BACKGROUND
Edwin Shaw Hospital is located in the town of Lakemore, Summit County in Ohio. Originally named the Springfield Lake Sanitarium, the oldest sections of the hospital was first opened in 1915 as a tuberculosis hospital for five counties. In 1920, the counties sold their interests in the sanitarium, leaving Summit County to become the sole owner. In 1922, an annex of the hospital used to house pediatric patients was opened, called "Sunshine Cottage". Springfield Lake Sanitarium was renamed to Edwin Shaw Hospital in 1934, being named after a member of the Board of Trustees from 1918, Edwin Coupland Shaw. Children Services acquired Sunshine Cottage in 1947, and they expanded it into "Sunshine Village" in the 1960s, which would continue to house orphan and/or children until it closed in 1985. In 1959, legislation was passed that allowed Edwin Shaw to admit patients with other conditions than tuberculosis, and the hospital began expanding over the next decades. In the mid-1970s, the hospital shifted its focus over to providing inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation.
A new Edwin Shaw Rehabilitation Hospital was opened in December of 2009 near Cuyahoga Falls at the former Fallsview Psychiatric Hospital, and the grounds of the former Edwin Shaw Hospital subsequently closed. In the summer of 2017, the county has demolished the main hospital building and all other buildings on the hospital's grounds.
There are 246 tuberculosis patients buried in the hospital's cemetery, children who have committed suicide, and patients who have died due to illnesses, so it comes as no surprise that Edwin Shaw is said to be haunted. There have been reports of doors opening and closing by themselves, footsteps are heard down hallways, and sounds of meals being served in the mess hall despite the mess hall being empty. Sunshine Village is said to have a high amount of paranormal activity as well, such as ghostly humming and mysterious sounds.
Source(s): Ohio Exploration Society, Dead Ohio
A new Edwin Shaw Rehabilitation Hospital was opened in December of 2009 near Cuyahoga Falls at the former Fallsview Psychiatric Hospital, and the grounds of the former Edwin Shaw Hospital subsequently closed. In the summer of 2017, the county has demolished the main hospital building and all other buildings on the hospital's grounds.
There are 246 tuberculosis patients buried in the hospital's cemetery, children who have committed suicide, and patients who have died due to illnesses, so it comes as no surprise that Edwin Shaw is said to be haunted. There have been reports of doors opening and closing by themselves, footsteps are heard down hallways, and sounds of meals being served in the mess hall despite the mess hall being empty. Sunshine Village is said to have a high amount of paranormal activity as well, such as ghostly humming and mysterious sounds.
Source(s): Ohio Exploration Society, Dead Ohio
MISSION #1
Date: February 18, 2017
Members: Brandon Greavu, Jacob Andrews, Seth Richards, Christian Grimm, Joey Crowl
Report: We parked in the parking lot of Marco's Pizza/Family Video on the 18th of February, roughly around 9 p.m. We walked over half a mile down Sanitarium Road until we came across Ambassador Drive, a dark, closed-off road that lead right to the hospital. We entered the property and made our way up to the hospital. We passed several small buildings and what was known as "Sunshine Village" until the dark silhouette of Edwin Shaw Hospital appeared through the trees.
Coming into the parking lot, we noticed a car on the other side of the lot with their headlights on -- we knew it must have been cops. We slowly crept along the left side of the treeline until we were on the southern side of the building (according to the map below) and found a path that led to an open door. As we approached this door, we started to hear rustling and heavy human-like breathing coming from the other side of the door. Not knowing what it was, we planned to pull out our knives and rush this person with our lights on, hoping to blind whatever it is. But we soon realized nobody was there and there was no trace of any sort of presence -- to this day we still believe that it was a result of paranormal activity.
We continued through the hospital, exploring the first floor where we found a swimming pool area, a large room that could've been some sort of recreation area or lobby. The place was riddled with graffiti. During our trip, we tried being as quiet as possible but we all felt a weird presence as if something just wasn't right there. We entered this room until a large beam of light panned across the window. We instantly thought it was a car and its headlights going down the road or someone with a flashlight. We immediately left the building the way we came in and laid down along the treeline in the parking lot. The cop car was still there, and after 10 minutes of waiting, we noticed the cop had some sort of spotlight and panned it across the whole perimeter of the hospital several times. After a brief discussion, Andrews and Grimm decided to return to the car, and Brandon, Seth, and Joey would re-enter the building.
The three of us went back the way we entered and continued to explore. We went a floor deeper into the basement and intertwining long, dark tunnels began to give us chills. While exploring the basement and these tunnels, we kept hearing strange noises coming from above us and down the tunnels, resembling footsteps and little knocks. We found a staircase that led up to a small building -- completely disconnected to the main hospital building -- nestled against the golf course. As we walked up the stairs, we heard a loud banging noise come from behind us down the tunnels as if something large fell over and clashed against the ground. We sprinted up the stairs in fear to emerge into this building, where there was orange string oddly strung up all over the rooms. We found a large hole in the wall that had a drop down onto the main grounds and as we analyzed it, Seth turned around and saw the eyes of a cat or some sort of critter in the ceiling tiles as it quickly scattered away above us. Exploring the rest of this small building, we decided it was time to leave. The three of us exited through the hole in the wall and walked around the south side of the hospital, past the cop, and back down the road to the car. We were roughly done at about 12 a.m.
So in conclusion, the hospital was very large and mysterious. It was rundown due to vandalism but didn't seem to pose an immediate danger of injuries. We all felt some sort of strange presence that made us feel uncomfortable throughout the entire mission. Our several reports from the heavy breathing, noises all around us, the loud clashing noise from the tunnels, and what appears to be orbs in our pictures make us believe that this place is very haunted and has paranormal activity. The cop limited our ability to explore the whole place and we knew we had to come back soon.
Members: Brandon Greavu, Jacob Andrews, Seth Richards, Christian Grimm, Joey Crowl
Report: We parked in the parking lot of Marco's Pizza/Family Video on the 18th of February, roughly around 9 p.m. We walked over half a mile down Sanitarium Road until we came across Ambassador Drive, a dark, closed-off road that lead right to the hospital. We entered the property and made our way up to the hospital. We passed several small buildings and what was known as "Sunshine Village" until the dark silhouette of Edwin Shaw Hospital appeared through the trees.
Coming into the parking lot, we noticed a car on the other side of the lot with their headlights on -- we knew it must have been cops. We slowly crept along the left side of the treeline until we were on the southern side of the building (according to the map below) and found a path that led to an open door. As we approached this door, we started to hear rustling and heavy human-like breathing coming from the other side of the door. Not knowing what it was, we planned to pull out our knives and rush this person with our lights on, hoping to blind whatever it is. But we soon realized nobody was there and there was no trace of any sort of presence -- to this day we still believe that it was a result of paranormal activity.
We continued through the hospital, exploring the first floor where we found a swimming pool area, a large room that could've been some sort of recreation area or lobby. The place was riddled with graffiti. During our trip, we tried being as quiet as possible but we all felt a weird presence as if something just wasn't right there. We entered this room until a large beam of light panned across the window. We instantly thought it was a car and its headlights going down the road or someone with a flashlight. We immediately left the building the way we came in and laid down along the treeline in the parking lot. The cop car was still there, and after 10 minutes of waiting, we noticed the cop had some sort of spotlight and panned it across the whole perimeter of the hospital several times. After a brief discussion, Andrews and Grimm decided to return to the car, and Brandon, Seth, and Joey would re-enter the building.
The three of us went back the way we entered and continued to explore. We went a floor deeper into the basement and intertwining long, dark tunnels began to give us chills. While exploring the basement and these tunnels, we kept hearing strange noises coming from above us and down the tunnels, resembling footsteps and little knocks. We found a staircase that led up to a small building -- completely disconnected to the main hospital building -- nestled against the golf course. As we walked up the stairs, we heard a loud banging noise come from behind us down the tunnels as if something large fell over and clashed against the ground. We sprinted up the stairs in fear to emerge into this building, where there was orange string oddly strung up all over the rooms. We found a large hole in the wall that had a drop down onto the main grounds and as we analyzed it, Seth turned around and saw the eyes of a cat or some sort of critter in the ceiling tiles as it quickly scattered away above us. Exploring the rest of this small building, we decided it was time to leave. The three of us exited through the hole in the wall and walked around the south side of the hospital, past the cop, and back down the road to the car. We were roughly done at about 12 a.m.
So in conclusion, the hospital was very large and mysterious. It was rundown due to vandalism but didn't seem to pose an immediate danger of injuries. We all felt some sort of strange presence that made us feel uncomfortable throughout the entire mission. Our several reports from the heavy breathing, noises all around us, the loud clashing noise from the tunnels, and what appears to be orbs in our pictures make us believe that this place is very haunted and has paranormal activity. The cop limited our ability to explore the whole place and we knew we had to come back soon.
MISSION #2
Date: May 30-31, 2017
Members: Brandon Greavu, Jacob Andrews, Seth Richards, Christian Grimm, Joey Crowl
Report: On May 30th, 2017, we returned to the infamous Edwin Shaw Hospital for our second attempt. Instead of parking at Marco's Pizza/Family Video like our first mission, we parked at the Lakemore United Methodist Church, located on Sanitarium Road across from the Edwin Shaw Golf Course, just right behind the main hospital.
It was roughly 10 p.m., and we cut across the golf course behind the hospital and continued along the south side (according to the map below) of the property. We knew our first priority was to check the cop's position from the last mission to determine our future strategy. We continued moving slowly into the parking lot, and we did not see a car or any sign of other people. But suddenly, the headlights of a car turned on right in front of us and blinded us -- the cop was in the same place as last time, but this time his headlights were off and he was barely visible. He caught us like deer in the headlights, and the five of us took off running behind the hospital where we came from.
We hid in a treeline along the back parking lot and waited about 10-15 minutes for any activity, when finally we saw a flashlight coming out of a back door from the inside of the hospital. They were searching the perimeter and the inside of the hospital for us, and we took off running down the road towards the golf course. Sprinting across the golf course with our hearts beating, we hid in another line of trees at the edge of the course, and was about 20 feet from the road. We laid down and waited once again, not seeing any activity for another 15 minutes, until we saw a car pull out of the church parking lot we were parked at. As the car approached closer, we realized it was a cop car. We laid down trying our best to be as hidden as possible, knowing this may have been the moment the Malvern EPS would finally get caught. The car slowed down as it drove past the golf course; we knew the cop was analyzing the area for our presence. As we laid down in the treeline holding our breath hoping he wouldn't see us, the car sped up and continued down the road. The cop must've not noticed us and when they were out of sight, we took off running across the golf course and got back to the car and drove away.
We drove about a mile down Sanitarium Road and parked at the GetGo gas station and waited for things to calm down a bit. But we decided not to give up that easily. We parked at the nearby Springfield High School, and waited about half an hour to plan a different strategy. We began by cutting through the suburbs and then up into the woods east of the hospital grounds. We came out onto Ambassador Drive and stopped when we started hearing a strange beeping noise come from the woods in front of us. We still have no clue what that noise was, and we reevaluated the situation and decided to come back for a third time, knowing we failed this attempt. Unfortunately for us, the hospital was demolished over the summer before our third attempt. Even though both our missions weren't successful, Edwin Shaw Hospital will go down as one of the most fun, intense, and mysterious places we've been to.
Members: Brandon Greavu, Jacob Andrews, Seth Richards, Christian Grimm, Joey Crowl
Report: On May 30th, 2017, we returned to the infamous Edwin Shaw Hospital for our second attempt. Instead of parking at Marco's Pizza/Family Video like our first mission, we parked at the Lakemore United Methodist Church, located on Sanitarium Road across from the Edwin Shaw Golf Course, just right behind the main hospital.
It was roughly 10 p.m., and we cut across the golf course behind the hospital and continued along the south side (according to the map below) of the property. We knew our first priority was to check the cop's position from the last mission to determine our future strategy. We continued moving slowly into the parking lot, and we did not see a car or any sign of other people. But suddenly, the headlights of a car turned on right in front of us and blinded us -- the cop was in the same place as last time, but this time his headlights were off and he was barely visible. He caught us like deer in the headlights, and the five of us took off running behind the hospital where we came from.
We hid in a treeline along the back parking lot and waited about 10-15 minutes for any activity, when finally we saw a flashlight coming out of a back door from the inside of the hospital. They were searching the perimeter and the inside of the hospital for us, and we took off running down the road towards the golf course. Sprinting across the golf course with our hearts beating, we hid in another line of trees at the edge of the course, and was about 20 feet from the road. We laid down and waited once again, not seeing any activity for another 15 minutes, until we saw a car pull out of the church parking lot we were parked at. As the car approached closer, we realized it was a cop car. We laid down trying our best to be as hidden as possible, knowing this may have been the moment the Malvern EPS would finally get caught. The car slowed down as it drove past the golf course; we knew the cop was analyzing the area for our presence. As we laid down in the treeline holding our breath hoping he wouldn't see us, the car sped up and continued down the road. The cop must've not noticed us and when they were out of sight, we took off running across the golf course and got back to the car and drove away.
We drove about a mile down Sanitarium Road and parked at the GetGo gas station and waited for things to calm down a bit. But we decided not to give up that easily. We parked at the nearby Springfield High School, and waited about half an hour to plan a different strategy. We began by cutting through the suburbs and then up into the woods east of the hospital grounds. We came out onto Ambassador Drive and stopped when we started hearing a strange beeping noise come from the woods in front of us. We still have no clue what that noise was, and we reevaluated the situation and decided to come back for a third time, knowing we failed this attempt. Unfortunately for us, the hospital was demolished over the summer before our third attempt. Even though both our missions weren't successful, Edwin Shaw Hospital will go down as one of the most fun, intense, and mysterious places we've been to.
LOCATION
Address: 1621 Flickinger Road
Akron, Ohio 44312
Coordinates: 41°01'00.4"N 81°25'49.3"W
Status: Demolished
Akron, Ohio 44312
Coordinates: 41°01'00.4"N 81°25'49.3"W
Status: Demolished
GALLERY
The pictures displayed below were taken by members of the group during the first mission (February 18, 2017).