(ghostly trilling) - [Ryan] What is that? Does it sound like it's
coming from in the house? - [Shane] Sounds like a laugh. (ghostly trilling) - [Ryan] Hello? (ghostly trilling) What the fuck is that? - [Shane] That's an owl. - [Ryan] Huh. (groans) Mayflower Hall. - [Shane] It's a nice name, nice placard. - [Ryan] Sure. (ominous music) - [Shane] Smells like, um. - [Ryan] It smells like shit in here. - [Shane] Yeah, well it
smells a little musty. - [Ryan] (scoffs) All the places that we go to smell like dust. Oh, that goes back pretty far. - [Shane] Okay. - [Ryan] I'm gonna lose my mind in here. I'm gettin' the vibes. So you think on any one
of these adventures, you'll ever truly have a psychic break? (laughs) Like a mental breakdown? Yeah.
- [Ryan] Maybe. I mean, you almost got
there in the Sally house. Well, let's hope that
doesn't happen today, huh? I mean, I'm, fingers
crossed it does. (laughs) (bell tolls)
(crow caws) (lightning crashes) This week on Buzzfeed Unsolved, we investigate Pennhurst
State School and Hospital as part of our ongoing
investigation into the question, are ghosts real? This is actually now a
Halloween attraction, called Pennhurst Asylum,
and as you can see, they didn't really change much. It's still very much
an abandoned hellscape. This is what happens to all buildings, though, over time, right? When not tended to? Yeah, this is kind of like a look at what the apocalypse would look like. Yeah. (object hits floor)
In micro form. (laughing) The place is really rotting very well. Yeah, there were some pretty weird things that went down here. Well, let's hear about 'em. (laughs) Okay, let's get into it. - [Narrator] On January 23, 1903, Pennhurst State School was commissioned as the Eastern Pennsylvania
state institution for the feeble-minded and epileptic, A place for people with
intellectual disabilities and people with epilepsy to live, learn, and be cared for in a safe environment. In the end, there would eventually be more than 20 buildings in total to make up the sprawling campus. - [Shane] I get a vibe here, it's sort of like the Avengers headquarters. - [Ryan] Why Would you get that vibe? - [Shane] Just, rolling grounds, a lot of different buildings, seems like a place the
Avengers would live. You know, you're right, as I scan around, this place definitely screams high-tech. Well,
We got a couch over there with a couple cockroaches fuckin'. I touched it and my hand --
We got this board. Turned black. Your hand, your fingers
are now falling off 'cause you touched a wall of this place. Definitely Avengers-worthy. Yeah. (laughing) - [Narrator] Unfortunately, the facility quickly fell into disrepair
and poor living conditions, catalyzed mainly by the overcrowding, understaffing, and lack of funds. Regardless of their age, all residents of Pennhurst were called children, even though there were
many adult residents. In 1974, the reported average age was 36 years old, and on average, spent 21 years of their life at Pennhurst. - [Shane] Why do they call them children? - [Ryan] I don't know, I just read that. - [Shane] It's just very derogatory. - [Ryan] Yeah, back in the day, people did not know a
lot about mental health. I heard that people who had ADHD or ADD were put in here, because -- - [Shane] Put 'em any,
just lump 'em all in. Throw 'em over here.
Totally. I feel like back in the day, they might've put you in here. (laughs) I mean I guess
(Shane laughs) if I was saying like, I saw
a ghost or I saw visions -- Yeah, if you went around
town in 1908 or 1910 saying, "I've seen ghosts,
I see ghosts all the time." All right.
Can we call the people, and?
You know where we saw a lot of ghosts, in
this building over here. And then they just slam the door, and close it up like the Red Wedding. Yeah, you'd be one of the children. (laughs) I'd be one of the children. - [Narrator] In 1968, nearly 60 years after Pennhurst's opening,
a documentary series called Suffer the Little Children finally revealed to the public
the horrors of the facility. A doctor at the facility, who was actually named Dr. Fear -- - [Shane] If your last name is Fear, and you receive a
doctorate, I believe it is your moral responsibility
(Ryan laughs) to be a bad person. - [Ryan] Dr. Fear, I'm trying
to think of professions you could actually be with that name. You're either gonna be a supervillain, a pro wrestler, or an evil doctor. - [Shane] He actually seems like the prime archnemesis to C.C. Tinsley. - [Ryan] (laughs) Dr.
Fear versus C.C. Tinsley. - [Shane] I'd read a serial about that. - [Ryan] Well, we don't know what happened to C.C. Tinsley, maybe he -- - [Shane] Dr. Fear fucking murked him. - [Ryan] (laughs) He
got murked by Dr. Fear. - [Narrator] In the documentary, Dr. Fear admitted to threatening
and punishing patients. In one instance, Fear punished a patient by injecting the patient
with the most painful injection that would not cause damage. - [Shane] This guy sounds
like a real piece of shit. - [Ryan] He was a piece of shit. - [Narrator] The documentary also stated that the largest zoos in the country spent $7.15 each day on each animal, whereas Pennhurst only spent $5.90 per resident, per day at
the time of the airing. - [Shane] That seems
pretty cheap for animals. - [Ryan] Yeah, and then you look down and you go, "Oh, what's $5.90? "Oh, that's humans." (shuffling) - [Shane] Whoa. Strange
- [Ryan] Was that you? - [Shane] No, that was
a noise from over there. - [Ryan] So this was apparently
a day room back in the day, or a common room. Now it appears to have -- - [Ryan] A pentagram. Some other stuff. This looks like medical equipment. - [Ryan] Yeah, it was a
hospital back in the day. Oh my God, this room is
fucking horrifying over here. - [Shane] It's just a room. My goal here tonight, since this place was such a place of tragedies, I don't know, if we
could reach out to them, maybe we could help some of them. You're just looking
for positivity, is that what you're saying?
I'm trying to, well also trying to fight the fact that I'm fucking terrified right now, so. - [Shane] Uh, hello spirits,
we're here with good vibes. We ask you to let us film you tonight, and put you on YouTube. (laughing) Is there anybody here right now? There's also a little
doll on this bed here. Is that yours? Can you move the doll? - [Shane] Oh, hello. You ever been to Mexico City? (laughs) We got a fella who would love to meet you. - [Ryan] Can you move that doll? - [Shane] It's not very heavy. Make her blink, or make
her head spin around? (laughs) Jesus Christ. Let's just start with
move, how about that? And then we'll work up from there. What do you want it to do? Like, just get up and start dancin' like the WB frog?
No, I don't want it to, (laughs) No, I want it to -- With the little doll,
I want it to flip over. ♪ Hello my baby, hello my honey ♪ If it flipped over right
now, that would be insane. - [Narrator] In 1974, Terri Lee Halderman, a resident at Pennhurst,
filed a class-action lawsuit against Pennhurst State
School and Hospital. While a resident at Pennhurst, Halderman reportedly
suffered about 40 injuries, including cracked teeth, a fractured finger, and a broken jaw. During that trial, the
conditions of Pennhurst were described, and were later "undisputed" by the Supreme Court. Here's a quote on those conditions. "Conditions at Pennhurst
are not only dangerous, "with the residents
often physically abused "or drugged by staff
members, but inadequate. "Indeed, the Court
found that the physical, "intellectual, and emotional skills "of some residents have
deteriorated at Pennhurst." Many residents were physically harmed by either abuse or neglect by
the staff, including death. In his autobiography, former
resident Roland Johnson described the smell of
Pennhurst as a doghouse. "It just smells like feces. "Rats crawling, roaches crawling all over. "Feces and pee on the floor,
flies coming in the windows." - [Shane] If I were a fly I
would be trying to get out. (Ryan laughs) You know? (laughs) You know what I mean? - [Ryan] I know what you mean,
but flies also like poop. - [Shane] (laughing) They do like poop. - [Ryan] So, flies are
trying to get in your house, you're probably not doin' it right. - [Shane] A rave Yelp reviews for - [Both] Flies. - [Ryan] On Flelp, five stars. "Great poop all around the digs. "It's a fucking feast in here, boys." - [Shane] (laughing) "Some of
the best poop I've ever had." - [Ryan] "Poop for miles." - [Shane] "They just
leave it lying around." - [Ryan] "Either way --" - [Shane] "Usually you
have to work for it, "but at this place, it's
like an Old Country Buffet, "but full of poop." - [Narrator] In 1984, the final settlement of Pennhurst V. Halderman called for the closure of Pennhurst, and in 1987, Pennhurst State School and Hospital were, mercifully, officially shut down. This is only a brief
summary of the horrors of Pennhurst State School,
in which I've spared details that I found particularly upsetting. I can only imagine the
unjust misery and suffering that took place within these walls. As a believer in spirits and energy, I believe those who suffered
are more likely to remain. And in that respect, I
find it highly possible that the poor souls that once stayed here still linger today. That being said, let's get
into some of the places that are supposedly the most active. Starting with the underground tunnels. At Pennhurst, buildings
are actually linked by an underground tunnel system. Down here, there is all
kinds of reported activity. A property manager even
refused to venture down alone. - [Ryan] This is the tunnel system that's under the entire facility, so this goes from all of the buildings
kind of like a spider web. - [Shane] Yeah. - [Ryan] And as you can
see, it isn't pleasant. I'm not trying to be crass here, but there is a surprising
amount of penis art in, Is there?
Here. Yeah, well, Ryan. - [Ryan] Oh wow, that's a
triumphant penis right there. Look at that.
Very, very proud of itself. (foreboding piano chords) - [Ryan] So, throughout this tunnel, we have a laser grid, and we have a bunch of motion lights going
to the end of the tunnel, so if anything runs toward us, or moves in this tunnel,
we're gonna see it. This does look like the Twilight Zone. - [Shane] Yeah. See, now that looks cool. If a ghost did that, that would be fun. - [Ryan] If there's anybody
down here who's sad, or mad, just make your presence known, move. Jiggle. (ominous music) Drop a deuce or get off the pot, buddy. - [Ryan] (laughs) Jesus Christ, dude. - [Narrator] Pennhurst is so active that there's a book
written about the hauntings by a woman named Tamera Lawrence, who worked in the
Mayflower building in 2011. She details the four known spirits that haunt the second
floor of the building. The first is a little boy named Howie, who plays with a Fisher-Price airplane. Howie, we hear this is your plane, if you're here. We also hear you don't
like people touching it. If you're here, could you
perhaps move the plane? Howie, if you don't move this plane, I'm gonna touch it with my dirty hands. His dirty man hands. I'm gonna disrespect your favorite toy. Oh my God, don't phrase it that way. - [Shane] It's a toy, Ryan. (laughs) I'm just saying. I mean, it can't get much
worse than being in this room. If you truly are trapped in here, Howie, I'm sorry, 'cause this room is gross. Oh God, what are you gonna do? You have a very sly,
evil smile on right now, I don't like it. I'm gonna touch it. - [Ryan] I know you're gonna touch it. Here we go, Howie, I'm
gonna touch your plane. (scary music) (imitates plane engine running) (Ryan laughs) (imitates plane crashing) - [Narrator] The second
ghost is a shadow man who is repeatedly seen in the common room, or in the bathroom. One couple claimed to discover
that his name is Fisher, a name which can be found on
a wall in one of the cells. This shadow man has been
caught multiple times on camera by other investigators. Perhaps we'll be lucky
enough to do the same. So right now, we're in the common room. This is where a shadow man is often seen. He's actually been caught in a
couple pictures in this room. So I thought, if we just
walk around in the dark, take some pictures, and maybe
he'll pop up in some of 'em. I have a crazy hunch
that your eyes are gonna play tricks on you, and
you're gonna lose your mind. Okay. I'm gonna douse my light now. - [Ryan] Oh shit. Yep, you're right, you're 100% right. Okay.
Well, start flashing. - [Ryan] Anybody in here with us? Don't mind me, I'm just
gonna take your picture. Say, "cheese."
(camera shutter clicking) Oh God, this is fuckin',
this is fucked up. - [Shane] Oh, that's a chair. Okay, look down that long hallway. - [Ryan] Shut up, Shane. Shooting.
(camera shutter clicking) - [Shane] You notice how
your eyes play tricks on you when it's dark like this? - [Ryan] Firing. (camera shutter clicking) - [Shane] Shadow man? - [Ryan] Fisher? Is that your name? Are you in here? Oh my God, this is fucking horrifying.
You don't like this one bit. I really don't like this. Is anybody here with us right now? (faint tapping)
What was that? - [Shane] What? (faint tap)
What was that? (faint tap)
What was that? I heard something in that cell over there.
(faint whispering) You heard something? It sounded like a pebble (object strikes ground)
moving or something, it could have been just,
like, a drop from the ceiling. - [Shane] Try to
rationalize it all you want, but you know it's a ghost. - [Ryan] I'm just gonna
phase you out right now. Ready? Firing. (camera shutter clicks) Anything behind me? Dude, there's no fucking head on you. What? (both laugh) I woulda been into that. - [Narrator] The third ghost
is the spirit of a little girl who is seen in different spots
throughout the second floor. The fourth ghost is -- That's all we got on her? (laughs) - [Ryan] Yeah, that's it. She's. (both laugh) Yeah, that's it, I don't
know anything about her. - [Narrator] The fourth
ghost is an angry nurse. According to multiple reports, people are stabbed with
what feels like a needle. Both of these ghosts have been reported in what Lawrence calls, "the art room." Got some new toys here, these
are called dowsing rods. So now people use these today
to communicate with ghosts. They'll say something like,
"Show me what a yes looks like." - [Shane] Show me the, gimme a yes. Usually, they'll cross like that, like they just did,
because I moved my hand. Yeah, so the hands being
involved in this seems, because look, if you give me one. It's not a toy. (gasps) Sunbird to the Shaniacs, we're done, we're disbanding. I'm so scared right now. I'm gonna take that, and
shove it right into your neck, watch the blood come out,
and laugh and walk away. And then I'll become a ghost because now they're you. It's not a toy, gimme
(laughs) you fuckin'. To remove the possibility of human error, I'm going to tape these dowsing rods to this. So what's gonna be interesting is, it's gonna be kinda even. - [Narrator] At this
moment, our audio recorder picks up a distant scream. It's gonna be kinda even. (faint whine)
(faint whine) (faint whine) It does sound almost identical to the owl noise that was heard. Okay.
(owl hoots) Ooh. Did you hear that?
Little owl out there? No, it doesn't. I could put them back to back. Do it again. (owl hoots
(faint whine) Hm, it could be different birds. All right, if there's
anybody in here right now, could you move those two rods and show us what a yes looks like? Or, better yet, let's just start with, can you move those two rods? I'm not saying that the people here who worked here were all bad people, but there were a couple bad eggs, and there's reports of a very angry nurse here who stabs people for no reason, so if that's true, move
these little rods here. Or, if you want us to
leave, move these rods here. They are definitively not moving. No. Hey nurse. - [Ryan] Oh, God. (laughs) Bad, bad nurse. Come on, put some needles in me. Is there anybody in the
room with us right now? (faint scraping) (faint tones) - [Narrator] After asking
if anybody is in the room, our audio recorder picks
up two distant whimpers, (faint scraping)
(faint tones) The second one maybe sounds like an owl. I'll give you that. It could be a thousand
things before it's a ghost. Well listen to this one. (faint clanking) I'm not buyin' it. (laughs) Okay, not buyin' it. - [Narrator] To close this out, let's investigate perhaps
the most active floor in the Mayflower
building, the third floor. This floor used to serve
as dormitories for patients and the current caretaker has claimed numerous residents still remain. In an effort to allow
for easier communication, we'll explore the entire floor. Individually. - [Shane] How you feelin'? You know, I'll go in first. And I'm going to. (laughs) - [Ryan] Dude. - [Shane] I am now walking
alone on the third floor. There are appear to be a great, oh, Ryan's gonna hate this. Here's a hallway that no
one in their right mind would walk down, because
it has a thousand doors. Going to continue all the
way down this hallway, and I think down here,
in this sad, scary room, is where I'm going to
initiate the ghost box. He's gonna use the spirit box. We've used it before, but basically, it's a box that scans
through radio channels at a very fast rate. (rapid bursts of static) Every 2/10ths of a second, a new channel is gonna be skipped to, and it's thought by that rapid skipping, it'll produce white noise that spirits can
manipulate to talk to us. (rapid bursts of static) - [Shane] Not really
hearing anything on this. And since it's scanning so fast, it's very unlikely that
it's radio interference. If we hear something
that's two words in a row, I'm pretty confident that's
something speaking to us. - [Shane] I'm here for you. If you're here, maybe sing a little song for me on my voice box? Communicate with me in some way. (rapid bursts of static) I'm here. - [Narrator] Right before
Shane says, "I'm here," our audio recorder picks
up a distant scream. (faint tone)
I'm here. (faint tone)
I'm here. It's an ink blot test for you. No. Yeah, it is.
I don't think it is. You see what you wanna see, you hear what you wanna hear, I
get it, it's fun for you. No, I'm taking -- You love ghosts, No, no,
You wanna believe in 'em. I'm taking the anomalies and putting them out there for judgment. Send 'em out, throw a
parade for the anomalies. That's what I just did, and you know what? You're allowed to have
a different opinion. I personally think it's
evidence, but you know. That's great. (laughs) That's great. - [Shane] Come on, boys,
Ryan's not here right now. It's your time to kill me. I wish I could approach it with the boyish joy that he does. I hate that he's having
such a good time in there. - [Shane] Moaning Myrtle? This looks like your kinda joint. I really do. - [Shane] Don't you hear how cocky I am? Wouldn't you like me to
just shut the hell up? 'Cause I know when I go in there, my mind's gonna implode. (dramatic tones) Oh, God. - [Shane] Keep walkin'. That's all you can do is keep walkin'. Shut up. Hello? Is there anybody in here
that wants to talk to me? Oh my God, this is the fucking worst. I'm not, I don't mean to scare you, but trust me, I am way more scared of you right now than you are of me. In fact, why don't you
just not do anything? How did Shane do this laughing? What the fuck is wrong with this man? Doesn't help that every
fuckin' wall in here is painted with "get out." All right, I'm gonna
turn on the spirit box. Use this to communicate with me. He's gonna hate this one. (bursts of static) I fucking hate this.
(distorted speech) What was that? Oh, I got the chills. Who's here with me right now? The Devil. Is there anybody here with me? (radio beeps)
(distorted speech) What was that? - [Radio] You. You? My name's Ryan, can you say "Ryan" back? (distorted speech) Oh, my God. Nah, it's just my mind,
it sounded like Ryan. (distorted speech) Oh God, there's pentagrams everywhere in here for some reason. Who's in here with me? (distorted speech) Jeff? How many of you are in here? (distorted speech) Four? (distorted speech) Well, now you said three. Ryan, you gotta walk down that long hallway with all the doors. I'm walkin' down the hallway, I'm almost at the end right now. - [Shane] The one when you walk in, immediately to your left. All right. (scary music) Oh, shit! Yeah, that's what you have to walk down. Hurry up, you've got two minutes. Oh, this is terrible. This is so horrible. Who's here with me? (distorted speech) Bri? Oh, God.
(Shane laughs) It's an old wheelchair. Bri, why are you here? (faint clunking) Bri? All right, Ryan, we're comin'
up on seven minutes here. Fuck yeah, I'm gonna
get the fuck outta here. See you later, peace! - [Shane] How'd it go? You did it.
(sighing) What did -- (grunts) (laughs) - [Shane] You seem rattled right now. Yeah, I'm a little rattled,
because I just spent an entire seven minutes up there alone, as a little ghost antenna, just talkin' with ghosts.
(Shane laughs) And I didn't enjoy it,
and I wanna leave now. So let's leave. - [Shane] Little Ghost Antenna, the Ryan Bergara story. - [Ryan] Shut up. (tense music) (Ryan exhales heavily) Well, it's been real, Pennhurst State School and Hospital. You got, (music stops) Un,
Plus, Solved. I don't know.
Yeah. We gotta figure that out.
We'll figure that out. You think the place is haunted? - [Shane] No. - [Ryan] Why don't you ask me? What do you think my answer's gonna be? - [Shane] Do you think
the place is haunted? - [Ryan] You know what? Not sure.
Oh. But, probably.
Okay. (laughing) Stop, stop.
Ah, yes, yes. (laughing) (both laughing like Beavis and Butthead) - [Narrator] Based on
our experiences tonight, I unfortunately believe that many spirits remain trapped within the
walls of this tragic facility. Hopefully I'm wrong, but regardless, whether or not Pennhurst
State School and Hospital is definitively haunted,
will remain unsolved. (ominous music) Hey Ryan, I like your shirt. Thanks, I like yours too. Thanks. - [Both] Buy it here.
