There are many unexplained things going on throughout the world. Thanks to social media, happenings that can’t be explained are sent to various websites and brought to public attention. One of the more recent unexplained photos to be uploaded on the internet is that of the eerie Christmas tree that glows in an abandoned Charity Hospital, even though ever since Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005 the hospital has been closed.
After two people took photos of the creepy sight, the story went viral. One of the photos was taken by a Facebook user Lisa Walley Staggs on December 27th. She happens to work at the nearby Tulane Hospital, from where the abandoned hospital can be seen. One of Staggs’ friends had asked her if there were ghosts living in the hospital or if they decided to have Christmas up there.
Many people on social media believe that the Christmas tree is a ghost or some kind of paranormal force. However, the real explanation is a little more boring than that. According to a police report, someone had broken into the hospital and wrapped two-by-four boards with lights and placed them near the window for people to see.
Leslie Capo from the Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center said that she and the other workers are treating this act as a break-in. The Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center worked with Charity Hospital at one point. Capo told reporters that the boards have since been taken down by police.
If one looks at the photo or at the building from a distance, they can’t tell what the object is. Whoever broke into the building had decided to put the wood and lights up far enough on a floor where it is hard to distinguish what it really is.
A Tulane hospital anesthesia technician also took photos of the strange lights and posted them on social media. Mike Arbon said that it was really pretty, but also quite creepy. He explained that it gave him chills looking at it. He mentioned that it also made him think of his brother who had passed away at Charity Hospital.
One explorer who had posted the photo on Instagram claimed that it was taken in the same room as where the light had originated. The photo shows that two large floodlights turned on. The explorer claimed that the city runs the building on a generator which powers the elevators and some lights that were inside the abandoned hospital.
The caption on this explorer’s Instagram photo was that someone had taken credit for sneaking in the hospital and putting a tree in the room. People keep thinking that the lights are of a ghost Christmas tree.
However, the more important subject is why the city spends so much money on keeping the power on in areas like this hospital – where buildings are abandoned it really shouldn’t be necessary to provide them with power.
It is still not known who turned the floodlights on in that particular room or when that photo was even taken. Another interesting fact is whether or not it was the same room where police say the two-by-fours were found shining.
Here is a little history about the Charity Hospital:
The hospital was actually one of two teaching hospitals which were part of the Medical Center of Louisiana. The other hospital was the University Hospital. About three weeks after Hurricane Katrina, then-Governor Kathleen Blanco said that the hospital shouldn’t reopen as a functioning hospital. The Louisiana State University System, who owns the building, said that they did not have plans to reopen the hospital, given its current state. Instead, it chose to incorporate Charity Hospital into the city’s new medical center in the lower Mid-City neighborhood.
The new hospital was just completed in August 2015 and was named University Medical Center New Orleans. This is one of seven hospitals currently located in Louisiana. It was founded on May 10th, 1736 by Jean Louis, a shipbuilder and French sailor. He died a year before the hospital was built, but his last will and testament stipulated that his earnings would go to finance a hospital for the colony in New Orleans.