San Juan de Dios Hospital
San Juan de Dios Hospital
Costa Rica’s oldest hospital, San Juan de Dios, is also home to one of the country’s oldest ghost tales. The story of “La Monja del Vaso,” or “The Nun with the Glass,” has been passed down as a religious cautionary tale for more than a century. The legend tells of an unmarried young woman forced into a cloister by her family. The unwilling nun showed little interest in her work consoling the dying at the hospital and did not put forth much effort. According to the tale, a dying man asked the nun for a glass of water, but she refused, and he died soon after. The nun regretted her actions, but died before she was able to properly repent and was cursed to roam the hospital doling out drops of water to mourners until her debt is paid.