Paris Hospital Investigation

Records show that Dr. & Mrs. Hazen bought from Charles E. Shaw Jr. on April 1, 1915 land in the J.B. Crawford addition to the City of Paris, where the “ Old Hospital ” now stands. (Book 133; page 151 Edgar County Court Records.) A new building with the capacity of twenty-five patients was built. Frank Stephens was the contractor. His son Carl was in high school and helped his dad laid floors for fifty cents a day. Agnes Tolen Morrison R.N. 1917 was one of the nurses who moved into the new hospital in September 1916. She stated there were two R.N.’s and seven student nurses by then. Three nurses graduated in the class of 1917, Agnes being one of them.

Nelle Adkins R.N. 1919 writes: “The motto of Paris Hospital Nursing School fifty years ago was ‘The Patient First.’” No patient received better care than Paris Hospital nurses gave under the watchful eye of the able Supt. of Nurses Faith A. Collins.

The Wall Street Crash was a tragic time for the whole country. Dr. Hazen lost heavily and felt he could not face the future. He was standing outside his office door with Mrs. Ridgeway when he shot himself on January 14, 1930. After Dr. Hazen’s death, surgeons from Terre Haute, Indiana and Danville, Illinois came and filled in until the hospital was sold to Dr. Homer D. Junkin on March 1, 1930. Dr. Junkin was from Idaho Falls, Idaho. G.F. Patterson was made business manager.

An exciting time for all of Paris happened in 1932. The Dillinger gang came to town and they had a shoot out with the authorities on East Court St. Result, an officer from Indiana was killed and one of the gang injured. The injured man was taken to the hospital but his men rescued him by taking him out the window. The room he was in was later converted into the waiting room.

Minnie Belle Cherown Talbott R.N. 1934 recalled the fire around the chimney on the roof. Dr. Junkin came up to the second floor (later third floor) saying, “There’s a fire on the roof, get the patients out.”

In 1939 the hospital opened a new addition expanding it to 75 beds with two nurse’s homes. There were some forty nurses in training.

January 1, 1950, a new corporation was formed; Dr. Junkin now had Dr. Gordon Sprague and Dr. Charles McClelland as associates. Charles E. Heath was made business manager as Mr. Patterson resigned because of ill health.

On January 1, 1965, Paris Hospital was made a Non-Profit business, called Hospital and Medical Foundation of Paris, Inc. Then in 1968 a drive was started to make it a Community Hospital. Plans were being formed to build a new hospital with air-conditioning and enough room to expand as necessary. Also a much needed parking space for the help and the doctors as well as the visitors was essential. The new Paris Hospital held open doors on September 27, 1970 and the official opening was on November 9, 1970 at its present location.

A tragic car accident occurred on Thursday, March 12, 1964, when the drunk driver of the oncoming car, Mr. Raymond Glick, swerved off of the road and when attempting to get his vehicle back on the road, veered into the lane of Mr. John P. Allen, Principal of Paris High School, hitting them head on. The tragedy occurred at 10:15pm on Route One, two miles south of West Union. Killed in the crash was John P. Allen, 49, Paulette Carole Brooks and Mary Margaret “Marni” Lutz.

Address: 404 Shaw Ave., Paris, Illinois 61944

Hauntings: Shadow figures have been seen coming up the staircase to the 2^nd floor, disembodied voices, numerous EVPs, Jason Snider was shoved by unseen hands on the 3^rd floor near the couch, other figures have been seen passing by windows and standing in the windows of the larger operation suite.

Equipment setup: Our Command Center was set up on the 2^nd floor. I had an IR camcorder on the 2^nd floor and the Spectercam4 on the 3^rd floor along with the Epod and EM Vortex. Stan set up G.E.I.S.T. equipment in the large surgical suite.

The Ghost Research Society investigated old Paris Hospital on May 5, 2012. Team members included: Stan Suho, Sandra Weber, Lisa Krick, Nicole Tito and Dale Kaczmarek with Jason Snider and members of Crawford County Ghost Hunters.

Personal Experiences:

Stan Suho: This was an older medium size 3 story Hospital still in very good condition. After we had our guided tour and made our walk through, we chose a room on the second floor for our Command post. We were joined by a local group from the Robinson\Oblong area. I set up G.E.I.S.T. at the end of a long hallway on the third floor, in a room called the Large Surgery Room.

The room was where several paranormal events occurred. The standard G.E.I.S.T. setup was used including the Ghost Camera. Due to some technical difficulties the Ghost Microphone was not used, so there were no audio recordings made. The DVR was used to record the Ghost Camera.

After setup I had some free time so I took my Sony Night Shot Camera and made a private walk through that covered rooms on the 1st and 3rd floors. I also took along my Night vision Monocle. After that I joined the EVP team as observer and picture taker. The rest of the evening I monitored the equipment and interfaced with members of the local group.

In conclusion I have to say that nothing unusual showed up on any of my cameras or G.E.I.S.T. equipment. I also think that we thoroughly covered the building and a follow up investigation is not needed.

Nicole Tito:

Equipment Used: Audio recorder, EM pump, K-II meter, Ovilus, REM E-Pod, Ghost Box

Impressions/Personal Experiences:

Entering this hospital, I knew very little about this location, but still encountered some unusual feelings around the hospital in different areas even though it was still light outside. Upon our initial walkthrough, I had strange feelings up on the 3^rd floor hallway near the surgical operating rooms. Even sitting there taking in the atmosphere, I felt like someone was watching me and kept thinking that the lone wheelchair was going to suddenly wheel itself down the hallway.

Later on in the evening, when Lisa, Sandy, and I were sitting quietly on the 3^rd floor hallway, I felt like I kept seeing shadows and hearing noises from the two operating rooms. I felt like we did not belong in there and something was watching us very closely.

Consequently that night, Lisa and I had some interesting K-II spikes in the new and old ERs on the 1^st floor. We could not follow the spikes to an electrical source and they did not remain constant. It seemed to respond to some of our questions and at times, there felt like there was a presence in the room.

EVPs/Audio Evidence:

Hey Whisper Clip: Sounds like a breathy "Hey," at the end after Sandy turns on the Tri-Field in the main OR.
New ER NONE Response: Funny response of, “None,” after we all asked who the spirits wanted to talk to.
Old ER Aww Clip: Sounds like someone says AWW after Lisa jokes about previous session. Sandy tags herself immediately after she is moving in her chair. This was not heard in real time.
Old ER POSSIBLE Response: “Possible,” response on Ghost Radar after we inquire whether the spirits come and go as they please.
Old ER Rumble: Not really sure what caused this strange noise although there are a lot of main streets around. We did not hear this in real time.
Old ER SATAN Response: “Satan,” response on the Ghost Radar after we ask who is here.
Old ER SUDDEN Box Response: “Sudden,” response on Ghost Radar after we asked how the ghost died.
Old ER Whisper: There is a whisper after Lisa asks, "Come back please," then you hear Sandy say, "That's me," referring to the noise she made shifting in her chair. There sounds like a female voice between the two. To me it almost sounds like, "I could go for a blanket." However, it is not conclusive. This was not heard in real time.
OR Footsteps: Very hard to hear, but sounds like someone is walking above us on the roof taking a few steps. This was heard in real time.
OR GO Box Response: “Go,” response to question asked on Ghost Box.
OR CODE BLUE Response: “Code blue,” comes on the Ghost Box after Lisa asks a question.
OR HE’S DEAD Response: “He’s dead,” on the Ghost Box after Lisa asks about a patient.
OR NEITHER Box Response: “Neither,” response after Lisa asks did the patient die because of a doctor’s negligence.
OR NO Box Response: “No,” response to question on Ghost Box.
OR YEP Box Response: “Yep,” response to question on Ghost Box.
Weird Noise: Sounds like a moan or something before I asked a question.

Still photos: Nothing out of the ordinary captured in both exterior and interior shots.

Lisa Krick:

While everyone else was finishing up with set up, Nicole and Sandy and I went up to the second floor (that being basement, first, and second floor in the labeling). We found a wheelchair, which we placed the front wheels just behind a line on the floor. We then walked to one of the surgeries on the second floor and looked around in there for a few minutes. No one else had come up to the second floor. We were the only living beings up there. When we walked back out to the wheelchair it had moved a good four inches forward. We tried everything we could to reproduce the movement and make the chair move on its own. We couldn't do it. We put the chair back in position and it never moved again that night.

As the sky darkened, we (Nicole, sandy and I) sat up on the second floor in the hallway, about halfway down, on the couch and faced the end of the hall where the wheelchair was and the wing to the surgery was. I kept seeing shadows coming from the surgery wing door and it felt ominous up there at that time. That was the only time that night that the second floor felt anything but benign.

Everyone got together and we began EVP sessions in different areas. Y’all have the EVPs and Ovilus responses already. The only out of the ordinary thing that we couldn't figure out was when we were in the second story surgery, the light in the room (even though it was dark outside) kept shifting. We all noted it and we saw shadows in the hallway while we were conducting EVP in there. It didn't seem threatening like before, but perhaps curious.

We had K-II pops in the first floor emergency rooms which corresponded with Ovilus responses

Evidence collected:

Female response.MPG captured on the audio track of the camcorder mounted on the 2^nd floor. You will hear Lisa ask a question which is heard through the ghost amplifier at the command center only to be followed by a high-pitched female response somewhere down the hallway.

Hesdead.MPG an EVP session in the large surgical suite, a question was asked, “Doctor, can you help us? This patient is dying.” The Ghost Box responds with, “He’s dead!”

Humming.MPG an EVP session in the large surgical suite, a question was asked, “Do you need a doctor? I can call him.” Humming is then heard in the background.

K-II#1.MPG the K-II is seen going off on command.

K-II#2.MPG the K-II device is seen going off at the same time as the Ovilus is heard spitting out words.

Light.MPG a strange light is seen at the far left-hand side end of the hallway.

Moan.MPG an EVP session in the old ER Room, a question was asked, “I’m not leaving here until I get service.” A slight moan or groan is heard in the background.

New ER None response.MPG an EVP in the New ER Room, a question was asked, “Will you talk to me? Will you talk to Nicole? Will you talk to Dale?” The Ghost Radar responds with, “None.”

Old ER Aww.MPG an EVP session in the old ER Room a distinct Awww sound is heard in the background.

Old ER Possible response.wma – an EVP session in the old ER Room, a comment was made to which the Ghost Radar responded with, “Possible.”

Old ER rumble.MPG an EVP session in the old ER Room when a low rumble sound is heard in the background.

Old ER sudden box response.MPG an EVP session in the old ER Room, a question was asked, “You need for us to stay with you for awhile.” The Ghost Box responds with, “Sudden.”

Old ER whisper.MPG an EVP session in the old ER Room, a whisper is distinctly heard in the background.

Scream1.MPG captured on the audio track of the camcorder mounted on the 2^nd floor. A female high-pitched scream is heard in the background.

Scream2.MPG captured on the audio track of the camcorder mounted on the 2^nd floor. Another female high-pitched female scream is heard in the background.

Satan.MPG an EVP session in the old ER Room, the Ovilus said, “Satan.”

Taketheforceps.MPG an EVP session in the large surgical suite, the Ghost Box says, “Take the forceps!”

Thedoctor.MPG an EVP session in the large surgical suite, the Ghost Box says, “The doctor.”

Conclusions: Most of what was picked up as evidence I believe is of a residual nature especially the dialog in the Operating Room on the 3^rd floor. There may have been some interactive responses that seemed to be in direct response to questions posed that evening. Nothing visual was captured on any videotape or still photography that evening. There were some mild personal experiences mostly by the EVP team and some interaction with the K-II meter. All in all, a very interesting place that warrants further research and investigation in the future.