The Game

A couple years back my friend ( alex ) and I became extremely curious about the paranormal. I, of course was a skeptic so we would often try and find abandoned locations throughout New Jersey to debunk things. Most places felt extremely normal in the day, but once it got dark they did feel eerie. I knew it was mainly in my head so I didn't really classify these locations as paranormal. Some notable locations I've been to were 1754 house, Ethrane Asylum, Empty Walls mansion. These were location we heard of and went to visit the locations. This one particular location named Essex Mountain Sanatorium. This is where Alex and I had the strangest experience in our lives, but first let's start from the beginning...

It was 10:30 in the morning;eating breakfast with my Dad. My phone vibrates in my pocket as I scooped down the last of my Lucky Charms. Alex called me on the phone about an abandoned Insane Asylum near where we live. I was extremely excited. I told him we should go there on Saturday and stay till 2:30 AM there. He agreed.

My dad glances up and looks me straight in the eye with a creepy smile.

" So Dooperbop.... you planning doing anything different this time so you can actually see some ghosts? " he chuckles.

" No... Do you have any ideas that could help us? " I replied back.

" Well there's this little game my drinking buddies used to do when we were camping... " he replies with a wolfish grin on his face.

He explains to me a sort of psychological experiment he used to do when he was younger. My Dad only referred to it as " The Game ". The instruction to play it were very simple.


 * 1) You must play the game between 2:00AM to 4:00 AM.
 * 2) You must be ALONE during this and you must have no one watching you or else you won't feel the loneliness factor.


 * 1) You must go to an area with very LITTLE sound and no windows. Must be pitch black with no lights.

The last thing he told me is that you have to have all doors around you completely open and they too must have no lights, sounds or windows. Sit in the middle of the room looking at the door that is open or both if there are two doors. I told him I would try this when we get there. He nods and looks back at his newspaper.

Fast forward to Saturday with Alex out in my front yard. He was wearing a red polo and black shorts. He sort of looks like the asian version of Tom Cruise but a little bit shorter. Anyways, he picks me up and about 2-4 hours in we arrive at the Essex Mountain Sanatorium. We arrived at night so the place really did look creepy. We jolted to the front entrance and tried to open the front door. It was locked. We found a small window we could fit in and we immediately crawled through it.

Pitch Black...we couldn't see anything. Alex brought out his flashlight so we could see better. The area we ended up in wasn't so bad. It was the sleeping area for patients ( I think ) so we didn't really freak out that much. Then I remembered about The Game my dad told me about. I opened the door to the hallway and searched for rooms on which I could find the perfect room for The Game. I found a medical area room so I went in to check it out. I told Alex behind me to go back in the bedroom area and stay there. He was confused so I explained to him about my Game. He reluctantly agreed. I set everything up and made sure no lights were there.

I opened the doors and sat in the middle of the room staring at the two doors. I waited. I suddenly started seeing things after 20 minutes of starting The Game. I saw shadows and heard whispers which I realize were my own. I glanced at the dark door to the left and saw a shadow outlined near the door. My brain started giving into the fear and everything started getting worse. I started seeing my worst nightmares forming in the darkness. The Grudge Girl in particular took over most of my fears. In the corner of my eye I saw someone's face. I knew I wasn't hallucinating. I stood up and ran like hell. I went back to the bedroom area and I saw Alex also frightened. We both pretty much jumped out of the small window opening. We went back in the car and started driving. We were silent for nearly 2 hours. I had the guts to finally speak. I asked Alex why he was frightened. He told me during the whole time I was in the room alone, he heard a women screaming....coming from the room I sat in.