Credit: Dangerous Minds / Public Domain

Whether it’s in Cardiff or Cairo, if there’s any type of building in the world that ought to be crawling with ghosts, it’s a hospital.

After all, where would there be more lost spirits wandering around in search of an afterlife than the very place where many of them die?! It’s morbid but if the myths are true, and it really is possible for the spirits of the departed to stick around on our plane of existence (I myself am holding out beyond hope that it is, no matter what the movies tell me), then it stands to reason then any common or garden hospital should have legions of spirits within its walls.

If you go by the testimony of the people who work there, this is already true. A simple Google search will reveal that the lion’s share of hospitals in the UK will have a ghost story or two associated with them. From the infamous Bethlem Royal Hospital that gave the world the term “Bedlam” to a humble hospice in Norwich, the medical workers of the UK seemingly have a ghost story or two to tell. These are people of science as well, so you know that they’re not exactly easily led.

Of all of them, there’s one Institute that seemingly stands out for the sheer amount of hauntings going on within its walls: the Cardiff Royal Infirmary, which dates back to 1822, when it was known as the Cardiff Dispensary on Newport Road, but the grand, almost gothic building that houses the main hospital today wasn’t built until 1883 – it looks like a building that has seen its fair share of ghosts.

According to a number of people who’ve worked in it, it has.

What ghosts haunt the Cardiff Royal Infirmary?

Talk to any member of the security team at the Royal Infirmary, and they’ll tell you that any given night at the hospital could be an active one, barely a shift goes by without an unexplainable tap on the shoulder or a voice carried on the wind… Those are the lucky ones, while other, less fortunate workers have reported tripping while going about their business, but few people have had the rotten luck that the people in charge of viewing the CCTV footage of the hospital have had.

One head of security at the hospital told of seeing shocking things on the monitors that, when he went to investigate, weren’t there anymore, and in one memorable case, he watched a figure on the monitor emerge from the security office, walk straight past him and leave out the main exit – this figure should have been directly in front of him, yet when he looked, there was no one there.

The most famous apparition on the site is that of ‘The Grey Lady’, a formidable-looking yet kindly matron who many swear blind is Eileen Rees, a former head nurse of the hospital. A figure so respected that a portrait of her hangs in the hospital itself. Multiple witnesses speak of this apparition, and some think it’s a benevolent one, whose sight has inspired many to keep fighting for their life, the way I’m sure her appearance did in life.

However, there are some who have seen her appear to patients, offering water. Invariably, those patients have died within the week. One hopes that the grey lady, whoever she may be, is assisting them in death the way she did in life.