THE INSTITUTE FOR THE MENTALLY VULNERABLE

An original radio drama by

Maz Kanchwala
 CAST
BEN...............................JACK ROWLAND
JANE..............................SINEAD TAYLOR
MARY..............................HOLLY HAYNES
DAVID.............................PETER ROSE
VOLUNTEER.........................HARRIOT BENTATA
NURSE.............................WAHEEDA JAFFERALI
TV VOICE..........................LUCAS TRINH-FROST
PATIENT...........................JAMIE STEVENS
TITLE CREDITS:
MUSIC: Intro music.
PRESENTER: Maz Kanchwala Films presents ‘The
Institute For The Mentally Vulnerable’.
[PAUSE] The following drama contains
mentions of suicide. Viewer discretion is
advised.

INT: HOUSE – EVENING

SOUND: Whenever JANE is narrating the ambient
sounds and foley play very quietly; a very
subtle, eerie background music plays.
TV VOICE: Have you had trouble sleeping because of
an eerie feeling? Seeing a shadowy figure
in the corner of your eye? Maybe the demon
from beyond the veil is disrupting your
workflow. If you or a loved one have been
troubled with hauntings, possessions or
demonic attacks call 01494 333 666 today.
That’s 01494 333
SOUND: TV continues playing very quietly in the
background.
MARY: Ben! Turn that rubbish off. Your father
and I are trying to have a discussion. And
you should be doing homework.
SOUND: TV switches off. There’s a very faint
whisper as BEN talks.
BEN: Sorry! And I am, ‘Ghost Hunters In Action’
helps me concentrate.
JANE (narrating): A discussion. Ben of course knew this
meant they were 'discussing' him, he tends
to listen in. They discuss more since they
moved to Thatchington. His mother can see
Ben’s gotten worse, been more... troubled.
SOUND: BEN walks into the corridor. Floorboards
creek. Conversation gets closer, louder
and clearer.
MARY: He seemed concerned too.
DAVID: Ben doesn’t seem to have made many
friends.
MARY: The move hasn’t helped either. We don’t
want another accident.
DAVID: Let’s not bring that up, it’s been a year
anyway.
MARY: He tried to kill himself David!
DAVID: You think I don’t remember that! But what
will people think? My son, in a mental
asylum.
MARY: I don’t want to send our son anywhere. But
Dr Johnson says –
SOUND: Mug slams on the table.
DAVID: Dr Johnson says lots of things Mary, it’s
what we pay him for.
JANE (narrating): His therapist. Underqualified, over
glorified. He’s probably the reason Ben
has trust issues. He thinks Ben is
paranoid and suffers from auditory
hallucinations. Rubbish. I’m sure he hears
perfectly explainable things.
SOUND: BEN storms back to his room. Door slams.
BEN: I’m not going to a bloody psych ward.
SOUND: Muttering voices and whispering fade in.
BEN: Ugh! Where are my headphones?!
MUSIC: [insert song] starts playing and the
whispering cuts out.
SOUND: Typing on a keyboard and mouse clicking.
JANE (narrating): Ben dug through the internet to find
people like him. He found the pattern
eventually. The town’s had a lot of odd
goings on. Clever, finding real people’s
stories, people from the town. That’s Ben.
Clever. He loves research; especially when
it’s about the voices. Oh yes! I forgot to
mention a small thing about our Ben. He’d
been hearing some spine chilling
whispering, maybe the odd chanting, ever
since he moved here.
BEN: Proof of the paranormal. Blah blah blah.
Woman locked up for insanity. No further
information. Patient reports ghost
sighting, dies three days later. No
digital record. Local asylum shut down.
Ugh, article offline. Hmm that looked
promising. (dictating while typing)
Thatchington asylum. The asylum, also
known as the Institute for the Mentally
Vulnerable, ran from 1809-1962 when it was
shut down due to the accident. It was
reopened in 2012 as a smaller private
clinic. What accident? (dictating while
typing) Asylum accident 1962. Wait what -
all records offline. Great! Nothing says
suspicious like no online info.

INT: LIBRARY – MORNING

JANE (narrating): Ben was a very determined boy, he was
going to keep himself out of the psych
ward. I mean everyone in town knows that
place is creepy on the best of days and
horrifying on the worst. This brought him
to the local library; which lucky for him
was bursting with records and newspapers.
Good thing the insane asylum was the
oldest building in town.
BEN: Excuse me, do you have anything on the
Institute for the Mentally Vulnerable?
VOLUNTEER: Give me a minute, I just started
volunteering here so these systems are
still new to me.
SOUND: Typing.
VOLUNTEER: Are you doing a school project or
something?
BEN: Uh yeah, it’s for school.
VOLUNTEER: Here, they should be filled by year in the
town records section. Good luck, there’s
loads.
BEN: Thanks, it’s like this place has no
digital footprint
JANE (narrating): After reading article after article,
report after report it seemed one event in
particular stood out. The accident of ’62.
SOUND: Volunteer walks up to Ben.
VOLUNTEER: You find what you’re looking for?
BEN: I don’t know. Anything mentioning this one
accident in 1962 is so redacted I can’t
understand what happened.
VOLUNTEER: Oh yeah, most of the old newspapers will
say it was a freak accident but I heard it
was something a little... supernatural.
BEN: Oh really?
VOLUNTEER: Yeah, some kid was sent there cause she
was hallucinating and went absolutely
crazy. One day she killed 6 others then
herself. Really gory business. People say
her doctor was to blame; he was some
eccentric occultist. Wrote a whole study
on poltergeist and entities. Probably
filled her head with nonsense.
BEN: How’s that supernatural though?
VOLUNTEER: Right yeah, locals speculated she was
possessed or something but authorities
considered it all ‘unchristian
superstitions’ so hushed up the whole
thing.
SOUND: Shuffling papers
BEN: Thanks, that was really helpful but I’m
curious? How’d you know all that if it’s
not in these reports.
VOLUNTEER: Ah, perks of being a librarian, you get
access to the archives downstairs.
SOUND: Volunteer walks way.
BEN: Well this is just great. Guess I’m going
to the psych ward after all.

INT: PSYCH WARD – DAY

AMBIENT SOUND: Indistinct chatter coming from down the
corridor. General psych ward noises.
SOUND: BEN walks into his room.
NURSE: This way please. Your room is here,
cafeteria is down the corridor and just
there is the common room. You’ve got some
time to unpack before medication is handed
out.
SOUND: Electronic button clicks.
MUSIC: [insert song] starts playing
NURSE: Oh no wired headphones I’m afraid,
strangling risk. Phones aren’t allowed
either.
MUSIC: Music stops.
BEN: Oh right, sorry.
SOUND: High heeled footsteps on tile walk away.
Suitcase unzips. BEN unpacks.
JANE: Don’t worry, you’ll get your phone and
stuff back after your therapist says your
‘in a good mental state’, which means
never. If you had a good mental state you
wouldn’t be in here.
BEN: Uh... I’m Ben.
JANE: Jane. I’ve been here forever so you ever
need any insider info just give me a
shout.
PATIENT: Hey new guy! Come sit with us!
JANE: I mean sure, you could sit with those
snooze-fests orrrrr I could show you the
basements some time. We might even see a
ghost! I know you like supernatural stuff.
BEN: Ummm how did you -
JANE: The books on your bed silly. I mean ‘Ghost
Detection 101’ and ‘Beyond the veil’
aren’t exactly subtle. Are you a trying to
get into the Ghostbusters or something?
BEN: Ha yeah you could say I’m here on
‘official business’.
INT: THATCHINGTON HOSPITAL – EVENING
JANE (narrating): A couple weeks go by. Ben talks to me,
shares things. He gives away a lot more
than he means too but I don’t blame him, I
have that effect on people. He trusts me.
I like that.
JANE: Remember when we went to the basements,
well there’s one bit I didn’t show you.
Underground tunnels! They were sealed up
before the new hospital was built but I
know a way in. I know you love all that
creepy stuff.
BEN: Tunnels! Sounds wild. And let me guess,
there’s a secret cult run by the nurses
and doctors where they sacrifice patients.
JANE: Well you heard about the accident.
BEN: Oh. Wait really?
JANE: Of course not silly, the newspapers all
said it was that one kid who went crazy.
You’re smart I’m sure you read up on this
place before getting in. Anyway, how about
those tunnels then?
BEN: Won’t someone notice we are missing?
JANE: You trust me don’t you?
BEN: Yeah, alright then.

INT: BASEMENT – NIGHT

MUSIC: Eerie music
AMBIENT SOUNDS: Tunnel noises like water dripping, some
quiet wind whistling.
SOUND: Echoing footsteps.
BEN: Wow you were right! This is so creepy.
Something could just –
JANE: BOO!
BEN: ah! My god, your so annoying!
JANE: Haha gotcha!
SOUND: Scraping
BEN: Wait what was that?
JANE: Oh come on. You actually think I’d fall
for that!
SOUND: A grating whisper gets louder
BEN: No Jane, I’m being serious.
SOUND: Eerie chanting gradually gets louder and
scarier
JANE: Oh my god, I can hear it too.
BEN: It’s getting closer!
SOUND: Echoing running.
JANE: Run! Come on, this way!
BEN: Over here!
JANE: No follow me, quickly!
SOUND: BEN and JANE run into a store cupboard and
slam the door shut. They scramble around.
A table is pushed along the floor. Chairs
and various objects are hastily stacked
onto the table. BEN and JANE and breathing
heavily. You can mainly hear BEN doing
things but JANE not so much.
BEN: How well did we barricade the doors
(calmly worried)
JANE: Well, enough I hope, you did most of it.
BEN: How quickly can we undo it?
JANE: Why the hell would you do that!
BEN: They're... inside.
SOUND: Scraping and snarling moving from left to
right ear. Pause.
JANE: (no longer acting scared, completely calm)
Don't be silly.
BEN: I'm not crazy, there is something down
here.
JANE: It's not down here.
BEN: But you can hear it! Can't you hear
it?!?!
JANE: Hear it. Breath it. (VOICE BECOMING
DEMONIC) I live for it.
Ben: Wh- what
JANE: (DEMONIC VOICE) What you’re hearing; my
brothers, sisters. They aren't down here,
they're just beyond.
BEN: Beyond what?
JANE: SILENCE! They are beyond your mortal
world, just across a crack in space and
time. We have always been here, luring
your kind. Feeding off your pain and fear.
In an insane asylum there's so much
suffering. One body can keep us full for
decades.
BEN: 1962.
JANE: But now... we're hungry.
SOUND: BEN struggling, chanting, demonic
screeching, flesh ripping. Fades to a
short pause of silence.
JANE: (back to normal voice) It wasn't personal.
It never is. You see us demonic entities,
we've thrived off human suffering for
centuries. Pain. Your pain. It's what
pulls us into your world. It calls us...
And our voices call you. The ones who are
marked for slaughter hear us. They hear us
whisper. They hear us call.
SOUND: PAUSE. Demonic chanting fades into a low
volume.

END CREDITS:
MUSIC: Outro music
PRESENTER: In this drama Ben was voiced by Jack
Rowland. Jane was voiced by Sinead Taylor.
The volunteer was Harriot Bentata. Mary was
Holly Haynes. David was Peter Rose. The
nurse was Waheeda Jafferali. The patient
was Jamie Stevens. And the TV voice was
lucas Trinh-Frost. ‘The Institute For The
Mentally Vulnerable’ was directed by Maz
Kanchwala.
THE END