“The Scientific Ghosthunter” by Christopher Tillman
(c) 1998, revised 1999, 2002, 2024
Where else can one encounter the optimum conditions for paranormal manifestation than in a hospital? Every emotion under the sun rages within these buildings on a daily basis as the human drama of life and death plays itself out. No where else will you find – under one roof – the complete cycle of life and death; the continuous struggle to preserve the health and welfare of all who enter.
The amount of mental energy expended in hospitals is often staggering in its focused intensity. Pain, agony, trauma, fear, sorrow, prayer, confusion, and stress. All the emotional elements related to paranormal phenomena are present and accounted for, potentially charging the psychic aether with enormous levels of mental energy.
This energy, imprinted upon the hospital’s atmosphere, can provide the fuel necessary for all kinds of phenomena to manifest. Hospital employees, specifically nurses, have reported for the record of folklore a variety of supernatural encounters, disturbances, and bone-chilling experiences.
It is often reported that the night shift is the most active when apparitions of the recently deceased walk the silent corridors; call buttons are pushed repeatedly by unseen hands, summoning nurses to empty rooms. Morgue attendants feel an uneasy pressure – the air around them growing to a spine-tingling chill. Hushed whispers rise from out of nowhere – the on-duty nurse hears her name called but turns to find no one there.
All this and more is said to occur with regular frequency, though no one dares to go public with their experience without the benefit of assured confidentiality. In a profession where clarity and concentration are a necessity, those nurses and doctors who step forward with tales of ghostly encounters are sure to have their competency questioned. Such admissions could potentially herald the end of a medical career. Often, it is the testimony of retired professionals and former patients that turns our interest towards the mysterious goings-on inside our nation’s hospitals.
The stories of deathbed visions, miraculous healings, near-death and out-of-body experiences are in no short supply. As long as the tragedy of life and the anguish of the dying continue to churn its way through our lives, the halls of medicine will continue to serve as one of the many settings where paranormal phenomena will regularly manifest its many mysteries.
Unfortunately, your chances of actually hearing about any strange happenings within one of your area hospitals is slim unless, of course, you know people who work there. And, your chances of actually being invited, officially, to conduct an investigation are probably remote. That’s not to say it won’t happen because it very well might, but I wouldn’t hold your breath. Any research opportunities that arise concerning hospital hauntings will probably come from individual employees who have experienced something. With their help, you may be able to gain some measure of limited access.
