A ghost haunts the General Hospital of Barranquilla
For as long as I can remember, I have heard several generations tell the story of the specter of the nun at the Barranquilla General Hospital. It is one of the amazing legends where the apparition wanders through time without really knowing what she is looking for. What has been known, from what many people have stated, is that they have seen her pray next to the sick, wishing her a speedy recovery. She is not an evil spirit but a merciful one who asks through prayer for the convalescence of the needy. Without greeting and without asking about the sick person's state of health, the nun's soul prays without the slightest movement. Once she has finished the prayer she disappears without leaving any trace.
Disturbed by the legend that was spinning in my head, I decided to embark on the adventure of exploring as an archaeologist a phenomenon that has been disappearing over time due to the renovations that the healthcare center has undergone, which in the 80s showed a medieval castle look. Damp walls, aged and eaten away by time and a roof in terrible condition in which gigantic bats could be seen in broad daylight flapping their wings from one place to another looking for the best position to attack. I got the impression that they were hovering like vultures when they know that there is an animal dying and they are waiting for the last breath to descend and fill themselves with the corpse. It was the ideal environment for paranormal apparitions.
I remember that the second time I was in the hospital, it was two in the afternoon in 2003, I got goosebumps. I felt more unsafe inside than outside. His appearance was spectral. Completely overcrowded rooms and inhumane medical conditions. It did not seem like the ideal place to save lives but quite the opposite, leaving the inmates to die to their fate, and when I saw their dying faces I felt like they were saying goodbye to the underworld. Hospital capacity was exhausted. I saw a ward with many beds occupied by low-income patients, among whom was ours. I presume that they were stored in that rugged place, while those with greater capacity were cared for in the better rooms. Once we saw the revived patient, we went out like hell to take a taxi and get lost in the twists and turns of the city.
Those who have seen the soul of the nun describe her as a woman of tall stature and white skin, and wearing white liturgical clothing: a tunic held by a sash, touching her forehead, and a cloak that covers her head down to her ankles. , who wanders with a rosary and a cross in his hands through the corridors, the garden and the surgery and maternity rooms of the care center, not to scare his victims but to pray for the recovery of the sick.
He has appeared to guards, doctors, nurses and patients in the early morning hours and suddenly disappears mysteriously as if flying or passing through walls. It is the soul of Sister Hortensia, who according to legend died of a heart attack a few days after the death of a prostitute in the delivery room, who she took care of as if she were her own daughter. Her shock at the death of the woman of pleasure impacted her so much that she went into a depressive state, until her death occurred. Since then, a soul in pain has haunted the healthcare center, where the most astonishing testimonies have been heard, which the Catholic Church denies, about being seen at the foot of the stretchers of the wounded who enter the emergency room praying. for his speedy recovery.
Others say that it is the spirit of Mother Victorina, who worked at the hospital more than half a century ago and whose mortal remains rest in one of the niches of the healthcare center's chapel.
He is not a cadaverous specter, with bony hands and face, disheveled hair and a white tunic that levitates to pursue his victims and quench his thirst for revenge, on the contrary, he appears in the most normal way in the early morning hours to serve them. a tea to the doctors during the exhausting work days. Those who claim to have seen her say that she is an ordinary person who does not have the appearance of a corpse and even less of a spirit, although those people like those sick people who prayed could not start a conversation with her or greet her with a smile of gratitude for the service provided by her. their mysterious disappearances.
Reliable testimonies maintain that the nun was seen with her chin stuck to her chest, the rosary and the cross in her hands praying. She gave them the impression that she was suffering or she was having a hard time. She was not able to recognize the timbre of her voice nor a greeting from her. Mr. Ángel Suárez, an employee at the healthcare center's morgue, said that the only time he saw her, after so many years of working at the hospital, was the day he was going up the stairs and she was going down.
—Ni me saludó ni la saludé, por la seriedad que llevaba, pero tampoco sentí miedo —dijo—. Con seguridad que era una monja por la vestimenta que llevaba puesta, no un espíritu.
Another of the experiences that attest to its appearance is that of doctor Jesús Flórez, who was on duty on any given day in the early morning hours. In this way he testified to her:
—A seriously injured homeless man was admitted to the hospital emergency room as a result of a fight, who was severely injured by a bottle spout. Once his wound was saturated, I left him on the stretcher and went out to get a coffee. When I returned I saw the nun with a rosary and a Christ in her hands praying to the homeless man. When I went out to notify the guard about the presence of the nun, she was no longer there,” she said. The man on the street assured the doctor that the nun had been praying to him, without managing to exchange words with her.
The nun's paranormal presence has not been explained by anyone, except for some statements by one priest or another who have stated that the appearance of a ghost or spirit is not possible, and that people's stories are pure superstition. There are many theories that maintain that when we die our souls must 'cross' the light to be able to rest in peace.
Psychiatrist Sabrina Jenkins suggests that beliefs play an important role not only in aspects of our lives, but also after—death. This is how she holds it:
Legend has it that in the 1950s an order of missionaries came to the Hospital of Barranquilla to provide their humanitarian services to the sick, among whom was the novice Hortensia, who was given the responsibility of caring for the pleasure women who They will arrive at the healthcare center. One of them was pregnant, she had the best care from the nun who took care of her as if she were her own daughter. They assure her that he became so fond of her that he stayed up all night for her. The day she was admitted to the delivery room, her health became more complicated and the doctors could do nothing to save her life. Hortensia entered a state of depression, days later she died of a heart attack. It was never known if the prostitute's child was born alive.
Since the 80s when she made her first appearance, Hortensia's spirit has wandered through the hallways of the care center, searching for who knows what. She is seen very frequently in the delivery room, perhaps because of the happy memories of her that the prostitute's income brings to give birth to her first child.
The legend of the nun at the General Hospital of Barranquilla has a coexisting relationship with the ghost stories of the British writer Charles Dickens, who in his stories about these phenomena masterfully combines reality with fiction by leaving the reader with doubt as to whether the spirit is really of the story is real or pure imagination of the author. In the local case, many say, since they saw her up close, that the mysterious apparitions of the nun Hortensia are real, of which there is not the slightest doubt,
(Text taken from the chronicle book Nobody's Dead).
