Haunted Linda Vista Hospital

Linda Vista Hospital is known to be haunted. So then why is LA's haunted hospital 'Linda Vista' going to become a senior living facility?

Ghosts of Linda Vista Hospital

Darting shadows, cries in the night and unexplained humming were all experienced by those working on the Linda Vista grounds while filming. Many claim to have been touched and pushed by these unseen forces.

Three spirits in particular have been sighted on multiple occasions: a little girl lurks in the surgical room humming; a young woman paces the hallways of the third floor; and the spirit of an orderly still makes his daily rounds.

There is a ghost of a man who died from hypothermia under the stairs that lead down from the upper basement.

When you go into the boiler room, the energy there just doesn’t feel right. It’s like a draining, demotivated, and depressed feeling. If you look around the room enough, you find out why. There is a box down there that is full of human ashes. What is bizarre is the hospital attracted many John and Jane Does. The hospital didn’t know what to do with these deceased bodies, so they burned them in the incinerator and forgot about them. It’s believed that this is the main reason for the buildings hauntings.

Not only was Linda Vista a hospital, it was also a psychiatric ward. Room 323 is the paranormal hot spot of this building. A demonic entity roams around in this room. This entity has been known to growl at and physically abuse people. Paranormal investigators have been scratched on the back when going into room 323. Also, when ghost hunters leave this room, the entity forcefully pushes them out.

History

Originally built in 1905 as a hospital for the employees of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway, the hospital was demolished and rebuilt in the mid-1920s, but it still contains relics from the railway days. The coved ceilings in wide hallways are meant to look like the inside of a caboose and staff and patient rooms are lined with Sante Fe tile.

Despite the fun trail feel, it is still a very creepy place inside - which is by design, since it's one of the most popular filming locations in Los Angeles. It has been featured in some upbeat programs, like the pilot episode of "ER" or the hospital scenes in "Pearl Harbor." But more often than not, it stands in for a mental institution ("True Blood"), the scene where one serial killer leaves another serial killer a present ("Dexter")  and numerous paranormal documentary shows like "Ghost Stories" and "Ghost Adventures."

Caretaker Francis Kortekaas tells the LA Times that he's experienced several events that he can't explain - like water turning on by itself at a scrub sink that is operated by a leg-lever, or feeling like a small child put a hand in his. "It felt like my daughter's hand," he says.

But starting in June 2012, the hospital's nurses' residences are going to be converted into 23 senior apartments, which are housed in a separate three-story building that is connected to the hospital by a tunnel.

Then in 2013, the upper five floors of the hospital itself will be converted into 74 apartments, all for people over the age of 55 whose annual income is between $16,000 and $25,000.

The 107-year-old Linda Vista Community Hospital may soon earn a new reputation once a proposed $40 million conversion is complete, transforming the abandoned building into a senior living home.

"People tell me it's the most haunted place in L.A.," said Maurice Ramirez, executive vice president of Amcal Multi-Housing Inc., the affordable housing group heading the hospital's conversion. "Because it's been empty for maybe 25 years or so, it becomes the subject of a little urban folklore about ghosts and things."

The hospital's caretaker Francis Kortekaas says he has experienced a few unusual moments over the years since Linda Vista closed shop in 1991, including when a sink seemed to turn itself on and off in front of his eyes, and when he felt a child's hand reach out for his own, even though he was alone at the time.

"It felt like my daughter's hand," he told the paper.

Kortekaas has made some unusual changes to the site, including adding a fake prison cell, to make it more accommodating to potential filmmakers. Over the years, the property has been used by several entertainment productions, including the musicians Duran Duran, and as a set for the TV shows "True Blood" and "ER."

Kortekaas says filming takes place at the hospital for nearly 130 days a year.

Perhaps most terrifying of all, the hospital has also been home to shooting locations for the critically panned films "Pearl Harbor" and the 2005 Adam Sandler remake of "The Longest Yard."

But that dark legacy will have a shot at redemption once the extensive renovations are complete.

 

The hospital closed down about 1990 amid rumors of patient abuse and rumored threats of numerous lawsuits. According to people who entered this building right after it closed for business, and many years later, it's as if the people working there just "stopped what they were doing and walked out," like a ship being abandoned.