Poughkeepsie New York

Poughkeepsie College

Uh oh! This former TB hospital had many patients die here…

It is no wonder that paranormal activity has been experienced.

DESCRIPTION

Dutchess Community College is a beautiful, park-like campus located on top of a hill. Over 8,000 students of all ages work toward an AA degree, for credits needed to enter as a Junior at a 4 year college, or to improve personal skill sets needed to improve lives.

Dutchess Community College has many modern facilities, such as The Allyn J. Washington Center for Science and Arts, The Center for Business and Industry (CBI), the large Hudson Hall, home to classrooms, studios, laboratories, and faculty offices for the Department of Behavioral Sciences; English and Humanities; History, and Government and Economics. In addition, Hudson Hall is home to the Ritz Library, and also the Dr. Mary Louise Van Winkle Professional Teaching Learning Center.

HISTORY

Around 1913, the Nettie Bowne TB Hospital (Bowne Hall building) was built on this hill-top property, hoping to catch the clean wind to cure the sick. TB was the scourge that killed many people in the first half of the 20th century. In 1936, an antibiotic that could kill the TB bacteria was created, spelling the end of the reign of terror that this disease had on the public. By 1956, TB was a disease that could be treated as an outpatient illness, and was no longer the contagious killer with no cure. Instead of letting the hospital stand idle and decay, becoming a public eyesore ( Kalamazoo Sanitorium ) the hospital buildings and grounds were donated to the State Education Department, to be used as a junior college. Dutchess Junior College opened for classed in 1958, becoming part of the State University New York System.

Two of the buildings from the Nettie Bowne TB Hospital, were renovated and remodeled to serve the students and faculty; called Bowne Hall and Taconic Hall. Bowne Hall structure began its second life as an important college building, housing Dutchess Junior College’s classrooms, library, faculty offices, and the cafeteria.

Somewhere along the way, Dutchess Junior College was renamed Dutchess Community College, to express the idea that the college offered not only classes for young adults, aspiring to go on to a 4 year college, or to learn a trade, but also for any adult who wanted to take classes of interest as well, to improve their skill-sets, perhaps with a goal in mind.

As the campus grew over the years, Bowne Hall became the home to various administrative offices: Office of the President, the Dutchess Community College Foundation Office, the Office of Academic Affairs, the Business Office, the Office of Community Relations and Graphics, and the Office of Community Services and Special Programs.

HISTORY OF MANIFESTATIONS

Hospitals and their morgues have long been places for spirits to hang around, not wanting to accept that they had died, probably before their time of disease or wounds suffered.

The basement of Bowne Hall had been the morgue for the Nettie Bowne TB Hospital. The upper floors of Bowne Hall had been the final home of many critically sick patients who died through a slow suffocation, as the disease destroyed their lungs.

MANIFESTATIONS

Paranormal Activity

Throughout the years, staff, employees and students have been made aware of “strange presences” in this building, especially the basement. No one has explained in print what is meant by this. It isn’t spelled out whether or not they have experienced the “THE FULL PARANORMAL SPORTS PACKAGE,” but enough activity is there indicating intelligent spirits.

Perhaps they had personal experiences, such as experiencing cold spots, shadows, orbs or weird lights, disembodied voices, having the instinctive feeling of being watched or followed, footfalls, doors opening and closing, unexplained electrical parlor tricks, or objects being moved from where the living had placed them. Some lucky maintenance or college staff member or student may have been treated to seeing an actual apparition, but it hasn’t been made public.

STILL HAUNTED?

Probably so. The Dutchess Community College allows ghost hunting classes at their facility, indicating that there is some activity.

There aren’t many details of these hauntings made public. The YouTube video is promising, but not as scientific as a professional would have done. This video does show the flashlight conversation between Ross Allison and an entity, and there is also an EVP picked up on the video, that is hard to hear, but its there.

A lot of old TB Hospitals, and hospitals in general seem to have spirits hanging around where they died. TB was not a pleasant death, and some victims of the disease who died in the Bowne Hall building, may not be ready to move on yet.

A 2010 paranormal investigation class, led by well-known author/ghost hunter/teacher, Ross Allison, had some success. Among the evidence captured included student film documentation of an entity, communicating via a flashlight. Also, an EVP was also recorded on this amateur ghost hunting student’s YouTube posting. Ross Allison hasn’t shared what he captured during this 2010 investigation on his website, but I bet the details are in his book, about college and school paranormal activity, called GHOSTS ON CAMPUS; STORIES OF GHOSTS THAT HAUNT STUDENTS.

LOCATION

53 Pendell Road
Poughkeepsie, NY
(845) 431-8000

Go east on Church Street, (55), go north on Washington, east on Mills, and finally north on Pendell Road, that will take you to the top of the hill to Dutchess Community College.