Abandoned

September 19 2012
by emma

Being a bit of a history buff, I’m fascinated by images of abandoned or old buildings; crumbling and broken down with their windows empty, disturbingly quiet, sometimes spooky, the previous occupants still visible somehow.  I’d love to see these places in person in that way I have of watching scary movies at 11 o’clock at night, peeking out from under a blanket and jumping and shrieking at the slightest thing, my imagination going into overdrive.  Hopeless.

For some reason it reminds me of when I used to do night shifts as a grad RN in one of our major hospitals, parts of which have since been torn down and refurbished.  I worked in the old section with those big, old fashioned open wards, huge ceilings and no air conditioning.  I had to walk along a pitch dark veranda to get to my ward and felt so spooked I’d bolt down the hallway in my uniform and trainers until I saw the comforting lights, chattering and bustling of my ward, being teased by my coworkers.   I remember walking past the old nurses’ quarters on lunch breaks (pictured further down) and looking out the window trying to catch a breeze at my desk while doing notes around 3am on hot nights, picturing nurses in the past and how it must have been for them.  Whenever I drive past the new hospital, I sort of miss those days of the late 90s although I far from appreciated it at the time.

Have a look at these wonderful buildings and click on the links for more information; they have so much history in my opinion, brand new buildings will never hold a candle to them.

The Hotel Del Salto, an abandoned hotel in Colombia situated directly across the Tequendama Falls, which in it’s day was well known for bar fights and is said to be haunted.  The hotel closed down in the early 90s, thought to be linked to contaminated river water.

(via wikipedia)

Abandoned homes in Pennsylvania, USA.  I can’t believe some of the homes on this Flickr stream, so beautiful yet nobody living in them, due to what seems to be a failed dam project.

(from: rchrdcnnnghm’s Flickr)

(from: rchrdcnnnghm’s Flickr)

An abandoned psychiatric institution, Cane Hill Asylum in the UK, which at it’s peak accommodated around 2000 inpatients.  Thankfully in the 80s the Mental Health Act changed the way people with mental illness were diagnosed and treated, so huge psychiatric hospitals are no longer used in most parts of the world.  Check out those spooky dark windows though!

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The former Lady Lamington’s Home for Nurses at the site of the Royal Brisbane Hospital.  The first two floors of this heritage listed building are now a museum so while it’s not abandoned, it hasn’t been used for nurses’ quarters for a long time.  Can you imagine the shenanigans back in the day?

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(from: stephenk1977’s Flickr)

An abandoned mansion in Beirut, Lebanon which looks to have been left in a hurry by the previous occupants, who appeared to be a young family.

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Lillesden School for girls in the UK, a former mansion turned girls’ boarding school which opened after World War I and closed down in 1999 due to general decay of the building structure.

 

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12 Responses leave one →
  1. I am kind of wishing I hadn’t stopped by. I am about to go to bed and I am feeling a bit spooked now 🙁

    Lovely photos though. I might appreciate them better in daylight hours!

  2. Oh my! What a fascinating post to come to after a looooooong break from the Internet! Well with an occasional peek 🙂

  3. Emma, I must say you have gathered quite a bit of very interesting photos of abandoned buildings…especially the first photo of that spooky hotel gives me the ‘creeps’ and the one of the old school in the UK. Some of these buildings are lovely, and sad to see them abandoned, letting them crumble and just be neglected. It would be nice to see them restored to bring back their original beauty!

  4. Gorgeous, haunting photos, Emma! They remind of Miss Havisham — can’t you just picture her on the chair in that Beirut mansion in her yellowed wedding dress?

  5. What a nice post! I especially love the top one, hanging at the edge of a cliff like that. It makes me imagine waking up on a sunny morning and looking out the windows. Assuming I didn’t get in a bar fight the night before of course! 🙂

  6. Great pics-it is Colombia not Columbia, just an FYI if people want to do more research. Another cool one is Mary Allen Junior College in Crockett, TX. I drove by it awesomely spooky. Thanks for the neat pics.

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