South Morgan Health Care Center, Decatur, AL.: In June of 2003, I was given the opportunity to investigate the South Morgan Health Care Center. I’d never heard of the place, but the others I was with, all seemed very familiar with it. They took a show of hands of all those who wanted to investigate the nursing facility, I thought, why not, and raised my hand as well. They decided we would wait until 11:00 pm and then head out that way. Eleven o’clock rolled around and we drove over to the abandoned building. I live 50 miles away from where the meeting was held, and was not expecting to go on an impromptu investigation that night, so I was not ready equipment wise. I had no flashlight at all, all I had was an old camera I kept in my car. It had no flash, but it did take pretty good pictures. As we drove up the driveway, the old South Morgan Health Care Center came into view. I didnt know how old the structure was, but it seemed to me that it was built somewhere around the 1930’s. It somewhat resembled the old Bryce State Mental Institution located in Tuscaloosa, AL. I wondered, over all the years this place was in operation, just how many patients had died within those walls. The structure was imposing and it was very dark. I found out later, there had been no electricity in that building for at least a year. We took a few photos around the outside of the facility, and then went inside. It was a strange, lonely place. It was very dark and our foot steps echoed down the hallway. It had the weirdest vibe to it. I couldnt put my finger on it exactly, but I felt like someone was going to come around the corner at any moment. As my eyes started to adjust to the darkness, I began to notice something very peculiar… I started to understand why I felt like this building was still occupied. The first thing I noticed was a multitude of medical equipment lining the hallway. Multiple wheel chairs sat open and waiting for a patient to take a seat. Gurneys lined the opposite side of the hallway, ready to take a patient wherever the doctor needed them to go. We reached the nurses station, which was a cube style area, with PDR’s (Physician Desk Reference) open and waiting to provide answers. I went around the chest high counter and looked at the four, high backed bar stools, waiting to be filled. One had a sweater hanging over the back of it, with a thin layer of dust across the shoulders. I glanced at another stool and saw a lab coat hanging over the back of it, it too with a thin layer of dust accumulated. They had obviously been hanging here for quite awhile. If that wasnt disturbing enough, there was someone’s family photos, still setting on the counter of the nurses desk space. What in the world was going on here, I thought. Why would you leave your job and leave your personal items there? Why wouldnt you grab your sweater or lab coat and why would you ever leave your family photos behind? I had a real uneasy feeling, alarm bells were going off in my head, BIG TIME. “Hey come take a look at this guys… these people look like they left in an awful hurry. They left personal clothing and even their family photos behind” I said. “What is the story on this place?” The guy who suggested coming just shrugged his shoulders. “All I know is it’s been closed for close to two years.” About that time, Sheila came out of a patient room. “Man it’s freaky in there! The room is perfectly preserved!” I came out from behind the nurses desk and entered the patient room. I immediately knew what she meant. There was room for two beds and two dressers to a room. The dressers were there, and as I opened a drawer, so was the patients clothing. I turned towards the windows in the room, which was the only source of light. On the windows were color book pictures someone’s grand child colored for them, still taped to the window. Everything that is usually in a patients room was still in there. A box of Kleenex, and a box of tongue depressors. All open and ready to be used. I was feeling more and more uncomfortable, something was definitely WRONG. Everything was still there in it’s place, everything, except the patients. I came out of the room and stood by Dave at the nurses station, while he tried to change out batteries in one of the devices he brought with him. Since he had a small flashlight with him, I stayed there and took some pictures in that area, hoping the flashlight would be enough light to get something other than complete blackness on my photos. “Man, I don’t know what to make of this, something is really wrong here”. Dave kind of gave a grunt in agreement as he struggled with the device. I walked a few feet down to the end of the hall, and shivered, I couldnt shake the feeling of being watched. On the wall, in front of me, was the medicine lock up. I swung open the door and sucked in my breath. “There’s still medicine in the lockup.” I whispered. The warning bells in my head were deafening at this point. Why on earth would you move patients from a facility and not take their personal belongings? Why wouldnt the nurses take their family photos with them, and more alarmingly, at least to me, why would you ever leave medicine in the lock up, that was no longer locked? I did not like the feelings I was getting from this place, something was really bad here. Everything I had inside of me was telling me to GO. LEAVE. GET THE HECK OUT AS FAST AS YOU CAN. But I couldnt. Tonight was my first meeting with this group that I wanted to join. I couldnt let them think I was scared, or they wouldnt let me join. Ironically, it wasnt any ghost I was afraid of, it was something else I could not define. So I said nothing. We went as a group, from room to room to room. All the patient rooms were essentially the same. Dressers full of clothes and hospital gowns, ready to use. Rooms decorated with pictures some child had colored to brighten their day. Everything was there, ready to go, except the patients themselves. We found the stairs and decided to go downstairs to see what was there. A lot more medical equipment was stored there. Ive worked in the medical field for 19 years, so I was very familiar with the equipment. I also knew that most of it was pretty high dollar stuff, and I could not understand for the life of me, whoever owned this place, why they didnt either take the equipment with them, or sell it, instead of letting it sit here and rot. Downstairs, there was a room they used to store Christmas decorations and such. Beyond that was the kitchen, and beyond that, a very large cafeteria. Looking into the inky black kitchen, I waited till Dave caught up to me. He showed his flashlight all around the kitchen, and landed on a white erase board just a few feet away from us. On that board, in someone’s handwriting, was the menu of the day. “Meat Loaf, Mashed Potatoes, Green Beans, Jell-O and Bread Pudding”. I touched the white board, and ran my finger through the “g” in Pudding, and part of the “g” disappeared. In my mind I kept thinking “What happened here? What made everyone disappear, without their personal items?” I walked into the kitchen itself, and I was not prepared for what I would see. Dave was in the kitchen, and he flashed his light into the sink. Large industrial pans were on the counter, some with food still stuck in them. Dirty plates and cups were in the dish sink. I shivered. I was getting more and more apprehensive. What happened to these people? The group that I was with, was ready to leave. I sighed in relief, I was more than ready to leave. This place was more than a little disturbing to me. We went outside the building and I took a deep breath, glad to be out of the building. We stayed around a little longer, talking amongst ourselves and taking photos around the outside of the building. Around 2:00 am I left for home. Over the next few days, I found myself thinking about the place more and more. I really wanted to see the place during the daytime. I went by Wal-Mart and turned in my photos for processing, and later that day, I went back to pick them up. The photos, for the most part, were unremarkable. I wasnt too surprised, really. I didnt have a flash so I really wasnt expecting much. I got to the last three photos and what I saw put chills down my spine. It was simply amazing. While we were outside preparing to leave, we took photos of the facility. I went completely around the place. I had the most paranoid feeling of being watched. I knew there was no electricity in the building for a long time, so when I saw the bright images staring out the window at us, I felt an overwhelming sadness settle over me. It was as if they were saying “Please don’t leave us!” I stared at the photo in my hand. Was it my imagination playing tricks on me? Was it an optical illusion from the flash of a camera of one of the other members? Looking at it closely, I could see that was not the case. Yes the ghost was in the window, however, it was also large enough that it spilled outside the window and a small portion extended onto the bricks. The next photo was of another entity in the building, looking out another window. Why, I wondered, would they stay at this place? They died and if death is the ultimate freedom, shouldnt they be able to go where they want? As amazing as these photos were, the last photo in the bunch took my breath away. I simply couldnt believe my eyes. I took this photo when I was looking around at the nurses station. In the photo, Dave was replacing the batteries in the device he was using. The blue light, I knew, was his flashlight. I felt like there was something around us the whole time, something we could not see and it kept me on edge. I felt eyes on me and it made me apprehensive. We were definitely being watched and there was a lot of energy in that place. Looking at the photo in hand, it made perfect sense… we were surrounded, plain and simple. It all made sense now and I realized, for the first time, I am more sensitive than I thought I was. It was truly amazing what was all around us that we couldnt see. There is a lot more than just the “five senses” we are allowed to claim. They were all around us in the photo. I took my photos and left the store. Armed with the knowledge of what was at the nursing home, I wanted to go there again. A few days later, I took a drive back to the abandoned nursing home. It was about an hour and a half drive. This time, I came armed with a good camera. I drove into the driveway of the South Morgan Health Care Center and parked my vehicle. I got out and took my first look at the facility in the daylight. It didnt look nearly as intimidating as it did by night, and it had a completely different feel in the day. I took a few photos and felt that familiar feeling of being watched. Having seen the photos of all the souls surrounding us that night, I was not a bit surprised. This place would be a great place to bring new members to train, and it would be a great place for veteran members to brush up on their skills. In fact, that was a really good idea. I took some photos around the left side and went around back to take some more. At one point, as I brought the camera down from my eye, I saw one of the curtains move in the window to my right. On my digital camera, I started to review the photos I had taken thus far. I could feel the souls in the facility looking out at me and I knew I was right when I saw the curtain move. There was a very good chance I may have caught something in my photos. One of the photos showed a large face looking out the window on the front side of the building. I was a little surprised at how many spirits showed themselves to me, and I wondered if they were trapped inside. There were also mini blinds in that window, and in the photo, something was moving across them. You can see more than one face in that photo, in the window, and at least one spirit’s is moving left to right across the mini blinds. I went back and looked at the photos again and saw one I had missed… again, more faces looking out at me. It made me sad to think they might be trapped here. I finished taking photos and headed back home. I thought of all the people that have come and gone through that building at one time or another. I arrived home, picked up the phone and called Reen. I told her about the facility and emailed her some of the photos. We decided Reen, Elizabeth and I would go back to the facility on Saturday. I was still trying to find out all the info I could on the South Morgan Health Center. What the heck happened there? Saturday rolled around, the weather held out nicely. We left Scottsboro around midnight and got to the facility an hour or so later. It was a warm June evening, the sound of frogs and crickets was deafening, with only an occasional car cruising by. We started out taking photos of the outside, and I could tell, something was bothering Reen. She was acting very nervous and out of sorts. After taking photos around the front and sides, we went to enter the building. That’s when Reen said she would not be going inside. She looked at the ground for a moment and then told me she saw a shadow person or a black mass enter the building. I have no doubt she saw what she said she saw, however, I had driven over an hour to come here to investigate, and that’s just what I intended to do. I stepped across the threshold and left Reen and Elizabeth sitting outside on the curb. I was obsessed and had to know what happened to these people. Why were there so many souls still here? I had heard stories from people who used to have grandparents in this nursing home, how doors would open and close on their own. How lights would go on and off as well. How the nurses would whisper about things that would fly off the cabinets by themselves, and I was not a bit surprised that it was active. Armed with a flashlight and my camera, I started going room to room. I could feel the hair rise up on my arms and the back of my neck and I knew they were checking me out as much as I was checking them out, I could feel the energy swirling around me. I walked into a patient room and noticed what looked like a stream of blood going from the middle of the room to a drain a few feet away, but it was really rust. I glanced at the dresser in the room and saw the faces of children laughing from inside their frames. On the windows were pictures that were lovingly colored for grandma or grandpa, still hanging onto the glass panes with invisible tape. It was eerie seeing the personal items and furniture. I expected an orderly to walk through the door at any time. I really, REALLY wanted to get out of there. It was really starting to wear on my nerves, but I would not give in. I strolled from room to room taking pictures. This place would not have bothered me at all if it was void of the furniture and personal items. It was just so WEIRD. I mean, who leaves medicine in the lock up? Who does that?!? I entered one of the administration offices and trained my flashlight on the desk. There was a stack of papers neatly piled, a plant that had long since shriveled up and died of neglect. I looked at yet another family photo, smiles frozen in time and left behind. The flashlight beam flipped across the desk and I saw something gleam in the light. I crossed over to the opposite corner and felt a shiver run down my back. There, on the desk, lay a mans silver watch, and a wedding ring. What the …??? I was so intent on the personal items, it took a moment for a shrill squeaking noise to perpetrate into my brain, kind of like metal on metal… what the hell was THAT?!? I stepped out into the hallway just in time to see a wheel chair slowly making it’s way down the hall towards me. “Very funny guys” I said out loud, my voice echoing off the empty hall way, expecting to hear Reen or Elizabeth giggle. There was nothing. Just silence. The chair stopped. I swept the flashlight in all directions. You could have heard a pin drop. “Come on you guys, knock it off.” I stepped over to the window and looked down. Reen and Elizabeth were sitting on the curb right where I left them. Crazy chills were running up and down my spine, I was sweating profusely. “You gotta be freaking kidding me.” I whispered. Strangely enough, I was afraid someone was going to answer me. Pull yourself together girl, I thought to myself. “All right you guys, you have my attention. I’m going back down to the basement, if any of you want to come along, feel free.” With that I turned and walked down the hall, forcing myself to walk casually. I passed the wheel chair and nodded to it, feeling it was important to acknowledge them none the less. These people were someone’s grandparents, and both my sets of grandparents (except my grandmother on my dad’s side) had long since past. If this was happening in a nursing home they were in, I would want whoever was in my place, to give them their due respect and acknowledge them, and I would do no less for anyone them. I headed back downstairs and looked around. I looked at the white board with the menu for the day still written on it in dry erase marker. I looked in a small room off the kitchen and noted the Christmas decorations and Halloween decorations that would likely never be used again. I felt sorry for the souls here. They were probably happy when they had people around them all the time, and now there was no one, except an occasional ghost hunter here and there. I went through the various rooms and saw a door I didnt remember seeing before. I opened the door, and the smell hit me before anything else did. It smelled moist, mildewed and rotten. I flipped the flashlight around to all corners of the room, and then flipped it up at the ceiling. “OH MY GOD”. Black mold was everywhere. That’s when all the answers came crashing down in my brain. That was why all the furniture was left here. That was why all personal effects were left where they were. That was why the sweaters were still on the back of the chairs. The State obviously came in and shut them down. They took the patients and left everything. I was acutely aware that I had been all over this facility a couple of times already and decided then and there, that it was time to leave. I shut the door to the dark underworld of mold, and retraced my steps out of the building. Once outside, I breathed deeply of the night air. I made my way over to where I left Reen and Elizabeth and said “Come on guys, it’s time to go home.” I’m not sure of the exact date, but approximately 3 months later, the South Morgan Health Care Center, burned to the ground. In a way, I was sad to hear it, but in another way I was glad. Maybe now the souls who were trapped inside, would finally be free.
Posted on: Thu, 22 Jan 2015 23:12:26 +0000
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