Episode Recap: Garden State Asylum

TAPS bravely investigates the Essex County hospital which has been treating the criminally insane, mentally ill, and depressed since 1895. An estimated 10,000 people have died at the facility over the years as a result of suicide or medical complications. The tortured spirits of the residents allegedly haunt the area. On the first floor of Building 5 people have reportedly seen full-bodied apparitions standing in the hallway and one worker felt someone touch the side of his body. And while doing his rounds, the assistant hospital administrator, Tom Hamilton, had an overwhelming feeling of fatigue when he walked through a particular hallway. The hospital covers more than 365 acres of property and the underground tunnels are used to connect each of the buildings. In the tunnels people have seen flickering blue light. In the morgue voices have been heard and on the second floor of Building 11 people have reportedly seen the figure of a nurse walking down the hall and then disappearing.

Taps arrived on the scene just in time since the buildings will be torn down and turned into a park soon. Jay and Grant kicked off the investigation in the tunnel and while they are researching they hear a series of odd noises, one of which sounds like a cart being wheeled down the hall. But when the hunters find the cart, it doesn't have any wheels on it. They also received some interesting hits on the thermal imaging camera. And then when Jason was doing an interview with the cameraman it sounded like someone was walking past but no one could find the source to the footsteps.

Tango and Steve started their investigation on the second floor of Building 5. There was a moment during the investigation that the two ghost hunters heard what sounded like a snapping sound. They were able to successfully record the sound on the mini DV recorder to confirm what the heard but they didn't find a culprit for the noise. Meanwhile Joe and Britt decided to conduct EVP session in the morgue. And ironically, like the other investigators they too heard unexplained noises in the room they were in.

Determined to find a source for the snapping sound they'd heard earlier, Steve and Tango head back to the second floor of Building 5. Steve decided to use the shotgun microphone since it's a directional mic that will be able to pick up sounds from a variety of directions and lengthy distances. Steve placed the mic on a tray on the floor when they began their EVP session, but later on, when they went to retrieve the mic, they noticed that it had been moved. No one else had been near the mic so this discovery was extremely alarming.

In Building 3, Jason and Grant find a ceramic house that one of the former residents might have made. As soon as they touched the house, they heard a female voice come from the staircase area. Towards the end of the investigation the Ghost Hunters decided to test out a new piece of equipment called The Helmet cam, which allows investigators to go on a hunt by themselves while the others watch what's happening from a monitor that's connected to the live camera feed in the helmet. Britt tested out this new feature in the tunnels close to Building 11 but he wasn't able to come across any substantial evidence.

To round up their research Dave and Steve decide to investigate the morgue. In an effort to provoke the spirits both hunters lie on the slab and close themselves up inside of the freezer. And though they didn't seem to have any immediate paranormal reactions they find out later that they were not alone in the room.

Throughout the hunt at the Essex County Hospital the investigators had similar personal experiences where they heard noises such as voices, footsteps and shuffling sounds in the room they were in. The team was discovered that their digital recorders had picked up voices in certain rooms. Joe and Britt's recorder picked up a voice that sounded like it was saying "children." And while Dave and Steve were boxed in the freezers in the morgue a voice was recorded saying, "he's here". All of the evidence gathered during this investigation lead TAPS to conclude that the Essex County Hospital is haunted.