Yorktown Hospital

yorktown hospital
03/29/2025

General Information

Equipment used: DVR, 3 IR video cameras, 1 full-spectrum video camera, personal audio recorders, digital camera, geophone, Mel Meter, surface temperature thermometer, 2 KII EMF meters, Rem Pod, Spirit Box, and other person emf and recording equipment.

Atmospheric Conditions:

Moon: New Moon 0% Full

Temp: 84F

Humidity: 89%

Barometric Pressure: 29.91

Wind: NW at 12 MPH

Investigators: Christy, Kathy and API Members: Brooke, Tammy, and Jill

A special thanks to our friends at API for inviting us along on this investigation!

Equipment used: Personal audio recorders, digital camera, geophone, Mel Meter, surface temperature thermometer, 2 KII EMF meters, Rem Pod, Spirit Box, Tracer Wire, Trigger Items, and other personal EMF and recording equipment.

Client Claims:

• Shadow figures, disembodied voices, moans, screams, dark apparitions with glowing-red eyes, talking dolls, tapping noises on the glass of one of the lobby doors.
• A psychic reported a girl named “Stacy” seems to haunt the property. It is unknown how she died but she can be found in the library if you read her a story, especially “The Poky Little Puppy” which was gifted to her by a former doctor of the hospital, Dr. Nowierski. An article on the web states the book was found with a note from him to Stacy.
• A nun apparition was seen in full habit
• People with tattoos seem to be the target of unseen attacks.

• Shadow in the back hallway near the back door seems to be of a man named “TJ” who supposedly came to the backdoor for addiction help but buzzer was broken and nobody answered and he died. His body was apparently found the next day on the back stoop.

• Rumor states two people died in the boiler room from stabbing each other. Blood is rumored to remain on the basement wall.

Historical/Factual/Relevant Info:

Yorktown Hospital, a landmark with deep roots in the community, was constructed in 1950 and officially opened its doors in 1951 with 20 beds. The hospital was established by the Felician Sisters, an order of Catholic nuns, and served as a regional medical center for the town of Yorktown, Texas, and surrounding areas for several decades.

Built as a living memorial to honor the 49 men from Yorktown who lost their lives in World War I and World War II, the hospital originally featured a bronze tablet listing their names, once proudly displayed in the front lobby. The facility’s second floor served as living quarters for the dedicated staff, many of whom were members of the Felician order.

The first administrator of Yorktown Hospital was Sister Mary Monica, RN, who arrived in October 1950 along with Sister Mary Redempta, RN. Together, they began the immense task of equipping the hospital and organizing its initial staff. By March 1951, additional Felician Sisters and staff members had joined, each taking on crucial roles within the hospital’s operations:

• Sister Mary Paschalisa, RN – Anesthetist
• Sister Mary Redempta, RN – Obstetrics
• Sister Mary Theonia – Office Manager
• Sister Mary Lenoria, RN – Medical Records
• Sister Mary Juventa – Medical Technician
• Sister Mary Armella – X-ray Technician
• Sister Mary Norberta – Dietitian
• Sister Mary Theobalda – Laundry Supervisor

Picture: Sister Mary Juventa - Victoria Advocate, Sun, May 26, 1963 ·Page 8

The original medical staff included Dr. Leon W. Nowierski, Dr. John H. Barth, and Dr. A. Rittman. Dr. Nowierski served the community for many years, practicing well into his 90s. According to his obituary, he was born in October 1891, graduated from Tulane University in 1917, and was a veteran of World War I. He passed away in October 1986 after a long illness.

Throughout its history, Yorktown Hospital played a vital role in the region’s healthcare, particularly during the 1950s to the 1970s, when local newspapers frequently featured birth announcements from the facility. However, as nearby hospitals with greater capacity and more advanced facilities opened—such as the hospital in Cuero, Texas—Yorktown Hospital faced challenges in maintaining operations.

By the early 1980s, Yorktown Hospital had only two doctors on staff and operated at roughly one-third the size of the Cuero hospital. Despite efforts led by individuals such as Sister Rosanne to keep it open, the hospital ultimately closed in 1986.

From Left to Right – Dr. Marvin Gohlke, Dr. John Barth and Dr. Leon Nowierski in 1966 at 15th Anniversary celebration (Photo from Dr. Gohlke and is displayed in Yorktown Hospital.

After its closure, the building briefly reopened as a drug and alcohol rehabilitation center in the 1990s before closing again. In later years, it became a site of public curiosity, with guided tours exploring the now-vacant structure. However, by 2018, the building was cited for code violations and all tours were discontinued.

The hospital building spans approximately 14,595 square feet and includes two two-story wings with patient rooms, administrative offices, a chapel, and a basement. Over time, local legends have emerged around the facility—some claiming that thousands of patients died there or recounting alleged violent events. However, such stories remain unverified, and archival records such as those from The Victoria Advocate primarily reflect routine hospital operations, especially births.

The area of Yorktown itself dates to around 1848 and was officially incorporated in 1871 by Capt. John York and Charles Eckhardt. One notable individual connected to the hospital was Marvin Edward Smith, a staff member originally from Oklahoma, who worked at and passed away in the hospital at the age of 72.

Investigation Report

Our team arrived around 8:50 p.m. We all conducted a short walk-through around 9 p.m., carrying our audio recorders and other handheld equipment. We started on the first floor and then moved up to the 2nd floor.

Set-Up

After bringing in all our equipment and discussing a plan in the lobby, we began setting up equipment in various areas of the hospital. Up toward the front lobby, a motion-sensor music box was placed in the stairwell to monitor any possible motion in the area. After a few minutes of silence, the music box began going off. Jill went into the stairwell to reset the music box to make sure it was calibrated correctly. While in the stairwell area, Jill stated she felt as if she was being watched. She decided to place her audio recorder in the stairwell entrance area to see if it would capture anything. Later, when she reviewed her audio, she found an EVP that said, “Hi.”

According to the time stamp, this EVP was captured around 9:38 p.m. Jill’s audio recorder remained in the lobby, and a few minutes after the first recorded EVP, it also picked up a female voice saying, “yeah.” When the “yeah” was recorded, all team members were a ways down the hallway by the chapel.

A short dinner break was taken, and while all members were out of the building, Christy’s audio recorder, which was sitting in the front lobby area, captured a loud knock while we were gone.

Investigation/Sit-Down

Cage Room

We all decided to go to the “Cage Room” first to investigate it. This room contained a heavy-duty cage that was reportedly used for individuals at higher risk of harm. We decided to do a sit-down in this room because Tammy had previously had an intense dream about a long-haired woman in this room. We set up various pieces of EMF equipment in this room and began asking a series of questions. We had some responses on the

equipment. We even had the light ball activate once in the cage. (See video)

While we were in the cage room, Jill’s audio recorder was still sitting in the stairwell when it picked up some bangs and movement (then a voice), “No, put it back, put it back." We found this EVP interesting because we weren’t around when it was recorded, and because there were banging and movement sounds, along with a male voice telling someone else to put something back twice.

Basement

We then moved to the basement area. There was a local folklore that there had been a murder/suicide in the basement of this hospital and that there were supposed blood splatters on the wall and ceiling.

Marks on the wall in the basement, previously reported to have tested positive for human blood, were tested by OKPRI using a phenolphthalein presumptive blood-

testing kit. Results from swabs taken from various areas of this wall were definitive against a control sample, indicating it was negative for both human and animal blood.

We then conducted a sit-down in the basement and set up our grid at the doorway leading out into the hallway. Brooke and Tammy were sitting closest to the doorway. They both saw a low 4-foot shadow in the hallway. Around 1:37 a.m., our light-up ball, which had been sitting in the doorway, activated. 1:39 a.m., our cat ball activated again in the doorway while in the basement. There was also a loud thump/knock

sound from the corner of the room. After this, our laser grid moved on its own in a circular motion. This happened about 1:44 a.m. We all saw the movement through the grid light. We attempted to recreate the movement of the light and found that it would have had to be physically turned in a circular motion to create the light pattern it did.

Chapel – Nothing paranormal occurred in this area. As we were sitting in the chapel, several of us noticed shadow movement down the hallway by the nurses’ station. At that point, we decided to move our sit-down observation to the nurse’s station.

Nurse’s Station

We set a couple of EMF meters, a music box, and a light-up ball on the wall area of the nurse’s station room. This was not a very large area and could easily be monitored from all sides. The music box was turned inwards so it would not be set off by any of us. We did a Q&A session and had the music box and one of the EMF meters respond to several questions.

We also monitored a long stretch of hallway on both sides

of the nurses’ station. We conducted an audio baiting session, playing religious songs and Catholic readings in hopes of eliciting interaction from any spirits present, since it was a Catholic hospital.

We had some activations on the Trip Wire and on an EMF meter, along with a couple of light-up ball activations. During the audio baiting session and afterward, Christy’s audio recorder also picked up several loud knocks. One of these knocks again was heard audibly by all team members. One of these captured was a clip of “multiple thuds” heard by all team members. There was also a third loud thump heard a few minutes after the second one. 4:28 a.m. – Music box activation (flash) seen in hallway by Tammy when we had audio baiting going for prayer (suffered under Ponscious pilot, etc.) The light-up ball activation 3 in the hallway by the nurses' station when we were doing sit-down, and letting Leon know we would help him cross over.

Light set up hallway by nurses station.jpg

Front Lobby/Hallway

Towards the end of our sit-down, a couple of investigators noticed movement at the end of the hallway leading to the front lobby. Later, we would learn that this was an active area where we would later discover several recorded several EVPs.

psychic investigators
comments

The Angry Male

I had my first encounter in this building in the old admin room of Sister Mary Monica. In this room, a young male, possibly in his mid-twenties, showed me his face really close up, as if he were yelling and angry. I think he did this for two reasons: one, to try to scare me, and two, to show me he was really angry. This male also felt like he had some mental health disorder. I felt he carried a heavy depressive energy with him and

had a traumatic childhood, which led to adult problems. I reencountered him upstairs, and he showed me his view once, looking out one of the windows, wanting to jump to his death.

The Young Woman and Her Lost Baby

Before leaving my home to go on this investigation, I picked up on a woman who had had a baby but had passed away. I wasn’t sure, but either her baby passed away too, or she didn’t know where her baby was. I encountered her at the hospital, but she didn’t want to talk much and preferred to be left alone, so I didn’t push to communicate more with her. I offered her help to cross over, but she refused.

The Teenage Mother

While at the hospital, I also picked up on a 16-year-old girl who was supposed to be training to be a nun. Her parents wanted this for her as her family was strongly Catholic. She wanted to make her parents proud of her, so she entered the training, but later decided

she didn’t want to follow that path. The time period I felt she existed in was the 1950’s. She had met a boy and became pregnant. Due to this accidental pregnancy, she carried a lot of guilt and shame throughout her pregnancy. Her parents sent her away during her pregnancy so she would not be noticed by those close to her. She had a baby boy, and her parents made her give him up for adoption.

Dr. Leon

I picked up on a strong male doctor who was still grieving over the loss of a close family member, like a wife or child. I felt his physical death had occurred due to a bad heart in his later years. For many years, he had worked at the Yorktown Hospital as their primary doctor. Even while physically alive, he was interested in life after death, in how a body could be resuscitated, and in how the soul could live on after the physical body dies. During our sit-

down, he shared that he had faced numerous false accusations during his career as a doctor. One of these accusations that still haunted him was the accusation that he had intentionally cut the throat of one of his female patients. He showed me his trembling hands and said he would never have done anything to harm his patient. He described to me how he got a bit scared when he couldn’t stop the bleeding of his patient.

During our sit-down, he also told me he was tired and wanted to be reunited with his family and “go home.” Before we all left the hospital, we helped him and others cross over. While helping Leon and others to cross over, all 5 of us felt a cold breeze that blew through our circle. This was a unique experience for everyone there because we had been in the hospital all evening and had not felt any air circulation, as most of the hospital’s windows and doors were boarded up.

The Lady in Blue

While conducting a walk-through of the kitchen area, I saw a medium- to heavyset woman wearing light blue V-neck scrubs with short sleeves, paired with matching blue pants. She had dark hair and looked to be in her late thirties to early forties. Her dark hair was put up in a bun. I encountered her shortly after I entered the kitchen. As we passed, she smiled at me and said hello. She told me she had lost her son and was very sad about his death. She then quickly disappeared, and I never saw her again. I didn’t know whether she had once worked at the hospital or was just a transient spirit.

evidence collected

4 EVPs were recorded during this investigation, along with 4 sound clips and 10 video clips, combined into 1 video collage. There were 0 positive photos