New Mexico's Haunted Children's Hospital

In 1910, Clyde Tingley and his wife, Carrie Wooster Tingley, moved from Ohio to New Mexico.  Carrie had long suffered the ill health of tuberculosis and like many eastern citizens of the time period, sought the dry air and mineral springs of the western states as a cure.  The move was a good one; Carrie’s health improved and in 1935, Clyde was elected as the 11th governor of the state of New Mexico!

It was his influence as governor that allowed Clyde to help realize his wife’s work of making sure sick children throughout the state had access to the best care possible.  During his tenure as governor, Tingley was instrumental in the creation of a dozen hospitals, many especially for children suffering from TB.  However, one hospital in particular stood out above the rest.

Construction began on the Carrie Tingley Children’s Hospital in 1935 in Hot Springs, now Truth and Consequences.  It was funded by President Roosevelt’s Work Progress Administration and finally opened on May 29, 1937 as a facility to treat children with polio.

But, as new advancements in medicine drastically reduced the number of polio patients, the hospital began treating children with a wide array of medical disorders, mostly orthopedic, and including but not limited to scoliosis, clubbed feet, cerebral palsy and spina bifida.  It continued to serve children in this location until 1981.  In that year, the facility was moved to Albuquerque and by 1987 it had merged with the University of New Mexico’s Medical Center.

Today, the Carrie Tingley Children’s hospital is still serving the children, birth to age 21, in New Mexico.  Outpatient services are conducted at 1127 University Blvd.  Across the street, however, is where the inpatient unit stands as part of the Barbara and Bill Richardson Pavilion.

This 24 bed inpatient section of the hospital is where all the paranormal activity is reported!  According to witnesses, the sounds of children crying, voices, and even a heartbeat can be heard in the empty areas.  Unused patient rooms are said to emit an unearthly glow.  Men in dark robes, not unlike the classic Grim Reaper in appearance, have been spotted roaming about.  And…most interesting to me personally is the reports of invisible force fields.  Witnesses to the phenomena have felt an invisible force preventing them from advancing any further.  The field not only stops you in your tracks, but is said to give off the hissing sound of static electricity.

Photos from the UNM Hospital Page