Tag Archive | "hospital"

Investigating an Arkansas Tuberculosis Sanitarium

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Investigating an Arkansas Tuberculosis Sanitarium

Posted on 12 August 2011 by Cathy

We investigated a historic Arkansas Tuberculosis Sanitarium last weekend. It is nestled in the hills in it’s own complex as a self sustaining city of its own. Tuberculosis also known as consumption is highly contagious. Hospitals were built to handle the treatment of this disease which could take years before the person passed away. This complex had a municipal water/sewer system, a fire department, and even had a farm with dairy and swine in operation. It was built in 1910 covering almost 1000 acres of land. It was closed in 1973 after the discovery of antibiotics.

This was the second time we have been to the facility. Driving through the gates again brought up the mortality rates of the people that passed here. With 70,000 patients treated here combined with the mortality we were wondering what kind of activity we were going to get. We were told the whole complex offered many different types of activity. It was also said that sometimes people would leave empty handed where they believed that nothing was going on here.

We however did not go home empty handed. Through the night we all experienced different things. Cold spots, shadows, lights, sounds, door opening, whispering, feelings of being watched as well as being touched. We were running all of our equipment and were getting positive results. I just got done reviewing my photos and noted several pictures with anomalies which I will be uploading. I am going to be turning my attention to the audio next. I can’t wait to see what I caught if anything. Keep logging back on to see what evidence we caught

I had posted an article to the blog before. Go read Tuberculosis Sanitariums here

Also go see the photo gallery for the Sanitarium here

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Tuberculosis Sanatoriums

Posted on 14 June 2011 by Cathy

By the late 1800’s tuberculosis was taking over the population of the United States. The disease is highly contagious and was poorly understood at the time.It was almost impossible to cure with the mortality rate being at 80.2 %. Health professionals believed that clean, cold mountain air was the best treatment for lung diseases. Sunlight was also believed to be an effective treatment. Sanatoriums were built with large windows, patios and terraced areas with fresh air and sunlight in mind. Sometimes the roof of the buildings were
used as for patients.

Patients who were only suspected of having tuberculosis were admitted to prevent the spread of the disease. Patients who did not have the virus were now be exposed to the virus and would then become infected. My husbands grandfather was one of these patients. As a child he lost a tooth that showed up eventually on an xray in his lung. Long before that xray he was believed to have TB and was admitted into a facility. Now exposed to TB he would always show positive on testing.

The discovery of the antibiotic streptomycin in 1943 became the first cure for tuberculosis. In 1944 Merck and Company began major production of the drug. The first randomized trial of streptomycin against pulmonary tuberculosis was carried out in 1946-1947 by the MRC Tuberculosis Research Unit. TB was now shown to be controlled by antibiotics rather than extended rest. By the 1950s tuberculosis was no longer a major public health and the sanatoria began to close. Most sanatoria have now been demolished. Several were converted into hospitals for other uses including aids. Those hospitals remaining are abandoned.

Paranormal teams investigate places like this to see if they can capture any evidence of residual energy of the past. There have been reports of an active haunting at some locations. The rate of mortality being at 80.2 %. puts these places at an advantage for the possibility of capturing evidence. One of the locations we are investigating is nestled in the hills in it’s own complex. It was a self sustaining city of its own. It had a municipal like water/sewer system, fire department, and a farm with dairy and swine operation. Built in 1910 covering 973 acres of land. It was closed in 1973. Some of the complex has been converted for other use.

Driving through the gates of the facility knowing the mortality rates of the people that passed here was very sad. The gate was imposing because of what it represented and not because of the architecture. As we drove up the hill and turned the corner seeing all of the buildings of the compound you could see how it was separated from the rest of the world. The main hospital still stands as an imposing gothic type structure. There have been many reports of activity in this building. We are hoping to be able to validate the activity ourselves.

Go see the photo gallery for this amazing place

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Spooky Ellison Hall

Posted on 20 April 2011 by Cathy

I had the opportunity to investigate Ellison Hall on the University of Oklahoma campus. It was a great night for things that go bump in the night. I did not do any research on the property prior to going just to see what it was like first. Mike gave some information on the way to the investigation about a child who had been injured rollerskating and was taken to the infirmary. He had apparently died as a result of his injuries and is aid to haunt the location by rollerskating down the halls. I was looking forward to see if I could hear the skating.

We did a walk through of the building to see where everything was and where we wanted to concentrate our efforts. We then began to investigate and things began to happen. There was a strange energy on the third floor. While I was there I felt sadness and that there was pain. I kept getting images of crude equipment that didn’t make sense. Vanessa looked like she was almost in tears. We then went to the second floor and spread out more. The end of the building I was on I noticed a light in the bathroom come on which was verified by Logan. I went in to see who or what was in the bathroom and did not find anything. Across the hall from the bathroom I kept hearing papers shuffling and what sounded like a chair sliding into a new position. It was as if someone was working late. We then moved to the first floor and I did not notice anything of significance. After a period of time we then moved down into the basement and spread out. I decided I wanted to be by the door to the underground. Vanessa had expressed a sense of of something not right about the area. She also expressed that she would not go in there for any reason so naturally my interest was there. While some people would run from a place they have been told is evil I feel the need to spend quality time there. Call me dangerous but I have to do what I feel compelled to do. I did not feel anything while I was there. I did love being in the damp basement with its very familiar smell. The memories kept creeping in my head of blackberry jam covered in dust sitting on a shelf somewhere. There was no jam to be found. We decided to take a break. Chris then explained it was an infirmary which I knew from what Mike had said earlier. Then it was made clear that the whole building served that purpose. So that explained the pain and sadness of the third floor to me.

We continued investigating through the night. As the evening progressed the third floor had the most activity. On the end of the hall where I was between Logan and I we started hearing a knocking at random intervals. I placed a meter by where the sounds were coming from to see if we would get any activations. We did not get anything from the meter at all which was disappointing. We did however continue to hear the noises. We started asking questions of whatever was making the sounds to see if we could communicate with it. Through all of our questioning it seemed that it was female. She was looking for a nurse for some reason. It was also communicated that there was more than one spirit. Then the noises stopped and I felt cold air rush past me. After the air passed there was a very loud noise at the end of the hall right behind me like it had gone into the stairwell. Logan got up to investigate and I stayed where I was. I felt incredible sadness and could not help tears from falling down my face. The knocking started back up again. The photographer that was following us that night was away from me and I asked him if he heard the noises as well. He confirmed that he did. Logan came back and I told him the noises were still happening. He told me he had heard footsteps going down the stairs. It seemed that there was more than one thing around us and this was confirmation. I kept hearing papers moving and other sounds from within the rooms as well. We stayed in the area until the activity stopped.

In another area of the third floor I kept getting the sense of pain and crude equipment. I had the feeling like the place had been gutted for some reason. It did not look apparent like remodeling of any kind had taken place. I thought that this was an area where surgical procedures were performed. It seemed a long time ago when surgery was more barbaric than it is today. Vanessa told me she thought the rollerskating sounds were really hospital gurneys being wheeled down the hall instead of a child. I think she is right. I definitely feel a residual energy from the time when it was an infirmary.

Overall the building was an incredible place to explore. I was not disappointed at all with the activity. Most of the time when I go out I get
nothing at all for activity and I have to wait until I go through my evidence to see if I got anything. This night was crazy for activity. I have already gone through all of my photos and did not get anything in the way of a paranormal nature. I am going through my audio as we speak. I am hoping I get confirmation by way of evps!

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