by Rick Kueber
Minutes later we found ourselves gathered around a table waiting for our names to be called out, announcing that our orders were ready. Others were called out by name but I hardly noticed until “Rick...Vente French vanilla Latte” snapped me back to reality. We sat mostly in silence and our eyes rarely met as we sipped at our hot refreshments.
“So...now what are we going to do?” Theo finally broke the silence. “Well, I guess I'll have to make the call and tell them there was a cave in. He's not going to be happy.” Hilary was speaking about the owner of the infirmary property.
“This is definitely going to throw a wrench into the restoration plans.” Mike added. “I keep getting the feeling that this has 'ruined' the night for you guys. I'm sorry that you drove all day to get here, and only had a couple of hours of investigating... that sucks.” The disappointment showed on Hilary's face and in her words.
“Oh...” I was surprised. “I thought we were going back after we finished our coffee.” I spoke in a generalization, as none of us were drinking 'just coffee'... vanilla latte as always for me. I also believe that I shocked everyone, as all eyebrows raised when I mentioned returning, and I think Theo almost spit out his drink.
“Seriously?” Theo said when he finally finished choking. “Are you sure you want to risk going back... I mean, it's obviously a very volatile situation.”
“No kidding.” Mike added. “We can go back if you want, but we are going to have to be extra careful anywhere we go inside. If it happened once, it could happen again.”
“Yes, it could...but how are we going to get to the bottom of this haunting and help all of these poor souls?” The words came from my heart and helping souls, living and passed, was our purpose as paranormal investigators.
“You're right.” Theo's words were slow and his tone was quiet. “I certainly feel like they aren't there by choice. Maybe they were once, but not anymore.”
The conversation took a moment of silence as we all contemplated the dangers and the rewards that we were anticipating. Without saying anything, we looked back and forth at each other, each of us waiting for another to break the silence. It seemed like no one would follow Theo's statement, knowing it was most likely very accurate.
“Coffee to go?” Hilary said as she stood up unexpectedly. “Yeah... good call.” I agreed, I needed more caffeine to jolt me back to reality and back into investigation mode. “I think I'll just have regular coffee this time.”
“I don't know if that's possible here, but I'll see what I can do. How about four 'regular' coffees? Is that alright with everybody?” Mike said as he joined Hilary, standing up. We all agreed and took our steaming, 'to go' coffees to the truck and sipped slowly at them as we drove the short distance back to the infirmary.
Photos by Rick Kueber
Chapter 7 Tread Lightly
Before any of us were truly ready, the truck was pulling into the gravel parking lot and the ominous infirmary loomed over us. A moment of doubt and paranoia filled me and knotted my stomach. Something inside of me was saying that this place, these spirits, this blackness we had seen, were all laughing at me, taunting me and daring me to enter their domain. For a moment, I thought these entities could kill any one of us if they wanted too, but then it occurred to me... if that was true, they could have easily done that when I was hanging white knuckled about to fall. One more bit of falling concrete could have sent me to my demise amongst the destruction below. My courage and my desire began to return.
I was actually the first to open my door and abandon the safety of the warm truck. Safety...ha...an illusion, I know, but it certainly felt safer with the heater blowing and the radio playing low. The cold wind now cut through me like stabbing needles, stinging my ears and face with the sudden reappearance of fine drizzling rain. I tested the handheld gadgetry to assure myself that I wouldn't find one of them powerless, with dead batteries, once deep inside this dismal fortress of despair. The others soon joined me, and we began our short trek through the tangles of overgrown brush to the uninviting infirmary entrance.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” Mike posed the question to everyone one last time before reentering, reminding us of the apparent risks we would be taking.
“This place is dangerous, creepy, flooded with spirits and paranormal activity... of course I'm sure I want to go... not that I like it, but I'm sure we need to do some more digging and find any answers we can.” Theo had a comical, yet no nonsensical point of view, and he was right. We could not discard the tormented souls who were here. They needed help, and that was why we were here.
“Agreed.” I put my two cents in. “We may not figure everything out, or even 'fix' anything tonight, but I think we have more to learn before we leave.”
“I'm okay with going back in, but I have two requests: One, we separate into groups of two again. I don't think it's a good idea to all be in the same place at the same time. We need to be aware of everything, watch where we step, and keep an eye out for any signs of another collapse.” Hilary was obviously nervous about more than just the soundness of the structure.
“And what was the second thing?” Theo queried. “Sage... I am going to light a sage stick and keep it with me at all times. I have two, and I think it would be best if both 'teams' kept one burning.” Hilary added. We were all familiar with sage burning and smudging, and the properties that burning sage had. It had been used for centuries to ward off evil spirits and clear an area of negative energies. It was a tool that many used, some believed in, and we were putting our faith in.
We slowly passed the three steps to the entry and found ourselves back inside the icy grip of the infirmary. As we entered, Theo mumbled a prayer of protection to the saints asking them to watch over us. I wasn't sure if this made me feel better or more concerned, knowing that out of all of us, Theo saw and knew more of what we needed protection against. Our footsteps seemed alarmingly loud as we trampled through the collection of debris that littered the floor. Each of us had a scenario of where we were going, and who we would be going with, as well as what adventures, discoveries and horrors we might encounter. It was only when we reached the base of the first stairwell that we paused to make some sort of plan.
“Theo, do you want to go up to the fourth floor with me?” I asked. “That sounds fine to me, if you don't think we want to split up and each of us go with someone who knows the layout of the place.” He made a good point.
“Mike and I can go through the office areas down here and see if there are any useful documents that may have been left behind.” Hilary offered.
“Okay... That sounds like a good idea...and if Rick and I are not accompanied by one of you, we won't have any information and direction, which could actually be a good thing.” Theo pointed out again. “It could allow us to search someplace other that the 'usual' places you already have had experiences in.”
“True.” Hilary concurred. “Then take this with you and we'll meet you both back here in an hour, okay?”
“Sounds like a plan.” I nodded as I took the sage stick from her and checked to make sure I had a lighter in my pocket. Hilary and Mike headed slowly down the main corridor away from us and Theo and I entered the west wing stairwell and began our climb. I found myself still a little shaky as we rose higher in the unrailed staircase. Our assent was slow, but we kept a steady pace, stopping only briefly at each landing. During our pause at the second floor, while we looked and listened for any activity, I handed the sage and lighter to Theo, which he immediately lit and blew out a few times in a row, until a billowing pillar of sweet, white sage smoke drifted upwards and filled the air with its pungent and calming aroma. Turning my light to shine down each corridor, on each landing, I found it slightly unnerving to see the new layer of settled dust from the recent collapse.
Eventually we reached the uppermost landing and the end of the rising black-iron steps. Peering left down the west wing corridor, a straight ladder that went through an opening in the ceiling caught my eye. T
he adventurer in me was returning. I longed to climb to the top and see what treasures were hidden in the attic of the aged infirmary. I caught Theo's stare and turned my light in the direction he was looking. Ahead of us was the main corridor, but he was looking slightly to his right. The beam of dim LED lights cut through the misty air and landed on a door that was somewhat ajar.
“She's there.” The only words that left Theo's lips, chilled me to the bone. His eyes didn't blink, or waiver from their fixation on the door and the room that lay behind it.
“Who's there?” I couldn't help but wonder, and ask. “The woman who needs our help... the one whose emotions are crying out the loudest...Madison...” Theo reached his empty hand out towards the door. “That was her room, where she lived, and where she...died.”
The words painted a bleak picture of the spirit of Madison, but that was our whole reason for being here; to help her, and any others we may encounter. Theo waved his open hand over the sage stick several times and blew on it to rekindle the fiery cinders and cause the smoke to surge once more. Placing my light between my knees, I tapped him on the shoulder and held a finger up, gesturing him to wait while I retrieved my digital recorder from my inside jacket pocket and prep it for an evp recording session. I followed him to the door and watched as he effortlessly pushed it open with his one free hand.
The room was much the same as others we had seen. Bits of trash and scraps of paper covered the floor, an old broken down bed was pushed up against the wall just to the right of a large multi-paned window, and an old built-in book case took up most of the wall to the left of the door. Even I could feel the sadness as I stepped into the room. It felt much like stepping off of a hospital elevator into the terminal ward; oppressive and hopeless. I laid my recorder on one of the empty bookshelves and stood silently as an observer, noticing that Theo seemed to be somewhere between worlds, still physically in front of me, but mentally and spiritually, he was somewhere else...somewhere distant.
*** “Madison...” He spoke softly. “Don't be afraid. We are your friends, and we are here to help you. What can you tell us?” Everything was different from Theo's point of view. At times he saw things differently than anyone else... he also saw things that I simply could not see, or even imagine seeing.
The thin frame of the young woman was sitting on the floor at the far end of the uncomfortable looking bed. Her knees were drawn up to her chest, with her arms wrapped tightly around them. Madison's face was buried in the small space between her knees and her chest, and her long, straight, and unkempt hair fell down over her spindly legs. Her head raised ever so slowly, and only slightly, followed by her eyes. Her gaze was fixed on Theo. Though she stared directly at him, it was as if she didn't believe what she was seeing. Her arms let loose and stretched out to either side, her hands, limp at the wrists. Though her lips never moved, her eyes spoke and Theo heard her voice within his own mind. The frail female voice in his head uttered a solitary word. “See.”
Two rather large men in white button down shirts and white pants with shiny black leather shoes and belts materialized on either side of her holding her by the wrists. A scene was playing out before Theo, some emotional recording or residual haunting incident from her past. The men did not notice or see him, but he felt as if he was in the room on the day this moment occurred. The scuffling sounds, grunts and groans and voices were as clear as the day they were uttered. The smells of fresh shoe polish and of disinfectant and soiled linens infiltrated his senses.
“Come on princess... time to get you stripped down, scrubbed up and down in the therapy baths, then off to bed for you.” One of the men said in a cruel tone.
“Princess? She ain't no princess, my friend. This here's Queen Madison, but I think 'Maddie' is more appropriate.” Spouted the second orderly, his heartless sarcasm pained Theo, who could feel the hurt from within the young girl.
“Oh my! Well, beggin' your pardon madam. I didn't realize you were royalty!” The first man said as he let go a boisterous laugh. “Yes... forgive him, your Royal Maddness!” The other taunted as they pulled her from the floor, unwillingly, and nearly drug her past Theo, dissolving into a cloudy mist as they passed through where I stood.
It was at that moment, when the newness of the infirmary, the two orderlies, and Madison began to dissipate, that the dark, dreary and fowl funk of the present reappeared. Our two realities overlapped for only a brief moment and I shivered as their shadows passed me by. For Theo, it was a snap back to the present reality.
“Not sure how this all adds into things, but I just saw two men, two infirmary workers, teasing Madison. They were calling her 'Maddie' and “Maddness' and they drug her out, against her will, to be bathed and to some kind of therapy.” Theo explained his vision, giving only the basic details.
“I wonder what kind of therapy they were taking her to? Maybe for some kind of electroshock therapy?” I pried for more information.
“I really don't know, but it feels like it was a therapeutic bath or something like that. I wish she had given me more of a glimpse.” Frustration was apparent in his voice..
Never making eye contact, Theo brushed past me and reentered the corridor. I was unable to remain in the room. Something urged me to follow him into the hallway. Remaining a few steps behind, I watched cautiously as Theo meandered down the corridor a dozen or so steps before I called out for him to “Stop!”. My flashlight remained poised just in front of his steps, watching for any dangers that he might not notice. I feared that Theo might be in some trance like state, or wandering in a vision that may not reveal the dangers of this reality. Theo halted and slowly turned back to face me, his hand pointing farther down the way.
“Down there...on the left... I think they took her in there.” His voice was shallow but clear. “If you'll wait here, I'll go take a look.” I shook my light back and forth, flashing it across the floor in front of Theo. “You might want to back up a few steps. Doesn't look too safe.”
Theo turned back to discover my light illuminating several areas of rot and decay, like the talons of some dragon or demon had torn straight through the floor in long slashing tears, amidst a scattering of debris, that showed Nervously, I moved firmness under foot before allowing the entirety of my weight to shift. The floor of this wing was wooden, and though not as heavily constructed as the other wing, it appeared far more decayed than the one that had collapsed beneath us. The quietest of moans was let loose as each step pressed heavily onto the spongy surface of the wooden floor. I held my breath between strides and only exhaled once I was assured I would not be plummeting through the floor.
There were two doors ahead, to my left, but I instinctively knew I was to enter the second door. The closer I was to the door, the heavier the air around me became, and the deeper the sadness in my heart grew...though I did not understand why. I stayed close to the left hand wall whenever the sturdiness of the floor would allow, scooting my feet across the floor, and feeling the grit of sandy dust scratching beneath me. When I arrived at the doorway, my back was pressed against the wall and my left hand and arm reached out pressing my fingers and palm against the slightly ajar door. I was surprised that it swung open nearly through to the third story hallway below us.
past him, stepping ever so slowly, feeling the two feet with very little effort. I peered inside, scanning the floor and the layout of the room with my somewhat dim flashlight. The batteries were already beginning to fail in the frigid cold of the infirmary.
I slid farther against the wall, until I felt the door frame bump between my shoulder blades. I tested the floor just inside of the doorway with the toe of my shoe and soon found it to be quite solid. Shifting my weight, I stepped into the room and shone my now dim flashlight around to discern exactly what kind of room I had entered. The room was no larger than ten foot from the door to the window on the opposite side of the room and fifteen foot, or so, in the opposite direction. To my left were two standalone sinks and the wall just on the other side from the h
allway wall was lined with partitions. It was a restroom, and obviously updated since the original days of the Infirmary.
I tapped the end of my flashlight and the beam momentarily grew brighter, casting its light across the edge of the partitions and creating eerie shadows and reflections against the far wall. Without warning, a shadowy figure, head and shoulders peeked out from behind the furthest partition and suddenly disappeared. I rushed to the end of the room, without thinking of the imminent dangers, to catch another glance of this otherworldly being, only to find it had disappeared without a trace. I retrieved the K-II meter from my jacket pocket and turned it on. There were a few weak flickers of light showing a minimal amount of trace energy that quickly faded, much like my light. I decided to make my way back to where Theo completely died.
On my return was before the batteries in my flashlight through the corridor of doom, I paused, noticing something that had caught my curiosity before. There as obvious as could be was the old wooden straight ladder that led up to an upper level, an attic and the belfry.
“You going up there?” Theo whispered loudly, nearly chuckling as he pointed to the small rectangular opening in the ceiling where the ladder disappeared into the nothingness beyond.
“What do you think?” I said with a smirk. “But, I'm going to need a better light. This one's about dead.” “Seriously?” Theo acted completely surprised by my response. “Do you think that ladder will hold you? It looks as sketchy as the floor” He nodded towards the dilapidated structure that I had been so cautious about only moments before... the same structure that the ladder was resting on.
Theo carefully walked up to the opposite side of the ladder and we exchanged lights through its rungs. It was then that I noticed the poor, degraded condition of the ladder. There was a better chance that it was completely dry-rotted than any chance of it actually supporting nearly two hundred pounds of weight. Regardless, I placed a foot on the bottom rung, and slowly tested it. It held. One panicky step at a time, I climbed, higher and higher. When I had nearly reached the top, I looked down.