I had watched enough X-files to know a few common beliefs on the supernatural. Haunted objects were hauntings that revolved around something personal to the person who passed away like a piece of clothing, a watch, or a car like in the movie “Christine.” I couldn’t believe I was having this conversation over some work orders for beds. This was getting out of hand. I guess realizing that they had no answers for me one of the nurses picked up the phone and made a call.
“Maintenance,” I overheard. Her voice went to a subtle whisper as if we were in a library. She spoke for about two minutes then hung up the phone with a big smile on her face.
“More arsenals for their debate,” I thought.
Not long after, Larry, the grounds supervisor walked in. “What was this about,” I thought. He doesn’t work on equipment or is hardly ever indoors. He walked up to me as if he had been waiting to say something big. With a grin on his face and eyes as wide as saucers, he began telling me some history of the hospital. He couldn’t have been more dramatic as if this was a scene from Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar. Some of that play was playing in my head as he began speaking, “Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears;” but I decided to listen to what Larry had to say.
He explained that the old hospital, which was still next door and now being used for administrative offices, was a place of some trouble many years ago. The area where the new hospital was built set a top of an old cemetery. Many years ago, when patients came in for care, vagrants with no identity, some were so sick that this was there last resort to a warm bed, and maybe a meal, before they passed away. This didn’t happen often but when it did, no one took responsibility for the burial so the hospital took it upon themselves to use a plot next door to provide a resting place for the bodies. Since the land was never intended as a cemetery, due to its hard bed rock, and uneven terrain, the tombstones didn’t resemble any sort of modern burial site. Graves were placed in the ground in the best positions possible. Many evenings when the groundskeeper crew would do their landscaping work, they would claim to witness apparitions in this field.
I questioned everything he said, but in my head. This being the Sunbelt would explain why they had to work in the evenings when the sun was setting. The hot and humid conditions could cause the appearance of vapors evaporating from the ground giving the appearance of apparitions. I continued to listen.
He continued by explaining that he would personally be responsible for the graves, and did everything from using the backhoe to dig the site, to giving a eulogy since many times no one else was present.
“These people deserve someone to say something nice about them,” he said.
What he showed me next was a little disturbing. He pulled out two sheets of paper from his bag. Both were folded down the middle. As he unfolded the first sheet, and flattened it out, he explained this was an aerial map done by the engineering company who constructed the new hospital. Then he drew out the second sheet. This was an opaque picture of the hospital that the same engineering company drew up to show how the new hospital would look
upon completion. I could see outlines of the first and second floor rooms as it lay over the field. I couldn’t believe it. The rooms where the beds had reported the phantom movements sat right on top of the burial sites for each of the patients. Don’t get frightened. This was not like the movie Poltergeist. Larry assured me that he witnessed the caskets and tombstones moved to the field further down.
I struggled with this for a moment. That was spooky even for me and considering it was still daylight. Larry asked that I come back to work that evening and that he would take care of everything. This had my curiosity sparked. I did come back after work to find the crew finishing up the mowing, edging, and tree trimming. When I say mowing, this was a hospital system spread out over 150 acres. That’s a lot of land grass to cut. This is not something a Sear’s riding mower could handle. It was those large farm types of tractors. As I parked my truck, I began walking over to the field. I could see the crew putting their equipment away and begin placing what looked like decorations all around.