Specter Files #1 Part 1

Everything below is transcribed by the intrepid aspiring reporter: Amelia Zhang.

(anything in parenthesis like this are my words) -A.Z.

(I’m writing this series of articles to describe some of my favorite Specter Detector Videos. (It was hard to choose!) I’m doing this for my friend Lucy Benitez, who is too afraid to watch ghost stuff even though she runs headfirst into abandoned mineshafts, has explored a ghost hotel at night while claiming not to believe in spirits, and once told Cassidy Case that she didn’t understand her interest in birds and lived to tell about it.

But she gets scared watching cartoons where mystery teams unmask silly villains dressed as ice cream flavored ghosts, and once threatened to break my phone if I made her watch a 2-hour special about ghosts living in her Civil War fort during a road trip. (That may have more to do with the fact that she doesn’t like long car rides.)

Anyway. The Specter Detectors are coming!!! And I want her to know how awesome they are!!! So here we are. I don’t know how this is supposed to help. I always found it scarier to read about ghosts, than to watch videos about them. (When I’m reading, I have to imagine all of the scary things which makes them worse.) Whatever! She promised to read these if I wrote them.

Lucy! Pay attention! I’m not writing this just to practice my journalistic skills. Although, I hope my grandfather reads this and gives me pointers. (I love you Gong gong!) I’m writing these so you know how cool the Spector Detectors are in Case we see them.)

Specter Detector Files #1 The Specters of Charity pt. 1

The Video is playing, but the screen is dark when the narration starts.

“Ghosts don’t simply appear because someone has died. There needs to be a catalyst.” The voice is someone new. Cody speaks with a calmer demeanor and a bit of a southern accent. Sheryl’s narration is deeper, huskier. And it’s definitely not Klaus’s showy performance, Clancy’s no-nonsense drawl, or Mark’s nervous whispers. The woman continues gently, like she’s the cool professor explaining something to her less-cool students.

“We often use shorthand to explain why a ghost may appear. But these shorthands: trauma, violence, tragedy, surprise, etcetera, are all simple explanations for what’s really necessary to spark a spiritual continuation. And none of these, alone, are enough. For a ghost to occur, a death has to make an impact, an impact which leaves a lasting impression not just on the deceased, but the people around them. Or the places. Places can be impacted by trauma as well.”

When the picture appears, the team is standing outside of the Specter Mobile—their big white van. It’s night, and the four we can see are shivering, despite the leaves on the trees, and the palmettos in the background. (I heard that they filmed this in February, but that lots of trees in New Orleans never lose their leaves/fronds.) The narration was obviously inserted in post, because three of the four are smiling and talking while they pull various equipment from the van, strapping things to their belts, stuffing ghost hunting equipment into their pants pockets—or the pockets of a trench coat in Klaus’s case. He is the only one not shivering.

The last of the four, Sheryl, is also wearing a trench coat. Clancy and Cody are simply wearing their Specter Detector sweatshirts. (I don’t know why they wear different outfits. Technically, Sheryl and Klaus are the on-screen talent, but you can usually see everyone in their exploration videos. Although, sightings of their cameraman, Mark are kept to spare glimpses through mirrors, or his shadow when the team is back lit. Recently, Clancy has started to do some camera work too, and we Spectators have been getting to see more of Mark. My point is: I think they should all get trench coats.)

Anyway, Sheryl is also shivering, despite having her hands jammed into her trench coat pockets. She faces away from the rest of her crew. Her grim look is focused slightly upward. When she speaks, the video shifts to live audio. You can hear some traffic in the background, (and see passing headlights,) The three others are still discussing what equipment to take with them. But the audio focuses on Sheryl’s on screen voice. “This place definitely has an energy too it, a sadness which permeates the atmosphere. We’ll find something in there.”

The camera follows her gaze, gliding up and to the right, as Mark shifts focus to shoot through a tree. Behind branches, washed out by heavy streetlights, there’s darkness blotting out the night sky. The camera zooms, and the darkness takes shape. A tall, sprawling, angular structure comes into view. Which is to say: a nearly pitch-black rectangle. The building Sheryl is focused on is mostly visible as reflections in windows from of lights cast by surrounding structures. An surrounding buildings must be shorter, because about halfway up, the reflections vanish, and the shape of the building is then only recognizable as an absence of stars in the night sky.

The camera abruptly shifts, and we are looking across a four-lane road up at the same structure. Mark has crossed the street. Trees line the far sidewalk, and a chain link fence surrounds the building Sheryl was looking up at from below. Three of other Specter Detectors are standing across the road, leaning next on their van, which is parked on the sidewalk. There is also a black SUV parked in the driveway leading into the old structure. Cody isn’t in sight.

The building itself is massive. The central tower is at least 18 or 19 stories. (I tried to count windows, but it was hard because the entire thing was dark.) Two shorter wings jut out at left and right angles from the tower. These angles become arms enclosing a central courtyard we can’t see because it’s hidden behind a large metal gate and a pair of low concrete gate houses.

“This is Charity Hospital.” Cody, the missing Specter Detector, speaks. He must be standing near Mark. “Before Hurricane Katrina, it was the second largest operating hospital in the United States. It was known for being a number one trauma center and for being the hospital for people without insurance. They could still find help here. It was also a teaching hospital.”

“It’s huge.” Mark’s voice is nervous, like always.

“And we’re only seeing half of it.” Cody replies. “The two side wings also extend on the back half. The place along with all of the medical facilities, had dorms, cafeterias, and even a gym with a basketball court near the top floor.” The Camera rises and zooms in following his words. “It was built in the 1930’s, and operated until 2005, when the last patients and staff were evacuated several days after the basement flooded, killing the generators, and forcing doctors and nurses to treat patients in sweltering temperatures with limited electricity from a few emergency generators.”

“Did anyone die?” Mark asked.

“It’s a hospital, with an ER and an ICU. People probably died all the time.” Cody replied. “A lot of people were saved too.”

“That’s not what I meant.” Mark sounds annoyed now, instead of nervous. The camera wiggles a bit, and across the street the other three are waving them back over, eager to get started.

“I know.” Cody smiles for the camera, “Relax, buddy. Anyway, yeah. There were lots of critical patients here when the hurricane hit, and doctors and nurses had to fight for days to get everyone evacuated. Unfortunately, not everyone made it. Most did, but not all. That’s not our question.”

It’s obviously a set up. Maybe it’s even planned ahead of time. Mark takes the bait. “What’s our question?”

Cody smiles. “We want to know if anyone is still around.”

The camera shifts again. They are standing in the hospital’s front driveway, the road probably used by ambulances before the metal gate barred entrance and the lights went out. Mark, behind the camera, follows the other four team members as they walk past the SUV in the drive.

Klaus waves at a man sitting inside. He’s wearing a security uniform, and wave’s them past. Clancy, Cody and a second security guard pull the big metal gate aside. This new guard waits until the whole team steps through, before pulling the gate shut behind them. The camera focuses on the gate as she closes it. Locking herself out, and them in.

“The Hurricane was decades ago, why is the building still abandoned?” Mark asks, while capturing a group shot of the rest of the team in front of the large entrance ahead, below the tower.

Cody answers. “That’s another story entirely. There have been several attempts to get this pace up and running. First, again as a hospital. After that, there were talks about turning it into a community building. I think that’s the most recent plan. Whatever the case, some kind of construction is underway.”.

“Then it’s a good thing we came when we did.” Clancy grins, turning to take in the structure. The camera pans around to share his view. To the left and the right, the two arms of the structure jut out to shelter a curved walkway. There’s a lot of glass, and several larger reliefs carved into blocks set into the walls. They are mostly scenes of people, doctors caring for patients and the like. Across the front of the structure a row of construction equipment has been collected, and a massive external elevator has been set up climbing the central tower. “We want to explore this place before it’s restored.”

“Why?” Sheryl asks. “Ghost don’t stop haunting a place because of a makeover.”

“For the ambiance.” Klaus twirls as he speaks, letting his trench coat flutter through the air. With the gate closed, crew seems enclosed in the dark courtyard. The noise of the city outside has died down. “This place won’t be nearly as much fun to explore after they repair all the damage.” (I don’t know why they left any of this in.)

The camera changes again, and the crew is moving through a wide hallway. It looks decrepit in their flashlights. Through their shadows the camera catches glimpses of brown stains patterned across the wall from knee to waist high—water stains or mold. The ceiling has partially collapsed and multiple colors of piping show through. “There’s a dour, expectant air down here.” Sheryl is up front, her low voice sounds tense, like it always does on an expedition. “It feels like something is waiting for us.”

“The lower floors flooded when the levee broke. This basement was entirely full of water.” Clancy explains. “That’s when the generators shut down, and they lost all power, save for a couple backup.”

“It doesn’t look that badly damaged.” Sheryl says. (I don’t know what she is thinking. It looks pretty bad.)

“They cleaned all of that out, and even started to get this place back in order before abandoning it.” Cody explains.

“Shh.” Klaus stops them, putting his hands to his ears. “Listen.” The camera wobbles as Mark messes with something. The group grows quiet, but a noise can be heard in the background. The clang of metal on metal. Clang… clang.. clang, clang clang………Clang. The sound repeats at seemingly random intervals for a couple of seconds.

“What is it?” Mark asks, nervous again.

“It could be another group exploring this place, or maybe some of the construction workers haven’t left yet.” Clancy answered.

“The guards said we’re the only ones in here. We were lucky to get permission.” Klaus replies.

“Then it could be scavengers.” Clancy shrugs, pulling out his phone. “The generator room is this way. Might be someone looking for spare copper, or other goods. We’ll pass by it on the way to the morgue.”

Belying this suggestion, Mark zooms in on a rolling shelf stacked with old electronics. Text appears on screen. Obviously, the construction crew has begun collecting abandoned equipment. Everything on that shelf had more value than anything which could be pulled out of a generator after two decades.

They pass by the generator room. Some of the machinery still looks shiny, and we get one of shots I mentioned, with Mark’s reflection, although you can only make out his profile. Some equipment is rusted. All of it has been taken apart.

Clang… clang, clang clang………Clang, clang. The sound is louder, so the group scans the room before Klaus pulls out an EMF reader. Turning it on, the green light quickly flashes yellow, and begins to slowly blip red.

“Is anyone there?” Sheryl asks, while Klaus waves the device around. The yellow fades as he gestures deeper into the room but returns towards the doorway. The red flashes strobe faster. (I think that they’ve turned off some of their flashlights.) The little beacon seems brighter than normal as they follow it out of the generator room and down the hall. Cody is walking with Mark behind the group helping him navigate while using the camera.

The other three quickly race ahead lead by the red blinking device until “A ha!” Klaus launches himself into another room.

Mark is the last one in. You can hear his heavy breathing. Is it nerves or exercise? By the time he and the camera have view of the room, the rest of the crew has spread about the center of the space, Klaus is crouched in front of a series of metal cabinets the tails of his trench coat on trialing dust.

The metal cabinets are the kind seen in forensic tv shows, (the ones which hold bodies.) They have their heavy metal doors wide opened. “This is the morgue.” Klaus explained. “During the flood after Katrina, this entire basement was filled with water, and it was inaccessible. But if this room is haunted, it doesn’t have to have been from that event. You can imagine some spirit showing up from the nearly a century of bodies which were stored in this room. Maybe several, and perhaps some still linger.” He shuts off the EMF reader which is now nearly only red. (I know this is where you would have checked out, if I’d made you watch the video Lucy.)

“Let’s see what they have to say.” Sheryl pulls out a small voice recorder. I don’t know why, but she likes that better than the spirit box. (They use that later in this episode! Just wait!) She introduces herself, then calls out a couple of questions. “Is there anyone here? Anyone lost when the hospital was abandoned? Anyone from the long history before that, who has been waiting down here for years, waiting for their voices to be heard? Is there anything you want to say?”

Here the narrator takes over as the scene plays out again in black and white. This time it’s Cody’s comforting southern accent. “While Sheryl asked her questions, we were later able to isolate two notable responses, and a third potential sound.”

Sheryl’s questions play out again, chopped up and paused to sync with audio from the recorder.

Sheryl: “Is there anyone here?”

Recording: “Yes, here.” Cody has helpfully added text subtitles.

Sheryl: “…waiting for your voices to be heard?”

Recording: “Here… all … wet?” The question mark after the last word is how the Specter Detectors indicate that they aren’t certain of a word. (I listened to it multiple times, and to me, it sounded more like “hurt?” than “wet?”)

Finally, Sheryl: “Is there anything else you would like to say.”

Recording: tra… gil… dy.

(This one sounded like empty syllables to me.)

The camera shifts back to the expedition. The video to present time. Sheryl asks a few more questions, but they quickly decided to leave, spurred on by Klaus when he asks, “Does anyone else feel like it’s getting stuffy down here?” (There’s been some debate about whether Klaus’s bouts of stuffiness have more to do with spiritual pressure, or whether he might just have allergies. The morgue looked decrepit, but Sheryl has, in the past, stated that whenever he starts to complain about stuffiness, she also starts to feel increasingly dark presences.”

On cue, Sheryl notes, “I feel a ominous presence to this place. I don’t think we should linger.”

“Let’s head out.” Clancy motions for the team to leave, and Mark seems only too happy to follow. his breathing slows down and quiets until you can’t here it anymore. (Mark isn’t allergic to anything, except, maybe, the ghost hunting.) “Why don’t we explore some of the upper floors.”

Skipping a bit ahead, they climb several sets of stairs and wander down some halls.

The strange new narrator takes over. Her voice playing on top of their shadowy walk through darkened halls. “Whether ghost are reflections of people in the past, the spirits of those lost lingering after their mortal frame is gone, memories recorded into the walls of hallowed spaces, or something else entirely: they undoubtably, are formed as impressions left by the past, for us in the present. They must want to be seen, or we want to see them. Otherwise, how could we even acknowledge their presence?

I believe ghost are formed by a strange alchemical reaction of a spirit’s desire to persist and our living desire to see them. The observer and the observed. These must be the elements which sustain ghosts on our plane, whereas most living pass on to what comes next. These two elements might come in different ratios, and take many different forms, but without them, I don’t think you can have a ghost. And without a catalyst: trauma, violence, tragedy, surprise, and on, I think it’s very hard to sustain either of those elements. Otherwise, we’d be overrun with the formerly living.”

Other than a few eerie shadows, and more signs of decay mixed with evidence that the structure is being taken apart for future construction, there isn’t really anything in the footage of their slow walk through the lower halls. (Which is probably why they let the narrator ramble.) And there isn’t a lot of activity as they move up the structure Until…

Stay tuned for part 2!

(Congrats Lucy! You made it through part 1! Take a break! I hope you aren’t too scared yet.)