A now-closed Santa Fe arts college built on the grounds of a WWII Army hospital, long associated with the campus legend of 'Headless Nurse Medina' and footsteps and self-closing doors in the old halls.
1600 St. Michael's Drive, Santa Fe, NM 87505
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
The former campus is closed and in redevelopment as the City of Santa Fe's Midtown district; exterior viewing from public streets only.
Access
Limited Access
Large former college campus, partly vacant and under redevelopment; interiors not open to the public
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1943 · WWII Bruns General Hospital · Care of Bataan Death March Survivors · St. Michael's College / College of Santa Fe (1947-2009) · Santa Fe University of Art and Design (2010-2018)
The site now known as the former College of Santa Fe campus began as Bruns General Hospital, a U.S. Army general hospital constructed in Santa Fe during World War II. The hospital was built to treat wounded and recovering service members and is historically associated with the care of survivors of the Bataan Death March and other Pacific-theater casualties. It operated as a major military medical facility on a large campus of frame barracks-style buildings.
After the war, the hospital was decommissioned in 1946. The following year, in 1947, the Christian Brothers (De La Salle order) were granted a portion of the former hospital grounds and dozens of its temporary frame buildings, on which they established St. Michael's College. The institution grew over the following decades and was renamed the College of Santa Fe.
In February 2009 the College of Santa Fe declared a financial emergency and closed. Later that year a public-private partnership involving the City of Santa Fe, the State of New Mexico, and Laureate Education acquired the campus and reopened it; in 2010 it was renamed the Santa Fe University of Art and Design, narrowing its focus to film, theater, design, and fine arts.
Citing ongoing financial difficulties, the university closed after the 2017-2018 academic year, ceasing operations in May 2018. The City of Santa Fe retained the property and has since pursued a long-term redevelopment of the grounds as its 'Midtown' campus, leaving much of the historic site vacant or in transition. Its layered identity as a wartime hospital and a defunct college is the foundation for the campus's enduring ghost lore.
Sources
The most enduring legend of the former College of Santa Fe is that of 'Headless Nurse Medina.' As recounted in regional folklore and a feature by the Santa Fe New Mexican, the story holds that a nurse named Medina worked at Bruns General Hospital during World War II and was murdered and decapitated by a patient, and that her figure has since been seen walking the campus halls that now lead toward the cafeteria.
Reporting on the legend is careful to separate folklore from fact. According to the Santa Fe New Mexican, no nurse named Medina appears on a 1944 Bruns duty roster, and there is no documentary proof that she ever existed. The widely circulated Shadowlands version of the story, which describes the campus as a wartime 'insane asylum' where a 'post-war inmate' decapitated a nurse, is not supported by the historical record: the site was a U.S. Army general hospital, not an asylum, and the 'Nurse Medina' figure appears to be a campus legend rather than a documented person. We present the Medina story here strictly as folklore and do not attribute a real death to any identifiable individual.
Beyond the Medina legend, the experience most commonly shared by students and staff is far more modest: the sound of doors opening and closing in empty buildings, footsteps in quiet halls, and the sense of a presence pacing in the shadows late at night. With the campus now closed and undergoing redevelopment, these accounts survive primarily in alumni memory and in Santa Fe's broader catalog of ghost stories.
Notable Entities
Media Appearances
View the exterior of the former College of Santa Fe / Santa Fe University of Art and Design campus from public streets. The grounds occupy the former Bruns General Hospital site and are being redeveloped by the City of Santa Fe; interiors are not open to visitors.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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