The History of Lanahan Asylum

April 16, 1916 Lanahan Asylum had just been built. People from all over came to see the colossal structure built for those deemed incapable of functioning in society. Millions of dollars were put into the making of such a mysterious and unique project, all of it from the wealthy enigmatic Lanahan family. The idea had first come to the head of the family, Elphielias Jeremiah Lanahan the third when a great portion of his family mysteriously fell ill, or so he claimed. They were the first to be admitted into the hospital and oddly enough, were never seen again. All of the doctors, nurses, and other staff were brought in from faraway cities and sometimes even countries. Rumors started to circulate, claiming that illegal and inhuman experiments were being done on the patients. Those who began to question the wealthy Elphielias and his asylum soon found themselves admitted as well. As Elphielias grew older, his memory began to fade. His eldest son, Martin soon took over and things only seemed to worsen. Those passing by the dark structure claimed to hear screams and other terrible sounds coming from inside. Martin waved these claims away, and started on renovations to make the hospital look more welcoming. During his first visit into the hospital after the renovations were complete, he was attacked and said to be dragged inside by a swarm of deathly ill patients. After this frightening event, the government came in and quarantined the place, killing off the patients and staff one by one and burning the bodies claiming that there had been a deathly virus. The building was left abandoned and locked up, and the remaining Lanahan family moved away, never to be heard of again.

80 years later

Jackson Lanahan, the only remaining member of the family mysteriously showed up reclaiming the old building. By now a city by the name of McCarvel had grown massively right next to the hospital. Within a few years Jackson became a well known and loved doctor, helping those who needed it. He was respected and considered a celebrity in the city. During the height of his success, it was discovered his wife was extremely depressed, and she was taking multiple nonprescription pills. Soon, she she went crazy and murdered their two children while he was away on a business trip. After she killed her children she jumped out of the window of their penthouse onto the busy street below and died. Soon after the incident, Jackson disappeared for a while, keeping a low profile and mourning his loss. A year later, he was back and helping people more than ever. On the third anniversary of his family’s death he revealed the re-opening of the Lanahan Asylum, claiming he’d forgiven his wife and wanted to devote his life to helping the mentally ill. Almost immediately, people were being admitted from not only McCarvel but surrounding cities and states as well. Within a few months the asylum was packed and Jackson got to work expanding the building, making it nearly 5 times bigger than the original. The number of admitted patients increased, with very little being released back into society. Soon a cemetery was built adjacent to the asylum. As every other graveyard, rumors began of the Lanahan cemetery being haunted. The difference between most cemeteries though, was numerous events occurred, giving the rumor some credibility. Upon visiting the graves, a young girl’s body was found cut up into several pieces floating in the cemetery’s pond. Another occurrence was the hanging of an entire family, a man hired to keep the cemetery clean was met with the sight of a total of 22 people hanging from the trees surrounding the pond.