To quote their website: Port City Paranormal is a team of investigators that, “is dedicated to finding answers to the age old mystery of what lies beyond the grave. We investigate and research unexplained phenomena that includes, but is not confined to; experiences of hauntings, EVP, apparitions, ghost sightings, and a broad range of altered realities.”
Port City Paranormal Logo
Port City Paranormal of Wilmington, North Carolina, was founded by Doug and Jane Anderson. In September 2008, and with the permission of the N.Y.S.D.O.C., they began investigating The Maples which was the first and oldest “cottage style” building that was constructed on the property in 1872. The team returned to Willard in March 2009, and began investigating The Branch, later renamed The Grandview, in 1904. According to the plaque that was placed on the building in 1960 by The New York State Agricultural Society and The Willard State Hospital, “This is the original building of The First State Agricultural College in the United States. Chartered April 15, 1853, Constructed 1859, In Operation 1860 – 61. Undone by war, it was transformed into Willard State Hospital in 1865, and reconstructed and reduced in size in 1886. Here, Ezra Cornell, a trustee, received the inspiration which became Cornell University.” Port City Paranormal also investigated Elliott Hall that was built in 1937.
Port City Paranormal – Willard Patients
According to the Port City Paranormal Team, “SWAT trainees bunking in Grandview and Elliott Hall, frequently report ghostly encounters and many refuse to stay in the buildings over night. Cell phones ring, keys repeatedly knocked to the floor, whispering, door knobs turning, screaming, and black shadows have been reported with every new class session.”
To read more about PCP’s extensive investigation of Willard State Hospital, please visit their website & blog!
To learn more about The Willard Asylum for the Insane, buy my book:
The Inmates of Willard 1870 to 1900 / A Genealogy Resource 