Simple explanation for 'spooky' lights seen in abandoned New Orleans hospital

Is it a ghost, a tree or cardboard wrapped in lights?

Just one light glowed in this huge, abandoned hospital (Getty)

Images of an eerie purple light in the shape of a Christmas tree, shining through the window a dark, abandoned hospital in New Orleans has captivated the imagination of thousands of people online.

Charity Hospital is a huge, multi-storey concrete building which has been closed since hurricane Katrina struck the region in 2005.

But photos taken by Lisa Walley Staggs, who identified herself as a nurse at the nearby Tulane Medical Center, show just one little light from a window near the top of the building.

For those few of you who may not know...I work at an inner city New Orleans hospital that happens to be situated...

Posted by Lisa Walley Staggs on Sunday, 27 December 2015

Her Facebook post has gathered over 22,000 shares.

The post prompted social media users to speculate on the glowing object, and whether it could be something spookier than a Christmas tree.

The speculation was ended, however, when an urban explorer, theshortestsim, claimed to have entered the building and uploaded a photo of a cardboard structure with lights to their Instagram profile.

 

Edit: someone is taking credit for sneaking in and putting a tree in this room, can't personally confirm. . A photo of the outside of this room is going viral and people think these lights are a ghost Christmas tree. The only thing scary about this is how much the City of NOLA spends to keep the power on.

A photo posted by Simi (@theshortestsim) on Dec 28, 2015 at 9:54pm PST

“The only thing scary about this is how much the City of NOLA spends to keep the power on,” they said.

The Huffington Post reported that an LSU Health Science Center spokesperson confirmed the object was not supernatural, and that the building has limited power in order to interest developers to repurpose the building.

Campaigners are determined to re-open the hospital for the public.