Professional Scaredy-Cats
Chapter 3: Sweet Springs Sanitorium
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Charlotte
We got back to the RV after getting breakfast at a small cafe, and we began looking through some cute Polaroids that we've been taking. I tape the pictures to the wall so we don't lose them.
"We're so cute." I gush, looking at the pictures.
"Yeah we are!" Dakota cheered, putting the Polaroid camera back in his backpack.
"Oh, I was talking about Chels and I." I told him. I wasn't actually, but I like picking on Dak all the time.
"Oh wow." Tanner laughed. "So rude, Lottie."
"You'll get over it." I stuck my tongue out, then laughed at myself.
"Anyways," Dakota glared at me. "I wanna talk about our next location for a minute."
"Oh boy." Alex sighed.
"Without giving too much away, I think that whatever spirits are haunting this place still have a lot of energy in them," Dakota told the group. "One of the most common experiences people have are shadow figures and unexplainable noises."
"Nothing we haven't experienced before." I smiled confidently.
"This location might be a little different than anything we've ever experienced before." Dakota said. "But before tonight, we're going to make a little pit stop."
He decided to take us to a smaller, and haunted, location to get us ready for whatever happens tonight. I would much rather just go walk around a park or something, but I know that's not interesting enough to be on the show. We're going to meet with the owner so that he can share a few details about the place, but I still have no idea where we're going.
"Welcome to the Lake Shawnee Amusement Park." Dakota said.
We stepped out of the RV and met with the owner, Chris White. We all shook hands and looked around us at the abandoned amusement park.
"Native Americans settled here in the 1400s, and when the first English family settled here the tribe killed two of the children on the property." Chris stated. "The third child was later found burning at the stake."
I looked at the man with wide eyes "That's terrible, oh my god."
He continued by telling us about more deaths that occurred on the property, and all of them were children. These kids were coming here to have a fun day, but they never left.
Tanner and I both seem to be the most affected by this, and I think it may be because since we both have really young nieces and nephews that it hit us a little harder. I could never imagine the pain that these children and their families went through when they passed away here, in what seemed like a fun and safe place for the family.
Once the sky got darker, we walked over to visit the children's gravestones. I walked into the open field and found some flowers to put on the stone, my way of telling these children that people are still remembering them.
We all stood in silence reading the engravings on the stones, and I bent down to sit the flowers on their shared stone. I reached into my pocket and found a little duck that I had and sat in on top, maybe their spirits can play with it if they wanted to.
I stood back up and felt an arm get draped over my shoulder, I looked up and smiled at Tanner with my watery eyes.
After I placed the duck on the stone, the air around us felt calmer. Almost as if the spirits of the children realized that they could trust us and let down their barriers. At least that's what I want to think.
"Ezekiel doesn't have a gravestone," I spoke in realization. "I wonder why?"
"He's the one who people see all the time," Chelsea said. "He doesn't want to be forgotten."
My heart aches at the thought of this child feeling forgotten, no child should ever have that feeling. I walked back into the field and picked a few more flowers and sat them in the grass next to the other childrens' gravestone. I searched through my backpack to look for another duck, and after finally finding it I sat it next to the flowers.
"Ezekiel," I spoke up a little louder. "If you're here with us, just know that we are never going to forget about you. That duck is for you, and I really hope you like it."
A sudden gust of wind blew my hair into my face, and the realization hit me that it could have been Ezekiel acknowledging what I said. I felt a small smile form on my lips before we all walked to a nearby picnic table to do our packet read.
"Are you guys ready to find out where we're going?" Dakota asked before sitting the packet on the table.
"Let's do it" I said.
We all took turns reading the packet, while Alex stood at the far end of the table to record us.
"Sweet Springs Sanitarium has a long and deadly past, and each incarnation of the property just continued adding to it's devastation." Tanner read, "The building that housed Sweet Springs had been a grand resort before it was transformed into a hospital for treating Tuberculosis."
Chelsea took the packet to read the next section. "The land it sits on is considered by many Native American tribes to be sacred. On the third floor, a full body apparition of a woman in period clothing has been seen numerous times." Chelsea took a breath and then continued "People have been touched, including the building's maintenance manager who has felt a firm hand on his shoulder while walking the halls of this building."
Chelsea handed me the packet to read next. "There have been a total of five owners in the past twenty years, several dying unexpectedly after purchasing the property." I paused for a second, trying to take in the information. "I would be terrified to be the new owner."
"Me too, I would never buy this place." Alex spoke up for the first time after listening to us read the packet.
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After a few hours of driving, we finally made it to Sweet Springs. We got out of the RV after gathering our gear, and I finally got a good look at the property. And of course it's storming outside which makes the night so much worse.
Since the property is so big, we split into two groups. I stuck with Dakota and Chelsea, while Tanner and Alex were grouped together. We all wished each other good luck before making our way into the front doors.
I should have joined the other group, to be honest, because when Dakota and Chelsea get scared they're the biggest chickens about it. Their fear just bounces off one another and gets worse from there.
We were just walking around on the first floor when we heard a loud noise coming from the floor above us. "Woah what was that?" Chelsea asked us.
"That was upstairs!" Dakota exclaimed. "I don't wanna go upstairs now."
But of course, because it's Dakota, that's exactly what we did. We walked up the creaky stairs to check out what made that noise. As soon as we stepped out of the stairwell there was a noise from down the hallway, making all three of us jump.
"There's something down there guys!" I said, hiding behind the two of them. "I really don't wanna go down there."
"Can you shut one of those doors?" Dakota asked, pointing his flashlight to the end of the hallway. Nothing happened at first, but then a loud bang was heard down the hallway. All three of us screamed, scaring each other even more. Then another noise was heard closer to us, and my heart rate picked up even more.
We just kept backing further down the hallway until Dakota led us to the stairs to go up to the third floor. We walked into room 3007 where several people have reported seeing a female apparition walking around and standing in the window.
Nothing really happened in that room, but I did notice that it was slightly colder in there than the rest of the third floor. We went back downstairs to meet up with Tanner and Alex to switch areas of the building. We went down to the basement where Tanner and Alex were, and they went to the second floor where we started out. Alex told us that we were probably going to get lost down there, so I'm already mentally preparing myself for the maze we're walking into.
I already hate basements as it is, I won't even go into my parents basement when I visit. The door to the basement is right next to my childhood bedroom, so I always triple check that it's locked before I go to bed.
"I despise basements," I spoke. "I better not have to sleep down there alone."
"Same here." Chelsea agreed with me.
We walked down the narrow steps to the basement before entering what used to be the slave quarters. I looked around with my flashlight when I saw that someone had put dolls in cages hanging from the ceiling. "Why would anyone do that? What is wrong with people?"
"That's so insensitive." Dakota scoffed before walking further into the basement.
"That's like the complete opposite of what people should be doing," Chelsea added. "Especially with knowing the horrors that went on down here."
I have a bad feeling about being down here, and I don't think it's because I don't like basements. There's something dark surrounding us and I don't like the feeling it's giving me.
We begin walking into one of the rooms when we hear what sounded like a woman's voice, and it sounded full of pain.
"Did you guys hear that?" Dakota asked us.
"Yeah, it sounded like a woman's voice." Chelsea told him "What about you, Char?"
"Yeah I heard it." I whispered. "It sounded so full of pain, I feel so bad right now."
We looked back into the room when Tanners voice was heard through the walkie. "This is Tanner for Dakota."
"Go for Dakota." We waited for Tanner to speak up again.
"You're not gonna believe this dude." He said, sounding kind of scared. "We just heard a woman's voice coming from room 3007."
Chelsea and I looked at each other with wide eyes.
"No way," Dakota spoke. "I think we just heard the exact same voice!"
"How the hell?" Tanner exclaimed "How did we hear the same voice, with two floors in between us?"
We explored the rest of the basement before meeting up with the others, and we all talked about what had happened while we were exploring.
"Sleeping alone tonight is going to be one of the hardest things I've ever done." Chelsea spoke into the camera.
"Yeah," I agreed. "Especially after what we've experienced already, I can't even imagine what'll happen while we're alone."
We decide to take one last walk around the property, checking out the jail cell while we're at it.
"Ew, is that snake skin?" Chelsea asked while looking at the skin that was hanging on the wall.
"That's disgusting," Dakota grimaced "I hate snakes."
I walked over the snake skin and picked it off the wall, walking toward Dakota with it. "Present time!"
"No, NO, get that away from me." He backed away from me, trying not to let me touch him. I cornered him and draped the skin over his camera and laughed at the face he made.
"You're pure evil." Alex laughed, flicking the snakeskin off of Dakota's camera.
"I hope you get the basement now." Dakota glared at me.
"No!! Please don't say that." I poured. "I'm sorry, take it back. Right now!"
Before he could say anything back, a bunch of birds came out of nowhere so I immediately ran out of the little building.
"That's karma!" Tanner laughed at me.
"I guess I deserved that." I frowned, nervously looking back at the building full of birds.
We went back to the front of the main building to pick our locations. We decided not to sleep on the third floor since there was a lot of black mold so it wouldn't be safe to sleep there. The locations that we picked are the basement slave quarters, basement hospital wing, the second floor west wing, the first floor by the big mirror, and the first floor west wing which no one had been to yet.
"We haven't explored the first floor west wing, so whoever gets that is going in with no prior knowledge." Dakota told us.
Tanner wrote the locations on the pieces of paper, then we all drew out of the hat. Tanner got the basement slave quarters, Dakota got the second floor west wing, Chelsea got the first floor west wing, and Alex got the big mirror. And of course I got the basement hospital wing.
"Just my luck!" I groaned after I realized the only option left was in the basement. "The universe is out to get me."
Tanner and I made our way to the basement. We were pretty far apart from each other, but if one of us got loud we would be able to faintly hear each other. I set up my cot in the hallway before Tanner left me alone.
I decided to speak to my camera for a little bit. "I am currently in the Basement Hospital Wing, the one place I didn't want to end up with." I layed back in my cot. "This is not how I wanted to spend my Friday night."
I sat in complete silence for a few minutes, my eyes shut because I don't want to accidentally see anything. I shot up in my cot when I heard a voice coming from behind me, and it sounded so clearly human. I tried not to freak out as I pointed my flashlight in the direction of the voice.
"Lottie?" I screamed when I heard Tanners voice come from my walkie. "Did you just hear that voice?"
"Yeah, I heard it come from behind me." I told him. "How the hell did you hear it too?"
"I don't know but I'm coming to get you," I heard shuffling on his end. "We're gonna do a sweep of the basement, that sounded human."
I could feel my heart beating faster as I waited for him to come get me. He and Alex ran in, and the look on their faces made me realize how serious this situation could be.
The three of us walked around to look for anyone who could have broken in, but we didn't see anyone.
"I really don't think you should be sleeping alone, Lottie." Alex looked at me with concern.
"No, I can do it," I assured him. "I'll be fine. And if anything happens I'll call for Tanner."
They both looked skeptical, but eventually obliged and we all went back to our sleeping arrangements.
Everything was peaceful until I heard Tanner come running down the hallway. "Who is that? Who's in here?"
I sat back up in my cot and turned to see Tanner walking in behind me. "What are you doing?" I asked with a confused look on my face.
"Did you not just hear that?" He asked me
"I didn't hear anything, Tan." I got up from my cot. "What was it?"
"I swear I just heard singing," he looked back into the hallway behind him. "I ran straight to you because I thought someone was down here."
"Well that's unsettling." I could feel a pit forming at the bottom of my stomach. "Something is definitely messing with you because it's been so quiet over here."
Alex, Dakota, and Chelsea ran down into the basement with us.
"Dude, are you guys okay?" Chelsea asked with concern in her eyes.
"Something is messing with me, Lottie didn't hear any of what I just heard and it was so loud." Tanner spoke really fast. "This thing was mocking me, and I'm pissed."
Everyone began walking out of my area "Wait what is going on?"
"We're going back to my area, we need to figure this out." Tanner, Alex, and Chelsea walked back to the slave quarters.
Dakota stuck back with me and asked "So you didn't hear anything? Only Tanner was hearing this stuff?"
"I heard the first set of voices, it was right between both of us in that hallway. I didn't hear anything aft-." I was interrupted when I heard the loudest, most human scream I've ever heard at a location.
"Holy shit." I grabbed Dakota and ran away from my area, growing increasingly scared.
"Whatever this is, it's demonic and doesn't want us down here." He said out of breath. "It wants us to get the hell out of here."
"We need to regroup, like now." Alex said, leading us toward the stairs.
"There has been slavery here, this is a horrible place." Tanner told us. "And what we just heard portrays all of the horrendous things that have happened in this place, especially in that basement."
As we were walking back outside, I gripped Chelsea's hand as she prayed under her breath. This night has affected both of us in ways that we never imagined. Before we got to the first floor we heard another bang behind us, something was still following us. I felt Chelsea's grip tighten, nearly cutting the circulation off.
"We need to calm down, I'll get my laptop and we can review the footage we've gotten." Dakota tried to calm the group, especially Chelsea and I.
We all sat around Dakota's laptop, except for Tanner who was pacing around the porch of the building. He's obviously been affected the most out of all of us, and I'm starting to get worried about him.
"Tan?" I looked over at my friend. "Are you okay? Come sit down."
"No, I'm fine." He said as he continued pacing next to us.
"It's messing with you dude," Alex said to him.
"Yeah, don't let it get to you," Chelsea told him. "That's exactly what it wants."
Tanner finally sat down next to Dakota and we all reviewed the footage together. We heard the singing that Tanner heard so clearly, and it freaked Chelsea out so bad that she had to get up from her seat to process it.
"Oh hell no," She yelled. "That is crazy."
"That's the most evidence we have ever caught in one night, holy shit." I spoke, still trying to listen to the footage that we got.
"Let's get out of this place." Alex said, getting up from his seat and gathering his things.
We all got our stuff together and headed back to the RV, and I hope that I never have to come back to this place.
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This episode was so terrifying! The scream, the singing, the talking, AND THE CHANTING THEY GOT AT THE END. No thank u, never again pls.
Also the way Tanner reacted made me realize just how protective he is over his friends, but he did scare me a little when he tried fighting that ghost lol
Just a reminder that this is cross posted on my wattpad and I’m adding a few bonus social media chapters over there if anyone is interested!










