You and I

If I was the wind,
Blowing close to you,
Would you close the window,
Or would you welcome my caress?

If I was a thorn,
Sitting upon a rose,
Would you pluck me still,
Even if I happen to hurt a little?

If I were a star,
Up high in the sky,
Would you gaze upon me,
And share with me your secrets?

If I was a tree,
High, tall, and old
Would you sit beneath me,
And share with me the world?

Salem Witch Trials

The Salem Witch Trials are known throughout the nation as one of the most horrific forms of mass slaughter. It was then, where it was a crime to be found as a witch, thus ultimately ending in the terminating of that person's life through an unfair trial, improper examinations from known doctors, and hearsay from villagers.

Here is a chronology of the transpired events for people who are unfamiliar with the history can see what transpired then:


1629: Salem is settled.
1641: English law makes witchcraft a capital crime.
1684: England declares that the colonies may not self-govern.
1688: Following an argument with laundress Goody Glover, Martha Goodwin, 13, begins exhibiting bizarre behavior. Days later her younger brother and two sisters exhibit similar behavior. Glover is arrested and tried for bewitching the Goodwin children. Reverend Cotton Mather meets twice with Glover following her arrest in an attempt to persuade her to repent her witchcraft. Glover is hanged. Mather takes Martha Goodwin into his house. Her bizarre behavior continues and worsens.
1688: Mather publishes Memorable Providences, Relating to Witchcrafts and Possessions
November, 1689: Samuel Parris is named the new minister of Salem. Parris moves to Salem from Boston, where Memorable Providence was published.
October 16, 1691: Villagers vow to drive Parris out of Salem and stop contributing to his salary.
January 20, 1692: Eleven-year old Abigail Williams and nine-year-old Elizabeth Parris begin behaving much as the Goodwin children acted four years earlier. Soon Ann Putnam Jr. and other Salem girls begin acting similarly.
Mid-February, 1692: Doctor Griggs, who attends to the "afflicted" girls, suggests that witchcraft may be the cause of their strange behavior.
February 25, 1692: Tituba, at the request of neighbor Mary Sibley, bakes a "witch cake" and feeds it to a dog. According to an English folk remedy, feeding a dog this kind of cake, which contained the urine of the afflicted, would counteract the spell put on Elizabeth and Abigail. The reason the cake is fed to a dog is because the dog is believed a "familiar" of the Devil.
Late-February, 1692: Pressured by ministers and townspeople to say who caused her odd behavior, Elizabeth identifies Tituba. The girls later accuse Sarah Good and Sarah Osborne of witchcraft.
February 29, 1692: Arrest warrants are issued for Tituba, Sarah Good and Sarah Osborne.
March 1, 1692: Magistrates John Hathorne and Jonathan Corwin examine Tituba, Sarah Good, and Sarah Osborne for "witches teats." Tituba confesses to practicing witchcraft and confirms Good and Osborne are her co- conspirators.
March 11, 1692: Ann Putnam Jr. shows symptoms of affliction by witchcraft. Mercy Lewis, Mary Walcott, and Mary Warren later allege affliction as well.
March 12, 1692: Ann Putnam Jr. accuses Martha Cory of witchcraft.
March 19. 1692: Abigail Williams denounces Rebecca Nurse as a witch.
March 21, 1692: Magistrates Hathorne and Corwin examine Martha Cory.
March 23, 1692: Salem Marshal Deputy Samuel Brabrook arrests four-year-old Dorcas Good.
March 24, 1692: Corwin and Hathorne examine Rebecca Nurse.
March 26, 1692: Hathorne and Corwin interrogate Dorcas.
March 28, 1692: Elizabeth Proctor is accused of witchcraft.
April 3, 1692: Sarah Cloyce, after defending her sister, Rebecca Nurse, is accused of witchcraft.
April 11, 1692: Hathorne and Corwin examine Sarah Cloyce and Elizabeth Proctor. On the same day Elizabeth's husband, John, who protested the examination of his wife, becomes the first man accused of witchcraft and is incarcerated.
Early April, 1692: The Proctors' servant and accuser, Mary Warren, admits lying and accuses the other accusing girls of lying.
April 13, 1692: Ann Putnam Jr. accuses Giles Cory of witchcraft and alleges that a man who died at Cory's house also haunts her.
April 19, 1692: Abigail Hobbs, Bridget Bishop, Giles Cory and Mary Warren are examined. Deliverance Hobbs confesses to practicing witchcraft. Mary Warren reverses her statement made in early April and rejoins the accusers.
April 22, 1692: Mary Easty, another of Rebecca Nurse's sisters who defended her, is examined by Hathorne and Corwin. Hathorne and Corwin also examine Nehemiah Abbott, William and Deliverance Hobbs, Edward and Sarah Bishop, Mary Black, Sarah Wildes, and Mary English.
April 30, 1692: Several girls accuse former Salem minister George Burroughs of witchcraft.
May 2, 1692: Hathorne and Corwin examine Sarah Morey, Lyndia Dustin, Susannah Martin and Dorcas Hoar.
May 4, 1692: George Burroughs is arrested in Maine.
May 7, 1692: George Burroughs is returned to Salem and placed in jail.
May 9, 1692: Corwin and Hathorne examine Burroughs and Sarah Churchill. Burroughs is moved to a Boston jail.
May 10, 1692: Corwin and Hathorne examine George Jacobs, Sr. and his granddaughter Margaret Jacobs. Sarah Osborne dies in prison.
May 14, 1692: Increase Mather and Sir William Phipps, the newly elected governor of the colony, arrive in Boston. They bring with them a charter ending the 1684 prohibition of self-governance within the colony.
May 18, 1692: Mary Easty is released from prison. Following protest by her accusers, she is again arrested. Roger Toothaker is also arrested on charges of witchcraft.
May 27, 1692: Phipps issues a commission for a Court of Oyer and Terminer and appoints as judges John Hathorne, Nathaniel Saltonstall, Bartholomew Gedney, Peter Sergeant, Samuel Sewall, Wait Still Winthrop, and Lieutenant Governor William Stoughton.
May 31, 1692: Hathorne, Corwin and Gednew examine Martha Carrier, John Alden, Wilmott Redd, Elizabeth Howe and Phillip English. English and Alden later escape prison and do not return to Salem until after the trials end.
June 2, 1692: Bridget Bishop is the first to be tried and convicted of witchcraft. She is sentenced to die.
June 8, 1692: Eighteen year old Elizabeth Booth shows symptoms of affliction by witchcraft.
June 10, 1692: Bridget Bishop is hanged at Gallows Hill. Following the hanging Nathaniel Saltonstall resigns from the court and is replaced by Corwin.
June 15, 1692: Cotton Mather writes a letter requesting the court not use spectral evidence as a standard and urging that the trials be speedy. The Court of Oyer and Terminer pays more attention to the request for speed and less attention to the criticism of spectral evidence.
June 16, 1692: Roger Toothaker dies in prison.
June 29-30, 1692: Rebecca Nurse, Susannah Martin, Sarah Wildes, Sarah Good, and Elizabeth Howe are tried, pronounced guilty and sentenced to hang.
July 19, 1692: Rebecca Nurse, Susannah Martin, Elizabeth Howe, Sarah Good and Sarah Wildes are hanged at Gallows Hill.
August 5, 1692: George Jacobs Sr., Martha Carrier, George Burroughs, John Willard and John and Elizabeth Proctor are pronounced guilty and sentenced to hang.
August 19, 1692: George Jacobs Sr., Martha Carrier, George Burroughs, John Willard and John Proctor are hanged on Gallows Hill. Elizabeth Proctor is not hanged because she is pregnant.
August 20, 1692: Margaret Jacobs recants the testimony that led to the execution of her grandfather George Jacobs Sr. and Burroughs.
September 9, 1692: Martha Corey, Mary Easty, Alice Parker, Ann Pudeator, Dorcas Hoar and Mary Bradbury are pronounced guilty and sentenced to hang.
Mid-September, 1692: Giles Cory is indicted.
September 17, 1692: Margaret Scott, Wilmott Redd, Samuel Wardwell, Mary Parker, Abigail Faulkner, Rebecca Earnes, Mary Lacy, Ann Foster and Abigail Hobbs are tried and sentenced to hang.
September 19, 1692: Sheriffs administer Peine Forte Et Dure (pressing) to Giles Cory after he refuses to enter a plea to the charges of witchcraft against him. After two days under the weight, Cory dies.
September 22, 1692: Martha Cory, Margaret Scott, Mary Easty, Alice Parker, Ann Pudeator, Willmott Redd, Samuel Wardwell, and Mary Parker are hanged. Hoar escapes execution by confessing.
October 3, 1692: The Reverend Increase Mather, President of Harvard College and father to Cotton Mather, denounces the use of spectral evidence.
October 8, 1692: Governor Phipps orders that spectral evidence no longer be admitted in witchcraft trials.
October 29, 1692: Phipps prohibits further arrests, releases many accused witches, and dissolves the Court of Oyer and Terminer.
November 25, 1692: The General Court establishes a Superior Court to try remaining witches.
January 3, 1693: Judge Stoughton orders execution of all suspected witches who were exempted by their pregnancy. Phipps denied enforcement of the order causing Stoughton to leave the bench.
January 1693: 49 of the 52 surviving people brought into court on witchcraft charges are released because their arrests were based on spectral evidence.
1693: Tituba is released from jail and sold to a new master.
May 1693: Phipps pardons those still in prison on witchcraft charges.
January 14, 1697: The General Court orders a day of fasting and soul-searching for the tragedy at Salem. Moved, Samuel Sewall publicly confesses error and guilt.
1697: Minister Samuel Parris is ousted as minister in Salem and replaced by Joseph Green.
1702: The General Court declares the 1692 trials unlawful.
1706: Ann Putnam Jr., one of the leading accusers, publicly apologizes for her actions in 1692.
1711: The colony passes a legislative bill restoring the rights and good names of those accused of witchcraft and grants 600 pounds in restitution to their heirs.
1752: Salem Village is renamed Danvers.
1957: Massachusetts formally apologizes for the events of 1692.
1992: On the 300th anniversary of the trials, a witchcraft memorial designed by James Cutler is dedicated in Salem.

According to records, there was nineteen hanged victims of the witch trials, one pressed to death by stones, and up to thirteen who died in prison waiting for trial. They also executed two dogs, who were thought to be demons working for the Devil.

According to historians the behavior of the "victims" could be narrowed down to one particular substance that was consumed daily- rye:


The symptoms also could have been caused, as Linda Caporael argued in a 1976 article in Science magazine, by a disease called "convulsive ergotism" brought on by ingesting rye--eaten as a cereal and as a common ingredient of bread--infected with ergot. (Ergot is caused by a fungus which invades developing kernels of rye grain, especially under warm and damp conditions such as existed at the time of the previous rye harvest in Salem. Convulsive ergotism causes violent fits, a crawling sensation on the skin, vomiting, choking, and--most interestingly--hallucinations. The hallucinogenic drug LSD is a dervivative of ergot.) Many of the symptoms or convulsive ergotism seem to match those attributed to Betty Parris, but there is no way of knowing with any certainty if she in fact suffered from the disease--and the theory would not explain the afflictions suffered by others in Salem later in the year.

In reported cases the "victims" were dealing with mental disorders, personality disorders, hallucinogens, and in some cases lying. The villagers were looking for a reason and found witchcraft and devil worshiping to be the main and only cause of these symptoms.


The accused were murdered, point blank, by those in charge to keep the communities from lashing out at them for not "saving" them. When the trials became a subject of the Supreme Court several judges stepped down due to not agreeing to the punishments, being shocked at the treatment of the accused, and because they did not believe that the accused were really guilty of the act of witchcraft.

When the witch trials were no longer put into effect the accused families were given money for their troubles and several "victims" came out publicly about lying about what they testified in court, as well as several of the judges publicly apologizing about the course of their judgments and actions. The state as well publicly apologized for the actions of those involved and built a memorial for the lost souls that were executed for crimes that were later found innocent of.

Of those who were executed the list to record is the following:

Nineteen accused witches were hanged on Gallows Hill in 1692:

June 10:
Bridget Bishop

July 19:
Rebecca Nurse
Sarah Good
Susannah Martin
Elizabeth Howe
Sarah Wildes

August 19:
George Burroughs
Martha Carrier
John Willard
George Jacobs, Sr.
John Proctor

September 22:
Martha Corey
Mary Eastey
Ann Pudeator
Alice Parker
Mary Parker
Wilmott Redd
Margaret Scott
Samuel Wardwell

One accused witch (or wizard, as male witches were often called) was pressed to death on September 19 when he failed to plead guilty or not guilty:

Giles Corey

Other accused witches died in prison:

Sarah Osborn
Roger Toothaker
Lyndia Dustin
Ann Foster
(As many as thirteen** others may have died in prison.)
**sources conflict as to the exact number of prison deaths

Children were even considered witches, a four year old was arrested for 'biting fellow classmates' thus providing the Devil access to them.

It was a horrendous crime, many people died for something they were accused of, did not do, and were judged by what others said of them and not allowing them to properly defend themselves in a court setting.

Do you think, even now, that something like this could happen again, not necessarily on witchcraft but something that people do not understand or would rather turn a blind eye to getting to know or understand it?

Mass hysteria, panic, ill informed individuals or a group of people could cause others to react differently on something that is unfamiliar to them.

What say you?





All references came from the follow resources:http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/salem/SALEM.HTM

Danvers State Hospital

Danvers State Hospital



Located 1101 Kirkbride Drive Danvers, Massachusetts 01923, this hospital is known as one of the most exquisite mental institutions ever built in the United States. Danvers is known by a few different names, The Danvers State Insane Asylum, Danvers State Lunatic Asylum, and DSH. It was built in 1874, opened in 1878 and then closed in 1992. This hospital is over 136 years old, and was renovated in 2006 after being abandoned for over fourteen years. Danvers was a 70,000 square foot Kirkbride building that held over 2,4000 patients in it's peak operational times, although the recommended amount of beds were only for 600 patients. It is said that by November 1945, one evening shift of nine people were expected to care for more than 2,300 patients by themselves.

It had an unusual architecture and grand scale, with its fortress-like central "tower" section and eight branching wings. To this day, the old hospital grounds hold a prominent place in the online pages of New England-area paranormal research groups and in the belief there are real hauntings there.



With it's Gothic peaks and spires looming over the solid red brick of the building, it was by far, an incredible sight of beauty and a symbol of grandeur and fortitude, but at the cost of over $1 million to build, local residents resented and began to hate the beautiful castle on the hill being given to the "insane" while those living within the town were living quite poorly. The hospital at Danvers was a model for humane treatment during it's functional time, with no restraint policies and boasted a highly regarded pathology laboratory.

Danvers was soon filled with a variety of different types of patients that it soon became a problem for those who worked there. The patients consisted of geriatrics, the mentally disabled, alcoholics, drug addicts, the criminally insane and all other people with varied degrees of mental illness who were housed together under one roof. In the 1950's Danvers was reported to be just as bad, if not worse, than the notorious Byberry hospital in Philadelphia. Faced with overcrowding and under staffing, hospital staff depended on the primitive, and often brutal, psychiatric treatments of the day, including early-style shock treatments, lobotomies, hydrotherapy, and other methods all used just to get the overwhelmingly amount of patients under control and to maintain a sense of stability. It is said that it was the pain that accompanied these treatments and the decay that accompanied from overcrowding and tight budgets that caused the hauntings that are said to still exist today on the grounds.




The original Kirkbride building was abandoned in the early 1970s and the remaining patients were moved to the Bonner Medical Building across the lawn from them. The National Guard helped the doctors move the patients by sending 80 ambulances to move the last of the patients to other facilities. It was due to the decreasing amount of patients that Danvers and other insane asylums were facing. In the summer of 1992, Danvers was closed due to the claims and allegations of overcrowding, abuse, and neglect that was being reported about those who worked there.

In 2001 the movie "Session 9" was filmed on the Danvers location, and from there had brought a lot of attention to the old hospital. From that point, security was increased to 24 hour patrols, and the boarding of all the windows and doors were put into place. A fire was started inside the original structure in 2004, forcing firemen to enter the dangerous building and distinguish the fire from within to prevent the whole Kirkbride building from being engulfed in flames and collapsing. Since the fire until 2007, Danvers was on a total lock down with constant security patrols twenty four hours a day and seven days a week with mandatory checkpoints, and police were required to arrest of anyone caught anywhere on the grounds (they even began to publicly announce the arrests in newspapers and on the news to make everyone aware of the situation). There was an article on the arrests that states over 120 people had been arrested from 2000 alone for trespassing on the old asylum's grounds.

The staff of the Massachusetts Department of Capital Asset Management will tell you that the interest of the those who love ghost stories and those who wish to speak with or see ghosts are lured to this place by curiosity. There have even been people who had requested to do seances on the grounds. The DCAM had denied all request of visitors due to the state of decomposition the buildings were in prior to renovations.

In the early 2000's, Avalon Bay became the owner of Danver's property, they had plans to tear down and redevelop 1/3 of the Kirkbride buildings and to gut them in order to furnish apartments from their core. The preservation society had filed a lawsuit for the sale of property in order to block the sale of Danvers, but the Salem Superior Court has denied their lawsuit. As of 2007 the hospital was fully converted to
Avalon Danvers, a condominium complex.

There was an interview taken of a woman, Jeralyn Levasseur, who grew up on the grounds of Danvers State Hopsital, in a house lent to her father, who was the hospital administrator, Gerald Richards. She states that growing up her family would hear footsteps in the second story hallways of their home when nobody was upstairs. Doors would open and close, lights would flicker on and off at all hours of the day and night. Mrs. Levasseur stated, while in her early 50's, she could clearly remember her days as a child when her, her sister, and her brother would be playing in the attic upstairs and remembers seeing an apparition of an older women looking angrily at them. She remembers being rooted to the spot where she stood until they called downstairs by their mother.

She also claims that, while she was a student in high school, one night her bed covers were ripped completely off the bed, although no one was visibly in the room with her. She claimed although she would feel the presence of some one there, she never felt like any harm would come to her. Her final statement in the interview was this:

" If you think back to the beginnings of medical science and the things done to people, not because they thought they were doing bad, but because they were trying to do right, you have to wonder, did people think they were being tortured?"



She believed that the things she saw and heard were that of the tortured spirits that knew Danvers State Hospital as their home and still linger on those grounds.

It also a historical notion that, Jonathan Hathorne, who is perhaps the most notorious judge at the Salem witchcraft hearings and had sentenced 19 innocent people to be killed in the 17th century, is said to have lived in a house built by his father in 1646 on the spot where the main Kirkbride was later constructed in 1874.


Up until 2007, there were tours of the grounds . They were opened to the public through registering at the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. They were conducted on the second and fourth Tuesday of every month from 10 am til noon. They were not allowed to show the maximum 20 visitors the inside of the buildings due to the decaying building and the danger it presented. You had to be 18 years of age or older. Once Avalon Bay had received the go to demolish and renovate the buildings the tours were canceled.

Taunton State Hospital

When I was a adolescent I spent time in a program run by the state of Massachusetts in Taunton at the Taunton State Hospital in 1998. The history there was rich and even mentioning the fact I had to live in a building on those grounds would cause for people to start a series of conversations about the haunting to be said to take place there.

Taunton State Hospital, also known as Taunton Secure, located in the Bristol County, was originally a farm land of one hundred and fifty-four acres built and established in 1853. The hospitals commission was to "render it a spot fitted to interest and tranquilize the minds of those who need as well the soothing influences of external nature as the healing remedies of art." At the completion of the hospital, the total costs of construction was $151,742.48. The buildings were constructed in the Georgian style and to this day are still a fine example of classical architecture. The man who was in charge of the construction of the building architect was Elbridge Boyden, who is known to have been the most prominent New England architect of the mid-19th century, whose most famous works were Mechanics Hall and Holy Cross College, which still stand in their respective places in Worcester, Massachusetts. It is also said that the main building was designed by Thomas Kirkbridge, who at the time was the leading architecture of hospitals in New England and had a building named after him.



The buildings were given all the most modern conveniences of the early to mid 19th century, including central heating with central ventilation's, running water and a sewer for it's inhabitants to name a few. The buildings included chapels, kitchens, a bakery, laundry and dining rooms, private apartments to house the staff that included private wash rooms, parlors, open aired verandas and some even housed attaching patient rooms. Most patients were located in dormitories while some, who the staff held separate concerns for, had their own private rooms. The facility was set over a farm land stretching acres and still to this day, a plow as well as a green house can still be seen sitting of to the side of the hospital. I have been to the green house and on one side of it the plants don't ever seem to grow. There is also a large corn field in front of the Goss Building. It has been said that at times, if you stand quietly in the corn field you can still hear the screams of patients long gone.



When I was in the program there, I was living in what is referred to as the Goss Building. I was located on the third floor (Goss 3). I remember waking up in the middle of the night to hearing faint screaming, crying, and the occasional whisper. There have been sightings from the staff and doctors who still work there that have seen a man in white walking the halls of the third floor who disappeared into the concrete walls when approached or called out to. Also, there is a corner room at the front of the building (third floor) that gives everyone a "creepy" feeling. That room is what they used as a living room when I was there and at a time we were restricted from using it due to anything electronic being used in there to either malfunction or stop working at times. There was even an electrical fire that happened and the fire department was unable to determine what caused it, since the walls were all brick and cement they couldn't say what caused it.

The Kirkbridge Building was abandoned in 1975 while 24 years later the dome over the buildings administrative center collapsed. In 2006, a fire broke out in the central section of the building. Though the administrative section was completely gutted and does not stand there anymore, the wings are all still intact. It now is home to juvenile offenders that have been convicted, as well as youth with mental health concerns, and a history of violent behavior.



After all buildings were constructed a series of horrific events took place that were, more often than not, overlooked. Taunton State Hospital had slowly begun turning into one of the cruelest hospitals, or more commonly referred to as concentration camps, for the mentally retarded and insane that ultimately ended in murder or suicide. In 1854, no more then three years after the facility was completed, the killings and torture began. Taunton State was said to have been a facility in which the insane was cured due to the serene surroundings and sympathetic nature of the staff and doctors. It was then, when the doors closed, an entirely different story unfolded. On the far east of the facility (Now a juvenile hall which is on the first floor of the Goss Building), is where the shock treatment and blood bath experiments had taken place. This area as never been re-done and only added onto for the detention of juveniles who were convicted of crimes. Even now, there it stands, a run down facility where the screams of the insane are said to still be heard. On the front part of one building there is an area of 1 foot standing space surrounded by metal bars and a chained fence, almost as if it were a human cage, was where the insane would be left in to sleep those nights in, right after their nine pm ice water shock baths. If the insane did not die by morning, they were then taken to the other part of the building (Which is no more then 1 foot away but still connected by wings) and brutally tortured. It was in this building that the limbs of the insane would be sawed off with old hand made saws and attached to another person, so the doctors could see if they could still be used and function correctly on another human being. Some inmates were boiled to death to see how long the human body could survive in scalding temperatures and to study how it affected the blood, the brain, and internal organs.

Taunton State has a wide range of long, deep, and dark tunnels located under each and every building connecting all to the main building. All the tunnels have been closed off and are a 'forbidden' area to trek in due to buildings collapsing and sinking into them. The tunnels were used for laundry, traveling in the winter, moving convicts and patients, and transporting the dead to the morgue. There were no lights in the tunnels and you had to walk through them by candle light. There was a laundry and a body shoot that was located near both the laundry facilities and the morgue.



A good portion of the inmates were not, in fact, insane. It is known that if a woman was thought to have turrets or depression she was deemed insane and was forced into an insane asylum. If an inmate was to escape, no one ever made it past the hospitals water tower, which was located about twenty acres from the main building, and brought back to face the punishment of being hacked to death with an axe. There have been sightings of lights being turned on, in abandoned buildings where there was no electricity, as well as faces seen in windows and hands appearing on the chained fences after dark. Despite it's horrific history, Taunton State had seventy percent of it's buildings demolished, rebuilt, and refurbished and was made into a successful facility to help aid the severely mentally retarded, insane, and depressed with the utmost care and professionalism. It has the highest success rate for declines in suicides and the best care for the insane. It even houses minors who have mental and/or behavioral problems. Even though it has turned it's past representations around, it is still known to have staff report weird screaming, echoing of someone or something banging on the walls of the facilities, and figures appearing and then disappearing during the day and night. There have also been sightings of figures appearing to attempt to climb over the farthest end of the hospitals walls, figures trying to reach out through the fence as well as distant figures that are seemingly transparent running over the hills and through the corn field.


During its days as an asylum for the insane there were rumors of cult activity at the hospital, some even say this caused its initial closing. Staff members would bring their more incapacitated patient down into the basement to conduct bizarre rituals to Satan. There are stories of how Satan appeared to them after sacrificing patients to the devil. To this day, there are reports of cold spots felt in the basements of the buildings. Even hard criminals have refused to enter the basement to perform daily chores down in the basements due to being scared of what happens to people when they enter there. There have been accounts of staff members quitting after going into the basement because of the over bearing sense of evil and pain in the basements.




It is known that evil isn't just in the basement. There have been other sightings such as a shadow man who appears out of nowhere and at times has no form but seems to be moving fast and crawling across the wall towards the patient but then disappears once close enough for the patient to reach out and touch it. It is also known to residents and staff as 'The Watcher' because it always appears in a corner of the patients rooms in the middle of the night, watching them as they sleep. The areas outside of the hospital are also said to be haunted, the whole property is now off limits to the people with cameras that used to stroll the area and run road races across its lawn. In a cemetery just off the property one resident had an experienced that changed his life. He was able to find a way out of the facility and decided to hide in the cemetery to lay low and plan where he would spend the night. As he crouched near a tombstone he felt cold hands on his shoulder. Thinking he had been caught, he raised his arms and turned around. There was no one there but he heard a faint voice whisper the word, “leave.” He walked back to the building barely able to breath and turned himself in. There is even a rumor about a garden gnome that is seen in every room of the abandoned buildings, the same gnome, down to the same chippings and markings, that was used to sodomize criminals that acted out in the 60's and 70's.




Taunton State has only one guard due to not needing any more security. It has been known that men, women, and even children whom have trespassed illegally have gone missing and not heard from since. The city of Taunton is referred to as the "Cursed County" because of this hospital. There hasn't been a person, to record, that has trespassed and has come back. It is said that if you were to enter the grounds uninvited or illegally you end up being pulled into the paranormal activities that occur there and go missing. It has even been said that if you do end up a victim to the paranormal activities that your screams can be heard, distant and faint, but nonetheless you will be heard in death, screaming out for help.

Q & A's from a friend for school with my answers

1. Do you dream of far away places?


Quite often, yes I do.


2. Are you afraid of anything?


Spiders, dying before I am able to accomplish my goals, and failing as a mother to my wonderful son.


3. Does your best friend(s) live close by you?


Unfortunately no, and I miss them dearly :(


4. Ideal job/career?


To be an Archaeologist and an Anthropologist... I want to be the Indiana to the Jones, but with ovaries. =}


5. Ever been homeless?


Three times- when I was a kid then again when I was an adolescent.


6. Ever broken a bone?


Right wrist, right foot (actually shattered it when I was a teen), left ankle, left lower arm, both big toes, my left thumb and right middle and third finger- multiple fractures and sprains as well.


7. Ever make a mistake?


All the time, after all I am only human.. Or am I? :P


8. Stupidest thing you have ever done?


There are so many... I think the stupidest thing I have done, if I had to choose, was when I was six I thought I could reach this spot underneath an old fence to gather worms (I was going fishing with my uncle) and the fence fell on me and a nail that was pretty rusty cut the crown of my head open as well as causing the fence to fall on me. Twelve stitches and a concussion later, I am known to still do stupid things like that, just 'cause I am too stubborn to admit I shouldn't.


9. Craziest thing you have ever done?


Tried to pet a wild fisher cat....


10. Kindest thing you have ever done for someone?


Hmm... I really don't know. I don't keep track of the things I do for people. I do them because I like to and don't expect anything in return. I will have to really think about an answer for this one...


11. Meanest thing you ever did to someone?


Super glued a kid's eyes shut when she was sleeping in summer camp because she made fun of my Bobos. (I liked my bobos. They were green.) I think I was... eight or nine at the time?


12. Silliest thing you ever did?


Dressed up as a clown for a group of old folks in a nursing home and did the funky chicken for them since one of them was turning one hundred years old.


13. Do you like you?


Sometimes. I have my good days and my bad.


14. What do you think is your best feature?


It's a toss up between my eyes... and my boobs.


15. Have you ever gone:
Snowboarding
Skiing
Ice Skating
Sledding
Roller blading
Clubbing
To the movies
to a concert
Live show
To a shooting range
To war
To hell?


Yes to everything except war- I never got the opportunity to deploy with my unit when they went to Iraq and I got there when they were just coming home from Afghanistan.


16. Have you ever:
Skipped school
Been suspended
Expelled
Fought in school
Kissed someone in school
Had a crush on a teacher
Been on a school team
Gone to school and it was closed?


Yes to all of them. The last one- I went to school on a Sunday thinking it was a Monday, I was quite embarrassed when the janitor told me what day it was.


17. Would you let me interview you again?


Yeah, but tell your teacher he needs to spice up his questions a little more. ;)

A common trend that isn't a fashion.

I have noticed a quite common trend surrounding younger people lately...

Teen pregnancies.

I have seen middle school and high school kids walking around with a full baby bump or pushing a carriage with infants in it.

While at work on Friday I had a customer walk in and ask me to use the bathroom. She had one of those baby carriers on her and I let her use the bathroom. After she came out she bought a water, I asked her (how ever rude it probably is) how old she was. Fifteen was her response. Her daughter- a few months old.

So since she told me her age she asked me mine and we started a conversation from there. She asked me if I had any children, I showed her a picture of Emerson. She asked me if the father was still involved, I told her we are engaged. Her child's father left her and the baby for another girl (and also got her pregnant) while she was eight months pregnant.

She then surprised me by asking me if I thought if she was a whore. I was a little taken back, but told her I didn't think she was a whore but was awfully young to have a child. She told me, she agreed. She went into detail about how she even planned on giving her daughter up for adoption because she wasn't ready or fit to be a mother yet, but her mother was opposed to her doing that.

She told me she was the oldest of five children. The youngest being only a few months older than her own child. She explained to me that she is currently taking night courses at Bridge Over Troubled Water (aka the gateway for troubled teens and adults who are unable to attend normal school) and how she takes care of the two babies during the day while her mother works and her mother cares for the five children while she attends class at night.

She proceeded to tell me her dreams and ambitions. She wants to be a nurse for the elderly. She wants to help them and learn from them. She asked me if I knew of any places that would help her start her dream. I told her of a few places that have in care day care for students that was to pursue a degree in nursing. I also told her of the Head Start program for children aged three to five that helps them prepare for preschool and kindergarten. It's free for parents who are considered in need of assistance.

She then told me how people judge her, call her names, make fun of her, and belittle her for being so young and having a child. I told her that's usually how people react when they see "a child raising a child". She told me she used to do the same thing before she was pregnant and now doesn't because she understands it now.

I had to get back to work and she needed to get home so her mom could go to work. So we exchanged emails and I told her to feel free to message me and I would talk to her through that for now.

See, I have no problem with people who want to better themselves for their families and ultimately for themselves.

I see a child who has a child and it makes me wonder why they want to have children so young.

Then I see a child who has a child, yet is doing their damnedest to not only raise that child to the best of their abilities and still trying to go to school, work, and not live off of the welfare program.

It makes me wonder why someone who is fifteen, can still get into school, raise their child, and not live off of someone else and expect another person to provide for them. I don't think I mentioned it above, but this particular fifteen year old does work part time on the weekends at a fast food place- granted it's a pretty crappy job, but she works she pays for her child's diapers, clothing, etc. Her mother buys the food, but she is still doing her best to provide for her child.

There are thousands of adults who don't even do that. There are people who have kids solely for the reason they can collect welfare, have an apartment paid for by the state, and not need to lift a damn finger to obtain it, just open their legs and let the first guy come and do his business.

Now don't get me wrong- there are people who bust their asses off and need some assistance, but they pay the welfare back through their taxes from working and I don't see anything wrong with that. It's the people who depend on others to live off of. I know a few and they make me sick.

It just seems to be a reoccurring trend for young people, babies seem to be the new Prada for them and that's a pretty sad thing all in it's own. A child is not a pet. It is not a fashion accessory. It is a living, breathing thing that depends on the people raising it to care for it, love it, and ultimately be there for it.

And some people just really don't understand that.