The Ghosts of Linda Vista Hospital

Michael had moved from the Midwest to LA three years ago. He wanted a career in the movie industry and that was impossible in Minnesota. After moving, he was able to get a job in the field. It was not in writing, which was his dream job. Instead, he was part of the film crew, usually working the cameras at shoots. He was hoping to catch a break as a writer soon, but for now, the film crew was fine. The past year, the three movies he worked on were all filmed in the same place, at an old, abandoned hospital in the neighborhood of Boyle Heights in California. There were a lot of other people that hated filming there, but Michael loved the place. He had a creepy vibe to it, and horror movies were his favorite. One day, while the rest of the crew was filming in another part of the hospital, Michael was hanging out in the craft services area. He was sitting at a table scrolling his phone when it felt the temperature in the room drop. It was weird, but he ignored it. Then he felt a tap on his lower back. He turned around, expecting to see another crew member messing with him, but no one was there. He ran back to what the rest of the crew was filming. In a different part of the hospital. The special effects person Brian was filming alone. He came across a dead bolted door. The window leading to the room was broken, and Brian decided to stick the camera through the hole. But as soon as the camera went through the window, it shut off. Brian was confused the battery was fully charged, so he tried again, this time with a new battery, and it happened again. Something did not want him filming there. He then joined the rest of the crew along with Michael. Neither one of them spoke about what happened, but they knew that there was something else with them that night. They say that hospitals can be more haunted than cemeteries, and in this episode will explore a haunting and tragic story of an abandoned hospital. My name is Edwin, and here's a horror story. That abandoned hospital in Boyle Heights is known as Linda Vista or Linda Vista how I'm tempted to say it meaning beautiful View, but it's had many names. To understand why it's so haunted, we have to go back to the very Beginning before becoming Linda Vista, it was Santa Fe Coastlines Hospital. It was opened in nineteen oh four and it was built to service employees of the Santa Fe Railroad. It was more than a hospital. It had its own farm so that patients could have fresh milk, eggs, and vegetables. During its time as the Santa Fe Coastlines Hospital, only railroad workers were patients there. The hospital didn't treat anything crazy, but on January twenty second, nineteen fifty six, after a tragedy hit Boyle Heights, they were forced to. It was a clear but cold day. Train number eighty two was making its second round trick. This train was made for passengers and it was composed of two diesel powered railcars and was often overcrowded. People knew they could rely on this train it was always on time. Train eighty two left Los Angeles Union Passenger Terminal at five thirty pm. All one hundred and sixty seats available in the two cars were taken. Frank Parrish, the train conductor, headed east with the full train, but this was not his normal route. He was an experienced conductor and had been working for the Santa Fe Railroad for many years, but his regular route was between Los Angeles and Barstow, not Los Angeles to San Diego, and maybe this played up part in what happened next. Normally, when you're on this route, the train speed was slow, especially when reaching Redondo Junction. You see, this was a curve, and before approaching it, engineers would break to make sure they slowed down to at least fifteen miles per hour. But Frank Parrish, the conductor, did not do this. He suffered a mental lapse and had no memory of the following events. Train eighty two was going at least sixty miles per hour when it hit that curve. The front car of the train made an abrupt and uncontrolled movement as a back car swayed to the left. Train eighty two derailed. As a tower man watched in horror, the shower of sparks and the train tracks lit the night, and then it all went dark. The tower man called authorities and then ran to the tra Employees of the Los Angeles Roundhouse also ran to the scene. It was shocked. The train lay on its left side. Those baggage, debris, body parts and people scattered all over. Emergency personnel worked hard to find those who were still alive, and authorities try to find out what caused this terrible accident. Frank cried in his wife's arms. She was also a passenger that day, and somehow walked away without injuries. Investigators determined that Frank had an epileptic attack and was not conscious of his actions as the accident occurred. He was never charged, but he also never ran a train again. Once Train eighty two was repaired and functional, it was returned to service outside of California. Thirty passengers died that day and one hundred and seventeen were injured. It's one of the deadliest train wrecks in California, and it happened just a few minutes away from Blindavista Hospital. But as the train industry declined, Linda Vista started seeing a different kind of patient. In the late nineteen fifties and early nineteen sixties, neighborhoods in East Los Angeles began changing. The city built four project buildings in the Boyle Heights neighborhood for lower income residents. At the same time, banks were embracing a policy called redlining. Now, without getting too into it, this is when banks refused to give out home loans to certain zip codes because they are considered hazardous, but also refused to give credit to certain groups of people to leave hazard is zones. Most of the zones that were labeled hazard is happened to be non white neighborhoods like Boyle Heights because it was predominantly Mexican. If that wasn't enough change, many East LA homeowners were forced to move for the construction of the five Freeway. This freeway increased pollution and noise in Boil Heights. It lowered the quality of life. As the neighborhood became unpopular, crime and gang violence rose, and with the decline of Boyle Heights also came the decline of Lindavista Hospital. Doctors and hospital staff began to find work in better places, and those who stayed were overworked. In order to stay afloat, the hospital management began to cut down on staff and limit their services. The hospital was very underfunded, but people needed medical care. You see, there was an increase in gun and gang violence patients. These patients usually had no health insurance. This only added to the hospital's debts and ability to stay open. The remaining staff worked long hours and the quality of care they could provide also went down. Reports of negligence and malpractice increased, and with that the death rates. Doctor Edwards was the chief operation's physician back when Linda Vista was still open. Normally this position does not involve patient care, but because it was so underfunded, doctor Edwards was still performing surgeries. Like all other doctors, he was overworked and exhausted. One night, he was working late as usual. He should have been home by now, but there was just too much work and not enough employees. He suddenly hurt, screaming in the waiting room and rushed over. Two men came in carrying a young man bleeding from his stomach and chest, another gunshot victim. That was all Linda Vista saw these days. He prepped the operation room and brought the young man in for surgery. Doctor Edwards knew he shouldn't have performed the surgery. He had been working for almost twenty five hours and was running on no sleep. There was no other doctor available. Was trying to remove the bullets in the man's abdomen. They had a memory lapse. He snapped out of it when he heard a nurse yelling his name. She was reviving the man he had coated on doctor Edward's surgery table. It didn't work, the man bled out. Doctor Edwards had to call it. There was nothing else to do. Surely this would lead to yet another malpractice suit. Lunda Vista was drowning in them, but he felt guilty, After all, this was a human life. Doctor Edwards was walking to his car when he saw a group of men in the parking lot. He recognized two of them. They were the men carrying the patient that died on his table just hours ago. He thought about turning around and going back inside. He could sleep there. His wife would understand. But before he knew it, the gang surrounded him. They were mad. They blamed him for not saving their gang member's life. He tried to explain himself, but they didn't let him. They started hitting him. The blows were coming from all directions, and then one of the men brought out a gun and fired. Doctor Edwards fell to the ground. He put his hand on his stomach and felt warm liquid. He was bleeding out. He thought of his kids and wife and that he should call for help, but he couldn't. Two nurses heard the gunshots and ran to the parking lot and that's when they saw doctor Edwards bleeding out. They ran back inside for a gurney and brushed him in, but it was too late. Doctor Edwards died at the same hospital he would spend his overworked and tired days. This happened in nineteen eighty one, and since then people have seen doctor Edwards and the gang member who died in his hands roaming the hospital. It seems that even after death, Doctor Edwards could not leave Linda Vista Hospital. Joe Mendoza is a paranormal investigator with Paranormal three AM. His team was investigating Linda Vista back when it was still abandoned. During one of their investigations, they spoke with the spirit that identified himself as a doctor. Marcia Covert Garcia was part of a separate paranormal investigation and also encountered a spirit that identified himself as a doctor. During her own paranormal excursion at Linda Vista, Aaron Potter saw an apparition of a doctor and a little girl. The little girl ran behind the doctor as if he was protecting her. They both vanished before her eyes. But as will find out, Erin is not the only one that has seen a little girl at Linda Vista Hospital and I'll tell you all about it up next stay with me. Maria had been complaining of stomach and lower back pain for several days. Her parents thought she was just trying to get out of school, but Maria's breath started smelling rotten, and still they thought she would get better on her own. When she woke up late at night screaming in pain, they knew that it was serious, and so they rushed over to Linda Vista Hospital because it was the closest to them. They had heard stories about how horrible it was, but they had no choice, and so they walked into The emergency room was crowded with sick people waiting to be seen, but luckily, Maria was taken in right away. Her parents went with her, and Maria was taken from room to room, test after test being done doctors trying to get to the bottom of her pain. Their Sphyllis was assigned to take care of Maria, and though she was kind, Maria's parents knew that she was not from Boyle Heights and they were right. Phyllis used to commute from a better neighborhood into Linda Vista every day. She had been working there for years now, and she started back when doctor Edwards had taken over as director. But she was at the end of her rope, tired of being overworked and so shorthanded, and still she tried to do her best for her patients, especially the sweet ones like little Maria. At the end of her double shift, Phyllis headed into Maria's room with pain medication. Maria was the last patient she had to check on, and she rushed through the medication order. She added Maria a pill and told her not to worry. This medication would help her, it would take her pain away. Maria trusted Phyllis and swallowed the pill with some jews, but something went wrong. Maria began convulsing. Phyllis yelled for a doctor. What has she done? How could she be so careless? Maria's parents were rushed out of the room as the medical team rushed in. They did what they could, but little Maria did not make it. How was Phyllis going to break the news to Maria's parents when they came back in. How could she live with this? Her mistake killed Maria. And after telling Maria's parents a terrible news, Phyllis had one more thing to do. Earlier, before her grave mistake, she had drawn Maria's blood for testing. She had to go get the sample and dispose of it. It was still in the hallway dumbwaiter, which is a small fray elevator in the wall. They used it to carry objects like lab samples instead of people, and as Phyllis walked down the hall she thought she heard humming. It sounded like Maria. She looked around, but she was the only one there. It was late and she should have been home three hours ago. She shook it off and decided to check on one of her patients. His room was on the way to the dumbwaiter. It would be quick, and so she walked into this room and checked his IV line and fluffed his pillow. He was sound asleep. It was three am, after all, But as she turned around to leave, she felt a small, cold hand touch her own. She turned around in shock. Her patient was snoring. She thought she smelled a rotten smell, but again she shook it off and walked away. She felt nervous as she walked up to the dumb waiter and then again humming. She noticed the humming was louder as she stood in front of the elevator doors. Her heart was pounding, and still she needed to get to that sample and get rid of it. She reached for the button to open the door when bang, it was coming from the inside, and then she heard it. Mama, Mama, help me. It was Maria Phillis ran out of the hospital into her car, and, like many other healthcare workers had before her, she quitlent A Vista Hospital. She may have been able to leave, but Maria was trapped there forever. Paranormal investigators have heard a little girl humming. Many have seen her pacing the halls of the first floor. She's always in a hospital gown, twisting and turning her hands. With a sad look on her face, she asks for help before vanishing. After years of malpractice and underfunding, the emergency room closed down in nineteen eighty nine and the hospital followed in nineteen ninety one. Busy hospital was abandoned, but as you can tell, some never left. After being abandoned for some time, Linda Vista became a shooting set for movies, TV shows, and music videos. You can see it in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Dexter True Blood. She get the picture we would be here all day if I named them all, but that came to an end when a land developer bought the land in twenty twelve, and in twenty fifteen it opened as Hollenbeck Terrace and assisted living senior apartment complex. Juana Monroy was one of the first to move in in twenty fifteen. When you heard it had been a former hospital and that it was haunted, she was a little scared. But luckily Juana never saw a ghost, but others were not so lucky. Chris Gonzalez made the decision to move into Hollenbeck Terrace after a few scares and talks with his kids. They were worried he would get lost one day and get into some sort of accident. He was a stubborn, proud old man. In his younger days, he had been a renowned surgeon, but those days were over and it was time for him to recognize that he needed help. Hollen Beck became his new home, and at first it was very difficult for him. Thirty years before this, in the nineteen eighties, he had worked at this hospital only for a few years, though, because the hospital had gotten worse and worse and he had found a better place to work at. She had moments where he thought he was thirty eight and walking into his next surgery, but it was just his failing memory, or so he thought. One time he found himself walking in a hallway waving at nurses. He was heading to his office when a nurse told him Louisa was prepped for surgery. As he turned the doorknob to walk into her room, the door would not budge. He shook the door and pounded at it, and then he woke up. He wasn't at the hospital. He was in his room. The tea was on. He must have dozed off. He was glad he woke up. Though his memory may have been failing, but Luisa's surgery was not something he wanted to remember. You see, that surgery had gone terribly wrong. While Luisa was on the operating table, chess ripped open and ready for him, he made a mistake. He somehow cut a vein and there was blood everywhere. He tried stopping the bleeding, but her chest cavity was filling up with blood. He yelled at the nurse for sutures, but she was frozen in fear. He looked at Louisa's face and he was shocked. Luisa was awake and looking at them. She went into shock after that and they could not save her. He tried to think about that day. As he looked for the remote, he heard the squeaking wheels of a hospital gurney, a sound he was well acquainted with, but he wasn't in a hospital. He was in his room at Hollenback Terrace. He ignored the sound and continued to look for the remote. It was late and he needed to go to sleep. Yet it was nowhere to be seen, and so he decided to stand up and shut off the TV. But as he turned his body to hoist himself up, the TV suddenly got louder. It was static. He turned while covering his ears. A woman stood in front of his tepee. She had long hair, dressed in a hospital gown and dripping with blood. Her chest cavity was cut open. It was Louisa. Chris passed out as he screamed for help. The last thing he saw was bloody Louisa looking down at him. Current residents of Hollenbick Terras have reported hearing the wheels of a hospital gurney, the humming of a little girl, and the cries of former patients. Many have seen in orderly entering different rooms, but he's never seen leaving. And those on the first floor hear Little Maria singing, laughing, crying, humming, and asking for help. Residents on the third floor see a bleeding woman in a hospital gown, appear and disappear. Haulabeg Terrace was built with one hundred rooms with the intention of being as comfortable as possible for its aging residence. But no matter how many new parts are built and rebuilt, the foundation still remains. It appears as if some things, the memories and tormented spirits of patients and employees from the former Lindavista Hospital will never be erased. That free and early episodes are available through scary plus dot com or on your podcast act. This episode of horror Story was researched by the Scary f M team and written by Racine Lamagi. You can find me on TikTok and Instagram at edwin cove that's e d w I n c O V, or through our Scary f M channels. Thank you very much for listening. Keep it scary everyone, See you soon.