Inside abandoned UK asylum where 'voices whisper' in the basement and hallways

02 September 2023 , 10:59

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Emma said she heard troubled voices whispering in the halls of the St John Asylum (Image: mediadrumimages/@elb_photography_)

An urban explorer claims to have heard echoing voices as she ventured inside a derelict UK mental asylum which featured a creepy cemetery and basement.

Emma, 29, stepped inside St John's Asylum in Lincolnshire for over three hours as she investigated the "eerie" building, which had been abandoned for two decades before a property developer scooped it up in 2012.

The hospital, also known as St John's Asylum, first opened its doors in 1852 as the Lincolnshire County Lunatic Asylum after the 1845 act of parliament ruled it compulsory for each country to offer accommodation to "lunatics".

Patients were subjected to electroshock therapy, brain surgery and lobotomies in a bid to "cure" them from conditions including depression or schizophrenia.

Emma said she was left disturbed by the extent of the practices as she walked through the same halls and now-decaying staircase as the troubled patients. She managed to capture the remains of the empty building and released images of floral paintings placed around a door frame.

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The hospital housed around 250 patients when it first opened (mediadrumimages/@elb_photography_)

In 1919 the hospital became Bracebridge Mental Hospital (mediadrumimages/@elb_photography_)

Emma, from Hertfordshire, described the atmosphere and said: "Walking around the asylum felt surreal. There was lots of paint peel and even traces of wallpaper and imagery left on the walls. The hospital closed in December 1989 and was left abandoned for over 20 years until fairly recently when the site was sold to a property developer." She believes she heard voices speaking to each other despite being the only person in the building. "Whilst downstairs in the basement area I was pretty certain I heard what sounded like a whispered conversation," she said. "But I was definitely the only one there at the time."

During WWII, the asylum served as an Emergency Hospital and gained patients from Rauceby Mental Hospital when it was taken over by the Royal Air Force for a brief time. By the early 1980s, outlying wards were closed, long-stay patients were discharged through resettlement programs and a series of mental health units were developed in the district general hospitals, leaving it to be abandoned in 1989.

In 1919 the hospital became Bracebridge Mental Hospital (mediadrumimages/@elb_photography_)

Plants flourished and grew over the boarded windows (mediadrumimages/@elb_photography_)

Speaking about the design of the development, Emma said: "The building was executed with separate male and female wings on either side of a central services block, with the Superintendent's residence occupying the main portion of frontage of the south and decorated with a porch and pediment. Behind the wards were blocks for more difficult patients." At its peak, the hospital could house over 944 patients following developments and reconstructions. "In 1858 Thomas Parry designed a cemetery and a mortuary chapel was consecrated in 1855 as the local burial ground was unable to support the volume of pauper burials from the asylum," revealed Emma.

"A larger programme of expansion designed by A. Richmond and Sons took place during the 1930s with an admissions hospital and staff housing adjacent to the isolation hospital, which was intended to be a largely separate unit from the main asylum with its own entrance. The aim was for patients to be admitted and treated in the early phase of their illness when they were perceived to be most curable, in the hope that they would never require admission to the main building."

The asylum was built in response to the 1845 act of parliament (mediadrumimages/@elb_photography_)

The 29-year-old continued: "It was sad to think of how patients would have been treated during the time they were there when there was less of an understanding of mental health. Like many asylums, the hospital is guilty of using some of the traditional medical techniques of its day to 'cure' insanity. Whilst it was empty the corridors echoed the memories of the past. It had quite an eerie feel." A property developer has replaced the area with luxury homes and apartments which consists of a lot of the original architecture.

Monica Charsley