I was working a few years ago in a very small hospital located on the Navajo Reservation. It was pretty old and very outdated, with only about 15 patient rooms arranged down two hallways in an "L" shaped fashion, and the nurse station was located the corner of where the lines of the 'L' met. At the end of one of the hallways were a pair of double doors leading to a more recent addition of the hospital, a surgical unit, no longer used. I never gave it much thought as my shifts were pretty busy and didn't have much time to do much else. After I had been there awhile though I decided I would take some time to check it out, because how many people get to explore old hospitals that are no longer in use, or at least a closed-off section?
So before I go any further I need to let you all know that I have never thought of myself as someone who has had any experiences with weird or paranormal stuff, other that what I had written in an earlier story, I've stayed in plenty of buildings considered to be haunted - never have seen anything, or maybe not open to it or just never put any credence to it because even if something strange happens I can always explain it away. So although I was curious going into that part of the hospital, the notion I would experience anything out of the ordinary was the furthest thing from my mind.
I opened the doors, which lead to an air lock, before going through a second set of doors leading into the surgical area itself. The surgical area was nothing very special, it basically consisted of on large room with a hallway towards the back and several other small rooms leading off from it. An assortment of old medical equipment had been retired to this space and other than cabinets and counter tops along the walls the unit was mostly empty. It wasn't unlike any other abandoned space, but it was a little too quiet and still in that lonely place. As I walked around and toward the hallway to check out the back rooms I suddenly just felt really - uncomfortable. Maybe it's how some would describe as that feeling of being watched. Not exactly how I felt, but what I really noticed is that the atmosphere had a weird heaviness to it that was beyond stifling. It was oppressive. I don't recall feeling like that before, so on an emotional level it really stood out for me.
I never made it to those back rooms. I just felt an overwhelming compulsion to leave, so I did. I think I must have been there no more than a few minutes.
So even though I never heard or saw anything it struck me as strange why I felt that way when there was no reason to.
The hospital had been considered to be creepy, if not outright haunted. Staff would report hearing things, disembodied voices, patients reported people coming in and out of their rooms during the night or would request a ward bed, so they could be in a room with other patients and not by themselves in a private room. Others would report raps on their windows (which logically could happen since they were on the ground floor). Personally the only "weird" thing to happen to me was having the automatic hand sanitizer go off by itself one time, again maybe a malfunction. I worked plenty of night shifts and never once got spooked, aside from what I've already written.
I never went back into the surgical wing aside from accompanying another staff needing to get something from there because she was too scared to go in by herself.
About 6 months went by and one day I was talking to someone who had worked there for many years and mentioned the surgical unit had been shut down about 6 years prior because a patient had gone in for a Cesarean section and had bled to death there on the unit. The surgeon and hospital was found at fault. I don't know if that had anything to do with why I had felt so apprehensive the time but I just know I never felt that way any other time. Not necessarily that spooky but certainly intriguing.
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