Patients of Nicholas Woolf

The Patients of Nicholas Woolf
Summary: Ryan, Gerald and Heather have to do a group project for history and they decided to
do it on an old hospital that has been in disuse for some time. Well, Ryan decided and Gerald
and Heather got dragged along. Ryan insists that the building is haunted by the tormented souls
of its former patients. Gerald and Heather are a bit skeptical.
However, as they venture into the outdated building peculiar things begin to happen. Ryan
claims it’s “paranormal.” Gerald says that there’s a normal explanation. So what’s really going
on? Is it a case of paranormal activity, or just overactive imagination?
“Come on!” A teenage boy encouraged his friends, “I hear this place is totally haunted.
It’s going to be awesome!”
“I don’t know you guys,” Heather said, “I don’t like the idea of a haunted hospital.”
“The place has been abandoned for years,” Gerald said, “Don’t worry about it Heather.
You know how Ryan is with his ghosts. Chances of actually seeing one are slim.”
Gerald’s fingers laced with hers and he gave her a reassuring smile as they headed into
the building. Ryan was waiting impatiently at the entrance for his friends to catch up.
“You’re not scared are you Heather?” the blond boy asked. He rolled his eyes and
pushed the door open.
“We’re not supposed to be here though,” Heather pointed out, “And it’s pitch black in
there.”
“I’ll keep you safe,” Gerald whispered.
“Yeah, Gerald’ll keep you safe, now let’s go,” Ryan said, venturing into the old hospital.
It was dusty inside, and spider webs were everywhere.
“They say that the doctor here was a psycho,” Ryan said, “And that he tortured his
patients.”
Heather stayed close to Gerald, holding onto his arm.
“The tortured souls of his patients have been trapped here since this place shut down,”
Ryan continued. He shone his flashlight down the hall. It seemed mostly empty, apart from the
cobwebs.

“Ryan, you know that story is totally bogus,” Gerald said, “Why would they hire a
psycho doctor?”
“Hey, some doctors are psycho’s man,” Ryan insisted. There was a slight creaking of the
boards above them, making them all jump slightly. Gerald shone his flashlight upward.
“What do you think that was?” Heather asked.
“Eh… old buildings settle. That’s probably all it was,” Gerald said.
“Or something doesn’t want us here,” Ryan grinned.
“If something doesn’t want us here, then we should leave before we make it angry, don’t
you think?” Heather asked, but Ryan was already heading down the hall, “Yeah… that’s a great
idea. Something doesn’t want us here, so let’s go poke it with a stick.”
“I hardly think creaking floorboards is an ominous warning,” Gerald told her and they
hurried to catch up to their eager, ghost hunting friend. The farther down the hall, the colder it
seemed to get.
“You guys feel that?” Ryan asked, “Definitely ghostly.”
“Since when are you an expert, Ryan?” Heather asked.
“Hey, I’m definitely the most knowledgeable one here,” Ryan pointed out. Out of the
corner of his eye, Ryan saw something scurry across the floor.
“Did you guys see that?” Ryan asked excitedly, “Come on, let’s check it out!”
“You guys!” Heather was pulled along towards the mysterious figure.
“Damn! Where’d it go?” Ryan complained, shining his flashlight around the area.
“You guys, I’m done,” Heather said, “I don’t want to be here anymore.”
“Heather, this isn’t just goofing around remember?” Gerald pointed out, “This is for a
school project.”
“We can do it when it’s light out,” Heather said, “I don’t like it here!”
“Fine, if little Miss Scaredy-pants is too afraid, we can go do our project on something
boring, and look up the information at the library,” Ryan said, “Come on Heather, this is A+
material. No one else is going to have stuff like this.”
“You really think we’ll get an A?” Heather asked.
“Guaranteed,” Ryan said, “Now start the camera.”

“We are in Mother Grey’s Hospital for the Mentally Ill,” Ryan said into the camera. We
have traversed down the hallway and we are feeling a lot of chill. It could be spiritual activity.”
“Or it could be a draft from the window,” Heather said.
“Over here Heather,” Gerald said from across the hall, pointing to an old painting.
Heather turned the camera towards it and Ryan jumped right in.
“This is a painting of Dr. Nicholas Woolf, the head doctor at Mother Grey’s. It is
rumored that he used many inhumane methods to try to cure his patients, most of which ended in
failure. Dozens of patients died at his hand and it is rumored that their spirits still haunt these
very halls.”
“Ryan, this is a history project,” Heather pointed out.
“Hey, that’s history for you,” Ryan said, “Dr. Woolf did pioneer some breakthrough
methods in psychiatric treatment, but history is often unkind to geniuses of his type.”
“Geniuses?” Gerald said, “Dude, you’re the ghost fanatic. If dozens of tortured ghosts
are wondering around because of this Woolf guy, I’d say he deserves to be remembered badly.”
“Fair enough,” Ryan said, “Moving on!”
“How old did you say this place was?” Heather asked.
“It was built in 1921,” Ryan said, “And fell out of use when Dr. Woolf died in 1955.
Since then it has primarily been a hot spot for those interested in the paranormal. The ghost
stories are legendary. People claiming they’ve seen women and men wandering the halls. They
say that at midnight Dr. Woolf’s ghost will patrol the halls.”
“Let me guess, you want to stay until midnight, don’t you Ryan?” Gerald asked. Ryan
grinned.
“Come on, let’s check out some of the other rooms on this floor,” the blond said, and
opened a door labeled, “Operating room.”
They walked around, flashlights shining about the room. There was disused equipment
on trays, and rusty syringes on the floor. Heather grimaced at some of the materials that had once
been the peak of medical science.
“Can you believe they used to use stuff like this?” Heather asked, looking almost sick.
“I’m sure it looked a lot better back in the day,” Gerald pointed out, “It’s all rusty from
years of sitting in this musty old room.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Heather said, “Some of this stuff is downright barbaric.”

“I read that Dr. Woolf was a big fan of lobotomy,” Ryan said.
“That’s terrible!” Heather said.
“Hey, lobotomies were once the peak of science. And they worked!... sometimes…”
Ryan said.
“Are you some kind of creepy Dr. Woolf fan or something Ryan?” Gerald asked.
“I’m just saying, you guys are being hard on him. He thought he was doing the right
thing,” Ryan persisted.
“He was a psycho,” Heather said. Again there was a creak in the boards above them.
Heather shone her flashlight up nervously.
“Is it still the house settling?” the dark haired girl asked, looking over at Gerald who was
looking up at the ceiling. Some dust sprinkled down on them from the creaking floor boards
overhead.
“I don’t think so…” Gerald said in a half-whisper, his eyes fixated on the ceiling above
them, “I think someone might be up there…”
“Or maybe, it’s a ghost,” Ryan said with a grin.
“Ghosts don’t have physical bodies,” Heather said.
“Doesn’t mean they can’t move shit,” Ryan pouted. He hated that Heather kept trying to
ruin his fun. He thought this little ghost walk was going to be cool and fun, but Heather was
such a scaredy-cat.
“We should check it out,” Ryan said, “Come on, the stairs are at the end of the hall.”
“What if it’s people though Ryan, like real people, like thieves or murderers?” Gerald
pointed out, “It could be very possible that they were using this place as a hideout, given its
history and all.”
“I’m telling you, it’s ghosts,” Ryan said, “And I want to check it out. You guys can chill
here among all the rusty equipment if you want.”
Gerald and Heather looked at each other. They looked around the room. The creak
above their heads was heard again and Heather looked frightened.
“Wait up, Ryan!” she called. Ryan was the one who knew most about ghosts. If it really
was ghosts, she’d rather be with someone knowledgeable. Gerald was close behind her. He
thought that this was a bad idea. He didn’t think that ghosts would cause floorboards to creak. It

was more likely robbers or bandits or something, and they were in no position to defend
themselves against that.
At the end of the hall was the flight of stairs that led to the second floor. All three teens
stared up, shining their flashlights, trying to see if anything ominous was there.
“See Gerald, if it was thugs or something, they’d be coming towards the light by now to
give us hell,” Ryan said, giving Gerald’s arm a playful punch. Ryan went first ahead of the other
two. Slowly the trio crept up the stairs. Each of them was on edge, almost jumping from the
sounds of their own footsteps.
As they reached the top of the stairs a chill swept through them. Heather shivered, and
moved closer to Gerald, who brought an arm around her.
“You guys totally felt that right?” Ryan asked. He was so pumped for this. “That was so
paranormal. Let’s do this.”
As Heather walked between the two boys down the hall, holding the camera shakily, she
thought she could hear soft voices.
Get out…
Leave now…
Don’t come any closer!
“Do you guys… hear anything?” Heather asked.
“No… not really,” Ryan asked, “Why… are you hearing something Heather?”
“It’s nothing… must be my imagination… I am pretty scared of this place,” she
mumbled.
“Don’t hold out of me girl!” Ryan said, “What did you hear? Come on, tell me!”
Heather had never seen Ryan quite so excited. She backed away from him slightly and
bumped into a body behind her.
“Sorry Gerald I… AHHHHH!” Heather jumped and screamed. Ryan shone his flashlight
and they saw the body hanging from the ceiling. It was old and mostly decomposed , but strands
of white hair still clung to the skull. A noose was around the neck keeping it suspended. The
only thing keeping the body together was probably its clothes. Some of the bones were on the
floor, having rotted and fallen off.
“Oh my god… oh my god… oh my god…” Heather was almost hyperventilating, “Oh
my god… oh my god…”

“Heather, take a deep breath…” Gerald said, “It’s ok… I’m going to call the police. It’s
going to be ok.”
“No dude! You can’t call the police! We’re not even supposed to be in here!” Ryan said.
“Ryan! There’s a dead body hanging from the ceiling!” Gerald said, “I’m calling the
damn police!!”
Gerald was trying to call the police, but he couldn’t get any signal.
“Gah! I’m not getting any bars…” Gerald said.
“My phone is dead…” Heather said, “I swear I just charged it last night!”
“I can’t get a signal either,” Ryan said.
“We should get out of here,” Gerald said, “This is heavy stuff.”
“Yeah… I think you’re right…” Ryan admitted. But when they turned to go down the
stairs, the door was shut. Gerald pulled on the door knob but it was no use, it just wouldn’t
budge.
“You guys, I’m like, wigging out,” Heather said, almost in tears, “I want to go home!
This place is scaring the shit out of me!”
“It’s ok,” Gerald said, “We’ll get out of here. It’ll be fine.”
“You’re still filming this right Heather?” Ryan asked.
“Ryan! Seriously dude?” Gerald got angry, “Heather’s upset! She’s scared, and you’re
still worried about this project?”
“Just give me the camera, kay?” he said. Heather handed it to him, almost crying. They
heard the creaking boards again. Gerald shone his flashlight towards the sound, and a ear-
shattering scream pierced the air. What looked like something out of a Japanese horror movie,
ran from them into another room.
“What. The Hell. Was That?” Heather asked, shaking slightly.
“It was a spirit!” Ryan said, “Come on!”
“That wasn’t a spirit dude, that was totally a person. There are people in this freaking
hospital man!” Gerald said.
“No way! Why would they stay here if they weren’t the tormented souls of the patients?”
Ryan asked.

“Wow Ryan, your logic is just so sound,” Heather said sarcastically, “I want to leave,
now! I don’t know what the hell that thing was, and I don’t want to find out. I want to leave
now!”
“Heather, the door is stuck,” Gerald said, “Maybe… maybe we can find a fire escape
somewhere.”
“You mean we have… we have to search through this place… with that creepy thing
running around?” Heather was hyperventilating again.
“Heather will you freaking chill?” Ryan grumbled, “Why don’t you stay here with your
dead buddy and we’ll go look for a fire escape?”
“That’s n-not funny Ryan!” she stuttered. Gerald brought an arm around her and they
started down the hall. Now that they were upstairs, the creaking of floorboards seemed only to
increase.
“Well, we’re not getting anywhere just staying in this hallway,” Ryan said. He walked
over to the door. Everyone was tense as he put his hand on the doorknob. He turned it slowly,
but the tension was too much and he threw it open. They all flinched back as if something would
attack them, but there was nothing there. Slowly the trio of teens walked into the room and
headed over to the window to see if there was some way down. They peered out the window.
“You can’t leave that way…” a voice behind them said, “You can’t leave…”
They spun around to see an elderly woman standing in the far corner of the room. She
stared at them and had a large Cheshire cat smile on her wrinkled face, but there were no teeth in
her mouth. She looked frail, like she might crumble to dust at any moment.
“You can’t leave that way…” she repeated as she closed the door, their only way out,
‘You can’t leave…”
“Ryan… that doesn’t look like a ghost,” Gerald whispered through shaky breaths. All
three of them were pressed back against the window, utterly terrified by what they saw. She
certainly looked ghostly enough, with snow white hair that fell down to her feet and a hospital
gown that was torn all over.
“So good of you to come…” the frail woman said, “So good. So nice that you are here.
You can’t leave… “
She began to walk towards them. Heather was clinging onto Gerald’s arm, her eyes huge
as she watched the ghostly figure walk towards her. Her wrinkled hands reached out, with
fingernails long enough that they were beginning to curl. She touched Heather’s face.

“So good… so nice you are here…The doctor will see you… the doctor will see you…
the doctor sees everything…” the woman said. Her eyes were glazed over and white. Heather
was frozen with fear.
“No way out now… no way out… you can’t leave…” she said, “Stay with me… stay
here with me… there’s no way out… no way out…”
“Ryan… tell me what the hell is going on… Is it a ghost or what?!” Gerald whispered.
“It’s touching me…. Get it away…” Heather was panicking.
“Pretty young faces… pretty long hair…pretty... pretty… you’ll stay here with me…”
“Oh like hell we are!” Ryan yelled and threw himself against the old woman. He
knocked her to the ground and felt the crunch of her bones underneath him. A repulsed
expression came to his face as he clamored away from her. Heather had begun to cry, breaking
down as soon as the woman was away from her. Gerald ran over and checked for a pulse on the
ghostly creature.
“You killed her Ryan…” he said.
“Well… she was…” Ryan began but Gerald cut him off.
“You killed a crazy old lady, dude!” he said, “She wasn’t hurting us just freaking us the
hell out!”
“Can we please just find a way out of here?!” Heather half-shrieked. Gerald had to help
her up.
“Alright, let’s…umm… try the next room…” Ryan said. Even he was beginning to get
rather freaked out.
“No! No, no, no!” Heather said, “I don’t want to go into anymore rooms!”
“C-come on Heather… this is the first room we’ve gone into… I mean… what are the
chances of them all being full of freaky old ladies, right?” Ryan chuckled dryly, trying to lighten
the mood. The girl whimpered slightly but was pulled along. Ryan pushed open the door to the
next room. A dirty old man began to move towards them quickly.
“The doctor is coming,” he wheezed, “He’s coming…”
Ryan slammed the door shut.
“Ok, maybe they are all full of creepy old nutters,” the blond said.
“Are they all talking about Dr. Nicholas Woolf?” Gerald asked.

“Who else? Tortured souls remember?” Ryan said.
“Are you still on that?” Heather yelled at him, “These are not tortured souls of patients.
These are crazy people who need help!”
“They’re the tortured souls of patients!” Ryan insisted.
“You’re crazy!” Gerald said.
“Look, I know ok?” Ryan said.
“How?” Gerald asked, looking incredulous. Ryan looked at the floor.
“You guys really want to know?” he asked, “Promise you won’t hate me?”
“Yeah, yeah,” Gerald said.
“Doctor Woolf… was my grandfather…” Ryan said. Gerald and Heather stared at him.
“I’ve been coming here since I was little. I’ve always felt drawn to this place, but I never
would go inside. I was afraid of what I might find, or that the ghosts would take out their
vengeance on me. I know that these are the tortured patients. I just know. I can feel it.”
“So… is there something we can do to release the tortured patients?” Heather asked.
Gerald looked at her. He couldn’t believe that she would ask such a thing.
“I don’t know…” Ryan admitted, “But we can try. They don’t seem to hold animosity
towards me.”
“Wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute,” Gerald said, “Ok, so you’re Dr. Woolf’s
grandson. Fine. If these are tortured patients, anyone want to explain why they have physical
bodies?”
“I have a theory, but I don’t want to frighten you…” Ryan said.
“Oh we are way past worrying about that dude,” Gerald said, “Spill it.”
“Well, you know how my grandfather is supposed to show up at midnight to patrol the
hospital?” Ryan asked.
“Yeah…” Heather and Gerald said, looking at one another.
“Well, my theory is that the tortured souls of the patients hide themselves in the bodies of
people trapped in this building to escape him.” Ryan said, “That means we have to be out of here
before midnight or we’ll end up like these sorry sods.”

“You…” Gerald’s face was red with rage. He grabbed Ryan by his shirt collar. “You
dragged us into this place knowing we might never get out?!”
“No! Of course not! I told you, I’ve never been in here before!” Ryan said.
“Gerald! Put him down!” Heather said.
“I didn’t know about the people! Honest!” Ryan said. Gerald looked furious but he
dropped him.
“I don’t care about tortured souls. I want to get out of here,” Gerald said.
“You can’t leave…” it was the voice of a young woman, “Stay here… pretty, pretty
ones..”
They looked up and saw the silvery facade of a young woman in a hospital gown.
“You can’t leave that way my pretty, pretty ones…” she said, “Doctor is coming… The
doctor will find you… Especially… you….”
She pointed her ghostly finger at Ryan.
“Yes… doctor will find you…” she giggled, “Find you.. find you… doctor’s going to find
you… mmmhmmmhmmm….” She floated away down the hall.
“Ok… now that was a freaking ghost,” Gerald said.
“You think?” Ryan asked, though he wasn’t extremely freaked out.
“What did she mean, the doctor’s been waiting for you?” Heather asked.
“I don’t know...” Ryan said, “I just... I told you I’ve always been drawn to this place...
maybe my grandfather’s been calling me here.”
“I can’t imagine that being a good thing dude,” Gerald said, “Seriously, we need
to get out of here. Oh but you’re perfectly welcome to stay and reunite with your crazy
grandfather Ryan.”
Heather was walking down the hall, her flashlight in hand. There was an open
door and though she was afraid, she walked towards it. There was an ear-piercing shriek
once again as a middle-aged woman tackled her to the floor. Her hair was all matted and
gross, her body clad in a hospital gown like the elderly woman they had encountered
before. Heather screamed, trying to push her away.
Gerald looked up the hall, and when he saw the frightening woman he stepped
back a bit. Her body was thin and angular, with arms that seemed to long for her body.
Fingernails were long and clawing at Heather desperately. Heather was scrambling and
trying to get away from her. The grotesque woman didn’t speak, only screamed and

shrieked as she tried to grab at Heather.
“Gerald!! You’re girlfriend’s being attacked by a loony! What are you doing
man?!” Ryan smacked Gerald on the back of his head. He rushed in and pulled the
shrieking woman off of Heather. She scratched at Ryan, drawing some blood. Her eyes
were rolling up into her head and a foamy, white froth was oozing from her mouth. Ryan
was disgusted. He shoved her away. She hissed at them like a feral cat and was going to
make another move towards Heather but Gerald took his flashlight and bashed her across
the head as hard as he could. She was knocked to the ground, blood mixing with the
froth that still bubbled from her mouth.
“What happened to your convictions about killing the crazies?” Ryan asked.
“This is different,” Gerald said, “She was attacking Heather. You’re bleeding Ryan.”
“Just a scratch,” the blond said, wiping the blood away and looking at it on his fingers,
“Heather, are you hurt?”
Heather was pressed against the wall, hugging her knees to the chest. Her eyes were
wide and she was staring straight ahead, her dark hair falling in front of her face.
“Heather?” Gerald said, “Are you ok?”
“Yes...” she said, not moving or looking towards them, “I am ok...”
“I think she’s in shock,” Gerald said, looking up at Ryan.
“What time is it?” Ryan asked.
“It’s almost 11:30 dude,” Gerald said, “We have a half hour to get out of here before we
become permanent residents, thanks to you.”
“Come on,” Ryan said, “One of these rooms must have a fire escape or a nearby tree we
can use to get down.”
“This is all your fault Ryan,” Gerald growled, “You knew this place was seriously
haunted and you insisted we do our project on this!”
“I told you guys it was haunted! You never believed me!” Ryan said angrily, “Come on,
we have to find our way out.”
Gerald looked back at Heather. Her face was contorted with spiny veins that spread over
her face. Her eyes were dark and she stared straight ahead, looking rather dazed.
“Heather?” Gerald touched her shoulder. Her head snapped towards him and she let out
a hideous shriek, throwing herself at him angrily.

“Heather! What the hell?! What are you doing?” Gerald pushed her back. He pushed
her into the room and closed the door. He could feel her pounding and clawing on the door,
trying to escape.
“Way to go Gerald,” Ryan said, “Heather’s possessed by the crazy bitch that you killed.”
“You’re the ghost expert dude!” Gerald said, “What do we do?”
“Do I look like an exorcist?” Ryan asked, “I don’t know if anything can be done! Did
you see how old some of these people are? I highly doubt they were that old when they arrived.”
“Ok... ok, we need to find a way out, now,” Gerald said, panic grabbing at him, “Like
right now.”
“Your girlfriend been possessed,” Ryan said, “You’re going to leave her locked in that
room?”
“You said there’s nothing we can do!” Gerald yelled.
“I said I don’t know what we can do!” Ryan shouted back. Ryan’s face grew darker and
darker with anger. He had always liked Heather, but she thought he was a weirdo, and had never
respected.
“Come on man, we need to go!” Gerald said, “Heather’s already been possessed, it won’t
be long before we are too!”
“It’s too late to run,” Ryan said. Gerald looked up at his friend.
“You aren’t going anywhere,” Ryan continued, “Please... allow me to introduce myself. I
am Dr. Nicholas K. Woolf, an expert in the field of psychiatric medicine. You are not looking
very well my dear boy.”
Gerald looked up at Ryan, his body to frozen with fear to say anything for a while. He
could see the silvery spirits fleeing to and fro in an attempt to escape.
“B-but... it’s only 11:50!” Gerald pointed out, “I-I-I still have 10 minutes!”
“I am afraid that your clock is a few minutes slow,” Ryan said as he drew ever closer,
“Poor, poor boy... you shouldn’t be out of your room at this hour. Nurse!”
An operating table rolled along towards Gerald. The silvery image of the crazy young
woman smiled at him.
“The doctor will see you now,” she said. Ryan forced Gerald onto the table, strapping
him down securely.

Heather had managed to escape her room and let out a scream like a wild animal.
“Nurse, please take this boy downstairs. I need to deal with another patient,” Ryan
spoke, his body controlled by the spirit of his grandfather. The nurse rolled Gerald away, the boy
was screaming and struggling to get away. Heather was running at him, but was caught rather
harshly. He dragged her back to her room and secured her in a strait jacket.
“I will deal with you another day,” he said, and left her struggling fiercely against herself
in the back of her room with claw-marked walls.
The doctor walked into his operating room where Gerald was desperate to be free of his
restraints.
“Poor boy,” the doctor shook his head in a pitying way, “Let us begin.”
Morning light shone through barred windows as Ryan woke up. He yawned. Had he
spent the night in this crazy hospital? He remembered freaking out a lot the night before, but
everything was kind of crazy. He stretched. He was in the upstairs hallway. He heard soft
groaning and hurried towards it. He opened the door and saw Gerald there.
“No! N-no! Get away!” he screamed, “Keep them away! Keep them away!”
Ryan was shocked. But he heard a low sort of groaning in the next room. When he opened it, he
saw Heather, pale faced with spider veins in the corner of the room. She had broken out of a
strait jacket and her fingers were bleeding from clawing at the walls.
“Oh my God...” Ryan backed up, terrified. He ran to the door, but found it locked tight.
He tried the windows but nothing was working.
“Thank you so much for coming my grandson,” a voice whispered softly, “And helping
me take care of some difficult patients.”

Patients of Nicholas Woolf

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