Natasha McCallum, an “urban explorer,” has shared eerie photographs of a shuttered Scottish mental institution she stumbled upon. She posted the photos of Bangour Village Hospital in West Lothian, west of Dechmont, which many viewers call creepy.
Opening its doors for the first time in 1906, the hospital was a component of the Edinburgh War Hospital during the First World War before being converted into a mental institution.
Photographs captured by Natasha reveal a rundown structure that has been abandoned and subjected to weather and vandalism. The old “insane asylum,” as they were called back in the day, is littered with rubble, broken windows, and crumbling walls. It was established to care for the “lunatic paupers.”
In addition to various eerie sights, those daring enough to go inside will find the original equipment used to treat “shell-shocked” war veterans. A disturbing baby doll hung from a wall with one of its eyes curiously missing.
In the late 20th century, numerous psychiatric institutions in the UK closed their doors due to changing mental healthcare procedures in the 1990s and 2000s. Officially, the building was shuttered in 2004 when the last patient left.
Natasha said the only thing remaining was a maze of dim hallways and crumbling flooring, crumbling to pieces. She said she wouldn’t go there again, especially not alone, because of the eerie atmosphere. The claim is that it is haunted, and she said the structure is foreboding due to the chilly fog.
The treatment methodology was modeled after the Alt-Scherbitz, close to Leipzig in Germany, to provide a more relaxing atmosphere for the patients while they were there.
The innovative plan called for constructing thirty-two villas (like residential homes in the suburbs) with wide bay windows facing south to maximize natural light.
The locals say the souls of long-gone patients still haunt the abandoned building. According to an ex-employee who worked there in the 1980s, the facility had a “sinister” atmosphere.
After it closed, the hospital served as a setting for the 2005 thriller The Jacket, which featured Adrien Brody and Keira Knightley in the lead roles.
