Yates Memorial Hospital
Yates Memorial Hospital is a former hospital in Ketchikan, Alaska. Early hospital building undergoing preservation work. Historic Ketchikan documents conversion from clergy housing to a hospital, including a 1909 hospital expansion. Reported lore and claims include: Klees says some restoration workers avoided the upstairs because of an unsettling feeling.
· in your passport — stamped · open it
Is Yates Memorial Hospital haunted?
The record holds 1 claim — filed as reported, not verified. The heaviest filing is classed media reported. The archive documents the claim; it takes no position on the ghost.
The record — long form
Yates is the only — the 'Seattle to Juneau' that's the sole hospital, the '12 beds' that's the boom town served. The 'clergy house' is the converted — the '1905 built' that's the mission's home, the '1909 repurposed' that's the Dr. Yates honored. The 'missionary nurses' is the few — the 'handful' that's the staffed alone, the 'dire circumstances' that's the women led.
The '11 Most Endangered' is the named — the '2020' that's the national list, the 'roof failing' that's the 15 years vacant. The 'many lives' is the reused — the 'magazine, Chamber, mortuary' that's the tenants passed, the 'nearly burned' that's the several times. Yates is the saved — the 'Historic Ketchikan bought' that's the '26 purchase, the 'restore to 1905' that's the plan declared.
The file keeps Yates: the only hospital, the nurses' handful, the endangered list, and the purchase finally.
Yates Memorial is the archive's Alaska file — the frontier's only hospital, nearly lost.
Why this file matters
Yates Memorial is the archive's Alaska file — the boom town's sole hospital.
A building keeps its survivors — the file's suggestion being that Yates's hold is the endured: the 'Seattle-Juneau' that's the only care, the 'nurses alone' that's the women led, and the '11 endangered' that's the rescue earned.
The record of claims
Klees says some restoration workers avoided the upstairs because of an unsettling feeling. Upper floor is where the accounts cluster — the site's own map of where to look. The reports at Yates Memorial Hospital are the site's second history — unofficial, unverified, and stubbornly retold. Media accounts carried the story further than the evidence ever did. The account appears in 'AK: The mystery behind Ketchikan ghost tours'. The reports keep the place on every haunted list it qualifies for.
Documented history
Historic Ketchikan documents conversion from clergy housing to a hospital, including a 1909 hospital expansion. Yates Memorial Hospital's past is on record — the entry belongs to the verified layer beneath whatever lore attaches. This belongs to the verified spine of the entry, the layer everything else is measured against. The detail is preserved in 'Yates Memorial Hospital historic building report'. It's the sort of fact that gives the haunting reports their context.
Verified historyHistoric KetchikanA preservation update reports Historic Ketchikan’s purchase in late 2023 and subsequent foundation stabilization. The site's documented history is the record the rest of the file stands on. It's verified history: the dossier's load-bearing detail. The detail is preserved in 'Forward Momentum: Updates for 8 Previously Listed 11…'. The entry's timeline holds it; the lore holds the rest.
Verified historyNational Trust for Historic Preservation
Sources on file
- 01AK: The mystery behind Ketchikan ghost toursAlaska Public Media / KRBD · local journalism · A3
- 02Yates Memorial Hospital historic building reportHistoric Ketchikan · historical society · A2
- 03Forward Momentum: Updates for 8 Previously Listed 11 Most Endangered Historic PlacesNational Trust for Historic Preservation · historical society · A2
Field notes & open questions
Mission Street beside St. John’s church. Restoration aspirations are not proof of public reopening. Do not label presently abandoned solely from older tour reports.