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00:00Your heart rate's climbing again. 126, 127. Are you sure you're okay?
00:05I feel other people in here with me. I do not like it.
00:10Heather?
00:11On this episode of Expedition X...
00:15There it is.
00:16Good Lord.
00:17My team confronts sinister forces at what some say is the most haunted prison in America.
00:24Wow.
00:25As they delve deep into the dark history of Tennessee's Brushy Mountain Penitentiary.
00:31Investigating reports of violent paranormal entities.
00:34Whoa.
00:35This is where we see the hat man.
00:39And even demonic possession.
00:41You're gonna die tonight.
00:44Feels like I'm not alone in here, honestly.
00:47That deep voice. Who are you?
00:50Who are you?
00:53Is there a demon here with me?
00:57Satan?
00:58Oh my God. I want to get out of here.
01:11All right. Pop quiz. What's the scariest movie ever made?
01:14Oof.
01:15Alien, Silence of the Lambs.
01:17Original Texas Chainsaw Massacre or the new Paw Patrol movie.
01:20That giant humdinger?
01:22Okay.
01:22It was scary.
01:24Ha ha.
01:24It's clearly The Exorcist.
01:26Sure. Fair enough. The vomit does stay with you.
01:29Yeah. Agreed.
01:30But what makes it so scary is that there are real world reports of supernatural possession.
01:35And I just got a really disturbing report from a place near my neck of the woods.
01:40Brushy Mountain Penitentiary down in Tennessee.
01:42It's a prison.
01:43A former prison and a former coal mine, a place where they used to make the prisoners
01:47work in brutal conditions. It closed in 2009, but ever since, the paranormal activity has
01:53been off the charts. In fact, a recent visitor, they say, was actually possessed.
01:58Wow. The whole idea of possession is just terrifying. But I've heard of this place. And when you look
02:06into the history of Brushy Mountain, there is no shortage of bona fide horror.
02:171896. The state of Tennessee is deeply in debt. A former Confederate state still reeling from
02:24the aftermath of the Civil War. They need a way to generate money fast. They come up with a truly
02:30shocking solution. They'll build a prison next to a coal mine and force the prisoners to work in
02:36the dangerous mines for free. Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary is born. From the turn of the
02:44century through the 1960s, Brushy Mountain is a place of brutal forced labor. Conditions in the
02:51mines are horrific. Hundreds of inmate miners die by collapses or explosions. Hundreds more perish in
03:02disease infested cells. Those able to avoid injury or sickness may still die at the hands of sadistic
03:10guards and vicious fellow inmates. And when Brushy runs low on workers, it's no problem. Law enforcement
03:20simply rounds up more. Overwhelmingly black young men charges them with bogus crimes and works them to the
03:29bone. Along the way, Brushy earns a grim moniker, the end of the line.
03:37Brushy Mountain remains a violent, bloody maximum security prison until its closure in 2009.
03:45New owners launch an effort to preserve the prison's history.
03:49But as soon as visitors and staff members begin spending time at Brushy,
03:55terrifying paranormal activity follows. Startling photos of shadow figures are captured in the
04:02auditorium. Black mist and growls are reported in the cell blocks. And now the activity has
04:11disturbingly escalated. According to eyewitness testimony, a recent visitor's eyes rolled back in
04:20her head. She spoke in a threatening, growling voice. And when she finally came to, she had no
04:29recollection of the event, leading the multiple witnesses to conclude that she had been possessed.
04:36Brushy Mountain staff are convinced that this potential paranormal activity is only getting more
04:41frequent and more violent. They wonder if the prison's dark history is still somehow alive.
04:48Could the dead of Brushy Mountain Penitentiary have escaped their eternal incarceration?
04:58Y'all see why I want to investigate this, right?
05:00Look, there's no question. Brushy Mountain has an absolutely awful history. But I do think we have to
05:05be careful when investigating a so-called possession, right? There could be other factors at play here.
05:10Right. Extreme physical distress, psychological factors can make people behave in ways that are
05:15honestly pretty disturbing. I get it. But take a step back here and look at the activity reported.
05:20Look at the history of this place. Where there's smoke, there's fire. And there is plenty of smoke.
05:25I agree. I think there's a lot here. This is unlike any place that we've investigated before.
05:30A haunted prison, haunted mines, and reports of an actual possession. I think we have to check it out.
05:36So go to Brushy Mountain Penitentiary and see if you can find out what's going on. And to paraphrase the
05:42scariest movie ever made, don't die up there. Ah, exercise reference. Well done. You're always
05:47so reassuring, Gates. I do what I can. It's a two and a half hour flight from New York to
05:53Knoxville,
05:53Tennessee. From there, Phil and Heather make their way to the tiny town of Petros,
05:58surrounded by the dense forests of the eastern Tennessee Valley.
06:02This is seriously getting the mode out here. It is almost as if the people who made the prison
06:08wanted to hide what happened inside there from the public eye. This is in the middle of nowhere.
06:15Even if you do manage to escape as a prisoner, you're probably not making it very far.
06:19I know I wouldn't. Not with all these hills. Yeah, I know you wouldn't either.
06:23Look how steep it is though.
06:28Wow. There it is. Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary.
06:36That's imposing. To say the least. Look at all that barbed wire on that side. Good lord.
06:43Driving here would have been someone's last feeling of freedom until they went through that gate.
06:54Oh, there's Jamie.
06:59This is our first witness I was telling you about.
07:01Hi. Hi. How are you?
07:02Nice to meet you.
07:03Thanks for having us here.
07:04Yeah, welcome to Brushy.
07:06Obviously, we're here to hear the story about a possible possession.
07:09Are you willing to tell us about it?
07:11Um, yeah.
07:12It was one of the most terrifying nights of my life.
07:15It's even making me nervous now just thinking about it. But, um, I can take you to where it happened.
07:21Yeah. Take the way.
07:34This is the auditorium.
07:37This is where the possession happened.
07:40And why were you up here in the first place?
07:42I was here with a group of friends.
07:46We were just here hanging out. I was showing them the prison.
07:50I was sitting right here on this step. My friend was sitting over here on this step.
07:57And she just started making this weird noise.
08:03She was breathing funny.
08:08Like panting?
08:09Um, if you've ever been around someone that's dying, have you heard the death rattle?
08:18Yeah.
08:18That's what it sounded like.
08:21The death rattle.
08:24She's sitting here and she's just in a blank stare.
08:27And it's just the whites of her eyes.
08:30Oh, gosh.
08:31I asked her, are you okay?
08:34That's when she said,
08:36You're gonna die tonight.
08:38You're gonna die tonight.
08:41She took a step and when she did, she went down, she hit the floor.
08:48We pick her up.
08:52She's fighting us.
08:53It's like she's not wanting to leave the prison.
08:57And she's like,
08:58F*** you.
09:01I know for a fact that she was doing this for at least 45 minutes.
09:06So when you see her in this condition, what do you think is happening to her?
09:12I felt like she was possessed.
09:17So you sent us this picture.
09:20Mm-hmm.
09:20Which when you zoom in, I mean, that looks like a tall person with a top hat on.
09:26Mm-hmm.
09:27This is where we see the hat man.
09:31So that would have been right here.
09:33Right where I'm standing right now.
09:35Yeah, but yeah, no one was there.
09:37Tell me no one was standing here?
09:39No one's standing there.
09:40That's not a shadow?
09:41No.
09:42Who do you think this might be?
09:43We did have a killing here.
09:45There was an inmate here that had his throat cut from ear to ear.
09:50Wow.
09:51His name was Johnny Baxter.
09:55Right here.
09:56Right here.
09:59Seems like we've got a lot of ground to cover.
10:00Do we have your permission to investigate this entire property?
10:05You do.
10:06You're going to be here all by yourself.
10:09So please use caution.
10:11So you think this possession could potentially happen to one of us tonight?
10:16It could.
10:17Yes, absolutely.
10:18I always have someone with me.
10:20So I would advise you to do the same.
10:29After Jamie leaves us for the night, we get to work setting up security cameras in the most
10:33active parts of the prison.
10:35The auditorium, where Jamie's friend was supposedly possessed,
10:39and a shadow figure known as the hat man is frequently seen.
10:42B block, where cell doors reportedly shut by themselves.
10:47D block, where growling sounds and people being scratched have been reported.
10:53And the hole, the prison's solitary confinement unit, where sightings of full-bodied apparitions
10:59are often reported.
11:01Our producer, Brian, will be monitoring the camera feeds for any unusual activity.
11:05I've got a look.
11:06All right, those cameras look good, guys.
11:07Let's get going.
11:09With everything in place, Phil and I head back to the auditorium to investigate the shocking story
11:15of the possible possession.
11:18What should be the plan?
11:22Well, let's go over what Jamie said.
11:25Jamie was, what, there?
11:27Yes.
11:27Her friend was here?
11:29She fell.
11:30She could have hit her head on this corner, for all we know.
11:33That's a major head injury.
11:35That could easily cause a pretty extreme reaction.
11:39But when did it start?
11:44It started when she was sitting there, because that's when she said,
11:48you're going to die tonight.
11:52Right.
11:54It does sound very much like a possession.
11:57Is this the real deal?
11:59And is it demon?
12:01I've never seen a case like this,
12:03but demonic possession is, that's pushing it for me.
12:08There's no doubt that terrible things happened here.
12:11What I want to know is if those terrible things left a paranormal mark.
12:15That Johnny Baxter got sliced from ear to ear in the exact same spot that Jamie's friend had the
12:22alleged possession.
12:23What if he lost his voice and he's trying to find a voice again by taking possession of her friend
12:30so
12:30he has his voice back?
12:31So I want to try and find out if I can get Johnny Baxter on the spirit box.
12:36Maybe we can get the hat man.
12:38Maybe we can get tangible proof that this place is really haunted.
12:42Lead the way.
12:46So I'm just going to go ahead and turn it on.
12:56My name is Heather.
12:59I'm here to listen to you.
13:03And I'm here to give you a voice.
13:10Is there a presence here?
13:13Several?
13:19Is there someone named Johnny here with us?
13:26And I'm here to give you a voice.
13:34What did you hear?
13:35The deepest voice possible.
13:38That deep voice.
13:40Who are you?
13:44Stop for a sec.
13:46Let me play the recording back on my phone.
13:49That deep voice.
13:50Who are you?
14:01Devil.
14:03Oh my god.
14:04What the hell is that?
14:05I mean, that, right?
14:07Yeah, I mean that, clear as day says devil.
14:10Right in the spot where Jamie alleged there was a demonic possession.
14:17You want to try to get more answers?
14:18Yeah.
14:23We leave our security cameras running while we push further into the prison, heading to an area with an extremely
14:30dark history and extraordinary reports of paranormal activity known as the hole.
14:35He's down over here.
14:36This area was once a solitary confinement unit, where closet-sized rooms with no windows or openings were designed to
14:43bring prisoners to their breaking point.
14:46Sometimes, up to 10 prisoners would share one cell.
14:49So small.
14:51Shadow figures and disembodied voices have recently been reported here.
14:58Okay, cameras are set.
14:59I'm going to try to do a solo experiment in complete darkness, watching for potential hallucinations.
15:05Once the door is closed, this place will be so dark I won't be able to see my own hand,
15:11but our IR cameras will be able to clearly capture my every move.
15:19While inside, I'll be wearing a heart monitor, because physiological changes triggered by anxiety from being in an extreme environment
15:26can cause the mind to play tricks on a person.
15:29Alright, let me lead you to your cell.
15:32And can easily be misconstrued as paranormal activity.
15:35So your normal resting heart rate is 68?
15:38Yeah.
15:40Alright, you asked for it.
15:47It is really dark here.
15:51I literally can't even see my hand in front of my face.
16:05How you feeling, Phil?
16:08Trying to stay calm.
16:12How's my heart rate?
16:13How are you?
16:14You're at 76.
16:16So it's already up a little bit.
16:22Wow.
16:32What's going through your head, Phil?
16:3583.
16:37I cannot imagine being in here with nine other people.
16:41This is already too much.
16:48You're spiking, Phil.
16:49You're at 103.
16:50Feels like I'm not alone in here, honestly.
16:53Makes me want to keep my back to the wall.
16:57Your heart rate's climbing again.
16:59126, 127.
17:0120 minutes, Phil.
17:02The imagination is getting a little bit too real.
17:06Ooh, I'm getting goosebumps.
17:10I feel other people in here with me.
17:14Are you sure you're okay?
17:15I do not like it.
17:18I do not like it.
17:24Heather?
17:30You okay?
17:32I need to see that there's no one in there.
17:35When you're in there, it's like your brain is playing tricks on you.
17:39I think I spent too much time in there.
17:41I think the darkness just started to make my imagination go a little too far.
17:46You say it's imagination.
17:48Could it be paranormal?
17:49I'm telling you, it's physiological.
17:52My heart rate was reacting.
17:54My mind was probably reacting.
17:56Or it was something real in there with you.
17:59Your heart rate really spiked.
18:02I'll give you this.
18:03I've never felt like that before.
18:06Would not like to do that again.
18:20Oh my gosh, I can't believe I'm doing this.
18:22Good luck.
18:23Thanks.
18:29It's just pitch black.
18:31Oh my God.
18:35You can't even tell where the wall ends.
18:42Oh.
18:44Oh, I do not like that corner.
18:47Oh, it feels like something's right behind you in that corner.
18:54Well, she does not look happy in there.
18:57You okay in there?
19:00Not really.
19:02It does not feel like I'm alone right now.
19:06I'm gonna try the Ovilus.
19:11Oh.
19:13Is there anyone here with me right now?
19:19Is there anything you want to say?
19:26Is Johnny Baxter here with me?
19:31Is the hat man with me?
19:34Hello?
19:36Hi, hat man.
19:40It's been 15 minutes.
19:43Feels like a day.
19:46You seeing anything?
19:49I feel like the entire time I haven't been alone.
19:54She's shaking her hand.
19:56It's completely shaking.
19:58You said hello to me, hat man.
20:00What do you want to say to me?
20:05Is there a demon here with me?
20:10Satan?
20:12Oh my God.
20:18Satan?
20:20Oh my God.
20:21I'm gonna get out of here.
20:23Are you okay?
20:24Let me out.
20:25Okay, coming.
20:28Phil?
20:29Okay.
20:29Oh my God.
20:30You good?
20:31It said Satan.
20:33How did you feel in there?
20:34I could see you shaking.
20:35Terrified.
20:36It is like you said that your mind starts just scrambling,
20:40but my mind did not say Satan.
20:42The Ovilus did.
20:44Satan?
20:45Fair point.
20:48With our investigation coming to an end for the night,
20:51we decide to leave our cameras running to see if we can capture any unusual anomalies.
20:56As morning breaks, it's time to update Josh on our experiences so far.
21:00Hey, Heather.
21:01Hey, Phil.
21:02Good to see you guys.
21:03Good to see you, Josh.
21:04How was last night?
21:05Did anybody get possessed?
21:06Anyone projectile vomit?
21:08Okay, easy for you to joke about, Gates, but it's really serious over here.
21:12Last night when we were in the auditorium where the possession allegedly took place,
21:16I got the word devil on the spirit box and then went over to the hole.
21:21I actually got the word Satan on my Ovilus.
21:25Wow, that is disturbing.
21:27Yeah, it is disturbing. Dark forces are at play here.
21:31But we still don't know who or what could be causing them.
21:35So I'm meeting with a historian later today to try and see if I can get more of the history
21:39and
21:39the backstory of this place.
21:40I think that's a great idea. Meanwhile, I've just contacted someone who claims to have recorded
21:46disturbing growls and screams around the penitentiary.
21:50This is someone who used to work at the Knoxville Zoo,
21:52and they say these sounds are unlike anything they've heard before.
21:56This guy's convinced this is paranormal.
21:58I think this is the type of sound I need to hear myself.
22:01Yeah. Heather, good luck with your historian.
22:04And stay safe out there, my favorite jailbirds. Get busy living.
22:07You got it.
22:08See you later.
22:09See ya.
22:15You must be Debbie.
22:17Oh, hi.
22:18Debbie Williams was a guard at Brushy Mountain from 1980 until its closing in 2009.
22:23Now the prison's resident historian, she collects documents and artifacts detailing the horrifying
22:28conditions in both the prison and the mines.
22:31What was life like in Brushy? Was it very tough for the prisoners?
22:35It was very tough. During the 1960s and 70s, we were known as one of the bloodiest penitentiaries
22:41in the United States. Inmates were all mixed together from the smallest crimes of stealing a horse
22:48all the way up to murder. Some of these inmates only had like a one or two year sentence,
22:53but they never left here alive.
22:55So if you were to estimate how many died here, what are we talking about? Hundreds?
22:59Oh, no. We have estimated that possibly as many as 10,000 people died in the mines and on these
23:05grounds.
23:0610,000 people?
23:0710,000 people.
23:09My gosh, that is absolutely tragic. So what am I looking at right here?
23:14So this is one of the leather straps that was actually used to administer the lashings to inmates.
23:20Inmates would get lashes for not making their tonnage in the mine all the way up until 1966 or 67.
23:27A directive came down from Nashville to stop administering corporal punishment with the belt.
23:33Even though they weren't allowed to have sanctioned lashings, they would still sometimes take them
23:39over to D Block and administer lashings there.
23:46Thanks for meeting me out here.
23:48Absolutely.
23:49Nice to meet you. I'm Phil.
23:50Good to meet you. I'm Brian.
23:51Josh tells me you got a pretty wild recording while you were here.
23:55Can you walk me through what were you doing here that day?
23:58We were out here doing a tour of the prison. You know, it was at night in April of 2023.
24:06I had come outside. I heard one of the most disturbing things I'd ever heard.
24:12So I happened to pull out my phone and I recorded it.
24:16The only way to describe this sound is that it came from another dimension.
24:22Another dimension?
24:23Another dimension. I know that sounds crazy.
24:26It sounds a little crazy, but you know what? Play the recording. Let's see.
24:30All right.
24:33It's the first one.
24:39What was that?
24:40I've never heard anything like that.
24:42Neither have I. I have no explanation for it whatsoever.
24:47What could it be? I hear you're an avid outdoorsman.
24:50Absolutely.
24:50How are you so confident this isn't a known animal?
24:54Well, I've spent pretty much my entire life running around these mountains.
24:59I did a stint at the Knoxville Zoo and I know my animals.
25:03And I've never heard a sound like that. The sound was so loud. It essentially vibrated
25:09through the prison itself, which is basically concrete buildings. And there was people inside of the prison
25:17that heard this sound. Wow. So that wouldn't be something like a jet crossing the sound barrier?
25:22No, no, no. It came from the mountains. I am 100% certain.
25:28What's in these mountains?
25:30You know, there is the prison mines that run all behind Brushy Mountain.
25:35There was a lot of death that happened there. Something really strange is going on in these mountains.
25:46When we started this museum, it was because we were proud of the work that we were doing in the
25:5180s and the 90s.
25:52And not until I started doing research did I see the terribly dark way the inmates had been treated.
25:59Because they kept it secret.
26:01Yes, they kept it quiet.
26:02What was life like when you're on mine duty when you were working in the coal mines?
26:06So as bad as life was here on the prison grounds, it was even worse inside the coal mine.
26:12The miners at that time would normally work 12-hour shifts. There were no safety measures.
26:18Did anyone die in the mines? Oh, absolutely.
26:21In the early 1900s, there was a mine cave-in that killed 17 of the convicts.
26:27And the cave-in was so bad that they just left the bodies there
26:32and moved around and built another entrance into the mine behind the cave-in.
26:36So they didn't even try to rescue them?
26:38No. Too much work to dig them out.
26:43After learning about the appalling conditions in the mines,
26:46I asked Debbie to show me any historical records and photographs of people who worked and died there.
26:51During the mining days, you can see the inmates coming back in from their shift in the coal mines.
26:57And this is one of our former captain of the guards.
27:00Oh my God, that hat. Who is that?
27:02This is Doc Arms. He was the captain of security here for a while. He ran the Bloodhounds.
27:09He had a reputation of never letting a man get away that he got on the trail of.
27:14Then he later went on to become deputy warden.
27:17This could be Hat Man.
27:18You're talking about the pitcher that was copped?
27:21Yes.
27:21Absolutely, yes.
27:22I would lean more toward it being a guard.
27:24Really?
27:25Yes. Because there was a lot of guard on inmate violence.
27:29That helps me explain to you why we were one of the bloodiest, most violent prisons.
27:35If ever there's a place that would be haunted, it would be here.
27:44As darkness falls, Heather and I meet back up and start to make our way to the mine entrance.
28:03Phil!
28:04What'd you got?
28:05You got a mine.
28:05A mine entrance.
28:07We found it.
28:13Look at the size of that thing.
28:15That is the biggest mine entrance I've ever seen.
28:19Look at these rocks that are down.
28:21Gee.
28:22So this thing is actively falling apart.
28:24Oh my goodness.
28:26One 2,000 pound chunk of rock at a time.
28:29Let's definitely helmet up.
28:31Yeah.
28:39You found the gate?
28:40I want you going first.
28:41Oh, wow.
28:43Thank you, Phil.
28:44Such a gentleman.
28:50Wow.
28:54Okay.
28:54If we hear rumbling, we get out of here quick, okay?
29:01They had to blast us out with dynamite.
29:03Dynamite and pickaxes and a whole lot of prisoner power.
29:08Yeah.
29:0917 miners were trapped in a cave-in and they were left to die.
29:14I want to try to get to the place that the cave-in happened.
29:17Okay.
29:17Let's keep pushing.
29:28These are structural beams to support the ceiling.
29:31That's comforting.
29:34Holy , look at this pile.
29:35Oh my God.
29:37Look at the roof.
29:38You could see where all of this just came off in one go.
29:42Yeah.
29:42This looks like a cave-in.
29:43Yeah.
29:44This could be the spot.
29:45Right here.
29:46When someone dies a very tragic death, their spirit may be trapped in the place that they died in.
29:53I think we could get a lot of activity here.
29:55Well, the activity I'm interested in, which is clearly happening in here, is seismic activity.
30:00So Brian the witness I talked to obviously heard that strange sound which he described as a scream
30:04coming from the direction of the mines and I'm still leaning towards it could have been something
30:09seismic.
30:09So what I have is a thing called a geophone.
30:14So if you take this and you put it down, it's similar to the type used by search and rescue
30:21teams.
30:21Basically can pick up the tiniest of vibrations inside rocks so that if there's a survivor on the
30:27other side, you can hear their noises and you'll know, hey, we got to dig this way.
30:31Okay. So, see how it's recording right there? Listen to this.
30:35Whoa.
30:37Hear that scratching?
30:38Yeah. It should be the softest sound ever, but it sounds so loud.
30:41Yeah. So this can pick up the faintest vibrations in the rock.
30:46While we're doing this, I want to do an EVP session at the same time to see if I can
30:49get anything.
30:50Okay.
30:52Got my tempest here.
30:58Let's see what we find out then.
31:01Okay, here we go.
31:04My name is Heather. Is there anyone here with us?
31:10You can use this tool to communicate. You can also use the geophone.
31:19What's the current temperature reading?
31:2142.29.
31:25Are there any prisoners in this mine?
31:35Did you die in this mine?
31:46I know it must have been miserable being in here, having to meet a quota.
31:51No way out.
31:55Are you trapped? Are you still here?
31:59Were you buried alive?
32:02Whoa, hang on. Listen, listen.
32:09You hear that?
32:15You hear that?
32:16Oh my god, Phil.
32:17That's rhythmic, yeah.
32:19It sounds like a ping.
32:21It sounds like a pickaxe.
32:25No way.
32:27It sounds like a rhythmic pickaxe.
32:32I mean, if you're stuck in a cave-in, what else are you gonna do?
32:35You're just gonna try and get out.
32:38We hear you're using a pickaxe. Is that you?
32:43It's dropped to 39 degrees.
32:46This feels cold as hell in here.
32:49Is the hat man here?
32:55Are you telling me that hat man is a threat?
33:00Stopped. I didn't hear it anymore.
33:03It just got quiet. Just stopped.
33:05Right as I talked about the hat man?
33:07Just completely stopped. I don't hear it anymore.
33:09Hang on. Listen, listen.
33:13Nothing.
33:14It's gone.
33:15If Doc Arms was hat man, this would all make sense.
33:18Every prisoner that tried to escape, Doc Arms was a threat.
33:22Is that why you stopped using a pickaxe?
33:29Is there anything you want to say to me?
33:33Still not picking it up?
33:37It's gone.
33:39Phil, Heather, you guys gotta get back to the equipment right now.
33:43What's going on? You good?
33:45Something happening on one of the cameras. I'm not sure what it is.
33:48We're on our way. Let's get out of here.
33:50Let's get out of here.
33:51Let's get out of the equipment.
33:53Okay. Let's move quickly, look carefully.
33:56Okay. Let's go, let's go.
34:15You got something?
34:17All right. Let's see. Let's see.
34:20So this is up in D block on the second floor.
34:23It's a windowless room.
34:25And check this out. There's no one up there, nothing happening.
34:27And then...
34:30Oh!
34:34Brushy Mountain Prison, surrounded by massive walls and a dense wilderness, was often likened
34:40to Alcatraz, because it was believed escape would be impossible. In spite of this, a large number of
34:46escapes were attempted at Brushy, and almost all of them failed.
34:52One audacious effort in 1938 saw prison miners blasting their way to freedom from inside one of the mines.
34:59But quickly, they were all rounded up.
35:02Another, in 1977, saw James Earl Ray, the convicted assassin of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.,
35:10fashion a makeshift ladder and climb over the prison walls.
35:15It launched one of the largest manhunts in Tennessee history,
35:18leading to Ray's recapture two and a half days later.
35:22Bloodhounds found him hiding in a pile of leaves, weak and exhausted,
35:25only a few miles from the prison. It seems there really is no escaping Brushy.
35:37Whoa!
35:38Oh my gosh.
35:40That looked like a person's shadow.
35:43Look at the motion.
35:46Tell me that doesn't look like a person that is beating up another person.
35:51That could be either A, a prisoner that was tortured,
35:54or B, the guard actually doing the torturing. Let me just see it one more time.
36:04I think it's a shadow person.
36:05You say shadow person, I say shadow of a person.
36:08Did we get him on any of our other cameras?
36:10There is no one else here.
36:11You sure?
36:11There's no one else in the entire building.
36:13No other cameras have picked anything up?
36:14Nope.
36:15Which room is this?
36:16This is the second floor of D Block.
36:18I think we have to go check it out.
36:20I think we should get to that room.
36:21Let's do it.
36:28This must be the room.
36:30Okay.
36:32I just want to figure out if the camera is right out there.
36:36Yeah.
36:36Then the shadow basically would have been cast right here in this area.
36:43I can't ignore the fact that there could be an animal or could have been something out there.
36:48No lights.
36:49Yeah, but it's an IR, so IR shadows can be different.
36:52But yeah, it'd be right against this area.
36:55What's your plan?
36:56I want to use the ovulus, but I want to use it with a trigger object.
37:00What is it?
37:01The whip Debbie gave me at the museum was responsible for cruelly punishing prisoners,
37:06perhaps in this very room.
37:09I'm hoping that we can use it as a trigger object
37:11to get whatever we caught on the security camera to respond.
37:18Wow.
37:19This is an actual whip that was used at the prison for punishment.
37:24I don't even like holding this thing.
37:26Let's see what comes from it.
37:27Okay.
37:40Okay, let's see.
37:44Is there anyone here with us?
37:51We have our whip here that was used to administer such torture and pain.
38:01We want you to know that this object cannot hurt you anymore.
38:05I'm here to give you a voice.
38:09Is there anyone here with us?
38:14What happened right here in this room?
38:22Were you tortured inside of this room?
38:32How did you die if you died here?
38:37Homicide.
38:38Homicide.
38:41Homicide.
38:42The timing of these responses is incredible.
38:44Who was the shadow that was beating someone?
38:52Arms.
38:53Arms, Doc, arms!
38:55It's arms!
38:58You think he's the one doing the punishing?
39:00That's who we saw?
39:00I mean, if he was deputy warden, this room would have been running underneath him.
39:09The truth of what happened in this room is now out.
39:14You never should have had to suffer like that.
39:18And we hope that you can be at peace now.
39:26My team came to Brushy Mountain Penitentiary to investigate terrifying reports of demonic possession.
39:34Even though we knew the horrors we were walking into,
39:38the scale of disturbing, unexplainable activity Phil and Heather discovered was still stunning.
39:46Who are you?
39:48Heather spent days analyzing the recordings captured during her EVP session at the site of the so-called
39:55possession. She discovered chilling audio that she struggles to explain.
40:03Both hands. Listen, listen.
40:06Phil did, however, debunk the strange sounds captured by his geophone in the coal mines.
40:13It sounds like a pickaxe.
40:15No way.
40:16The rhythmical pounding is not phantom pickaxes, but the amplification of dripping water.
40:23Perhaps the most disturbing evidence we captured comes from our IR cam.
40:29An apparent apparition, violently lunging backward and forward.
40:34Heather believes it could be the ghostly imprint of a guard or prisoner committing an act of terrible
40:40violence.
40:44Whatever it is, Phil and Heather were unable to recreate it.
40:48It would be right against this area.
40:50And we've confirmed no one was in the cell block when this anomaly was recorded.
40:56We came to Brushy searching for demonic activity.
41:00And whether paranormal or not,
41:03Satan.
41:05We can say that we did find it.
41:08I want to get out of here.
41:12Violent prisoners, abusive guards, horrifying tortures.
41:18The history of Brushy Mountain proves without a doubt it was a hellish prison.
41:23And a place we can all be truly glad to be free from.
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