The next location is Pennhurst Asylum, luckily there's no flying required for this one because it's not too far from Eastern State Penitentiary. No days off in between locations either, we want to finish with the Pennsylvania episodes pretty quickly because we'll be going to London next and we'll be spending a lot more time there.
The day after Eastern State we let ourselves sleep in as late as we can, and we start the day off pretty slow, still recovering from the late shoot last night. We get breakfast at a Waffle House near our hotel and rather than spending the day out like we did in Texas, after breakfast we head back to our room to relax before the shoot tonight.
Shane and I are laying on one of the queen beds channel surfing, Ryan is sitting at the desk on his laptop, TJ has been napping in the other room for a while now and Devon went into the lobby to facetime her boyfriend.
I groan as another stupid TLC show comes on and Shane laughs,
"What? You tired of watching 90 Day Fiance?" He asks. I sit up
"Yes, I'm just tired period," I say,
"You want coffee?" He asks, I shake my head and collapse back onto the bed causing Shane to laugh again.
"Take a nap!" Ryan suggests without looking away from his laptop. I pull a pillow from the bed and put it over my head,
"Maybe i will," I say, my voice muffled by the pillow. I hear Ryan and Shane laugh,
"I'm gonna go facetime Mari," Ryan says, i pick up the pillow and hold it over my head,
"Is that ok with you?" Ryan asks sarcastically,
"I guess so," I joke, dropping the pillow back onto my face. Ryan laughs and I hear the door to our room open and then close as he goes down to the Cafe in the lobby to talk to Mari. Maybe I will take a nap, I think to myself, still smothered by the pillow.
"Knock knock," I hear Shane say, he taps on the pillow and I smile. "You still breathing?" He asks,
"I am." I reply, sighing and moving the pillow away from my face. Shane laughs,
"Well don't sound so disappointed about it!" He says and I smile, he's sitting propped up on the bed next to me and he tosses the TV remote onto the nightstand and lays down on his side, looking at me.
"You sure you're ok? Last night you couldn't sleep and now it seems like you don't want to do anything but sleep," He says,
"I'm ok. Like I said; jet lag."
"Just wait until we get to London," He says, laying down on his back. I laugh,
"Shh, let's not think about that," I whisper and he smiles. I can tell he must be tired too, either because I kept him up last night after the shoot, or jet lag has gotten the best of him too. Without even meaning to I fall asleep to the sound of the TV on low in the background and Shane's rhythmic breathing.
...
"Alright Sleepy Heads!" I hear Devon's voice, "we are technically working tonight!" She says. I sigh, going to stretch my arms and feeling my fist connect with something,
"Jesus-" I hear Shane say, I open my eyes to see I've basically just punched him in the face as he was sleeping on his side close beside me... so close we might as well have been spooning... "Quite the wake up call Soph," he says before I can dwell on that realization. I laugh and start to apologize.
"I'm gonna punch both of you if you don't get out of bed! You've been napping for like 3 hours!" Ryan interrupts, he must have come back to the room while we were asleep. He grabs one of the pillows from the other bed and throws it at Shane and I. Shane catches it just before it can hit me and laughs, throwing it back onto the other bed.
"Ok ok!" He says, sitting up and climbing out of bed, "I need a fucking ice pack," he laughs, holding his nose where I punched him. I just roll my eyes and get out of bed as well.
"Now you're just being dramatic!" I say and he smiles,
"I am not!" He replies.
"You are too!" I say, it's an admittedly childish response,
"Am not!" Shane says,
"I swear to-" Ryan starts, already testy thanks to the shoot tonight and not in the mood for Shane and I's shenanigans.
"Alright, we're getting ready!" I say before Ryan can finish reprimanding us. I grab some clothes and slip past Shane where he stands in the hall, but not before playfully sticking my tongue out at him. He returns the gesture and I step into the bathroom to change.
...
By the time we get to Pennhurst, the sky is already dark and there are birds and owls chattering and laughing in the trees around us creepily. Ryan doesn't even register that the strange sounds are birds at first, and as we walk towards the entrance he shines his flashlight all around trying to figure out what it is until Shane tells him it's just an owl.
Once inside the "vibes" of the place really start to settle in. The walls are covered in graffiti, and the smell of dust and mildew seeps through the air. We set up for the backstory, pulling a pair of metal chairs from one of the abandoned rooms for the boys to sit on and then starting the shoot.
Once we're finished with that we start exploring, walking through the dimly lit halls, only illuminated by our flashlights and occasionally the unsettling red glow of an "Exit" sign.
As we go to step into a common room there is a shuffling from further down the hall,
"Whoa, was that you?" Ryan asks, his senses automatically heightened.
"No that was a sound from over there," Shane says indifferently. Ryan pauses for a moment before stepping into the common room and out of the hallway with the rest of us close behind.
"So this was apparently a day room back in the day, or a common room," Ryan shines his flashlight around the huge room,
"Now it appears to have some other stuff..."Shane says, his light lands on graffiti of a pentagram on the wall.
"A pentagram," Ryan says sounding a bit disturbed. They look around the room a little more, walking further into it and pointing out some of the medical equipment.
"My goal here tonight, since this was such a place of tragedies, I dunno..." Ryan starts, "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?" Shane asks,
"I'm trying to, while also trying to fight the fact that I'm fucking terrified right now, so..." Ryan says. Shane nods,
"Uh, hello spirits, we're here with good vibes," Shane says, "we ask you to let us film you tonight and put you on YouTube." He jokes. Ryan laughs and I hear Devon giggle at the joke as well. I smile, and shake my head.
"Is there anybody here right now?" Ryan calls out, and we all go silent for a moment.
"There's also a little doll on this bed here, is that yours?" He asks, "can you move the doll?"
"Oh, hello," Shane says, approaching the doll, "You ever been to Mexico City?" he asks. Ryan and I laugh. "We got a fella who would love to meet you!" Shane jokes.
"Can you move that doll?" Ryan asks again,
"It's not very heavy... make her blink, or make her head spin around?" Shane says,
"Jesus Christ!" Ryan laughs, "Let's just start with move, how about that? And then we'll work up from there!" He says. They joke around about the doll a little more and once it's clear that the doll will not be moving tonight we start the next attempt to capture a ghost. Shane and Ryan turn off their lights and start snapping pictures to try and capture a "shadow man" that has reportedly been caught on camera in the main room. Shockingly we don't get any evidence from that either.
The next location we're exploring is the underground tunnel system. As we descend I can't help but be reminded of the Body Chute at Waverly Hills and Shane and I's slight freak out.
"You and Shane aren't gonna start running for your lives and leave me for dead down here right?" Ryan asks me, apparently I'm not the only one who was reminded of the Chute. Shane laughs.
"Only if it's absolutely necessary Ry," I joke, winking at him. He shakes his head,
"Let's just get this over with," he says, obviously uncomfortable and anxious in the tunnels.
"I'm still rolling, whenever you're good-" I tell him, he nods, taking a second to collect himself and calm down a little before speaking.
"Sot this is the tunnel system that's under the entire facility, this goes from all the buildings kind of like a spider web," He explains for the audience,
"Yeah," Shane nods,
"And as you can see, it... it isn't pleasant," Ryan shines his flashlight over the walls.
"I'm not trying to be crass here... but uh, there is a surprising amount of penis art in here..." Shane says. I laugh to myself, panning my camera across the walls. He's not wrong, I think to myself.
"Is there?" Ryan asks, Shane shines his flashlight directly on one of the "works of art",
"Oh wow... that's a triumphant penis right there. Look at that!" Ryan says,
"Very proud of itself," Shane agrees and TJ, Devon, and I can't help but laugh. We venture further into the tunnels, when we reach the end I pull the laser grid we've brought out and we set it up to face the direction we've just come from.
"Looks like the Twilight Zone," I joke, once the lights have turned on. They speckle the walls and floor with neon green spots and create a strange effect. Shane laughs and nods.
"So throughout this tunnel we have a laser grid and we have a bunch of motion lights going to the end of the tunnel," Ryan explains once it's all up and running. "So if anything runs towards us, or moves in this tunnel, we're gonna see it." He walks through the lights to demonstrate. "this does look like the Twilight Zone," He says to me, I nod, and Shane agrees.
"See, now that looks cool," he says as Ryan walks through the lights, "if a ghost did that, that would be fun!" Ryan steps out of the lights shaking his head, obviously, he does not agree with Shane's idea of "fun".
"If there's anybody down here who's sad, or mad... just make your presence known.... Move-" Ryan asks,
"Jiggle," Shane suggests I laugh quietly in spite of myself and he looks back at me, smiling at his own joke.
After a couple moments of silence and absolutely zero movement through the lasers, Shane speaks up, "Drop a deuce or get off the pot buddy!" He says impatiently. Ryan breaks out laughing,
"Jesus Christ dude!" he says sounding shocked. We decide to pack up the lights, considering nothing has happened, and then we move on and out of the tunnel, making our way to the second floor where a little boy name Howie apparently haunts one of the rooms.
Sitting on the floor of the room is a little Fisher-Price airplane, Ryan asks for Howie to move the plane. Shane on the other hand threatens to touch it himself if Howie doesn't, it was a mistake on Ryan's part letting him know "the ghost doesn't like when people touch the toy".
"You have a very sly, evil smile on right now... I don't like it," Ryan says after they attempt to talk to the boy for a minute or two.
"I'm gonna touch it," Shane says, Ryan sighs.
"I know you're gonna touch it," he says, sounding defeated.
"Here we go Howie, I'm gonna touch your plane!" Shane says, building up to it before snatching the plane off the ground and flying it around the room, all the while imitating the sounds of a plane engine. I have to hold back laughter, Shane flies the plane towards the ground and makes the sound of an explosion, leaving the plane on the ground the same way he found it. All the while Ryan is holding his stomach and laughing. Shane smiles and we all start laughing, cutting the video there as we recover from the stunt.
Next we go into the art room where Ryan breaks out his newest toy, a pair of "dowsing rods" which will allegedly spin and move when a ghost wants to communicate. Shane immediately disapproves, goofing around with the rods much to Ryan dismay. After attempting to communicate with any ghosts in the room and coming up pretty much empty-handed, we move on.
Finally, Shane and Ryan will be exploring the third and reportedly most active floor, on their own.
"How you feeling?" Shane asks Ryan as we stand at the threshold of the third floor. Ryan doesn't give him a response, evidently too nervous to speak. "You know I'l go in first-" Shane says, Ryan turns back to him with wide eyes and Shane starts laughing,
"Dude." Is all Ryan can seem to say. Shane laughs again.
"Alright, I'm ready when you are," I say, facing the camera towards Shane. He nods and faces the hallway before heading down it.
"I am now walking alone on the third floor." He says slowly walking deeper into the hall, "There appears to be a great-" He pauses, "oh, Ryan's gonna hate this," He laughs to himself and soon his voice fades to a distant echo as he disappears into the hallways and rooms. I turn the camera to face Ryan now, and we wait for Shane's time to be up. Soon enough we hear the unmistakable screeches of the Spirit Box further into the building, Shane must have found a spot to stop and use the tech. We can also hear Shane's voice getting louder as he presumably yells at the spirits. I can't help but smile to myself.
Finally, Shane reappears down the hallway, looking unphased if not more at ease than he was earlier.
"Fun?" I ask. He nods,
"Oh yeah!" He says confidently,
"Your turn Bergara!" I say, Ryan's face is pale and his eyes are full of terror as he walks towards the hallway.
"Just keep walking! That's all you can do!" Shane calls out behind him.
We wait quietly for Ryan to finish his exploration, not wanting any of our voices to travel down the hall and trick Ryan into thinking he's heard a ghost whisper nearby. After a few minutes, Shane calls out to him,
"Ryan you gotta walk down that long hallway with all the doors!" He says, Ryan replies but his voice is hard to make out over the distance, Shane sighs,
"The one when you walk in, immediately on your left!" He explains,
"Alright!" Ryan calls back, his voice clearer now that he's closer. "Oh shit!" We hear him yell. He must have just seen the hallway Shane was talking about.
"Yeah! That's the one you have to walk down! Hurry up, you've got two minutes!" Shane yells, turning back to me and shaking his head. I laugh and we wait for the rest of Ryan's time to be up.
"Alright, Ryan you're coming up on 7 minutes!" Shane says after checking his watch. We hear Ryan quickly returning through the halls. He comes out looking shell shocked and we laugh.
"You seem rattled right now," Shane says as we descend to the 1st floor again.
"Yeah, I'm a little rattled! Because I just spent an entire 7 minutes up there alone, as a little ghost antenna- just talking with ghosts!" Ryan says. Shane and I laugh. "And I didn't enjoy it and I wanna leave now, so let's leave," he says, quickly going down the stairs. Shane smiles, looking over at me,
"Little Ghost Antenna, the Ryan Bergara Story," He jokes quietly to me and I laugh. Despite Shane's hushed tone, Ryan heard the joke,
"Shut up," He says and I laugh again before pushing the doors open at the bottom of the stairs.
"Ryan and Shane, why don't you stay here and we'll get a 'dramatic' exit shot," I say, ignoring Ryan's comment. He groans and Shane gives me a thumbs up. Devon, TJ and I head outside and then I turn back to face the door,
"You're good!" I yell, and Ryan practically bursts through the doors, I hold back laughter. The boys say goodbye to the location and then we're on our way. Next stop, London...