Published on 08/24/2009

The day began fairly uneventful. It was a hot sultry day, and we were clammy and sweaty people; everyone was sweaty, the sun was sweaty. Luckily we kept hydrated, unfortunately everything we drank made its way out our pores and into our already soggy stinking clothes. The Allegheny mountain range is gorgeous, small by comparison to other mountain ranges perhaps, but nonetheless just as beautiful. Maybe even more so.

In The Beginning:

The day began fairly uneventful. It was a hot sultry day, and we were clammy and sweaty people; everyone was sweaty, the sun was sweaty. Luckily we kept hydrated, unfortunately everything we drank made its way out our pores and into our already soggy stinking clothes. The Allegheny mountain range is gorgeous, small by comparison to other mountain ranges perhaps, but nonetheless just as beautiful. Maybe even more so. The Trans Allegheny Lunatic Asylum is located in the small town of Weston, West Virginia, population 4, 239 (give or take). The building itself, formerly known as the Weston State Hospital, is generous in size with ample room to hold just as many memories as ghosts. The largest hand-cut stone masonry building in the United States and the second largest in the world, next to the Kremlin, the Asylum was originally designed and built to hold 250 patients. During the Civil War the grand old building was still under construction when it was seized and used as a military base by Colonel Erastus Bernard Tyler of the Seventh Ohio Infantry. The southernmost wing, the only completed portion of the Asylum, (now known as the Civil War Room) and surrounding grounds became Camp Tyler, making Weston an important military post for the Union. Confederate raids between 1862 and 1863 would eventually oust the Union troops and in 1864 the partially built Asylum would be ransacked and all of the food and clothing intended for its first group of patients would be taken . At the end of the war the completion of TALA took precedence and construction began once again. Weston was shielded from a post-war depression because of the Asylum and the area boomed with the newly funded construction and completion of the Asylum in 1881. <img title="Trans Allegheny Lunatic Asylum - 1930s" height="311" alt="Trans Allegheny Lunatic Asylum - 1930s" src="http://www.ghosthalo.com/content_images/1/1930sfrontgate.gif" width="441" align="center" border="0"/> TALA as it was in the 1930s <img title="Trans Allegheny Lunatic Asylum - 2008" height="311" alt="Trans Allegheny Lunatic Asylum - 2008" src="http://www.ghosthalo.com/content_images/1/2008frontgate.gif" width="441" align="center" border="0"/> TALA as it is now in 2009.

A Hunting We Shall Go:

The GhostHalo investigative team began on the first floor in the area known as the Civil War room. The team was lead by Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson of TAPS, two of the most seasoned paranormal investigators in the world of paranormal investigation with over 36 yeas of combined experience. Jason and Grant lead us to the area where the night before they had made contact with a former patient of TALA named Jake. Using a modified K2/K-II EMF meter and using a series of controlled questions they were able to establish that the presence of Jake was real and not just random EMF spikes caused by electromagnetic interference or a faulty K2 meter. Jason and Grant went through the entire alphabet with Jake in order to spell out his name. He identified himself as being an alcohol abuse patient in the early 1970's.
On this night, July 11th, we were fortunate enough to make contact with Jake again. The video of this session can be seen on YouTube or below. As the session went on two more K2 meters were placed next to the first one by different investigators. All three would register the presence of Jake. The conversation with Jake ended when a new entity or presence entered the area, (this portion of the video is absent for unknown reasons, nothing paranormal I assure sure, we'll call it "investigator error" or simply; shutting the camera down a little too soon). This new presence, identifying itself as a nurse, seemed to be combative in nature. This combativeness could very well have been the nurse entity asserting her authority and possibly protecting the patients in the room. Either way, the entity was determined to take over the session and relieved Jake in short order. The K2 meter responses with Jake for the most part were short and concise, only with certain questions were the lights on the meter "lively". With the nurse entity it was a different story. The K2 meter sustained a strong almost wild signal during the all too brief session. In other words, the lights on the meter went crazy. Showing a definite personality change from that of Jake.
 
<object height="386" width="480">
<embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/i9tmG-HRLC8&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="386"/></object>Once the K2 session ended we continued the investigation into the rest of the Civil War room. Grant showed us the area where he saw a ghost cover it's head with it's arms, crouch down and then get pulled out of the room. If you've seen the TALA investigation on the television show Ghost Hunters (SciFi Channel), then you know what I'm talking about. <img title="Grant in Civil War room" height="338" alt="Grant Wilson of TAPS in Civil War room" src="http://www.ghosthalo.com/content_images/1/Grant_CWR.gif" width="450" align="center" border="0"/> Grant Wilson (center) co-founder of TAPS. During the Civil War room investigation one of the GhostHalo team members experienced the "cob web effect". This is when your touched with what feels like a cob web. The investigator was taking pictures when he felt the cob web on his left hand. Brushing it off he realized there was nothing there. After brushing his left hand off, the feeling came back to the same area of his hand only with a heavier more intense feeling. It then traveled down his arm to his elbow, "After the initial cobweb feeling it seemed to coalesce into a solid more definite pressure sensation. It moved down my arm and then stopped at my elbow. I could almost feel finger tips as it moved along the outside of my arm. Maybe it liked my sleeve (tattoo)." <img title="" height="342" alt="" src="http://www.ghosthalo.com/content_images/1/steve_me.gif" width="449" align="baseline" border="0"/> Me clowning around with Steve / Steve not clowing around with me From the 1st floor we moved on to the 2nd floor and began working with Kris Williams.

The Next Level:

As we continued our investigation we joined Kris Williams on the 2nd floor of TALA and began the search for more paranormal data. Kris was wonderful, she's pretty much like you would expect her to be. Except not as shy as you might think. Regardless, she's a great addition to TAPS and they couldn't have chosen a better member.

As it turned out the 2nd floor evolved into one of the most paranormally active for the GhostHalo team. While Kris and the TALA guides were educating the investigators on the history of TALA, the many experiences that have occurred on the 2nd floor and the "lay-of-the-land" instructions (where we could go and not go); The GH team captured an EVP, listen to it below.

It was in this same area that the other GH team member was pulled on from behind. Thinking there was somone behind him that wanted him to move he turned to achnowledge them, but no one was there. Brushing it off as his imagination he turned back to listen to Kris and the TALA guides when it happend again. This time it was diffrent. The pulling sesnastion was so strong that he had to hold on to the door jam he was leaning on to keep from being pulled back. At this point he signaled the other GH team member asking him to video tape the area behind him. Unfortunately nothing was caught on camera but the EVP that was captured around the same time is compelling.

One of the many interesting things about this particular EVP is the intensity and therefore the proximity of the voice. If you listen again you'll notice the two TALA guides are some distance form the recorder. The voice captured is clearly closer to the recorder. Is this the same entity that pulled on the other GhostHalo team member? Perhaps.

Another event that happend in this same area was a GhostHalo team members voice being called out. This was heard by both GH members at two different times. Here's the audio portion of the video and the EVP that was captured on the recorder at the sametime.

As we moved around on the 2nd floor we found ourselves in what was once the Administration area. This location was a bit lackluster to say the least. The only thing we really picked up is some audio of what appears to be office machines running. Which would make sense in the location they were captured, but keep in mind, there is no electricity in this part of the building. In fact, most of TALA is without power.

The Third Floor:

Working with Steve was a lot of fun. Steve's a paradox, a contradiction in the flesh. He's both serious and then anything but at all once. If Steve has a fear of speaking in public you could of fooled us, he's very well spoken and did a great job as our guide. We love Steve.

On the third floor we had two experiences including a photo that we have yet to debunk. The chapel is located on the third floor of TALA, it was here we experienced orbs in two of the photos, nowhere else in the building did we capture orbs, which really doesn't say much since these are orbs after all, but why here and nowhere else? Below is one of the photos.

The old Chapel has definitely seen better days. It has been stripped of anything that would suggest it was once a religious sanctuary. It now sits hollow and empty with its own built-in paranormal air conditioner. Read on.

The Chapel with what appears to be two orbs. (larger image)

The Chapel also produced a cold spot at the entrance. We looked for a source, an open window, a crack in the structure...anything. We found nothing that could explain it. So what can we determine form orbs and a cold spot in the same area? Well, considering the GH team only experienced these two phenomenona in this area and nowhere else, it actually says a lot...considering the temperature inside the old building was in excess of 280 degrees, a cold spot was a welcomed relief. Needless to say, we blocked the entrance of the Chapel for quite some time.

A cold spot detected at the entrance of the Chapel.

The Final Floor:

Dave Tango is a ton of fun, without a doubt. Probably the best resource TAPS has "tapped" in the last few years (my opinion). Fearless, knowledgeable and just a great guy. With that being said, let me also say that we had zero experiences on the 4th floor of TALA and we blame Dave Tango. The guy is a paranormal cooler. Just kidding Dave. But seriously, we had no personal experiences and caught nothing on video or audio that convinced us of any paranormal activity on the top floor. But it wasn't a total bust, Dave's a class act and it was worth the intense heat and lack of oxygen to work with him. <img title="" height="365" alt="" src="http://www.ghosthalo.com/content_images/1/dave_george.gif" width="450" border="0"/> Dave Tango of TAPS and a GhostHalo Team member
Investigating the Asylum proved to be a double-edged sword. It was both exhilarating and tiring at the same time. Working in such a large building and covering every floor while keeping your senses on alert was nothing short of exhausting. I highly recommend the Trans Allegheny Lunatic Asylum to any paranormal group and to the curious. It was an absolute blast and working with TAPS was without a doubt a highlight in our lives. By the end of the night we were ready to pack it up and head back to the hotel to get some much needed rest. But first a shower to cleanse our sweaty asses.
TALA information: <a href="http://www.trans-alleghenylunaticasylum.com/" target="_blank">The Trans Allegheny Lunatic Asylum Official website</a>