NoD: Hayswood Hospital

Atop the hill overlooking Maysville and the Ohio River rests the old HayswoodHospital. A massive and imposing structure that by all accounts is quite haunted, the old hospital has been an empty shell since 1983. As a result of almost thirty years of abandonment, it looks like something right out of the History Channel’s Life After People.


Built in 1915 (expanded in 1925 and 1971) atop the demolished remains of the even older Wilson Infirmary (which dated to the 1800s), the hospital closed with a patient capacity of 87 beds. Since its 1983 closure, a number of different ideas have been levied of what to do with the property – but currently only time and invasive species have bothered to invest.

The ghost stories are many and are well-documented (from AbandonedOnline.net):

According to several accounts, a woman carrying a baby was seen walking through the nursery area of the hospital. The woman, having died in labor, was soon followed by the newborn (4). Others have reported seeing doctors in the hallways and hearing the cries of its former patients, along with spotting lights in the windows. And the few have reported seeing strange markings in the basement that bestow a threatening hostility on whoever walks or drives by.

I would have ventured deeper into old Hayswood, but I was alone and had concerns about the buildings structural soundness. The pictures are so cool, I’ve embedded a slideshow and have included lots of links (most of which have even more awesome pictures).