Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Inside the Haunted Hospital of Murfreesboro






The Haunted Hospital of Murfreesboro


With the old Middle Tennessee Medical Center of Murfreesboro Tennessee now completely destroyed it’s a good time to share about my investigation of a place that I consider one of Murfreesboro’s most haunted. After all they can't sue me for trespassing in a place that isn't there right? At least I hope not.

Originally built in the 1920’s, it saw its share of patients come and go. However, some of these patients, it seems, have never actually left. Several medical professionals who worked at the hospital have witnessed things that can only be described as paranormal. They will share accounts of everything from objects floating across the hallways to ghosts that come to visit dying patients in the cancer ward.


My own experiences with the hospital are also quite eerie. In fact, while in college I used to deliver medicine to the hospital every night around 3 a.m. One night I delivered the wrong diagnostic medicine to a lab on the first floor. When I discovered my mistake, I went back to the lab and found the case containing the medicine had been opened, and the dose was lying on the floor. Nobody was ever working in that lab at 3 in the morning, and I had not even been out of the room for 5 minutes before returning.


During the early phases of demolition, I began to hear rumors that paranormal activity in the facility had increased dramatically. In an off-the-record conversation with a hospital official, I was even told that more than one security firm had been frightened away by all the ghostly events. Did the hospital’s demise aggravate the spirits that remained in the old building?


Recognizing that I had only a short time to investigate before the entire building would be gone forever, I began planning a self-guided tour. After all, two of my daughters were born there, and it wouldn’t be the first time I’ve had to sneak into the hospital. I had also done so the night my wife was in labor. The entire hospital was put on lockdown because a man had just shot himself in the head outside the emergency room. One more troubled spirit joined the club of restless souls that evening.


Inside the old MTMC
The night we chose to explore the old building, it was cool but dry and perfect for a creepy foray into the unknown. We entered the hospital through an open ground-floor entrance. The three of us, with our cameras and flashlights, moved about carefully as we walked and listened. Very few places are more scary than an abandoned hospital. Imagine floor after floor of rooms that served as host to the neverending symphony of human experience and emotion ranging from childbirth and joy to lives ending in the throes of agony and depression. I briefly split from the group with these thoughts in my head and rounded the corner of a wide hallway when suddenly the image of a horribly deformed baby crawling toward me in the dark entered my mind so vividly that I almost question whether or not I imagined it at all. It’s my innermost fear. I’ll fight wild animals, bigfoot or angry voodoo zombies but deformed ghost-children are where I draw the line. Finally, I was able to clear my mind and rejoin the others as if nothing had happened. No ghost-baby. No problems. So we finished looking around, and we left as quietly as we came. Unfortunately, our investigation yielded no verifiable evidence of paranormal activity. No EVP, no voices and no visual contact with anything paranormal.


It will be interesting to watch what happens in the future when the site is reopened, hopefully, as a park or green space. Will the spirits continue to roam the place where the hospital once stood? We will see.






Spanish Version




El hospital embrujado de Murfreesboro

Con el viejo Middle Tennessee Medical Center ahora completamente en ruinas es un buen momento para compartir sobre mi investigación de un lugar que considero uno de Murfreesboro más embrujado. Originalmente construido en la década de 1920 vio su cuota de pacientes fluctuar Sin embargo, parece que algunos de estos pacientes realmente nunca han marchado. Varios profesionales médicos que trabajaron en el hospital han sido testigos de cosas que sólo pueden describirse como paranormales. Tienen en común haber visto de todo, desde objetos flotantes a través de los pasillos a fantasmas que vienen a visitar a pacientes moribundos en el pabellón de cáncer.

Mis propias experiencias con el hospital también son bastante inquietantes. De hecho, mientras en el la Universidad yo trabajaba entregando medicamentos al hospital cada noche alrededor de las 3 a.m. Una noche entregó el medicamento equivocado de diagnóstico a un laboratorio en el primer piso.Cuando descubrí mi error volví al laboratorio y encontré que el caso que contiene la medicina había sido abierto y la dosis estaba en el suelo. Nadie trabajaba alguna vez en aquel laboratorio a las 3 de la mañana y yo ni había estado fuera de la habitación 5 minutos antes de regresar.

Durante las primeras fases de demolición empecé a oír los rumores de que actividad paranormal en el establecimiento había aumentado de manera espectacular. En una conversación privada que tuve con un funcionario del hospital el funcionario indicó que dos empresas de seguridad había sido amedrentados por todos los acontecimientos fantasmales.Es posible que la demolición del hospital se agravaba los espíritus que siguieron en el viejo edificio?

Reconociendo que yo sólo tenía un poco de tiempo para investigar antes de que todo el edificio se ha ido para siempre, me empezó a planificar un recorrido autoguiado. Después de todo, dos de mis hijas nacieron allí y no sería la primera vez que tuve que de entrar a escondidas en el hospital. También lo había hecho la noche en que mi esposa estaba de parto. Todo el hospital fue cerrado con llave porque un hombre disparó un tiro en su cabeza fuera de la sala de emergencias. Uno espíritu turbado más se unió al club de almas inquietas esa noche.

La noche que decidimos explorar el viejo edificio hacia frío pero era seco y perfecto para una incursión en lo desconocido. Entramos en el hospital a través de una entrada de planta que estaba abierta. Los tres, con nuestras cámaras y linternas se trasladaron cuidadosamente caminado y escuchado. Muy pocos lugares son más terrorificos que un hospital abandonado.

Imagínese piso tras piso de habitaciones que servían como anfitrión de la interminable sinfonía de la experiencia humana y todas las emociones que van desde el parto y la alegría hasta la agonía de algunos que terminan su vida, la cantidad de angustia y de muerte. Brevemente me separó del grupo con estos pensamientos en mi cabeza y redondear la esquina de un ancho pasillo cuando de repente la imagen de un bebé horriblemente deformado arrastrándose hacia mí en la oscuridad entra en mi mente tan vívidamente que casi pregunto si era mi imaginación o era cierto. Es mi temor más íntimo.

Lucharé con animales salvajes, bigfoot o zombies de vudú pero niños muertos y deformes son donde se encuentra mi límite. Finalmente borre la imagen de mi mente y volvi a los otros como si nada hubiera pasado. No bebé. No hay problemas. Así que terminamos mirando alrededor y dejamos como tranquilamente como llegamos. Lamentablemente, nuestra investigación había arrojado ninguna evidencia verificable de actividad paranormal.

Será interesante ver lo que pasa en el futuro cuando el sitio es reabierto ojalá como un parque o espacio verde. ¿Seguirán los espíritus a ocupar el lugar donde alguna vez estuvo el hospital? Vamos a ver.












Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Losing Bigfoot: Is the discovery of Sasquatch a Pandora's box?





 The Bigfoot  phenomenon is all the rage right now and is the subject of numerous websites, documentaries and even a reality TV series  called Finding Bigfoot featured on the Animal Planet.

I may not have my own investigative reality TV series but what I do have is a wild curiosity for the unknown and a camera. In September of 2012  I traveled to Newton County, Arkansas, after learning my relatives own property in a mountainous area bordering a national park that is known to be a hotspot for Bigfoot. What I found on my solo camping adventure was eye-opening.

Wishing at first to avoid contact with locals I made camp in an isolated hollow with no cell phone service and 10 miles from any paved roads. It was prime squatching territory with a myriad of indicators that nightfall would be interesting. However, after a day of exploring, a storm forced me to move my camp early. My vehicle barely made it up the rocky hill. The rain was making the trail muddy and almost left me stranded. So I continued my search elsewhere for signs of Sasquatch.

Between hikes through the dense forest I explored the nearby community asking questions at opportune moments. Having a connection to the area helped open conversations and I was able to get a handful of witnesses to speak to me about their experiences with Bigfoot. What I uncovered was a surprise. One couple I spoke with has owned real estate in the area for 30 years. They said that on several occasions they saw a 9-foot “person” covered in hair but didn't report it. Several of their guests had also seen the creature. Two gentlemen I met at a local café said they had seen it cross the river last winter. Whenever I asked about reporting these incidents a fascinating theme emerged. They didn’t fail to report out of fear of being ridiculed. Instead they believed that if the authorities were to find out, life would change.

Would recognition by mainstream science of a large primate in North America force unwanted changes on Americans? Once Bigfoot is found, we cannot lose him.  In order to manage and protect Bigfoot’s natural habitat land in many regions where Sasquatch lives could be taken using the Endangered Species Act through eminent domain as has been the case for thousands of Americans in the past. Furthermore, a beast having characteristics so similar to that of humans you might even have some trying to put it on food stamps and section 8 housing.

To make matters more interesting, it was suggested by one witness that spoke with me that enough photo evidence has been suppressed that if revealed it would “make a believer out of anyone.” I have no reason to doubt what I was being told and the attitude of this particular witness seemed pretty indifferent to whether or not I believed the tale or not.

Thus it seems the tendency on the part of some locals to avoid the topic, suppress information or simply not report sightings serves as a bulwark to change. Add to this the commercial interests like the logging industry which might be impacted. The result is a coalition of silence working against official discovery.

On the hunt...
What I have uncovered here isn't news to the Bigfoot research community. But the public needs to know that there are many credible eyewitnesses who don’t come forward because the discovery of a new species where they live isn't a good thing for them. Since I have family who could also be affected by this discovery I understand the complexity somewhat better than some who are unconnected. It may just be a horrible Pandora's box that society can never shut. The fact of the matter is that once we find Bigfoot, we won't lose him again. We will be forced to reckon with a host of implications which will be both costly and controversial. What will it cost the taxpayer? What will be the laws that govern human-Bigfoot interaction?

 The price of finally acknowledging Bigfoot as a species will be high in many regards. That being said  the recognition of Bigfoot is inevitable and some say overdue. In any case it must coincide with protection for the little guys. By little guys of course I mean homo sapiens . The 9-foot super-primate with night vision has the proven ability to protect themselves without government help or food stamps.

Links to other Bigfoot articles:

Size Matters: Why Sasquatches might have made good lovers 15,000 years ago


http://exploretheunexplained.blogspot.com/2012/12/size-matters-why-sasquatches-might-have.html



Some great stuff from Facebook Find Bigfoot!