There are plenty of ghosts lurking in the hills and hallows of West Limestone County. In fact, when the Goodsprings Haunted House was shut down by the State Fire Marshal’s office two weeks ago for several code violations including no fire suppression system and outdated wiring, the Scare for Charity organization immediately thought about making the haunted attraction’s home in the abandoned hospital located down the road in Lester.

The old D.E. Jackson Memorial Hospital has sat abandoned for nearly 20 years. The hospital was closed in the early 1990s and has become the setting for several area ghost tales since then, said Scare for Charity president Brian Todd.

The haunted attraction, to open at 7 p.m. tonight, will be a longer experience for guests, with several extra rooms. Haunted house goers will not be let down, Todd said.

Volunteers have been working non-stop for two weeks in order to move the attraction.

The Goodsprings Haunted House has been known as one of the scariest places to visit for Halloween fright since it’s opening 27 years ago. Now, the forced move to the hospital may have rattled the chains of some old ghosts in the Lester area. The Lester Hospital has been visited by different paranormal societies who have found signs of ghostly activities there, Todd said.

“If they thought the house was good just wait until they come to this,” he said.

According to the Ghosts of America Web site, Lester has several ghosts, mostly women, who appear near the hospital. The site says, a womanly ghost can be seen smoking a cigar late at night near Band Mill Spring. Another womanly figure can be seen with names engraved into her cheeks as she reads a tabloid in the center of Baptizing Branch. Another female spirit can be seen looking into the water beside Enon Dam before sunrise, and yet another ghost of a bound up lady can be heard howling in a raft on Todd Lake. The most disturbing is the tale of a female phantom holding her head in her arms seen very late at night in Buzzard Roost Hollow.

Maybe these spirits will converge at the old hospital for a few scares.

Admission is $8 per person. The Haunted House is open Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays throughout October. Tour times begin around dusk or 7 p.m. Concessions will be available.

The Scare for Charity fundraising organization donates proceeds to organizations such as Moms on a Mission, Hospice of Limestone County, West Limestone Volunteer Fire Department, Goodsprings Volunteer Fire Department, and several local families.