The Paranormal Database

Examining folkloric, paranormal & cryptozoological locations in the UK and beyond

Home > Reports: Places > Hospital

Hospital Ghosts, Folklore and Forteana

Scarecrow

Location: Mullingar (County Westmeath) - St Bridget's Ward at St Loman's Hospital
Type: Other
Date / Time: December 2014
Further Comments: A photograph published by the local press that showed a strange face looking out from a window was later identified as a scarecrow left in the room by previous visitors.

William

Location: N1 (Greater London) - Whittington Hospital, Islington
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2000s
Further Comments: Ghosthunter Leonard Low claimed to have taken a photograph in the hospital of 'William', a ten year old boy from the fifteenth century who suffered from leprosy. Leonard said that the ghost stories he was told from nurses concerning the haunted hospital date back at least forty years.

Knuckle Rapping

Location: Nantwich (Cheshire) - Private house, Hospital Street
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: 1947
Further Comments: The home of Ernest Haywood featured in the news after a phantom started to create several sounds, including footsteps on the staircase, knuckles rapping on the wall, and the loud bang of a heavy sack being dropped.


The phantom blue nurse of Netley.

Blue Nurse

Location: Netley (Hampshire) - Victoria Military Hospital (no longer standing)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Pre-1966
Further Comments: One story associated with this ghost stated that she fell in love with a patient but murdered him and killed herself once she discovered that he was seeing another woman. The ghost has not been reported since demolition of the building. In addition to this spook, a ghostly grey lady would appear to patients who would die a few hours later.

Hooded Figure

Location: Newport (Gwent) - Royal Gwent Hospital
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: October 2005, 30 March 2021
Further Comments: One report sent to the Paranormal Database stated that both patients and nurses on one ward spotted a hooded monk-like figure. In 2021 two patients spotted a small, hooded form drift in a ward, leaving both witnesses shocked. Another report says a day room is home to an entity which pushes down on people's chests.

Misty Figure

Location: Newport (Isle of Wight) - Whitecroft Hospital (no longer operational)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: October 1984, between 21:00h - 22:30h (misty figure), other entity unknown
Further Comments: One inpatient awoke to see a misty white figure at the foot of their bed, while another report says two other witnesses, at separate times, encountered a male figure with no eyes.

Matron

Location: Norden (Lancashire) - Wolstenholme Hospital (no longer operational)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Mid 1950s
Further Comments: While cleaning a staircase, a member of domestic staff spotted the legs and lower gown of the Matron ascend the stairs. The cleaner said, 'good morning' and was surprised that there was no reply. A few minutes later the Matron arrived and spoke to the cleaner, who expressed surprise and said the Matron had already gone upstairs. Both Matron and cleaner then went to investigate but no one could be found on the floor above. Other members of staff had also claimed to have seen the phantom Matron.

Brown Haired Girl

Location: Nottingham (Nottinghamshire) - Cumberland Place - old Children's Hospital and then a laboratory
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1949
Further Comments: Two female technicians, and one of their sisters, watched a nurse in an old fashioned uniform glide through a door before vanishing. They said the entity had a pretty face and golden brown hair.

Matron

Location: Nottingham (Nottinghamshire) - Former Trent FM Radio studio, was once a former hospital, 29/31 Castle Gate
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1990s
Further Comments: The studios where Trent FM broadcast from until January 2007 were said to be haunted by a female apparition that resembled a matron. Another ghostly woman, elderly and dressed in black, has also been reported, as has a man in military uniform. Heavy soundproof doors developed a habit of opening and closing themselves.

Older Man

Location: Nottingham (Nottinghamshire) - Hayward House, City Hospital
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: August 2012
Further Comments: Three members of nursing staff contacted security on the emergency line after they saw an unknown elderly male walking at the far end of a corridor at night. He was said to be wearing a flat cap. Upon arrival, security checked the building but could not find any sign of the male. The intruder alarm had also not been set off.

Hello?

Location: Nottingham (Nottinghamshire) - Mapperley Hospital, Porchester Road (closed 1994)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2000s
Further Comments: Since closing, the ghosts of this former asylum have found their voice. Workers on the site have heard their names being called by an unknown voice, and disembodied footsteps also heard. A woman has been observed walking down corridors, and a man has been heard to call out 'hello', though he can never be found.

Okay?

Location: Nottingham (Nottinghamshire) - Purple Entrance, City Hospital
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2013
Further Comments: A voice which asks if people are okay in a caring manner has been heard here, although the source is unseen. The disembodied footsteps heard along a nearby corridor is said to belong to an old matron.

Grey Figure

Location: Nottingham (Nottinghamshire) - Queens Medical Centre - University Hospital
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1970s onwards
Further Comments: A figure wearing a grey robe has been spotted wandering around at night, though vanishes when people start to look for the figure. Nurses who sleep in one of the rest rooms have been woken up by a black nurse - no nurse matching her description works at the centre.

Footsteps

Location: Nottingham (Nottinghamshire) - Ropewalk House (currently a hospital)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2012-2013
Further Comments: Footsteps, banging and knocking have been reported coming from deserted parts of this building.

Grey Nun

Location: Outer London: Stanmore (Greater London) - Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 13 November (reoccurring), although could have last been seen 30 November 2009
Further Comments: Built on the site of a nunnery, the hospital is now visited by a gliding figure that is thought to come from the former building.

Floating Beds

Location: Paisley (Renfrewshire) - Alexandra Nursing Home (formerly Royal Alexander Infirmary Hospital), Calside
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: August 1994 - May 1999
Further Comments: A former staff member claimed that some of her colleagues had experienced paranormal phenomena at the building. These included hearing footsteps in the loft (the area was padlocked off), a phantom man dragging what looked like a body bag, beds being elevated and pushed away from the wall, and noises of running water and whispers in rooms where residents were asleep.

Lady of Glen Coats

Location: Paisley (Renfrewshire) - Coats Hospital, Ferguslie Park (no longer standing)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: This shade could be heard playing the piano in the upper part of the building, when not standing over sleeping patients. She may be the same ghost as the 'White Witch', another entity from the same locale.

Lady Albertha

Location: Plymouth (Devon) - Albertha ward, Greenbank Hospital (no longer standing)
Type: Crisis Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: The shade of Lady Albertha, who donated the money for the ward to be built, used to appear beside the cots of sick children. When she appeared, the child was sure to recover, regardless of how ill they were.

Napoleonic POW

Location: Plymouth (Devon) - Freedom Fields Hospital (no longer operational)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1976
Further Comments: A third year student nurse spotted a short man in blue uniform running down a staircase. Phoning security, they reassured the student that the figure was the resident ghost, a Napoleonic prisoner of war.


A ghostly woman in white, illustration by Wayne Lowden.

Woman in White

Location: Plymouth (Devon) - Geriatric wards, Mount Gould Hospital
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Varies
Further Comments: These wards are reputed to be built on the site of a battle and numerous unexplained occurrences are said to have happened. One male staff member reported a white lady who disappeared into a room. On investigation, the room was found empty, but the patient the man was standing beside at the time of the sighting died before morning, even though he was not obviously unwell.

Child

Location: Poole (Dorset) - Baiter Park (former site of an isolation hospital)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Possible late 1990s
Further Comments: A ghostly figure of a small thin child standing by a bench was spotted by one witness. The entity and entity locked eyes before the ghost faded away.

Elsie

Location: Poole (Dorset) - Hospital and Grey Towers Hall (no longer standing)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Pre-1990s
Further Comments: The hospital here had a reputation as being haunted by a ghost named Elsie.

Pool of Blood

Location: Portsmouth (Hampshire) - Royal Portsmouth Hospital (no longer standing)
Type: Other
Date / Time: 1940s-1970s
Further Comments: Local folklore says that the operating theatre had a pool of blood on the floor which could never be cleaned, no matter how hard the staff tried to remove it.

Looking for Child

Location: Portsmouth (Hampshire) - St Mary's Hospital
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1969
Further Comments: A ghostly woman in a dressing gown was once said to wander the hospital looking for her baby, who had died of unknown complications.

Most Not Haunted?

Location: Ryhope (Durham) - Cherry Knowle Hospital, Laurels Block
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2008
Further Comments: Ghost hunters were said to be putting their lives at risk by breaking into this former hospital, and local newspaper Sunderland Echo named it 'the most haunted hospital in the UK'. Unfortunately, there is a distinct lack of historic ghost stories relating to the structure, and one cannot help but to think a modern myth is in the making.

Quick Links
Contribute
Contribute to the Paranormal Database

Reports: Places
View Reports: Places

Reports: Type
Reports: Type

Reports: People
View Reports: People

Calendar
View the Paranormal Database Calendar