Great Valencian Ghosts
Today it is haunted by civil servants who wander the corridors carrying mysterious pieces of paper with blank looks on their faces, seemingly wandering aimlessly, as if searching for some lost file or coffee cup. But once upon a time, the crying of new born babies was to be heard in this building that stands in the Alameda, just across from the Calatrava bridge, La Cigüena, with its metallic sculpture of the stork with its baby bundle in beak, making it clear, as if there had been any doubt, that this was once a maternity hospital.
They say that children are especially sensitive to the paranormal, and perhaps the strong emotions of birth, both the euphoria and the tragedy, have left their psychic imprint on the building, for in the 90s rumours began to circulate about a woman in a pink dress who was seen wandering the halls in search it would seem of her lost baby.
Other possibly supernatural occurrences occurred; babies’ cries were heard, lifts went up and down without being called, members of the public were given a polite, efficient service.
Two women had died in the hospital due to birth complications, one of them called Lurdes, and this is the name that has been given to the wandering spirit.
Valencia’s sunny weather doesn’t really lend itself to ghost stories, and it’s hard to imagine a spectre in shades, so maybe we should make the most of the little we’ve got and tell these few tales more frequently.
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