|
|
|
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
|
|
The NHS Hauntings
While I walked down passed the old mortuary building the clock struck midnight. I clutched to my white coat while the wind blew swiftly past me. My bleep echoed through the dark winding paths of City General Hospital. It was yet another cardiac arrest bleep. I ran through the paths, down the wards and through the old block that was a children’s ward. Through the pane of the window I saw seven children playing. While running, I thought – “ that’s strange for children to be up at this time”. Having arrived at the cardiac arrest scene to find the patient drinking tea and watching Halloween II, I decided to take the nurses up on their offer of coffee and toast. “False alarm”, they said, “student nurse, pressed the wrong button doctor, sorry”. While drinking the coffee, I muttered “ Those children are up late in that old ward”. The nurses look at each other “ The ward has been closed for years, many people see the children though”. Rumour has it that those are the babies and children who died in the paediatric ward in the last few years. No one believes in ghosts but there is no other explanation Rita”. It was many years later that I was to discover the on goings at the Paediatric Unit. I have no idea what relation these events had to the paediatric unit. North Staffordshire NHS Trust though has been haunted by more spectres than those who are dead.
Barts and Royal London Hospitals NHS Trust has sightings of the “ grey lady” at the 264-year-old Royal London Hospital. Annie Lindsay at University Hospital London told the Guardian “ It was the night sister’s first duty to close the shutters, and the day sister’s duty to open them in the morning. If the shutters were not closed at night, then somebody unexpectedly died”. She described the ritual closing of the shutters on a picture of long decreased surgeon Marcus Beck. Judith Walley of City Hospital NHS Trust told the Guardian newspapers “ I was walking along the top floor corridor and seeing a ward sister coming towards me – I said “ Evening sister”. I then realised I could only see her from the knees up. In 1996 the site monitored by CCTV at the Birmingham Eye Centre triggered alarms following a ghostly figure. Security guards found no one there. Holly from Swansea tells of a 'friendly ghost' who haunted a psychiatric hospital "When I worked in the office of a psychiatric hospital, I was walking down one of the many dark and eerie corridors of the hospital when I heard a female voice singing in a strange language. I started to feel very cold and nervous as the voice got louder." "When I looked in the voice's direction, I saw a very small woman with long ginger hair and big green eyes. She stopped singing, smiled at me and said, "Have you come to punish me again?". I reassured her that I was not there to hurt her in any way, and with that she walked into another room and out of my sight. "I assumed that she was one of the patients who often said and did strange things. But when I told my boss about her, he smiled and explained that the woman's name was Olga, and that many of the staff had seen her. He told me that Olga was a friendly ghost who had been haunting the hospital for years. She had been a patient with paranoid schizophrenia, who had died in the hospital at a young age after committing suicide." "Olga had asked me if I was going to punish her because, due to her illness, she had been paranoid that everyone was about to hurt her in some way. I saw Olga twice after that, but instead of being scared, I just felt sorry for her. I don't know if she is still at the hospital, but if she is, I hope she finds peace one day." Peter Fenwick Neurologist at Kings College London states “ They usually feature a decreased member of the family appearing to a dying person, helping them on their journey to physical death,” he says. “ People report that it is extremely pleasing. Occasionally, carers have reported seeing the vision, so it can’t be put down to hallucination due to medication. Where a patient is having a good death – by that I mean one with less painkillers – then these phenomena are more likely to occur. Relatives and staff in hospices, including a doctor, have also reported seeing a room filled with light or columns of light emanating from the body of a dying person. This is interpreted as “ the soul or the essence of a person” leaving the body. Dr Fenwick states, “ I have to say that when there is no brain activity, consciousness dies and you are gone. But the things that have been described to me might point to a continuation of consciousness. Who can say? Electricity was thought to be magic several hundred years ago. As we move to a postmodern view of science, together with the recognition that as yet, neuroscience has no explanation for consciousness, the possibility of transcendent phenomena around the time of death should also be considered. Papworth Hospital NHS Trust has a side room in its cardiac care unit. For those who have never been to Papworth NHS Trust, it is a hospital built in a little place with limited shops and no mobile phone signal. The main trait within Papworth NHS Trust is that they believe they are the centre of the world. Of course, they forget that they are simply a little hospital with a big ego. Like a few hospitals, Papworth NHS Trust provides a touch of darkness, a sudden chill and a feeling that all is not quite right there. At least that’s how we all felt on our arrival. My father’s room faced a duck pond. He had been shoved away to prevent his MRSA from spreading to the staff. While the nurses sought to disinfect themselves repeatedly, they forgot to treat the patient with antibiotics. Needless to say, he died of septic shock in his bed and no one had noticed for a whole hour until his family arrived to see him. – the cardiac arrest team arrived late in the day. I was called to witness something rather different. I watched a bright white light filter out of the window. I stopped the cardiac arrest team and said, “ Its too late, he has gone already, no point coming late and doing your bit for mankind”. My father’s eyes had gone cloudy - he had in effect left the building. Knowing my father’s personality, it was probably his way of saying “ I am fed up of incompetence, I am going to some place better”. The bright light was something most people interpreted as my bereavement reaction but only I know of its existence and only I was aware of the fact that something did exist after death. I did not know what it was but I knew my father achieved contentment instinctively. All of a sudden, science did not matter, neither did the pitiful nurses who had not noticed a dead man in his bed, neither did the surgeons who had persistently refused to save his life. It was too late. It was now the end – and the end was much better than living through what some doctors had to offer. There were no tears for me due to this sudden realisation that there was something after death and whatever it was – it was better than life. I am sceptical about the existence of God, have never followed a religion and never believed in life after death. This bright light was to change my perception of science for good. I am also grateful for having a very short glimpse of what lies after death.
I have kept an open mind since the two experiences I have had of unexplained phenomena. While the NHS purportedly cares for patients from the cradle to the grave. One never really knows what lies beyond that grave. The Paranormal Database contains records of many unexplained events in and around UK hospitals, and is well worth a visit for those readers of a curious disposition. Related Links
|
|
|
|
|
[Home] [NHS Exposed] [Patients] [Health Workers] [NHS in Crisis] [Legal Issues] [Media] [Helpdesk] [Public Views] All copyright remains with original authors unless otherwise stated. |
As a
qualified doctor and scientist, I have often been fascinated by stories
of ghostly encounters, the paranormal and the unexplained. I do though
walk around with a spectre of cynicism, sarcasm and denial. That was ofcourse
until Halloween night 31st October 1998. I was the medical junior doctor
on call and it was a rainy night, full of cardiac arrest calls and death.
The spooky certification of death was always harrowing for me. Each time,
the chill of death, perhaps of evil or maybe of unrest shrouded each assessment.
City General Hospital Stoke on Trent was a cold place. Not only because
of the death that surrounded the place but also because of the touch of
darkness that pervaded it.
The
United Kingdom has many hospitals with ghostly stories. Hospitals are
afterall places of where one exits to the “other side”. Some
ghosts of patients return to haunt their doctors, others simply haunt
the wards. It is difficult to scientifically prove the existence of these
phenomena and most evidence consists of eyewitness accounts. Hospitals
are often unhappy places, full of pain, distress and suffering. Andrew
Green a veteran ghost hunter died in 2004 but had collected many stories.
Mr Green felt that these apparitions are forms of electromagnetic energy
– a sort of faded echo of people whose lives were intensely stressful.
These tales are passed through generations of doctors – perhaps
a sort of paranormal aid to risk management. With the increasing numbers
of deaths that have occurred over the last few years, one wonders if there
is an increase in numbers of ghostly haunting. The Department of Health
have no statistics related to this professing that it is more concerned
about the living. That issue is hotly debated in all sectors. 
It
was not until later that my sister examined her mobile phone pictures.
A room with no sun had shining light caught on camera (see left). Many
people have interpreted it as a reflection or refraction but to this day
we have not had a positive explanation.