Sunland Hospitals

During the tuberculosis epidemic that ravaged the nation up until a cure was discovered in the middle of the 20th century, hospitals to treat the ill were constructed in every state across the nation. Florida was no exception to that fact. In the 1930`s a chain of hospitals called "W.T. Edwards Tuberculosis Hospitals" was launched in many cities including Tampa, Tallahassee, Miami, & Gainesville. After the cure was found & eliminated the need for those hospitals, the chain was bought by Sunland Hospitals & converted into mental institutions. Sunland also bought a tuberculosis hospital in Orlando & the chain of mental institutions opened for business in the early 1960`s.

Sometime between 1983 & 1985 the chain of hospitals were closed after reports surfaced of understaffing, underfunding, & patient abuse. The closing of the hospitals was largely due to a landmark lawsuit that exposed the abuse, but many sources still argue to this day that those claims were unfounded. There have been many reports of hauntings at all of these locations including apparitions, strange lights, noises, & sounds. What has fueled the haunting allegations even more is the unconfirmed reports that the deceased tuberculosis patients were incinerated. Although that is unconfirmed, it`s very likely because most bodies were creamated at tuberculosis hospitals because of contagious nature of the disease.

After the closure of these facilities in the 80`s many curious thrill seekers & partiers regularly trespassed at these locations. Below is a picture of what is believed to be an apparition caught on film at the facility in Tallahasse.

The Tallahassee facility was demolished in October of 2006.

GhostHauntings.org was recently contacted by avid ghost hunters Elizabeth Lund & Candace Grove who brought the facility in Orlando to my attention, which led to this investigation into the Sunland Hospitals. Just like all of the other facilities, the Orlando location had it`s share of trespassers over the years since it`s closure. In July of 1997 at about 4 a.m., 23 year old Keith Murdock & a few friends climbed over the 12 foot barbed wire fence & entered the building. Mr. Murdock walked into what he thought was an open door, but learned the hardway that it was an elevator shaft. He fell 3 stories and layed there in a pool of blood for over an hour until rescuers recovered him. His friends left him there & called 911, but when they learned that the rescuers could not locate him after 40 minutes of searching, they returned to lead rescuers to the injured man. Murdock survived, but suffered head & spine injuries. All of the trespassers were arrested & charged with burglary & trespassing. This event fueled a public outcry that led to the building`s demolition in 1999.

Today only the administration building remains of the Orlando location & the rest of the land where the hospital once stood is now a public park. Elizabeth & Candace have visited the location on a few occassions & have even gotten recordings of unknown voices (EVP`s). We will feature those recordings in the future once GhostHauntings.org gets that capability, but at this time this site does not support that function. It will be coming in the future though.

Recently (early 2007) Elizabeth & Candace visited this Orlando location around 6 P.M. & took some interesting pictures, including one photo of a face that I believe is one of the most convincing pictures I`ve ever seen. They only stayed for about 15 minutes because they got a creepy feeling that they needed to leave as soon as possible. There are many orbs in these photos that were taken with a digital camera. Normally orbs are very common with digital cameras under 5 mega pixels & are not anything paranormal, but are actually a glitch in the ability of the camera to adjust to the darkness. However, the camera that they used is above 5 mega pixels which raises the question that perhaps these orbs may be more than just a glitch.

Orb circled in red in the center of the photo

Another orb near the porch light of the trailer

This is the eerie photo with the face in the window & an unexplained light in the window in the center of the photo. It`s hard to see with out zooming in, but once you zoom it will grab your attention. Look at the red square in the top left corner. Below is a lightened & cropped version of the face. 

Elizabeth & Candace will keep GhostHauntings.org updated of any new developments & I encourage anyone else with photos or documents to come forward & contact me.

Below are some photos that Candace & Elizabeth took between January & March of 2007. This location seems to have a lot of ghostly activity & these photos are very interesting.

Although this can be debated by some that we`re merely looking at a glare or that this is an error caused by the camera, the possibility also exists that this glowing red anomaly could be an apparition. This photo was taken at the playground of the park where the hospital once stood.

Upon closer review of this photo, there seems to be the face of a boy peering out of this window. While the hospital was used as a mental facility, several handicapped children were housed there & Boy Scout meeting were also held here. A close up of this face is provided below.

This is believed to be another face looking back at us from the playground. A close up is provided below

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