  We present the results of an optical spectroscopic survey of 46 heavily
obscured quasar candidates. Objects are selected using their mid-infrared
(mid-IR) colours and magnitudes from the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer
(WISE) and their optical magnitudes from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS).
Candidate Active Galactic Nuclei (AGNs) are selected to have mid-IR colours
indicative of quasar activity and lie in a region of mid-IR colour space
outside previously published X-ray based selection regions. We obtain optical
spectra for our sample using the Robert Stobie Spectrograph on the Southern
African Large Telescope. Thirty objects (65%) have identifiable emission lines,
allowing for the determination of spectroscopic redshifts. Other than one
object at $z\sim2.6$, candidates have moderate redshifts ranging from $z=0.1$
to $0.8$ with a median of 0.3. Twenty-one (70%) of our objects with identified
redshift (46% of the whole sample) are identified as AGNs through common
optical diagnostics. We model the spectral energy distributions of our sample
and found that all require a strong AGN component, with an average intrinsic
AGN fraction at 8$\,\mu$m of 0.91. Additionally, the fits require large
extinction coefficients with an average $E(B-V)_\textrm{AGN} = 17.8$ (average
$A(V)_\textrm{AGN} = 53.4$). By focusing on the area outside traditional mid-IR
photometric cuts, we are able to capture and characterise a population of
deeply buried quasars that were previously unattainable through X-ray surveys
alone.
