Old South Pittsburg Hospital
South Pittsburg, small town about 30 miles west of Chattanooga, known for being “the tidiest town in Tennessee.” Near the Alabama/Tennessee state-line, the town is surrounded by some truly beautiful scenery. While this is a small town, I did not get the feeling of "on-its-way-to-a-ghost-town" despair that I sometimes get while driving through small towns. This is a place that is flourishing in its own right.
My friends and I went to investigate the Old South Pittsburg Hospital over the Labor Day weekend. We made the most of that weekend by doing two locations, with the hospital being the night after we investigated Hales Bar Dam. The hospital opened in 1959 and closed in 1998, during which time deaths and reports of abuse occurred. Imagine all of that on top of the Native American and Civil War history of the area! All of that could have certainly left behind energies not yet at rest.
The hospital has three floors and offers a large area to investigate. It may be tempting to take a large team but my recommendation to other paranormal teams is to NOT do that. Sound travels easily and I could frequently hear investigators moving around upstairs. Some of the patient rooms are set up for overnight stays but the rooms are dressed out by the teams that sponsor each room.
Be sure to pay attention to the furnishings as some may give off EMF. I didn't go into each room and I'm not saying that is happening in all rooms but I think it should still a consideration. I have no idea why some furniture gave off EMF but multiple team members found this to be true.
Tip for the newbies: because you will be walking around a bit (as during most investigations), a good fishing vest with a lot of pockets is always a good idea. We had seven investigators in total for our investigation. There was someone that stayed onsite overnight but he remained in his room, was friendly, and he stayed out of our way.
We started our evening by doing a walkabout and taking baseline photos and readings. We were pleasantly surprised that the hospital is in better shape than a lot of other hospitals we have investigated. There is a large breakroom/kitchen area available that we used as a home base for leaving and charging our gear. We kept the coffee pot going all night and there was a fridge available for anything we needed to keep cold.
While we wanted the lights off as much as possible, there are some lights that are always on for safety purposes. Some hallways are darker than others but nurses stations and stairwells were more likely to have at least one small light on. I know it seems that investigating in the dark seems more conducive to picking up on paranormal activity but we all know that activity can happen 24/7.
For more info on history of the area, check out the links I used for research before and after the trip:
http://www.southpittsburgtn.org
http://www.historicsouthpittsburgtn.org/SPHistory1.html