"I'm a Ghost Hunter—This is the Craziest Thing That's Happened!"

When a Florida ghost hunter slipped into Orlando’s crumbling Sunland Hospital, he faced a night that would echo through his life. 🌐 #News #OrlandoFL #Florida #WeirdNews

ORLANDO, FL — Jake Russo, a Florida-born ghost hunter, has spent years prowling the Sunshine State’s haunted corners. By 1997, at age 26, he’d already explored St. Augustine’s Lighthouse and Cassadaga’s misty streets, building a small YouTube following with his gritty EVP recordings. But nothing topped his July 1997 trip to Sunland Hospital in Orlando’s Pine Hills—a place locals called cursed.

Jake’s paranormal itch started young, fueled by horror flicks and a spooky childhood tale. “I don’t care if you buy it,” he’d tell viewers. “I’m just chasing the truth.” That chase led him to Sunland, a shuttered hospital with a dark past, abandoned since 1983 and slated for demolition after years of neglect.

Sunland’s Grim Echoes

Built in 1952 as the W.T. Edwards Tuberculosis Hospital, the Orlando site shifted in the 1960s to a Sunland Training Center for kids with severe disabilities. Underfunded and understaffed, it closed amid abuse scandals in 1983. By 1997, the five-story hulk on North Forest Avenue was a graffiti-scarred ruin, its wards littered with rusted cots and rumors of ghostly cries. A 23-year-old, Keith Murdock, had nearly died there weeks earlier, falling down an elevator shaft—a tragedy that fueled calls to raze it.

Jake arrived at dusk, the July heat thick, sky fading to purple. He slipped past a sagging fence, gear in hand: recorder, EMF meter, flashlight. “It felt wrong from the jump,” he later said. “Like the walls were staring back.”

Into the Shadows

Jake set up in the old pediatric ward—faded Disney murals peeling off cracked walls. For an hour, it was just dripping pipes and his own breathing on the recorder. Then, at 9:30 p.m., a slow tapping echoed, like knuckles on metal. He scanned with his flashlight—nothing. “It wasn’t me,” he insisted. He moved toward the operating room, a rumored hotspot.

That’s when it went haywire. His EMF meter spiked to 10 milligauss, and his flashlight strobed, then died. “I’m fumbling for my spare batteries—dead too,” he said. “Then I see it: this tall, stretched shadow by the surgical table.”

The Encounter That Stuck

The shadow loomed, darker than the dark, edges blurred. Jake’s voice trembled as he asked, “Who’s there?” A raspy “Get out” hissed in his ear—no mistaking it. His recorder caught it: a guttural snarl amid static. Then chaos—rusted trays clattered, a window shattered, and a thud shook the floor above, despite the collapsed upper levels. Jake ran, the shadow fading as he hit fresh air. Playback later confirmed it: “Leave,” clear and cold.

A Lasting Mark

Jake never went back. “I’ve heard voices, felt chills—but that was something else,” he said. He uploaded the tape in the early 2000s, once YouTube existed, sparking debates. Skeptics said it was wind; believers claimed he’d met a restless spirit. By 1999, Sunland’s main building was gone, replaced today by a park where some swear swings move on still nights.

Jake, now in his 50s, quit ghost hunting after that. “Sunland broke me,” he admits. For this Florida man, that July night in 1997 remains the craziest—and most unshakable—chapter of his life.

As a thank you for reading this article, enjoy 25% off our new Feel Good Stories eBook. Do you have an uplifting story or fascinating news tip? Email us! news@jackandkitty.com.

RELATED TOPICS: Florida | Haunted Places | Paranormal