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Opened: 1963
Closed: 2010
Originally opened and named as the Affinity Medical Center in 1963, the Massillon Doctors Hospital was formed by five physicians and a businessman. Located on Bailey Street in Perry Heights, Ohio, the Doctors Hospital building was originally designed like an airplane, a main corridor with two wings branching off on each side with a total of 48 beds for its patients. The hospital began increasing in patient population, leading to the hospital having to expand its building to keep up with demands, eventually reaching a final and maximum size of 300,000 square feet. The hospital offered a lot of services to its patients including ICU care, surgical services, an outpatient clinic, maternity ward, pain treatment center, and cardiovascular services. The hospital also served as a learning and practice facility for Ohio University medical students.
The hospital prospered from 1963 to 2005, but in 2006 things began to change. The Massillon Community Hospital, another competing hospital in the city, proposed a merger with the Doctors Hospital to become known together as Affinity Medical Center. The proposal was the beginning of an end to the Doctors Hospital and in September of 2008, all services from the hospital were relocated to the Massillon Community Hospital and the Doctors Hospital was permanently closed. Stark County used the hospital as its morgue but moved out of the building in 2009. With the Stark County morgue moved, the hospital was shut down and nobody was willing to buy the property, leading to the decision to demolish the building in December of that year. But in 2010, a property company purchased the hospital for $1, sparing it from the wrecking ball. The property company is currently interested in converting the former hospital building into an assisted living center, a halfway house or even apartments or a hotel.
With most abandoned hospitals, the Doctors Hospital is one that is said to be haunted. Several reports included water faucets turning on and off by themselves and a misty apparition floating around the halls. Spirits would play pranks on the nurses, causing nurses to hear an unknown voice call out their names, but no one would be in the area. The humming of a nurse's aid who died can also be heard. One room in particular, presumed to be in the wing undergoing renovation, is said to be very haunted after an elderly woman cursed the room. The room would fill with coldness and reports of an elderly woman harassing patients and attempting to kick them out of the room. When a hospital administrator investigated the room overnight, he lasted only until 2 a.m., and the room was soon sealed off from the public.
Source(s): Ohio Exploration Society
Closed: 2010
Originally opened and named as the Affinity Medical Center in 1963, the Massillon Doctors Hospital was formed by five physicians and a businessman. Located on Bailey Street in Perry Heights, Ohio, the Doctors Hospital building was originally designed like an airplane, a main corridor with two wings branching off on each side with a total of 48 beds for its patients. The hospital began increasing in patient population, leading to the hospital having to expand its building to keep up with demands, eventually reaching a final and maximum size of 300,000 square feet. The hospital offered a lot of services to its patients including ICU care, surgical services, an outpatient clinic, maternity ward, pain treatment center, and cardiovascular services. The hospital also served as a learning and practice facility for Ohio University medical students.
The hospital prospered from 1963 to 2005, but in 2006 things began to change. The Massillon Community Hospital, another competing hospital in the city, proposed a merger with the Doctors Hospital to become known together as Affinity Medical Center. The proposal was the beginning of an end to the Doctors Hospital and in September of 2008, all services from the hospital were relocated to the Massillon Community Hospital and the Doctors Hospital was permanently closed. Stark County used the hospital as its morgue but moved out of the building in 2009. With the Stark County morgue moved, the hospital was shut down and nobody was willing to buy the property, leading to the decision to demolish the building in December of that year. But in 2010, a property company purchased the hospital for $1, sparing it from the wrecking ball. The property company is currently interested in converting the former hospital building into an assisted living center, a halfway house or even apartments or a hotel.
With most abandoned hospitals, the Doctors Hospital is one that is said to be haunted. Several reports included water faucets turning on and off by themselves and a misty apparition floating around the halls. Spirits would play pranks on the nurses, causing nurses to hear an unknown voice call out their names, but no one would be in the area. The humming of a nurse's aid who died can also be heard. One room in particular, presumed to be in the wing undergoing renovation, is said to be very haunted after an elderly woman cursed the room. The room would fill with coldness and reports of an elderly woman harassing patients and attempting to kick them out of the room. When a hospital administrator investigated the room overnight, he lasted only until 2 a.m., and the room was soon sealed off from the public.
Source(s): Ohio Exploration Society
Members: Brandon Greavu, Jacob Andrews, Seth Richards, Joey Crowl
Date: January 15-16, 2017
After visiting the McKinley Hall on the late night of January 15th, 2017, the Malvern EPS went to the Massillon Doctors Hospital. We arrived at the abandoned hospital at about 10 p.m. and parked in the northeast corner (according to the map below) of the dark parking lot behind some large shed. The Hanover Healthcare Center is located adjacent from the parking lot, where several people were outside and cars were driving around. In order to reach the hospital, we had to cross the large parking lot, which gave us a disadvantage as people from the healthcare center could spot us, so we stayed low and moved slowly among the shadows.
We began by checking the back of the hospital for an entrance and we were unable to find one, so we continued towards the west side of the building. As we walked along Austin Avenue, cars would occasionally drive by, prompting us to hide in bushes and around corners and obstructions. We continued walking along Bailey Street, moving fast to get out of sight. But suddenly, a car was coming down the road behind us and another was coming up on Newport Avenue, both of which could easily spot us and our suspicious activity. While panicking, Brandon and Seth hopped over a wall that dropped about 15 feet into a parking area under an overhang connected to the hospital, while Andrews and Joey continued to sprint along the wall and hide around it. With our hearts beating, we waited a few minutes in hiding to see if anyone noticed and approached us. However, no one did, and we believed we were in the clear.
While we were under the overhang and out of sight, we searched the area for ways inside of the hospital. We eventually decided that a boarded window would be our best and only point of entry. While Andrews worked on gaining access through the window, the other three members would alternate between helping him and keeping an eye out. After about ten minutes of trying to get through the window, we suddenly heard sirens. We immediately knew that it was the police on their way to catch us, so we took off running back through the parking lot and to the car. We hid in the car and waited a few seconds until an ambulance pulled into the wellness center, there for some sort of medical emergency. After being alarmed thinking the sirens were the police, we realized we were in the clear and we slowly returned to the window. We were finally able to open the window and get inside of the Doctor's Hospital.
We climbed into some lobby area, and it looked like everyone recently deserted the hospital, leaving the past behind and all the equipment and documents remaining behind. We searched around the area as we developed an eerie feeling until it came to our attention that we were trapped in this lobby area. Any doors that led to other areas were all locked and bolted shut. We found a security door that led to a staircase, and decided it was the only way of progressing through the hospital. We all tried to pry open the door and shoulder it open, however, it proved that it wasn't opening. But suddenly, Joey insisted that he should try, and he backed up several feet until running full force towards the door, ultimately opening it and allowing us to gain access to the rest of the hospital.
We began traversing throughout the hospital, exploring what the hospital has to offer. It was recently abandoned so the building's infrastructure isn't deteriorating but ceiling tiles still riddled the floor and lights were hanging down from the ceiling. While we were walking down a hallway, we suddenly heard a noise and froze in our tracks. We heard what sounded like footsteps on the floor above us, and we're confident that it was some sort of paranormal activity. However, we continued exploring the hospital. We got lost on several occasions, prompting us to eventually having to leave the hospital, leaving many parts of the building unexplored, and we knew we'd be back another time to finish exploring it. We left the way we came in and regrouped at the car until we departed.
Date: January 15-16, 2017
After visiting the McKinley Hall on the late night of January 15th, 2017, the Malvern EPS went to the Massillon Doctors Hospital. We arrived at the abandoned hospital at about 10 p.m. and parked in the northeast corner (according to the map below) of the dark parking lot behind some large shed. The Hanover Healthcare Center is located adjacent from the parking lot, where several people were outside and cars were driving around. In order to reach the hospital, we had to cross the large parking lot, which gave us a disadvantage as people from the healthcare center could spot us, so we stayed low and moved slowly among the shadows.
We began by checking the back of the hospital for an entrance and we were unable to find one, so we continued towards the west side of the building. As we walked along Austin Avenue, cars would occasionally drive by, prompting us to hide in bushes and around corners and obstructions. We continued walking along Bailey Street, moving fast to get out of sight. But suddenly, a car was coming down the road behind us and another was coming up on Newport Avenue, both of which could easily spot us and our suspicious activity. While panicking, Brandon and Seth hopped over a wall that dropped about 15 feet into a parking area under an overhang connected to the hospital, while Andrews and Joey continued to sprint along the wall and hide around it. With our hearts beating, we waited a few minutes in hiding to see if anyone noticed and approached us. However, no one did, and we believed we were in the clear.
While we were under the overhang and out of sight, we searched the area for ways inside of the hospital. We eventually decided that a boarded window would be our best and only point of entry. While Andrews worked on gaining access through the window, the other three members would alternate between helping him and keeping an eye out. After about ten minutes of trying to get through the window, we suddenly heard sirens. We immediately knew that it was the police on their way to catch us, so we took off running back through the parking lot and to the car. We hid in the car and waited a few seconds until an ambulance pulled into the wellness center, there for some sort of medical emergency. After being alarmed thinking the sirens were the police, we realized we were in the clear and we slowly returned to the window. We were finally able to open the window and get inside of the Doctor's Hospital.
We climbed into some lobby area, and it looked like everyone recently deserted the hospital, leaving the past behind and all the equipment and documents remaining behind. We searched around the area as we developed an eerie feeling until it came to our attention that we were trapped in this lobby area. Any doors that led to other areas were all locked and bolted shut. We found a security door that led to a staircase, and decided it was the only way of progressing through the hospital. We all tried to pry open the door and shoulder it open, however, it proved that it wasn't opening. But suddenly, Joey insisted that he should try, and he backed up several feet until running full force towards the door, ultimately opening it and allowing us to gain access to the rest of the hospital.
We began traversing throughout the hospital, exploring what the hospital has to offer. It was recently abandoned so the building's infrastructure isn't deteriorating but ceiling tiles still riddled the floor and lights were hanging down from the ceiling. While we were walking down a hallway, we suddenly heard a noise and froze in our tracks. We heard what sounded like footsteps on the floor above us, and we're confident that it was some sort of paranormal activity. However, we continued exploring the hospital. We got lost on several occasions, prompting us to eventually having to leave the hospital, leaving many parts of the building unexplored, and we knew we'd be back another time to finish exploring it. We left the way we came in and regrouped at the car until we departed.
Members: Brandon Greavu, Jacob Andrews, Seth Richards, Christian Grimm, Joey Crowl
Date: May 6-7, 2017
The Malvern EPS revisited the Massillon Doctors Hospital on May 6th, 2017 to explore what remained from our first mission. We arrived at the area around 9 p.m. and decided to park at the Hanover Health Center located east of the hospital as opposed to the first mission. However, after a brief discussion, we decided to not park at the health center because there was a fence blocking entry onto the hospital grounds in addition to many cars, people and cameras at the health center that would be able to catch our suspicious activity. We decided to park at the same spot we did on the first mission, behind the shed in the hospital's large parking lot. We moved slowly across the parking lot and keeping out of sight from people at wellness center. We found our way back to the window we climbed through the first time, and the entry was still accessible. The five of us made our way through the window and entered the hospital flawlessly and with ease.
Now that we were inside of the hospital, we had a few goals in mind that we didn't accomplish the first mission. One was to get on top of the roof, the second was to find the haunted room home to an urban legend, and the third was to find the morgue. We first attempted to find the haunted room, which is home to a story that tells about an elderly woman who cursed the room. We searched every room in the wing it was rumored to be in, but we were unable to find and identify the room as it was difficult to find which room it was exactly. So we continued exploring the hospital, moving our way towards the basement. Most of the basement was unexplored from the first trip, and we found the morgue. It was slightly more disappointing than what we were expecting but still creepy nonetheless.
After a few hours of exploring, we began moving upwards to the roof. We found ourselves in a hallway with windows that lead to the roof. To gain access to the roof, Brandon punched one of the windows and broke the glass, causing a minor injury but still resulted in access to the roof. We walked and climbed among the roof, and enjoyed the view as cars drove past down below us. After a few, we finally went back the way we came and left, of course after taking our notable group photo in front of the elevator. Unfortunately, we did not encounter anything paranormal unlike the first mission. Overall, the Malvern EPS fully explored the Massillon Doctor's Hospital in a combined two trips and will go down as one of the most memorable places we have visited.
Date: May 6-7, 2017
The Malvern EPS revisited the Massillon Doctors Hospital on May 6th, 2017 to explore what remained from our first mission. We arrived at the area around 9 p.m. and decided to park at the Hanover Health Center located east of the hospital as opposed to the first mission. However, after a brief discussion, we decided to not park at the health center because there was a fence blocking entry onto the hospital grounds in addition to many cars, people and cameras at the health center that would be able to catch our suspicious activity. We decided to park at the same spot we did on the first mission, behind the shed in the hospital's large parking lot. We moved slowly across the parking lot and keeping out of sight from people at wellness center. We found our way back to the window we climbed through the first time, and the entry was still accessible. The five of us made our way through the window and entered the hospital flawlessly and with ease.
Now that we were inside of the hospital, we had a few goals in mind that we didn't accomplish the first mission. One was to get on top of the roof, the second was to find the haunted room home to an urban legend, and the third was to find the morgue. We first attempted to find the haunted room, which is home to a story that tells about an elderly woman who cursed the room. We searched every room in the wing it was rumored to be in, but we were unable to find and identify the room as it was difficult to find which room it was exactly. So we continued exploring the hospital, moving our way towards the basement. Most of the basement was unexplored from the first trip, and we found the morgue. It was slightly more disappointing than what we were expecting but still creepy nonetheless.
After a few hours of exploring, we began moving upwards to the roof. We found ourselves in a hallway with windows that lead to the roof. To gain access to the roof, Brandon punched one of the windows and broke the glass, causing a minor injury but still resulted in access to the roof. We walked and climbed among the roof, and enjoyed the view as cars drove past down below us. After a few, we finally went back the way we came and left, of course after taking our notable group photo in front of the elevator. Unfortunately, we did not encounter anything paranormal unlike the first mission. Overall, the Malvern EPS fully explored the Massillon Doctor's Hospital in a combined two trips and will go down as one of the most memorable places we have visited.