fights with the men that admitted them with no questions asked. 

Many new sanitariums for the mentally ill started to appear all over the nation in the early part of the twentieth century and it coincided with the outbreak of what is called "Tuberculosis’ in the area. The outbreak was out of control and the patients now perished at the rate of one every thirty minutes. It was followed by the influenza of 1918 that affected over five-hundred-million people worldwide.

Doctor Warren Hunt was now in charge of their asylum and he immediately called for a public quarantine of all public meeting places, which had included all theatres and dance halls. The pandemic would last approximately two months and men and women would be buried in the cemetery behind the asylum. They were buried without the presence of any of their loved ones present and no one cared. They were too busy indulging in other acts that brought them pleasure.

As the years continued to pass in the region, the asylum would eventually be turned into their main hospital, but the need for a newer, modern model would be required. It would be expedient to put patients into a building that didn’t share the horrific memories of the asylum. It didn’t help matters when patients would be brutally attacked and a strange screaming accompanied their deaths.

The first case of their patients attacking the doctor had occurred in 1939, when a Portuguese psychosurgeon named ‘Antonio Egas Moniz’ was shot by a patient. He is then destined to live the rest of his life in a wheelchair. Unfortunately, there was a reason that the doctor was attacked and rendered to a wheelchair for life.

Doctor Moniz had developed a procedure that was known to provoke violence in his patients. He would drill a hole into the skull of the person and he would then be liberal in his injections of alcohol into the brain. It was done to destroy brain tissue in the frontal lobe of the patient and erase their behaviour problems.

The doctor was labeled a quack very quickly. His cure for psychosis would be insanity, because it would see him insert a long, metal ice pick into the corner of an eye. It was pushed down, so it could penetrate the brain of his patients. There is an unproven theory that the frontal lobe is the location of aberrant, pathological brain cells, or what they called a human circuit. By neutralizing brain patterns, he hoped to cure psychosis.

When the doctor then moved to the U.S., he taught two men named ‘Walter Freeman and James Watts’ his techniques. Freeman refined the technique and it was then to be known as a lobotomy. Many would endure the procedure, which left them either in a state of being unresponsive, or in a vegetable state, unable to perform simple tasks. Many in the world still use the procedure, believing it cures mental illnesses, but it is now performed with the help of small lasers.

Now that their asylum and sanitarium were nothing more than memories for many, it wasn’t easy to keep employees inside the hospital. They tried renovating their various wards, but it did nothing to quiet the inner turmoil that continued to lie dormant in the ancient building.

Ghosts, dark shadows, spirits, strange orbs, voices, electrical problems, or static in phone lines was reported daily. In addition, there were strange odours, and constant complaints from everyone working there, until it was closed down.

Many of the patients that had no ties to the supernatural, or mental disorders, would tell the staff members that they saw ghosts walking through their rooms, disappearing into thin air a moment later. They also heard whispering that echoed through most of the halls at all hours of the night, which kept them awake.

Dark shadows lurking in the basement prohibited crews from making repairs, which are disturbing. The sounds originated somewhere underneath the building and from the rooms that are used for the gruesome experiments.

Doctors noticed and wrote that they witnessed the appearance of ghosts inside their operating room, as they were trying to deal with operations being done. The ghosts appeared to possess a sickly frame and they gave the appearance of being desperate souls that were wearing nothing more than a thin-hospital gown.

They had carried their expressions of grave illness that had accompanied them in life to the grave. The building possessed an atmosphere of heaviness. It was often cold, regardless of the heating from the furnace, or the weather outside.

Looking back at the history of asylums, sanitariums, many mental institutions were simply incapable in trying to control the violent or psychotic behavior of the patients. It had now lasted for hundreds of years and with any system, it was rife with abuse and corruption by those in management positions.

Individuals were routinely confined inside their boxes, cages, stalls, pig pens, chained, left naked and alone, beaten with rods or other weapons, or lashed into obedience by evil men and women. No one in the area cared, or was heartbroken, when one of the weird and scary people died, as they liked to call them.

By the 1950’s, many of the lobotomized patients wandered the hallways like the zombies they were to become. Although violent outbursts were curtailed, the old building and hellish atmosphere could only be alleviated if they actually received help instead of condemnation. Their endless howling, shrieks, gurgling, and groans that were constantly emulating from inside the walls were enough to make a decent person’s skin crawl, before they turned it into the hospital.

On many occasions, the institution that was created to hold five-hundred souls had swollen to over two-thousand people and it led to frenzied violence that often occurred within an atmosphere of blood, filth, and defecation. No one wanted any part of the institution, because the staff was outnumbered badly by the patients.

With the invention of anti-psychotic drugs in the mid - 1970’s, the institution could cut back on patients and local citizens were allowed to buy their women as slaves to their perversions. If no one wanted the older citizens, they were allowed to wander aimlessly outside the institution, until they succumbed to the elements. They would then be buried in the cemetery and forgotten with time.

When the new hospital is built near the center of the town, the institution was able to close down, but the memories remained in the minds of those that were able to remember the pain and anguish that they witnessed on a daily basis. For the next ten-fifteen years, the eerie, old asylum remained empty and abandoned. Even children in the area had often avoided that area like the plague.

Parents would tell them stories about strange or disembodied voices, wails, and the tortured groans that once broke the silence of the grounds. The building has a certain appeal to ghost hunters and adventure seekers that couldn’t believe that an army of trained professionals could be so immune to the emotions and health of the patients they attended on a daily basis. Unfortunately, no asylum can escape a past that was continuously shrouded within the darkness, evil, and twisted actions that brought misery and pain into the lives of so many over the years.

The supernatural would also display its face, when an explosion would see the town rocked in 2012 and it appeared to originate near the abandoned asylum that is now avoided by many of the citizens. There would be a strange environment surrounding the institution into the present day and the events were surprising for many citizens that could remember the events they witnessed in their youth.

It was after they experienced the strange explosion near the asylum that weird events had started for their community that always followed the laws enacted for their benefit. Many citizens now had strange tales to tell of lights flashing in the windows of the abandoned asylum. Others were certain that aliens from another world had arrived to destroy them.

That was seen when a man named Stephen Anastasi bludgeoned his father with a hammer and killed him. When the town sheriff questioned him about the crime, his answer took everyone by surprise. He sat in the chair calmly and replied that aliens are living in the woods that didn’t act human. Their facial expressions had scared him and they appeared near his home only five months earlier.

It was only a year earlier that one of the chemical companies in the area of the asylum also went up in flames and the explosion was felt many miles away. The houses in the area were knocked off their foundations and walls crumbled and fell inside the abandoned asylum. The chemical plant was totally obliterated and lives are lost. It would be listed as merely a strange coincidence, but citizens were now acting in strange ways.

After the interrogation of Stephen Anastasi took place, their reports listed that a strange voice whispered to him at night and it told him to eliminate a man that was an alcoholic and violent towards him. That is why he would use a hammer to crush his skull and then he stabbed him to death.

When the young man appeared in front of psychiatrists and doctors, it would be discovered that he had used heroin and other hallucinogenic drugs. He turned to the abuse of drugs, due to the constant tension inside his home. The neighbours would then testify that the lad and his father would fight constantly. Living near a building that would be the home for the mentally ill didn’t help the atmosphere for many families that lived in the community.

Many came forward and testified that they felt apprehension, anxiety, and it was a scenario that prompted many to move their residence to the other side of town. If weird and scary things erupt violently out of nowhere, they didn’t want to be part of it. Unfortunately, that was only the start of the unexplained that now occurred in the area on a regular basis and it had caught the attention of visitors. Some are actually attracted to death and destruction.

Negative publicity was the last thing the town wanted and it brought many to the region to search for answers. As the first person arrived to seek answers for many of the supernatural events that are occurring around Hungry Hollow, there was an unexplained sense of anxiety in the air that griped the whole area.

The man was certain that the people had nothing to worry about, but the police didn’t share the same opinion. If he was determined to spend the night inside the walls of the abandoned asylum and former hospital, the police were adamant that there would be a condition attached. He would have to check in with them every half hour. He was to obey their wishes or permission would be denied.

The man agreed to their request and he was given a radio and a cell phone for his experience. The police radio would put him in touch with the dispatcher and if any unusual sounds or things occurred, he was to report them immediately. His safety would take precedence over trying to solve a mystery that may not exist.

Everyone feared the darkness of the night, but he would investigate the asylum in the daylight first, so he is then acquainted with his surroundings. The hospital was renovated when it was created from the asylum many years earlier and the threat of danger should be at a minimum.

To help a mysterious stranger at the deserted building, one of the officers was eager to volunteer his services. He had visited the old hospital many times and it would benefit their strange visitor. No one should approach any situation alone and it would never happen now, since the building could be dangerous. Everyone should always expect the unexpected at all times.

As the men traveled towards the asylum, neither of them could comprehend what was lying in store for them, once they had arrived at the front gates. The sky was overcast and rain was in the forecast that day. Thunderstorms were common and it meant that lightning would often be accompanied by earth-shaking sonic activity in the skies above the abandoned building.

The overcast skies gave the whole area a certain eerie atmosphere, once they are at the front gates of the building. Two large, stone lions welcomed them at the gate and the high, metal spokes of the fence ensured that no one could escape the grounds. As the locks on the metal gates were removed and they would be swung open, it appeared to the visitor that he was now walking into the valley of death.

The trees had no leaves on their branches, the grass is brown and dead in many areas, and it is obvious that the season of spring had arrived late. The men drove towards the main doors regardless. Nothing could prepare them for the sight that is in front of them that would meet their eyes.

The officer actually had to stop the car a hundred meters from the front doors, as they stared at the old building that looked like they were about to enter their worst nightmare. The absence of colour against the overcast sky made everything appear black and white in front of them. It was very menacing and both men had a second thought, if they should continue their journey towards the front door.

The main building dated back to the eighteen hundreds and the additions made it appear like it was a prison for the criminally insane. They were built in a block surrounding the main building and a courtyard existed inside the stone, perimeter walls. It was an area where patients could wander each day, without supervision. It would also be an area where the patients could indulge their artistic talents, or paint sketches of nature on a daily basis.

After they arrived at the main entrance to the facility, the officer had hesitated, when it came to opening the door of his car. He had noticed a strange light in the upstairs window that is moving in the strong wind that had picked up momentum a moment earlier. It was known that the power was turned off years earlier, since it wasn’t needed. The use of candles would now provide the only light in the old building and it would send a few shivers up their spine.

After joking for a few minutes that the building was only mortar, stone and the signs of wood, the men walked towards the front door very slowly. When the key released a padlock and a chain was removed from the doors, the men removed their flashlight and opened the door. It had squeaked when it opened and it was followed immediately by the sound of the noises echoing through each corridor.

It was the first time that the visitor had entered the abandoned asylum and he noticed the front desk first, where the patients would be signed into the facility. As his light was then directed at the desk, the men noticed that the area had been trashed. The phone was lying on the floor, with the cord ripped from the wall, the old computer was on the floor, smashed beyond repair, and the furniture appeared to be shredded or broken into many pieces.

There was a large filing cabinet behind the desk and it appeared that someone had attacked it with a sledge hammer. Many of their files were lying on the floor that contained information about their patients. Most of the information about the men or women that visited the hospital would have been put on the computer and transferred to the new hospital in the area. The records on the floor probably dealt with past patients at the asylum.

It was now time to investigate the rest of the building and the men noticed that one of the security doors that led to the corridors was open. Bars were on all the windows and doors and it would prevent anyone from escaping from the facility. Security would have to be enforced when the doctors were dealing with patients that suffered from their various ailments and diseases. They included dementia, schizophrenia, paranoia, or many of the other ailments that a doctor would treat.

Even though the asylum was renovated, there was an old wing that was sealed and ignored. It wasn’t needed for medical practices that dealt with broken bones, accidents, burns, or other mishaps that occurred on a regular basis. The hospital is going to retain a psychiatric ward, but it was on an out-patient basis only.

The hospital wouldn’t be used for geriatric patients, since new buildings were designed and built for that purpose. An intensive-care ward would be included in the schematics of the hospital, which would also include their maternity ward for new infants being born.

As the men walked nervously down the first corridor, they noticed that they had walked past the isolated offices of the administration officers that ran the facility. There is a desk for a secretary in front of each office and at the end of the corridor; they could see the large doors that separated the offices from the rest of the building.

The door in front of them was open and in front of that door, they could see the main exits to the courtyard. It appeared that every window and door inside the area of the building was equipped with metal bars, which would prevent anyone that is determined to escape from breaking the glass. If that happened, the office staff in the main building would be in danger. No one knew when patients would be capable of displaying violent tendencies.

Using their flashlights to light their way, the men decided to follow the hall on the right and it was obvious that they had entered the emergency ward. Many of the rooms were equipped with beds for observation, or to help doctors make what is called their prognosis of each patient that arrived for treatment.

As they passed the radiology room, they noticed that the equipment for taking an x-ray of the patient was still present. The equipment was old and out-dated, but it would serve an important function over the years. Images would allow the doctors to see fractures, or damaged bones and ligaments that need therapy. The room had actually sent shivers up and down their spines, since it was probably used to make scans of a person’s head over the years too. 

Now that they walked past examination rooms and stock rooms, they noticed open cabinets that contained most of the narcotics and drugs that were kept for the patients. The cabinets were empty and they were probably boxed and shipped over to the new hospital, for the doctors and nurses there to administer.

Arriving at an open set of doors, the sign on the window indicated that it was the intensive-care unit. Gurneys, intravenous stands, and monitors were still inside the rooms, which is normal, especially if they replaced everything for the hospital on the other side of town. The director probably figured that everything was obsolete. If there was one thing that is probably known to everyone, it was the knowledge that people in their executive positions love to throw money away on what amounts to a waste of funds for nothing.

As the men reached the far end of the corridor, they noticed that the walls are desperately in a state of repair. The paint was still peeling from the walls and the curtains on the windows were shredded and blowing in the wind, through broken panes of glass. It was obvious that they were about to enter the confines of the old asylum that wouldn’t be renovated and it sent chills through their bodies.

The doors that led into another corridor were locked, but the officer had a key to unlock it. Once the lock and chains were removed, they were surprised to see the dead and decaying rats lying on the concrete in front of them. They could also hear what sounded like moans echoing around them, which was passed off as the wind whistling through broken windows on the upper floors of the asylum.

After entering the corridor, the men had to be careful in their footsteps. The paint and plaster was lying on the floor in front of them and it had fallen from the concrete and mortar ceilings over time. Some large holes were exposed in the walls, due to angry patients punching them in a fit of rage or depression, and the scent of death was everywhere. Dust is covering the hallways, which made them sneeze a few times.

The rooms that were located on both sides of the corridor had bars and small doors with openings in the bottom, for food to be slipped under the door for the patients. The trays and a small container for water could be seen at the bottom of the doors. There was the small opening near the top of the door, so doctors could open the shutter and see their patients. The doors were closed again and latched when they weren’t in use. 

When they reached the middle of the corridor, the visitor to the asylum noticed that one of the rooms had surprised him. The door was now open and when they walked inside, it would resemble a house of horrors, or former torture chamber. It was probably used on patients, to cure their mental illness, but it probably created more pain and suffering than cures for what was ailing them.

A wooden chair was seen in the middle of the floor with straps on the arms. There was also an enormous strap that would be put around the throat of the patient. Straps would prevent the patient from moving. Instruments were lying on a metal tray beside the chair and they were used to remove fingernails, toenails, puncture the skin of their victim, and they also had a tool for cutting the tongue out of the patient, making it impossible for them to ever talk again.

Anesthesia wasn’t used in the eighteen hundreds or early nineteen hundreds for operations and the agony they suffered must have been unbearable. At the far end of the room appeared to be some steps leading up to a gallows platform in nature, but instead of a noose, there was a chair that is suspended by a chain. The patient would be strapped in, blindfolded, and then a person would spin the chair.

That was done to determine if their patient was insane, since a normal person would experience the signs of dizziness. It resembled an ancient torture chamber that was seen inside the dark and disgusting dungeon regions of castles of Europe and it wouldn’t be the last device of torture that the doctors used to experiment in their pursuit of cures for mental illness.

There was a row of what appeared to be steam cabinets placed against the other wall in the room, so their patients would be submitted to extreme steam therapy, which was the cause of burns and excessive screams breaking the silence. Beside the cabinets is a wooden box that was called a ‘Madhouse’ tower. Patients would be put inside, the door would be locked, and the only light they saw was provided by a round opening at the top of the box.

The stranger to the asylum noticed that electric-shock therapy was widely used to destroy the nerve endings and chairs they saw would be used for that purpose. After the patient is strapped in, the electric cables would send electricity through their bodies, which often stopped their heart, or is responsible for paralysis. The cables were often attached next to the spine, which is meant to destroy abnormal brain activity.

Long needles would be inserted into the spine of the victim to draw fluid that is then checked for syphilis or other diseases. Primitive medical procedures often left the patient paralyzed and confined to a bed. Others would be put in a box like caged animals, naked, alone, terrified, and they were often forced to sleep on the dirt floor, since the doctors wanted to see how they would react in confinement.

The men had enough of that room and when they entered the next room, they were shocked to see hundreds of crematorium urns lining the shelves. It would be easier for the doctors to cremate the remains of the dead, since the cemetery was filled to capacity with a host of former patients that didn’t survive the treatments. The room also contained many leather strait-jackets that confined their patients.

Walking along the corridor, the men opened doors that led into padded cells. They would put their delusional patients inside those rooms, without worrying about them getting hurt. The rooms would prevent the mentally-ill from running into the walls and breaking many of the bones in their bodies. 

As the men had silently continued their journey through an abandoned asylum, they noticed very quickly that many of the confinement rooms for the patients resembled prison cells. Dirt floors existed under metal-bed frames, with a flimsy mattress that was usually stained beyond repair. The absence of bathrooms and sinks meant that their patients had to suffer daily and there was a distinct stench emulating from inside each room that told the true tale of their medical care.

After entering and looking around, both men would estimate that the room was four feet by eight feet and some rooms contained a chair for the patients to stare through the barred windows until they eventually perished from starvation. There was a definite cruelty element that existed in the asylum and patients were treated like animals that should be tortured, scorned, and thrown away when they died.

If they weren’t insane when they entered the premises, they definitely would be when the doctors at the institution finished with them. Many entered a facility to receive healthcare, but most would end up on the receiving end of a device that is used in torture and mutilation. The doctors justified their actions by saying that it was merely an experiment that could lead to a cure for mental illness.

When the men walked around the corner of the corridor and had looked to their right, they noticed a large room that was probably used for recreation. There were chairs, wheelchairs, gurney’s, and tables for the patients to use. It was probably the nicest room inside the whole asylum and it would contain wooden arches, the fireplace, and there was a door that was used as the crematorium entrance. It was located at the back of the room and it was in full view of the patients.

Moving across the small bridge that had a walkway beneath it, they entered a room that was kept secluded from the rest of the asylum. They are now in an area of the asylum that was used to conduct many surgeries on the patients. The room was their operating theatre and many of the primitive instruments on the tables sent chills up their spine.

It was equipped with their ice picks that were used for lobotomies, saws that still had the dried blood of the patients on the blades, knives, scalpels, and jugs of liquor on the shelves. They would be used in the operations to sterilize the areas operated on. The table in front of them was made of stainless steel and the room itself could have been used in the making of a horror movie.

As the officer looked at the log on the table, he noticed that the doctors would be amputating the arms of their patients, so they could prevent men and women from harming themselves. To prevent most of the violent patients from inflicting harm on others, their feet and legs would be chopped off, ending their mobility. That was harsh, but the doctors wanted to control their patients at all costs.

When the men started to hear strange whispering and other sounds around the room, the officer removed his gun, which was merely a reflex action on his part. Before they could move, the door then slammed shut behind them, trapping them inside the operating theatre. It took them by surprise and they believed that they were inside the asylum alone, with no other citizens to interrupt their tour.

They had their radio transmission to the dispatcher and the button was pushed by the officer at the first sign of trouble. Unfortunately, his transmission had only started, when strange sounds appeared to echo all around them.

It was a terrifying ordeal inside the old and abandoned asylum and it would be followed by sounds that made the hair stand on their arms, which was followed by a momentary bout of terror. The door was in the open position again and they didn’t have a chance to escape, when they were now maliciously attacked.

Chapter 2 - A Gruesome Discovery

With moans and screams filling the asylum, which would then be followed by laughter, the two men didn’t have an opportunity to defend themselves from the unknown. That was the last thing they would see in their lives and it only created more controversy that surrounded the old asylum.

The citizens that were still living in the area were certain that they heard many gun shots fired that afternoon, but overcast clouds had unleashed their fury on the area only a few minutes earlier. Sonic booms that had followed bright flashes of lightning simulated their gun being fired, which had now created doubts inside their minds. The asylum in the area had a troubled history and they weren’t at all inclined to investigate what could happen inside it under any conditions.

The dispatcher inside the police station would hear the officer’s cries for help, but the line went silent a moment later. Knowing an officer is in trouble, officers were called to provide assistance in the area. They arrived at their asylum within minutes of the call being placed. They always responded very quickly when it is reported that one of their own was in danger.

No one would take things for granted and the officers were armed with tazors, guns, and their assault rifles that they carried in the trunk. When they arrived and were prepared for the unexpected, the officers rushed through the front door with their flashlights on. They didn’t know where the men were when the call for help originated, but they now had the manpower to search for them in every nook and cranny of the old institution.

As the men separated and walked cautiously through the building, with groups exploring an area that hadn’t been seen in many years, doors were opened, rooms were searched thoroughly, and they finally arrived at the ramp or bridge that led into the operating theatre. No one was prepared for the sight in front of them.

When the door of the operating theatre opened, some men started to vomit and others couldn’t see the contents of the room without feeling disgusted. The room was dripping their blood in every area, the bodies of the two men were lying on the operating table, and there were large chunks of flesh missing from their torso. The arms and legs of both men were apparently amputated and thrown on the floor.

The gruesome discovery revealed that the men had an ice pick forced through an area of their eye that had shredded their brain, in the same way that lobotomies would be performed over the years. The men must have suffered a horrible death, but that created questions surrounding their demise.

Now that the butchered bodies are discovered, questions were now asked. Did the old asylum now have a serial killer present within its walls, or could someone be getting even for all the atrocities that had occurred there over the years? It was one of the questions that no one really had an answer for.

An investigation would commence. The officers would continue to search for the person that was responsible for the murders, but they were going to become a frustrated group when it didn’t provide clues to their deaths.

After they finished their investigation of the old asylum, the officers remained at the scene of the crime until their coroner completed his duties and removed the bodies. He would autopsy both men and see what had happened from the moment they called in for help - until their eventual deaths were discovered.

Once the coroner left to conduct his autopsies on the bodies, the building was again locked and the no trespassing signs would be posted. The police would now be watching their small town with a special interest in the calls made to 911. If someone reported a trespasser in their yard, strange voices outside their windows, or someone suddenly knocked on their door that no one knew; one of the officers would be dispatched immediately to question them.

After the police issued their bulletin, the calls would start coming in faster than they had expected. Families are reporting that strange individuals are wandering past their homes that frightened them. When the police arrived, they searched the area, but their efforts were in vain, since they didn’t see anyone. It was unusual, because many homes were reporting the same thing.

When the darkness of the evening replaced the bright sunlight of the day and storm clouds disappeared, the rays of the moon exposed dark shadows moving within the trees of the forests. They were moving slowly, without purpose, which was unusual for their small community that was known for being quiet or serene. When some of the citizens attempted to discover what created them, it was met by more questions than answers.

As the sun rose above the hills the next morning, the citizens walked outside to obtain their newspapers, they noticed that an eerie silence surrounded them. The cars that normally left earlier for jobs in the town were still parked inside many of the driveways and citizens were upset when their newspaper wasn’t delivered that morning. Calls to the town’s newspaper office are unanswered and it created a panic situation.

The police lines were now swamped with calls from the concerned citizens and they only had so many officers to handle the situation they are now facing. They didn’t want to say it over the phone, but many cats, dogs, and other wildlife that live in the area were also discovered that morning.

They were killed the previous night and large chunks of flesh were ripped from the remaining carcass. No one understood why this was happening to them and it was a scene out of their worst nightmare, since they had no leads to guide them. 

Their small town had never seen anything like it before and the last thing the police or town council wanted is a panic on their hands. After meeting in secret, it was decided that they would try their best to keep everything hidden and avoid telling anyone the truth about the events in their area. They would employ a tactic that simply says what citizens didn’t know wouldn’t hurt them.

It wasn’t known yet, but there was at least one family that started to wonder what happened to the residents that lived on their street. The paper wouldn’t be delivered and no one answered the phone in the newspaper office. The parents in the home decided to conduct their own door-to-door search. When they knocked on front doors up and down their street, they were growing concerned that no one was answering.

Nothing appeared unusual inside the homes, no signs of life were present, and the couple had looked through all the windows. Their calls to the police were met with excuses for the strange activities they were witnessing and they were told to watch for any strangers that knock on their door. Their curiosity and intuition is now saying differently and it wasn’t normal for everyone on the street to vanish.

The couple only wanted to know if they were evacuated for some reason, or if something happened that would see a whole town thrown into disarray. Only one family was still living on their street, but they knew that everyone wouldn’t leave at the same time, without their vehicle, prior notice, or for no reason.

When the officers eventually arrived at their home, they listened to what they said and investigated their claims. Every home was checked on the street, they sent officers to the newspaper office, and their efforts would be a waste of time.  No citizens were visible to them and an unusual series of events is now unfolding that left everyone confused and bewildered. It is impossible and the people would now be treated as missing persons.

As the police were trying to figure out what was happening in their small town, a few people had noticed the stories that were spreading like wildfire in the area where they lived. They noticed that animals were appearing on their front lawn and it appeared that a dangerous predator was responsible for their deaths. It had started a few months earlier, just after the unexplained explosion.

The animals were missing large chunks of their anatomy and they believed that the mysterious deaths were attributed to a large wolf or perhaps a bobcat that may have entered the area recently. If a predator was in the vicinity of their town, it could easily conceal itself in the woods for a long period and no one would see it. The mutilated animals were discovered when everyone awakened that morning, which justified the predator story.

Many had called with stories of the supernatural or extra-terrestrial tales from their lives, but everyone merely dismissed the theory that aliens were living in the woods. They doubted that someone would arrive on the Earth and attack animals. The example of the young man that was on drugs did exist however, when he had killed his father, but that was reported as a mental illness - nothing else.

After a few days passed and nothing happened in the area, the police went back to their normal duties, the situation had appeared to calm itself, and everyone is active in their daily lives again. One person wasn’t convinced that the lunatic had left the area that is responsible for the deaths. He was a chief of police that knew the town’s chief through a friendship they built earlier in their lives, but he lived in the town they called Elgin, which was in a neighbouring state.

He was eager to tell him that he had many crimes solved by a young team of sleuths that weren’t afraid to see criminals put behind bars. He explained that the men and women were only teenagers when they started solving mysteries that are plaguing his district and town. He wanted to recommend their services to solve a problem he was now experiencing in Hungry Hollow. 

They are intelligent, when it came to following the clues and solving the crime. He would enlist their aid, if that is the route his friend wanted to take. He remains in contact with the young woman that he saw grow from an infant to adulthood in the town and it wouldn’t hurt to ask.

After a phone call was made to the woman that he described to the other chief, it was agreed and it had put the wheels in motion. The young woman was now in her late-thirties, but she was very eager to help their investigation.

As she sat in the chair of her living room, it was hard to believe that twenty years had now passed, since their encounter with the mystery surrounding an old house in Elgin that was called Stonehaven Manor. The group of teenagers would discover that ruthless men were searching for a missing heist of gold.

Legends in the town spoke of a robbery that had seen a large shipment of gold stolen from a stagecoach in the eighteen hundreds. After they had walked through the underground tunnels, the group would be surprised when they discovered that the old man that owned the estate had painted the gold black. It is done to throw off curiosity seekers, so it now resembled a cannon ball in nature.

The police chief would leave his message with her neighbour, since he wasn’t sure if she was still living in the area. He felt confident that she would be able to solve every obstacle that was put in her path. The chief hadn’t seen her in years and he didn’t know if she was now married, had a family of her own to care for, since she had suddenly disappeared from the public eye.

Unaware to anyone, the young lady was aware of the situation and she felt that it would be worthwhile to check it out. The last time her friends worked as a team was an amazing ten years earlier. They traveled to New Orleans and they were forced into solving the mystery surrounding a quiet lake that experienced sinister activity. The town where the asylum is located wasn’t far from where they were currently living.

She wouldn’t tackle the situation alone and she had contacted her friends from school. They were eager to embrace their new mystery. Unfortunately, before any of them could prepare for the new assignment, there would be reports circulating that are surrounding the asylum.

An elderly couple that lived in one of the old homes that is close to the former hospital would hear some strange noises in the downstairs region of their home. It caught them by surprise and after they went to investigate the noises they heard, a strange whisper blamed them for the atrocities committed against them.

Without the means to defend themselves from an intruder, since the politicians had outlawed guns a few months earlier, the elderly couple had a huge target on their back. Criminals never obey laws and only a complete idiot would punish the law-abiding men and women, so it was easier for the lawless criminals to exploit them whenever they felt the need to satisfy their own selfishness.

With nowhere to escape and no means to defend themselves, their screams are heard echoing through the interior of their home, as the couple is attacked and the savagery displayed by their attacker had left their bodies ripped to shreds. It was an experience that the police couldn’t explain. They were both butchered in the same way they saw earlier, when the officer and visitor have suddenly perished inside the confines of the asylum.

Their neighbours had heard their screams for mercy, but the house was silent when the police eventually arrived. They had to kick the front door open to gain access and just like they had seen inside the asylum, blood was dripping from the walls and the furniture.

It was like déjà vu for the officers and the intestines, internal organs, and their hands and feet were amputated from the elderly couple. To complicate things for them even further, they could see that an ice-pick was thrust up through their eye sockets for an attempted lobotomy. The police knew that a lunatic is responsible.

As the young sleuth sat inside her living room, enjoying a cigarette and coffee, she did some research. The old house had a history and it was previously owned by a doctor that had worked inside the asylum in the past century. His daughter Felicia had inherited the estate from her father and her descendants would occupy the home until it was purchased by the couple that was killed.

At least the couple had two daughters that would now inherit the estate and it was a home that they knew well, since both girls were raised there in their youth. They wouldn’t confirm or deny the rumours that the home contained secret stairs that led nowhere, secret rooms and tunnels, because nothing was ever found. The house across the street was rumoured to be a virtual playground for children.

It belonged to Dr. Kirkwood and his home had provided relief from the pain that the asylum was known for. To relieve his anxiety, he would play games with his daughter Valerie in the various rooms he created for her enjoyment. There is a carousel room with horses, a room of mirrors, and no one knew if it was accurate, since no one had seen it, but Valerie supposedly had a games room that was filled with dolls, stuffed animals, and other artifacts that she held dear to her heart.

Valerie had married the town baker and they gave birth to a daughter. Due to her declining health near the end of the pregnancy, she would perish in childbirth. She would never have the opportunity to share her childhood with her daughter or divulge the location of her special room.

Her husband had remarried and the labours of his work in the town prohibited him from searching for the hidden rooms that she kept secret from him. His new wife wasn’t really worried or concerned about the secrets the house contained. It would eventually become known as the Billing’s mansion, since they didn’t like the gate that said Kirkwood Manor above the metal gates.

When their daughter had married and both parents were at rest in the cemetery, other children were born that would call the mansion their home until the present time. The couple that lived in the estate across the street would be murdered that night and both estates were linked by history.

The couple that is murdered by their unknown assassin is directly responsible for publishing the memoirs of Valerie and her father. After they were available in the library, it helped the citizens in their area appreciate their efforts to help and treat the mentally ill that wanted to live a normal life.

The published papers concerning their work, their home, the asylum, and what was hidden inside the mansion were available inside the library for everyone to see. The book would be taken from the library six months earlier and it was never returned, to be put back on the shelf for others to enjoy.

Since no one knew that it was even missing, there is no way to track the record or see who had it, especially if they used a fictitious name. It had occurred only a month before the mysterious explosion that rocked the area. Everyone was still focused on the strange events in the area and a book would be the last thing anyone worried about.

Unfortunately, the memoirs contained many of the secrets of the mansion and the asylum that could be used by those that are under an influence of evil. No one knew if the old estate would contain wealth or some hidden riches, since the book wasn’t returned.

After the police finished their investigation into the deaths inside the mansion, it led to another period of silence for the citizens in the region, where nothing out of the ordinary was reported. The murders showed the people that a serial killer is living in their small community, where everyone knew each other. They would now watch for an outside influence, visitors to the area, and everyone that arrived would have background checks applied to rule them out as suspects.

Only the local police chief and his friend Chief Quimby knew about the group of sleuths that would be arriving shortly to investigate the crimes in the region. It was hoped that their efforts would lead to clues surrounding the strange murders, the strange voices in the darkness, and the brutal mutilation of animals. The chief may have retired from his duties earlier in Elgin, but he had kept track of strange stories that caught his attention.

The story concerning mutilated animals, deaths of the men and women inside the area, and tales about strange aliens that had landed were stories he loved to be involved with through his personal interest. He formed his theory concerning the actions in the town, formed various opinions that could explain the dead bodies in the asylum, and he created a portfolio for his