Trip log – R___ Hospital – Sept xx, 2004 – JadeNala, Gatsby, GreyKat
Scouting trip on Sept xx, 2004 with Gatsby, Ofberenonehand, GreyKat

I will start this log by saying that I am going to combine the initial scouting trip and the main trip itself into one. The scouting trip was a short half-hour excursion in to make sure that the entrance was possible, and a short exploration into the first two floors.

I had heard through a good source that the entrance into R_____ was not totally closed off as many had previously thought. So after finishing the tunnels of ConAgra, Gatsby, Ofberenonehand, and I scouted the building to see if the rumor was true. JadeNala and I had walked around the building a few nights before and it was sealed tight. I climbed the lower roofs and walked the outside looking in vain for a way in. The only options appeared to be tearing off one of the boards, which I did not want to risk doing, or checking the original means of going in. The night Jade and I were out I stuck my head in and sure enough, it looked good but there was a lot of foot traffic over next door so we left that night without looking further. The night Gatsby, Ofberenonehand and I went we still saw a lot of foot traffic but waited for a lull and scooted into the small area where access is possible. Climbing up and through first it seemed funny that the professionals that boarded up this place would miss it, but as Max Action said on his previous trip a few years ago, nobody would expect someone to go through all of that just to get in to an empty building. Well we did and we had enough time to look around a little bit before Gatsby had to get to work. We made plans to come back another night.

Three days had passed since we scouted R_____ and although I had expected a larger group than what had showed up, it turned out to be the perfect size with Gatsby, Jade, and myself. We met up at the usual spot for this area and headed over to the site. We sat outside in a shadowed area for a bit watching the usual foot traffic go around and once again went in during a lull. This was Jade’s first time on such a difficult entry point but she did just fine. Gatsby videotaped the whole way in since it’s so unbelievable with his camera on night shot.

Once in we set off and explored the subbasement, which consists mainly of the two huge furnaces, some storage, and what appeared to be the coal room, which would have held the fuel for the furnaces. In no time we were in the upper basement that was fairly plain and held more storage and a few old hospital carts. We also found the laundry room and some industrial sized washer and dryers that could wash and dry every item of clothing in Jade and mine house in one load. We soon moved up some stairs and into the newer hospital building itself. Peeling paint hung from the walls and ceiling in ragged strips and broken ceiling fans dotted here and there. The sound of fire alarms with long dead batteries with a live power backup beeped throughout the building causing a creepy feeling.

Exploring the main floor we found several patient rooms and the usual institutional layout. We did find a couple of plaques in the main entry hall that were remnants of the Q___ Health Care Center that had the building for a short time. They dated from the early 90’s and were safety awards. The rest of the first floor was nondescript and after a short time we climbed upwards.

The second floor was mostly like the first, with patient rooms, nurses stations, and a few other scattered places of interest. There was a maternity ward on this floor so I snapped a picture of Gatsby looking in. We went on and found the medical records room and I took some pictures of the files feeling like a spy with the theme song of mission impossible in my head. Jade encountered the guardian in the form of a large spider that she almost walked into. We named it Pepe since it climbed out of the way pretty quickly to let us pass.

The rest of the newer hospital building was all pretty much the same on each floor, with the best part being the roof. We opened the door leading out onto the roof and it was bathed in moonlight and looked like something from a movie. We took our time and Gatsby took some night photos of the roof while we enjoyed the view towards downtown Minneapolis. We skipped taking pictures of downtown because once you have seen downtown from the top of ConAgra a couple of blocks away and a lot higher up it makes other views from the same angle pointless.

After relaxing and enjoying the view we headed downstairs and towards the Victorian house that adjoined the hospital. This house was the original one that Martha Ripley opened in 1886. The basement had been added onto when the new building was put up. The add-on contained a cafeteria, staff lounges, and the kitchen. There was also access into a crawl space under the addition that was chock full of asbestos.

Moving up some stairs into the house itself with me in the lead, we had just rounded the corner onto the ground floor when I looked up and saw three very bad things. The first thing I saw was a camera, the second was a motion light, and the third was an alarm bell. I’m not talking about a small alarm bell this thing could be heard for blocks if it went off. Motioning the others back around the corner and out of site, I tucked up against the wall and started looking to see if it was live. Tracing the power line for the assemblies back to a power box, relief flooded me when I saw that it was unplugged. Telling the others it was safe we moved in and looked around.

The main room held a fireplace that must have at one time looked much different. Seventies looking tiles covered it and made it look tacky and cheap. There were other small rooms that were probably used for administration and a bathroom that held a scare all its own. As we were looking around Gatsby closed the door to the bathroom only to come back a short time later to see that the door had come open again. He closed it again to get by and turned around a minute later to see it opening by itself! No big deal he thought it’s probably a little of so it opens by itself. He then closed it and waited for it to open again. It didn’t, so he pushed it a little bit and it only moved a short distance. He did this several times to the same effect, it only moved a little ways before stopping again proving that it wasn’t off center. He closed the door again and walked away, not saying anything to us since we were in another room. We soon walked past that same door again and on our way upstairs to the second floor I closed it so that it was wedged shut. When we finally made it back downstairs it was standing wide open again. We wondered if this was the door that flew open on Max Action and Foxilla when they visited in the winter of 2001/2002.

The upstairs held water damaged rooms and floors warped by the moisture that have endured over the years. Plaster was falling off the lathe on the walls and ceilings creating a horror house look. There was a small Victorian era stair rail that went nowhere, the stairs having been removed some time in the past. Access doors to storage and attic gaped open into dusty rooms and floorboards were rotted and in some cases missing. Gatsby took some time-lapse photos of the haunted atmosphere and we packed up our gear and went back down. This was the time I noticed the door was open and Gatsby told us about what had happened to him. It was a great spooky way to end an exploration. We moved silently through the buildings and out the exit point into the night with another successful mission.