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Hospital Experience

Ontario, Canada
May 1999

This happened recently while I was in the hospital having minor surgery. I was only hospitalized for two nights and had my entire family visiting on my second night. Once visiting hours were over they said their good-byes and left. After watching TV for a couple of hours, I decided I'd go for a walk. My operation was not serious so I was able (and encouraged by my doctor) to walk around comfortably. The hospital was quite large and after wandering around the general surgery wing for about five minutes, I came across an open doorway to another wing. I decided to continue on, and walked through the entrance into a very long hallway. As I made my way along, I noticed that the rooms were all vacant.......every one of them. That didn't trouble me much, but I passed a nurses station that was also empty. That struck me as kind of odd, since there was always someone at those locations. I also became aware that there was not even anyone else wandering the hallway. There were countless nurses, doctors and patients moving through the wing I was staying in. Thinking that maybe the area was not being used or under renovation, I turned back the way I came. Just as I started my retreat back to the main wing I heard a voice from behind me.
"Hello? Is somebody there?" It sounded like a young girl, and it came from the end of the hallway in the opposite direction. I turned around and headed towards the room the voice emanated from. "Is someone in here?" I called.
"Yes.........could you go find the nurse for me?" I peered into the room and made out the form of a girl lying on the bed. The lights were off, so it was hard to make out any features, although she had an oxygen mask over her face and several tubes hooked up to her and all kinds of machines.
"Ok.......I'll go find one for you" I answered and went back to the nurses station.

There was still no signs of anyone around, so I went all the way back to the main wing and up to the nurses desk. I told the nurse on duty that there was a patient in "B-wing" that needed assistance. The nurse looked at me with a confused look on her face. "Did you say "B-Wing"? Sir that wing is closed off.......it has been for the past three years." I explained to her that there was a female patient in one of the rooms that had asked to see a nurse. "Would you mind telling me how you got into B-wing sir?," the nurse asked as she got up and went to a nearby phone. At this point I had a sinking feeling in my stomach.........and it wasn't due to my recent operation. I told her how I found the double doors wide open. She merely nodded and began talking to someone on the phone. As she was doing so, I wondered if I was suffering some kind of hallucination....maybe the anesthesia had caused some kind of side effect. Still I felt fine, and I wasn't on any kind of medication. The nurse hung up the phone and promptly informed me that security would be here shortly, and they wanted me to show them this "patient" After five minutes this security officer arrived and demanded to know why I was "snooping around in an area that is off limits"
"Listen.......I told the nurse here and now I'm telling you.......the door was open and there was no signs saying it was off limits," I replied testily. The rent a cop told me to show him. The duty nurse also wanted to see for herself, so after getting another nurse to cover the desk, I led the two of them to the other wing. Just as before, the doors were wide open. The security guard was very puzzled as to how the doors could have been open.
"I checked them on my last round........they were locked. No one else has the key to these doors," he exclaimed. We continued down the hall to the room where I saw the girl. As you've already guessed...........the room was empty. Feeling like a complete fool, I told both the nurse and security guard that I was positive there was someone in here. The two of them exchanged glances and the nurse turned the lights on.
"Well there's nobody here now is there? Perhaps someone was playing a joke on you." I explained to her that the girl was hooked up to all kinds of machines and stuff..........none of that was here now. I could tell that they didn't believe a word I was saying......and you know, I don't blame them. We left the wing and the security officer locked the doors once we were back in the main building. I asked him what that particular area was used for and he told me it was once the ward where the terminally ill were kept. I went back to my room and surprisingly slept just fine. The next day I was discharged and didn't mention my experience to my wife as we left the hospital.

This story is very far fetched and hard to believe, but I can remember the event with crystal clarity. Looking back on it, I imagine a place that has so much suffering and death from day to day is bound to have a restless spirit or two.

Ontario, Canada
00:00 / 01:04
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