WARD 5 GHOST
I have decided to make a separate page regarding Ward 5 because it is the most, witnessed, infamous, and reported Paranormal Account in Willow Court and Royal Derwent Hospital. This even blows my mind!!!!!
This Ghost has been witnessed by at least 20 people, some of which I know personally. These people have no reason to lie about the Ghost at least 18 years on and at the time were probably risking their job and credability as Managment had given them a very stern warning not to speak about the Ghost.
Background
Ward 5 later known as (Wellington) was built in 1959 to accommodate chronic patients. Ward 5 is located on Ring Road. Ward 5 changed its name to Wellington shortly after the Paranormal Activity to mask its appearance as it made headlines in the Mercury Newspaper 7/11/91 titled “Hospital Spook Faces Exorcism” and on TAS TV NEWS.
Please read the below article:
The Ward 5 Ghost called Winston by staff members at Royal Derwent Hospital reportedly appeared in the early 1990’s but the source of the Haunting may have happened a lot earlier 1970’s.
Winston is known as the Male Hating Ghost and is reported to appear as a white tinge similar to a heat haze topped with a head. Staff have witnessed Winston physically attack male staff members on the Ward.
There were two theories as to where there is Paranormal Activity in Ward 5, one being that it once accommodated young alcoholics and drug addicts that were very much into the occult and the other more well known theory is that several staff members on Ward 5 were conducting a séance one night shift when they were interrupted by a Night Supervisor coming on to the Ward which caught them by surprise and didn’t finish the séance appropriately opening a door to the other side. (see number 2 for more info)
Currently Ward 5 is still standing however for quite sometime the interior of Ward 5 has been demolished leaving only the outside walls, windows and roof. I do not know why this was done to ward 5; it does appear strange when none of the other’s were treated in this fashion.
Below are some accounts that I have heard over the years.
Real Paranormal Accounts
Account 1
Several colleges of mine ex RDH staff stated that they very much believe there was a Ghost in Ward 5, and even mentioned that some of the patients believed they seen the ghost.
Account 2
In August 2010 I was contacted by an ex-psych Mr M who informed me that he believed he was responsible for the Ward 5 Haunting. Mr M stated that he did his training up in Royal Derwent from the late 70’s – 80’s and it was during this period that they conducted the séance in the nurse’s office. Mr M stated that there was an Irish Nurse in Charge Mrs C.H, who was very much into séances at the time. Being the sceptic that Mr M was they thought it was a real joke so Mr M, Mrs C.H and another lady Mrs C.B set up a séance around midnight. During the Séance the Night Supervisor came on to the Ward and interrupted there séance without the closing it off properly. Mr M didn’t notice any haunting occurring shortly after the séance however noted that on various wards the hairs of the back you’re your neck would stand up. Mr M continued his involvement with séance and stated that he contacted various paranormal beings with surprisingly accurate results.
Account 3
Trevor Crowther Nurse 1988 – 2000.
Trevor stated that he was one of the last nurses to work on Wards C and D.
Trevor informed me that he mainly worked during the days and his Partner worked the night shifts. Trevor said that he lived within the RDH complex and would often walk up to Ward 5 at night to see how is partner was going or to give her some supper etc.
One day Trevor called into Ward 5 and was standing in the foyer section of the building along with 3 other people including a supervisor. They all stood and looked down the hallway on the West Wing, near the windows they noticed a white shimmer, or haze that had an upper torso/head and was following a staff member down the hallway.
Trevor stated that he decided to give it a go, so he also walked down the West Wing hallway although he could not see the ghost. The others that were standing up in the foyer once again saw the ghost appear like a haze and followed Trevor. Trevor said he didn’t see anything but he felt extremely cold and the hairs on the back of his neck stood up.
Trevor said that this type of activity happened a fair bit after his experience until one day when he had a frightening experience.
Trevor stated that in the early hours of the morning approx 2am he got a phone call from his partner names Staff member 1 (TAN) who was working on Ward 5. Staff member 1 stated that something was happening to a fellow staff member, Trevor heard a lot banging, crashing and screams over the phone so he stated that he would be on his way.
Trevor said when he arrived in Ward 5 he contacted the RDH Medical Services about the incident. Trevor stated he seen a Staff member (Staff member 2) on the ground in the Office shaking, white as a ghost and bashing his feet against the filing cabinet. Trevor said Staff member 2 was thrashing around and holding his throat. Trevor said Staff member 2 was yelling in a deep growly voice “Get it out of me Get it out of me” with a look of terror on his face the voice was not his voice but a voice which had a tone that I had never heard before. Trevor informed me that he recalled thinking to himself at the time whatever was doing this to Staff member 2 did not do it to him.
Trevor said the grabbed Staff member 2 by his shirt collar and took him outside in the fresh air to see if that would help, soon after this the RDH Medical Services showed up which included Dr, Ambulance. The Night Shift Supervisor never attended.
Trevor said he spoke with Dr Pascha about the incident afterwards, Dr Pascha stated that he has admitted a lot of patients and seen a lot of incidents, fits, tantrums etc over his years at RDH and firmly believed that the signs and symptoms Staff member 2 was displaying could not have been faked.
A few days after the incident Trevor said that he spoke with Staff member 2 and he thanked him for staying with him throughout the incident and said he was terrified.
Trevor stated that after the incident a medium came into Ward 5 and claimed that there were 2 ghosts inside Ward 5, one being the Angry Ghost that attacked Staff member 2 and another.
Trevor said that someone from St Matthews Church in New Norfolk came into Ward 5 and did a cleansing which seemed to work.
Staff 1 (Female, Trained Auxiliary Nurse (TAN) )- Ward 5
Staff member 1 informed me that lots of things happened inside Ward 5. Staff member 1 said it was widely accepted that there were ghosts inside Ward 5, but they just accepted the fact and moved on based on their assumption the ghosts were harmless.
Below is a lost of some bizarre events that took place in Ward 5.
Staff member 1 said back in the old days there were slippers that had little bells on them and when people walked you could here the bells ringing. Staff member 1 said on the Ward at night you would hear someone scuffing there slippers, little bells ringing and a noise of something being dragged down the East Wing of Ward 5, when they checked they found no one.
Staff member 1 said that staff would fill up the urn at night, and by the next morning it was empty, with no signs or traces of where the water went.
Staff member 1 said several of her watches literally fell apart in Ward 5.
Once day in the Activity room Staff member 1 noticed an orb like substance however it was black and approximately the size of netball. The orb kinda of floated up high and was coming down from West wing. Staff member 1 said when she moved slowly the orbed also moved slowly. Staff member 1 stated when she moved quickly the orb like substance copied her again. Noticing that this was not normal staff person 1 ran and the orb came towards her very quickly and then all the sudden floated out the window.
Staff member 1 said that you would often smell toast being cooked late at night through the vents in the ceiling, but there was no one cooking at the time. Staff member 1 also said that they also heard music which sounded like church music or loud humming noises. Staff member 1 said she contacted Admin and they said it was just nearby houses with their music up loud. Staff member 1 said that this was not the case, but Admin would not listen.
Staff member 1 said there was a female patient on Ward 5 that had to have her bed perfect without wrinkles. Staff member 1 said if the bed had one wrinkle in it should would throw a tantrum and would not go back into her room or sleep until someone fixed it for her. Once night Staff member 1 stated that she heard this particular patient have a conversation to herself, Staff member 1 did really think much of it until next morning when she went to make the beds of the Ward and noticed that this patients bed was all mucked up with the mattress half on the floor. Staff member 1 new this was out of character for the patient and then remembered that she speaking to herself last night and wondered if she was interacting with the ghost?
Staff member 1 stated one day she was walking a blind patient back to her room when all of the sudden she couldn’t walk any further almost like she ran into an invisible brick wall. Staff member 1 said the blind patient continued walking and was not obstructed. Staff member 1 said out loud to let her past so she could support the blind patient and all of a sudden she could move again.
Staff member 1 said many more little incidents occurred on this ward and many of new staff were freaked out by it, but Staff member 1 stated that she used to calm the staff down and told them not to worry about it and to move on.
However one day her perception of the Ghost changed quite dramatically.
Staff member 1 said it was approximately 1am and herself and another staff member Staff member 2 were about to do the rounds. They walked down the West Wing and all of a sudden Staff member 2 pushed Staff member 1 against the wall. Staff member 1 just said “hey don’t do that”, and kept walking it happened again and again and Staff member 1 said to Staff member 2 “you are going to hurt me soon please stop”. Staff member 2 stated that something was making him push her.
Anyhow they finished the rounds and went back into the Nurses Office and again Staff member 2 pushed Staff member 1 against the filing cabinet. Staff member 2 said “it feels like something is inside me”.
Staff member 1 then noticed what she thinks was a white film behind Staff member 2 and all of a sudden Staff member 2 dropped to the floor and started thrashing around and holding his throat.
After the frightening incident many of the staff would not work on Ward 5.
Admin were informed of the incident and stated that if anyone spoke about the ghost and what happened they would be get the sack. Staff member 1 stated one day Admin contacted her and wanted to discuss the incident.
Several months later Staff member 1 met up with an old staff member who used to work on ward 5 when the paranormal activity was occurring. Staff member 1 asked the staff member what he saw and why he didn’t want to work back on Ward 5, the staff member was very reluctant to talk about it but said he saw a white figure.
Staff member 1 stated eventually Ward 5 closed not long after the incident and the patients were transferred. Staff member 1 said she really enjoyed working on 5 and one day walked over the exterior of ward 5 near the fruit tree when all of a sudden the window swung open. Staff member 1 said that was her last experience with the ward 5 ghost.
Staff member 1 said that she would like to go back to Ward 5 later this year or early next year.
Account 4
JW staff memeber of Royal Derwent Hospital
JW stated that she also witnessed the Ward 5 Ghost but with a twist she saw 3 Ghosts. JW stated that she didn’t really believe all the tales she heard about the Ward 5 Ghost until one of the staff members invited her to come on Ward 5 one night.
JW stated that she was walking along the Left Wing towards the Laundry when it suddenly got really cold.
JW stated that she stood there and thought to herself “there’s nothing here” but as she turned around she seen 3 perfect apparitions standing behind her. JW said the apparitions were all different sizes and were in the shape of people. JW stated that she tried to come up with a logical explanation but couldn’t.
Account 5
Aiden Sullivan, Lead Investigator for APIU 13 December 2010 (7pm)
Aiden went for a jog around RDH and to suss out the damage that occurred to Ward 9 after this week’s fire.
Below is Aiden’s account.
“I was walking through ward 5 to gain access to the Royal Derwent hospital site, as I exited the ward I hear a massive male yell. It was 7.00 in New Norfolk so no one was around, the voice came from inside the ward. So I checked out all the ward. No one was in there. I couldn’t make out what it said.”
Keep in mind Aiden has been investigating the paranormal for a number of years, and had been inside Ward 5 dozens of times with no reports of paranormal activity apart from a few sketchy tapping noises. Aiden uses a scientific model for Paranormal Investigation which included ruling out environmental factors, I do not believe Aiden would name this report as Paranormal if he exhausted all other possibly explanations.
Aiden said even though he heard that noise he felt comfortable inside Ward 5, but so did the nurses on Ward 5 before Winston threw one of them to the ground and tried to choke and possibly possess them.
Account 6
Justin M- Late Nov 2010 (mid afternoon)
“We had just finished being in Ward C and decided to head down to the RDH site. As we drove in I noticed a car parked at the front gate where the truck usually parks. We drove in and parked the car out the front of the child care centre as to not draw attention to us. We walked up to the gate at Ward 1 and realised that we could not get the pram through so decided to head to Ward 5 and found the same obstacles. Me and a friend of mine entered through the door near the gate that the truck parks at.
As soon as we walked in I felt this strange feeling in my legs, like an energy pulsing in my calves (similar to restless leg syndrome). This lasted for about a minute or two and then faded. I told my mate about it but he said he felt nothing. We moved around the building just taking random photo’s and as we moved up the (I guess) the main corridor I noticed an old wash bowl with a pair of yellow and blue woollen booties inside. I chose to take booties out of the bowl to take a photo (as I just thought it was funny that the ward is half demolished but the wash bowl and boots were inside the ward).
My friend and I proceeded to walk around the ward and take photos of the artwork inside. As we moved about the ward we heard a rustling sound in the rafters which turned out o be a feral black cat. We left the building by the back entrance where the (I Guess) staff car park and took more photos out side. We then retraced our steps and moved back into the ward. As we were walking up the main corridor I heard a car engine start and realised it was the car at the front gate leaving I also noticed that the booties were back in the bowl. When we left the building to take photo’s outside we were only gone for about 5 minutes. I cannot say if the other people around moved the booties or the black cat we saw did, but I know what I felt.”
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Account 7
Helen Griffiths- Ex Resident
I lived on Ward 5, there was a ghost on Ward 5. I saw the ghost, he wore a black coat, white shirt and black trousers, he smoked a pipe. He was scary.
