RA: “Lots of hospitals have ghost stories about the people who have passed away in the operating rooms. When I worked at Ben Taub hospital in Houston, there were so many because it was such a big trauma hospital. I can’t remember them now, partially because there were so many, but there were lots of stories of dead patients lingering in the rooms where they died, especially if it was an especially difficult case. One that I remember from my time at Children’s… well, it’s a little creepy. I don’t know if you want to hear it.”
AB: “Creepy is good!”
RA: “Well, there was a baby that passed away in one the
cardiac operating rooms, which is rare because we usually don’t have babies in
there. One of my colleagues was in charge of that case and was really broken up
about it. Ever since then you could hear a faint baby’s crying or laughter in
that operating room. We knew it was the baby, and that she had stayed in the
operating rooms as her final resting place. We could hear her from some of the
nearby rooms, and the crying usually seemed to come from within the walls. Me
and my friends, especially Erika, and some of the nurses would sometimes go to
the room just to talk to the baby. We would usually just read stories, sing
lullabies, and talk about our cases with it. She seemed to listen, and the
crying always seemed to disappear after we talked to her. Sometimes, when I had
little kids as my patients, I would take them to that room if it wasn’t being
used so they could talk to the baby. They all got a kick out of it, and the
kids that knew about the baby would even ask if they could play with her.
Looking back, I’m sure it was something weird happening with the vents. There
were lots of weird noises all over that hospital, and it usually had to do with
fans and vents and wind blowing around in an old building, but everyone could
tell that it was a baby laughing in that room.”
Informant’s interpretation:
AB: “Do you think the ghost of the baby really lived in that
room?”
RA: “Well, in this case, that baby was just born. The only
rooms it ever knew were in that hospital, and it probably spent most of its life
in the operating room. She passed away peacefully, so I think she stayed in
that room because it felt like her home. There was no sense that the ghost was
evil or scary or anything, so I really think, the baby just chose to stay in space
where it felt comfortable.”
Personal interpretation:
Ghosts often inhabit liminal spaces, and indeed, the
operating room is a quintessential liminal space. Patients only enter this room
during an operation, thus this room stands between sickness, pre-operation, and
recovery, post-operation. When a newborn that has spent no time outside of a hospital
dies in this space, doctors may perpetuate the life of the baby as a ghost that
watches over a space that stands between life and death. The informant emphasized
that the spirit was not malicious, and that she and her colleagues would often
discuss difficult cases with the baby, so the ghost may even act as a kind of
guardian of the operating room, protecting future patients and doctors.