Ghost Mountain Asylum (Hagatha's Parlor Book 2)

Ghost Mountain Asylum

In 1952, Mary White arrives at Ghost Mountain Asylum as its newest nurse, expecting a difficult job in a remote Pennsylvania institution. What she finds is something far more unsettling. The patients whisper, the staff keep secrets, and the halls are haunted by stories of the Crithman, a shadow creature said to attach itself to its victims and destroy everyone they love.

As Mary settles into life at the asylum, she begins to question what is real and who can be trusted. Behind locked doors and quiet warnings, Ghost Mountain Asylum hides a growing terror that follows her beyond the ward and into the world she thought was safe.

A gothic horror novel of paranoia, isolation, and creeping dread, Ghost Mountain Asylum is the second book in the Hagatha’s Parlor series by Mister Bad.

Enter the halls of Ghost Mountain Asylum and discover what waits in the dark.

Excerpt from the book

The Pennsylvania morning bloomed forth in an array of autumn colors, glowing throughout the mountains as twenty-two-year-old Mary White and her father, Gary, traveled to the Hospital in Mercer.

This October of 1952 would be more exciting than any other for Mary as she began her new career at the hospital. She rested her head against the passenger side window glass as she looked up into the leafy trees overcrowding the curvy road which gave a radiant accent to the deep blue sky.

Her eyes caught sight of a burned-down building below the roadway in a large field through the trees. It appeared to have been a large building, and there was a tower which gave it the impression of being a church or convent at one time. She wondered what might have caused the fire and if everybody made it out alive.

At that moment, the car rounded a gentle curve in the road, and the two weary riders coming up on the tail end of their long drive seemed to go into a quiet reflection.

But inside the silence, Mary was holding a secret from her father. She knew she was going to have to tell him the truth now. She wasn’t going to be able to wait any longer.

However, before she could confess that secret, Gary asked his daughter, “Are you asleep?”

“No. Just admiring the fall colors. It looks so beautiful up here. Fall is my favorite season.”

“It was your mother’s too.”

They became quiet as the colored leaves fell from the surrounding trees and patchworked the roadway.

“Nervous?” asked Gary.

“Yeah,” she said with a nod as she moved away from the passenger window glass and straightened up to look ahead.

“That’s understandable for your first job. I was the same way when I started working for the engineering firm. I was your age too.”

“I didn’t think you ever got nervous.”

“I do. I just try to hide it from you. I wasn’t very good at hiding it from your mother though. She always knew when I was nervous.”

“Moms and wives are like that I reckon.”

“Do you know something else?”

“What?”

“I’m nervous today too.”

“Why are you nervous?”

“You have to be parent to understand.”

The father and daughter smiled at each other as Gary continued driving on up the mountain road as he told her, “Your mother would have been so proud of you today. Following in her footsteps of nursing and helping those in need. Your destiny has begun its flight.”

“You always say that,” said Mary as she rolled her eyes at his destiny remark.

“It’s true. By the way, I met your mother at the hospital you know.”

Mary smiled an embarrassed grin. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Maybe you’ll meet your future husband at the hospital too.”

That’s when she knew she had to tell him the truth. She couldn’t hide it any longer. “I don’t think I’ll meet him at this kind of hospital.”