There's something creepy about old abandoned buildings, their locked doors and boarded up windows, peeling walls and derelict rooms creating an air of unwelcome and hinting at a troubled history and sudden desertion.

These elements hold true at Seaside Regional Center, the formerly grand and beautiful waterfront infirmary built in the 1930s to house child tuberculosis patients, before becoming a geriatric hospital and a home for the mentally disabled in the later half of the century. The building was closed in 1996 - sparking rumors of patient abuse - and has remained vacant ever since.

For these reasons, the historic building has been a source of many a spooky story and a destination for paranormal investigators hoping to contact any restless spirits who may remain.

Ed Bird, a paranormal investigator and founder of cRIPt, the Connecticut Research and Investigation of the Paranormal, brought his team to Seaside for the 100th episode of the team's show, Paranormal Encounters CT, which aired on their YouTube channel earlier this month.

Bird opened the episode saying "I couldn't think of any place that I wanted to do episode 100 (more) than, probably the most haunted place I've ever been, Seaside Sanatorium."

Bird started his investigation team in 2006, but his interest in the paranormal began with an encounter he had in his 20s. Bird was DJing a party for his brother at a hall in Waterford, moving equipment from his car when it happened.

"As I walked out of the building, I saw a woman standing maybe 10 feet away from me, looking at me. I said, 'How are you doing, are you a friend, are you coming to the party?' And she just kept looking at me, so I started approaching her because I was heading toward my vehicle, and noticed that her face was hollow. She didn't have any facial features, I could see right through her face, and I just stopped. It just shocked me so much," said Bird. "My brother said 'what are you doing' and as I went to say something, I saw her vanish in front of my face, and it just overwhelmed me. I keep wanting to know, was I crazy?"

Shortly after he founded his team, Bird visited Seaside for the first time and, he claims, met the spirits there for the first time.

Alone, Bird entered the employee building, the first building visitors encounter on the property, armed with an audio recorder. He walked the steps to the third floor and, after asking any spirits to make their presence known to him, heard female laughter from the end of the corridor. Following the noise to the end of the hall, he found that no one was there. Deciding he'd had enough, he descended the stairs, when he heard someone descending after him. He turned back to the stairs, expecting to find a security guard, but instead found that no one was there. He attempted to exit the building through a different door when he heard a male voice say "it's locked."

Bird has since returned many times with his team and - using tools like audio recorders to tape electronic voice phenomenon, meters to pick up unexplained electricity fields, cameras to catch strange manifestation or movement and flashlights to use as a means of communication - he said he has gotten to know the spirits of Seaside Sanatorium.

There's Eve, who Bird describes as a French woman and former maid, and her husband Adam, described as a former maintenance man, both of whom Bird believes may have contracted tuberculosis. Then there's Wally, a hostile and intimidating spirit who Bird says seems to stand guard over the place at the front employee building.

Though Bird has never been able to match his encounters with records of former employees or patients, he claims his experiences have been shared by other investigators and a handful of mediums he has brought with him.

"I've only been there once and I was only there a short amount of time, but while I was there, there was an overwhelming feeling of sadness, of trauma," said Marcia Ketelhut, a medium who accompanied Bird and his team to Seaside last month. "A lot of trauma, a lot of death."

Ketelhut, who Bird said was brought to the site with no knowledge of his team's previous experiences, met some of the same spirits Bird believes he has encountered, and felt the presence of many more.

"We were walking in and there was a male there. I had (a bad) feeling with the spirit, like this spirit could be very domineering," said Ketelhut, who also described experiencing the presence of a teenage male spirit and the spirit of a woman in an old-fashioned nurse's uniform and cap. She said he also witnessed spirits following a still-living couple walking their dog.

"Just being outside there were a number of spirits around there somewhere near us, sort of coming towards us," she said

Ketelhut and Bird believe the amount of trauma and emotion experienced by employees, patients and visitors during the years Seaside served as an infirmary may be why it seems to remain a source of fear, whether the stories and rumors are only legends or something more.

"The thing with Seaside is that it's such a big place. It's had change through history and it's been different places, but it holds a tremendous amount of sadness. I was even feeling mistreatment," said Ketelhut. "Any kind of building that is let go, is rundown, it's a little creepy. It's also very sad. If you could go there and imagine what it was like when it was first built, it was probably beautiful. For me, I didn't like being there."

Bird will give a presentation at 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 30, at Waterford Public Library.

J.HOPPER@THEDAY.COM

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