Ghost Story: Haunted Victorian Hospital
Back in the 1980s when I lived for a while in Bristol, in the West of England, my friend Hal and I, had a disturbing experience as we walked back from a pub late one evening. We decided to take a short cut across Purdown, a large area of green space overlooking the city.
The route we chose passed the local psychiatric hospital, a large gothic looking building bordered by woods. As we walked through the cold and misty night, I remember feeling unusually nervous, like something bad was about to happen.
As we passed the hospital, Hal suddenly stopped and grabbed my arm. “There’s a woman over there,” he said quietly. I looked towards where Hal was pointing and saw the woman moving through the hospital gates towards us. She had very long black hair and was wearing a long white Victorian-style nightdress, that shimmered in the moonlight.
She started to beckon to us in a menacing way, a dreadful, macabre smile on her face. It was then I noticed something else. I turned to Hal and said, “She’s not walking, she’s floating…”
Although Hal was an ex-army man and no stranger to earthly dangers, the sight of this spectral woman proved too much. He started to run. “We’ve got to get out of here!” he shouted, pulling me along with him. Although I was curious, I decided not to stay behind and investigate. Something about the woman spelled danger.
Looking back I half-wish I hadn’t let my friend Hal drag me away from the menacing woman beckoning to us in the darkness outside the Bristol psychiatric hospital. But what if I’d gone with her? What would have happened? Would I have been transported into the very depths of Hell? I’ll never know. And for that I should probably be grateful.
