Spanish Military Hospital

A museum dedicated to medical practices during St. Augustine's Second Spanish Period from 1784-1821. Originally a convalescent home transformed into a military hospital in 1791, replacing a palm-thatched hospital described as a "miserable hole."

The Spanish Military Hospital, now a museum at 3 Aviles Street, was originally known as Our Lady of Guadalupe during St. Augustine's Second Spanish Period (1784-1821). When the British seized the city, Scottish carpenter William Watson purchased and remodeled the building. Upon the Spaniards' return, they seized three structures and joined them to create a military treatment facility. When the city demolished the building for new water lines, thousands upon thousands of bones were discovered beneath. Initially believed to be Timucuan remains, a 1934 discovery confirmed the Timucuan burial ground was actually near the Fountain of Youth—meaning these bones belonged to an even older native tribe killed by the Timucuans. Even before this discovery, workers and patients reported an evil spirit roaming the wards. The Mourning Ward, where dying patients received Last Rites from priests, is the most haunted room. Visitors hear cries, moanings, and distant conversations. A phantom imprint appears on beds, sometimes creaking as if someone is lying down. People have seen a figure in a white hospital gown, moaning as blood drips from the stump of his missing arm. Shadows move strangely across walls in the Apothecary room, accompanied by a crying man. The museum now presents Quackery: The Dark Side of Medicine, showcasing outrageous and deadly medical treatments from the hospital's gruesome past.