The old Phelps Dodge Hospital, also known as the New Cornelia Hospital, is one of the most spirit active locations in southern Arizona. The facility opened in 1919 and served the area for nearly 70 years with additions to the building in the 1930’s and 1940’s.
It was featured on Travel Channel’s “Ghost Adventures” in Season 15 (2018). The massive 29,000 square foot structure lures in both the novice and experienced paranormal investigator. The old hospital is located upon a 4-acre hilltop site. It sits directly across from the New Cornelia Open Pit Mine on land that was once inhabited by the Tohono O’odham Native American Tribe.
The mine closed in 1985 and the hospital shut down soon after—leaving behind the energy of spirits who may or may not have been medically discharged. The hospital witnessed countless deaths due to mining and automobile accidents, illnesses and diseases, foul play, early childhood illnesses and more.
One can’t miss the ominous looking building as you roll into the small border town of Ajo, Arizona. High on the hilltop, it almost screams of ghosts and hauntings. Drive to the rear of the deserted building and find a place to park. Don’t forget your flashlight!
The night of our visit, we were hosted by Amy Currie Schrader and Haunted Scottsdale Ghost Tours. Entering through the doorway we found ourselves in the former hospital lobby where Amy and crew waited to check in everyone attending the investigation at the old reception counter.
Amy explained that some of the paranormal activity within the hospital walls is due to the nearby copper mine which may still conduct the energy and electricity associated with a haunting. Witnesses have heard the sounds of hospital carts moving in the abandoned hallways, babies crying in the nursery, doors slamming, and ‘patients’ sobbing for help. Shadows have appeared in the hallways, and objects have been known to move on their own.
Once the guests had been ‘admitted’ to the hospital for the evening, we formed a large circle. We introduced ourselves to the spirits of former patients and hospital staff that perhaps returned for the evening visitation. With an array of paranormal equipment such as EMF meters, temperature gages, a Rem Pod and more, we watched for any signs of sounds or movement.
After a quick visit to the former basement laundry facility, we entered the pharmacy lab where patients and locals would frequent to fill and pick up their prescriptions. The group formed another circle in the room. Using an Echovox, the group did a ‘count off’ experiment where everyone said a number pausing just long enough to see if a voice from the beyond might possibly fill in the next number when digital voice recorders were played back later. Balls with lights were placed on the floor. After several minutes of communications with the spirits, one of the balls moved slightly.
The group was divided into two smaller teams. Each group headed upstairs to the second floor in different directions. Our group headed to the maternity ward; the labor and delivery rooms and nursery. The distinct aroma of cigar smoke was heavy on the second-floor hallway. Was it the spirit of a proud father of a newborn returning to the hospital to pass out cigars one more time?
Heading into the delivery room, the empaths in the group began to feel the emotions of a young mother in duress. The putrid odor of blood grew heavy as if the ghostly patient bled out during childbirth.
Some of the veteran paranormal investigators decided to set up a series of laser grids in the hallways where shadow people had been seen on other investigations. This was deemed to be a great plan as unexplained blackouts on the grids were detected.
Peter Fisher was an up and coming jockey who was injured in an auto accident 19 miles west of Gila Bend at “Dead Man’s Dip” in 1928. He suffered a skull fracture and was brought to the New Cornelia Hospital for treatment. Does his spirit still linger in the emergency room?
The hustle and bustle of this former hospital has not ceased. Spirits of the doctors, nurses, patients and their friends and family continue to haunt every aspect of this historic medical center.
Hospitals are a great place for residual hauntings. Crisis and death happen at hospitals. Staff are employed over long periods of time and are attached to hospitals. But we must also remember that even though people die in hospitals, others heal and go home, diseases are cured, and babies are born. Positive energies remain behind as well. Paranormal teams should investigate remote hospitals that have been closed and abandoned. These facilities present an opportunity to test new equipment, practice techniques, and discover new stories.
To attend a tour led Amy Currie Schrader of Haunted Scottsdale Ghost Tours contact: www.hauntedscottsdaleghosttours.com
To book a tour for your tour company, organization, or team contact:
Copper Canyon Paranormal Research Center
515 W Hospital Road
Ajo, AZ 85321
www.coppercanyonprc.com
Email: contact@coppercanyonprc.com
Debe Branning has been the director of the MVD Ghostchasers–a Mesa/Bisbee, AZ based paranormal team since 1994. The team conducts investigations of haunted, historical locations throughout Arizona and has offered paranormal workshop/investigations since 2002. Debe has been a guest lecturer at Ottawa University, Central Arizona College, Arizona State University, Scottsdale Community College, and South Mountain Community College. She has been a speaker at science fiction conventions such as Phoenix ComiCon, CopperCon, FiestaCon, HauntedCon and AZParacon. Debe has been the guest speaker at many historical societies and libraries talking about historic/haunted Arizona.
She has appeared in an episode of “Streets of Fear” for FearNet.com which aired October 2009 and on an episode of TRAVEL CHANNEL’S “Ghost Stories” about haunted Jerome, Arizona in July 2010. She recently appeared as an extra in the 2017 horror movie “The Covenant”. She enjoys assisting in the research field for various Travel Channel TV shows such as ‘Ghost Stories’, ‘Haunted Highway’, and ‘Deadly Possessions’ and MTV’s ‘Fear’. She has traveled, toured and investigated at haunted locations across the United States, England, Scotland, Ireland and Mexico.
Debe is the author of “Sleeping With Ghosts-A Ghost Hunter’s Guide to AZ’s Haunted Hotels and Inns” (2004), “Grand Canyon Ghost Stories” (2012), “The Graveyard Shift–Arizona’s Historic and Haunted Cemeteries” (2012), “Dining With the Dead–Arizona’s Historic and Haunted Restaurants and Cafes” (2017) and a series of three children’s books, “The Adventures of Chickolet Pigolet: 1. “The Bribe of Frankenbeans” —-2. “Murmur on the Oink Express” —-3. “You Ought to be in Pig-tures”. For 7 years Debe penned 3 columns for Examiner.com titled: “Phoenix Travel Adventures,” “Arizona Haunted Sites” and “Haunted Places” so travelers could know where they might find a ghost or two when they visited Arizona and the United States. She was the Managing Editor of “Paranormal Investigator Magazine.” As a paranormal travel writer, Debe traveled to Europe to cover haunted castles, jails, ships, inns, cemeteries and ghost walking tours. She has been the guest of several US tourism departments such as Carlsbad, Historic Hotels of the Rockies, Salem, and Biloxi.
Debe is a preservation activist with a special interest in preserving historic cemeteries. She is on the board of directors of the Pioneers’ Cemetery Association and the Arizona Genealogical Advisory Board. She is also one of the co-hosts of the Association of Gravestones Studies in Arizona.
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