Yorktown Memorial Hospital
Posted: 10.17.2024 | Updated: 10.17.2024
Many places with a couple of ghosts will claim the title of the most haunted place in America. But how many of these places can actually back up this claim?
We’ve certainly found a candidate.
The Yorktown Memorial Hospital has been universally declared to hold the 'most haunted' accolade, and its tales of terror are sure to haunt you. Read on with caution.
Who Haunts Yorktown Memorial Hospital?
At its best, a hospital is supposed to be a place of healing, togetherness, and hope.
Yorktown Memorial Hospital was none of these things. Woefully mismanaged, fatally sadistic, and having poor standards of care led to this place racking up quite the body count. It also led to it eventually being shut down.
However, the doors shutting in Yorktown did nothing to stop trespassers, both mortal and otherwise. The lingering remnants of the evil and suffering that went on behind these doors are as present as ever.
Take a ghost tour of San Antonio with River City Ghosts to experience the haunted city firsthand, and read on to learn more about Yorktown Memorial Hospital.
History of the Hospital
Yorktown Memorial had a relatively benevolent beginning. It was constructed in the 1950s by a group of Roman Catholic nuns. They opened the hospital to service the sick and the needy of San Antonio. The place was named for the USS Yorktown, which was sunk during WWII - a fitting name for a hospital that would similarly be responsible for many deaths and would eventually be “sunk” later in its history.
Specializing in helping people with addiction recover, it soon expanded into more avenues like labor and delivery, operating rooms, and emergency rooms. At its peak, it had two wings and an entire second floor dedicated to housing the hospital workers. However, despite such accommodations, Yorktown suffered from a high turnover rate. Perhaps this was due to the known mismanagement of the place or low morale - the place lost 500 patients in just six years. By the time of its closing, Yorktown had over 2,000 recorded deaths.
It was also known as the site of several tragic accidents. It’s said that a double homicide was committed in these walls between two jealous lovers. Although there’s no concrete proof of this, the current owners of the hospital buildings have pointed out that human blood spatter has been confirmed to be found on the walls. Eventually, the hospital closed down due to bad press and dwindling profits. It reopened in the 80s as a drug rehab program during the heyday of the ‘Just Say No’ anti-drug campaign, but it shut down in 1986.
It was eventually bought by a new owner who tried to use it as a haunted building that one could tour. However, the building seemed cursed, whether a hospital or not, and the city soon shut it down, citing health code violations.
The Ghosts of the Hospital
As you might imagine, a building that saw so much death is home to a staggering amount of spirits and ghosts that lingered after death. There’s simply not enough time to discuss them all, so we’ll just have to cover the most notable ones.
Right away, if you were to walk inside Yorktown Memorial Hospital, you would be hit with a wave of spooky sounds. The grand piano, supposedly still in the building, is known to play a haunting tune for visitors despite the place being long abandoned. The sounds of wheelchairs being pushed echo through the place. A doll’s voice from the nursery will ask, “Do you love me?” over and over again.
But it’s not just sounds that add to the scary atmosphere of Yorktown Memorial. The ghostly apparition of one Dr. Leon Norwierski can be seen in operating rooms and the doctor’s lounge. He, at the time, had the oldest medical license in Texas and during his tenure at the hospital, was known for his fatal medical techniques, one time even slitting a patient’s throat during an operation…while operating on his thyroid.
Whether these fatalities were on purpose or due to old age is anyone’s guess but he still haunts these halls, according to visitors. Maybe out of a fondness for his old haunt or to atone for his actions?
To this day, visitors continue to hear ghastly whispers in the halls. People claim they’ve been grabbed in the hallways by unseen hands. This is certainly a place that no longer belongs to the living.
One former Yorktown Memorial tour guide said, “You’ve got to respect the spirits. This is their territory.”
A Poky Puppy and a Ghostly Girl
An uplifting ghost to counter the gloom, we’d be remiss if we didn’t mention one of Yorktown Memorial’s most famous residents, Stacy. A young patient admitted to the hospital, Stacy was known for her love of the children’s book The Poky Little Puppy. Some say that it was given to her by Dr. Norwierski and that the nuns would read it to her before bedtime. Tragically, she passed away before her time, but in the afterlife, she seems to be having a better time.
Visitors and ghost hunters often see her in various rooms in the hospital. But one thing that’s always consistent is the puppy book that she’s reading. Some say she might even stick around to play catch with visitors who have earned her trust. Otherwise, she’ll just disappear if you bother her too much.
Haunted San Antonio
We have only scratched the surface when it comes to the ghosts of the most haunted hospital in America. If Yorktown Memorial’s undead inhabitants haven’t scared you off just yet, be sure to book a ghost tour with River City Ghosts and explore all that haunted San Antonio has to offer. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, and keep reading our blog for more real Texas hauntings.
Sources:
https://www.travelchannel.com/shows/destination-fear-2019/episodes/yorktown-memorial-hospital
https://www.onlyinyourstate.com/experiences/texas/most-haunted-place-on-earth-tx
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