Paranormal Hunters of Equestriaby thisissparta789789ChaptersDodge Junction: Dodge Junction Provincial PrisonTHE JAPAN SPECIAL: Atsugi Keishin Hospital (REWIND TO 2010)Appleloosa: Central Bar & MarketDodge Junction: Dodge Junction Provincial PrisonHISTORY: The old Dodge Junction Provincial Prison was in operation from 1878 to 1998 . In its 120 years of operation, it housed the most violent offenders in the Appleloosa Province. In its final 27 years, it saw its name change to "Dodge Junction Maximum Security Correctional Facility," but many former inmates say that the prison was ineffective in "correcting" its inmates. The prison was replaced by a new one 3 miles down the road. Even while the prison was active, inmates and staff alike reported things that go bump in the night. One inmate, in 1979, reported getting violently attacked by a possibly demonic entity in his cell. Afterwards, his old cell was permanently vacated after it was discovered that several other prisoners and guards had reported similar attacks. The prison also housed the Death Row for the Province of Appleloosa. From 1878 to 1904, prisoners on Death Row were hanged in the prison courtyard. A replica of the gallows now stands where the original stood. After 1904, an electric chair was built inside the Death Row building. From 1878 to 1998, 85 hangings and 423 electrocutions took place. Electrocutions are still carried out in the new prison. Visitors to the site describe a feeling of dread whenever they approach the gallows or the old chair, nicknamed "Brown Demon" by the inmates. Investigators have collected numerous evidence of activity from these locations. One investigator I had interviewed said that he had been making his rounds along the gallows while holding a tape recorder when the trapdoors suddenly opened on their own. I listened to the recordings of the incident, and I could provide no natural explanation for it. Another investigator showed me a disturbing picture he had taken near the chair. The picture showed what appeared to be a faint shape near the chair, as if it was sitting or standing on it. It was as though it was an inmate being electrocuted or about to be. Octavia said she could faintly see another shape, standing up near the lever that operated the chair. In Solitary Confinement Cell 12, a guard was murdered by an inmate with a piece of metal in 1936. He was electrocuted for it in 1938 as a result. Several museum workers reported that it wasn't uncommon to have that particular cell be freezing cold while everything else around it is hot. One worker left a glass of water in the cell as a practical joke in the middle of the summer. When he came back the next day, the water was frozen. In the warden's house, Ranch Hoof, the warden from 1932 to 1943, suffered a fatal stroke in his office. Ever since, people have reported smelling cigar smoke in the office, due to the fact that Ranch Hoof was a heavy smoker. Even when the prison was in operation, subsequent wardens could smell it, even after smoking was banned inside buildings in the prison in 1978. This was one of the earliest reported paranormal events in the prison, with reports going back to 1948. INVESTIGATION: The 3 of us began our investigation at 20:00 in death row. Our base of operations was in the Central Guard Tower located in the center of the prison. Static cameras were set up in front of the electric chair, on the platform of the gallows, in Solitary Cell 12, in the Warden's Office, one on each end of the General Population wing, one in the infirmary, and one in the prison courtyard. At 20:02, right as our investigation began, the static camera in the northern end of the General Population wing picked up a shadow figure walking by from behind towards the static camera at the southern end, which also picked it up. It made it halfway down the cell block before it disappeared. The 3 of us made our way to the gallows first to conduct an EVP session on camera. Octavia and Lyra both held voice recorders while I filmed. At 20:10, we began. "We have a device that lets us talk to you and lets you talk to us," Octavia said to any spirits in the area of the gallows. "Please, we are not here to hurt you... Unless you hurt us first, of course." For 17 minutes, all we got was silence. Meanwhile, at 20:19, the static camera in front of the electric chair captured footsteps close by, despite nobody being near it at all. Then, at 20:28, Lyra said, "Were you hanged from these gallows?" Suddenly, we all heard a quiet male voice behind us reply with, "Yes." This was captured on my camera, the static camera, Lyra's recorder, and Octavia's recorder. "Yes," Octavia said. "He said yes." She then asked, "What were you convicted of? Was it murder? Was it rape? Was it kidnapping? Was it something else?" Suddenly, without warning, the 3 of us jumped when the lever was pushed forward and the trapdoors slammed open by themselves. I screamed, "Holy [expletive]!" The 3 of us then ran off the gallows. At 21:55, the static camera in Solitary Cell 12 captured a small bright orb erratically travelling across the lower right screen, followed by footsteps nearby, despite nobody being in the Solitary Wing. We were unable to debunk it as something natural. If it were a bug, it would have not been as bright as it was, nor would it have been as fast-moving and erratic as it was. If it were dust, there would have been multiple orb-like objects instead of just one, and again, it would not have been as bright. At 22:06, we entered the general population wing. At the same time, the static camera in the courtyard captured some of the most compelling and frightening piece of evidence to date. A full-bodied apparition appeared in the foreground and ran towards the camera before disappearing behind it. As it ran toward the camera, its eyes could be seen, glowing and bright. It appears to be gray and see-through. As it ran, footsteps could be heard, and they got louder as the spirit came closer to the camera before they went away as the spirit disappeared. In the GenPop wing, we began to conduct an EVP session with a Ghost Box. A Ghost Box is a modified AM/FM portable radio that continuously scans across the different frequencies. It can be manipulated by spirits and other entities to express words and even full sentences. At 22:14, we began. Octavia first asked, “Who is here? Anyone here got any names?” Immediately, a spirit replied with a quick “Who?” Octavia continued, saying, “What were you in prison for?” Almost immediately, another response came, this time being a short “Steal.” Lyra then asked, “What did you steal?” After about half a minute of no responses, as I was about to ask a question, the Ghost Box said back, “Robbery at bank.” At the same time, the static camera at the other end of the GenPop wing captured a small ball of light travel in a straight line from the right of the screen to the left. Again, an insect or particle of dust would never travel in a perfectly straight line, so this cannot be debunked as a natural phenomenon. At 22:20, we all heard a heavy cell door on the 3rd floor of the wing open. We all immediately turned our cameras to the area of the 3rd floor. Lyra said, “What the [EXPLETIVE] was that?” Then, the door slammed shut. We did not capture it visually, but it was loud and very easily heard. All of us jumped and cursed. Soon after, we decided to restart our Ghost Box session. I said, “Who opened and shut that door?” Immediately, the Ghost Box squawked back with “Steel did.” At 00:09, Lyra and me entered the Infirmary while Octavia investigated the Electric Chair room alone. At 00:15, me and Lyra walked into the morgue, a room containing 6 slideable body storage trays and 4 examination tables. Immediately, we heard footsteps behind us and turned around. Additionally, the static camera captured a shadowy mist that neither of us saw travel out of a patient room and down the hallway towards the morgue. In the Electric Chair room, Octavia was doing an EVP session. At 00:17, she asked, “Is there anyone here that was executed in this chair?” Just then, she captured an EVP that replied back to her that said, “Chair... Dead...” She also happened to have an EMF detector with her that she set on the floor next to her. She set the recorder down and picked up the detector. Soon after she did, she got another voice on the recorder as she got a major spike on her detector, indicating the presence of a spirit. “I killed two.” Octavia then played back the EVP. After she heard its contents, she asked back, “Why did you kill them?” She almost immediately got a response. “I just did.” Right after, Octavia felt a slight push on her back, causing her to jump and scream. “Holy [EXPLETIVE]! Oh my God!” In the infirmary, me and Lyra walked into a patient room. As I was describing to Lyra some of the stuff that occurred to visitors and other investigators in the infirmary, both of our recorders captured a disturbing EVP that said “She’s not gonna make it here.” Lyra asked, “I bet you haven’t seen a mare in years. Have you attacked other mares?” Immediately, we both heard a slamming sound from the opposite end of the infirmary that sounded like a door being violently slammed shut. We both jumped. I yelled out, “This is [EXPLETIVE] ridiculous!" For the next two hours, nothing of note happened. Then, at 2:19, just 5 minutes after I changed the batteries out on the static camera located in Solitary Cell 12, the camera died. Luckily, the digital voice recorder I placed on the camera still worked, because what was captured right after the camera died still haunts me to this day. First, a loud scream was heard from outside of the cell, despite nobody being in the Solitary Block at the time. Then, a couple second later, the door to the cell opens, or at least it seems to, given the sounds present and the fact that we later found the cell door open when we came back. Then, to top it all off, right after that, the camera and the recorder sound to have been kicked over, followed by a rather malevolent spirit telling me, directly, "Notie, die, Notie." Notie is a nickname I've had for a long time, ever since I was just an infant, and the fact that a spirit was able to know such a name deeply disturbs me. At 2:42, we made our way to the Solitary block. There, I changed the batteries out again before we began a Ghost Box session in Cell 12. As soon as we turned on the Ghost Box, we got a reply through it: "Note." Disturbed, Octavia asked, "Are you referring to Noteworthy?" Instant, it replied again: "Yes." At the same time, the static camera in the warden's office captured unexplained footsteps as well as a white mist forming for a few seconds before disappearing in the right corner of the room. Lyra asked the Ghost Box, "We heard what you said to Noteworthy. Do you have anything else you wanna say?" A rare female voice then came over the Ghost Box with: "Stop it!" We believe this may have been the voice of a guard from the later years of the prison's operation, as a female prison guard was stabbed to death in the Solitary block in 1991. We did not even have to ask a question before another message came through, with the Ghost Box saying: "I'll kill you." Upon hearing this, we all heard what sounded like a female scream from the other end of the block. We all panicked and ran out of the cell block, all of us convinced we just heard a residual "playback" haunting of the 1991 stabbing. We did not know it at the time, but as it turns out, we had done our investigation on the very anniversary the stabbing had taken place. After this incident, everything was quiet until we left at 6 in the morning. CONCLUSION: The stories of those who have been tormented by the spirits here have been proven true. No longer will they think they are insane, knowing that they have proof. Rating: Definitely haunted by both intelligent and residual hauntings. Most likely no demonic entities. Definitely haunted by malevolent entities. THE JAPAN SPECIAL: Atsugi Keishin Hospital (REWIND TO 2010)In 2010, just as we were getting our hooves into paranormal investigations, we took a trip to Japan to both relax and investigate an abandoned hospital in Atsugi, Kanagawa Prefecture. We were the only professional paranormal investigation team to investigate it before it was torn down. Due to some strings pulled by Octavia, who spent time in the area at a private school in her teenage years, we were able to gain permission from the city government. In 1997, 13 years before our investigation, a news crew went inside the hospital, just after it had closed. The footage below is what they captured. Called, "Horror! Terrifying Report! The Perfect Location for Spirit Photography!," it mesmerized and terrified us when Octavia showed us the footage. I can still remember Lyra's reaction. Right as we got to the end, she jumped out of her chair in fright. Additionally, a local man decided to do his own investigation of the report. As it turns out, the reporter was a young woman from a local talent agency. She later committed suicide shortly after the report was taped. The investigator was lead down many dead ends before he was given the full video by a disgruntled former employee of the local news station, shown above, which he uploaded to the internet. While interviewing the injured man from the report above, the man started vomiting after the investigator mentioned what viewers said was "the red thing," as well as the camera he had left behind at the hospital when he fled. A variety show in Japan also received footage of an apparition in the hospital. The "red thing," as it turns out, was actually believed to be the deformed child of a patient who was admitted into the hospital on December 12, 1979, soon after it opened. It was to be her fourth child. Her labor was painful. It is believed she may have had issues with her reproductive system due to the fact that she was born in Hiroshima not too long after the dropping of the first atomic bomb. Her baby lived for an hour before it died, and she cursed the hospital and the doctors that worked there. The head doctor who worked on her was killed in a car accident on New Years' Day in 1980, and the nurse who had given her the news of the baby's death was killed in the crash of Japan Airlines Flight 123 several years later in 1985. After Octavia did some more digging, we discovered another possible reason behind the hauntings. In World War 2, due to American firebombings, the city of Atsugi buried many of the dead who were burned beyond recognition in a mass unmarked grave on the hospital's location. When the hospital was being built in 1978, the mass grave was rediscovered, and the bodies were cremated. We were allowed to investigate the hospital under the condition that no former employees of the hospital were to contact us. However, several former patients and a firefighter-paramedic did. We have not revealed their names due to privacy concerns. Patient #1 was a 20-year-old male when he was admitted into the hospital on January 7, 1982, following a car accident. He suffered minor injuries late at night, and probably would have mostly forgotten his short time there had it not been for an incident in his room. Around midnight, he was awoken after a frightening nightmare and saw a black shadow standing before his bed. He then saw the shadow open the door, leave, and then close it. When he asked a nurse about it the next day, she told him that there was nothing to be afraid of since many patients and staff had also reported similar occurrences in the same room. Patient #2 was a 15-year-old female when she was admitted into the hospital on July 8, 1988, due to a sickness. While checking out of the hospital, she thought she saw her father standing next to her at an empty receptionist desk. When she turned to talk to him, the figure suddenly disappeared, and her father walked into the room. Patient #3 was a 39-year-old male when he was admitted into the hospital on September 9, 1985, due to having a nail accidentally hammered through his hand while renovating his kitchen. Soon after he came to the ER, he was laying down on a hospital bed awaiting to be seen by a doctor when he saw a horrifying site: a World War 2-era Japanese doctor walking down the hallway wearing tattered and burned clothing with burns on his skin. At first, he wanted to scream, but then the ghost doctor turned to him and reportedly said, "Calm down, (name of patient). You will be attended to. My colleagues will help you." The ghost doctor then disappeared as a real doctor came along. When he asked about the ghost, the doctor told him that he had met a doctor named Keizo Ishido who had been killed in an air raid in 1945 at another hospital who had most likely been buried in the same spot Atsugi Keishin Hospital was built on. A look through city records by Octavia indicated that there indeed was a Doctor Keizo Ishido from one of the prewar city hospitals who was declared missing and presumed dead after an air raid in 1945. The firefighter-paramedic was bringing in a patient on July 9, 1994, just about two and a half years before the hospital closed, and was restocking on medicine for his ambulance in a storage room when the door slammed shut and locked on him. He tried undoing the lock, but an unseen force ripped his hands away from the doorknob. He then slammed on the door and was able to get a nurse's attention to unlock the door from the outside with a key. With this level of activity, we knew we were in for a treat, especially since this would be our first true lock-down investigation. At 8:35 P.M., an Atsugi police officer locked down the fences surrounding the hospital and wished us luck. Octavia would translate for us, as she was the only one who spoke Japanese among us three. At the time of the investigation, we did not use Static Cameras, so the three of us would have to largely split up to cover the whole hospital. After meeting at the Emergency Room Entrance, I made my way to the maternity section on the first floor, where the news report went awry. I sat in the same room where they had seen the ghosts of several surgeons operate and began doing an EVP session. Using a Japanese phrase book, I asked in both English and Japanese, "What is your name? Why are you here?" After 5 minutes, I played back the recorder and managed to receive a response from a male spirit. It was in Japanese, so I called Octavia by radio and asked her to translate it. I played the recording over the radio, and she replied back that the EVP was, "Don't belong." Was this a spirit telling me I don't belong in the room? After that, I conducted another EVP session solely in English, asking, "Why did you scare off those reporters? Are you hiding something?" I then held up a picture of the woman in the report, taken from a still shot of her outside. What I did not expect was the picture being violently ripped out of my hooves and thrown onto the ground. I screamed several curse words and dropped my camera before picking it up and running, leaving my DVR in the room. In just 10 minutes, I had captured chilling evidence that I was not alone, nor was I welcome in that room. I radioed to Octavia, "OCTAVIA! OCTAVIA! THAT PICTURE I HAD OF THE REPORTER JUST GOT [expletive]ING RIPPED OUT OF MY HOOVES!" She replied back, "Noteworthy, calm down! Are you hurt?" "No," I replied back. "Okay, try exploring elsewhere in the maternity ward then." After that, I took a deep breath and went back in to grab my DVR. I decided to play it back to see if I got anything I couldn't hear. Sure enough, just before the picture was grabbed, my DVR captured a low-pitched growl, followed by a hiss when I ran out of the room. Meanwhile, Octavia was on the third floor in the pediatric area. While I was being attacked, she was conducting an EVP session entirely in Japanese. Her first questions were, "Hello. What is your name? Don't be afraid to answer. I won't hurt you. Were you sick or hurt?" After replying to me the first time, she played back her DVR. Unbeknownst to her, her camera, which she pointed towards her DVR and a doorway, captured a black shadow passing by the room she was in as she played it back. She got two replies from child spirits in Japanese: "Ayako..." and "Fever..." Was this a child spirit named Ayako who died of a fever here? Lyra, at the time, was in the staff break room on the second floor, recording with her camera and using an EMF meter. As she checked the whole room, she got no EMF readings. However, as she held it in the middle of the room, it suddenly spiked to around 3. As it did, she heard footsteps from down the hall. After the footsteps stopped, she asked, "Who's here with me?" After that, her camera's microphone picked up an EVP she did not hear that we later determined was in Japanese saying, "The nurse." For another hour, none of us captured anything. At 10:32 P.M., we met back in the ER entrance and decided to take on the maternity section as a team. As we made our way there, Octavia said as she pointed to the fifth floor from outside, "What the hell is that?" The three of us pointed our cameras up to the fifth floor in shock as we all saw a bright light emanate from the fifth floor. It was as if someone was standing there and radiating a bright light. We all made a run to the stairs to reach the fifth floor as soon as we could. However, by the time we reached it, the light was gone. As we looked around, Octavia and I entered the room where the light came from and noticed a hole in the floor near the window. There was no possible way a living person could have been standing there. We looked around a bit more but found nothing else, so we headed back down to the maternity section. At 10:53, we began an EVP session in the hallway of the maternity section. Octavia asked all the questions while me and Lyra recorded, me with a video camera and Lyra with a DVR. We also used an EM pump to give the ghosts at the hospital more energy to draw upon. At 10:57, we got a frightening reply after Octavia asked, "What happened to your baby?" We all heard a female voice from down the hall say something we could not decipher. We all froze in place as I said to the group, "This [expletive] is getting real way too fast." At 11:00, as Lyra asked me a question about equipment, our blood ran cold when we heard what sounded like a baby laughing from the room where I had been in earlier. Lyra whispered, "What the [expletive]?" Right after, our DVR captured a voice we could not hear, saying in Japanese, "It's done." However, these EVPs would pale in comparison to what was about to happen next. As I aimed the camera into the room, I began to tremble as I saw the shapes of three to four doctors or nurses inside the room through the viewfinder of the camera, all looking down at the operating table. I pointed to the room silently to warn Lyra and Octavia, both of whom looked into the viewfinder as well. Lyra decided, out of curiosity, to shine a flashlight into the room. As soon as she did, all of the ghosts inside became visible to the naked eye, and one of them turned around to look at us. All three of us screamed and booked it out of the maternity section. As we ran, we did not look back. We had just captured multiple full-bodied apparitions, one of whom looked us directly in the eyes, and it was clear from my earlier interactions that the spirits in there were very malevolent. We were just about to get another indication of just how malevolent they could get as the three of us became separated inside the hospital. As me and Lyra got lost on the second floor and first floor respectively, Octavia managed to get lost in the basement, which housed the morgue of the hospital. As she panicked and screamed our names, she looked around for an exit and turned her camera on. She then entered a room that contained the crematorium. She said to herself, "Oh, this is just [expletive]ing great." As she looked around, she suddenly heard footsteps behind her and turned around to the door, only to find nothing. Then, she began to feel a burning sensation on her back as she stood on her hind legs. Noticing a mirror in the room near a sink, she walked over and turned around, brushing her mane to the side with one of her hooves. What she saw were three deep scratches on her back, frightening her as she jumped away back on all-fours minus the hoof holding her camera. She turned her camera around and said to it, "Whoever's down here with me does not want me down here at all." She got further confirmation when her mane was suddenly and violently yanked from behind her by an unseen force, throwing her and her camera to the ground and dragging her out of the room as she screamed and screamed. She was dragged out of the room and then let go of by the unseen force. I ran to her about 3 minutes later. By the time I got to her, she was sobbing, and she hadn't moved at all, terror paralyzing her in place. I immediately asked, "What happened?!" "I... I was scratched and dragged by something," she replied to me. As she showed me the scratch marks, the door to the crematorium slammed shut, causing her to scream loudly again and me to jump. Her camera was still inside, so I flung the door back open and grabbed it before closing the door back up. As I comforted her, I checked the footage from when she was out of the room and got another chilling piece of evidence. About a minute before I arrived, a black mist was seen travelling from the hallway into the room before disappearing, followed by the faint sound of laughter over Octavia's sobbing. It was clear that whoever was in the basement was extremely violent towards the living, possibly even demonic. "Octavia, let's go. We're out of here." We decided that she was to stay at the ER entrance for the rest of the night. At 12:47 A.M., me and Lyra made our way back to the maternity section after I explained to her what had happened. There, we set up a DVR and an EMF meter. After about 5 minutes of only sitting around, we got a response through the DVR after playing it back. Instead of 5 minutes of mostly silence and the occasional chatter of us, we captured a female voice 3 minutes in. Octavia translated over the radio, and we determined it said, "Did they leave?" At 12:54 A.M., the two of us heard footsteps above us on the second floor, even though nobody was up there at the time. At 12:59 A.M., we captured another voice, this time of a male, that was translated as, "Save it." At 1:22 A.M., not getting any more evidence, we left and met up with Octavia. Lyra said to her there, "Do you feel comfortable going with us again?" She nodded her head and affirmed to us, "I am. I won't be afraid anymore." It was settled. We were all to head to the basement together and confront whatever spirit was down there that had assaulted Octavia. At 1:34 A.M., we headed to the crematorium room and began doing an EVP session. Octavia asked in Japanese, "Who attacked me?! Who's the [expletive] that attacked me?!" We decided to be aggressive with our questioning, since this spirit was clearly not going to play nice anyway. Immediately, we got a response from a deep male voice we all heard with our own ears. It said in Japanese, "I did." Octavia was frightened, but continued on. "Do you get off on attacking the living?!" This time, our DVR captured the same voice, but quieter, saying, "I died." At the same time, Lyra's camera captured an orb-shaped anomaly fly past the door to the room in the hallway. "Why are you like this?! You can't spend eternity attacking us!" In response to this, an unseen force ripped the DVR out of my hoof, causing it to fall to the ground. I was startled, but forced myself to stay put as Lyra asked me if I was alright. I sat up and picked the DVR up just as it captured a disembodied voice saying in Japanese, "You know what was done." For the next half hour, we captured nothing else. At 2:20 A.M., we made our way to the fifth floor. At 2:36 A.M., we began taking photographs of the area where we had seen the light before. As we did, our cameras picked up another disembodied voice, that belonging to a female, that said in Japanese, "I cannot..." We took 36 pictures, and in 3 of them, we captured anomalies. In one picture by me, the black silhouette of a man was seen standing in a doorway down the main hallway. In another by me, a white mist was seen forming near the same window where we had seen the light. In one by Lyra, another figure, this time more gray-ish than black, was seen standing near the door to a room. At 3:47 A.M., we split up again after finding no other evidence on the fifth floor. As I made my way back to the maternity section, my video camera died even though it was at a 65% charge just seconds before. I quickly changed the battery, assuming that a spirit had drained it to allow itself to manifest. At 4:06 A.M., I began taking photographs of the room where we had seen the apparitions earlier. Again, I managed to capture an anomaly. After turning the camera around and taking a picture of myself, I noticed that there was another figure in the picture behind me. I could make out that it was a humanoid shape and had glowing eyes. I did feel a cold spot behind me as I took the picture, and this photo confirms that it was a spirit. A few minutes later, in the ER department, Lyra captured a male EVP that said in Japanese, "Welcome back." For the rest of the night, the hospital was quiet. No other evidence was captured. At 7:22 A.M., an Atsugi police officer let us out of the hospital grounds. Little did we know that this investigation would be the start of our ghost hunting careers. The evidence captured here made the rounds on social media in Equestria and in Japan, and led to us exploring this field even further. In 2018, we would return to Japan for our most daring investigations yet. Appleloosa: Central Bar & MarketLocations Visited: Central Bar Market Background Information (Central Bar Market): The Central Bar Market was founded in 1866 by a business-stallion named Braeburn. Today, it's owned by a descendent of his, Braeburn IV. The building is teeming with activity, stemming from the many deaths that occurred in the building, the first being Braeburn's own death from a heart attack in his office in 1874. Employees report feelings of chest pains whenever they sit in the office's chair for several minutes. The Appleloosa Hose Company's Rescue Squad has been called over no less than 5 times for these incidents over a period of 30 years. Meanwhile, in 1885, a tragic mining accident at the Gravelson Mine left 32 miners dead. Because the coroner's office was overburdened by the tragedy, the bodies were temporarily stored in a 3-storey high storage room in the Central Bar Market. Numerous people have reported that the room stays cold even when the temperature exceeds 40 degrees celsius outside, as well as EVPs. The 2nd and 3rd floors are currently used a storage, but until the 1960s, the 2nd floor housed a casino. In 1932, a casino patron was shot and killed when he was caught cheating by another patron. The murderer was eventually electrocuted for the crime at the Old Dodge Junction Prison in 1933. The Casino closed in 1964 and moved across the street. On the 2nd floor, one employee remembers hearing a gunshot followed by screaming and shouting in a room, but when he opened the door, it was completely empty. The 3rd floor was a hotel until 1935 and was often frequented by miners and prostitutes alike in the late 1800s to early 1900s. In 1899, a local prostitute was found brutally murdered in Room 13. Thus began a series of 5 murders in the area until 1902, when the perpetrator, Red Bounce, was caught attempting to kidnap another woman. He too was executed in the Old Prison, this time by hanging in 1904, making it the last of its kind in the Appleloosa Province. After him came the Electric Chair Era. Mares and fillies who go into Room 13 often feel uncomfortable, even when they don't know the room's dark past. I had first heard of the haunting a here several years back, when me and Octavia had been part of an orchestra that had gone to Appleloosa for a competition. At the time, Vinyl Scratch had been with us as well. We visited the bar and overheard several employees talking about an incident where one of them noticed a mist in Room 13. I went over and talked to them. I had no idea that we had been drinking in a haunted building! Shortly after the competition, Vinyl reported seeing a figure staring at her from the 2nd floor. We went over to check with Braeburn, but he said no one was on the 2 abandoned floors at the time. Thus began my fascination with the building. After returning to Ponyville, I went on a ghost hunting forum and, to my surprise, found out that barely anypony had ever heard of this highly active location, with most of them being focused on the old prison in Dodge Junction. Since information was needed for the investigation, I contacted Applejack about the Apple family's past. She provided invaluable information about Braeburn's branch of the family. She stated that the Apple family owned and operated many businesses in the Appleloosa area, including the Gravelson Mine, during the 1800s and 1900s. Even today, the Apple family, specifically Braeburn's branch, remain a powerful force in business and politics in the Province of Appleloosa. When I mentioned the hauntings at the Central, she told me that she was not surprised about how much activity there was. ACCOUNT OF THE INVESTIGATION: The 3 of us began the investigation at 19:00 Hours, or 7:00 PM. We spent the first 30 minutes setting up 6 static cameras throughout the building: 1 in the bar, 1 in Room 13, 2 in the large storage room, 1 in the old Craps Room on the 2nd floor, where the murder took place, and 1 in the old office. At 19:45, Octavia said, "Let's host an EVP session in the bar. Braeburn said that there are many voices heard in the main dining area." I agreed and the 3 of us went into the dining room. At 19:47, I began recording with a digital voice recorder. To begin, I said, "If there is anypony in here, you are free to talk to us. We won't harm you. We're nice people. We love conversations." I recorded for 2 minutes before I turned the recorder off and played back the audio. To our surprise, we got something. At the 1:45 mark, it captured footsteps. We did not hear this at all at the time it was recorded. Then, at 2:06, a faint male voice was heard. We believe it says, "Welcome." Yet again, we initially didn't hear this. Now it was Lyra's turn. Holding a TriField EMF Meter, she began recording and said, "Thanks for the kind words. Do you have anything else to say?" She recorded for 3 minutes. At 19:53, we all heard a disturbing EVP say, in a low-pitched voice, "Get you..." Octavia said, "Holy [expletive], did you hear that?" Lyra quickly replied, "I did. I just [expletive]ing did. That was freaking creepy." I replied to the voice, "Who is going to get us? Are you Red Bounce?" We got no reply and decided at 19:54 to split up. Octavia went upstairs to the 3rd Floor. She sat in the hallway and received no activity initially. Then, just as she was about to leave, at 20:03, she heard footsteps, which were also captured on the camera's audio and her recorder's audio. At this time, on the X Camera in Room 13, the footsteps were heard, and a small mist appeared for a split second near a window. At the same time, Octavia's EMF meter had a spike in activity. She quickly asked, "Who are you?" After recording for 2 minutes, she played back her recorder and at the 1:22 mark, heard a voice say, "Who are you?" This disturbed Octavia. She replied, "I'm Octavia Melody. Are you the mare murdered here?" After recording for 3 minutes, she played the tape back again. She received a clear response at the 1:56 mark. At that time, a female voice said, "Yes." Octavia could be heard reacting to the EVP with shock. She then followed up by giving the mare her condolences. She said, "I'm sorry Red Bounce murdered you. What he did was horrible. I was sexually abused myself when I was younger. Nopony should ever have to go through that pain. Nopony. If you feel trapped here, you shouldn't. You are free to go and move on." After 5 minutes of recording, she got no response, so she left. However, at 20:18, the X Camera in Room 13 picked up what sounded like a female crying for approximately 30 seconds. Lyra went to the large storage room. At 20:15, before she entered the room, the X Camera in the room picked up one of the most compelling pieces of evidence to date. A full-bodied apparition walked past the camera and disappeared. Lyra had no idea what she was in for. She went in at 20:17 and began using an EMF Meter to try and pick up unexplained EMF activity. She didn't have to wait long, because 2 minutes in, she received a large spike in activity, a whopping increase from 0.2 to 3.5 in 2 seconds. At the same time, the X Camera in the room picked up footsteps nearby that Lyra was unable to hear. Lyra immediately asked, "Who is here with me?" She waited 6 minutes and received no response. She decided to leave after this. I went to the 2nd Floor to investigate the Craps Room. I started by asking a series of questions in regards to gambling. After asking 3 questions, I got a response in the form of a loud bang on the wall in the room. I jumped up and cursed. I then asked, "Do you think you overreacted when you killed the cheater?" The response I got over my Digital Voice Recorder was chilling. It said, "Die." I didn't realise I got this until I played back the recorder. I decided that, for my own safety, I would return downstairs at 20:03. At 21:25, unexplained footsteps were heard from the X Camera in the Craps Room. At 21:00, we all met back downstairs. For the next 5 hours, we analysed the footage we had received so far. At 02:00, we resumed the investigation and went together onto the 3rd floor. By that point, the X-Camera had also captured unexplained footsteps at least 3 times over the 5-hour-period. We went to Room 13 together and decided to ask more questions. For the first 32 minutes, we received no replies. Then, Lyra asked "What do you want to do to Red Bounce?" The response was sudden. We all heard a low-pitched growl come from outside of the room. Lyra said, "Holy [expletive]. That is [expletive]ing demonic." At the same time, our DVR captured a male voice say, "Shut up." For another 26 minutes, we received nothing. Then, Lyra felt a slight tug on her mane and shouted "Sweet Celestia, what the [expletive]?!" I replied, "Red Bounce, you don't scare us!" Then, we all heard another growl. We all ran to the 1st Floor in fear of what would happen next. The next several hours were quite uneventful, apart from a few odd footsteps here and there. We wrapped up our investigation up at 7:00 in the morning. By then, everypony was visibly shaken by the investigation, but we were happy that we had collected proof of the building's hauntings. CONCLUSION: After reviewing our evidence for several days, we presented Braeburn with what we collected. He was certainly shaken and disturbed by what we had seen and heard. He said that now, he could rest easy at night, knowing that he and his fellow employees weren't crazy. Rating: Definitely haunted. Not for the faint of heart.
Dodge Junction: Dodge Junction Provincial PrisonHISTORY: The old Dodge Junction Provincial Prison was in operation from 1878 to 1998 . In its 120 years of operation, it housed the most violent offenders in the Appleloosa Province. In its final 27 years, it saw its name change to "Dodge Junction Maximum Security Correctional Facility," but many former inmates say that the prison was ineffective in "correcting" its inmates. The prison was replaced by a new one 3 miles down the road. Even while the prison was active, inmates and staff alike reported things that go bump in the night. One inmate, in 1979, reported getting violently attacked by a possibly demonic entity in his cell. Afterwards, his old cell was permanently vacated after it was discovered that several other prisoners and guards had reported similar attacks. The prison also housed the Death Row for the Province of Appleloosa. From 1878 to 1904, prisoners on Death Row were hanged in the prison courtyard. A replica of the gallows now stands where the original stood. After 1904, an electric chair was built inside the Death Row building. From 1878 to 1998, 85 hangings and 423 electrocutions took place. Electrocutions are still carried out in the new prison. Visitors to the site describe a feeling of dread whenever they approach the gallows or the old chair, nicknamed "Brown Demon" by the inmates. Investigators have collected numerous evidence of activity from these locations. One investigator I had interviewed said that he had been making his rounds along the gallows while holding a tape recorder when the trapdoors suddenly opened on their own. I listened to the recordings of the incident, and I could provide no natural explanation for it. Another investigator showed me a disturbing picture he had taken near the chair. The picture showed what appeared to be a faint shape near the chair, as if it was sitting or standing on it. It was as though it was an inmate being electrocuted or about to be. Octavia said she could faintly see another shape, standing up near the lever that operated the chair. In Solitary Confinement Cell 12, a guard was murdered by an inmate with a piece of metal in 1936. He was electrocuted for it in 1938 as a result. Several museum workers reported that it wasn't uncommon to have that particular cell be freezing cold while everything else around it is hot. One worker left a glass of water in the cell as a practical joke in the middle of the summer. When he came back the next day, the water was frozen. In the warden's house, Ranch Hoof, the warden from 1932 to 1943, suffered a fatal stroke in his office. Ever since, people have reported smelling cigar smoke in the office, due to the fact that Ranch Hoof was a heavy smoker. Even when the prison was in operation, subsequent wardens could smell it, even after smoking was banned inside buildings in the prison in 1978. This was one of the earliest reported paranormal events in the prison, with reports going back to 1948. INVESTIGATION: The 3 of us began our investigation at 20:00 in death row. Our base of operations was in the Central Guard Tower located in the center of the prison. Static cameras were set up in front of the electric chair, on the platform of the gallows, in Solitary Cell 12, in the Warden's Office, one on each end of the General Population wing, one in the infirmary, and one in the prison courtyard. At 20:02, right as our investigation began, the static camera in the northern end of the General Population wing picked up a shadow figure walking by from behind towards the static camera at the southern end, which also picked it up. It made it halfway down the cell block before it disappeared. The 3 of us made our way to the gallows first to conduct an EVP session on camera. Octavia and Lyra both held voice recorders while I filmed. At 20:10, we began. "We have a device that lets us talk to you and lets you talk to us," Octavia said to any spirits in the area of the gallows. "Please, we are not here to hurt you... Unless you hurt us first, of course." For 17 minutes, all we got was silence. Meanwhile, at 20:19, the static camera in front of the electric chair captured footsteps close by, despite nobody being near it at all. Then, at 20:28, Lyra said, "Were you hanged from these gallows?" Suddenly, we all heard a quiet male voice behind us reply with, "Yes." This was captured on my camera, the static camera, Lyra's recorder, and Octavia's recorder. "Yes," Octavia said. "He said yes." She then asked, "What were you convicted of? Was it murder? Was it rape? Was it kidnapping? Was it something else?" Suddenly, without warning, the 3 of us jumped when the lever was pushed forward and the trapdoors slammed open by themselves. I screamed, "Holy [expletive]!" The 3 of us then ran off the gallows. At 21:55, the static camera in Solitary Cell 12 captured a small bright orb erratically travelling across the lower right screen, followed by footsteps nearby, despite nobody being in the Solitary Wing. We were unable to debunk it as something natural. If it were a bug, it would have not been as bright as it was, nor would it have been as fast-moving and erratic as it was. If it were dust, there would have been multiple orb-like objects instead of just one, and again, it would not have been as bright. At 22:06, we entered the general population wing. At the same time, the static camera in the courtyard captured some of the most compelling and frightening piece of evidence to date. A full-bodied apparition appeared in the foreground and ran towards the camera before disappearing behind it. As it ran toward the camera, its eyes could be seen, glowing and bright. It appears to be gray and see-through. As it ran, footsteps could be heard, and they got louder as the spirit came closer to the camera before they went away as the spirit disappeared. In the GenPop wing, we began to conduct an EVP session with a Ghost Box. A Ghost Box is a modified AM/FM portable radio that continuously scans across the different frequencies. It can be manipulated by spirits and other entities to express words and even full sentences. At 22:14, we began. Octavia first asked, “Who is here? Anyone here got any names?” Immediately, a spirit replied with a quick “Who?” Octavia continued, saying, “What were you in prison for?” Almost immediately, another response came, this time being a short “Steal.” Lyra then asked, “What did you steal?” After about half a minute of no responses, as I was about to ask a question, the Ghost Box said back, “Robbery at bank.” At the same time, the static camera at the other end of the GenPop wing captured a small ball of light travel in a straight line from the right of the screen to the left. Again, an insect or particle of dust would never travel in a perfectly straight line, so this cannot be debunked as a natural phenomenon. At 22:20, we all heard a heavy cell door on the 3rd floor of the wing open. We all immediately turned our cameras to the area of the 3rd floor. Lyra said, “What the [EXPLETIVE] was that?” Then, the door slammed shut. We did not capture it visually, but it was loud and very easily heard. All of us jumped and cursed. Soon after, we decided to restart our Ghost Box session. I said, “Who opened and shut that door?” Immediately, the Ghost Box squawked back with “Steel did.” At 00:09, Lyra and me entered the Infirmary while Octavia investigated the Electric Chair room alone. At 00:15, me and Lyra walked into the morgue, a room containing 6 slideable body storage trays and 4 examination tables. Immediately, we heard footsteps behind us and turned around. Additionally, the static camera captured a shadowy mist that neither of us saw travel out of a patient room and down the hallway towards the morgue. In the Electric Chair room, Octavia was doing an EVP session. At 00:17, she asked, “Is there anyone here that was executed in this chair?” Just then, she captured an EVP that replied back to her that said, “Chair... Dead...” She also happened to have an EMF detector with her that she set on the floor next to her. She set the recorder down and picked up the detector. Soon after she did, she got another voice on the recorder as she got a major spike on her detector, indicating the presence of a spirit. “I killed two.” Octavia then played back the EVP. After she heard its contents, she asked back, “Why did you kill them?” She almost immediately got a response. “I just did.” Right after, Octavia felt a slight push on her back, causing her to jump and scream. “Holy [EXPLETIVE]! Oh my God!” In the infirmary, me and Lyra walked into a patient room. As I was describing to Lyra some of the stuff that occurred to visitors and other investigators in the infirmary, both of our recorders captured a disturbing EVP that said “She’s not gonna make it here.” Lyra asked, “I bet you haven’t seen a mare in years. Have you attacked other mares?” Immediately, we both heard a slamming sound from the opposite end of the infirmary that sounded like a door being violently slammed shut. We both jumped. I yelled out, “This is [EXPLETIVE] ridiculous!" For the next two hours, nothing of note happened. Then, at 2:19, just 5 minutes after I changed the batteries out on the static camera located in Solitary Cell 12, the camera died. Luckily, the digital voice recorder I placed on the camera still worked, because what was captured right after the camera died still haunts me to this day. First, a loud scream was heard from outside of the cell, despite nobody being in the Solitary Block at the time. Then, a couple second later, the door to the cell opens, or at least it seems to, given the sounds present and the fact that we later found the cell door open when we came back. Then, to top it all off, right after that, the camera and the recorder sound to have been kicked over, followed by a rather malevolent spirit telling me, directly, "Notie, die, Notie." Notie is a nickname I've had for a long time, ever since I was just an infant, and the fact that a spirit was able to know such a name deeply disturbs me. At 2:42, we made our way to the Solitary block. There, I changed the batteries out again before we began a Ghost Box session in Cell 12. As soon as we turned on the Ghost Box, we got a reply through it: "Note." Disturbed, Octavia asked, "Are you referring to Noteworthy?" Instant, it replied again: "Yes." At the same time, the static camera in the warden's office captured unexplained footsteps as well as a white mist forming for a few seconds before disappearing in the right corner of the room. Lyra asked the Ghost Box, "We heard what you said to Noteworthy. Do you have anything else you wanna say?" A rare female voice then came over the Ghost Box with: "Stop it!" We believe this may have been the voice of a guard from the later years of the prison's operation, as a female prison guard was stabbed to death in the Solitary block in 1991. We did not even have to ask a question before another message came through, with the Ghost Box saying: "I'll kill you." Upon hearing this, we all heard what sounded like a female scream from the other end of the block. We all panicked and ran out of the cell block, all of us convinced we just heard a residual "playback" haunting of the 1991 stabbing. We did not know it at the time, but as it turns out, we had done our investigation on the very anniversary the stabbing had taken place. After this incident, everything was quiet until we left at 6 in the morning. CONCLUSION: The stories of those who have been tormented by the spirits here have been proven true. No longer will they think they are insane, knowing that they have proof. Rating: Definitely haunted by both intelligent and residual hauntings. Most likely no demonic entities. Definitely haunted by malevolent entities.
THE JAPAN SPECIAL: Atsugi Keishin Hospital (REWIND TO 2010)In 2010, just as we were getting our hooves into paranormal investigations, we took a trip to Japan to both relax and investigate an abandoned hospital in Atsugi, Kanagawa Prefecture. We were the only professional paranormal investigation team to investigate it before it was torn down. Due to some strings pulled by Octavia, who spent time in the area at a private school in her teenage years, we were able to gain permission from the city government. In 1997, 13 years before our investigation, a news crew went inside the hospital, just after it had closed. The footage below is what they captured. Called, "Horror! Terrifying Report! The Perfect Location for Spirit Photography!," it mesmerized and terrified us when Octavia showed us the footage. I can still remember Lyra's reaction. Right as we got to the end, she jumped out of her chair in fright. Additionally, a local man decided to do his own investigation of the report. As it turns out, the reporter was a young woman from a local talent agency. She later committed suicide shortly after the report was taped. The investigator was lead down many dead ends before he was given the full video by a disgruntled former employee of the local news station, shown above, which he uploaded to the internet. While interviewing the injured man from the report above, the man started vomiting after the investigator mentioned what viewers said was "the red thing," as well as the camera he had left behind at the hospital when he fled. A variety show in Japan also received footage of an apparition in the hospital. The "red thing," as it turns out, was actually believed to be the deformed child of a patient who was admitted into the hospital on December 12, 1979, soon after it opened. It was to be her fourth child. Her labor was painful. It is believed she may have had issues with her reproductive system due to the fact that she was born in Hiroshima not too long after the dropping of the first atomic bomb. Her baby lived for an hour before it died, and she cursed the hospital and the doctors that worked there. The head doctor who worked on her was killed in a car accident on New Years' Day in 1980, and the nurse who had given her the news of the baby's death was killed in the crash of Japan Airlines Flight 123 several years later in 1985. After Octavia did some more digging, we discovered another possible reason behind the hauntings. In World War 2, due to American firebombings, the city of Atsugi buried many of the dead who were burned beyond recognition in a mass unmarked grave on the hospital's location. When the hospital was being built in 1978, the mass grave was rediscovered, and the bodies were cremated. We were allowed to investigate the hospital under the condition that no former employees of the hospital were to contact us. However, several former patients and a firefighter-paramedic did. We have not revealed their names due to privacy concerns. Patient #1 was a 20-year-old male when he was admitted into the hospital on January 7, 1982, following a car accident. He suffered minor injuries late at night, and probably would have mostly forgotten his short time there had it not been for an incident in his room. Around midnight, he was awoken after a frightening nightmare and saw a black shadow standing before his bed. He then saw the shadow open the door, leave, and then close it. When he asked a nurse about it the next day, she told him that there was nothing to be afraid of since many patients and staff had also reported similar occurrences in the same room. Patient #2 was a 15-year-old female when she was admitted into the hospital on July 8, 1988, due to a sickness. While checking out of the hospital, she thought she saw her father standing next to her at an empty receptionist desk. When she turned to talk to him, the figure suddenly disappeared, and her father walked into the room. Patient #3 was a 39-year-old male when he was admitted into the hospital on September 9, 1985, due to having a nail accidentally hammered through his hand while renovating his kitchen. Soon after he came to the ER, he was laying down on a hospital bed awaiting to be seen by a doctor when he saw a horrifying site: a World War 2-era Japanese doctor walking down the hallway wearing tattered and burned clothing with burns on his skin. At first, he wanted to scream, but then the ghost doctor turned to him and reportedly said, "Calm down, (name of patient). You will be attended to. My colleagues will help you." The ghost doctor then disappeared as a real doctor came along. When he asked about the ghost, the doctor told him that he had met a doctor named Keizo Ishido who had been killed in an air raid in 1945 at another hospital who had most likely been buried in the same spot Atsugi Keishin Hospital was built on. A look through city records by Octavia indicated that there indeed was a Doctor Keizo Ishido from one of the prewar city hospitals who was declared missing and presumed dead after an air raid in 1945. The firefighter-paramedic was bringing in a patient on July 9, 1994, just about two and a half years before the hospital closed, and was restocking on medicine for his ambulance in a storage room when the door slammed shut and locked on him. He tried undoing the lock, but an unseen force ripped his hands away from the doorknob. He then slammed on the door and was able to get a nurse's attention to unlock the door from the outside with a key. With this level of activity, we knew we were in for a treat, especially since this would be our first true lock-down investigation. At 8:35 P.M., an Atsugi police officer locked down the fences surrounding the hospital and wished us luck. Octavia would translate for us, as she was the only one who spoke Japanese among us three. At the time of the investigation, we did not use Static Cameras, so the three of us would have to largely split up to cover the whole hospital. After meeting at the Emergency Room Entrance, I made my way to the maternity section on the first floor, where the news report went awry. I sat in the same room where they had seen the ghosts of several surgeons operate and began doing an EVP session. Using a Japanese phrase book, I asked in both English and Japanese, "What is your name? Why are you here?" After 5 minutes, I played back the recorder and managed to receive a response from a male spirit. It was in Japanese, so I called Octavia by radio and asked her to translate it. I played the recording over the radio, and she replied back that the EVP was, "Don't belong." Was this a spirit telling me I don't belong in the room? After that, I conducted another EVP session solely in English, asking, "Why did you scare off those reporters? Are you hiding something?" I then held up a picture of the woman in the report, taken from a still shot of her outside. What I did not expect was the picture being violently ripped out of my hooves and thrown onto the ground. I screamed several curse words and dropped my camera before picking it up and running, leaving my DVR in the room. In just 10 minutes, I had captured chilling evidence that I was not alone, nor was I welcome in that room. I radioed to Octavia, "OCTAVIA! OCTAVIA! THAT PICTURE I HAD OF THE REPORTER JUST GOT [expletive]ING RIPPED OUT OF MY HOOVES!" She replied back, "Noteworthy, calm down! Are you hurt?" "No," I replied back. "Okay, try exploring elsewhere in the maternity ward then." After that, I took a deep breath and went back in to grab my DVR. I decided to play it back to see if I got anything I couldn't hear. Sure enough, just before the picture was grabbed, my DVR captured a low-pitched growl, followed by a hiss when I ran out of the room. Meanwhile, Octavia was on the third floor in the pediatric area. While I was being attacked, she was conducting an EVP session entirely in Japanese. Her first questions were, "Hello. What is your name? Don't be afraid to answer. I won't hurt you. Were you sick or hurt?" After replying to me the first time, she played back her DVR. Unbeknownst to her, her camera, which she pointed towards her DVR and a doorway, captured a black shadow passing by the room she was in as she played it back. She got two replies from child spirits in Japanese: "Ayako..." and "Fever..." Was this a child spirit named Ayako who died of a fever here? Lyra, at the time, was in the staff break room on the second floor, recording with her camera and using an EMF meter. As she checked the whole room, she got no EMF readings. However, as she held it in the middle of the room, it suddenly spiked to around 3. As it did, she heard footsteps from down the hall. After the footsteps stopped, she asked, "Who's here with me?" After that, her camera's microphone picked up an EVP she did not hear that we later determined was in Japanese saying, "The nurse." For another hour, none of us captured anything. At 10:32 P.M., we met back in the ER entrance and decided to take on the maternity section as a team. As we made our way there, Octavia said as she pointed to the fifth floor from outside, "What the hell is that?" The three of us pointed our cameras up to the fifth floor in shock as we all saw a bright light emanate from the fifth floor. It was as if someone was standing there and radiating a bright light. We all made a run to the stairs to reach the fifth floor as soon as we could. However, by the time we reached it, the light was gone. As we looked around, Octavia and I entered the room where the light came from and noticed a hole in the floor near the window. There was no possible way a living person could have been standing there. We looked around a bit more but found nothing else, so we headed back down to the maternity section. At 10:53, we began an EVP session in the hallway of the maternity section. Octavia asked all the questions while me and Lyra recorded, me with a video camera and Lyra with a DVR. We also used an EM pump to give the ghosts at the hospital more energy to draw upon. At 10:57, we got a frightening reply after Octavia asked, "What happened to your baby?" We all heard a female voice from down the hall say something we could not decipher. We all froze in place as I said to the group, "This [expletive] is getting real way too fast." At 11:00, as Lyra asked me a question about equipment, our blood ran cold when we heard what sounded like a baby laughing from the room where I had been in earlier. Lyra whispered, "What the [expletive]?" Right after, our DVR captured a voice we could not hear, saying in Japanese, "It's done." However, these EVPs would pale in comparison to what was about to happen next. As I aimed the camera into the room, I began to tremble as I saw the shapes of three to four doctors or nurses inside the room through the viewfinder of the camera, all looking down at the operating table. I pointed to the room silently to warn Lyra and Octavia, both of whom looked into the viewfinder as well. Lyra decided, out of curiosity, to shine a flashlight into the room. As soon as she did, all of the ghosts inside became visible to the naked eye, and one of them turned around to look at us. All three of us screamed and booked it out of the maternity section. As we ran, we did not look back. We had just captured multiple full-bodied apparitions, one of whom looked us directly in the eyes, and it was clear from my earlier interactions that the spirits in there were very malevolent. We were just about to get another indication of just how malevolent they could get as the three of us became separated inside the hospital. As me and Lyra got lost on the second floor and first floor respectively, Octavia managed to get lost in the basement, which housed the morgue of the hospital. As she panicked and screamed our names, she looked around for an exit and turned her camera on. She then entered a room that contained the crematorium. She said to herself, "Oh, this is just [expletive]ing great." As she looked around, she suddenly heard footsteps behind her and turned around to the door, only to find nothing. Then, she began to feel a burning sensation on her back as she stood on her hind legs. Noticing a mirror in the room near a sink, she walked over and turned around, brushing her mane to the side with one of her hooves. What she saw were three deep scratches on her back, frightening her as she jumped away back on all-fours minus the hoof holding her camera. She turned her camera around and said to it, "Whoever's down here with me does not want me down here at all." She got further confirmation when her mane was suddenly and violently yanked from behind her by an unseen force, throwing her and her camera to the ground and dragging her out of the room as she screamed and screamed. She was dragged out of the room and then let go of by the unseen force. I ran to her about 3 minutes later. By the time I got to her, she was sobbing, and she hadn't moved at all, terror paralyzing her in place. I immediately asked, "What happened?!" "I... I was scratched and dragged by something," she replied to me. As she showed me the scratch marks, the door to the crematorium slammed shut, causing her to scream loudly again and me to jump. Her camera was still inside, so I flung the door back open and grabbed it before closing the door back up. As I comforted her, I checked the footage from when she was out of the room and got another chilling piece of evidence. About a minute before I arrived, a black mist was seen travelling from the hallway into the room before disappearing, followed by the faint sound of laughter over Octavia's sobbing. It was clear that whoever was in the basement was extremely violent towards the living, possibly even demonic. "Octavia, let's go. We're out of here." We decided that she was to stay at the ER entrance for the rest of the night. At 12:47 A.M., me and Lyra made our way back to the maternity section after I explained to her what had happened. There, we set up a DVR and an EMF meter. After about 5 minutes of only sitting around, we got a response through the DVR after playing it back. Instead of 5 minutes of mostly silence and the occasional chatter of us, we captured a female voice 3 minutes in. Octavia translated over the radio, and we determined it said, "Did they leave?" At 12:54 A.M., the two of us heard footsteps above us on the second floor, even though nobody was up there at the time. At 12:59 A.M., we captured another voice, this time of a male, that was translated as, "Save it." At 1:22 A.M., not getting any more evidence, we left and met up with Octavia. Lyra said to her there, "Do you feel comfortable going with us again?" She nodded her head and affirmed to us, "I am. I won't be afraid anymore." It was settled. We were all to head to the basement together and confront whatever spirit was down there that had assaulted Octavia. At 1:34 A.M., we headed to the crematorium room and began doing an EVP session. Octavia asked in Japanese, "Who attacked me?! Who's the [expletive] that attacked me?!" We decided to be aggressive with our questioning, since this spirit was clearly not going to play nice anyway. Immediately, we got a response from a deep male voice we all heard with our own ears. It said in Japanese, "I did." Octavia was frightened, but continued on. "Do you get off on attacking the living?!" This time, our DVR captured the same voice, but quieter, saying, "I died." At the same time, Lyra's camera captured an orb-shaped anomaly fly past the door to the room in the hallway. "Why are you like this?! You can't spend eternity attacking us!" In response to this, an unseen force ripped the DVR out of my hoof, causing it to fall to the ground. I was startled, but forced myself to stay put as Lyra asked me if I was alright. I sat up and picked the DVR up just as it captured a disembodied voice saying in Japanese, "You know what was done." For the next half hour, we captured nothing else. At 2:20 A.M., we made our way to the fifth floor. At 2:36 A.M., we began taking photographs of the area where we had seen the light before. As we did, our cameras picked up another disembodied voice, that belonging to a female, that said in Japanese, "I cannot..." We took 36 pictures, and in 3 of them, we captured anomalies. In one picture by me, the black silhouette of a man was seen standing in a doorway down the main hallway. In another by me, a white mist was seen forming near the same window where we had seen the light. In one by Lyra, another figure, this time more gray-ish than black, was seen standing near the door to a room. At 3:47 A.M., we split up again after finding no other evidence on the fifth floor. As I made my way back to the maternity section, my video camera died even though it was at a 65% charge just seconds before. I quickly changed the battery, assuming that a spirit had drained it to allow itself to manifest. At 4:06 A.M., I began taking photographs of the room where we had seen the apparitions earlier. Again, I managed to capture an anomaly. After turning the camera around and taking a picture of myself, I noticed that there was another figure in the picture behind me. I could make out that it was a humanoid shape and had glowing eyes. I did feel a cold spot behind me as I took the picture, and this photo confirms that it was a spirit. A few minutes later, in the ER department, Lyra captured a male EVP that said in Japanese, "Welcome back." For the rest of the night, the hospital was quiet. No other evidence was captured. At 7:22 A.M., an Atsugi police officer let us out of the hospital grounds. Little did we know that this investigation would be the start of our ghost hunting careers. The evidence captured here made the rounds on social media in Equestria and in Japan, and led to us exploring this field even further. In 2018, we would return to Japan for our most daring investigations yet.
Appleloosa: Central Bar & MarketLocations Visited: Central Bar Market Background Information (Central Bar Market): The Central Bar Market was founded in 1866 by a business-stallion named Braeburn. Today, it's owned by a descendent of his, Braeburn IV. The building is teeming with activity, stemming from the many deaths that occurred in the building, the first being Braeburn's own death from a heart attack in his office in 1874. Employees report feelings of chest pains whenever they sit in the office's chair for several minutes. The Appleloosa Hose Company's Rescue Squad has been called over no less than 5 times for these incidents over a period of 30 years. Meanwhile, in 1885, a tragic mining accident at the Gravelson Mine left 32 miners dead. Because the coroner's office was overburdened by the tragedy, the bodies were temporarily stored in a 3-storey high storage room in the Central Bar Market. Numerous people have reported that the room stays cold even when the temperature exceeds 40 degrees celsius outside, as well as EVPs. The 2nd and 3rd floors are currently used a storage, but until the 1960s, the 2nd floor housed a casino. In 1932, a casino patron was shot and killed when he was caught cheating by another patron. The murderer was eventually electrocuted for the crime at the Old Dodge Junction Prison in 1933. The Casino closed in 1964 and moved across the street. On the 2nd floor, one employee remembers hearing a gunshot followed by screaming and shouting in a room, but when he opened the door, it was completely empty. The 3rd floor was a hotel until 1935 and was often frequented by miners and prostitutes alike in the late 1800s to early 1900s. In 1899, a local prostitute was found brutally murdered in Room 13. Thus began a series of 5 murders in the area until 1902, when the perpetrator, Red Bounce, was caught attempting to kidnap another woman. He too was executed in the Old Prison, this time by hanging in 1904, making it the last of its kind in the Appleloosa Province. After him came the Electric Chair Era. Mares and fillies who go into Room 13 often feel uncomfortable, even when they don't know the room's dark past. I had first heard of the haunting a here several years back, when me and Octavia had been part of an orchestra that had gone to Appleloosa for a competition. At the time, Vinyl Scratch had been with us as well. We visited the bar and overheard several employees talking about an incident where one of them noticed a mist in Room 13. I went over and talked to them. I had no idea that we had been drinking in a haunted building! Shortly after the competition, Vinyl reported seeing a figure staring at her from the 2nd floor. We went over to check with Braeburn, but he said no one was on the 2 abandoned floors at the time. Thus began my fascination with the building. After returning to Ponyville, I went on a ghost hunting forum and, to my surprise, found out that barely anypony had ever heard of this highly active location, with most of them being focused on the old prison in Dodge Junction. Since information was needed for the investigation, I contacted Applejack about the Apple family's past. She provided invaluable information about Braeburn's branch of the family. She stated that the Apple family owned and operated many businesses in the Appleloosa area, including the Gravelson Mine, during the 1800s and 1900s. Even today, the Apple family, specifically Braeburn's branch, remain a powerful force in business and politics in the Province of Appleloosa. When I mentioned the hauntings at the Central, she told me that she was not surprised about how much activity there was. ACCOUNT OF THE INVESTIGATION: The 3 of us began the investigation at 19:00 Hours, or 7:00 PM. We spent the first 30 minutes setting up 6 static cameras throughout the building: 1 in the bar, 1 in Room 13, 2 in the large storage room, 1 in the old Craps Room on the 2nd floor, where the murder took place, and 1 in the old office. At 19:45, Octavia said, "Let's host an EVP session in the bar. Braeburn said that there are many voices heard in the main dining area." I agreed and the 3 of us went into the dining room. At 19:47, I began recording with a digital voice recorder. To begin, I said, "If there is anypony in here, you are free to talk to us. We won't harm you. We're nice people. We love conversations." I recorded for 2 minutes before I turned the recorder off and played back the audio. To our surprise, we got something. At the 1:45 mark, it captured footsteps. We did not hear this at all at the time it was recorded. Then, at 2:06, a faint male voice was heard. We believe it says, "Welcome." Yet again, we initially didn't hear this. Now it was Lyra's turn. Holding a TriField EMF Meter, she began recording and said, "Thanks for the kind words. Do you have anything else to say?" She recorded for 3 minutes. At 19:53, we all heard a disturbing EVP say, in a low-pitched voice, "Get you..." Octavia said, "Holy [expletive], did you hear that?" Lyra quickly replied, "I did. I just [expletive]ing did. That was freaking creepy." I replied to the voice, "Who is going to get us? Are you Red Bounce?" We got no reply and decided at 19:54 to split up. Octavia went upstairs to the 3rd Floor. She sat in the hallway and received no activity initially. Then, just as she was about to leave, at 20:03, she heard footsteps, which were also captured on the camera's audio and her recorder's audio. At this time, on the X Camera in Room 13, the footsteps were heard, and a small mist appeared for a split second near a window. At the same time, Octavia's EMF meter had a spike in activity. She quickly asked, "Who are you?" After recording for 2 minutes, she played back her recorder and at the 1:22 mark, heard a voice say, "Who are you?" This disturbed Octavia. She replied, "I'm Octavia Melody. Are you the mare murdered here?" After recording for 3 minutes, she played the tape back again. She received a clear response at the 1:56 mark. At that time, a female voice said, "Yes." Octavia could be heard reacting to the EVP with shock. She then followed up by giving the mare her condolences. She said, "I'm sorry Red Bounce murdered you. What he did was horrible. I was sexually abused myself when I was younger. Nopony should ever have to go through that pain. Nopony. If you feel trapped here, you shouldn't. You are free to go and move on." After 5 minutes of recording, she got no response, so she left. However, at 20:18, the X Camera in Room 13 picked up what sounded like a female crying for approximately 30 seconds. Lyra went to the large storage room. At 20:15, before she entered the room, the X Camera in the room picked up one of the most compelling pieces of evidence to date. A full-bodied apparition walked past the camera and disappeared. Lyra had no idea what she was in for. She went in at 20:17 and began using an EMF Meter to try and pick up unexplained EMF activity. She didn't have to wait long, because 2 minutes in, she received a large spike in activity, a whopping increase from 0.2 to 3.5 in 2 seconds. At the same time, the X Camera in the room picked up footsteps nearby that Lyra was unable to hear. Lyra immediately asked, "Who is here with me?" She waited 6 minutes and received no response. She decided to leave after this. I went to the 2nd Floor to investigate the Craps Room. I started by asking a series of questions in regards to gambling. After asking 3 questions, I got a response in the form of a loud bang on the wall in the room. I jumped up and cursed. I then asked, "Do you think you overreacted when you killed the cheater?" The response I got over my Digital Voice Recorder was chilling. It said, "Die." I didn't realise I got this until I played back the recorder. I decided that, for my own safety, I would return downstairs at 20:03. At 21:25, unexplained footsteps were heard from the X Camera in the Craps Room. At 21:00, we all met back downstairs. For the next 5 hours, we analysed the footage we had received so far. At 02:00, we resumed the investigation and went together onto the 3rd floor. By that point, the X-Camera had also captured unexplained footsteps at least 3 times over the 5-hour-period. We went to Room 13 together and decided to ask more questions. For the first 32 minutes, we received no replies. Then, Lyra asked "What do you want to do to Red Bounce?" The response was sudden. We all heard a low-pitched growl come from outside of the room. Lyra said, "Holy [expletive]. That is [expletive]ing demonic." At the same time, our DVR captured a male voice say, "Shut up." For another 26 minutes, we received nothing. Then, Lyra felt a slight tug on her mane and shouted "Sweet Celestia, what the [expletive]?!" I replied, "Red Bounce, you don't scare us!" Then, we all heard another growl. We all ran to the 1st Floor in fear of what would happen next. The next several hours were quite uneventful, apart from a few odd footsteps here and there. We wrapped up our investigation up at 7:00 in the morning. By then, everypony was visibly shaken by the investigation, but we were happy that we had collected proof of the building's hauntings. CONCLUSION: After reviewing our evidence for several days, we presented Braeburn with what we collected. He was certainly shaken and disturbed by what we had seen and heard. He said that now, he could rest easy at night, knowing that he and his fellow employees weren't crazy. Rating: Definitely haunted. Not for the faint of heart.
