Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum

These halls are not desolate, these beds not empty. Oh how this building lives, it moans with each breath of the wind and creaks under the weight of its history. We no longer are confined to our rooms, nor do we wander the halls under watchful supervision. We are a part of this building, free to glide through its grounds, though seen we are not. How we have been desecrated, how our lives have been shamelessly reduced to a fleeting notion of those who have been. The greedy and ignorant make a mockery of our existence, reaping a distasteful profit.

I have been dwelling these hallowed grounds since 1864, though some of my fellows have not witnessed Father Time’s scornful humor. Some, such as those who have not witnessed the deterioration of our home, my cloister. There are some like I who believe men of good intentions placed us in this stone fortress, others still wail mournful cries of conspiracy. However, I too shall admit that the most noble of causes may curdle. We have seen overpopulation in its most extreme form, we have prevailed through fire scalding as Hell itself, we have suffered through the most dire of unsanitary conditions. We have survived.

The wise say that time changes, we can assure you they speak no fallacies. No longer can we rest in preserved tranquility; we now face new and unwanted tenants. These roistering crowds congregate around the grounds and clamor uninvited into our home. They do not visit out of empathy or concern, they do not even gather with traces of pity for our dour lives past. Rather they wave a banner of morbid fascination and seek the thrills of the paranormal. What a loathsome group they are, we all look at their abhorrent shamelessness with disdain.

Tours exploiting the paranormal, tasteless gift shops, and other trifle penny makers are what haunts us, what haunts the Damned. Our souls have never known peace, perhaps it was petty to even dare hope for peace in death. Souls, such as I, do not let disapproval and heartache turn to forfeit; rather we continue to reside here, residing in both our sanctuary and our pandemonium. We, the imprisoned souls of so many years have existed through turmoil that only we can truly know, and we shall continue for years to come. Once we were individuals, and now we are simply a collective entity of the deceased. We are the resolute residents of Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum.