Hometown Haunt - The Haunted

There have been numerous weeks this year where I have spent more hours at Linda Vista than I have in my own home. We are friendly now, she and I and like all close friends we know each others secrets. As soon as I enter I know when she is agitated and when she is at peace. We still have plenty more to share...

Unexplained shadows, whispering, voices, full and partial body apparitions, growling, shuffling and walking are common experiences to those who venture inside these walls.

There are three entities most commonly experienced here - they are:

The Doctor(s) - most commonly referred to as "Dr. Edwards" In 1981 this doctor had a patient that was a gang member who was critically injured and because he wasn't able to save the man's life, members of his gang killed Dr. Edwards in the parking lot. One psychic told me that there was also an older, male doctor and that some workers called him Dr. Frank behind his back. He was nicknamed Dr. Frank because he had a habit of saying things like "Let me be frank with you," and "Be frank with me," a lot. He was generally disliked, or more precisely, feared. He sometimes touches people or "chases" people.

The Female Patient - A female patient is seen and heard wringing her hands and repeatedly asking for help, she is dressed in a hospital gown. She has been seen in numerous locations in the main hospital.

The Little Girl - The voice of a little girl can often be heard laughing, humming or talking on the first floor. People believe that she wanders the hallways and the surgical suite areas searching for her mother.

My favorite story involving the little girl comes from a local team. Two female investigators were walking around the the surgical suite and coming around a corner going from one room to the next and there was a small room off to the side and one of the women put her hand on the doorknob, and just as she did they started hearing a little girl humming. At this same moment the doorknob was forcibly pulled from her hand and slammed against the back wall. As the door was bouncing back toward them, the woman that had put her hand on the doorknob saw a shadow figure in the room. Both women say it then felt like an energy or force moved past them. At first they thought the other two male members of their team had played a trick on them but when, after hearing the women scream they came racing down the hallway toward them it was evident they had not. The entire thing, including, very clearly, the voice of a little girl humming was all caught on audio.



There are few locations in the hospital that do not have a story attached to them, however, this is a blog and not a book, so I am choosing to relate a few.

The Fourth Floor - There have been reports of people hearing water splashing on this floor. I have checked every single faucet, toilet, sink, bathtub or suspect water source on this floor myself and none of them run water. During one investigation. my team's boss was relating this information to some investigators and we captured an EVP of someone saying over him "water, water..."

While on the 4th floor one night, in a wing that looks like it is a radiology room myself, Mr. Blackwood and a fellow teammate conducted numerous EVP sessions throughout the night in this locale. Each time we would leave and walk a few feet into the hallway, we would hear a distinct shuffling/walking sound behind us as though something were trying to follow us. There was no evidence of movement, and we tried repeatedly to recreate the sound from where we heard it. We only did so when I walked very slowly, directly in front of the doorway into the radiation room allowing my too long pants to drag on the floor, (I'm a shortish girl so most of my pants drag).

We were here helping to facilitate an investigation a couple weeks ago. During the investigation of the 4th floor I was told by the lead investigator that everyone was hearing disembodied voices, shadows, that he saw a huge apparition starting to manifest in front of him and others saw it too, that there were very intense cold spots, and an empath in their group got so overcome near the nurse's station and was crying uncontrollably and had to be taken out.

Mental Ward – It wasn't always a mental ward. For periods of time this wing of the property was used to house family members of long term care patients. There is a little unattached staircase in the basement where members of my team have seen a little girl manifest.

A friend saw an apparition of a man walking down the stairway of the mental services building. Seconds after he saw it he and my boss ran onto the hallway and no one was there. The custodians were in their rooms and I was outside with everyone else on the premises and can account for everyone's whereabouts.

Friends from another team had placed an audio recorder on a little table that stands in the hallway of the third floor and have seen it move.

The Main Floor Lobby - One night, when we were conducting an investigation I had left some equipment up on the 4th floor and was on my way up to go retrieve it. As we were approaching the elevator to go up, something with a male voice audibly called my name at the end of the opposite hallway leading to the solarium.

During another investigation as we were rotating teams from the main building into the mental ward, a dear friend and investigator, along with members of the team that had the experience with the little girl, caught an incredible EVP of what sounds like a woman's voice saying, "Get me some medicine." as though she is standing right there.

While mopping up the main lobby, my team's boss saw the half apparition of a man, from the lower back up to the back of his head in the pink room, just off the lobby. He was the only person there at the moment so he ran to head it off at the doorway and when he got there, which was seconds after he saw the apparition, it was gone.


Another one captured just a couple weeks ago when we were here - two well known and seasoned investigators were leading a group that night and they were in the hall waiting for a couple people to come out of the bathroom. They had only gone into the hospital for a few minutes when the lead investigator was trying to prime everyone in the group for what they were going to encounter - and he got an answer from one of the "residents" who says, "I Could Tell You That!" This is one of my favorite EVPs.

Earlier that night, I had escorted a psychic to the bathroom who was visibly shaken. As she emerged, she told me that an entity was in the room with her and was watching her.





Although most likely not paranormal in nature, it disturbs me greatly. There is a resident clown in the form of a pinata. Every single time we go to Linda vista - which can be several days in a row sometimes, that horrid clown is not where it was last seen. The thought that it is moving around of its own accord is not something I like to think about.

This last story was told to us by the current caretaker - 22 years ago, the caretaker, Francis, while in the office, knowing he was alone at the time save for a single security guard - saw a woman dressed as a nurse walking by on the third floor and go into a copy room. As he listened he could hear the sounds of the old copy machine as if it were making copies. He called out to the security guard and as they arrived, they both could see a light on in the copy room and hear the sounds of the machine. The guard reached out to turn the door handle and all of a sudden the light turned off and the sounds stopped. When they entered the room it was empty.

Sadly, the scariest story I have to tell about Linda Vista is one I cannot yet tell. It will probably be many years before I do. My friend, who was also there at the time, just told me today that, months later, she is still having nightmares....