Prologue: The Mystery Behind Saint Haven Asylum
Claire Matthews, an ambitious young journalist, receives an anonymous letter. It contains nothing but the address of Saint Haven Asylum, a notorious mental hospital abandoned two decades ago, along with a cryptic note:
“The truth lies behind locked doors. Come before it’s too late.”
Driven by curiosity, Claire travels to the asylum, located deep in the woods and far from civilization. The building stands tall but menacing, with ivy crawling over its cracked walls and shattered windows that resemble lifeless eyes. Despite her racing heart, Claire knows this is a story she cannot pass up.
The First Night: Fear Takes Root
Claire steps into the building armed with a flashlight and a camera hanging around her neck. The air is thick with the stench of dampness and decay. Long, dark corridors stretch endlessly, as though daring anyone to venture further.
As she ventures deeper, Claire begins to hear unsettling noises. At first, it sounds like the wind, but soon distinct footsteps, faint laughter, and whispered voices calling her name fill the air.
“Who’s there?” Claire shouts, her voice trembling. Only the echo of her own voice responds.
She stumbles into a large room marked “Experiment Room.” Inside, there’s a chair with leather straps, a rusted operating table, and medical instruments that look more like tools of torture. The walls are scrawled with desperate messages left by patients:
“Help us.”
“We are not insane.”
“He is a monster.”
Suddenly, the door slams shut behind her with a deafening bang. Panicked, Claire rushes out, only to find the corridor has changed. Every door looks identical, and the exit is nowhere to be found.
The Doctor’s Diary
In the archive room, Claire discovers an old, tattered journal belonging to Dr. Marcus Halstead, the asylum’s lead physician. The journal details horrifying accounts of Saint Haven’s past. Dr. Marcus, a brilliant but obsessed doctor, conducted extreme electroshock therapies and untested drug experiments, believing he could “cleanse” mental illnesses.
“Few understand,” Dr. Marcus wrote. “These patients are my experiments. They are the path to human perfection.”
The final entries in the journal are different. His writing grows frantic, detailing voices that haunted him, patients who “refused to die,” and “a force stronger than death itself.”
Confronting the Past
As Claire tries to leave the room, she sees a shadow standing at the end of the corridor. The figure slowly moves toward her, dragging its feet across the floor. Its face is obscured, but its presence radiates hatred. Claire realizes it is the spirit of a patient who died during Dr. Marcus’s experiments.
The ghost points toward another room. Reluctantly, Claire follows and finds a wall covered in photographs of patients. One photo stops her cold: a woman who looks eerily like her.
“This… this can’t be,” she whispers.
The whispers around her grow louder, forming clear words:
“You are part of this story, Claire. Don’t run.”
The Final Chapter: Escaping the Asylum
As Claire tries to escape, she encounters another figure: Dr. Marcus. But he is no longer human. He is a dark shadow with glowing red eyes.
“You’ve uncovered my secrets,” he growls, his voice echoing through the halls. “But you’ll never leave alive.”
Using her quick wit, Claire finds an old generator with leftover fuel and uses her lighter to set the room ablaze. Flames consume the area, forcing the spirits and shadows to retreat.
Claire escapes the burning building, but when she looks back, the asylum remains untouched. It stands as though nothing had happened.
She carries Dr. Marcus’s journal with her but knows the mystery of Saint Haven is far from over. The voices, the shadows—they are still waiting for the next person brave enough to enter.
Closing
“Echoes of the Abandoned Asylum” is a tale of courage in the face of fear, but it serves as a warning: not all truths are meant to be uncovered.