The OES visited Doctors Hospital of Stark County on March 13, 2010. The facility was also known as Affinity Medical Center: Doctors Campus or simply Doctors Hospital to those in the Canton/Massillon area. The hospital was formed in 1963 by five physicians and a businessman. The original building was shaped like an airplane with a main corridor and two wings that included 48 beds. The hospital was expanded several times over the years to keep up with demand and the building eventually encompassed 300,000 square feet.
Doctors Hospital offered a full range of medical and surgical services including an emergency department, an outpatient clinic, intensive care units, cardiovascular services, a maternity ward, a pain treatment center and more. The hospital also served as a teaching hospital for Ohio University. In 2006, Doctors Hospital merged with Massillon Community Hospital to become Affinity Medical Center. The merge was a fatal blow to Doctors Hospital. In September 2008, all services were relocated to the Massillon facility and Doctors Hospital was permanently closed. The building was put on the market for some time, but no deals could be reached. The Stark County morgue moved out of the hospital in 2009 and in December of that year, it was decided Doctors Hospital would be demolished.
During our visit, most of the hospital seemed to be in decent shape. The roof in the original section leaked causing some water damage and several pipes had broken due to the cold winter. Most of the medical equipment and supplies had been transferred to the Massillon hospital, sold or destroyed, but some equipment remained. Several boxes of biohazardous material collected throughout the building sat in the lobby awaiting proper disposal. An entire wing of the hospital was being renovated up until the day the building closed sat incomplete. It was in this wing where the reportedly haunted room was located.
As with many hospitals, Doctors Hospital was said to be haunted .Water faucets turned on and off in plain view and the ghosts seemed to play pranks on the staff. Nurses heard their names called when ho one else was around and an apparition of humanoid mist had been seen. A nurse's aid who died of a heart attack while at work could be heard humming from beyond the grave. One room in particular was haunted by an elderly woman who cursed the room. Coldness often filled the room and patients even reported an elderly woman who tried to remove their covers and kick them out of the room. A hospital administrator who tried to stay in the room one night only made it to 2:00 AM. The room was then sealed off and no patients were ever assigned to it again. Based upown what employees have told us, we believe this room was in the wing that was undergoing renovation. The room had obviously been split in two, possibly being used as a storage area. The doorway to the patient bathroom had been sealed and the bathroom had become a standalone restroom. We attempted to record EVP in the room but didn't find anything unusual. However, we did record EVP elsewhere in the building, including in the lab area.
Thanks goes to an anonymous friend of the OES for taking us on the tour of Doctors Hospital.
UPDATE: Doctors Hospital was sold and the property was transferred in May 2010. As of July 2012, there are active plans on converting Doctors Hospital into an independent assisted-living facility for military veterans.