BLOG: Pennhurst Asylum ParaCon 2019 Photo Album!
On July 20th and 21st, The Confessionals Podcast attended Pennhurst Asylum ParaCon 2019 in Spring, City, Pennsylvania! During what became the hottest weekend of the year in PA (so far), paranormal enthusiasts, vendors, and special guests gathered at the legendary haunted hospital complex of Pennhurst Asylum for historical tours, investigations, lectures, and much more!
Known famously as “The Shame of Pennsylvania”, Pennhurst was a state-funded school and hospital with a grim history. Originally opening in 1908, Pennhurst became the subject of a 1960s television expose’ called Suffer the Little Children, which horrifically revealed not only that the facility was woefully overcrowded and understaffed, but also that the patients suffered abuse, neglect, and brutality on a daily basis. It took two more decades before the facility was finally and irrevocably closed in 1987, but the damage was done, and the haunted legacy began. While lying abandoned and hidden from view in secluded woodlands for 25 years, Pennhurst became a legendary haunted location, despite being closed to the public. Many of those who ventured onto the property claimed to see apparitions, hear voices, loud noises and laughter, capture EVPs, and feel touched by unseen presences - just to name a few of Pennhurst’s many haunted encounters.
With its dreadful history and spooky present, Pennhurst Asylum was an eerily beautiful and frightful host for ParaCon! Despite the sweltering heat, we’re grateful for the opportunity to have seen the facility up close and take in its haunted history for ourselves. And for anyone wondering - yes/maybe we experienced a paranormal moment! In one of the former patient bedrooms, with nothing nearby and no one around but us, Tony swore he felt something like light fingers on the back of his leg. Was it just his imagination? An errant air current? Or a patient who never left? We’ll never know for sure, but it was another small, weird experience added to the long list of Pennhurst’s ghostly stories!
Along with our short story, below are over 60 photos of our weekend at Pennhurst ParaCon 2019 for you to enjoy! (Apologies for any lag time as all of these photos load.) Let us know if you spy any specters that we may have missed. 😊
To learn more about Pennhurst State School and Hospital, listen to The Confessionals host Tony discuss the asylum and its paranormal activity on the History Goes Bump podcast!
Have you ever visited Pennhurst Asylum in Pennsylvania? What was your experience while visiting? Share with us in the comments!
~ Lindsay W. Merkel
