Speaker 1: Welcome to Haunted Road, the production of I Heart Radio
Speaker 1: and Grimm and Mild from Aaron Minky. Listener discretion is advised.
Speaker 1: This is a strange story, one I've never told anyone publicly.
Speaker 1: I'm not even sure how it relates to this episode's
Speaker 1: haunted location, but nevertheless, it's the most memorable experience I
Speaker 1: had there, so I feel compelled to share it with
Speaker 1: you all. Back in I brought one of the producers
Speaker 1: of my show Kindred Spirits to tour a property nearby,
Speaker 1: a place we were already filming. I wanted him to
Speaker 1: see it because I had investigated it before, and I
Speaker 1: thought it would make an excellent investigation for the show.
Speaker 1: As we toured what was this very old, very run
Speaker 1: down hospital, I smelled the usual old hospital smells. Someone
Speaker 1: recently asked me if old hospitals still smell like hospitals.
Speaker 1: My answer, no, they smell like mold and future lung disease.
Speaker 1: Except as I walked those halls on this particular day,
Speaker 1: something very distinctly invaded that usual haunted hospital smell. I
Speaker 1: got a very clear and very unmistakable whiff of my mom.
Speaker 1: You see, my mom had passed away just over two
Speaker 1: weeks before I had only very recently returned to work. Also,
Speaker 1: my mom had a very distinct perfume she wore. It
Speaker 1: could only be found in one place, a little shop
Speaker 1: called Body Basics on Main Street in Plascaville, California. This
Speaker 1: particular scent was called China musk, and we relentlessly teased
Speaker 1: her for how heavily she doused herself in that scented oil.
Speaker 1: But like I said, it was unmistakable. So here I
Speaker 1: was roaming an old hospital in the middle of Nowhere, Tennessee,
Speaker 1: the scent of my mom odd following me around and
Speaker 1: a single tear slipping down my cheek. I don't know
Speaker 1: why my mom decided the time to say hello was
Speaker 1: as I was touring an extremely spooky hospital. But it's
Speaker 1: just one of the many strange and unpredictable experiences I've
Speaker 1: had at the old South Pittsburgh Hospital in South Pittsburgh, Tennessee.
Speaker 1: I'm Amy Brunei and this is haunted road. Nestled in
Speaker 1: the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains. South Pittsburgh, Tennessee, is
Speaker 1: a city of just three thousand people today. It's the
Speaker 1: home of the National Cornbread Festival, and is considered part
Speaker 1: of metropolitan Chattanooga, but in centuries past it was a
Speaker 1: thriving town with dreams of becoming a major center of industry.
Speaker 1: An important part of the city's growth was the construction
Speaker 1: of a hospital, giving residents a place to get serious
Speaker 1: medical care without having to travel. In nineteen fifty nine,
Speaker 1: the South Pittsburgh Municipal Hospital opened its doors, but just
Speaker 1: forty years later it was closed for good. The patients
Speaker 1: moved to a larger facility nearby. Well, the living patients moved.
Speaker 1: Some of the other patients and former hospital staff are
Speaker 1: still there to this day, filling the hospital with shadow figures,
Speaker 1: disembodied growls, and sinister warnings to get the hell out.
Speaker 1: Now old South Pittsburgh Hospital is a hot spot for
Speaker 1: paranormal activity, drawing in the paracias for ghost tours and
Speaker 1: serious researchers for intensive overnight investigations to what many described
Speaker 1: as one of the most haunted places in all of Tennessee.
Speaker 1: South Pittsburgh, about thirty minutes outside of Chattanooga, was originally
Speaker 1: Cherokee Land until the tribe was displaced from the area
Speaker 1: by white settlers in the eighteen thirties. They called that
Speaker 1: unincorporated part of Marion County Battle Creek Mines because of
Speaker 1: the coal mining there. During the Civil War, Battle Creek
Speaker 1: Mines was a contested area while there was nearby on
Speaker 1: Union base Fort McCook. It was overtaken by the Confederates
Speaker 1: in August eighteen sixty two. The battlefield where the Civil
Speaker 1: War conflict ensued was only five minutes away from where
Speaker 1: the hospital was later built. A year later, Union forces
Speaker 1: recaptured the fort and troops marched through there on the
Speaker 1: way to the Battle of Chickamauga in Georgia. South Pittsburgh
Speaker 1: was incorporated in eighteen seventy six. Town founders named the
Speaker 1: city South Pittsburgh in the hopes that it would become
Speaker 1: as large a center of manufacturing as its Pennsylvania namesake.
Speaker 1: Over the years, a pencil factory and a bottling works
Speaker 1: were established there in addition to the coal mining industry,
Speaker 1: but the city never took off as a manufacturing hub,
Speaker 1: although the Lodge cast iron factory is still there, which
Speaker 1: explains that whole cornbread festival. When it was first built,
Speaker 1: Old South Pittsburgh Hospital was much smaller than the sixty
Speaker 1: eight thousand square foot three floor facility it is today.
Speaker 1: Would originally opened in nineteen fifty nine as the South
Speaker 1: Pittsburgh Municipal Hospital, had thirty five beds to treat patients,
Speaker 1: offering emergency services, operations, and a maternity ward. A point
Speaker 1: of pride to residence of South Pittsburgh was the city
Speaker 1: took no outside funding to construct the hospital, which cost
Speaker 1: five hundred thousand dollars about five million dollars in today's
Speaker 1: money to build. At the dedication ceremony, attended by over
Speaker 1: a thousand people, Mayor L. W. Lloyd boasted that they
Speaker 1: had not taken any state or federal funds for the
Speaker 1: hospital and said that the government should not be called
Speaker 1: in to do for you which you can do for yourself.
Speaker 1: In nineteen sixty two, a new wing brought the hospital's
Speaker 1: capacity to forty seven beds, and another expansion in nineteen
Speaker 1: one brought it to the size it is today, when
Speaker 1: hundred seven beds and patient rooms and the icy U,
Speaker 1: as well as operating rooms, a pharmacy, X ray facilities,
Speaker 1: biohazard rooms, and a chapel. The facility shut down for
Speaker 1: good in nineteen when a larger facility was built in
Speaker 1: a town nearby. While it's in a state of serious disrepair.
Speaker 1: The hospital is still filled with old medical equipment and,
Speaker 1: in at least one instance, confidential medical records that were
Speaker 1: left behind when the hospital relocated. Many visitors to the
Speaker 1: ruins of the facility today say that it's also filled
Speaker 1: with ghosts. Hospitals see births and deaths every day, and
Speaker 1: between joy, suffering, relief, and sorrow see huge emotional highs
Speaker 1: and lows. It's one of the reasons that decommissioned hospitals
Speaker 1: sometimes becomes centers of heightened paranormal activity. All of that
Speaker 1: energy leaves something behind. Old South Pittsburgh Hospital is no different,
Speaker 1: but it does have its share of unusual stories, like
Speaker 1: the unsolved murder of Caroline Haveron, the wife of prominent
Speaker 1: doctor James Haron, who was instrumental in the push to
Speaker 1: construct the hospital. Caroline was discovered murdered in her bed
Speaker 1: while her husband was working an overnight shift. When Dr
Speaker 1: Haveron made his usual daily call home on the morning
Speaker 1: of May nineteen sixty four. His eight year old son, Dana,
Speaker 1: answered the call, saying he couldn't wake his mother to
Speaker 1: come to the phone. Caroline was discovered in her bed
Speaker 1: with a single bullet hole in her skull. Local authorities
Speaker 1: said the killer had to have been familiar with the
Speaker 1: layout of the Haveron's home to have executed the murder
Speaker 1: without waking Dana. Robbery was ruled out as a motive,
Speaker 1: as Caroline's jewelry wasn't taken. To this day, the murder
Speaker 1: remains unsolved. There are rumors of malpractice at the hospital,
Speaker 1: though they are not substantiated by contemporary accounts. Another legend
Speaker 1: that circulates about the hospital is that a plantation once
Speaker 1: stood on its grounds but burned down, killing multiple people,
Speaker 1: including children. There are no historical records of that either.
Speaker 1: According to the Haunted Old South Pittsburgh Hospital Paranormal Research Center,
Speaker 1: many believe the activity stems from the injuries, illnesses, and
Speaker 1: deaths that occurred while the Old South Pittsburgh Hospital serviced
Speaker 1: the community. Visitors have claimed to hear disembodied voices and
Speaker 1: babies crying, and to see full body apparitions and shadow people,
Speaker 1: but that activity didn't start after the Hasse Spital closed down.
Speaker 1: When the facility was still operational, many employees there reported
Speaker 1: strange occurrences. People would claim to see inanimate objects moving
Speaker 1: on their own and dark figures in hallways. As the
Speaker 1: Paranormal Research Center describes, it was not at all uncommon
Speaker 1: for these employees to observe various inanimate objects such as
Speaker 1: medicine cards, hospital beds, wheelchairs, and other items seemingly moving
Speaker 1: on their own. Don Parton, a lab technician at the
Speaker 1: hospital in the early nineteen nineties who was interviewed by
Speaker 1: the Sci Fi Channel's Paranormal Witness, claimed to have experienced
Speaker 1: files of blood mysteriously shattering on the floor, elevators behaving abnormally,
Speaker 1: the apparition of a man who disappeared when Don turned
Speaker 1: his back, unexplained shadows, and the disembodied cries of infants
Speaker 1: in the old maternity ward. He told the show that
Speaker 1: he quit over his various paranormal experiences at the hospital.
Speaker 1: The hospital has been closed for more than twenty five
Speaker 1: years and is now open exclusively for paranormal investigation, both
Speaker 1: daytime investigations and private overnight ones where a small group
Speaker 1: of researchers have the run of the hospital until dawn.
Speaker 1: People who have explored the hospital reports seeing a naughty
Speaker 1: nurse who haunts the basement, who likes to inappropriately touch
Speaker 1: visitors and whisper into their ears. On the third floor,
Speaker 1: people frequently report seeing a seven foot tall shadow figure,
Speaker 1: which is sometimes accompanied by a foul smell. Some believe
Speaker 1: it to be the spirit of a surgeon at the hospital.
Speaker 1: Notoriously unfriendly. The spirit has been said to tell visitors
Speaker 1: to f off, get the hell out, and leave. According
Speaker 1: to the Haunted Old South Pittsburgh Hospital Paranormal Research Center,
Speaker 1: many spirits that seem to be intelligent have informed several
Speaker 1: of the living that this spirit does not want them
Speaker 1: associating with the living. A couple elderly women have appeared
Speaker 1: to investigators to one who doesn't like women but who
Speaker 1: will call out to male guests, and an elderly woman
Speaker 1: named Hazel who was admitted for a psych evaluation and
Speaker 1: died of an infection. She said to have an unforgettable
Speaker 1: scream and tells people to go back in a rough
Speaker 1: and gravelly voice. According to Paranormal Hotspots, there are also
Speaker 1: reports of a hissing man near the biohazard area and
Speaker 1: a man who died of tuberculosis calling out for help.
Speaker 1: The Ghost Research Society has reported encountering an old janitor,
Speaker 1: maybe named James, who died in the nineteen sixties but
Speaker 1: is still roaming the hospital looking for his keys. The
Speaker 1: Travel channel's Destination Fear claims that Room three or four
Speaker 1: is the most haunted room in the hospital and is
Speaker 1: home to a psychiatric patient named Nellie. Investigators for the
Speaker 1: show took polaroids featuring an unexplained mist in that room
Speaker 1: on the second floor is the most heartbreaking ghost of all,
Speaker 1: the spirit of a toddler referred to as Buddy. According
Speaker 1: to the Paranormal Research Centric, Buddy seems to enjoy playing
Speaker 1: or urging the living to play with him. Many individuals
Speaker 1: have stated that he requests to be held. People who
Speaker 1: have come into contact with Buddy report having objects being
Speaker 1: rolled towards them and the hopes that the people will
Speaker 1: rule the object back and play with him. Coming up next,
Speaker 1: we'll be talking to Ronnie D, the owner of Old
Speaker 1: South Pittsburgh Hospital. We'll talk all about their ghosts and
Speaker 1: the startling encounter that convinced him to buy the hospital
Speaker 1: when most people probably wouldn't have set foot in it. Again,
Speaker 1: that's coming up after the break, all right, So I
Speaker 1: am now joined by Ronnie D who is the president
Speaker 1: and owner of Old South Pittsburgh Hospital. We've worked together
Speaker 1: on a few occasions you've seen him on Kindred Spirits
Speaker 1: and kind of living my dream life. To be honest,
Speaker 1: thank you Ronnie for joining us. Thank you for having me,
Speaker 1: miss Broony. So tell me how did you get involved
Speaker 1: with the hospital. Well, if was a paranormal investigator for many,
Speaker 1: many years, and prior to owning the hospital, I actually
Speaker 1: visited the hospital, so my group and I did some
Speaker 1: pure normal research over there quite a few years prior
Speaker 1: to owning the hospital. Okay, Now this is one of
Speaker 1: those things like I've always wanted to do. Every time
Speaker 1: I go visit a place like yours, I'm like, why
Speaker 1: can't I find an old hospital to buy like this?
Speaker 1: And I have to say, like, you are surrounded by
Speaker 1: just a really lovely group of people. You have a
Speaker 1: great team of volunteers folks helping you out. And every
Speaker 1: time I go there, even though it's an old, spooky,
Speaker 1: haunted hospital, there is a very warm feeling amongst you
Speaker 1: and the crew you've kind of assembled. Do you feel
Speaker 1: like everyone around you is sort of supposed to be
Speaker 1: there in a way? Very much so. I mean, and
Speaker 1: even going back to purchasing old South Pittsburgh Hospital, it
Speaker 1: seems that it just kind of fell in my lap.
Speaker 1: We just purchased another hospital which was down the road,
Speaker 1: and the same thing kind of happened, where it just
Speaker 1: happens to be in the right place at the right time,
Speaker 1: and old South Pittsburgh was, in my opinion, kind of
Speaker 1: spirit send. They were going to demolish the building and
Speaker 1: it's got such a rich history. Just going back there
Speaker 1: as much as I did, I really fell in love
Speaker 1: with the building and think it kind of spoke to me. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's wild. I mean I felt that there is something
Speaker 1: very spiritual about that place. So South Pittsburgh is definitely
Speaker 1: the kind of town where when you're there, everyone knows
Speaker 1: you're there. It's small, it's kind of sleepy, everyone knows everyone.
Speaker 1: I remember when we were doing research for the hospital,
Speaker 1: we were in the local library and there had been
Speaker 1: some houses up there. At some point we were trying
Speaker 1: to figure out what happened to those houses, and the
Speaker 1: librarian was kind of eavesdropping on us, and then she
Speaker 1: was like, Oh, you need to talk to Nancy so
Speaker 1: and so she used to live there. Let me look
Speaker 1: her up. And she pulls out a phone book, she
Speaker 1: finds Nancy's number and just picks up the phone and
Speaker 1: dials it for us. Next thing, you know, we're talking
Speaker 1: to Nancy who lived in a house that used to
Speaker 1: be on the site of where the hospital is. And
Speaker 1: so that makes the research portion of it really great.
Speaker 1: But I also imagine there's probably a lot of gossip
Speaker 1: to that you kind of have to go through stories
Speaker 1: and and vet them and figure out which is actually
Speaker 1: historically accurate in what has just been kind of passed
Speaker 1: down over the years. It's kind of like the Cheers town.
Speaker 1: You know, we're walk downtown and like everybody knows your name.
Speaker 1: It is a really quaint little town. I mean, we
Speaker 1: were received when we first purchased the building kind of
Speaker 1: harshly because the old owners were kind of spreading some
Speaker 1: things that weren't necessarily true about the grounds. And one
Speaker 1: thing that is very very important to us and an Amy,
Speaker 1: I do have to say that you and your team
Speaker 1: when you came out from Kindred Spirits was kind of
Speaker 1: amazing because when you guys did your research, you came
Speaker 1: up with some of those rumors that were going around
Speaker 1: and you kind of got rid of a lot of
Speaker 1: those myths. And that's one of the things that that's
Speaker 1: a constant struggle because I think the old owners were
Speaker 1: kind of in the paranormal for the wrong reasons. They
Speaker 1: were in it to kind of scare people and to
Speaker 1: make up history and make the building more I guess,
Speaker 1: daunting than it really was. And once we actually started
Speaker 1: on covering the real history, I think the building, like
Speaker 1: you said, become more welcoming. It became more of a
Speaker 1: happy place because you know, healthcare workers and the people
Speaker 1: who were involved in the hospital want to be recognized
Speaker 1: as being healthcare workers and helpers. And the old owners
Speaker 1: really really brought up a bunch of you know, like
Speaker 1: malpractice lawsuits and stuff like that that never happened, and
Speaker 1: then created a lot of history before the hospital was
Speaker 1: even built that weren't necessarily the truth. Yeah, we find
Speaker 1: that a lot, and I do think that there is
Speaker 1: this tendency of people, maybe not people who are necessarily
Speaker 1: even in the paranormal, that you know, they buy something
Speaker 1: like that and they see it as kind of a
Speaker 1: business opportunity and maybe they don't even believe in ghosts.
Speaker 1: So I can't always fault them for trying to kind
Speaker 1: of sensationalize or makeup history that's going to bring in
Speaker 1: the dollars, right, but I don't think they realize the
Speaker 1: unrest that can cause in those buildings, you know, because
Speaker 1: imagine you are a spirit and suddenly you have people
Speaker 1: coming in talking about you constantly but saying very much
Speaker 1: the wrong thing, making things up about you, some of
Speaker 1: it horrendous, and you can't speak for yourself, and then
Speaker 1: suddenly you start acting out even more. And so I
Speaker 1: guess if you have the wrong reasons, you know, that
Speaker 1: might work for you, you might get what you want,
Speaker 1: more activity. But ultimately, from like a human perspective, I
Speaker 1: think it's so important for us to get that history correct.
Speaker 1: And I really like that you guys have put so
Speaker 1: much focus on that, and it was really fun to
Speaker 1: research the hospital, to be honest. So that being said,
Speaker 1: one thing I've noticed about investigating at the hospital is
Speaker 1: that it's ever changing. Like I've been there a few
Speaker 1: times now, and you seem to have different entities that
Speaker 1: kind of present themselves more often at other times, or
Speaker 1: you have like a new entity that shows up. It's
Speaker 1: really interesting how it kind of morphs what's happening there now.
Speaker 1: Who's your like most noticeable spirit at the moment, I
Speaker 1: would say probably the most hornless spirit that has come
Speaker 1: kind of to fruition lately is Dr Taylor, And I
Speaker 1: think you and I had spoke about him recently. It's
Speaker 1: quite amazing, like in the last probably sixteen seventeen months.
Speaker 1: Dr Taylor was one of the original doctors of the building,
Speaker 1: very intelligent man, graduated from Vanderbilt University, was the top
Speaker 1: in the medical field there. And one of the telltale
Speaker 1: signs of Dr Taylor was, back in the old days,
Speaker 1: you can actually smoke in the hospital, whether it was
Speaker 1: a piper cigarette or anything like that, and Dr Taylor
Speaker 1: was known for smoking pipes throughout the hospital when he
Speaker 1: was working. He also used his pipe to kind of
Speaker 1: emphasize when you were doing something wrong in terms of
Speaker 1: maybe not taking your medicine or you know, not taking
Speaker 1: it easy after surgery. So he'd take his pipe and
Speaker 1: kind of slam it in his hand and be like,
Speaker 1: I told you, you know, not to do this kind
Speaker 1: of thing. And we're finding that Dr Taylor is walking
Speaker 1: through the halls and actually smoking that pipe when he's
Speaker 1: walking through the halls, and we've had so many paranormal
Speaker 1: groups who have come through and it's literally a cloud
Speaker 1: of smoke accompanied by a really sweet kind of maple
Speaker 1: surrapy smell, and we actually had somebody come in who
Speaker 1: identified it as rabbit tobacco, which is illegal now because
Speaker 1: it gave you kind of a little bit of a
Speaker 1: buzz i guess. But then we also verified through a
Speaker 1: couple of people who worked with him that that was
Speaker 1: actually the tobacco that he did smoke while he was
Speaker 1: working at the hospital, So we actually have validation that
Speaker 1: we're pretty convinced that that's Dr Taylor, you know, walking
Speaker 1: through the halls of Pittsburgh. That's so interesting to me,
Speaker 1: Like pipe smoke and tobacco smoke in general, we encounter
Speaker 1: that a lot, and I think we forget when we
Speaker 1: were kids. Literally everyone was smoking around us. He would
Speaker 1: go to the bank and the bank teller would be smoking.
Speaker 1: You know, my great grandfather smoked a pipe, and that
Speaker 1: smell was him, like it was such a part of him.
Speaker 1: And even perfumes to become such an identifying mark to
Speaker 1: a person that I can see why it would kind
Speaker 1: of become their signature in the afterlife, even if they
Speaker 1: don't intend it to be, like it's just with them,
Speaker 1: And it's crazy how it triggers memories too. It's so
Speaker 1: interesting that people recognize it and knew exactly what it was.
Speaker 1: And it is also wild to think back on a
Speaker 1: time when your doctor was just walking through the hospital
Speaker 1: smoking is apparently wacky to back. I know, could you
Speaker 1: imagine seeing your doctor who's treating you for cancer, you know,
Speaker 1: light up a cigarette and start smoking in front of
Speaker 1: it is kind of different times, but yeah, I mean
Speaker 1: that is really his signature and his identifier. And we've
Speaker 1: had not only public investigations, but private investigations at the
Speaker 1: hospital where that the smoke is so dense that I've
Speaker 1: been asked where we're piping in the smoke from. And
Speaker 1: I actually had one guest who actually asked me to
Speaker 1: take my clothes off because he thought it was coming
Speaker 1: from me I had under my clothes. I was like, sure,
Speaker 1: we can go to the bathroom. You know, I'll show
Speaker 1: you that it's not me. It's completely a d percent
Speaker 1: coming from the building. And we convinced them pretty well
Speaker 1: because as are walking through the hospital, it happened in
Speaker 1: a completely different area in the hospital, and he was like, oh,
Speaker 1: that would be impossible for you to pipe it in here.
Speaker 1: So it's one of the phenomenon that's actually going into
Speaker 1: the hospital. That puzzles me to this very day because
Speaker 1: it is such a strong smell and it is such
Speaker 1: a thick amount of smoke that it's just really unreal.
Speaker 1: I mean, that's you have to experience it. I love
Speaker 1: that you were willing to submit to a strip search
Speaker 1: to prove that it wasn't you. You're like, okay, skeptic.
Speaker 1: I got you well, and you know, and I get
Speaker 1: it from the outside looking in because it is such
Speaker 1: a dominating smell and the amount of smoke that comes out.
Speaker 1: I would have been very skeptical too if it was
Speaker 1: it was you know, me walking into the building and
Speaker 1: seeing that happen. So we want to make sure that
Speaker 1: it will. I'll tell Pittsburgh that we don't have people
Speaker 1: who think we're doing things like that because as a
Speaker 1: parallem investigator, our reputation means everything. Yeah, I say that
Speaker 1: to people all the time. I'm like, whether or not
Speaker 1: you believe in ghosts, the least we can do for
Speaker 1: people who come at us is get our history right,
Speaker 1: you know. And so I think we that to the
Speaker 1: ghosts too, and there are many at Old South Pittsburgh Hospital.
Speaker 1: And so when we came there for Kindred, there were
Speaker 1: some people that were having some more aggressive encounters. Has
Speaker 1: that kind of tapered down a bit, or you do
Speaker 1: still have any spirits there that seem a little angry. No,
Speaker 1: I would say I think getting the history right and
Speaker 1: actually doing the research and studying the people that are
Speaker 1: in the hospital currently. I think now that we're telling
Speaker 1: the truth, that's the atmosphere has become a lot more
Speaker 1: light and eerie. We're getting a lot of more laughing
Speaker 1: and chuckling and that kind of interaction with the spirits.
Speaker 1: Even Jim, who was on the first floor, who was
Speaker 1: the caretaker prior to me owning the building, even he's
Speaker 1: kind of come out and become a lot lighter of
Speaker 1: a person since we once again got rid of a
Speaker 1: lot of the myths and rumors about him. I feel
Speaker 1: like you had a really compelling first experience there. I
Speaker 1: believe it was with a nurse. Am I remembering this correctly.
Speaker 1: One of the reasons that I actually fell in love
Speaker 1: with the building is Old South Pittsburgh gave me my
Speaker 1: first full body apparition, kind of the holy grail of
Speaker 1: you know, Paragorum investigating. We were on the third floor,
Speaker 1: we were leaning up against the wall, across from the nursery,
Speaker 1: which was the last year the babies were born at
Speaker 1: Old South Pittsburgh. But it was a buddy of mine
Speaker 1: and I and he was relatively new into the paranormal
Speaker 1: researching and kind of out of the corner of our eye,
Speaker 1: we both seem kind of a glow and all of
Speaker 1: a suddenly, kind of walking down the hall towards us
Speaker 1: was a nurse, I mean and Amy. It was as
Speaker 1: plain as day. You could see the curls in her
Speaker 1: hair and everything, and uh, she kind of stopped, looked
Speaker 1: at us, kind of gave us like, what the heck
Speaker 1: are you doing in my department kind of look, and
Speaker 1: then proceeded to go into the nursery. The door actually
Speaker 1: opened in the middle of the night, and she kind
Speaker 1: of disappeared to the nursery. And that was my first
Speaker 1: experience with a full body operation. And the thing that
Speaker 1: I think was the freakiest about it was is that
Speaker 1: my partner. We all know that when you investigate that
Speaker 1: you should be in pairs, and my partner took off,
Speaker 1: I mean just leaving me at the Old South Pittsburgh
Speaker 1: on the third floor in the dark, kind of took
Speaker 1: off to the break room. And one of the things
Speaker 1: I think that was really kind of unique about our
Speaker 1: team is that we didn't really share what we saw
Speaker 1: until after the fact. And we went downstairs and he
Speaker 1: kind of drew his little picture of the nurse and
Speaker 1: I drew my stick figure of the nurse, and we
Speaker 1: kind of switched papers, and he was like, that's what
Speaker 1: I saw. I saw a nurse. And we talked about
Speaker 1: the actual details of the nurse and it was an
Speaker 1: amazing experience. And I think it was not only residual,
Speaker 1: but I think there was an intelligent factor in there
Speaker 1: as well too, because she literally stopped and made eye
Speaker 1: contact with me as if to say, get off my floor,
Speaker 1: you know, visiting hours are over, and then proceeded to
Speaker 1: go into the nursery. So it was quite a unique
Speaker 1: experience for me. I love stories like that. And then
Speaker 1: I also wonder, like, what if, like the whole time
Speaker 1: fold theory is true, Like some people feel like, for example,
Speaker 1: the Princess at the Mount Washington Hotel, they feel like
Speaker 1: she's existing in her time and then sometimes somehow kind
Speaker 1: of pops through to our time and seems a little
Speaker 1: confused about it. So I wonder if somewhere like in
Speaker 1: the seventies or eighties. This nurse was walking down the
Speaker 1: hall and sese two random guys wearing their you know,
Speaker 1: paranormal Team T shirts outside the nursery, and she's like,
Speaker 1: who are these people? Well, yeah, and you kind of
Speaker 1: wonder if she's like on edge because I don't think
Speaker 1: going to steal a baby or you know, they have
Speaker 1: to know good. So yeah, I mean, but she stopped
Speaker 1: and gave us that look like, you know, it's time
Speaker 1: for you to get off my floor, and well, my
Speaker 1: buddy is that he got off that floor and her
Speaker 1: it was kind of funny to hear his footsteps and
Speaker 1: him running away from me. And since then, Zach has
Speaker 1: not investigated anymore. He looked at me and said, I
Speaker 1: saw I need to see I believe now, and I'm done.
Speaker 1: It proves to like, not everyone is cut out for this.
Speaker 1: There are the Ronnie's and there are the Zacks. Either
Speaker 1: you're just completely enamored with it after you have an
Speaker 1: experience like that, or you run away and never return,
Speaker 1: so which are both very fair responses, I would say,
Speaker 1: But I hope you never let him live that down.
Speaker 1: We don't, but we kind of bring that up every
Speaker 1: once in a while because he was kind of found
Speaker 1: in the break him. He was actually on the chair
Speaker 1: kind of rocking back and forth, and I still to
Speaker 1: this very day, don't think he believes what he saw
Speaker 1: was really well. That brings me to that floor when
Speaker 1: I was investigating there, I did see a very clear
Speaker 1: shadow figure on that floor in that very area. I
Speaker 1: think Adam and I had kind of separated. He was
Speaker 1: down by the nursery, I was down at the other
Speaker 1: end of the third floor, and we were just kind
Speaker 1: of sitting and watching, and I distinctly saw a shadow figure.
Speaker 1: And they do this a lot, this kind of peeking
Speaker 1: out of the doorway, like I don't know if they're
Speaker 1: just like trying to see who we are and they're
Speaker 1: not comfortable and they don't want to come out all
Speaker 1: the way. But I saw this shadow multiple times peek
Speaker 1: out the doorway, and we actually did get it on
Speaker 1: our DVR as it was happening. Now, is that something
Speaker 1: that you're seeing fairly regularly in that area? Still, Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's something that's very very regular in that area. And
Speaker 1: kind of the reason why is after the nursery had
Speaker 1: closed down, they had turned that whole wing into a
Speaker 1: psych ward and a drug and alcohol treatment facility, and
Speaker 1: the nurse three as well as their labor and delivery
Speaker 1: rooms actually became like drafting rooms and work related rooms
Speaker 1: to try and get some of those people back into society. Okay,
Speaker 1: Like you said, I think that area still has got
Speaker 1: a lot of residual and intelligent drug abusers because there
Speaker 1: were quite a few drug abuse deaths up there as
Speaker 1: well as there were a couple of suicides up there
Speaker 1: as well too. From the psych ward. We actually had
Speaker 1: a gentleman who actually jumped out of one of the windows,
Speaker 1: and you kind of almost wonder if some of that
Speaker 1: interaction or activity is people looking for the nurses kind
Speaker 1: of peeking outgoing, you know, where are they time to
Speaker 1: do some drugs? You know, that kind of a thing.
Speaker 1: That makes more sense now, because yeah, it just seemed
Speaker 1: very suspicious. I'm just really checking out the situation, isn't
Speaker 1: that also, though, we're sometimes the spirits of children are seen,
Speaker 1: because I feel like I remember there being a ball
Speaker 1: up there something, but I could have the wrong area.
Speaker 1: Children seem to be all over Hunt Adult South Pittsburgh
Speaker 1: pretty much on every floor and every opportunity. But now
Speaker 1: the third floor is home from Nellie, she had dementia.
Speaker 1: She's really the main spirit that's up on the third floor.
Speaker 1: Children do travel from Florida FLOORA body especially likes to follow,
Speaker 1: you know, people around, especially young ladies, likes to play
Speaker 1: with them in terms of you know, balls and that
Speaker 1: kind of stuff. So there's plenty, plenty of children running
Speaker 1: around the hospital. And now, have you had any investigators
Speaker 1: come in just kind of recreationally who kind of did
Speaker 1: the same thing, had any experiences that left them kind
Speaker 1: of floored. It's kind of funny that you bring that up,
Speaker 1: because we have this discussion quite frequently between myself and
Speaker 1: my staff, and we do public investigations generally once a month,
Speaker 1: and the thing that always cracks us up is it's
Speaker 1: always the men who are two hundred and eighty pounds
Speaker 1: six five, you know, these big monster men that walk
Speaker 1: in with their little hunter pound petite wives, and they
Speaker 1: don't believe in spirits, they don't believe in ghosts, and
Speaker 1: they're the first one to go sit in the car
Speaker 1: during the public investigation because they were either touched or grabbed,
Speaker 1: or they got their hair pulled or something unique like
Speaker 1: that happens. And I would honestly, say Amy, that probably
Speaker 1: happens maybe every third investigation. It's trained escapes. We call
Speaker 1: those the reluctant spouses or the drag alongs. But usually
Speaker 1: by the end of it, if they have not gone running,
Speaker 1: they're totally into it. It's one or the other. We
Speaker 1: either turn them to the dark side or they're one
Speaker 1: and done. What are you guys doing in the hospital now?
Speaker 1: Are you doing any more like renovations or clean up?
Speaker 1: The first time I went there it looked very different.
Speaker 1: Then the second time I went there. You guys have
Speaker 1: done a massive amount of work. So are there any
Speaker 1: projects you're working on right now? Currently? Just right now,
Speaker 1: that's the summer months. It's like a million degrees in Tennessee.
Speaker 1: So what we generally do is our work is usually
Speaker 1: done in spring and fall when it's a little cooler.
Speaker 1: So right now we're pretty much maintaining the building just
Speaker 1: to keep it clean and ready for fernal investigating. I
Speaker 1: know that we have a bunch of projects slated for
Speaker 1: this winter. One of our goals is to get one
Speaker 1: of the operating rooms kind of time current and get
Speaker 1: some equipment in there and make it look like an
Speaker 1: old operating room. We want to open up the basement again.
Speaker 1: The basement's got some issues in it that we need
Speaker 1: to take care of. But those are kind of the
Speaker 1: two big projects we have slated for the upcoming year.
Speaker 1: Do you have a favorite time of year to investigate?
Speaker 1: Is there ever any time that seems more active than
Speaker 1: other times? To me? I think, and this is just
Speaker 1: kind of my theory, I think the winter months are
Speaker 1: way more active than the summer months, and I think
Speaker 1: the air, in my opinion, is a lot drier, so
Speaker 1: I think it's easier for spirits to actually manifest because
Speaker 1: they can kind of pull that energy out of the
Speaker 1: atmosphere a lot easier than they can when it's seventy
Speaker 1: percent or ninety percent humidity. Old Pittsburgh seems to be
Speaker 1: pretty active all year round, but I think that the
Speaker 1: winter months is really really when it's just activity, is
Speaker 1: just crazy, crazy active. I mean that building, to me,
Speaker 1: it never stops. Having been in there a few times,
Speaker 1: like you can just sit on any of the floors
Speaker 1: and just quietly listen, and you will either see shadow
Speaker 1: figures and see movement, or you will hear footsteps in
Speaker 1: the distance, you will hear voices. It's so active and
Speaker 1: never ending, and I think there's probably so many more
Speaker 1: spirits that have yet to be identified and stories to tell.
Speaker 1: And do you think that maybe you're investigating or that
Speaker 1: activity in general, the fact that spirits seemed to be
Speaker 1: so recognized there, do you think that brings in other
Speaker 1: spirits from the area. You know, one of the things
Speaker 1: that South Pittsburgh was it was not only a hospital,
Speaker 1: but it was a meeting place for pretty much Olive
Speaker 1: Maryan County. They used the cafeteria not only for the
Speaker 1: hospital itself, but a lot of the residents would come
Speaker 1: and spend the afternoon there and kind of talk and
Speaker 1: commiserate in the cafeteria. So yeah, so I think one
Speaker 1: of the things that you know in the afterlife, I
Speaker 1: think if they're spirits around and they're kind of having
Speaker 1: a good time, that they reach out to the other
Speaker 1: spirits and we get some of that activity back from
Speaker 1: the people who were there prior to living when they
Speaker 1: were using the cafeteria is kind of a meeting place.
Speaker 1: It is unique because we are coming up with so
Speaker 1: many different names of spirits that we haven't had a
Speaker 1: year ago. So I think that we are you know,
Speaker 1: we get teams who come in who have interactions with
Speaker 1: a spirit that we've never heard of for an hour here,
Speaker 1: a half hour there, and I think they're really wanting
Speaker 1: to tell their story. I love that about the hospital,
Speaker 1: and I love the way you all treat it. Like
Speaker 1: I said, I kind of want to crash your investigative
Speaker 1: party on a regular basis. I just want just want
Speaker 1: to come hang out you An, You're always welcome. You
Speaker 1: have my phone number, You're more than welcome to stop
Speaker 1: by any time you're in Tennessee. It's been really lovely
Speaker 1: to chat with you again, and hopefully I will see
Speaker 1: you in the very near future. I appreciate you taking
Speaker 1: the time. Sure, Thank you, Amy. I often get asked
Speaker 1: how I feel when someone takes an old building like
Speaker 1: the South Pittsburgh Hospital and attempts to make it a
Speaker 1: business based on its haunted happenings. Clearly, Ronnie's hope is
Speaker 1: to eventually make this a museum and nonprofit. But in
Speaker 1: the meantime, what's keeping that hospital standing is people like
Speaker 1: me and maybe you, traveling from far and wide to
Speaker 1: explore its corridors for ghosts. The reality is whether you
Speaker 1: believe in ghosts or not. Sometimes the ghosts are what
Speaker 1: keeps a place around. A place like old South Pittsburgh
Speaker 1: Hospital caught in a space of not quite being old
Speaker 1: enough to be super historic, but historic nonetheless, and in
Speaker 1: an area where there probably isn't much future for that
Speaker 1: building other than what capacity it operates in now. So
Speaker 1: I say, as long as the spirits are being treated
Speaker 1: with the respect and integrity they deserve, and paranormal investigators
Speaker 1: and researchers are getting the opportunity to do what they
Speaker 1: love and hopefully helping some wayward spirits in the process,
Speaker 1: then go right ahead. I also often wonder when will
Speaker 1: my haunted hospital come along? I'm always in the market.
Speaker 1: I am Amy BRUNEI, and this was Haunted Road. Haunted
Speaker 1: Road is a production of a radio and grimm and
Speaker 1: mild from Aaron Mankey. The podcast is written and hosted
Speaker 1: by Amy Bruney. Executive producers include Aaron Mankey, Alex Williams,
Speaker 1: and Matt Frederick. The show is produced by rema Ill
Speaker 1: Kali and Trevor Young. Research by Taylor Haggerdorn, Amy Bruney
Speaker 1: and Robin Miniter. For more podcasts from I Heart Radio,
Speaker 1: visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever
Speaker 1: you get your podcasts