THE STORY
Reported Haunting
Jefferson Davis Hospital is one of Houston's most famous haunted locations. Visitors have reported apparitions, shadow figures, unexplained screams, phantom footsteps, and mysterious lights throughout the former hospital. Many believe the spirits are connected to the cemetery that once occupied the site.
The hospital opened in 1925, and it had been built over an 1840s city cemetery that held thousands of graves. Many were unmarked, suspected to be cholera and yellow fever victims. Although some gravesites were moved, it is said that the actual remains were not transferred along with them. The remaining graves were left alone by way of building the “basement” above the ground. It is these graves, folks say, that make the place a rich spot for paranormal activity. The building was used for storage after a new hospital opened in 1939, and it spent a couple decades abandoned and in disrepair, and popular with ghost hunters. Currently the building has been restored, the graves beneath still undisturbed, and houses the Elder Street Lofts, with 34 residential units.