Thursday, December 25, 2008, 07:00
A phantom nurse dressed in a World War II uniform has been spotted wandering the corridors of an ex-hospital building in Bristol.
The spectre - dressed in a white head scarf and with a cardigan draped across her shoulders - has been seen by people at The Vassall Centre, in Fishponds.
Staff from Aspects and Milestones, a learning disability and mental health services charity, say they have seen and felt the ghostly presence on a number of occasions.
No one from the charity would comment in person on what they had seen, but staff claim the spirit moves about the office wearing a white apron with a grey gown and pushing a trolley.
They also say they have felt her touching their shoulders and moving diaries around, and have heard her rattling blinds and felt her pushing against doors they are trying to open.
But although the apparition brings a chilling atmosphere into the area whenever she is present, she is apparently a friendly ghost.
A cleaner at the Vassall Centre says she has felt the spectre's presence every week since she started working there seven months ago.
Jacqui Painter, who is 55 and lives in Oldbury Court, said: "I work in the corridors near Aspects and Milestones early in the morning, at about 4-5am.
"In this one corridor it is very warm, but as soon as I get to a certain part of it it is absolutely freezing. I haven't seen anything, but it feels like there is a presence there.
"I don't know what it is, but it is really cold and horrible, and is quite spooky.
"I am not scared, but it is not a very nice experience going up there and I always do my cleaning very quickly, especially if I am in the building on my own."
The Vassall Centre was built as part of Frenchay Hospital at some point during World War II, but was never actually used as a hospital.
No one has yet been able to identify who the nurse may have been, but medical staff would have been on the site during the 1940s and 1950s to check its suitability.
The building is now run by a local charity as barrier-free offices and conference facilities, providing accommodation for 15 disability organisations that provide services from the centre.
Mary Welbourn, the Vassall Centre Trust's conference centre manager, said: "As far as I know, the ghost has never made an appearance to any of our 20,000 conference centre users, and even if she has, no one has been nervous of coming back."
The Trust has recently tried to find out exactly when the building was built, but after checking records in the central library and in the Bristol records office, they are still no clearer.
The mystery stems from the fact that during the war many buildings were constructed quickly and sometimes secretly, so records were often left incomplete.
If anyone has any information about when the building was constructed or any other historical information, please contact the Vassall Centre Trust on 0117 965 1707.
http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/homepage/Ghost-nurse-Bristol-hospital/article-567956-detail/article.html
Sat Jan 04, 2014 1:48 pm by Ian
