http://www.maysville-online.com/articles/2007/10/22/local_news/1960hayswood.txt

Video of 'ghost' in Hayswood Hospital getting plenty of attention
By MISTY MAYNARD, Staff Writer

As the camera scans the exterior of the old Hayswood Hospital in
downtown Maysville, little can be seen in the darkness save empty
windows and dark shadows.

But as the seconds tick on, the camera view changes, and even from a
distance a white figure appears framed in one of the upper level windows
of the hospital. Zooming in, the white figure seems to assume facial
features just before it pulls back rapidly from the window, and the
person operating the camera drops it and lets out a slight gasp of
astonishment.

The video of the "ghost" at Hayswood Hospital was taped in the spring of
last year. It was filmed by an unidentified individual from Lexington
whose interest in the old hospital was sparked by Internet postings
regarding the supposedly haunted hospital.
A friend of Maysville resident Jeremy Parnell, the person permitted
Parnell access to the video, and it has quickly garnered attention on
local Web sites, as well as sites such as YouTube, where it has logged
more than 67,000 hits.
"It's gotten a lot considering its a small town ghost," said Parnell.
"It's become pretty popular around the Web."

From its exposure on YouTube, the video caught the eye of staff on the
Maury Povich Show. Producers were putting together an episode for
Halloween that featured videos and images of the paranormal. They
contacted Parnell through e-mail and asked him for permission to use the
Hayswood video on the show. It is slated to air Friday.

"It's a little more than your average lights in the window thing," he
said.
According to the Maury Povich Show's Web site, the episode on Friday
will ask the question whether ghosts exist, and if loved ones who have
died can "reach out from the grave to contact us in the real world."
The episode promises to look at paranormal activity to include window
blinds lifting on their own in homes, "frightening voices in the dark,"
and "ghostly figures in the windows."
Hayswood Hospital operated as a full service hospital for about 60
years. Prior to that, it served as Hayswood Seminary, followed by the
old Hayswood/Wilson hospital.

At its peak, the hospital had 87 beds available for patient care. The
building has stood vacant since Meadowview Regional Medical Hospital was
built and became operational in 1983.
Parnell said he is not sure when tales of ghostly phenomena began to
spread about Hayswood, though he said the hospital has gained wider
attention since the Internet has picked up the story.

On Web sites such as www.theshadowlands.net, which features haunted
sites in Kentucky, Hayswood Hospital is featured.
On that Web site, it is reported that "people who live near it have said
they have often seen strange lights in the windows and heard infant's
cries." In addition, "some have claimed to see a figure standing in the
last window on the third floor both day and night." Still others who
have been inside the hospital report an old stretcher that moves on its
own, shadows that follow them, and the feeling of being watched. Some
say past doctors can be seen in the halls, and the cries of past
patients can be heard.
In the basement and all over the building are "strange markings."
The site also claims the ghosts of Hayswood "haunt the entire town."

In addition to being featured on The Shadowlands site, the building is
featured on other sites and is even the focus of groups on sites such as
MySpace.
Parnell himself is skeptical about the tales of Hayswood, but said he
has not been able to discredit the video, either.
"It's pretty spooky," he said. "Now what it is, I don't know ... There's
always a reason to be skeptical of it."

Parnell said he is interested in the paranormal from an "X-Files" sort
of stance, and created the Web site http://www.paranormalmagazine.com,
which featured Hayswood at one time, though the site was later sold.
Parnell said the friend who shot the video did so between 10 and 11 p.m.
and was alone at the time it was filmed. The footage caught was actually
about 30 minutes worth, but was edited to the less than one minute clip
now on-line.

The Maury Povich Show airs on Lexington station WDKY Monday through
Friday at 4 p.m. The Hayswood video is slated to be included in Friday's
show.

Contact Misty Maynard at misty.maynard@lee.net or 606-564-9091, ext.
274.