The Asylum

During the month of June in 2020, five employees of an environmental consulting company arrived in [REDACTED] to complete a series of bat surveys on a property with numerous condemned buildings. Bat surveys are conducted 30 minutes prior to sunset and one hour after for a total survey time of 90 minutes. According to the protocols for species at risk bats by the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry, suitable weather means low wind, no precipitation, and temperatures above 10 degrees Celsius. In 1876 the site was called the [REDACTED] Asylum for Idiots. The following logs a series of unusual phenomena that each employee experienced and later recounted to their fellow coworkers.

June 07, 9:13 PM

Lincoln sat in his lawn chair, watching for bats that could be emerging from a hole in the ceiling of the building. He had a bat detector attached to his phone and had turned the volume up as high as it would go, hopeful that he would hear bats. It was his first time working on site, and he had never heard of what had gone on at this location in the past.

He had no knowledge of the various ghostly encounters reported by the security guards. An odd noise, it sounded almost like a whisper, drew his attention to the bat detector. A square of text had appeared, but it had not identified a species of bat yet. After watching it for a few seconds the recorder labelled it as NOISE and automatically deleted the recording.

Returning his attention to watching for bats, Lincoln was again distracted when he heard a whispering coming from the bat detector. It was louder this time, but he still could not make out any words. He tried not to shift in his chair to avoid contaminating the recording, but he did change the settings in order to stop entries labelled as NOISE from automatically deleting.

It was simple curiosity to start with. Lincoln had always enjoyed watching Ghost Hunters on tv as a kid. Minutes went by as the sky darkened. Sunset had been at 8:57 pm. Lincoln would remain seated until 9:57 pm. Again, he heard the whisper, this time it sounded like his name. Lincoln…

At approximately 9:33, Lincoln’s coworker, Tom, reported seeing him running to the field vehicle. When Tom texted him to see if he was okay, Lincoln wrote that something had shouted his name right by his ear. He texted that he would not be returning to complete any additional bat surveys. Tom stated that Lincoln drove away after that message. When the team reconvened at the end of the night, after 9:57 pm, Tom asked if anyone had heard anything strange. Something that could not be considered an animal.

Jacinda said she heard rustling in the bushes, but assumed it was a raccoon. Everyone else reported sightings of a few bats, and numerous bird species including common nighthawks, warblers, and sparrows.

June 08, 7:56 PM

Jacinda had arrived early and decided she would sign in before everyone else arrived. As she was signing in the security guard on duty asked her how the bat surveys were going. All of the security guards had been informed that the team would be surveying bats for the duration of the month of June.

She was polite, and informed him what they had seen so far, explaining why it was important to conduct the surveys as the Eastern Small-footed Myotis, Little Brown Myotis, Northern Myotis, and Tri-coloured Bat, are all endangered species in Ontario. Bats in North America are also threatened by white nose syndrome, a disease that is caused by a fungus. It affects hibernating bats with a mortality as high as 90-100 percent.

While Jacinda waited for her other coworkers to arrive the conversation turned to what the building she would be watching had previously been used for. Today most of the buildings were condemned. Back in 1876, the asylum housed people with mental illnesses that were considered incurable or untreatable. In 1907 it was renamed the [REDACTED], and then again renamed in 1973 as the [REDACTED] until it closed in 2009. Many previous residents and their families had pursued legal action against the centre.

The security officer, Mikey, said many abuses had occurred on the grounds. Numerous sad stories of overcrowding, illness, and death. He told Jacinda that if she sees a young girl in a red dress that she shouldn’t worry. Almost all of the security officers had seen her at some point. Jacinda, in her naivete, asked him, “Does she live around here or something? Why would she be out after dark?”

“She isn’t living any more,” Mikey said by way of explanation. She didn’t have a moment to ask him more questions as her coworkers had arrived and were also signing in. She did not see Mikey on shift for the remainder of the survey nights.

June 08, 9:03 PM

Vera had arrived in town earlier that night to replace Lincoln. She had admitted to feeling unsettled about the fact that Lincoln said he had heard someone shout his name. She assumed it was just one of her coworkers messing with him. Probably Melissa—it sounded like something her coworker would do even though she did not admit to it.

After hearing some strange noises on the bat detector she decided to turn down the volume and focus on watching the access point she had been assigned to. She discovered a family of raccoons were having their way with the place, climbing in and out of the hole. She did not see any bats entering or exiting the access point.

June 10, 9:32 PM

Tom, having been thinking about what had happened to Lincoln earlier in the week, jumped from his chair when he heard a rustling coming from behind him. He laughed to himself as he saw a racoon climb down from a tree and walk out of sight.

He made a conscious effort not to look in the windows of the buildings. The night before he could have sworn he had seen a dark shadow in one window. Tonight, sitting in the same spot for a second survey, he convinced himself it was simply a reflection. Ghosts aren’t real, he rationalized.

He never did see the floating orb of light that drifted behind him but did write on his data sheet that there was a significant drop in temperature for the last half hour of his survey. Tom did find it unusual that, as he returned to where the vehicles were parked, the temperature seemed to return back to 23 degrees Celsius. He also noticed that none of his coworkers had complained of being cold despite one of them still being in a T-shirt.

June 10, 9:39 PM

While Tom did not notice the floating orb of light, Jacinda did. She thought it was someone’s flashlight and did not think anything else of it as she put on a sweater to deter the mosquitos.

June 14, 8:25 PM

“I ain’t afraid of no ghost,” Melissa stated after Jacinda recounted the story of the girl in the red dress. They were on their way to their assigned positions which they would have to be at by 8:34 PM.

Jacinda laughed, but she felt an involuntary shiver make its way up her spine.

June 14, 9:06 PM

Jacinda felt frozen in her chair as she listened to the bat radar on her phone. She definitely did not hear bats. She remained as still as possible. At first it was just a couple of notes of a tune she did not know. Humming.

The woman texted Melissa, Stop fucking with me. Seriously.

Melissa took a sip of coffee before replying, What?

Jacinda licked her lips, I know it’s you humming. I just don’t know how it’s showing up on the recorder.

I don’t know what you are talking about. Too many ghost stories for you.

Jacinda took a breath, the humming had gotten louder. She decided to turn the volume off on her phone and focus on watching the crack in the mortar that she had been assigned too. She almost didn’t see a single bat slip from the crack and fly over her head.

June 14, 9:43 PM

Vera had been assigned to watch the tower on the top of the building. She felt more comfortable in this location, as it was closer to the road and better lit with streetlamps. The security guard had even driven past a couple of times while she had been seated there. To ward off the mosquitos she zipped up her wind breaker and pulled the hood over her ball cap.

Swatting away a mosquito, she tugged her hood back into place. The hood slipped off her head a moment later though. Vera again pulled the hood into place, but the same thing happened. The hood slipped off. This time, despite the mosquitos biting at her hand, she pulled on the hood and held it.

Vera screamed when her hood was forcefully pulled off of her head. Tom, who was closest to her at the time, ran to check on her. He flashed his light in her direction, “Are you okay?”

Vera, not wanting to seem irrational in front of Tom, told him that a large insect had startled her. She texted the group chat, Sorry guys. Watch out for bugs like mini helicopters. She did not try to put her hood on again and made up an excuse for being unavailable for the remainder of the bat surveys. She did not recount her experience until a few months after the occurrence when the work had been completed.

June 16, 9:05 PM

Jacinda was still distancing herself from Melissa. The humming noises had really scared her. She couldn’t provide evidence however as the humming had not been picked up by the bat detector. She had listened to the entire recording of the night and heard nothing unusual.

This time she also had three points to watch and was not even close to Melissa’s station. She turned up the sound on the bat detector and waited. A shiver went up her spine. She could hear the humming again. It was getting steadily louder. Jacinda pulled out her other phone and started recording the sound. She looked around, whispered, “Hello?”

The humming stopped. Then Jacinda saw her. A young girl of about eight years old in a plain red dress. Her hair looked unwashed and unkept. Jacinda blinked and she was gone. After that, Jacinda made sure to keep her headlamp on at all times. Red light would not disrupt the bats and it made her feel less afraid.

July 5, 2:08 PM

Melissa was processing all of the recordings through a secondary bat detector software in order to ensure that all bat calls had been properly identified and accounted for. She had her headphones on and was listening to recordings from June 7. The same night that Lincoln reported hearing his name. She had teased him about the incident, but now, Melissa felt her palms grow moist.

She heard Lincoln’s name being repeated. First, just a whisper, but then becoming gradually louder. Melissa flinched, throwing her headphones off as the whisper turned to a shout. The next day, Melissa apologized to Lincoln and shared the recordings with her coworkers. Lincoln later explained that a relative of his had been housed at the asylum. A great uncle that his family rarely spoke about.

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There are many locations in this world haunted by dark histories. Residential schools, care centers, and hospitals. This story is fiction but the stories of those that died and those that survived should not be forgotten.

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Written by Kelsey Reich on June 22/2021 in Ontario, Canada. Edited June 24/2021.