The Serenity Asylum was abandoned before the turn of the 19th century after a great many moral atrocities took place there. Although the official records were lost in a fire at a state run storage facility, the rumors about what went on there tell of human experimentation with dangerous and barbaric (even for the time) psychiatric treatments. Stories of children being brutally experimented on and many people dying under the horrible conditions there are commonplace.
Now, independent business interests operate a sort of supernatural night club, hotel, and brothel specializing in supernatural experiences. Anyone can enter who can pay the entry fee, once inside they strive to satisfy any appetites both subtle and gross. Pleasures from the supernatural realm from anyone anyone could ever ask for; there is just one rule... Privacy. Do not ask. Do not tell. Do not speak of what was seen inside to anyone outside. The price for disobeying this rule could be ones own life, but that is seldom important to everyone. If ones own life isn't precious enough, they will find someone whose life is... They will be trapped forever in the walls of the Asylum.
This is perhaps one of the most private yet dangerous places in Chicago for supernaturals and humans alike. Though, while there are no rules barring mortals from entry, most who enter never leave again. The place has a way of trapping mortals in its grasp, waiting until they are dead, holding onto them forever.
Haunted
The site is known to be a hotspot for hauntings and other paranormal activities. This is so much that the police and other agencies refuse to go near the site, it has even been removed from Google and other mapping services. Even the local city maps dating back to the early 1900's do not show the site but only an empty lot in its place. The paranormal energy at the site is so strong that it is a rare place where ghosts can pass back and forth between the world of the living and that of the dead.
Overlap
The realm of the living and that of the dead overlap inside the site. As such, enterprising supernaturals have constructed a way to use it as a sort of overlap between both realms, inside the walls of the old Asylum both the living and dead can have contact with each other, but magical barriers prevent either side from crossing over entirely. Poor souls can also get trapped there and prevented from moving on, seeking to see loved ones, others try to take advantage of the living in one way or another. Within the walls, however, it is possible to find someone to call to lost souls across the void, and see the dead again, manifested as apparitions or as flesh made real for a time.
Price of Entry
The Asylum doesn't want your money. No, it wants things that are truly precious. For those dark enough who seek its delights frequently, they may purchase a lifetime membership with an innocent human soul. The Proof of Membership's appearance is decided on a per-membership-basis. This is the highest membership they do, and once purchased you are permitted free range within its walls and other perks, which will be revealed as needed. Lower levels of membership required continuous payments, the currency would vary. Some would trade in favors, doing what the Asylum management asked them to do for entry into the club. This could be a rather dangerous arrangement. Instead, what most do is to provide the Asylum with the closest thing to currency they offer ... memories. They care not how one gets them, but they must be precious memories. For precious memories close to ones heart, when stolen, convey a deep and powerful kind of magical energy central to the darkest of dark spells and crafts. For a regular installment of such things, one can become a member for a time.
Members and Guests
Members may bring a single guest into the Asylum, but they are then responsible for everything that guest does while there. Though, if the guest visits too many times they may be asked by management to purchase a membership..