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True Horror

The Matron of Room 7” — Blackwood Ridge Sanatorium

By AbuQitMir •11/4/2026
Abandoned Blackwood Ridge Sanatorium east wing at night, Room 7 door ajar with a nurse silhouette and chalk tally marks "1 2 3 4" on the wall, cold blue light, horror case file cover.

A Paranormal Case File — Incident #2020-0915-NC

Date of Incident: September 15 – September 18, 2020
Location: Blackwood Ridge Sanatorium (abandoned), near Asheville, North Carolina
Lead Investigator: Dr. Alistair Finch, Paranormal Research Institute (PRI)
Status: Unexplained. 3 confirmed disappearances. East wing sealed. Entity classified as “The Matron of Room 7.” Active investigation.

Note: This is a creative horror case file written in the style of an investigative report. It is intended as fiction and as a frightening reading experience, not as a factual record.

1. Case Summary

Blackwood Ridge Sanatorium is an old, mountain-bound building that once served as a tuberculosis hospital. It was officially closed in 1971, but local residents insist the building was never truly empty. In September 2020, three young urban explorers — Maya Collins, Derek Hale, and Sameer Qureshi — entered the sanatorium to record video. All three disappeared. Their last recorded location was outside Room 7 in the east wing.

Investigators recovered a fragment of an emergency call from inside the building, a broken camera, chalk tally marks on a wall, and an audio recording. In the recording, a woman’s voice can be heard counting: “One… two… three… and you are the fourth.” A door slams immediately afterward.

The PRI registered the case as Incident #2020-0915-NC. The east wing has been sealed.

2. Location Background

Blackwood Ridge Sanatorium was built in 1928. At the time, it was considered one of the most modern tuberculosis facilities in the region, but its east wing was always notorious. A strict nurse who worked there was known among patients and staff only as “the Matron.” According to official records, her name was Margaret Wick, but in the old notes recovered by the PRI, her name appears scratched out or erased in several places.

Local stories claim the Matron was obsessed with cleanliness and counting. She would wake patients at night to count them, force them to clean their beds, and if a patient made a mistake in the count, they were sent to Room 7 for “correction.” In 1968, three patients in Room 7 vanished. The official report stated they had died of complications from tuberculosis, but their bodies were never returned to their families.

In 1971, a fire broke out and the sanatorium was closed. The Matron’s body was never found. Even today, the walls of Room 7 carry the smell of phenol, the old disinfectant used in hospitals. A board at the front of the building reads: “NO TRESPASSING — COUNTY AUTHORITIES.”

3. Missing Persons

NameAgeLast SeenDetails
Maya Collins22September 15, 2020, 8:12 p.m.Camera operator, urban explorer
Derek Hale24September 15, 2020, 8:40 p.m.Flashlight and audio recorder
Sameer Qureshi23September 16, 2020, 1:14 a.m.Last contact via emergency call

All three phones last connected to a tower inside the east wing. Their families reported them missing on the morning of September 16. Police patrolled the exterior but refused to enter because the building had been declared unsafe. The PRI was called on September 17.

4. Timeline of Events

September 15, 2020

  • 6:40 p.m. — The three explorers entered through a collapsed rear door. Maya’s camera recorded for the first 12 minutes.
  • 7:05 p.m. — In the video, Derek says: “The smell here is strange. Like someone has been cleaning.”
  • 8:12 p.m. — Maya’s Instagram Live comes online for the last time. The video shows the passage into the east wing. In the background, a woman’s voice is softly counting: “One… two… three…”
  • 8:40 p.m. — Derek’s audio recorder turns on by itself. The nine-minute recording contains the sound of doors opening, bedsheets being pulled, and heavy footsteps.
  • 9:03 p.m. — Maya’s voice is recorded: “Sameer, she’s counting again. We need to leave.”

September 16, 2020

  • 1:14 a.m. — A fragment of an emergency call is received. Sameer’s voice is shaking: “She’s counting us… one… two… three… and now she says, ‘You are the fourth.’” After that comes silence, then the loud slam of a door.
  • 6:30 a.m. — All three phones go offline.

September 17, 2020

  • 12:20 p.m. — The PRI team arrives on site. Inside the building, the temperature is recorded as 11 degrees lower than outside.
  • 2:45 p.m. — In the east wing, outside Room 7, investigators find pieces of the three explorers’ equipment: Maya’s camera, Derek’s flashlight, and one of Sameer’s shoes.
  • 6:10 p.m. — Inside Room 7, chalk tally marks are found on the wall: 1, 2, 3, 4. Beneath the number 4 is written: “Clean.”

September 18, 2020

  • 2:00 a.m. — The PRI team conducts an audio session. In the recording, a woman’s voice hums, then says: “I have cleaned them. They are very calm now.”
  • 2:03 a.m. — The door of the room slams shut by itself. The team is forced to evacuate immediately.
  • 4:00 a.m. — The east wing is sealed.

5. First Entry Evidence

When the PRI team entered the building, they immediately noticed the air was heavy. The walls were damp, but the floor was covered in a thick layer of dust. Along the passage into the east wing were old wheelchairs, closed ward doors, and broken glass cabinets. Every room had a small number outside it. The door to Room 7 was different from the others: it had a new latch fitted on the outside, as if someone had recently locked it.

Inside the room were an old bed, a stool, and a metal trolley holding old bottles. The chalk tally marks on the wall looked fresh. The team took samples for carbon dating, but the later lab report stated that “the age of the chalk could not be determined.”

The strangest detail was the cold. The thermometer recorded minus 2 degrees Celsius in the center of the room, while the outside temperature was 14 degrees. The room had no window.

6. Audio Transcript

Below is a selected portion of the PRI audio session. Names and phrases are taken from the original recording, though some sounds were unclear.

[00:00] — Silence.
[00:14] — Soft humming, as if someone is singing an old lullaby.
[00:31] — Woman’s voice: “One…”
[00:36] — “Two…”
[00:42] — “Three…”
[00:49] — “Where is the fourth?”
[01:03] — A childlike hiccup.
[01:18] — Woman’s voice: “I have cleaned them. They are very calm now.”
[01:25] — The sound of a metal trolley being dragged.
[01:40] — A door slams.
[01:41] — Recording ends.

Dr. Finch noted: “There was no emotion in the voice. No anger, no sympathy. Only a complete, terrifying calm.”

7. Entity Profile

The PRI designated the entity “The Matron of Room 7.” According to observations:

  • The entity presents itself as a nurse or matron.
  • It counts every person who enters. Once the count is complete, it says “the fourth” or “the next one.”
  • It is obsessed with cleanliness and order. It becomes agitated when it sees scattered objects.
  • Its presence is accompanied by the smell of phenol, soap, and old medicine.
  • In Room 7, electronic devices turn on and off by themselves.
  • The entity’s voice is recorded, but no figure appears on video.

Local residents say that even after her death, the Matron continued her “duty” in the building. She is still counting patients.

8. Witness Statements

Mr. Boyd, former caretaker of the building

“I was on night duty there in 2015. At midnight I heard a woman’s voice. She was counting. I thought it was a child. Then I saw that the east wing door was open. I went inside and found an old nursing uniform hanging outside Room 7. I didn’t touch it. I ran outside. The next day the uniform was gone.”

Tyler Grey, local resident

“We filmed the outside in 2019. We didn’t go in. But through a window, I saw the shape of a woman in Room 7. She was standing and counting. We saw her for only three seconds. She wasn’t looking at us. She was busy with her count.”

9. Research Note

The nature of this case differs from other 2020 incidents. In July 2020, the disappearance of Akira Nakata in Japan drew attention, but no physical trace was ever found. In December 2020, there were reports of a “nurse” figure at an old asylum in Wales, but no disappearances were reported there.

The Blackwood Ridge case is unique because the entity does not merely appear. It counts its victims. The counting feels less like a ritual or psychological game and more like an old, repeated “duty.” The Matron is still counting patients in her ward. The problem is that she considers every visitor a patient.

The PRI requested special permission for further investigation inside the building, but county authorities have permanently sealed the east wing.

10. Conclusion

Three people remain missing. No physical traces of them have been found inside the building. The new latch on the door of Room 7, the fresh chalk marks on the wall, and the audio recording all indicate that something is active there.

The true horror of this case is not what the entity is, but what it is doing: counting.

And when it finishes counting, it will call the next name.

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