Old Charleston Memorial Hospital Investigation

Originally opened in 1957 as a 40 bed hospital serving the needs of between 50-70 patients at any given time, the hospital closed its doors for good in 1974 or 1980. The date is under investigation at the moment. The building today is being used as a modern clinic and wellness facility called the Coles County Health Department building.

Located at: 825 18^th St., Charleston, IL 61920

Hauntings: The hand dryer goes off by itself in the women’s restroom located in the main hallway, lights turn off and on and doors slam shut. A spirit allegedly called John inhabits the operating rooms and a feeling or an energy of a male presence has been seen peering out of the main operating room. There is often a feeling of someone walking behind you in the darkened corridors and knocking sounds which cannot be traced down to a specific location.

A spirit of an older woman who paces around Conference Room #3s hallway has been heard shuffling about. Some believe that it may be a former patient dragging an IV pole and they believe her name is Mary Ann. Within the conference room, numerous EVPs and personal experiences have been recorded and felt. There has been the sounds of someone singing in the corridors and many have had the distinct impression of someone standing behind them when drinking from the water fountains.

The Boiler Room still houses the original incinerator and there’s one area of extreme EMF about waist high in the center of the room and nowhere else. If you go towards the floor or the ceiling, it dissipates.

The GRS investigated Old Charleston Memorial Hospital on September 7, 2013 and the team included: Dale Kaczmarek with help from Becky Guymon and Scotty Rorek.

Equipment setup: No equipment was set up but instead, hand-held equipment was employed such as IR camcorder, Melmeter 8704-REM, Tri-Field Natural EM Meter, Ovilus X, Ghost Box and digital recorder.

Experiments performed: EVP, Ovilus X and Ghost Box sessions were conducted in the basement, former morgue area, an office which used to be patient’s room and a conference room.

Personal experiences: While initially going through the building with Becky and entering into Conference Room #3, my IR camcorder went out of focus four times in the same far corner of the room. Various other EMF devices were indeed being set off in the basement area near that waist high EMF area.

The Ovilus X said: building in the conference room.

The Ghost Radar said the following words in the conference room: meat, vessel, Saturday, old, visit, listen, whom, recently and crowd.

Evidence collected:

Be prepared.MPG while conducting a Ghost Box session in the former morgue, the Ghost Box suddenly says, “Be prepared.”

Doctors.MPG while conducting a Ghost Box session in the former morgue, a question was asked, “What’s your name?” The Ghost Box responds with, “Doctors.”

Johnson.MPG while conducting a Ghost Box session in the former morgue, a question was asked, “Who’s the president of the United States in your time?” The Ghost Box responds with what sounds like, “Johnson.”

No.MPG while conducting an EVP session in the conference room, a question was asked, “Or can you call one of us by name?” A faint whispery voice is heard in the background to say, “No.”

You’re dead.MPG while conducting a Ghost Box session in the former morgue, the Ghost Box suddenly says, “You’re dead.”

Conclusions: I found this to be a most interesting place to investigate however when I was first invited, I envisioned a run-down, abandoned hospital. It was nothing of the kind but actually a modern health facility built into what had been the old hospital. There were many creepy locations including the basement and former morgue which had a strange feeling too and it was the location where I received the most responses on the Ghost Box.

I would love to come back and investigate this location again sometime with more of my team and additional equipment that we could monitor remotely from a command center, try additional experiments and have more EVP sessions in other locations such as the operating rooms, ER and other patient rooms.