LOCATION: 728 West Main Street, Yorktown, TX (1.5 hours east of San Antonio in DeWitt County)
HOURS: Tours Available By Reservation at www.yorktownhospital.com
OWNER: Private Property
PARANORMAL ACTIVITY: High, Cold Spots, Full Body Apparitions, EVP Audio (electonric voice phenomenon), Shadows/Shadow People, Whispers, Strange Noises
LEGEND – This small historic hospital in Yorktown, Texas was a catholic hospital run by nuns, and was anything but normal. The hospital was built in 1950 and opened in 1951. Word has it that this hospital experienced a tremendous amount of death – many of which were babies who did not survive birth. In fact, the local newspaper lists a donation of money to purchase NICU equipment to help improve birth survival rates.
Psychics claim that despite its catholic connection many abortions were performed in the labor and delivery wing. In a few cases the psychics claim the babies were born to women who were raped and the staff did not try very hard to keep them alive. Psychics also report things being dumped down the disposal sinks that shouldn’t have. The hospital closed in 1980 and in 1981 became a substance abuse and mental hospital. The mental hospital was on the second floor, and it is here in the library area that a spirit exists who does not like women. Paranormal investigators claim it is a spirit of an angry man who does not like women. Several women have been choked while investigating the hospital. Heavy metal doors close at random on that same second floor. There are rumors, although unconfirmed that at one point there was a serious outbreak of Tuberculosis, and part of the upstairs was used as a quarantine. Some townspeople say that even before the hospital switched duties in 1981, there was always a psych ward on the second floor. The labor and delivery wing is supposedly very active, people have also seen a man in scrubs walk in and out of rooms down the emergency room wing. Previous owners of the building have tried to remodel the property for use, but workers would leave and never come back after being scared off by screams, whispers, and shadows lurking about.
WHAT WE EXPERIENCED – Investigation conducted with Mission City Paranormal…present were Keith, Erica, Mike, Beatrice, Felicia, Russell, Bobby, Stephanie, Stacy. After surveying the property we set cameras down the hallways – notably, the emergency room wing where the apparition of a man in scrubs has been reported. Unfortunately, we could not duplicate this report. We used a state of the art EMF (electromagnetic feild) translator both in the operating room, and delivery room, with no results. The building has no power, so any EMF readings would be strange. Mike felt like there was really something about the emergency room wing, while others had a gut instinct about the labor and delivery wing. Russell and Bobby felt strongly about the basement where once existed a morgue. While in search of where this location could have been Russell spotted a shadow person pass an open doorway in the basement right in front of a flashlight. After reporting this to Bobby’s team several minutes later, Bobby explored the same area of the first sighting and he saw a moving shadow as well. There were a lot of strange noises captured on EVP, most notably a scream and a gasp picked up on video and voice recorder in the delivery room that sounded like a woman giving birth. In the video clip the woman screams in pain, then unkowningly Felicia touches the gurney in the delivery room and the woman gasps. There is a strong sense that you are being followed in the basement. Nearly every person on the investigation became ill during the night. The most common symptom was dizziness…some also reported headaches.
MORE – Yorktown Memorial Hospital was built in 1950 and opened as a general hospital in 1951. The hospital was run by nuns who also lived on site, according to the locals, in the basement. Townspeople report this hospital dealing with an extreme amount of death, some of old people, but many babies who did not make it through birth. They also report that the second floor was a mental hospital even as it was a general hospital. Some even mention a severe outbreak of Tuberculosis, with the quarantine being on the second floor. The hospital ceased operation in 1980, and in 1981 became an odd combination of substance abuse and mental hospital. While it was in this incarnation, there was one famous case where a teenager overdosed on drugs while with some friends, and instead of taking him in, they dropped his body off on the loading dock out back, to be discovered dead the next day. The hospital was eventually shut down because of the mental patients getting loose around town, there is even one report of one mental patient slapping someone at the feed store. Finally, the city and state stepped in to shut the hospital down in the early 80’s, and the building has been abandoned ever since. There have been a few owners who had plans to fix the building and remodel for use, but they could never get workers to stay on the site, they kept leaving saying they heard whispers, and screams all day and night.
The blueprints of the hospital list there being a morgue on the property somewhere, but no signs or clues exist as to where it would have been. Most theories are in the basement somewhere, but there are confusing indications in each room. The original gurney from the delivery room (stirrups and all) still exists today in that room. The signs for most rooms are still there, as are some of the orignal pieces of furniture (beds, dressers, lighting fixtures, etc). There are weird little rooms all over the place including a crawl space and a tiny caretakers apartment on the third floor. The kitchen still contains most of the original equipment, even some original dishes were left behind. There is a dumbwaiter in the kitchen prep area that goes to the basement where it is believed the nuns lived, but it does not go upstairs, making one wonder, how did patients on the second floor get fed? There are also a couple bizarre boarded up places where an elevator shaft either did, or was supposed to exist. There is no elevator or elevator equipment left, and in the basement where the elevator shaft would be, sits the only door that the owners can’t unlock. They’ve tried everything to get this door open, but it won’t budge…and inside sits several feet of water.
The current owners have cleaned most of the debris out, and offer tours and overnight stays in the hospital. This is definitely a place you need to check out. To our knowledge there isn’t an investigation that has come up empty handed yet.
