Who You Gonna Call? Not Us, Please

(The asylum mentioned in this story, Larundel, was a real asylum in Melbourne, Australia. The story of the main character's mum visiting is a true story of my mum, aunty, cousin and myself going to Larundel in 1997 when I was a year old)

My best friends have come up with some absolutely ridiculous activities and pranks in the past, but this might just be the dumbest one yet.

Our friendship group has been a steady constant in my life since we were all 10 years old. In Grade 4, my parents separated and as a result, my mum, older brother and myself made the choice to move into a new home almost two hours from where we had grown up. I had dreaded the move because I was petrified of meeting new kids at school, but that fear had become obsolete by the end of my first day at my new school.

Five other kids who had already formed their friendship group had made it their mission to ensure I felt welcomed in my new year level and classroom. The two girls – Amber and Jess – along with the three boys – Mason, Hayden and Ray – stuck by my side for every millisecond during my first day. They showed me the best spot on the school oval to try and catch different insects, told me the coolest trees to climb around the school and warned me about which teachers tended to have a short fuse towards class clowns. I learned more in that first day about the rest of our classmates and where to hang out during recess and lunchtime than anything else.

When I came home later that afternoon after my first day, I was very happy to report to my mum that I had made some really cool friends.

And now, eight years later, the six of us are still joint at the hip.

As we grew older, our sense of adventure also grew and our shenanigans made our small group famous amongst our peers, but infamous amongst our teachers. As we entered high school, we always chose our elective subjects together so we had as many classes together as possible. Just like during primary school, we quickly learned which teachers we could act like class clowns with and not be reprimanded every time, and embodied model students for the teachers who never wanted to deal with our ragtag behaviour.

We have always been a fun and rambunctious group, but as we got older, we figured out the appropriate times to be loud and extroverted.

Many of our pranks we would orchestrate against fellow classmates or teachers who often joined in on our fun and jokes was the kind of stuff that should be written about in history books. Some of our highlights include covering our principal’s car in sticky notes, wrapping foil around every single computer in the library’s computer lab, and letting off a stink bomb during one of the final assemblies for the year – although that particular prank landed us in detention every lunchtime for the final week of school.

Regardless, it was awesome, it got a lot of laughs from our peers, and we had fun doing it.

Now, a week after we all graduated from high school, we’ve been brainstorming fun things to fill our time with whilst we wait for the commencement of university classes. A couple of days ago, Ray mentioned that he had fallen down a rabbit hole of watching YouTube videos of people going through abandoned buildings that are rumoured to be haunted, filming their experiences.

“We should pick somewhere that’s said to be haunted and go and be ghost hunters ourselves,” he suggested eagerly. “How crazy would it be if we actually saw a ghost? Or if one of us got possessed? That would get millions of views on YouTube for sure!”

Jess rolled her eyes and scoffed. “Ghosts aren’t real, you idiot. I guarantee half of those videos are just morons pretending to see paranormal crap for clicks.”

“If you’re so sure none of it is real, then what’s the harm in having a fun little adventure to somewhere rumoured to be haunted?” Mason taunted. “It’s something to do, and if we can pull off acting the same way these other YouTubers do, maybe we could start up a channel and keep making fun videos.”

Jess turned her questioning gaze to the rest of us. “Are you guys sold on doing this?”

I shrugged a shoulder and nodded. “Why not? Either way, it’s something to do for a night.”

Hayden and Amber looked more eager than Jess and I, both agreeing avidly that they want to go ghost hunting.

Which has led to us standing outside an abandoned building on a Friday night.

Everyone in our local area knows the story behind this building. Larundel was a mental hospital built in the 1950’s that housed a wide variety of mentally ill patients, including some notorious criminals and serial killers. The building we are standing outside of is the one remaining original structure from its time as an asylum since its closure in 1999, with many of the surrounding area that contributed to the hospital being knocked down to make way for apartment buildings and shops.

I remember my mother telling me a story of the one time she went to Larundel to visit her aunty who was housed there briefly. My mother and her sister went together, with myself and my cousin accompanying them in strollers. At the time, we were both only a year old, so thankfully I have no memory of the visit.

When the four of us had been walking down the hallway to my great-aunt’s room, my mum remembered, she suddenly felt as though she was being watched and followed. Out of reflex, she glanced over her shoulder, and was greeted to the terrifying view of a dozen patients following right behind the four of us. The hallway had been clear when they first entered the building, but as we passed each room, the residents slowly crept out of their rooms and ghosted behind us.

Thankfully, my great-aunt was only in Larundel for a week. My mum never wanted to set foot near there ever again.

“You know, when I told my mum what we were doing tonight, she almost had a heart attack,” I inform the others. “She really didn’t want me to be here tonight. I’ve told you guys about the visit she had here seeing one of her relatives.”

The reminder of the story only seemed to make Ray more excited; he was practically bouncing on the balls of his feet. “Just imagine what kind of ghosts or spirits could be hanging out in there! It’s always been rumoured to be haunted, but hearing stories like that is almost more unsettling than knowing how many serial killers have lived here before.”

Jess huffs impatiently, snatching up her backpack. “Let’s get this ridiculous shit over with before I lose the will to live.” Without waiting for anyone to say anything, she storms up the staircase and through the doors into the building.

Mason turns to the rest of us with a sly grin on his face. “For someone who didn’t seem that eager to do this, she seems pretty eager now.”

I shove past him, flicking him on the nose. “I think she’s more eager to prove that there’s no such thing as ghosts, you idiot.” I slip my phone out of my pocket and switch on the flashlight. “Let’s hurry up, I don’t want to be in here past midnight.”

I hear the boys chuckle behind me, followed by three quick smacking sounds – presumably Amber clipping the three of them on the back on their heads.

The foyer of the building is spacious with chairs broken in pieces across the floor and the receptionist desk split in two. The overhead lights have all been smashed, with some of the fixtures dangling from the ceiling. The foyer splits off in three directions: the eastern wing, the western wing, and the northern wing. The entrance to the northern wing includes a warning in bold, red letters.

“Well, ‘High Security Wing’ sounds promising,” Ray says gleefully. “What do you think, Jess?”

Instead of answering, Jess pins Ray with an annoyed glare before purposefully striding down the hallway. “Get out the camera, moron. Let’s get this shit over with.”

Ray and Mason take out their phones and begin recording our trek down the hallway. As we move through the wing, we poke our heads into the rooms lining the hallway and take pictures of the graffiti covering the walls. Most of the rooms look identical; a simple metal bedframe in the far-right corner bolted to the floor, a single desk and chair sometimes placed against a wall or moved around the room, and a small toilet and sink tucked into the lefthand corner, many of which were smashed and damaged, coated in grime. Every room has a single window, probably a metre wide and high, with bars drilled into the frame and covering the windows, looking similar to a jail cell.

As we weave through the wing, nothing substantial catches our eye. It’s clear that many vandals have been through the building over the last 20 years with the number of broken objects and graffiti littering the place. At the end of the corridor, we stop outside a set of double doors leading into the communal lounge.

I twist the doorknob and try to push open the door, but it doesn’t budge. “Maybe we should head to one of the other wings now. I can’t get the door open and this is the last room in this wing we haven’t been in.”

Hayden puffs out his chest and flexes his biceps, presenting like a peacock. “Let me have a crack at it before we throw in the towel.”

He takes my place in front of the door and grips the doorknob in both of his hands. As he twists the knob, he hefts his weight against the door and slams his shoulder into it once, twice, three times. On the fourth try, the door flies open, Hayden falling through the threshold as his momentum continues to propel him forward.

From his spot on the ground, he grins like a loon and flexes his biceps again. “See? Lucky you guys have such a strong man on your ghost hunting team.”

As I enter the room, I kick him lightly in the stomach. “Well, you definitely aren’t the humble one of the group, that’s for sure.”

He grunts and slaps my leg away, getting to his feet as the rest of us walk further into the room.

Up until this point, I haven’t really been freaked out by this place. But now, as we stand in this room looking around, it feels as though the temperature has dropped substantially.

“Is no one going to say it?” Amber mutters from beside me, casting her wide-eyed gaze around the room. “I do not like the vibes I’m feeling in here…”

“I was just thinking the same thing,” I confirm. “How does this room feel so much colder than the other rooms?”

Slowly, we make our way around the room. There are several metal-framed couches that, like the beds, are bolted to the floor. They’re arranged in a U-shape in the centre of the room. On the arms of the couches, worn leather cuffs are attached to chains that are bolted to the arms. The crumbled remains of a wooden table sit in the centre of the couches, the table top split into three large sections and all but one of the legs are completely smashed to pieces.

Amber prods at the leather cuffs and chains attached to the couches. “Why the hell would they need to chain people down in a room like this?”

“Maybe some of the people were too crazy and always needed to be handcuffed so they didn’t attack anyone,” Jess suggests as she moves to examine some of the graffiti.

“Sounds kinky,” Ray says slyly, wriggling his eyebrows suggestively at Jess.

As Jess turns to reprimand Ray, a loud and metallic bang rings through the hallway, causing all of us to jump in surprise and make Amber shriek in shock.

“What the fuck was that?!” Amber whispers, quickly moving to my side and latching onto my arm. “We’re the only ones in here, I didn’t see anyone go through the hallway.”

Before I can respond, Hayden jumps in fear. “I swear to god, I just saw something move in that far corner,” he says in a panic, pointing towards the corner. “It looked like a really tall guy – like, Slenderman-style tall guy.”

We all turn our lights towards the corner, but see nothing. “Okay, I’m done with this. We’ve recorded all the rooms in the wing, and I’m ready to go.” Jess announces to the group.

“Are you getting spooked, Jessie Girl?” Mason heckles. “I thought you didn’t believe in paranormal activity.”

She flips him off and heads for the exit into the hallway. “I’m not scared, you wanker. I am, however, done running around in here with you guys, and I’m hungry. So, let’s go get some food and go watch some movies at my place.”

Abruptly, Jess comes to a halt as she reaches the threshold. She aims her phone flashlight down into the hallway and gasps. “Who the fuck are you, you creep!?” she shouts down the hallway. “Why did you follow us into the building?!”

We race to her side and all freeze in shock. Clear as day, standing at the end of the hallway is what I can only describe as a freakishly tall, skinny man whose face is shrouded in shadows. In the next moment, we blink and the figure disappears.

“I’m not tripping, right?” Ray asks incredulously. “We all saw that, right?”

“You know what, Jess,” Mason mutters, all of his bravado from earlier completely evaporated from his voice, “maybe it is time to head home.”

Slowly, we edge our way into the hallway in a group huddle, one of my hands clasped in Amber’s grasp with Ray clutching my other hand. As we pass several rooms, a sudden and loud blood-curdling scream rips through the air from behind us.

We all shout in fear, and I glance behind us. The same figure we saw down the hallway was now standing in the entryway to the communal lounge room.

“Fucking book it!!” Mason shouts, breaking into a sprint down the hallway.

I drag Ray and Amber along as we frantically run towards the exit into the foyer. We scramble over debris and leap over broken glass and fling open the main doors, having so much momentum that we leap from the top of the staircase to the bottom, clearing all the steps. We sprint across the open grass area and race further down the street to our cars. At the last moment before we make it to our cars, I glance back over my shoulder and I swear I can see the same figure watching us run away from one of the front windows.

As we reach the cars, the boys clamber into Ray’s car, whilst the girls and I jump into my car. As the boys tear away from the curb onto the road, I follow closely behind.

For a moment, it’s silent in the car as we try to catch our breath. “What the hell just happened?!” Amber shrieks, visibly shaken.

“I have no bloody clue,” I respond, watching the boys pull into a McDonald’s car park.

The boys park in one bay, and I park beside them. As we step out of the cars, I notice the boy’s faces are just as pale as ours.

“That was the most bat-shit crazy thing I’ve ever experienced in my life,” Hayden exclaims as he makes his way over to us. “You guys need to see this. We just looked back at our videos on our phones to see if we got the figure on camera.” He thrusts his phone into my hands.

I click ‘play’, and the video starts with Hayden facing Jess as she made her way towards the hallway. I see her pause and hear her shouting at the figure. Hayden races over to Jess, the video becoming blurred with his movement. Finally, as he stops and raises his phone to record the figure, the video turns to static for a split second before glitching into a black screen. The final few minutes of us running through the building are just a black screen with no audio.

“What the hell?” I mutter to myself in astonishment.

Jess turns to glare at Ray. “This is the last time we ever let you pick out an activity for us to do.”

Ray raises his hands in front of himself defensively. “How was I supposed to know something like that was going to happen?!” He motions to Hayden’s phone. “And all our footage is essentially useless now because of that glitch! Who’s going to watch a ghost hunting video without being able to see the ghost?”

I laugh at the ridiculousness of the entire situation. “So, do you ever want to go ghost hunting again, Ray?”

“Fuck no!”

For a moment, we stand silently observing each other, before cracking up in laughter.

After our laughter settles, Jess moves away from our group and heads towards the entrance to McDonald’s without another word to us.

“I think I need a Happy Meal, pronto,” Mason jests as he jogs after Jess.

I think we’re all going to need a Happy Meal after that craziness.

And yes, that absolutely convinced me that ghosts are real, and I definitely wish I didn’t have that first-hand knowledge.