Posted on March 20, 2020
As human civilization proliferated, evolved and spanned across the globe so did infectious diseases. As humans got together and borders broke, as we strived to make a truly unified world – sharing our space, our ideas and the very fires that would eventually galvanize the future – we also paved the way for viruses to hitch a ride into our dreams. Outbreaks and pandemics like Spanish Flu, Coronavirus COVID-19, Ebola, Swine and Bird Flu and thousands more. Each leaving their ghosts… their Pandemic Hauntings.
When settlers came to the Americas, what ended up wiping the natives wasn’t the might of the Conquistadors or the forces of Colonization, it was the unseen; smallpox, infections, and other minuscule nasty critters that were carried along on the transatlantic trip. Trading routes like the Silk Road spread the Black Plague, commerce with oversea breeding grounds between West and East jumpstarted Ebola’s Earthly walkabout… in short, one region of the globe may be immune to a bug while the rest isn’t.
This is the double edge sword of progress. The more we mingle, the more we rub shoulders, smack lips and basically frolic around in exotic soil, the more likely we’re going to catch something… But, if we don’t boogie down, do the Macarena and cut a rug with our outlandish neighbors we won’t evolve. Not only biologically, Native Americans became immune to dozens of diseases when Conquistadors were ensnared by their chocolate eyes and Latin charm and breeding began, but technologically. If we, as a civilization, didn’t commingle then we wouldn’t half the tech’ wonders that are ubiquitous in modernity… No iPhone, No Netflix, No planes, trains and automobiles, and No radical treatments of vaccines for what ails us.
The Top 7 Pandemic Hauntings in the US…
Where we kicked some infection’s teeth in.
07. The Spanish Military Hospital – St. Augustine.
We’ve had so many viruses that as far as pandemic hauntings are concerned each state is riddled with one or ten. In St. Augustine one of those ghostly hotspots is the Spanish Military Hospital. This place has battled smallpox, influenza, Spanish Flu, Yellow Fever and thousands of soldiers scratching their private parts and going: “what do you mean going to a brothel is dangerous? Crabs? But doc’, I ain’t gone fishing.”
The Spanish Military Hospital is rife with all manner of supernatural activity: doors slamming, unearthly wails, cold spots, puddles of blood blossoming on the floorboards.
Folks have witnessed all manner of supernatural activity, even feeling what they describe as “an evil all-consuming force” that seems to shroud the historic building in a funeral veil.
06. Dry Tortugas – Key West.
The Dry Tortugas National Park – a series of Caribbean keys – is one of the most visited spots in Florida. It’s idyllic, it’s heavenly, it’s bottled bliss…. It also houses one of the nation’s oldest and bloodiest prison.
Fort Jefferson, located on Garden Key, is where Dr. Samuel Mudd was imprisoned until he was granted a presidential pardon. Mudd was one of Booth’s collaborators and instrumental in the conspiracy to plug President Lincoln.
But, why exactly was a known Presidential Assassin given a get out of jail free card? Because the Doc’ was instrumental in saving dozens upon dozens of lives during a rather severe Yellow Fever outbreak in the Fort. He led a valiant effort against the disease. The place is now filled with those that didn’t make it, but, thanks to Mudd, the virus was beaten back and curb-stomped into oblivion.
05. Rolling Hills Asylum – New York.
New York is full of nutcases… Really, I’m not joshing you. Not just now but way back when the nation was still getting its feet wet and stumbling around in the dark. Don’t believe me? Just check out how many Asylums that state has considering how small it actually is.
Anyway, a rather interesting Pandemic Haunting can be found in upstate NY. It’s a reconverted farmhouse filled to the rafter with paranormal shenanigans.
The place started out as a joint for vagrants to squat and pass the night away while mixing bottles of turpentine to get a nice buzz. Afterward, the house was seized by the state and shaped into a hospital. During this time, New York suffered one of the greatest Tuberculosis outbreaks in history. The house, that later becomes an asylum, shipped in countless patients… most of them died and were buried in an unmarked grave just outside its doors. How many died? There aren’t any actual figures but the grey-beards of academia theorize that over 17k.
The place is littered with ghosts… And if that wasn’t enough, after the outbreak, the gothic mush pit of hell was refurbished into Arkham Asylum. Yup, why not? Let’s make the spooky house with the unmarked mass grave into a psych ward for the criminally insane… Is that a demon cackling?
Want to know more about this Asylum? Click here and get the scoop.