National Haunted Service: exorcist summoned after spook scares staff at Derby Royal Hospital

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National Haunted Service: exorcist summoned after spook scares staff at Derby Royal Hospital
January 30, 2009
Times Online

he NHS has long been haunted by the spectre of waiting-lists and tight funding, but is now facing omens of a rather more unsettling kind.

An exorcist has reportedly been summoned to a hospital in Derby after staff saw a ghost prowling the corridors near the morgue.

Managers at the Derby Royal Hospital have received numerous complaints from spooked workers that a figure cloaked in black has been stalking the wards and walking through walls at the site run by the NHS – perhaps to be renamed the National Haunted Service.
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In an e-mail to staff, senior manager Debbie Butler reportedly wrote: “I’m not sure how many of you are aware that some members of staff have reported seeing a ghost. I’m taking it seriously as the last thing I want is staff feeling uneasy at work.”

The £334m hospital was erected on the site of the old Derby City General Hospital, which was itself built in the 1920s over the site of an ancient Roman road. That a ghost of a Roman centurion may be stealing quietly through the hospital has understandably unsettled staff.

Ms Butler added: “I don’t want to scare anyone more than necessary, but felt it was best I made you all aware of the situation and what we are doing about it.”

The hospital denied that an official exorcism would be taking place, but a spokeswoman for the Bishop of Derby confirmed that the hospital’s on-site chaplain had contacted the diocese Paranormal Advisor – essentially an exorcist – to assess the situation and reassure spooked staff.

She said: “The sightings will be investigated and appropriate action taken.”

One member of staff said: “Several have seen a male figure cloaked from head to toe in black darting between rooms and through walls – especially in departments near the morgue.”

Dr Rita Pal, who writes for online journal NHS Exposed, said: “The United Kingdom has many hospitals with ghostly stories. Hospitals are, after all, places of where one exits to the ‘other side’. Some ghosts of patients return to haunt their doctors, others simply haunt the wards.”

A spokeswoman for Derby Hospitals NHS Trust said: “We will be talking to staff in the department to listen to their concerns. We respect our staff and always listen to their views to help put minds at ease.”

This is not the first case of a reportedly haunted hospital. Staff at the Barts and Royal London Hospitals NHS Trust, which has stood on the same site since 1123, have long reported seeing the famous Grey Lady haunting the wards - a nurse in old-fashioned uniform who is said to have killed herself after administering a fatal overdose to a patient.