Ghosts of the Hospital – United Community

Today’s photo gallery is one of an incredibly creepy abandoned hospital known as the United Community Hospital. It’s not often that I get weirded out about being somewhere, but this place was quite strange.

Dangerous medical waste, alongside piles of confidential patient records are only a couple of the things remaining within the gutted walls of this modern 1970s structure.

Most hospitals remained heavily segregated through the 1960s. Back then, it was documented that black patients were receiving far less treatment than white patients for the same ailments, and other more serious diseases, noted ‘more likely to die’ of the same things that could be cured for a white patient. As this outraged numerous people, many banded together to open several hospitals dedicated to serving black Americans. Several of these hospitals were situated within Detroit.

During the 1970s, a merger was created by Trumbull General, Delray General, Burton Mercy and Boulevard General to offer equal care to anyone, regardless of race.

Construction began in 1971, and continued for a few years. The building was finally opened on October 10, 1974 as Southwest Detroit Hospital, but started on an already steady decline as the need for exclusively black hospitals became scarce. Operations continued for as long as they could, and they were only able to continue work under negotiation of numerous contracts through the county, forming an HMO. Not able to attract enough patients, almost all money from any of these contracts was lost and most of the hospital closed in 1991.

A medical plaza within the building operated through 1993, until a bankruptcy court auction shut it down as well. For three years after the closure of this final section, the building would stand entirely vacant until a healthcare company called Ultimed purchased it for $1.5 million, re-opening it as United Community Hospital in 1997.

After years of numerous loans, followed by large financial crisis, the property was liquidated by the state of Michigan in 2006, and the hospital has sat vacant ever since.

Many stories surround this eerie hospital. Could the spirits of patients still be wandering these halls? On my visit, it seemed as though the building was alive from the wind blowing through. Every few minutes, a door seemingly tuned in hell would squeak open and slam shut, leaving the hallway in pitch black darkness.

