Boston Children's at Martha Eliot

About this location

A few stories people tell about this place

1. In the late afternoon, a delivery driver pulled up to the hospital’s loading dock. As he unloaded boxes, something unusual caught his eye—a small wooden carousel horse had been left behind on the pallet. Curious, he picked it up and noticed an old-fashioned keyhole on its belly. He stuck the key in, turned it gently, and heard a soft click. To everyone’s surprise, the horse began playing a faint melody. The delivery driver smiled, placed the horse back where he found it, and whispered, ‘Welcome home, little friend.’

2. Late one night, an exhausted nurse was closing down the cafeteria when she noticed something peculiar on the kitchen counter. A small, handwritten note read: 'For our little patients' recovery.' Curious, she opened it to reveal a bag of freshly baked cookies. Smiling, she placed the cookies in a basket and left them near the waiting room. Later that night, a sleepy doctor found them and joked, ‘Who delivers cookies at midnight?’ Turned out, a regular had been dropping off homemade treats for years—just no one knew his secret identity.’

3. In the early morning fog, a neighborhood cat began appearing outside the hospital windows, meowing insistently at the staff below. One day, an exhausted delivery driver dozed off in his car outside the hospital entrance. Suddenly, he was startled awake by the same persistent cat, who seemed determined to get him to notice something. Turns out, the driver had accidentally left his headlights on all night—thankfully, now warned by a furry friend.

4. In the dead of night, a janitor was mopping floors in the pediatric ward when he heard a tiny voice whisper, ‘Doctor, doctor, I’ve got something to say.’ Curious, the janitor followed the sound and found a little boy sitting on a bed, holding a toy stethoscope. 'What is it, son?' asked the janitor gently. The boy looked up with big eyes and said, 'I think my teddy bear has a stuffy nose!' And they both laughed until a nurse came in, asking what all the noise was about.