The Bell Nursing Home

In October of 2011, we purchased the Bell Nursing Home, located in the middle of deer country, on the outskirts of Salt Fork State Park, with the hopes of turning it into a hunting lodge/ bed and breakfast.

The building had been empty since the previous owner's death in 2006 and had most recently been used as a nursing home, which had been open since the 1960s.

The ~14,000 square foot nursing home had 18 patient rooms each with up to 4 beds, which all still exist on the property today. There is also a dining area, kitchen, lounge area, office area, and full basement.

Since the building was in a serious state of neglect, I spent countless days and late nights there with family and friends cleaning, repairing, and organizing. A large quantity of the contents from the nursing home still remained (beds, clothing, medical devices, letters, pictures, shelves of patient records, and more).

While inside attempting to get the property into a manageable state, strange things started happening.
· Doors were slamming on their own,
· lights in rooms we hadn’t even entered would come on,
· patient room divider curtains could be heard moving in the empty rooms,
· the patient call lights, which crown the doors of each of the 18 rooms, would come on all on their own
· we'd hear footsteps down the hallway or upstairs in the main house, only to look and see absolutely no one there.
· And occasionally, one of the pianos in the former dining room, would play all on its own.

Even two separate contractors I had hired, whom I had not mentioned any of this activity to (……..mainly for fear they’d either leave or think I was completely crazy), would call to ask me questions and would report seeing things such as lights turning on by themselves and figures of people moving about in the empty hallways.

Soon, former employees, past nursing home visitors, and other locals began approaching me to tell me stories about the rich history of the property, which dated all the way back to the mid-1800s. I quickly learned that the Bell had served as:
· the family home to a local merchant, William Ledlie, who died suddenly inside the home in his 40’s,
· a tannery (with a rumored sub-basement, not yet verified),
· a 1940’s funeral home,
· and finally a nursing home whose first owner in the 1960’s, was so superstitious, that he had the embalming room completely walled off, and a second owner who died and left the property to his son, who then also died in 2006, leaving the property to his daughter. (Makes you wonder about your fate as its owner, that’s for sure!)

Our new friends, also mentioned, the numerous deaths which took place here on a regular basis (some…. members of their own families), the mistreatment of former patients, and their own stories about hearing and seeing things in the building for years while working or visiting, many of which coincided with our own experiences.

We soon contacted a few paranormal investigation teams and they also saw, documented, and experienced the multitude of unexplained activity here.

I have since become obsessed with the paranormal and have been allowing paranormal investigations on the weekends to help fund my restoration efforts. Several groups and individuals visited last summer………each left with their own tales of apparition sightings, objects being thrown, substantiations of our previous experiences, and much more!!

Many of our visitors have returned multiple times due to the high level of activity that they have experienced here!

Our first public investigation of 2013 will be held April 5th and 6th, tickets to either night are $25.00 each.

You can find more information about the Bell here:

www.apparitioncommission.com
www.facebook.com/bellnursinghome

Or by searching for "Bell Nursing Home" on YouTube.

Please contact us with any further questions or to reserve your visit to the Bell Nursing Home! I look forward to hearing from you!

Thank you for your time and interest!!