t h e  h a y w o o d  h o s p i t a l

If you travel the windings of Route 8, Ky you will soon run into the most adorable, welcoming, small town Kentucky has to offer. I’m a sucker for a corner town where everyone knows each other’s names and stories, where everyone seems to be painting or gardening and they all come out right as the sun rises. I walked a few loops through Maysville before I ran into the infamous run down Haywood Hospital. I’d be lying if I didn’t say that this building was on my list of things to catch with my camera that day. Haywood hospital (originally Haywood seminary) served its people of KY well since 1923 until the towns needs outgrew the building over time.  Soon the building was bought in a public auction where it would sit in limbo, where it still sits today. 

Haywood hospital is known to be one of the top 3 most haunted sites in Kentucky and possibly the world. The ghost stories told of this building started well before the deterioration but they continue to be told today.  One of the most chilling tales is the sightings’ of a woman carrying her crying baby through the maternity ward.  People reported that she would walk back and forth through the hallway and stand underneath the doorways.  The Maternity Ward happens to be exactly where I shot this panoramic. Could you imagine if she would have popped into frame over in the left of this photograph? Although these scary stories continue to be told, it wasn’t a scary energy I felt walking through those halls. The light was beautiful and warm and the silence was almost comforting, much like the town.