The Friarage Hospital stands on the site of an old Friary which operated in Northallerton from 1356 until 1539. The Friarage was opened in 1939 as an Emergency Medical Services Hospital where the initial function was to receive casualties in the event of the bombing of the Teesside civilian population. From 1943 until 1947 the hospital functioned as the Royal Air Force Hospital, Northallerton. I did my nurse training at the Friarage Hospital and have heard one or two ghost stories relating to the hospital over the years. There is talk of a monk who haunts the site, and probably dates back from the old Friary which was on the site hundreds of years ago, but he doesn't seem to have been seen by anyone in recent years. Some strange happenings have been reported at the Hospital. One of the scariest I was told apparently happened on Ward 3, the elective orthopaedic ward, in bay three which is a six bedded room opposite the nurses station. One of the female patients was kicking up a fuss one evening about wanting to be moved to another bay as she was not happy about sharing a bay with a male patient. The nurse assured the patient that there were no men in the bay, that the men were in the bay next door and that there were only ladies in this bay but the patient refused to listen to her. After some persuasion and a search of the bay by the nurse, the disgruntled patient lay down to sleep only to begin to fuss again a little while later. Again the nurse assured her that there were no men in the room and that she should go to sleep. The patient refused and demanded to be removed from the bay at once! The nurse, getting a little frustrated now, as there was nowhere else to move the patient to, asked the patient where exactly she thought this man was and felt a nasty chill when the patient told her "he is standing right behind you!" There was no one there but the patient was adamant that there was. The patient had no mental health problems and was not receiving any drugs that could cause her to hallucinate - in fact she was a very rational lady. The nursing staff thus moved the patient out of the bay and put her bed opposite them at the nurses station, after which the lady happily went off to sleep and had a peaceful night.
In this particular ward Nurses have reported drips going through quicker than they should
have and giving sets being opened fully to let the fluids run through quicker on a number
of occasions and have also mentioned the feeling of being watched despite there being no
one there!
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