The Broughton Hospital in Morganton, North Carolina, opened in March 1883, and it was called the Western Carolina Insane Asylum. Around 1890, the name was changed again to the “State Hospital at Morganton”, until it was finally changed again in 1959 to Broughton Hospital.
Through the years, horrible things happened behind the walls of this hospital that were deemed acceptable treatments for mental illness at the time, which may explain why this may be one of the most haunted places in North Carolina, but for some reason, is never mentioned in the same conversation circles like some of the more prominent paranormal hot spots in the state.
Another shocking event occurred on April 22, 1971, when Dr. Paul Boyles, aged 37 at the time, was found deceased, along with a 39-year-old nurse administrator. The bodies reportedly were found inside a locked room, in an alleged murder-suicide.
Another notable account of death occurred nearly a decade before the doctor and nurse were found dead, in April 1962, when two more were found deceased.
Identical twins, Bobbie Jean and Betty Jo Eller, aged 31 at the time, were reportedly found dead in their beds in separate wards. They had been separated the day before. One twin was found by a staff member in her bed, and a few moments later, the other sister was also found deceased. There were no signs of trauma, and the autopsies revealed no anatomical cause of death.
Former staff members and visitors have told stories of orbs, unexplained footsteps, screams, full-body apparitions, shadow figures, eerie piano music being played that travels through sealed rooms, the feeling of being watched, and even disembodied voices inside.
There are also reports of a woman in white who watches vehicles pass from a third-floor window, while others have described her as a silhouette of a figure hanging in a window. The spirit is said to be that of a patient who died from suicide in a stairwell many years ago. The window is now reportedly boarded up.
Written By: John G. Clark Jr.
Image Credit: “Broughton Hospital Main Building, Morganton, NC” by Warren LeMay is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
