Corregidor Island Hospital
Corregidor Island exists just off the coast of Manila in the Philippines. It is a place of great historical significance, mostly related to WWII. The island was a strategic port that allowed those who held it to rule over Manila and thus the entire country. For that reason, it was a highly sought after base during the war and was seized by both the US and Japanese militaries at varying times.
Many battles were fought on the island and air raids saw countless bombs dropped across Corregidor. Huge amounts of death were experienced and the many structures scattered across the island’s lands were destroyed or sustained tremendous amounts of damage. One of these buildings, which today is left in tatters, is the island’s old hospital.
The Corregidor Hospital was built in 1912 with the purpose of housing medical staff for the treatment of wounded soldiers. The island’s history ensured that this was a busy destination on Corregidor and one that saw many soldiers treated within its walls. Unfortunately, the building was also a destination where many drew their final breaths.
Ghosts of Corregidor Island’s Former Hospital
Since the abandonment of the ruined hospital, now nothing more than a concrete skeleton, rumors have swirled that it is the most haunted place on Corregidor Island. There have been many people who claimed to have experienced or witnessed paranormal events within or around the old hospital.
One of the most common reports of activity to occur is of the auditory kind. Cries and screams of pain, assumed to be from past soldiers, are said to echo through the empty, crumbling walls of the hospital. In addition to these sounds of pain and anguish, many have even claimed to hear disembodied footsteps and the normal hustle and bustle of a functional hospital continuing to operate.
Visual anomalies have also been witnessed. Shadow figures, orbs, light anomalies and even full-bodied apparitions have been sighted all throughout the old hospital ruins.
Visiting Corregidor Island’s Hospital
In order to visit the Corregidor Hospital ruins, one will first need to make it to Corregidor Island. Boats leave bi-weekly to the island from a dock in Manila. Tickets for the boat, tours, or to stay at the hotel’s resort can be purchased online. Bus tours guide visitors to the main sites of the island and provide a buffet lunch.
If you found this article interesting, you might also like to learn of the other haunted hospital on Corregidor Island, the Malinta Tunnel.
Thanks for reading!
xoxo
Posted by James Claassen on September 1, 2023
Dear Amy,
The alleged hauntings are not related to the building’s time as a hospital during WWII. The same goes for the skulls and cross bones drawn on the walls. Only four US Medical Department members, including a doctor, were killed in this building on 29 December 1942 when it was bombed during the first air attack on the island. The next day the hospital was evacuated to the Malinta Tunnel. After the surrender of Corregidor, the hospital was hastily repaired by US Engineer Corps, with the approval of the Japanese, and put back into service for a few months until all US and Phillipino sick and wounded, and their attending Medical Department staff were transferred to Luzon. There was no mistreatment of the sick and wounded, or of their health care staff at this hospital during the months of operation post the surrender. Running water and electricity were restored and their was adequate food. The building was fully abandoned at the time that US forced re-took the island in 1945. The building was further damaged at that time. So nobody else died there after the initial air raid on 29 December 1942. Until 1968… In that year, elements in the Phillipines military, either with or without the full knowledge of the president, hatched a plan to raise an illicit combat force to de-stabilize the Malaysian province of Sabah on the neighbouring island of Borneo. The plan was based upon a flimsy claim that Sabah should belong to the Phillipines because it had originally been under the rule of the Sultanate of Mindinao. The plot went badly wrong and was never implemented. Young Muslim men had been recruited from the southern province of Mininao. They were told that they were enlisted into the army. But they were not. So they were not treated properly. They were housed in the old Fort Mills Hospital, which was the least damaged of the ruins on Corrigedor. They were not paid and they were not even fed properly. Once they realized what their intended mission was (to kill brother Muslims on Sabah), they threatened to mutiny. President Marcos then ordered his military to get rid of the problem. All of the young men were butchered, excepting for one survivor. The exact number is unknown. The killings did not take place in the hospital building. The young men were taken two or three at at time to the old airfield to be killed. Those back at the hospital soon became aware of what was going to happen to them, and they left final messages on the hospital walls. The massacre is known to people in Mindinao where the young mostly came from as the Jabidah Massacre. This is the real reason that people with knowledge of Corregidor’s history believe the old Fort Mills Hospital to be haunted.
Posted by Amy on May 27, 2024
Thanks for providing additional context and history about the island.