Beach Army Hospital

During one of our urban explorations last year, Daniel and I visited the Beach Army Hospital in Mineral Wells, Tx.

The hospital was opened in 1957, and closed it's doors in 1973. Since then it seems to have served as a storage unit for several businesses, and at one point it may have been used as some sort of warehouse. Definitely not a place for the faint-hearted or superstitious. The floors are littered with everything imaginable, from a collection of retro projectors to an engine in one of the hallway sinks. It was every urban explorer's dream.

If all the previous history piled on the floor wasn't enough to give you the willies, there was always the wind whipping though the windows and doors, shuffling papers and moving what was left of the curtains in a very ghost-like fashion. Parts of the hospital were completely black, leaving us only the light of our IPhones and camera flashes. At one point, while wandering around the operating rooms, we were startled by the slow-closing operating doors that began to slam all at once. But I can't say we saw anything to suggest that this place should be considered haunted. However, you do run the risk of getting tetanus around every corner.

---

It's very easy to get lost in this building due to the size and design. Every room looks the same, every hallway is dark and cluttered with the same random types of items. Without my husband's impeccable sense of direction I would have been walking in circles for hours.
One of my favorite things I've ever come across on an adventure was in the window of one of the patient rooms. On the ledge of a window that has long been broken out, was a bible open to Exodus. Whether you are familiar with the bible or just familiar with Latin, you know that Exodus means to 'exit'.
Another one of my favorite things about this location is the empty elevator shaft. While I find myself constantly disappointing in the people who choose to break into these pieces of history and 'tag' the walls, every once in a while I see a clever use of their talents. On the wall next to the elevator door someone had drawn an arrow pointing down the shaft and written 'To Hell'. This gives the old hospital a bit more of a Silent Hill feel and I appreciate that they weren't just tagging some gang sign, or declaring that they were in fact, here on said date. I was a little bummed that the morgue was flooded by the recent rainstorms and therefore off limits. However this was just a scouting run for our Zombie shoot. Stay tuned for more on that...

---