Hospital Juárez — the oldest operating hospital in Mexico City and its war ghosts

Hospital Juárez in the Gustavo A. Madero borough of Mexico City has been in continuous operation since 1847, making it one of the oldest functioning hospitals in Mexico. The hospital's founding coincides with the Mexican-American War, and it served as a military hospital during that conflict. The legends of Hospital Juárez are numerous and well-documented among its staff. Night-shift workers describe hearing footsteps in the older wings, seeing spectral figures in 19th-century military uniforms, and encountering the ghost of a nurse from the Porfiriato era who continues her rounds. The hospital's most famous ghost is a patient who died during surgery and is said to appear on the operating theatre's viewing gallery, watching modern procedures. The hospital has also been affected by Mexico City's devastating earthquakes — the 1985 quake killed many within the building — and some staff attribute more recent ghost sightings to victims of that disaster. Hospital Juárez's 175-year history encompasses virtually every major event in modern Mexican history, from the American invasion through the Revolution and into the present.