[creepy music playing]
NARRATOR: Welcome to
the Shanley Hotel,
a dwelling so severely
haunted children are banned
from spending the
night and Ouija boards
are strictly forbidden.
Within these walls, an entire
generation of the Shanley
family lost their
lives, yet many claim
their spirits still remain.
In 1906, James Shanley
purchased the hotel
and soon after married
his longtime sweetheart,
Beatrice Rowley.
They welcomed three children,
Kathleen, James, and William/
but the joy was short-lived.
All three children
died in the hotel,
all three before
their first birthday.
And they weren't
the only children
to pass on the property.
A hotel employee's
daughter, Rosie, fell down
a nearby well to her death.
[scream]
To this day, guests
of the hotel claim
to see the spirits of children
running through the halls.
Childlike laughter
echoes in empty rooms,
and a weeping woman,
likely Beatrice Shanley,
is seen roaming
the hotel in search
of her lost sons and daughter.
But these dearly departed
aren't the only spirits
haunting Shanley's halls.
With all of Shanley's
children gone,
the hotel's second
floor was converted into
a Prohibition-era bordello.
Some claim the employees and
patrons still visit the Shanley
from beyond the grave.
One woman, Anna, has
been seen and heard
in the second-floor
room she once inhabited.
And the screams
of Claire, a woman
who took her own life
in the late 1800s,
are heard echoing
around the third floor.
[screams]
While the specter
of Sweet Thing,
the hotel's former cat,
scampers around the house.
Claire, Anna, the Shanleys,
they aren't alone.
Dozens more ghosts have been
sighted on the premises,
leaving many to wonder, are
there more ghosts than guests
in the Shanley Hotel?
Eastern State Penitentiary,
a prison so secure even death
offers no escape.
[scary music playing]
Opened in 1829, the
prison was built
to hold America's most
dangerous criminals and killers.
Stone walls 20-inches
thick and mazes of hallways
ensured there was
no hope of escape.
Still, many tried and
were brutally punished.
When prisoners
misbehaved, they were
held under water,
then strung up outside
until their skin froze over.
Others were thrown
into the hole,
an underground cell
cut off from light,
air, and all human contact.
Worst of all, many were
sent to the mad chair,
a seat that bound its
victim so tightly,
all circulation was cut off.
Several prisoners required
an amputation after a visit
to the mad chair.
Still more went insane.
Today, the tormented
spirits of prisoners
still walk these halls.
In cellblock 12, visitors
claim to hear echoing
voices and cackling laughter.
Cellblock 6 is home
to the phantom,
an angry, malevolent
spirit who lurks,
silent and still, until
you get too close.
Then he darts away.
Outside, the spirit of
a former guard murdered
by an inmate while
on watch still stands
century at his guard tower.
But the most notorious spirit
at Eastern State Penitentiary
is also the most aggressive.
On one occasion, a
locksmith was called
to reopen cellblock 4, which had
been sealed shut for some time.
When the door was
opened, the locksmith
claims a horrible negative
energy exploded from the cell,
gripping him so hard
he was unable to move
while tormented faces suddenly
appeared on the cell walls
all around him.
With so many angry spirits
trapped in these cells,
many wonder, were some prisoners
sentenced to life after death?
Burn Brae Mansion, a dream home
that became a living nightmare.
[ominous music playing]
At Burn Brae, children's
laughter rings
through the halls.
But children haven't lived
here for a long time.
Margaret Ross Elkin, an heiress
to the Singer sewing-machine
fortune, built the
sprawling mansion to house
her growing family in 1907.
Tragically, Margaret outlived
many of her own children
and even grandchildren.
Before her death
in 1951, Margaret
laid her daughter Elsie, son
Charles, and grandson Levi
to rest on the property.
But many claim their spirits
never left the nursery.
Part of that
nursery still stands
untouched, walled in behind a
bedroom on the second floor.
No one knows exactly why
the room was sealed shut,
but visitors often hear the
sounds of children laughing
and playing through the walls.
Just down the hall,
a closet still
houses dozens of dolls
belonging to the children who
lived and died on the property.
And the children at Burn
Brae Mansion are not alone.
Witnesses claim a woman in
white haunts the hallways
and staircases,
pacing back and forth,
calling to the other spirits.
Could it be Margaret
searching for her lost
children or the children's nurse
refusing to abandon her post?
Outside, the family
coachman, William,
has been seen
roaming the forest,
still wearing the
dark suit he wore
the night he was found dead
from a self-inflicted gunshot.
Even the family pets
seem reluctant to leave.
Animal noises,
particularly a cat's
plaintive disembodied
meowing, are
often reported at the house.
At Burn Brae Mansion, the
family that haunts together
stays together, forever.
