Aahana Swrup
In ‘The Deliverance,’ an unwitting family acquires a target on their back as numerous hellish spirits surrounding their cursed house start haunting them. At first, Ebony Jackson—a single mother with three kids and an aging mother—only notices the most negligible of problems at the new house that her family moves into in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. However, soon enough, the lingering scent and thumping on walls turn into a persisting evil spirit’s influence over her kids, Andre, Nate, and Shante. As a result, once their condition worsens, leading to inexplicable spells of erratic behavior at school, the mother takes her kids for a checkup at the local clinic, St. Anthony’s Children’s Hospital. Given the film’s basis in a real-life story, one must be compelled to wonder if such an establishment exists outside of the screen as well.
St. Anthony’s Children’s Hospital is a Fictionalized Establishment
Despite having firm inspiration from the real-life story of Latoya Ammons and her family’s encounter with an allegedly haunted house, ‘The Deliverance’ still fictionalizes parts of reality to round out its horror-driven tale. As a result, some aspects of the film, such as its setting in Pennsylvania rather than Indiana or the names of every central character, remain disconnected from their real-life counterparts. Thus, even though some aspects of the story are inspired by reality, they present a distorted version of the same. St. Anthony’s Children’s Hospital’s inclusion in the narrative is one such element.
In reality, there isn’t a medical institute in Pennsylvania named St. Anthony’s Children’s Hospital that ever oversaw a similar case to the Jackson family’s situation in the film. Even so, other establishments in Indiana did find themselves overlooking Latoya Ammons and her kids’ case once their condition worsened beyond belief. According to reports, Ammons—who moved into her house in Indiana in 2011—sought out medical help for her children in April 2012. Yet, her experience with the same differed in part from her on-screen counterpart.
In the film, Ebony takes her kids to the hospital after they begin showcasing abnormal behavior at school as if under a shared manic episode. Nonetheless, the medical staff at St. Anthony’s Children’s Hospital fail to recognize the situation’s severity, sending the family back to their house with ease. In real life, Latoya Ammons’ visit to the hospital remained an eerie affair from the start, inviting even medical professionals’ confusion.
Therefore, the film’s depiction of Ebony Jackson’s experiences at St. Anthony’s Children’s Hospital is largely a fictitious rewrite of Latoya Ammons’ reality. Furthermore, even though one might be able to find a similarly named establishment in real life—given the generic association of Catholic Saints and hospitals—the same would only be a coincidence. Ultimately, the on-screen hospital has no real-life counterpart.
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