Hospital haunts?

May 29, 2008 10:07 am

— The old Corbin Municipal Hospital has resided on a hill off of 4th street since 1951.
Sometime in the 1980s, Baptist Regional Medical Center opened its doors and the old hospital was left abandoned, falling into disrepair. However, there is evidence of recent activity there. Over the years, its windows have been busted out. Its walls have been covered with graffiti. Empty bottles and trash can be seen lining the floors.
But some residents believe this isn’t the only activity taking place at the old hospital.
An online search of the hospital brings up accounts of unexplainable occurrences. A YouTube search brings up videos someone searching through the old hospital. The Web site darkdarling.com provides a sound byte of an unexplained voice supposedly recorded at the hospital faintly whispering “I’m hurting.”
Tales of unexplained lights, sounds, voices and screams have been tied to the hospital since it was left abandoned long ago. There are some who believe the hospital has not lived such a lonely existence on the hill and something has made its home in the dark, moldy halls and glass covered floors of the building.
Many believe the old hospital to be haunted.
However, the mist pouring out of the open windows Wednesday was anything but an apparition materializing. Abatement crews were on site to remove asbestos in preparation for the hospital’s demolition, which is planned to occur within the next couple of weeks.
The Kentucky Communities Economic Opportunity Council purchased the property several years ago and plans to build affordable housing on the site. Soon, the building’s current “residents” will no longer call the Corbin Municipal Hospital home.
The looming destruction of the hospital has given amateur ghost hunters a smaller window to conduct searches of the old hospital in hopes of witnessing the unexplainable.
Just a couple of weeks ago, Jim Paul, who owns Ellison Funeral Home in Williamsburg, set out to debunk the ghost stories.
“My kids believe in ghosts, so I went to prove they weren’t there,” he said.
The group set out, camera in tow. Some were hoping to come away with photographic evidence of the supernatural. Although Paul did not, he snapped away, taking pictures of musty rooms and dark halls of the vacant building.
“We all went through it looking for this ghost that was supposedly there.”
Paul said he saw nothing. He heard no disembodied screams or cries of agony. The hospital was nothing more than a dark, dank empty building.
After a few hours of exploration, Paul and his children left the hospital and returned home to review the pictures taken. He sorted through numerous pictures, with nothing appearing out of the ordinary. However, when he came across a posed picture of his boys in the old hospital’s operating room, something stood out.
“There’s these little circles floating around everywhere,” he said. “Somebody told me they’re called orbs. It was cool.”
Orbs are believed by those in the paranormal field to be ghosts in the form of balls of light or energy used by spirits to manifest themselves.
Paul said conditions are far too damp for dust to have been so present in the air. But despite possibly obtaining evidence of the paranormal, Paul remains unconvinced about the existence of ghosts.
“I don’t believe this stuff,” he said. “I’m really critical of it.”
However, Paul said his kids were convinced they had gotten first-hand evidence of ghostly energy around them.
“We came up with those floaty things on the pictures, so I didn’t win the argument. We called it an even draw after the pictures.”
Miles Estes, vice president of advancement for the KCEOC, said he was unaware of the spectral yarns surrounding the hospital until the organization was preparing to purchase the property, which they did in July 2005. Prior to the completion of the acquisition, Estes said he did some online searching and found the results surprising.
“I did some research to see what we were getting,” he said. “I’ve actually had people call and say it’s one of the top haunted hospitals in America.”
Since the KCEOC’s purchase of the old hospital less than three years ago, several paranormal investigation organizations have expressed interest in studying the old hospital. However, Estes said these requests have been rejected by the KCEOC because of safety concerns.
“I’ve had paranormal organizations call me wanting to go in,” he said. “I was mostly amused at the inquiries. But our insurance freaked out. They’re not scared of ghosts. They’re scared of someone falling on a rusty nail and suing us. They’re worried about the liability.”
Estes indeed attributes the lights and sounds people have claimed to have witnessed in the old hospital to activity in the building — but not ghosts.
“An awful lot of kids spend an awful lot of time in there, so I don’t know that it is (haunted),” he said.
Rick DiMaggio, who operates Kentucky Ghost Trackers out of Corbin, said he has never personally investigated the hospital because it is privately owned property.
“No one would let us because it was dangerous,” he said. “We’re not trespassers.”
However, DiMaggio, who has been investigating paranormal activity for little more than a year, said that while he has not been inside, he and his wife set up a video camera outside the hospital one night to record. Hours of footage resulted in no evidence. However, DiMaggio said just because he was unable to capture evidence of ghostly activity doesn’t mean he’s ruled out the possibility of paranormal activity.
“It’s not to say there isn’t activity, we just didn’t see anything,” he said. “I’ve heard of a lot of people passing on at the hospital. I’m sure there’s something there if hauntings are real.”
While DiMaggio agreed with Estes that some of the lights and sounds are likely created by people roaming its halls in search of ghosts, he also said proving the true existence of ghosts is impossible.
“In reality, no one can prove any of this doesn’t exist,” he said. “No one can prove they do either.”
He said people can be injured while ghost hunting. And, most likely, it’s not the ghosts causing the harm.
“The majority of time, people are injured while running from what they thought they saw,” he said.
One of DiMaggio’s mentors, Chuck Starr, who operators Ghost Chasers International with his wife Patti, is not surprised that folks have reported ghostly activity at the hospital.
“My opinion is this, anytime you have an accumulation of humanity, you’re going to have hauntings,” he said. “Especially in places of strife or wars or hospitals. I guarantee, in all probability, there has been paranormal activity at some time in that hospital.”
He also said that those claiming to have experienced unexplainable occurrences, paranormal or not, are more likely being truthful when recounting what they have seen or heard.
“They’re not fabricating for the most part,” he said. “What they’re telling you is actually happening.”
Starr agreed with DiMaggio that lights and noises may be the result of trespassers hanging around the old hospital. He also said pictures of orbs can be attributed to dust, raindrops or insects. And as for those dislocated voices people have heard, Starr said science has an explanation for those as well.
Starr said he recently read a book on quantum physics, which stated that subatomic particles make up all of space. He said these ubiquitous particles trap sounds that have occurred at a certain place over time.
“They are the conduit for sounds,” he said. “As you and I have this conversation, sound goes into the universe and is trapped there forever.”
Another thing Starr agreed with DiMaggio on is the difficulty in proving the existence of ghosts.
“Ghost hunting is a lot like fishing,” he said. “You don’t know if you’re gonna get a nibble, let alone a fish. It’s kind of like you’re a detective and putting together pieces of a puzzle. In my opinion, in our lifetime, evidence will never be made available to us. Ghosts can be anywhere and everywhere and nowhere.”
As the old hospital’s destruction is imminent and its moldy, graffiti-covered walls come down, Starr said don’t look for its other worldly inhabitants to pack their bags. According to him, the apartments will only provide these spirits with a new place to call home.
“Chances are the tenants of those houses will experience paranormal activity,” Starr said. “Just because the hospital’s gone doesn’t mean the entity will go.”

Brad Hicks can be reached at bhicks@the
timestribune.com

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