We’ve all heard tales of haunted homes, haunted roads, maybe even haunted amusement
parks, however, it may surprise you to learn that even the most innocent looking playground
may have a haunted history to it as well.
So today on Top 5 Scary Videos, I’m going to be counting down our list of the Top 5
Cursed Playgrounds From Around The World.
Before we begin though, be sure to stick around until the end of the video where I’ll be
responding to some of your comments, and with that, let’s jump in.
5 Pennhurst School and Asylum Originally known as the Eastern Pennsylvania
STate Institution for the Feeble-Minded and Epileptic, this was an institution for mentally
and physically disabled people of Southeastern Pennsylvanian in Spring City.
This was established back in 1903, and around 1,146 people were housed in the insane asylum,
and around 2,627 in almshouses, county-care hospitals, reformatories, and prisons.
However, in 1968, conditions at Pennhurst were exposed in a five-part television series
by local NBC 10 correspondent Bill Baldini.
In 1981, a Time Magazine article described Pennhurst as having, I quote: “a history
of being understaffed, dirty and violent.”
And, in 1983, nine employees were indicted on charges ranging from slapping and beating
patients to arranging for patients to assault one another.
In 1977, a district judge ruled that the conditions at Pennhurst violated patients’ constitutional
rights, and Pennhurst was ultimately closed in 1987.
As of right now, the site now houses an incredibly creepy playground and a haunted house attraction,
which is a tad insensitive if you ask me, considering the awful atrocities some of those
patients went through.
Regardless, visitors to Pennhurst have reported feeling cold breezes, hearing screams, and
even report seeing children playing on the newly constructed playground.
4 Weccacoe Playground Weccacoe Playground is located on the 400
block of Catharine Street in Philadelphia, however, this is far more than just your average
playground, that’s for sure.
More than 5,000 people are actually buried beneath the community space, which would have
me second guessing whether I would want my future children playing there.
It is said that Mother Bethel African Episcopal Church used the area as a burial ground back
in the 1800s, naming it the Bethel Burial Ground.
Burials began in the area all the way back in 1810 after the land was bought by Richard
Allen for the Church.
Bills of mortality and death certificates show that there were around 1,716 burials
on the site before 1830.
Fill was ultimately used on the site to accommodate burials after 1842, this essentially resulted
in stacking graves on top of earlier graves to create more space.
Estimates of the total burials range from 3,000 to around 5,000, with the burials ending
in 1864 and the site becoming neglected.
In 1889, Bethel Church sold the property, and by 1990 it had been transformed into a
park, then known as Weccacoe Square.
Following that the Weccacoe Playground was established, which was built over the Bethel
Burial Ground, with the park including a recreation center, a tennis court, a playground and water
play area.
3 Dead Children’s Playground Maple Hill Cemetery is the oldest and largest
cemetery in Huntsville, Alabama, with it being founded all the way back in 1822.
Now, as we know, cemeteries aren’t exactly the most entertaining places for children
-- well, I don’t think they’re that entertaining for anyone really.
Anyway, the concept of death takes a while to sink in for kids, and a lot of the time
they don’t understand what is going on.
Maple Hill seems to have taken this into consideration because they have a small playground bang
in the middle of it, and on top of that, it is considered to be one of the most haunted
places in the entire state.
The small playground has a bit of everything, a swing set, as well as a modern jungle gym.
How cute, and absolutely terrifying.
What child would want to swing on a swing set while their parents mourn the dead?
Not me.
Regardless, what happened was, around 2007, the cemetery began to run out of room so the
officials from the city of Huntsville decided to remove the playground to make room for
more graves.
Locals were outraged by this decision, because apparently they had become very attached to
this playground and demanded a new one be constructed.
And that’s exactly what happened.
The playground was rebuilt, bringing the site back from the dead.
As of today, the playground is known to locals as Dead Children’s Playground with the area
accumulating many reports of supernatural and paranormal activity.
Swings have been known to move by themselves, and spheres of cold ghost light can often
be seen floating around the area.
Locals have even spotted ghost children playing in the area at night.
2 The Insane Asylum Sunland Hospital now refers to a chain of
defunct mental health facilities throughout the state of Florida.
But the one we’re specifically looking at today is the WT Edwards Tuberculosis Hospital
that was roughly opened back in 1952.
The hospitals were located all over Florida, including Tampa, Lantana, Marianna, Tallahassee,
and Miami.
When antibiotics effective against TB were developed, there was no longer a need for
the tuberculosis hospitals and by the beginning of the 1960s, they were ultimately shut down.
However, in 1961, the Division of Sunland Training Centers was established, with many
of the WT Edwards hospitals being remodeled and reopened across the state.
Many of the hospitals had activities for the patients, who were mostly children, to engage
in.
There were swimming pools, hopscotch, shuffleboard, and of course, playgrounds.
Pictures still exist in the Florida archives of children in uniform posing in their beds
or in wheelchairs.
Over time, the state of the hospitals began to decline, with them falling under the Florida
Department of Children and Families, undergoing several name changes.
Eventually, folks had to step in and began speaking out against institutions like Sunland,
which often treated its patients as “sub-human”, subjecting them to a variety of treatments
that were considered cruel.
After the reveal of the abuse going on inside of the hospitals, they were once again shut
down.
Now, the abandoned building is said to be haunted with many ghost hunters even breaking
in to experience the strange goings on.
However, after one trespasser fell down an elevator shaft inside one of the old buildings,
the place was eventually torn down completely.
A playground was then built on the site, which is said to have inherited the ghostly activity,
with many visitors reporting swings moving on their own accord, and hearing sounds of
children crying and screaming.
1 Desoto Grade School Back in 1925, a tornado hit Illinois, known
as the Tri-State Tornado.
It was a destructive tornado that struck areas in 3 states in the United States on Wednesday,
March 18th, 1925 and went on to kill at least 695 people, making it the deadliest tornado
in United States history and the second-deadliest in the entire world.
There has been a long running controversy surrounding the event, with people doubting
whether a single tornado was responsible for the event.
Now, during this catastrophic event, over 300 teachers and students were hiding in the
basement of Desoto Grade school, however, they didn’t survive as the building would
go on to collapse on top of them all leaving no survivors.
According to locals, since the horrific event and untimely death of all those trapped inside
of the school, children’s voices have been heard laughing, and even apparitions have
been reported in the playground at the school.
It is said that these apparitions were children wearing out-of-date and torn clothing.
According to one local, a man named Eric, he stated, I quote: “I used to go to Desoto
Grade School.
I went from Kindergarten to 6th grade.
Everyone that went to Desoto knew that every year they had a Halloween party type thing
at the school .Well the night before Halloween my sister and I stayed after to help set up.
We had never experienced anything scary, so we didn’t have a problem with staying to
wait for our mom.
After about 5 minutes we went back inside because it was cold.
It was dark, so I shined my phone around, and my sister started screaming.
I didn’t see anything, but when we got home she told me she saw a little girl in tattered
clothes sitting in the corner with something on her lap.”
Very spooky indeed.
Well there we have it!
Do you guys agree with our list?
Were there any playgrounds that we missed?
Leave us all your thoughts and feelings in the comments down below and perhaps we can
do a part 2.
Before I go though, I just want to respond to a few comments from one of my last videos,
Top 5 Cursed Roads In North America.
DC Carter said: “I drive Riverdale Road so often.
What a fun time it is.
My bucket list is to go to all the locations that Lucy makes lists about.”
---
TheDing1701 said: “Lucy, speaking of roads, do you have trouble driving down on the right
side of the road?
Love your Beetlejuice pants” ---
Yashieroko said: “I’m probably going to hell then!
Lucy, I honestly thought you were around thirty, but not because of how you look, but because
of how you act, and because of your presence in general.
But then again, I guess thirty isn’t much older than 27 anyway.”
---
Grapes Jr said: “Comment section: 10% Lucy’s Pants, 90% I
Drive this road, what will I think
next time?”
---
Doug Russell said: “Way to nail the word rural, I was waiting for it in the outtakes
but you aced that.”
---
Lydia Allen said: “My boyfriend Sam has been trying to get his comment read out for
ages - please read mine first, Lucy!
Hi Mr Samuel” ---
And on that note, if you haven’t already, be sure to give this video a big thumbs up,
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And until next time, see ya later.