In a foolhardy quest to discover the most terrifying video gaming experience possible, two intrepid (or perhaps just unwise) journalists spent a night locked inside the reportedly haunted Shepton Mallet Prison, armed with nothing but their wits, a few ghost hunting gadgets, and a selection of the latest and greatest horror games. The goal? To see if immersing themselves in virtual terror while surrounded by the real thing would amp up the scares to unbearable levels.
The World’s Most Haunted Prison
Shepton Mallet is no ordinary prison. As the oldest jail in England, this forbidding stone fortress has seen more than its fair share of misery, madness and death over the centuries. From petty thieves to notorious gangsters like the Krays, hundreds of inmates have left their mark – and perhaps their restless spirits – on its cramped cells and echoing corridors.
While the prison closed in 2013, it has taken on a new life as a macabre tourist attraction. Ghost hunters and dark tourists can now pay for the privilege of spending a night locked in its haunted halls. Which is exactly what our foolhardy reporters signed up for – but with a terrifying twist.
Night of Virtual Frights
The plan was simple, yet sadistic. Armed with just a laptop loaded with five of the most pants-wettingly petrifying horror games on the market, the reporters would wander the darkened cell blocks and yards, finding the most spine-chilling spots to stop and play.
First up was “The Exit 8”, a psychological metro station thriller dripping with dread and paranoia. Played while huddled in the claustrophobic confines of the prison’s infamous B-Wing, which once housed 94 inmates without so much as a toilet, the oppressive atmosphere of the game melded seamlessly with the hopeless misery still seeping from the cell walls.
“It might not have been full of jump scares, but playing ‘Exit 8’ while essentially being trapped in a tiny, soulless prison cell was deeply, deeply unnerving,”
one ashen-faced reporter mumbled.
From there, things only got more harrowing. A visit to the execution shed, where condemned men would spend their final days before being hanged, proved the perfect, dreadful environment for a playthrough of “In My Head”, an oppressive horror adventure set in an abandoned building full of childhood trauma.
So overwhelming was the sense of doom and misery, the reporters lasted only minutes before fleeing – pausing only for an encounter with some real paranormal investigators, one of whom claimed to have seen ghostly, disembodied legs stalking the area on a previous visit.
Scares Upon Scares
- In the prison yard, allegedly haunted by the specter of a WWI-era inmate who hurled himself to his death from the roof, survival horror game “Panicore” blurred the lines between virtual and ghostly pursuers to nerve-shredding effect.
- The prison’s oldest, 17th century cell blocks played host to a harrowing session of “The Complex”, an eerie marvel of hyperrealism set in an endless maze of tunnels and empty rooms.
- But the most terrifying experience was saved for last, in the dreaded C-Wing – domain of the infamous “White Lady”, alleged to be the vengeful ghost of a bride-to-be executed for murdering her fiance. Here, our trembling journalists booted up “Chuxie”, a J-horror inspired scarefest featuring, you guessed it, a murderous ghost bride.
As if the desolate cell block and the silently dangling mannequin of the White Lady herself wasn’t nightmarish enough, an electromagnetic field meter — ghost hunting tool of choice — began spiking to unheard of levels as the on-screen scares unfolded. Coincidence, or something more sinister? Our reporters didn’t stay long enough to find out.
Did They Survive The Night?
As dawn’s first light crept through the barred windows, our shaken, stirred, but still breathing journalists emerged back into the land of the living, leaving the ghosts of Shepton Mallett prison – both digital and supernatural – behind.
Did they see any real spooks during their night of virtual horrors? Not as such. But one thing was abundantly, spine-tinglingly clear: when it comes to maximizing the terror of playing scary video games, doing it while locked inside a genuinely haunted prison is hard to beat.
“Walking those silent, oppressive Victorian cell blocks and corridors at 3am, playing horror games in the cramped, miserable spaces where actual prisoners suffered and died… it was like we were inside a real-life survival horror nightmare,”
one visibly haunted reporter shuddered.
“Let’s just say, immersion achieved.”
