Two Hamilton residents were recently locked in a haunted prison for five days, and the adventure was all caught on camera.

Amber and Chris Conerly, of Hamilton, along with Amber’s brother Tyler Parson, of Dayton, spent five days last October locked in the West Virginia Penitentiary in Moundsville, WV. The group was equipped with hand-held cameras, recorders for electronic voice phenomena, and thermal imaging cameras as part of the Syfy Channel’s new TV series “Stranded.”

“When you watch a scary movie you might be on the edge of your seat, but in the back of your mind you know it’s fiction,” Amber Conerly said. “It was a real life scary movie for us. This was 100 percent reality.”

“The West Virginia Penitentiary is known for the way prisoners were treated; a lot of bad things happened there,” she said.

The 147-year-old facility operated as a prison from 1876 to 1995. Conerly said her group traveled through the prison during the five days, including the hospital and asylum area, cell blocks, cafeteria and the “sugar shack,” an underground room used as a recreation space by the prisoners.

“We weren’t familiar with the penitentiary, and in the middle of a small town was this humongous Gothic-looking prison,” Conerly, 31, said. “We shared a cell. I wouldn’t have it any other way. There was no way I was separating from my husband in such a big, scary place.”

Each of the six hour-long episodes of “Stranded” — created by Jason Blum, producer of the “Paranormal Activity” movie franchise — features the self-recorded footage of a diverse group of everyday paranormal enthusiasts. The footage from the subjects’ cameras is coupled with strategically-placed security cameras to create a suspenseful, completely unscripted first-hand account of each group’s stay, according to Syfy.

Conerly — who loves watching reality ghost hunting shows and scary movies with her husband — said she applied for the show after seeing a casting notice on Facebook. She believes her family was selected because of having a mix of beliefs in the paranormal.

Prior to visiting the penitentiary, Conerly said she was on the fence in her beliefs about the paranormal — while her husband Chris, 33, was a full believer and her brother Tyler, 28, a heavy skeptic.

“It was definitely an eye-opener for all of us,” Conerly said. “It was emotionally and physically hard to do.”

A viewing party, open to the public, for the episode’s premiere will be from 9 to 11 p.m. March 13 at Scotty’s Pub, 22 Donald Drive, Fairfield. The episode airs live at 10 p.m. March 13 on the Syfy Channel.

“I’m excited to see it; I might bring a blanket to hide under the covers,” Conerly said.