Spooky Old Buildings
Discussion
(inspired by the Battersea Power Station thread...)
[quote=Little Red]derelict buildings for some reason scare the bejaysus out of me.[/quote]
I was driving to work one day when a colleague I was giving a lift to pointed out a big abandoned hospital in the woods. I must have driven this route for five years and never noticed this huge building looming through the trees, but the next day I stopped to investigate. Spooky doesn't even begin to cover it. Cane Hill Asylum was closed down when part of it caught fire, but it's a proper Victorian loony bin. A few pics...
[pic]http://www.seventhjudgement.co.uk/canehill41.jpg[/pic]
[pic]http://www.seventhjudgement.co.uk/canehill82.jpg[/pic]
[pic]http://www.seventhjudgement.co.uk/canehill45.jpg[/pic]
[pic]http://www.seventhjudgement.co.uk/canehill26.jpg[/pic]
[pic]http://www.seventhjudgement.co.uk/canehill72.jpg[/pic]
[pic]http://www.seventhjudgement.co.uk/canehill19.jpg[/pic]
[pic]http://www.seventhjudgement.co.uk/canehill18.jpg[/pic]
Can you even begin to imagine how scary this place is at night? How much would you have to be paid to stay alone here?
[quote=Little Red]derelict buildings for some reason scare the bejaysus out of me.[/quote]
I was driving to work one day when a colleague I was giving a lift to pointed out a big abandoned hospital in the woods. I must have driven this route for five years and never noticed this huge building looming through the trees, but the next day I stopped to investigate. Spooky doesn't even begin to cover it. Cane Hill Asylum was closed down when part of it caught fire, but it's a proper Victorian loony bin. A few pics...
[pic]http://www.seventhjudgement.co.uk/canehill41.jpg[/pic]
[pic]http://www.seventhjudgement.co.uk/canehill82.jpg[/pic]
[pic]http://www.seventhjudgement.co.uk/canehill45.jpg[/pic]
[pic]http://www.seventhjudgement.co.uk/canehill26.jpg[/pic]
[pic]http://www.seventhjudgement.co.uk/canehill72.jpg[/pic]
[pic]http://www.seventhjudgement.co.uk/canehill19.jpg[/pic]
[pic]http://www.seventhjudgement.co.uk/canehill18.jpg[/pic]
Can you even begin to imagine how scary this place is at night? How much would you have to be paid to stay alone here?
More in depth stuff here:
www.simoncornwell.com/urbex
Some quite chilling stuff. I shit you not, I'm not afraid to tell you that I had nightmares for a couple of days after reading through the entirety of that site over a few quiet hours in the office.
www.simoncornwell.com/urbex
Some quite chilling stuff. I shit you not, I'm not afraid to tell you that I had nightmares for a couple of days after reading through the entirety of that site over a few quiet hours in the office.
Whittingham is a great spooky place to wander around. I went with a mate one sunday night and wandered around inside the security fencing taking lots of pictures. It was superb! Shame that we couldn't actually see inside any of it, but that might have been a little too spooky even for me!
Evetually it's going to be new housing, when they agree on a new bypass road for the extra traffic.
Evetually it's going to be new housing, when they agree on a new bypass road for the extra traffic.
A few years ago I moved to North Yorks, and wanted a place in the country. There was a huge full-on old country mansion where the owners were renting out bits of the old 'servants wing'. I took an entire floor of the place for £200 per month (in 2000!). I had to go into a side entrance of the house, up 3 floors worth of stairs through 4 doors, 2 of them locked to get to 'my' floor. The distance from my bedroom to the khazi was 70 feet along a single corridor with a timed light-switch at one end. A fast jog was required to run down to the bog at 3 am before the light turned off. And bear in mind I was the only person in that part of the house until you got several floors away. Not that I used to lie in bed at night imagining the door 70 feet down the corridor being unlatched and footsteps approaching... There was one door on my floor that was locked and to which I had no access. One day the owner appeared out of it and walked off. I went over to check, found it unlocked, looked inside and saw a huge hall with an old wooden staircase, ancient WW2-era fire extinguishers and fittings, some under white sheets. There were no windows and it was pitch dark without a torch. I have no idea where in the house it led to, but it obviously hadn't been used for decades. It's the spookiest thing I've seen, and of course every night at 3 am I thought about what might be going on in the dark there just 2 feet through the wall.
Lived there for 9 months and couldn't persuade any mates from work to even set foot in the place in daytime!
Oh, and the power would regularly go off for hours on end at random at night...
ST
Lived there for 9 months and couldn't persuade any mates from work to even set foot in the place in daytime!
Oh, and the power would regularly go off for hours on end at random at night...
ST
While I'm at it, when I was in my teens I was in the air cadets. I worked at weekends as a staff member at one of the RAF's cadet gliding schools. We were based on a long-disused ex-WW2 airfield, except for the original WW2 RAF hangar in which we kept the gliders, powered glider winches and land rovers. We had some accomodation in a block built into a corner of the hangar. We'd all turn up on a Friday evening, get pi$$ed and stay there over the weekend, flying on Sat and Sun. Until I got there one Friday in the dark and found the place deserted. Let myself in, spent the night, didn't think all that much of it. Next day someone casually overheard me mention that I'd spent the night there myself. The entire room stopped and everyone looked at me. I thought it was a preplanned wind-up, but I found later that there quite a few otherwise macho RAF reserve gliding instructors who would not spend a night in the hangar on their own for any amount of money.
There came the snag. After several stories of noises and lights seen over the years from the bottom of the hangar at night I was suitable $hitting myself....as I had to stay the next night there by myself as well! Went out, had a few beers, then got a lift back to the airfield with one of the lads. To set the scene, we're talking old wartime airfield still with old buildings, hangars, windsocks etc, but absolutely not another living soul in the whole place that night. In fact the nearest house was around a half mile away across the fields. "Bye, then", car drives off into the night, me left by myself...I pull open the 20 foot high main hangar doors and walk into a pitch-black hangar. Put all the lights on, ran to the accomodation, dived into my bunk and lay for about 3 hours with my eyes open waiting for something to appear from behind the door. I thought about the Buick V8 powered glider launch winches starting up by themselves. I imagined something starting to hammer on that 2 ton hangar door. Boy does your mind run overtime in these situations...
And don't get me started about staying in my friend's modern country bungalow built on an old stables in which her brother woke up one night and saw an old bloke standing in his room.... 10 minutes after diving under the covers convincing himself that it was a dream or a hallucination he calmed down, stuck his head out and saw the bloke was still there... There's more to this story but you'll all be bored now...
ST
There came the snag. After several stories of noises and lights seen over the years from the bottom of the hangar at night I was suitable $hitting myself....as I had to stay the next night there by myself as well! Went out, had a few beers, then got a lift back to the airfield with one of the lads. To set the scene, we're talking old wartime airfield still with old buildings, hangars, windsocks etc, but absolutely not another living soul in the whole place that night. In fact the nearest house was around a half mile away across the fields. "Bye, then", car drives off into the night, me left by myself...I pull open the 20 foot high main hangar doors and walk into a pitch-black hangar. Put all the lights on, ran to the accomodation, dived into my bunk and lay for about 3 hours with my eyes open waiting for something to appear from behind the door. I thought about the Buick V8 powered glider launch winches starting up by themselves. I imagined something starting to hammer on that 2 ton hangar door. Boy does your mind run overtime in these situations...
And don't get me started about staying in my friend's modern country bungalow built on an old stables in which her brother woke up one night and saw an old bloke standing in his room.... 10 minutes after diving under the covers convincing himself that it was a dream or a hallucination he calmed down, stuck his head out and saw the bloke was still there... There's more to this story but you'll all be bored now...
ST
And we ruled the world, sigh...speedtwelve said:
And don't get me started about staying in my friend's modern country bungalow built on an old stables in which her brother woke up one night and saw an old bloke standing in his room.... 10 minutes after diving under the covers convincing himself that it was a dream or a hallucination he calmed down, stuck his head out and saw the bloke was still there... There's more to this story but you'll all be bored now...
ST
Oh goody goody
. Ghosty stories. Carry on...
OK Folks,
As mentioned, nice country bungalow built in the 70s using part of an old stables structure. Good friend of mine lived there with her brother. He woke up one night and saw aforementioned old man in his room staring at him. The bloke was there for a considerable period of time, so he is convinced he didn't dream/imagine it. A while later his girlfriend was staying over (who as far as I know didn't know about the 'ghost' incident). They were in bed, he was lying awake while she was sleeping. She started talking directly to him in her sleep, and told him that he shouldn't be in that part of the house because the old man couldn't keep his horse there any more...
My friend that lived there was my uni flatmate in termtime. She'd go back to the house (in rural Perthshire), where it would often have lain empty for weeks or months if her brother had been away as well. She had a glass display cabinet in the corridor outside her bedroom. It was screwed down onto a concrete floor, and contained a glass menagerie of animals. She'd often go into the house, all the animals were in the correct position. She'd walk past into her room, get something and walk straight back out again to find every single glass animal had fallen over, yet the cabinet hadn't moved.
I'm always sceptical about these things, but she insists none of the above is a wind-up (she's a pilot with BA now).
She was also the girlfriend of one of my best mates, also a pilot. He had a summer flying instructor job and was staying in a caravan on a farm at the time. She went to visit, and one night went to sleep in the spare room (because my mate could fart for his country and was keeping her awake dropping them during the night!). She woke up early in the morning, 6 am or such like, and found her legs were being (invisibly) held up at a 30 degree angle. She was immobile and terrified, and stayed like that for around 20 minutes before she found herself free to move. The previous occupant of the caravan had been an aerial photography pilot who had been killed when his aircraft was hit by a fast jet when flying at low level...
Same (male) mate subsequently went out with a girl who was a professional comedian and actress, although not anyone you would have heard of. We all shared a flat in Edinburgh, and this girl (you can take this or leave it) claimed to see dead people a la Sixth Sense (although this was long before that film came out). We would be sitting in a pub in the old town in Edinburgh and she would become distracted. She would in all honesty say that she was watching a couple of people in the corner dressed in 18th or 19th century clothing, and of course there was no-one there that we could see. This happened often, and she was completely frank about these sightings. I don't think she was a nutter, but seemed convinced she was actually seeing these things. We all lived in a Georgian flat and she would often see a figure at night walk through the hall into my bedroom. I never saw anything untoward when we stayed there. One night she woke up screaming; she had awoken in bed with her bloke, the entire room was bathed in bright blue light, and an apparition was hovering over the bed face to face with her boyfriend. She was always unperturbed by her 'sightings' but that one frightened her for some reason. It was pretty freaky being with her when she started to 'see' things like that; it was like being in a room with a dog barking and growling at 'nothing' in the corner...
ST
As mentioned, nice country bungalow built in the 70s using part of an old stables structure. Good friend of mine lived there with her brother. He woke up one night and saw aforementioned old man in his room staring at him. The bloke was there for a considerable period of time, so he is convinced he didn't dream/imagine it. A while later his girlfriend was staying over (who as far as I know didn't know about the 'ghost' incident). They were in bed, he was lying awake while she was sleeping. She started talking directly to him in her sleep, and told him that he shouldn't be in that part of the house because the old man couldn't keep his horse there any more...
My friend that lived there was my uni flatmate in termtime. She'd go back to the house (in rural Perthshire), where it would often have lain empty for weeks or months if her brother had been away as well. She had a glass display cabinet in the corridor outside her bedroom. It was screwed down onto a concrete floor, and contained a glass menagerie of animals. She'd often go into the house, all the animals were in the correct position. She'd walk past into her room, get something and walk straight back out again to find every single glass animal had fallen over, yet the cabinet hadn't moved.
I'm always sceptical about these things, but she insists none of the above is a wind-up (she's a pilot with BA now).
She was also the girlfriend of one of my best mates, also a pilot. He had a summer flying instructor job and was staying in a caravan on a farm at the time. She went to visit, and one night went to sleep in the spare room (because my mate could fart for his country and was keeping her awake dropping them during the night!). She woke up early in the morning, 6 am or such like, and found her legs were being (invisibly) held up at a 30 degree angle. She was immobile and terrified, and stayed like that for around 20 minutes before she found herself free to move. The previous occupant of the caravan had been an aerial photography pilot who had been killed when his aircraft was hit by a fast jet when flying at low level...
Same (male) mate subsequently went out with a girl who was a professional comedian and actress, although not anyone you would have heard of. We all shared a flat in Edinburgh, and this girl (you can take this or leave it) claimed to see dead people a la Sixth Sense (although this was long before that film came out). We would be sitting in a pub in the old town in Edinburgh and she would become distracted. She would in all honesty say that she was watching a couple of people in the corner dressed in 18th or 19th century clothing, and of course there was no-one there that we could see. This happened often, and she was completely frank about these sightings. I don't think she was a nutter, but seemed convinced she was actually seeing these things. We all lived in a Georgian flat and she would often see a figure at night walk through the hall into my bedroom. I never saw anything untoward when we stayed there. One night she woke up screaming; she had awoken in bed with her bloke, the entire room was bathed in bright blue light, and an apparition was hovering over the bed face to face with her boyfriend. She was always unperturbed by her 'sightings' but that one frightened her for some reason. It was pretty freaky being with her when she started to 'see' things like that; it was like being in a room with a dog barking and growling at 'nothing' in the corner...
ST
Ex-girlfriend of mine, when she was about ten (before I met her incidentally...) moved into Victorian-era house with parents and 4 year-old sister and baby brother. 4 year-old sister developed an 'imaginary friend' called Jenny for a few weeks, and would sit and have conversations with her in various parts of the house. Parents thought it was just a phase until one night the entire family was woken up by the girl standing at the top of the stairs shouting at Jenny not to go. All the family, ex-girlfriend included, saw the apparition of a little girl in 19th century clothes appear next to a clothes horse at the foot of the stairs then disappear. When the 4 year-old was asked the next day about 'Jenny' she had no (and to this day still doesn't) have any recollection. Wierd.
And just to finish, another ex-girlfriend lived in a 1930's era house near Aldershot. Winter evening, husband at work, she was in the kitchen doing the dishes in the house on her own. Pitch dark outside, curtains open though, she looked up from the sink to the reflection of the kitchen in the window and saw that there was a little girl standing behind her. She turned round and there was nothing there, but she was convinced that what she saw was in the room and not 'through the glass' in the back garden. Incidentally, she is a nurse, and used to work in an old folks' home which was a big old country house. She used to do night shifts, sitting by the fire at 2 am in the winter, periodically going upstairs to check on some of the residents. Once in a while, inevitably, she'd move through the house, middle of the night, go to check on a room and find a dead body. She said the there was always a bizarre atmosphere in the house throughout the rest of the night whenever that happened.
Sleep tight.
ST
ST
>> Edited by speedtwelve on Friday 5th August 00:24
And just to finish, another ex-girlfriend lived in a 1930's era house near Aldershot. Winter evening, husband at work, she was in the kitchen doing the dishes in the house on her own. Pitch dark outside, curtains open though, she looked up from the sink to the reflection of the kitchen in the window and saw that there was a little girl standing behind her. She turned round and there was nothing there, but she was convinced that what she saw was in the room and not 'through the glass' in the back garden. Incidentally, she is a nurse, and used to work in an old folks' home which was a big old country house. She used to do night shifts, sitting by the fire at 2 am in the winter, periodically going upstairs to check on some of the residents. Once in a while, inevitably, she'd move through the house, middle of the night, go to check on a room and find a dead body. She said the there was always a bizarre atmosphere in the house throughout the rest of the night whenever that happened.
Sleep tight.
ST
ST
>> Edited by speedtwelve on Friday 5th August 00:24
good stories.
I signed my apprenticeship papers here, in Billingam House
I signed my apprenticeship papers here, in Billingam House
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