Old Roe Valley Hospital
Old Roe Valley Hospital
This old hospital has seen alot of death and brutality over the years. Originally a workhouse from 1842 to 1932, where people where treated like slaves. 10 people died per week in the home then, and even more recently when it was a hospital. The spirits however decided to stay. Crashing in the corridors when there is nobody inside, babies crying out in the dead of night and nurses gliding through the empty halls. Don´t we just love haunted hospitals.
24d Benevenagh Dr,
Limavady,
United Kingdom
Ghost Hunting At The Old Roe Valley Hospital
Ghost Hunting at the Old Roe Valley Hospital.
This hospital is still very much active. Many local people still living and working in the building have countless chilling stories. It has attracted the attention of some of televisions biggest ghost busting teams for a reason.
The Maternity Ward.
The Maternity Ward is considered to be one of the most haunted parts of the building. The security guards used to sit out in the foyer, at the end of the left hand corridor to this ward.
They report hearing baby cries constantly, which really disturbed them both. The stories here are revolved around a single women, who died in a terrible way after killing her own child.
The Nurse’s Home.
This outhouse was the old residence for staff when it was a functioning hospital. Figures are seen here alot more than any other part of the building. That along with the sound of dragging, which is said to be almost maddening as guards hear it almost every single night.
Objects are said to move of there own accord, and people have been nudged out of the way as if someone is trying to pass. Loud wails of a male can also be heard in this part of the building.
The Kitchens.
The Kitchen is home to an Irish poltergeist, although it would seem this one is not to active. People have seen objects moving from time to time. They have experienced cold spots and heard whispers. But perhaps more strange is that this particular spirit has tried to hold peoples hands.
Ghosts of The Old Roe Hospital
Ghosts of The Old Roe Hospital.
. Nurse in maternity ward
. Peg Legged Nurse
. Poltergeist
The Nurse Who Resides In The Maternity Ward.
There is a gruesome tale related to the haunting in the maternity ward. The tale of a nurse in the 1900’s who fell unexpectedly pregnant to a passing stranger. Back in those days it wasn’t as cool as it is now to be a hoe. She would have most likely been exiled from her family and shunned by her friends.
So she delivered her own child. Killed the new born baby and then hung herself …
When this kind of death occurs it normally leaves some sort of imprint. But the fact she killed her innocent child before, that is something else entirely.
She is often seen gliding around the halls. She has even been photographed as a red apparition still holding her child. And obviously you also have her babies cries heard, but that could easily be residual.
The Poltergeist.
Little is known about the poltergeist that is said to reside in the kitchens’s or why it is there. However spirits can just be mischievous from time to time, or calling out for attention. Personally the fact that people have felt an icy grip of someone trying to hold there hand points more towards the calling out for attention. But the mystery stands as to who it is or why they are there.
The Peg Legged Specter.
The sounds of dragging are heard constantly in the old housing in the grounds of Old Roe Hospital. However there is speculation as to who this is also !
Some say it was a former nurse who lost her leg when she was a medic in the the world war others say it was a patient who spent a large portion of his later days in the hospital. However this specter has been seen in uniform. Sometimes wearing a red hood and cape, other times the uniform of an old fashioned guard.
Whoever it is, this spirit in particular is one of the most active on location.
Roe Valley Hospital Location
Brief History Of Old Roe Valley Hosptial
During the first half of the 19th century, most people in the Roe Valley – as indeed in the whole of Ireland – were extremely poor and just about managed to scrape the means of an existence by seasonal work, laboring on plots of land too small to feed a family or begging. But a beggar in the land of the poor will not make much money of course. If illness or bad economic conditions or old age made this hard lot even worse, starvation would ensue. There was no hospital in Limavady and any illness whatsoever was generally treated by the internal and external application of whiskey. As a cure this was presumably not much worse than being bled by the doctors of that period – and presumably tasted a lot better.
To cope with these problems, Ireland followed the English example of establishing Poor Law Unions which raised funds to set up workhouses. These were meant to be a last resort for those in need. They were deliberately harsh and unfriendly, with poor food, worse treatment and a near military discipline. Many people would rather starve than become an inmate of the poor house!
The names of the board of guardians of the Newton Limavady Poor law Union are a list of the few rich and hence powerful names in the area. Names like Boyle, Hunter, Ross and Barber still sound familiar, as does the name of their chairman – a certain Mr. Marcus McCauseland. This is of course no surprise. The poor law was financed by the rate payer, and only the reasonably comfortable off could afford to pay high rates – hence they also had a major say in how these rates were to be spent.