Scary Stories - Asylum

A private investigator named Nelson Bly (a pseudonym) was hired by a wealthy client to find her missing sister, Monica. Monica had been forced into court-ordered treatment at the Wasserman Center, an upscale psychiatric facility, after a DUI and drug possession arrest. She called her family after her release, sounding strangely flat and toneless, then asked a cab driver to let her out downtown and vanished. The police suspected she had run afoul of her own unsavory contacts, but the sister suspected something else. Other investigators had turned up rumors about unethical experimental treatments at Wasserman, but the facility passed every state inspection with flying colors, and Monica had left under her own power. There was no basis for a police investigation.

Bly decided to do what other investigators would not: he got himself committed. A carefully staged 911 call, using the right keywords to suggest he was a danger to himself and others, got him picked up and sent to Wasserman for a 72-hour evaluation. Once inside, he found the facility remarkably pleasant and open, with beautifully landscaped grounds and minimal restrictions on low-risk patients. For two days, he found nothing suspicious. The only place left to search was the secure ward for high-risk patients, separated from his section by a tall, dense hedge. He squeezed through.

What he found on the other side