Personal Narrative-The Trans-Alleghany Insane Asylum

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The Trans- Alleghany Insane Asylum

It started on a weekend in May, our school decided to plan a field trip to a mysterious building in the western part of Virginia. Don’t ask me why though—we’re all surprised they even considered it. The funny thing is, our school hasn’t taken a field trip in three years, and this is the first placed they decided to go to. The whole situation was quite strange. After a class of eighth graders went to a zoo, the principle has not allowed anyone to go on a fieldtrip. Rumor has it that a group of boys hopped into the lions pin and one boy got his armed bitten off. No one knows the real story other than the principle, two eight grade teachers, and the group of boys. Something about this gave me the chills. There seemed to be absolutely no reason why we were going on a fieldtrip. And why, after three years, are we suddenly allowed to go?
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I waved to my mom and dad goodbye before I hopped onto the bus with my best friend Naomi. It took about three hours before we finally arrived to our destination, but we spent the time by blasting music and fooling around. Stepping out onto the cracked asphalt, dozens of eyes gleamed at the sight in front of us. Before we stepped foot into the building, the tour guide stated some facts about the odd place. Construction began in 1858 in the small town of Weston and completed in 1881. The place that we were actually staying at was an insane asylum, and of course when the tour guide said that, the air filled with gasps. Patients were caged like animals and wallowed naked in their own filth, trapped in chains. The asylum was originally built to only hold about 250 patients, but somehow they ended up holding over 2,400. Over the years, there were incidents of several workers being murdered, female workers being raped, and deranged patients killing others. Guests that come for tours still hear throaty

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