“Sunland Hospital” was demolished nearly two decades ago, but locals still know the story well. It was a treatment center for those with severe mental handicaps, and for many years it was a poorly-kept secret that the children there weren’t treated with the very best of care. Finally it was shut down in the early 1980s.
From that point on, people claimed to see weird lights and sounds emanating from the abandoned building, and it didn’t take long for it to become the #1 spot in Orlando for bored kids and ghost hunters to check out at night, looking for a good scare. Some got just that – apparitions of little boys and girls appeared at various spots throughout the building.
The abandoned hospital remained a popular night-time diversion for Orlando’s youth until the mid-1990s, when one unfortunate kid fell through an elevator shaft and was seriously injured. That incident led to the building being demolished soon after. Today the site is a playground, and some claim that swings can be seen moving entirely on their own, as if being ridden by the spirits of long-dead children.
Photos of the old building can be found here.
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Geographic Information
- Address:
- All Childrens Way
Orlando, FL
United States
Get Directions » - GPS:
- 28.572273546974372, -81.48538112640381
- County:
- Orange County, Florida
- Nearest Towns:
- Pine Hills, FL (2.2 mi.)
Orlovista, FL (2.8 mi.)
Clarcona, FL (2.9 mi.)
Ocoee, FL (3.6 mi.)
Gotha, FL (3.8 mi.)
Lockhart, FL (4.2 mi.)
Paradise Heights, FL (5.0 mi.)
Fairview Shores, FL (5.7 mi.)
Lake Butler, FL (5.9 mi.)
Windermere, FL (6.1 mi.)
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Disclaimer: The stories posted here are user-submitted and are, in the nature of "ghost stories," largely unverifiable. HauntedPlaces.org makes no claims that any of the statements posted here are factually accurate. The vast majority of information provided on this web site is anecdotal, and as such, should be viewed in the same light as local folklore and urban legends.
We went there last Halloween 2014 at around 9 pm, It was me, my husband, brother and nieces it was our first time there, we had no idea we were ever going to experience what we did , we all heard voices of a man and children as we were walking to the playground, the voice of the man sounded like he was mad and the voices of the children were more like laughing , then we saw a figure of a small child by the playground and that’s when we all got very scared and left, also I saw a light flashing coming from a side from the park as we were leaving, when we got the the car and started driving I took a picture of the road and I got what it looks like the ghost shape of a small child.. very scary place.
I lived near this area and in my late twenties we went to just sit outside the building and look for anything amiss. Now, to be fair a lot of what we heard maybe dismissed by animals taking up resident but, it was alive with sound. Breaking glass, footsteps (no windows left), Snaps, crackles and pops. It was unnerving and then shorty after they bulldozed it and built the park but, in the back there are still original buildings left and friends have had experiences of tempurture drops and more. I have returned several times, most recent as two years ago and it has still a very eerie feeling there. We setup a flash light session in the small playground and did get some attention from something that answered our questions for about 5 to 10 minutes before it lost interest. So, that is the only experiences that I have had there personally. I avoid that area because it feels OFF, just completely off, even during the day!
In the image above i saw a small figure running towards the playground
I was the “Unfortunate kid” that fell down the shaft.. I was 23, not necessarily a “kid” but yeah that was me.. In my coma afterwards I remember some really weird stuff… for example, I was aware that I was in a hospital when I was in my coma, except I thought I was in some kind of jail hospital(probably because I was headed for jail at the time I fell and I guess my subconscious mind made me think that that’s where I was) and there was a point in my coma where I was laying in a bed, just laying there parked in a hallway and a nurse put something on me that was wrapped in a white blanket like tucked in between my arm and my ribs.. I remember feeling very disturbed and uncomfortable and frozen at the same time.. of course I don’t know how but I remember knowing or feeling I guess that it was a little girl and that something was very wrong with her.. and i remember the feeling of just being mad because i couldn’t move or simply just get up and then I remember having like a very caring feeling towards her as we both just laid there.. My coma was like a 45 day long dream.. just miscellaneous scenes that I “lived” thru.. so I really don’t remember anything more about her other than my next sequence wasn’t about her.. believe me there was plenty of other very weird sh#! in my coma and a lot of it makes me question or think about an afterlife… specially the girl.. but I was on a lot of morphine so nothing I remember can be taken with too much certainty I guess.. but I’ve always wondered why the little girl tho.. I’ve never questioned it before until years later after I read an article about the officer on scene who said he saw a young kid, likely a girl walking near the stairs..
Ive read your story and think its cool and f*cked up at the same time. I wish I knew about it when it was still standing. Ive gotten two EVP’s from the property. There was a building off to the west of the hospital that appeared to be an administration building. Two stories high, like a big house. There was a very small boiler room behind the building that I have been in. The EVP i got from there was an old man calling me a “miserable slut”. Then the other one was out front of that building saying “they’re holding me”. Photos and plus from here. I’m so sorry for you unfortunate events, but thank you!!
So we did an EVP session and got a voice saying that she had to kill herself. Does anyone know of any documented suicides at the hospital?
Ive been here several times. The energy here is off the chain! After they demolished the main hospital, there was a building still there that we called the Admin building. It was used to store paints, old toilets/beds and whatnot. Ive captured a photo of a little boy inside this building as well as a couple EVP’s. They have since torn that building down also. I still go there on occasion. This is a great place to investigate. Not much for the eyes really but full of energy!