By: Anastasia Hopcus
For several years I have been intrigued by the Kirkbride asylums. Named for Dr. Thomas Kirkbride, who conceived of the then-innovative plan for caring for the mentally ill, these institutions were built in several parts of the United States during the nineteenth century. Unfortunately, many of these grand Gothic structures, like the most famous one in Danvers, Massachusetts, have been torn down. So when I read that there was a Kirkbride asylum in Weston, West Virginia, that had been purchased and turned into a museum, I had to take a side trip to see it on my way home from the Book Expo in NYC this summer.
My boyfriend Brent and I barely made it in time for the last guided tour of the day. It was late in the afternoon, and shadows were already falling over the old compound, which added to the silent, eerie feel of the place. I took a ton of pictures, as I tend to do, and one view that particularly intrigued me was of the double doors of the medical center across the courtyard. It was an imposing but decaying building of red brick, with a set of weathered white double doors, both shut. I definitely wanted a picture of that, but when I aimed my camera and pressed the button, it didn't click. I tried several more times, but it would not work. Puzzled, I looked at the camera and saw that the battery was out of juice. It wasn't an old battery, but, I reasoned, I had taken lots of pictures over the course of my trip.
Still wanting to get the shot, I put in a new battery and tried again. Once again the camera would not work. A second time. A third time. Finally, it clicked, but the whir of the shutter went on… and on. I still wasn't sure whether I had actually gotten a picture, but I moved on, not wanting to delay the group any further.
But that night, as I sat in our motel room, looking through the pictures I had taken that afternoon, I came upon the photo of the medical center with its set of closed double white doors, and as I looked at it, a chill ran down my spine:
Who---or what had opened that door? And why had I not seen it?
Shadow Hills by Anastasia Hopcus Publisher: Egmont USA (July 13th, 2010) Reading Level: Young Adult Hardback: 400 pages
His love captivated her… his secrets might kill her.
Since her sister’s mysterious death, Persephone “Phe” Archer has been plagued by a series of disturbing dreams. Determined to find out what happened to her sister, Phe enrolls at Devenish Prep in Shadow Hills, Massachusetts—the subject of her sister’s final diary entry.
After stepping on campus, Phe immediately realizes that there’s something different about this place—an unexplained epidemic that decimated the town in the 1700s, an ancient and creepy cemetery, and gorgeous boy Zach—and somehow she’s connected to it all.
But the more questions she asks and the deeper she digs, the more entangled Phe becomes in the haunting past of Shadow Hills. Finding what links her to this town… might cost her her life.
- Thank you so much Anastasia for the scary story and pictures!
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