Between its Time as a Hospital, a Mental Health Clinic, and a Prison, Cresson Has Borne Witness to Almost a Century of Suffering, Death, and Tragedy

Originally built in 1903 to treat patients suffering from Tuberculosis, Cresson Sanatorium later became a federal prison. It's dark past has now led it to be called America's most haunted hospital and prison.

Special Guest: Rachel Raschella

Keep up on Amy’s projects and appearances at amybruni.com. And visit strangeescapes.travel to book your haunted vacation today.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Haunted Road, a production of iHeartRadio and Grim
and Mild from Aaron Minky listener. Discretion is advised. In
my years of investigating defunct sanitoriums, mental health facilities, and jails.

(00:21):
I've seen it all. Full bodied apparitions, shadow figures, doors, slamming,
you name it. Perhaps more alarming, I've heard whispers in
my ear, and in some cases I've been touched and
grabbed by unseen forces. Even as seasoned an investigator as
I am, I know when I walk through the dilapidated

(00:41):
doors or squeaky gates of these old complexes, something unexplainable
will happen. And that knowledge and expectancy to this day
still sends a chill down my spine as I begin.
But what happens when the location wasn't just a sanatorium,
mental health facility, or jail. What if at some point

(01:03):
in its history it was all three? Join me friends
as we journey to CRESCN Sanatorium in Lily, Pennsylvania. I'm
Amy Bruney, and welcome to Haunted Road. The Crescent Sanitorium

(01:26):
in prison stands two thousand feet above sea level, perched
in the peaks of Pennsylvania's Allegheny Mountain Range. The complex
includes roughly twenty buildings. The picturesque, three story Tudor Revival
style administrative building is made of brick and wood and
has a peaked roof. The structure might remind visitors of
a witch's cottage hidden in the forest. Meanwhile, the surrounding

(01:50):
buildings look more modern and utilitarian. If you step inside them,
you'll find crumbling rooms with chipped paint and, in some
cases old abandon and equipment. The on site power station
is still filled with dated machinery. Inside the administrative building,
a wooden lobby welcomes visitors only for the doors to

(02:11):
open to long abandoned prison cells. Elsewhere in the complex,
a sunny window lined chapel sits locked behind a wrought
iron door with a cross pattern. Eerie stone lined underground
tunnels connect the buildings. These dark corridors feature bare concrete
walls and flooring, exposed ducts, and water stains. The whole

(02:33):
Crescent Sanatorium and Prison facility is like this, a blend
of warm, welcoming imagery with locked doors, ominous layouts, and
other features that hint at a much darker past. It
was originally built in nineteen sixteen, and it owes its
existence to steel magnate Andrew Carnegie. Initially, he bought the
land because he wanted to give his mother a mountaintop mansion.

(02:56):
The area he chose was popular among wealthy Cosmoposslitans looking
for a place to get away from it all. Sadly,
his mother passed away before the house was built. The
grieving Carnegie sold the property for just one dollar, as
the Cambria Memory Project's history one web page reports, he
just had one caveat the buyer. The state of Pennsylvania

(03:20):
had to build a tuberculosis hospital on the land. That
clinic came to be known as Cresson Sanatorium, named after
the nearby town of Crescin, but residents just called it
the sand and patients flocked to it, drawn by its
promise of therapeutic, clean mountain air and is setting so
remote it was only accessible by mule drawn wagon or sled.

(03:44):
Today we know TB can be treated with antibiotics, but
in the early twentieth century, doctors believed the best remedies were,
as the Cambria Memory Project put it, fresh air, nourishing food,
and bed rest. Understandably, these methods weren't particularly effective. Tuberculosis,

(04:05):
also known as consumption, is a life threatening disease that
progressively destroys a person's lungs. One TB patient who was
treated at Cressin compared her diagnosis to cancer, as reported
on wqed's episode Crescin remembering life at the Sand. While
the prognosis wasn't great, the sanatorium was otherwise a peaceful,

(04:27):
bucolic escape for the patients. Residents would spend a significant
portion of their time sunbathing and so called cure chairs.
These were canvas seats arranged outdoors. Unfortunately, this daily treatment
was required year round, rain, snow or shine. When they
weren't lounging in the open air, residents could do art projects,

(04:48):
play cards, or screen movies together. They hosted talent shows
in planted hemlock, pine and spruce trees all over the
property thanks to a planting program established in nineteen seventeen,
and the sand drew prestigious guests like Helen Keller, who
gave an inspirational speech there in nineteen twenty. The residents
even published a newsletter and broadcast their own radio station,

(05:11):
which patients could listen to in bed through headphones if
they were too sick to get up. As dire as
any TB diagnosis was, the care at the Sand was
considered top notch. The scare Factor's Haunted Creston's Sanatorium web
page says that numerous residents had begun to recover from
their illness by the nineteen twenties, and many chose to

(05:33):
stay at the Sand not as patients but as caregivers.
The facility offered a nursing school on site for over
thirty years. As more adult patients healed, the hospital was
able to take on other forms of residents, especially children.
The children's ward opened in nineteen thirty two. Many of
the kids at the Sand weren't actively suffering from TB,

(05:55):
but they needed to undergo preventative treatment after friends or
family members had become ill. As treatment and medical knowledge advanced,
so did the facility's offerings over the decades. They installed
X ray machines and began offering surgeries on site rather
than requiring patients to transfer to another hospital for operations.

(06:16):
But in the nineteen fifties, doctors across the world began
implementing new, more effective Tuberculosi's treatments. This was good news
for many people diagnosed with TB, but it meant that
Crescent Sanatorium needed to find a new specialty. It was
converted to a mental health hospital in nineteen sixty four.
When the few remaining patients at the sanatorium learned they'd

(06:38):
be moved to another facility, they objected to the change strenuously.
The Pittsburgh Post Casette published their open letter, which said,
we wish to protest this action. Every patient in this
hospital is very much opposed to being transferred. But their
complaints didn't sway anyone. Unfortunately, the hospital's new focus on

(07:02):
mental health treatment came with sloppiness and corner cutting. At
some point, the people running it became aware that the
buildings weren't in compliance with fire code, but they failed
to make the necessary fixes. They also lost extensive records
during nineteen seventy two's Hurricane Agnes. Among other things, the

(07:23):
storm destroyed all the information they'd had about who was
buried in the facility's graveyard. It's estimated that three hundred
and fifty people were interred there, their identities lost to time. Then,
on February fifteenth, nineteen seventy three, another inevitable tragedy struck,
a fire broke out, claiming three lives. Twenty one year

(07:45):
old Carl Dodara and thirty year old John Lytell were
both sleeping in the dormitories when the fires first ignited.
They succumbed to smoke inhalation. Another resident died days later
in a hospital, twenty one year old Allie Streppa. The
facility was rebuilt and operated for nearly a decade more. Finally,

(08:06):
the mental health hospital closed its doors at the end
of nineteen eighty two, only to reopen about four years later,
this time as a prison. Renamed Sci Cressn or Cresson
State Prison. The medium security men's facility could accommodate four
hundred ninety nine inmates, although it later grew and incorporated

(08:28):
a maximum security juvenile operation as well. While the penal
institution was able to utilize many of the original buildings
from the sanatorium, several structures were demolished so new ones
could be built in their place. When Crescent State Prison
received its first prisoners in February nineteen eighty seven, it
quickly became home to some of the most dangerous and

(08:49):
violent criminals of the time, men like serial killer Joseph Kallinger.
Joseph was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia during his incarceration, but
prior to that, he believed God had ordered him to
kill three million people. He recruited his twelve year old
son to help him on his murderous mission, and together

(09:09):
the father and child murdered numerous people, including another of
Joseph's sons, fourteen year old Joseph Junior. After his conviction,
Joseph spent some time in a mental health facility, then
was transferred to Sci Cresson. He remained there six years,
the final five of which were in solitary confinement with

(09:30):
constant surveillance due to fears that he'd take his own life. Ultimately,
he died of natural causes on March twenty sixth, nineteen
ninety six. The following year, another infamous killer moved in
to crescn. This was John E. DuPont, an eccentric millionaire
who became dangerously paranoid in the nineteen nineties. Debbie Goldberg

(09:51):
reported in The Washington Post that John came to believe
he was in some kind of danger and lined his
home with razor wire as a protective measure. He seemed
to think The trees on his estate were both mobile
and mechanical and moved around. The same article also notes
that John often referred to himself as Christ Child and

(10:12):
Dali Lama. In addition to his mental health struggles, John
was deeply invested in athletics. In an article with The
New York Times, Jerry Longman wrote that John had an
athletic facility constructed, and he financially sponsored swim wrestling, and
pentathlete teams. He also allowed Olympic wrestler Dave Schultz and
his family to live on his estate. On January sixth,

(10:35):
nineteen ninety six, John fatally shot Dave. His motives are
still unclear, but it has been speculated that John believed
Dave was conspiring against him somehow. After his arrest and conviction,
he lived at the Crescent State Prison from nineteen ninety
seven to December twenty ten. The seventy two year old
died in Crescent of natural causes. By this time, the

(11:00):
facility had fallen a long way from the beloved Airy
tb Sanatorium it had once been. These days, the prison
guards and other officials were especially harsh to inmates with
mental health conditions, who were often brutally punished for behavior
related to their disorders. Punishments included withholding showers, toilet paper,

(11:21):
and mattresses. Many prisoners were thrown into isolation, a brutal,
damagingly stressful measure, even for people with no previous history
of mental health struggles. In light of all this, it's
probably no surprise that many incarcerated people at Cresson State
Prison took their own lives. One inmate who survived a

(11:41):
suicide attempt was punished for trying to kill himself. He
was charged a fine and spent about a month in isolation.
The US Department of Justice opened an investigation on the facility.
In their final report, Thomas E. Perez and David J.
Hickton wrote that Cresson State Prison was violating inmates constitutional rights.

(12:03):
They said Cresson routinely locks prisoners with serious mental illness
in their cells for roughly twenty three hours per day,
for months, even years at a time. However, when the
Crescent State Prison shut down in twenty fifteen, it wasn't
because of the chronic mistreatment. It was because the facility
had grown too expensive to maintain. As reported by Jim

(12:26):
Cheney in Uncovering Pennsylvania. Most recently, that Cresson Sanatorium and
Prison Facility has operated as a hydroponic farm which is
run by Big House Produce. They used to offer tours,
but recently closed. They posted on their GoFundMe page that
this is due to a dispute with their landlord about
ownership of the property. It's hard to say when ghost

(12:48):
hunters and paranormal investigators will be welcomed back into the
halls of Cressn which is unfortunate as it's said to
be extremely haunted. In the past, visitors have reported cna
the spirits of prisoners and workers alike. There are also
accounts of shadow figures and screams and conversation with no
clear source. At times, guests get the eerie sense that

(13:12):
they're being watched, and many have felt unseen hands touch them.
On Amy's Crypts website on America's most Haunted Hospital in Prison,
there are accounts of people who visited the facility's chapel
only to suddenly feel overcome with weariness and tremors. The
same site notes that a mysterious creature has been spotted

(13:33):
inside this building. It's said to cling to the ceiling
then follow visitors around the property after they leave the sanctuary.
The Children's Ward, which also operated for some time as
a morgue, is another hot spot for spiritual activity. The
entities there have been known to chase guests, and it's
also said that paranormal investigators have recorded EVP that are

(13:56):
hostile and argumentative in tone. We don't know where many
of these spirits come from, but one has been identified.
On an episode of Ghost Hunters, historian Tyler Mowdry described
a boy named Brian Larer. He was admitted to Cressen
after a bad fall and a head injury in nineteen
fifty six. While the tumble didn't kill him, it did

(14:18):
cause brain damage, which meant Brian was never released from
the hospital. He ended up dying at Cresson, and he's
been identified as the young boy's spirit who haunts the
power plant. Another specter has been identified as serial killer
Joseph Kallinger. During his lifetime, his cot was in cell
Block F, and his ghost has been spotted in that building.

(14:40):
In this structure, visitors often hear footsteps, voices, moans, and
taps in rooms that are supposed to be empty. Doors
slam on their own. The Crescent sanatorium page on the
Haunted US website suggests sometimes though swing shut if an
investigator asks a particular question. The ghosts in the prison

(15:01):
block are often particularly drawn to female visitors. Women who
walk through here are frequently touched or might feel someone
tug at their hair. It's no wonder the structure is
so haunted. Between its time as a hospital, a mental
health clinic, and a prison, Cresson has borne witness to
almost a century of suffering, death and tragedy. Up next,

(15:24):
we'll be talking to paranormal investigator Rachel Rachella. Rachel worked
at cressm as a tour guide and investigator for years
and she's got some amazing first hand encounters to share.
That's coming up after the break. I am now joined

(15:48):
by Rachel Rachella, and Rachel actually was a tour guide
and investigator at Cressin for a while. And this is
really interesting for me, Rachel, because I've never been to Cressen.
So many of the places that cover I've actually investigated,
but this is not the case here. So I'm really
happy to have you, so thank you, oh thank you.
One of the things that struck me in the history

(16:09):
right away was that Cressin was not just you know,
a sanatorium. It had a lot of different iterations. Obviously,
it went from sanatorium to mental health facility to prison.
So just kind of right off the bat well, first
of all, welcome, I'm just really excited to talk about this.

Speaker 2 (16:31):
Thank you.

Speaker 1 (16:33):
In that context, which of those kind of identities do
you think causes the most activity at the sanatorium or CRESCIN.

Speaker 3 (16:43):
So, I think, at least for me when I was there,
it was kind of dependent on where you were. In
prison buildings there was a lot of more prisoner activity,
and then in some of the sanitorium buildings they had
converted them to prison buildings, but there was still remnants
of tuberculosis patients and you know, even kids at sometimes.

(17:04):
So it was like you got all of the eras
when you were there, just depending on what kind of
night it was, which buildings you were in. And the
prison I think did have a strong presence, just because
that was the last portion that the property had and
it was there from you know, eighty seven, eighty three
to eighty seven and then until twenty thirteen. So I
just I've had a lot of interactions with prisoners and

(17:27):
then in some of the older buildings was sanatorium.

Speaker 1 (17:30):
Right, that makes sense. Obviously there's a lot of places
to explore there. I think they said, I mean, how
many buildings are left standing at this point that you
know of?

Speaker 3 (17:40):
So there's still a lot of buildings up inside of
the prison fence where the yard was and everything. There's
about twenty twenty two up there, and then there's still
some warehouses that weren't used at the time. But there's
there's a good bit of buildings. Twenty of them are
open or were open to exploration, so there was a
lot to go.

Speaker 1 (18:00):
Through, good Lord, And so when you're in there, I'm
assuming there's still a lot of a lot of remnants
of what used to be there, Like, okay, so are
we talking just furniture other records, Like I've been in
some of these places and it's literally like they just
locked it up and walked away one day and didn't
change a thing. Is it still like that in spots?

Speaker 3 (18:22):
In spots, yes, there's still papers that they don't have
identifiers on them, but papers that you would have seen forms.
There's even prison passes that are laying around. It's in
some of the basement areas where not a lot of
people went there were it just looked like they got
up and walked away, yeah, and left everything.

Speaker 1 (18:40):
It's it's so interesting how that happens with a lot
of these government buildings when they closed down. It's just
people pack up their few things and then everything else
just kind of gets left. But I guess it kind
of is good from an investigative standpoint because you can
kind of see what it looked like when it was
an operation. Now, with all of those choices for building,

(19:00):
what areas did you find to be the most active?

Speaker 3 (19:04):
There were a few. My top one was Building F
which was a nurse's home during sanatorium and then was
used for inmates with special needs during the prison. It
was a building that the first time I walked in,
I didn't know the history all that much until later on,
but the first time I ever walked in that building,
there was this overwhelming feeling of like despair and just

(19:27):
this emotional vibe to the building. I even just walked
right back out at the time because I didn't know
what I was getting into. And then the more that
I spent time up there, the more that that building
kind of showed itself in the paranormal way.

Speaker 1 (19:43):
So how does that feel kind of after the fact.
You know, when you walk into a building and you
do you get a vibe from it, and then you
later learn the history that kind of explains that. You know,
you learn the history and find out like, oh, I
felt that when I went in there, Like, was that
kind of an aha moment for you?

Speaker 2 (20:00):
Yeah? It was.

Speaker 3 (20:01):
It was really weird because I had been one week
before just to take some photos, and then the next
week had gone back from my first investigation, and that's
when I learned what that building was and it was
just this moment of, oh, that's that feeling that I felt,
where you learn what the inmates were in there and
what happened, and it was just kind of it was

(20:21):
confirmation of my feelings, but then also really odd at
the same time.

Speaker 1 (20:25):
Right, what kind of activity would you say is the
most prevalent throughout that complex? Like what do you think
people encounter most often?

Speaker 3 (20:34):
I think it's a lot of residual noises, knocks, just
bangs and stuff, and then shadow figures are really prominent there.
That's something that I've had a lot of experience with myself.
And then I think as I got to know the
property more, it was disembodied voices or another big thing too,
just hearing people talking as you're walking up to a

(20:55):
building and there's no one in there.

Speaker 1 (20:57):
Yeah, I read about that that that's really common place there,
and I guess that would make sense. I mean, I
find that in a lot of those kind of institutional
type locations, shadow figures are there a lot and feel,
and I almost like associate it with with routine, like
there was a structure there and there were things that
happened at certain times every day, and that's not really

(21:21):
present in a lot of other haunted locations that we
might go to. And so I think that's just kind
of that energy a bit like I don't think that's
all shadow figures, but I think that kind of I
always think of it this kind of like wispy like
just kind of replaying over and over again. And in
this case, people lived and died by their routine a
lot of the time.

Speaker 3 (21:39):
Yes, yeah they did. And that's what I think too,
is just it's a lot of you can tell in
certain areas at certain times the energy will kind of
calm down and then it'll pick back up, so it
is like they're just going through their daily routine.

Speaker 1 (21:53):
So it sounds like it's probably not just limited to
night time activity. I know we like to go into
these places at night, but it sounds like it's happening
twenty four to seven there. Yes, it is, if you
feel like I know right now, there's kind of at
the time of this recording, which it's to be fair
November twenty twenty three, whoever's listening, there's not investigations happening
there because there's kind of a dispute happening with the

(22:14):
landlord and everything and trying to figure out who's going
to own it next. And do you think that that
is detrimental to the spirits that are there?

Speaker 3 (22:23):
I do. I think that they can obviously see that
there's not people coming in at this time, and I
think that they thrive on that energy of investigators coming in,
and even people who weren't there to investigate but just
to take photos or explore. They thrive on that human interaction.
And now I just don't think. I'm not sure what's

(22:44):
what they're doing, what's going on, but I think they
do miss that interaction.

Speaker 1 (22:47):
I can imagine like whoever gets in their next it's
going to be really interesting to see what happens, like
even if they're not you know, paranormal people, whoever takes
over that building, they could be in for quite a surprise. Exactly.
So how did you get involved in Preston. Was it
just like something that you stumbled across, Like were you

(23:08):
an investigator before, Like how did you get into that role?

Speaker 3 (23:12):
Yes, I was an investigator before, just not as often,
but just here and there. And I had actually discovered
Cressen because there was an ad on Facebook that they
had put out for photo tours and I was into
I'm into photography pretty heavy, and so I saw that
and it was the chapel, actually the outside of the
chapel that I saw, and it was just this call

(23:33):
that I thought, I have to go see this place.
And ever since then it kind of hooked me in
and I even moved to be closer to it so
I could be involved more at the time, and it's
been it was such a ride getting to be on
the property and see it and investigate and kind of
learn the spirit.

Speaker 1 (23:52):
Yes, and I think they start to recognize you too,
like when you're there for a while, like they start
to know who you are. And just from what I've
heard about you, and what went on there, Like it
sounds like most everyone who investigates there has handled the
spirits there respectfully. Now has that always been the case.

Speaker 3 (24:09):
It has, at least from my time up there, it was.
Everyone was always very respectful. And everyone that I had
talked to that we're going to go up there for
a private investigation, I would just tell them, you have
to be respectful, because if you're going to go in
there with a non respectful attitude, they're not going to
come out. They're not going to talk to you. They
want that respect because they just want to interact. They're

(24:31):
not going to kind of show themselves if you're not
treating them with.

Speaker 1 (24:36):
Respect exactly now, kind of along those lines, like it's
sounds you know, obviously we're talking about how there's a
lot of residual activity and stuff, but what about who
or or who do you think like spirit wise there
or experience wise, is the most like interactive intelligently, Like
do you have like full intelligent interactions as well.

Speaker 3 (24:59):
In certain places? Yes, I've had intelligent interactions in Building
F and then in Building E, which is a cell block.
There's I think E has a lot of intelligent spirits
because it was. It was a high security cell block,
and when you go in there, it's a different type
of feeling. They will interact with you if you ask questions,

(25:21):
not so much sometimes on voice recorders, but just asking,
you know, for yes or no answers for knox or
bangs or certain things like that. And then the same
with Building F. I've had more interactions intelligently in there
through electromagnetic devices, you know, rempods, things like that, and
it's more the children sometimes to interact in F with

(25:44):
those devices. And then at one point we had children
interacting at the end of one hallway and adults at
the other. So I think it's just dependent on where
you're at. Mainly those two buildings with intelligence, but every
building had so sort of intelligent spirit, just the level
of it was different.

Speaker 1 (26:04):
Do you think that like they're aware of each other,
because obviously you have this kind of situation where you have,
you know, a high security prison in a building that
also once was treating children, where children passed away as well.
Do you think they're aware of each other?

Speaker 3 (26:20):
I do, especially in you know, those buildings that were
tuberculousis buildings first and then the prison converted them. I
think that there's a big interaction between the two. I'm
not sure if they're on the same timeline what, but
just the interaction, because sometimes it felt like the spirits
were interacting more with each other through the devices than

(26:43):
they were with us.

Speaker 1 (26:44):
What I think is sad is that there is a
cemetery on the property where like the records were lost. Correct. Yes,
and in my research it seemed like there were probably
three hundred and fifty ors so people buried out there.
Do you think that has had any impact on the
activity or has that ever come up in your investigations?

Speaker 3 (27:03):
I think so, It's never come up for me personally
in investigations. But I knew of the cemetery, and I
knew that, you know, they did find some and exuom
them and actually move them to a cemetery in town.
And I think that those ones that they didn't, you know,
they're kind of they might be lost out there just
trying to find out what's happened to them, if they
want their grave to be remembered, and it's just.

Speaker 1 (27:25):
Not Yeah, that's really hard, you know. I do think
there is this kind of there is this importance to
some people, not everybody, but to some people just having
that kind of space for them, and you know in death,
and you know, I have encountered many spirits who were
upset about how they were treated and you know after dying,

(27:49):
which I think is so like obviously some people just
don't care, but others they're very passionate about it enough
to come back in the afterlife and try to get
it corrected. So I could that having to do with something.
For sure, shadow figures we've talked about, and obviously disembodied
voices and things. Have people seen like full bodied apparitions there.

Speaker 3 (28:09):
I don't. I think some it's more honestly, it's outside
the buildings more than inside for everything that I've heard.
I had someone tell me that they saw a man
standing on the sidewalk out in between the chapel and
one of the administration buildings, and it gets there's heavy
fog because of this sits on top of the mountain,

(28:29):
so it is some heavy fog, and so you look
into the fog and see a man standing there, and
it is it's just really eerie. And then I myself
have seen it was around Halloween one year and I
was walking down in the dark, of course, and there
was this man with a flashlight on his head and

(28:51):
I went to go see who he was, where he
was coming from, and just took off running across the property.
And still to this day, I don't think that was
a person because we knew where everyone was at the time.
It was just it still freaks me out because I
don't know what I saw at that point.

Speaker 1 (29:08):
Yeah, and it's not exactly an easily accessible area, right
like you, No, it is not. It is very remote.

Speaker 2 (29:15):
Yes, it's very remote, and there's only one gate in
and out of the property, and this was very high
up on the property of the time.

Speaker 1 (29:22):
Now have you ever had experiences in there that just
kind of left you uncomfortable?

Speaker 3 (29:29):
Yes, there was, There's been a few. One was actually
my very first investigation there and it was in E
which is the cell block I had gotten physically touched
very first time, and it still gives me chills talking
about it. There's two stories and this is one of them,
and that one was I was in just standing in

(29:51):
the doorway of a cell, you know, listening, and it
felt like there was a pressure on the back of
my leg and so I'd even shift did to think
it was my clothing, and it didn't go away, and
it eventually felt like a full hand was kind of
grabbing my backside. It is one that it's my famous

(30:13):
Cressen story, and it's just something that I'd never really
got an answer to either.

Speaker 1 (30:20):
Yeah, but I mean, and that was your first investigation there,
But yet you went back repeated I. So, now what
was you said? You've had another one? What's another one?

Speaker 2 (30:31):
Yes?

Speaker 3 (30:32):
So the other one was about six or seven months later,
and it was in Building F. My friends and I
had gone up. I had rented the place out for myself.
It was private investigation, and there was nine of us
on the property. Four of us had gone to Building F.
The other five had gone up to the top of
the property, and we had been in F for a while,

(30:53):
getting a lot of noises. We'd even think a paint
chip had been thrown at us at one point. And
then so we left and left a phone inside recording
the hallway and walked outside and had it on a
delay through a live feed. And we were standing out
on the sidewalk, which is maybe twenty feet from the door.

(31:15):
And then you go in the door, and then you
turn left and then go down a hallway, so you
go through two doors to where this phone was, and
from the outside we heard this yell come from inside
this building, and immediately it came through the phone, maybe
five seconds later. Due to that delay, I sent our
friends a message up at the top of the property

(31:37):
and I said, did you guys yell? And they were
inside in the basement of another one, so they weren't
anywhere near us. And it is this disembodied It sounds
I'm not sure if it's female or male because it's
high pitched, but when we listened back to it, it
it sounded like it was calling out mining oooh.

Speaker 1 (31:57):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (31:57):
It is one that gives me goosebump every time. I
still have the recording, and I have no explanations other
than I know I'm in that building a lot, and
I don't know if they just knew who I was
at the time, but it is really eerie.

Speaker 1 (32:16):
Yeah, I mean that's you know, that's one of those things,
like they do become familiar with you and you never know,
like what they like to scream out your name, like
did they need something? Did they want you to come back?
Like were they messing with you? Like there could have
been so many motivations there, so I know, So what
do you think do you think they were trying to

(32:37):
get your attention? Why do you think they were yelling
out for you?

Speaker 3 (32:40):
I think it was one of those times where they
just wanted attention because we had been in there for
so long and then just walked out right, And I
don't know if they just wanted us back in, because
they do like attention in that building, and the more
that you're in there and the longer you stay, the
more activity you get.

Speaker 1 (32:56):
That makes sense. That's one of those things too. I
tell people, when you're investigating, sometimes you get lucky and
things happen straight out the gate, but then there's other
times where like you really do have to sit and
let them become familiar with you, and like you have
to get comfortable being there and get comfortable with the
people that you're with, and then in turn they'll feel

(33:18):
that and they'll start interacting more. So it can take
some time. Yeah, And I think paranormal TV too, it
kind of makes it look like we walk in and
it's like instantly things are happening left and right. But
like it'd be a very boring show if we showed
people like the build up to that, right, Oh my gosh.

Speaker 2 (33:34):
Yes, Yeah, sitting for hours in the dark, just.

Speaker 1 (33:36):
Waiting exactly, just waiting for something to happen, so exactly.
I just I find that place just so incredibly interesting
because I feel like you've kind of have the gamut,
like I said earlier, just between like, I love how
the people who ran the sanatorium just loved it so
much didn't want to leave, you know. And then it
was the mental health facility, which I'm sure started with

(34:00):
good intentions but then really descended into some really dark
places and then finally ending up a prison, which again,
like you have some of. I mean, I was surprised
because it sounded like it started as kind of like
a medium security spot but ended up with some pretty
intense killers and things. How did that happen? Do you
happen to know?

Speaker 3 (34:21):
I'm not entirely sure how it happened. I know that
the more I guess with the mental health facility being
there and then having prisoners with that have mental health
issues and intellectual abilities, that's what they had there. You know,
they had three different units for prisoners with mental issues,
and they were the three main units were isolation units.

(34:44):
So I think that the more that people found out
about it, and they knew that they could, unfortunately send
these prisoners with these issues there and they would. It
wasn't good treatment, right, It was a lot of horrible treatment.
And you know, with there were the two killers that
were kind of fam infamous with Joseph Kalinger and John DuPont.

(35:05):
They were the two inmates that I think people know
the most about. And it's just it's sad how many
people ended up there in those isolation units with mental issues.

Speaker 1 (35:16):
So that makes sense. It almost sounds like they were
trying to rehabilitate some of these prisoners and not reallyhabilitate,
but like they had been deemed, they weren't necessarily like
people who were out in society. These were people that
had mental health issues and that's what led them to
being killers, which would explain why they'd be in that prison.

(35:36):
But it sounded like it was just really awful like
what they went through.

Speaker 3 (35:40):
It was There's a big report that I had found
myself in the Department of Justice had done investigation and
it details a lot of why the prison was shut
down due to the mental health treatment of inmates, and
it is just a horrifying report to read.

Speaker 1 (36:00):
Like I kind of touched on it a little bit
in the beginning, but I think that's important to remember too,
Like when you're investigating situations like this, like you know,
remember who you're talking to, and you know, you can't
always pass judgment and assume that you know everyone you're
talking to is out to get you, Like it's hard.
It's like you know, anyone could be standing in front

(36:21):
of you and you can't see them when you're investigating
a place like this, and so you always have to
start from a place of compassion obviously, unless they start,
you know, grabbing your behind and whatnot, and then you
feel friend to let them know where to go at
that point. But you know, I just I find it fascinating.
I really really do hope that they're able to kind
of rectify what's going on there, or that this does

(36:44):
become accessible again, not even just for the paranormal component,
but just from a historical place, Like I think locations
like this are so important to keep going in some way.

Speaker 3 (36:55):
I do too. It's such a beautiful location too, because
it can tell the difference between the tuberculosis buildings and
what the prison had put up, and it is that
just gorgeous Tutor Revival style and the architecture is amazing.
So I do hope that you know there is room
in the future for everyone to enjoy it again.

Speaker 1 (37:17):
I hope so too. Well. I really thank you for
taking the time to chat with me, and maybe one
day we'll meet in person. One day we'll investigate Cresson together.
I hope, yes, I hope so. But yeah, it's been
great and the best of luck with everything you're doing.

Speaker 3 (37:33):
Yes, thank you so much. I really appreciate it.

Speaker 1 (37:37):
The crest in sanatorium in prison was originally supposed to
be a place for healing and recovery. Instead, after many iterations,
it became a home for neglect, cruelty, and needless death.
But I find it encouraging that it's now a farm.
Assuming the operators can settle their dispute with the landlord,
this can be a place for literal growth. Perhaps as

(38:01):
small plants flourish and blossom in these walls, healing will occur.
It's not too late for Crescent to return to its
original purpose as a place to uplift and nourish. Maybe
when it does, the souls who remain here will be
able to move on. I'm Amy Bruney and this was
Haunted Road. Are you tired of the same old vacation

(38:32):
destinations and cookie cutter experiences. Do you crave a sense
of mystery, wonder and adventure that can't be found in
ordinary travel brochures. Do you listen to this podcast and
think I'd like to visit that spooky place? Well, that's
why I started Strange Escapes, a paranormal based travel company
that takes you to some of the most haunted locations

(38:54):
in the world. Frankly, it's my excuse to combine all
of my favorite things, which is ghosts, beautiful hotels, food
and wine, and other weirdos like me. To be honest,
If that sounds right up your alley and you want
to learn more, then visit Strange Escapes dot travel and
hopefully you can join us sometime. Also. To keep up
on all of my upcoming projects and appearances, head to

(39:17):
Amy Brune dot com. I have some really great things
in the works and I don't want you to miss it. Thanks,
Haunted Roadies. Haunted Road is hosted and written by me
Amy Brune, with additional research by Cassandra de Alba. This

(39:39):
show is edited and produced by Rema Elkali, with supervising
producer Josh Thain and executive producers Aaron Menke, Alex Williams,
and Matt Frederick. Haunted Road is a production of iHeartRadio
and Grim and Mild from Aaronmank. Learn more about this
show over at Grimanmild dot com, and for more podcast

(40:00):
cats from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or
wherever you listen to your favorite shows.