It's almost Halloween folks. Time for the ghoulies and ghosties and 3-legged beasties to make bumps in the night. But before that, I'd like to share another odd tale from my time in the hospital.
For a good year I've been working as an intern in a local hospital. The place is a modern tertiary facility, large, well-lighted -- in other words, not the type of place that would make you think of ghosts. Naturally, since a lot of people have died in the place, you'd expect a lot of paranormal experience, but as an intern in my various rotations, I've done my share of midnight rounds without much funfare.
One room was decidedly spooky, though. Our quarters. The intern's quarters was located on the second floor of the old building, a long ward-type rectangular at the back of the hospital, old and dismally lit. An air of uneasiness seemed to hang around the place with all the empty double deck beds and dark corners. I never liked being alone the room, even in the afternoon. Since the beds blocked the windows, little to nil light filtered in and the place was always dark. One never felt alone in that room. There was always this uneasy feeling of someone else being in the room.
Because there were so few interns that year, soemtimes only 1 intern would go on duty for the night. 1 intern for a 300 bed hospital. I've often gone solo duty. I didn't mind it on weekdays when the other interns would usually sleep over for the night so they wouldn't have to come in early the next day. Weekend duties were harder though. Eveyone would go home for the weekend so I'd be left alone for the day.
One duty, I decided to eat dinner before doing my rounds. There was another intern on duty with me but she was stationed at the ER so I was still alone in the quarters. The whole day seemed spooky for me, so I had spent most of the day doing rounds just to avoid being in the quarters alone. After dinner, I went to brush my teeth in the bathroom. I was in the bathroom when I heard someone calling my name twice.
It sounded like my co-intern's voice, so I stepped out to ask her why. When I got out, however, the room was empty, the door closed and nothing was amiss. For a moment I thought I was imagining things. But the voice was distinct and clear and sounded exactly like E's (my co-intern). There was no reason for me to imagine that.
My co-intern informed me later that she had never left the ER. And yet I distinctly heard her voice calling my name. The fact that it even knew my name freaked me out so I rushed out and spent the entire night doing rounds.
Naturally, no one believed my story despite the fact that the residents next door later told us that the place was haunted. It was not until a few days before our 1 year tenure was up, after eating lunch at the quarters did they start to believe me. One of my co-interns, T, was brushing his teeth in the bathroom, while a friend, J, and I sat outside the bathroom waiting for him. Minutes later, we heard him calling "What? What?" and J and I laughed, thinking, "Ok, T's loosing his mind."
When T got out, we asked him what he was hollering for. He said he heard someone calling his name. A female voice called his name twice and he asked us who had come by looking for him. J and I exchanged glances. We were the only ones outside the bathroom and neither heard anyone calling T's name. Yet T swears someone called him. A woman called him by name. Twice. While he was brushing his teeth. Same pattern as mine several months ago.
No one really knows who the disembodied voice is. Some of the residents who had been interns there said that there has been sightings of a little boy walking around the room. And one bed is purpotedly haunted.
Another co-intern, F, who dorms in the quarters reports that she had seen a small boy once, sitting in our couch with his back to her. While the disembodied voices and experiences have escalated during times of stress, throughout our stay, only F has seen the boy.
Another co-intern, A, experienced a different sort of haunting. She entered the hospital mid-year and through most of her stay, several nurses and hospital staff have reported seeing her walking around the hospital, taking the elevators, etc. Only problem is, A isn't even in the hospital when they see her.
No one knows for sure why A has a doppelganger. At first, we simply laughed at it but then the sightings became more and more frequent that everyone knew A had a "paranormal double". A claims she had never had a doppelganger before. She herself has never seen it. At one point, she tried burning insence to get rid of the double, only to realize that it only brought the thing closer.
Shortly after the insence burning, another intern, K and I went into the quarters to pick up something. We were having a lunch conference upstairs and all interns were required to attend it. As we were coming in, we met the other interns coming out and I asked if there was still anyone inside. They said no and K stopped to talk to them. I went on into the room. As soon as I entered I saw A passing through the rows of beds at the far end of the room, shaking her trademark long, wavy tresses. I did not see her face but the body language, the stance, the trademark tresses -- it immediately registered as A.
I cried out, "A--! I thought you went upstairs?"
As I did, K entered the room. I turned to her then turned back to A, but by then the room was empty. I went towards the back and searched the beds thinking she must have decided to skip the conference and just hide under covers, but all the beds were neatly made and empty. As it turned out, A was already eating lunch in the conference.
My sighting would be the last doppelganger sighting (that I know of). Just as mysteriously as it started, A's double was never seen again.