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‘Ghost Lab’ set up for old Pa. nursing home
By MARY GRZEBIENIAK
NEW CASTLE, Pa.
Lawrence County ghosts soon may have their 15 minutes of fame.
The Discovery Channel brought film crews to the former Hill View Manor just over a week ago to investigate the closed nursing home, which is reputed to have ghostly activity. The former county nursing home is located on Pa. Route 65, Shenango Township.
Amy Hagovsky, director of communications for the Discovery Channel, confirmed Wednesday that a team from the network’s “Ghost Lab” program was here filming for the upcoming second season to air this fall but said she had no further information.
A local website, www.haunted-hillview.com, lists various organizations that have visited Hill View to hunt for paranormal activity and some results of their visits.
Candy Braniff, a Neshannock Township resident who started the website, said she leases the old nursing home from owner Trico Enterprises in Coraopolis and has been researching paranormal activity there for two years.
She said she also has hosted groups who have conducted investigations on the site. Braniff said she made the contact with the television program when she met Brad and Barry Klinge of “Ghost Lab” at a conference and invited them to film at the home.
She said that she was present during the filming but cannot say what took place because of a contractual agreement with the show.
She said she was told the episode will air in October.
Braniff said local residents can check her website or the Hill View Manor Facebook page for updated information on when the show will air.
She said she eventually may write a book about her experiences at the former nursing home. But she said her interest is unlike other paranormal investigators’ in that her main goal is to honor the people who lived there by telling their stories.
A Beaver County native, Braniff said she is interested in the paranormal because she grew up in a house that had such activity.
According to her website, the building opened in 1926 as the Lawrence County Home, a poorhouse. In 1976, it became the county nursing home and was renamed Hill View Manor. The home closed in 2004 due to financial problems and was sold later.
Lawrence County Commissioner Steve Craig noted the visit when commissioners met Tuesday and said The Discovery Channel had asked commissioners to appear on camera to comment on the former home’s reputation for being haunted, but they declined.