Overbrook Asylum

It is also known as the Essex County Hospital, the area is heavily guarded for the sake of preventing further vandalism and general criminal activity. I for one salute this, preservation of these buildings seems to be scarce in my country so I am always glad to hear when action is taken anywhere.

In 1986 the land was designated for the new location of the insane asylum and was located in Verona, now Cedar Grove, it was selected as a remote location, high altitude and peaceful for rehabilitation.

Like many it was soon victim to being at full capacity, it was so large it had its own train stop, grew its own food and the farming was considered to be helpful towards the rehabilitation of the patients. It was its own little town and even had a semi-professional baseball team.

The 1960’s and 70’s brought the further introduction of new treatments, medication and brought a decline in admitted patients. It still operated into the 1990’s and slowly parts were abandoned, which meant urban explorers and then local legends started. In 2007 Essex Court announced a smaller, modern place would be built. Overbrook would become a 90 acre country park.

For New Jersey teens exploring this was a rite of passage, “the asylum”, “the bin” and “the hilltop” tested their mettle. It is a sad fact that the buildings have been demolished. Now the site will hopefully be used for local benefit.

The site for the asylum is not that of the sanatorium, the Essex County Mountain Sanatorium stood elsewhere but was left entirely without preservation and nothing remains. The once lovely building for aiding tuberculosis sufferers is no longer standing. Nearby the penitentiary from 1872 will eventually follow suit no doubt.

In 2008 Choke was filmed at the Overbrook Asylum and so has been preserved in the form of video/film at least.

21^st December, 1917, an article appeared in The New York Times about a terrible tragedy at Overbrook. A set of boilers failed during a cold wave, 24 patients died within 20 days. There were 1,800 patients at the time in the asylum and it gave rise to 32 cases of frostbite. The conditions were bad enough that the director sent a letter to relatives, he encouraged them to take their relatives away until the situation could be resolved.

Ghost Adventures visited the site but they did not give the official location during the filming, but Ghost Hunters and their sister show, GH Academy also visited. The TV shows go with the idea that forgotten patients still wander the halls. Much like Danver’s and others of a similar build the idea of the underground tunnels draws a good deal of attention too.

Building II was the location for the morgue and criminally insane, apparently, I do wonder why these two always feature together on plans… and it is said that there is a nurse there walking the halls. Alongside this are reports of screaming, bangs and direct threats on a vocal level for people to leave the property.

I could find nothing outside of the TV shows about hauntings, I am more than aware about the claims from these shows about false evidence too. Many locals seem quick to dispute the cases and tales as well, so have you anything to add?

By J. E. Bailey – Images of America: Cedar Grove, Public Domain, Link

 

Bigfoot

From the 1920’s onwards, stories has been told from North America (and Canada) of the Bigfoot/Sasquatch which is a giant 6-10 foot tall humanoid with shaggy hair, and a repulsive smell.

A miner claimed to have been abdusted by one another man said his group were attacked by an ape-man. The stories were dismissed as hoaxes.

Hoaxes about this seem to come up fairly regularly. In 1958 paw-prints were found at Bluff Creek but were made by wooden feet. A famous film from 1967, by Roger Patterson and Robert Gimlin showed what looked like a hairy female humanoid that rushed off into the woods. Was it a genuine cryptid, unknown animal or a hoax?

Raymond Patterson (1918-2002) was a big-foot hunter and his friend, Bob Heironimus, claimed it was a hoax as he was the man in the suit. Patterson and Gimli refused to retract the claim as valid footage and the debate goes on.

In 1973 in Illinois a couple parked up were scared out of their wits and described the creature they saw much like that of a Sasquatch. With slime-dripping from it’s body and a foul stench.

In 2008 a Youtube video surfaced that claimed to show a dead Bigfoot, it was found in Georgia. TV networks clustered around the freezer containing the corpse but it turned out to be another hoax, with a hollow head and rubber feet.

The search continues.

Military Japan

The nuclear bomb images from Hiroshima and Nagasaki are in my mind some of the most poignant moments of history captured. It is not secret to people that know me I am an avid hater of modern warfare outside of the TV screens and books.

My grandfather died of war wounds when my mother was thirteen and no doubt anyone else with connections to serving men and women will know the fear that comes with their campaigns away. So with that in mind I hope I don’t seem to be sensationalising it all with this post.

If any places on the planet were likely to be haunted I would put my last dollar/pound on these two places. No surprise then that there have been reports of voices with pleads and cries from around the area around twilight.

USAF Storage Haunts – Okinawa in Japan, the whole island there is said to be haunted from the WW2 era as well. It is said that one of these areas is the Munitions Storage on Kadena AB, along one of the main roads there is a clearing used for fishing at the lake. It is said that sometimes people are sat there at night and hear noises like feet stomping the ground. There have been reports that a battalion of Japanese soldiers have been seen walking across the lake, who then disappear suddenly.

Yokosuka Naval Base, Gridley Tunnel is a narrow, one way tunnel that runs through a hill from Gridley Lane to Nimitz Boulevard. There are reports from people driving through the tunnel that they have seen a man dressed as a samurai, the reports bear similarity for the most part.

People report that as they are driving through they look in their rear view mirror to see a man dressed as a Samurai, he stands in the middle of the road where there was no one before. Some people have been startled enough to ram into the side of the tunnel.

Legend has it that the samurai was on the way to avenge the death of his lord but was ambushed at the tunnel and cut down. Because he had failed in his mission he cannot leave his place of death. I can’t help but think if that is the way of the Samurai that there should be an abundance of these sightings all over Japan… not every Samurai was Rurouni Kenshin after all!

Chernobyl Diaries Film

So for a Halloween treat I decided to hire a random film from On Demand. Flicking through I spotted it, expecting the usual cheesy rubber monster or bad CGI but at least it was going to be something new to waste some time on.

I didn’t really have a clue about what the plot was, I’ll try not to spoil anything in this review but I apologise if I inadvertently should. Basically the premise is that a bunch of
teens end up taking a somewhat dodgy tour around Pripyat, the nuclear plant explosion is well known so a quick youtube search will give you amply footage (or check my previous blog for more details about it).

For one reason or another, the tourists and their guide go via an alternative entrance to the area. They find themselves bypassing a rather freaky looking fish on the side of the contaminated river and then land in the town. The history the guide gives is brief but pretty much a quick bite size low-down to tell you how it ended up abandoned. Pripyat footage is stunning in this; I thought the location was a great one including a scene where the Reactor in the background is pointed out from a window in a block of flats. There was a little jumpy bit at the river with the fish but it’s not until things start to go wrong that it kicks into real “life” suspense.

Now I know a lot of people love to give massive criticism to the influx of these types of horrors but firstly, it’s not done in that overused Blair Witch/Cloverfield style.  Personally however I have to say I liked Cloverfield too, but the camera angles are mixed and the lighting used in what I thought was a clever approach of claustrophobia and strange noises. To begin with it looked like it was nature fighting back, dogs in the area scavenging a rather fun section with a bear and then it started to kick into live going very wrong for everyone involved.

My plus points on the film? Okay the fact you don’t see stupidly created models that make it all too fake, no arbitrary bloody scenes of gore that meant nothing in the face of the fears they were supposed to be enacting. The scenes with the dark lighting and the confusion from their actors when they are without a guide and the slow decline of health of the party all made it feel very scary. (I was alone with the lights out too, go me!)

The downsides? Well I guess some parts of the acting weren’t too strong as I didn’t really get too attached to the characters or their stories. The dark shots got a bit annoying at times as they were pretty dark, I am sure I could adjust the settings on my TV but that would have made the other scenes too bright. The ending felt a little bit rushed but I guess the counter argument to that would be that it was meant to be that way due to the events of the story.

Overall I think I’d watch it again if it came up and I wouldn’t put this down as a bad movie, and yes I have seen some terrible ones. I think if you like that type of film you’ll probably enjoy it like I did but if you are already looking at it from a downside you’ll just pick holes and flaws with it. My opinion for a mark out of 5 would be 4/5 purely because when I watched it on my own I did jump a couple of times and the things chasing them were far more realistic than a rubber costumed robot.

White Lady

Fan’s of the TV series Supernatural will recall this was the first episodes theme. Alongside various tales of hitch-hiking females they often have one thing in common, being betrayed by their husband or partner. The White Lady reports are a a global phenomena, there is no one hotspot so I just picked some of interest.

1.The White Lady of Willow Park, Newton-Le-Willows in Merseyside, England. She’s thought to be the spirit of a bride who was drowned in the lake by her husband on their wedding night.

2. Union Cemetery in Easton, CT has had reported sightings of a White Lady since the late 1940’s.  She’s said to haunt the nearby Stepney Cemetery in Munroe, CT.

3. Rusalka, a Slavic Mythology, says the ghost of a woman who died violently, jilted by the lovers and they are usually pregnant when they died.

4. “Den Huite Dame” is said to reside at Fredriksten Fortress, Halden, Norway. She was the Fort Commander’s mistress. Her lover was killed by a cannonball when Swedish Forces attacked. His remains were never found and she committed suicide jumping off the fortress walls. It’s said she will appear near the White Tower at midnight.