Erected in 1918 by prominent physician and former president Dr. Carlos Durán Cartín, this sprawling, decaying complex high on the misty slopes of the Irazú Volcano is widely documented as the most intensely haunted landmark in Central America. Originally a cutting-edge, self-sufficient “city of health” built to combat tuberculosis, the facility expanded to house a mental asylum and an orphanage before severe volcanic ashfall forced its permanent closure in 1973. The site’s crushing atmosphere of high-strangeness is rooted in deep personal tragedy; Dr. Durán originally established the sanatorium in a desperate, ultimately failed bid to cure his own young daughter of the “white plague.” Modern paranormal investigations, including a televised expedition by Ghost Hunters International, consistently record profound energy anomalies across the cold, labyrinthine corridors. The most frequently documented entity is the “Spectral Nun”—believed to be a member of the Sisters of Charity of Saint Anne who managed the wards—who manifests as a dark, robed silhouette gliding past the glassless windows of the upper floorboards. In the abandoned children’s wing, where walls are still stained with faded, child-sized handprints, visitors frequently report sudden, localized temperature drops, disembodied weeping, and phantom coins being thrown out of empty patient isolation cells. The site’s intense microclimate heavily accentuates the dread; thick, freezing mountain fog regularly rolls through the creaking, open-air operating rooms at twilight, causing immediate, unexplained battery drain on smartphones and thermal cameras.