01x04 - The Haunting Of Mansfield Mansion

[bunniefuu]

I just fell in love with this house.

I didn't want to live there.

Something was just not right with the house.

There were dead body parts of squirrels and rodents.

I just felt...

Very unsettled.

And then, the nightmare started.

If it was up to me, I would have moved out of the house.

I was never so scared in my life.

These are things that I can't explain.

I don't know what was causing it.

I moved to Mansfield in 1994.

It's really quiet, and it's pretty.

I have 3 grown children.

And I had gone through a bad divorce.

And it was you know, time for us to move on.

And I was on look out for houses for me and my daughter.

And as I drove by this house.

It was peeling paint, the trees were over grown.

But even the condition it was in. It was beautiful. Absolutely beautiful.

Alyssa.

We can fix it up.

Don't you think?

And there was a big plywood sheet that said...

Going to auction. Sealed bids. And there was a phone number.

And I'm going.. Oh, yeah. That's for me!

I couldn't believe that my mom would even think about buying a house like this.

Windows were all broken in to, paint was all peeling off of it.

And you could tell that nobody had lived there for a few years.

Like something was just not right with the house.

Here we go.

I called up the property manager.

Hi, I'm calling about the property on Black Creek Drive.

We set a time and a day.

Thank you. Bye.

Tomorrow!

I was getting extremely excited about the possibilities.

When I pulled up in my car, the property manager was already there.

Hi, Amy Moore.

We walked around the outside.

It was like a sad situation that a house that gorgeous was so run down.

The property manager and I went to the back of the house.

To get to the basement, because I wanted to check out the foundations.

He went first. And it was damp, it was dark.

And in the middle of this floor, is a stone structure.

I've never seen anything like that.

There was no reason for it to be there. It just was odd.

Shall we?

When we opened the door and walked through, it was dirty, it was a mess.

The third floor was in all in all, the first floor of all.

The ceiling was falling down.

There were dead body parts of squirrels and rodents.

There were old dressers, old beds, an old wheelchair.

And there was a board that said Mansfield Training School.

So I started asking him about the history of this house.

What is this place?

And he told me that the records had been lost.

And that's all they knew about it.

But it didn't put me off.

Because I visualized what it would be when I finished with it.

And that was going to be the most magnificent house.

Honestly, I thought this is going to be my Picasso.

And the minimum bid was $ 100,000.

And I just couldn't bidding on it.

Hello. The property manager called me and he goes, you got it!

That's wonderful.

And I'm just going, what, what, I got it, I got it?

I mean I was so excited I couldn't believe it.

Bye-bye.

She was so excited about having this project.

As for me, I didn't want to live there.

But she put almost all of her money in this one house.

So I'm gonna go along with it and give it a sh*t.

I mean I really didn't have choice.

I wanted to get on with it straight away.

I had a full time job, so I renovated at night.

I was on the 12 foot step ladder, close to the ceiling, ripping the wallpaper down.

And I'm very focused on what I'm doing.

Damn it!

And then there was... afterwards.

As if something was running.

I was really scared.

I'm at this abandoned house, at night, surrounded by fields.

No neighbors.

I didn't even go to investigate. I left the house.

Got in my vehicle and went home.

The next day was a Saturday.

And as soon I got up, I came back to the house.

I wanted to know if someone was in that house.

Hello!

I looked around to see if there was anything out of the ordinary.

And there was nothing there.

I put it down to just a freak accident, or something.

I have no clue what was.

None.

Okay.

Here we go.

This room in here.

Ready?

The day my daughter Alyssa and I moved in to the house was a really exciting time.

Mom I love it. It's great.

I was ecstatic.

And my daughter liked the house, and she thought it was great.

My mom was all excited about it, but my gut feeling was...

That we should not have moved in the house.

I just felt very unsettled.

There was definitely a presence there.

I finally got the courage to go explore the house.

There was this door going up to the third floor.

There was paint chipping, and it had this weird old latch on it.

Right away I just got a weird feeling.

When I opened the latch.

I just got this gust of cold air.

And it just kind of took my breath away.

I was terrified, but I remember I was just so curious, and scared at the same time, I really wanted to see what was up there.

All I wanted to do was run back down the stairs.

But I just was like... okay, let me look around.

But every step, the feeling got worse.

I was paralyzed for a few seconds.

And then...

Somebody or something was standing behind me.

Breathing down on me.

It was evil.

Like an evil spirit.

I was paralyzed for a few seconds.

And then...

Somebody or something was standing behind me.

Breathing down on me.

It was evil.

Like an evil spirit.

I just burst the door open.

And I ran like my life was at stake.

I told my mom and she was like... I'm sure it was just the wind.

But I wasn't imagining it.

There was definitely something up there.

A few weeks later, my mom and I started cooking dinner in the kitchen.

We were talking about the day. What she had done what I had done.

So how was school?

Good?

Yeah, what does that mean?

All of a sudden we hear...

What was that?

And we heard these foot stomps.

It was very loud, very heavy.

My daughter hears it... I hear it.

We're startled, we're scared.

And we didn't know what it was.

What is happening here?

I don't know. I don't know, honey.

And my mom's like, I don't know, let's go see.

You coming?

My mom went ahead of me and I was holding on to her shirt.

Shh.

It's okay, I've got you.

I got you.

We stood at the bottom of the stairs listening.

And I said, well I'm I going up there.

She wouldn't come up, she was afraid.

My heart stopped and I just ran out the door, I did not want to come back inside.

Alyssa?

Yeah.

Are you okay?

Yes.

I walked up the stairs...

With a hammer in hand.

I turned to look down the hall.

And there's not a thing in there.

And so I went down the hall, and I checked the bedrooms one by one.

And I've never felt the terror I'm feeling.

And there was nothing there... there was nothing there... there was...

No reason for those noises.

Mom!

If it was up to me I would have moved out of the house that day.

But, there was really nothing I could do.

All this time I was doing work on the house.

And as I was tearing things down...

The more it seemed that the noises were escalating.

If we were downstairs, we'd heard stomping upstairs.

If we were on upstairs, we'd hear stomping downstairs.

And doors slamming.

It was progressively getting worse.

And there was this door going up to the third floor.

And every day I would walk past the door, it would be open.

And so I took a metal rod and wedged it.

So you couldn't lift the latch up, unless that piece of rod was out.

I'd be half way down the hall and I'd hear...

And I thought, I'm going nuts.

Because there's no logical explanation for this.

I didn't believe it could be anything supernatural or out of the ordinary.

I do not want to believe that.

Hey, mom.

Hi, baby.

You okay?

Yeah.

I knew she kept things from me. She knew I was scared.

And that would just make it worse, if she told me things that happened to her.

So I'd come in everyday and just make believe like nothing's happening.

But I'd always feel like I'm just waiting for the next thing to show up, or...

That next sound.

That night, I heard this moaning coming from my mom's bedroom.

And it was loud, you know it was getting louder.

And it sounded to me like she was having sex.

Mom, I can hear you.

I listened for a second and it almost sounded like it was getting louder.

So I banged again.

Mom...

And then all of a sudden I'm thinking...

I saw my mom leave.

I got nauseous and I felt like I was gonna get sick.

And then I heard the door click behind me.

My heart stopped, and I just turned and I ran down the stairs.

Ah!

And then I heard the door click behind me.

Unless you experience that kind of fear, like it's so hard to describe.

Like it's just terror.

Oh. It's okay.

It's okay. I just got home from work, and it was horrible to see her so scared.

And I could not come up with any sort of idea of...

Of what it could possibly be.

Finally, I had the opportunity to move in with my boyfriend.

And it wasn't that I was ready.

It was just a chance for... for me to leave.

Take care, okay?

I was concerned about my mom living there by herself, but I just had to get away from the house, and it was the first...

Perfect opportunity to move.

Summer came. And I had to have a dishwasher installed.

So I called in an electrician and told him where the main panel was, which was down in the basement.

He told me he had opened the doors...

He walked down the stairs...

Took a few steps in...

He turned around, and there's no one there.

He was so scared, he wouldn't come back into the house.

He wouldn't come back in.

It was disturbing that someone had something happen to them in my home.

And now a part of my home is out of bounds.

Shortly after that, a friend of mine, Dave McGann, needed a place to live.

I was going through a divorce.

I decided I wanted to leave my home.

And Amy said, I'm living here alone.

And you're more than welcome to come and take one of the rooms.

You okay?

I'll be fine.

Yeah.

Okay. Let's go see your new home.

All I had was my television and my bed and a nightstand, and that's pretty much all I needed.

Amy had told me you would hear noises, you would hear bangs.

I'm a police officer for over 20 years.

I'm not easily scared.

I thought it was her imagination running wild.

Often in the evening, Amy would have to work.

And one night, I was in my room.

I was lying on the bed watching television.

And suddenly I heard...

The floorboard creaking outside the door.

And I looked over...

And I saw a shadow moving past my door.

Immediately I was nervous, because...

I knew that Amy wasn't home, and I was the only one in the house.

And I picked up the g*n, and I slid off the bed.

And I unlatched my door.

And I peeked my head out and looked down the hallway.

And I couldn't see anything.

Worried, I kept my g*n down at my side, and I walked down the hallway.

I checked every single room.

There was nobody there.

I just kind of shook it off. Maybe I'm tired.

Maybe I'm just... got to get more sleep.

I had gathered up the plates and the cups and things, and I had to go down the staircase to get to the kitchen.

And I was just minding my own business and moving along like I normally would.

Suddenly...

I didn't understand what I just saw.

Something stepped in front of me, and as quickly as it moved in front.

It was gone.

These are things that I can't explain.

I saw it with my own eyes, but...

I don't know what was causing it.

All the noises and occurrences were starting to bother me a lot.

And it kept getting worse.

There was a night that I had just finished working. I was tired.

And I'm watching TV.

And all of a sudden, I hear this click.

And I'm so petrified, I can't move.

And then I hear this growl.

I was never so scared in my life.

There was nothing there, and the door was shut.

It upsets me. It still upsets me.

That was bad.

That same evening, I was in my room.

I was lying on the bed watching television.

And I heard...

A water bottle hitting the floor.

I thought that was pretty unusual.

But things like that happen.

So I put it back in the bag.

Suddenly, that same water bottle went flying.

And I heard this growling sound.

Ooh!

And it moved to the closet.

Oh!

I was scared to death.

My mind was racing, trying to figure out what was happening.

What was going on? What was that growling sound?

What threw the bottle past my head? I wasn't sure.

So at this point, I knew...

That there was something there that I couldn't understand.

And that's...

That's what's still difficult to me.

Hey, Amy.

At this point, I knew that it was real.

It happened. And I knew I had to move on.

Take care of yourself.

You know where I am.

I felt a little bit weird, because I didn't want to leave her alone in the house.

But it was made easier because her son had decided to... to move in.

My son was laid-off.

And they had no place to go, so he and his fiancee came to stay.

You ready?

Yeah.

It felt more comfy to have more people in the house.

Not being there by myself.

Where is he?

Oh.

Hello, Bubba!

Hello!

Come on in.

Look at this...

I just remember walking in the first time. It was just like...

Wow, this is a gorgeous house.

Do you like it? Do you like this place?

I thought it was beautiful.

Very enchanting in a way.

Welcome to your new home! What do you think, Bubba?

I got along very well with Amy.

I always thought she was very friendly, very warm, very funny.

Ah, a drink!

I thought it would be a big, happy family.

Soon after I moved in, we put my son Bubba down for his morning nap.

And two feet away from his crib is his baby monitor on his dresser.

I went downstairs into the kitchen, and we start making our lunch.

Ah. Sleeping like a baby.

Nice. I've never heard that.

All of a sudden, we hear...

What sounds like Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.

Do you hear that?

Yeah.

And we're like, what is that? We don't have any toys in the crib.

We don't have anything that could produce that music.

So what is that?

Yeah, that's... that's weird.

But then it started up again.

What is it?

And we just kind of look at each other and think, maybe it's interference.

But it didn't make any sense that it would be.

I'm gonna go check on him.

No, he's sleeping.

We're thinking, it's okay. He's not crying. He'll be fine.

You know, nothing's going on.

And all of a sudden, we hear my son's nickname, Bubba.

Bubba!

Within seconds, our son is screaming his head off.

Whatever was up in that room had some intention to scare or harm our son.

No, he's sleeping.

All of a sudden, we hear...

Bubba!

Whatever was up in that room had some intention to scare or harm our son.

What's happening? What is this?

I felt very frightened. I was nervous for my son's well-being.

But I didn't have the funds to get another home, so all we could do at this point is just make sure this doesn't happen again.

So we grabbed any religious charms we had, and either hung them up around his mobile or hung up around the room.

Just to keep anything demonic out of that bedroom.

Because at this point, I was highly convinced, that there's something in this house.

Hey, Bubba.

Hey.

Yeah. Who's the happy guy?

Soon after, the nightmares started.

Bill had this one dream in particular where, his fist was up in the air about ready to hit me.

And I remember going... Bill, stop!

God, I'm sorry.

I had one nightmare.

It was the most disturbing nightmare I've ever had.

I was in a little girl's body.

I'm looking down, and I see a white dress.

And I'm afraid to look up.

And every time I peek up, there are adults around...

And they're glaring at me.

And I've never felt such terror in my life.

I mean, absolute, bone-chilling terror.

One of the adults said...

Go wash your hands!

Next thing I know, I'm in a bathroom.

And a woman says...

What are you doing?

And I jump into a wall.

I woke up with crystal clarity.

I knew everything and felt everything.

And that child d*ed that moment.

I was very upset, very angry.

I knew that these dreams had to do with something...

That has happened in the house.

I felt definitely this house had secrets, absolutely had secrets.

More and more, I wanted to get out of the house.

It was getting to be nasty, really nasty in there.

And I was at the American Eagles Saloon one night.

And a friend of mine, Ted, comes out and says...

Hey, Amy. What you looking at there?

Some pictures of my house.

And Ted had been around a long time, and he said...

You know about that house you're in, don't you?

And I'm going, huh? What?

And he goes, yeah. You know what the house was.

No. What?

It was the Mansfield Training School.

And what was that?

It was a mental asylum.

It all began to make sense.

Now I remember going through the house with the property manager.

And seeing the sign Mansfield Training School.

The beds, the wheelchairs.

All the equipment was from a hospital.

He told me that my house was the Superintendent's house.

There were stories of abuse going on.

Patient abuse.

And there were children there too.

So I started researching.

I found this report dated 1917 at the library.

But at this time, the hospital was not called the Mansfield Training Center.

It was called The House of Imbeciles.

And it incorporated all the negative aspects of that word.

Here, you do this one.

In the report, they would explain how they considered certain handicaps to be, like, a very bad thing.

Like, you're a bad person for having downs syndrome.

You're a stupid person for being an epileptic.

They would explain, like, how they would do lobotomies on the patients.

Electroshock on the patients.

And I'm thinking to myself, they're really torturing these poor people.

Now it began to make sense why things are occurring in my house, why there are disturbances.

Some of the newspaper clippings said that there was abuse going on.

There was a r*pe in that house.

And a child was also k*lled there.

What I was dreaming was what happened to a child in that facility.

That's her.

I was horrified. I was horrified, absolutely horrified.

And the basement had always been a focus of a lot...

Of the activity going on.

And there is a concrete structure in the floor that should not be there.

Has no reason to be there.

And it was time to find out what it was.

Come on.

There is a concrete structure in the floor that should not be there.

Has no reason to be there.

And it was time to find out what it was.

I was not going to open it by myself. I was afraid to see what was in it.

You sure?

We used crowbars to lift off the concrete slab.

Initially, it looked like dirt and stone.

And then looking at it, and I'm going, this looks like...

Cremated body parts.

I was...

Pretty upset.

Because I feel they are the remains...

Of that child that was k*lled there.

There will be times where it's peaceful, and then all of a sudden...

Like a light switch being turned on, you'll hear things, you'll see things.

And you're just thinking to yourself, oh, my gosh, I just want this to end.

Grandma's here.

I feel uncomfortable sometimes.

I feel scared sometimes.

But the way I rationalize it is, it's my home.

And I'm staying.

People have said, no, no, you're just making it up.

And I have told them...

Come to my house. Spend 12 hours in it, from dusk till dawn.

I can guarantee... you will either be touched, you will have a nightmare.

Or you will hear something.