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Thursday, 23 October 2008
The Alabama Paranormal Research Team & Old Bryce Hospital
By Lauren Stover
As I stood outside the former nursing home, a cool late night breeze sent chills down my spine. I suited up with a
flashlight, digital camera and electromagnetic field reader in hand. I had been invited by the Alabama Paranormal
Research Team on an investigation. I took a look at the team I would be shadowing for the night. They wore matching
investigation vests and jackets with infrared cameras, temperature gages and a whole slew of professional equipment.
There was no doubt about it, these were experienced ghost hunters.
We would begin the night by investigating the former S.D. Allen Intermediate Care Facility, also known as a nursing
home. The facility was founded in 1976 for men and women over 65 diagnosed with primary mental illness and
conditions that require nursing. However, the facility was built to house 138 patients and closed down in 2003 with only
36 patients. With this building adjacent to the former Bryce hospital, also known as the former Alabama Insane Hospital
or "Old Bryce", we expected plenty of spirits waiting to greet us.
I had much difficulty finding anything on the former Bryce hospital. After digging through old newspaper clippings and
reading several dozen articles I managed to come upon some interesting information. After Mims Jemison, brother of
Robert Jemison, was killed in the Civil War, the state purchased his country home and the land. This was used to build
a second Bryce hospital to house the increasing number of black patients. A large number of the patients were not in
fact mentally ill but lived there due to difficult circumstances after the end of slavery. Due to lack of funds, the patients
had to be self sufficient making their own clothes and working the fields for food and cotton. It is reported that many
patients were kept in the hospital for life for their ability to labor. There were periods of time in which the conditions of
the hospital were not just inhumane, but unlivable.
The Alabama Paranormal Research Team was founded by best friends Faith Serafin and Cassie Clark. The two have
had experiences with the paranormal since early childhood.
"I know from personal experiences and investigating that there's something out there," Clark said.
The group is non-profit and has investigated across the southeast as well as Gettysburg, PA where they found the
ghost of a little boy named Jeremy. The boy played with both Serafin and Clark's hair while they attempted to sleep in
the Farnsworth House. He also seemed to be opening the attic door repeatedly.
"A lot of the evidence we find is by sheer accident," Serafin said.
Prior to entering, the team had warned me about what to expect. In their years of experience, they've heard voices
singing, felt something pushing them or touching them and some claim to have experienced stigmata.
We immediately saw activity under the full moon as Liz Chandler's field meter began moving. Chandler was a guest
investigator of Druid City Paranormal.
"This is gonna be a fun night," Daniel Watts, also of Druid City Paranormal, said with a laugh.
Stepping inside the dark corridors of the abandoned nursing home I wasn't quite sure if I was having fun. The paint
from the walls was peeling off in layers and most of the windows had been shattered. The doors to all of the dark,
empty rooms stood open. I was spinning in all directions with my flashlight on the lookout for a dangerous person or
maybe even a ghost.
Our investigation was interrupted almost immediately by carloads of drunken teenagers looking for a haunted house to
party in. As soon as the team scared off one carload another would be following in behind it. We learned quickly that
this would be an all night battle.
Once back inside the nursing home we set off to find the doctor's office. The room seemed to give us all knots in the
pits of our stomachs. Something about this room felt wrong. Something was lurking inside this room. As I stepped
further inside I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. Something cool grazed my face and I had to remind
myself that I don't believe in ghosts. Serafin and Chandler began searching for activity. The temperature gages
fluctuated up and down and the electromagnetic field readers shot up as high as they could go. I may not believe in
ghosts yet, but something was happening in this room.
"Did you hear that," Michelle Smith, another investigator said. "I heard a little girl's laugh."
"I feel something cold leaning on my leg," said Darrell Owens, one of the team's newest members.
I was beginning to feel uneasy. Earlier in the night I was confident that ghosts do not exist, but in that moment I was not
prepared for what was happening. Just as things were slowing down we got an alert. The drunken teenagers were
back on the scene. The team scared them off again, but this time with much resistance. Something told me they would
be back again.
It was about 2 a.m. when we approached the former mental institution. The long dirt road to the abandoned building
lined with druid oaks loomed behind us. The cotton fields stretched beyond where we could see and the hospital
entrance towered above us. The roof on the top floor had caved in from a fire. Inside, debris from the ceiling, former
doors and mattresses lay scattered across the floors and staircase. It looked like a war scene and I felt sad as I tried to
picture the beautiful building it used to be.
We made our way into the basement to begin investigating. The walls were covered in graffiti and the old skylights
were now just holes in the ceiling. Just as we began we heard voices and footsteps above. The footsteps echoed in
the empty building as they made their way up the stairwell. The voices laughed and screamed and some tried to
whisper. We entered the stair well and started up following the noises. As we reached the main level we noticed an
empty car outside. It was the same car of the teenagers so resistant to leave earlier. The team found them one by one
hiding in different rooms of the hospital and sent them all home again. Surely these kids were just begging to get
arrested. For future reference when ghost hunting this Halloween, this location is private property and under constant
surveillance. Do yourself a favor and don't get arrested for trespassing.
It seemed that it was curfew time and we had finally seen the last of these kids. So we went back inside to try to find
one last ghost. The team made their way upstairs ... to the tuberculosis ward. I slipped a mask on over my nose and
mouth, just to be safe, and followed the lead. Beds stood in line against the walls just a few feet apart. The windows
were barred and little moonlight made its way through. The air was cold and moist and immediately the meters began
to flicker. The team acted quickly recording the activity and provoking the source of it. Serafin appeared to have the
strongest influence on the spirit.
"Do you want us to be here," she asked. The meter moved.
"Do you want us to leave?" The meter flickered uncontrollably.
Still convinced I don't believe in ghosts, I don't know how to explain what was happening. Eventually, the activity died
down and we decided to call it a night. As we stepped back into the night an eerie 4 a.m. fog covered the fields. I
bounced my flashlight in all directions checking for any strangers in the night that might pop out.
"So what did you think," Serafin asked me.
I was speechless. I'm still not sure how I feel about ghosts but what had made those meters move?
To find out more about the investigation and about the Alabama Paranormal Research Team visit
www.alabamaghosthunters.com.
©2005 Planet Weekly | Webmaster
Paranormal Research Team looks into
University Chapel
Brittany Whitley
Staff writer
Published: October 30, 2008
view this story online CLICK HERE
The Alabama Paranormal Research Team staked out the Auburn University Chapel
on Saturday night in search of Sydney Grimmett, the ghost of a Civil War soldier who
is said to be seen in the church’s rafters. But whether Grimmett was present that night
is a mystery.
The night was quiet until the end, when power readings began to increase and there
was a water incident in one of the restrooms.
“It was really odd, I can’t say for sure the ghost of Sydney Grimmett lives in the
bathroom of the Chapel, but there was definitely some odd
phenomenon,” said team member Faith Serafin.
Serafin, John-Mark Poe, Michelle Smith, Cassie Clark and Shane Clark brought voice
recorders, video recorders, equipment aimed at capturing electromagnet fields and
other gear to the 158-year-old church to record and identify paranormal phenomenon.
“There was originally a group of planters (plantation owners) that set it (the Chapel)
up as a hospital for the regiment ... ,” Poe said. The regiment came from Texas, he
said.
“(The person) who is said to be in here is one of those Texas men who died,” he said.
“Supposedly he got shot in the leg and got gangrene and died here and was buried
out at Pine Hill (Cemetery),” Smith said.
Most of the paranormal activity happened when the chapel was the university theater.
“That’s when they had everything that went on,” Smith said.
At the theater’s new location, the Telfair Peet Theatre, students leave candy out for
Grimmett, who is said to have followed the group.
Once the investigation began, most of the spooky stuff took place in the women’s
bathroom, not the rafters.
The power reading increased in the bathroom and there was an eerie feeling. Hand-
held radios buzzed unexpectedly and, at the end of the night, the water was found
dripping from a faucet despite being off before the investigation began.
“It sounded like the water in the bathroom went on. ... The water was dripping like
someone had turned it off quickly. ... I know when I was in there earlier I had turned it
off,” Serafin said.
University Chapel
Brittany Whitley
Staff writer
Published: October 30, 2008
view this story online CLICK HERE
The Alabama Paranormal Research Team staked out the Auburn University Chapel
on Saturday night in search of Sydney Grimmett, the ghost of a Civil War soldier who
is said to be seen in the church’s rafters. But whether Grimmett was present that night
is a mystery.
The night was quiet until the end, when power readings began to increase and there
was a water incident in one of the restrooms.
“It was really odd, I can’t say for sure the ghost of Sydney Grimmett lives in the
bathroom of the Chapel, but there was definitely some odd
phenomenon,” said team member Faith Serafin.
Serafin, John-Mark Poe, Michelle Smith, Cassie Clark and Shane Clark brought voice
recorders, video recorders, equipment aimed at capturing electromagnet fields and
other gear to the 158-year-old church to record and identify paranormal phenomenon.
“There was originally a group of planters (plantation owners) that set it (the Chapel)
up as a hospital for the regiment ... ,” Poe said. The regiment came from Texas, he
said.
“(The person) who is said to be in here is one of those Texas men who died,” he said.
“Supposedly he got shot in the leg and got gangrene and died here and was buried
out at Pine Hill (Cemetery),” Smith said.
Most of the paranormal activity happened when the chapel was the university theater.
“That’s when they had everything that went on,” Smith said.
At the theater’s new location, the Telfair Peet Theatre, students leave candy out for
Grimmett, who is said to have followed the group.
Once the investigation began, most of the spooky stuff took place in the women’s
bathroom, not the rafters.
The power reading increased in the bathroom and there was an eerie feeling. Hand-
held radios buzzed unexpectedly and, at the end of the night, the water was found
dripping from a faucet despite being off before the investigation began.
“It sounded like the water in the bathroom went on. ... The water was dripping like
someone had turned it off quickly. ... I know when I was in there earlier I had turned it
off,” Serafin said.
