Carry On, Matron.
Let me first point out the fact that I'm not a believer in the afterlife and all that. I'd rather shit a stickle brick than watch blood sucking parasites Derek Acorah and such like peddle their particular brand of bullshit and I don't get scared at much at all.

Between the ages of 15-18 I had a summer job as a filing clerk in at the Leicester Royal Infirmary hospital. It was a mind numbingly dull, endless job that involved replacing the files that had been used around the hospital into their correct cabinets. This takes a huge amount of space. They converted one of the old wards into a filing room years ago to accommodate a lot of the files.

The ward was a great big long building with an old fashioned conservatory at the end for the 'big files' (serious stuff). It was lined with cabinets, stuffed full of files. Sound did not carry through the room at all. It had that silence that you get in carpet shops, make sense? You could see down to the other end of the ward but not shout to people. The ward got dark quite quickly as the windows were partially blocked with cabinets. For this reason the lights were on motion sensors down all the aisles.

Several times, working down there alone or with another lowly file monkey, I got the impression I was being watched. Once or twice when looking up from the files I caught a glimpse of what I thought was someone moving in and out of the aisles. That's fine. I didn't mind that. It was the lights that bothered me. As you made your way down the corridors of files the lights would go on and off again once you passed. I was sat drinking tea on my break at the desk and watched as the lights at the far end of the ward turned on. Then the next. Then the next, getting closer and closer. They got to the end of the aisle and nothing. I knew there was no one down there filing with me that day. That scared me a bit but again, perfectly explainable stuff. The feeling of being watched continued and the light thing happened once more but faster and on an aisle I was looking directly down. That scared me more.

On the way out of my last shift of the summer (off to uni so knew it would be last shift ever) I turned around at the door and looked at the long gloomy ward. I'm not sure why but I said 'see ya' under my breath. All the lights turned on at once and burned very, very brightly. I turned around and ran. That did scare me.
( magictoast, Tue 18 Sep 2012, 14:21, 7 replies)

...yup. Probably a load of esoteric technical reasons why it could happen, but I've have done a runner, too...
( Happy Phantom has been to Hastings, Brighton, and Eastbourne too, Tue 18 Sep 2012, 22:12, closed)

Yeah it's probably crappy wiring as it was really poorly maintained.
Just that lame 'had a funny feeling' thing added to it. It was a very
interesting building to slave in!
( magictoast, Wed 19 Sep 2012, 10:40, closed)

Bored security guards with cctv and master light switches?

( Wet-chinned bag shanker Cannot parse Wogan, Wed 19 Sep 2012, 10:23, closed)

I'd say yes to that but there's no cameras or owt down there.
It's the shittiest most forgotten bit of the hospital. Hence sticking students down there to work.
One year they had me pulling dead files of people born in 1898. Rubbish. Though the pile of
breast reduction files by the lavvy always made for a good chuckle.
( magictoast, Wed 19 Sep 2012, 10:37, closed)

There's definitely something extra creepy about old hospitals
Two occasions where the hairs on the back of my neck have stood up in absolute fear at what I knew was nothing both took place in old hospitals - one in an abandoned ward at Northampton General, and once in the Derbyshire Royal Infirmary after most of the place had been closed.
(Professor Kenny Martin Hmm? What?, Wed 19 Sep 2012, 21:04, closed)

I spent 11 weeks in a couple of summers back and it's not just empty bits that have that odd feeling. Maybe it was the painkillers and abdominal surgery.
( magictoast, Thu 20 Sep 2012, 0:24, closed)

That probably didn't help...

(Professor Kenny Martin Hmm? What?, Thu 20 Sep 2012, 10:16, closed)