Do You Dare Visit These Eerie Abandoned Sites?

Abandoned buildings are frightening enough on their own, but when they're former psychiatric facilities where patients endured more suffering than proper care, things take a much darker turn. You might want to keep the lights on before diving into this one. Here are 20 abandoned asylums with dark histories that are sure to give you the creeps.

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1. Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum

Spanning nearly 27 acres, the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum is one of America's most notorious abandoned hospitals. It operated from 1884 to 1994 and was originally built to house 250 patients, though by the 1950s, there were over 2,000 checked in. That wasn't all; the horrors inside ranged from electric shock therapy to lobotomies, and overcrowding led to six people sharing a single room, or being locked in cages in the open halls.

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2. Poveglia Island

Said to be one of the most haunted places in Europe, Poveglia Island lies just southwest of Venice Lido and a short boat ride from St. Mark's Square. Its eerie history began in the 14th century during the spread of the bubonic plague, when many patients bearing symptoms were exiled to the island. It remained as a quarantine station for ships sailing into Venice, and the tales go that strange and unsightly things have happened within its walls. Today, the island is entirely abandoned and remains closed to visitors.

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3. Beelitz Heilstätten

About 34 miles southwest of Berlin lies Beelitz Heilstätten, an abandoned military hospital that was initially built in 1898 to treat those with tuberculosis. This was where Adolf Hitler, then a young soldier during World War I (WWI), was treated, and the site remained under German control until 1945. During its last years, between 1989 and 1991, a serial killer took the lives of five women and a three-month-old baby, among other horrors.

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4. Hovrinskaya Hospital

Near its namesake railway station, the Hovrinskaya Hospital never even had a chance to serve the 1,300 patients it was designed for. Construction for the building began in 1980 but halted and was suspended just five years later. From then on it became a playground for urban explorers who were attracted to the mysteriousness behind the unfinished structure, and murders and suicides have occurred on site. It was demolished in 2018.

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5. Medfield State Hospital

Despite the original plan to open several buildings that provided better ventilation and quality of life to patients, the Medfield State Hospital was crammed with patients—over 2,300—by the 1940s. Many of those who perished were buried in a cemetery not too far away, though numerous gravestones remain unnamed because no family came forward to claim them. Today, some 30 structures remain accessible to visitors who are brave enough to enter.

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6. Tranquille Sanatorium

Twelve miles from downtown Kamloops sits Tranquille Sanatorium, though its history is anything but tranquil. It was built in the early 1900s for tuberculosis patients, a disease which was then the leading cause of death for Canadians. It turned into a mental institution by the 1950s, and even briefly functioned as a detention center. Parts of the structure still stand today and its tunnel escape rooms have attracted many thrill-seekers.

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7. Gonjiam Psychiatric Hospital

Known as one of the most haunted places in South Korea, the Gonjiam Psychiatric Hospital certainly fits the bill appearance-wise. Decaying mattresses, forgotten items, rusty machinery, a long zigzagging staircase outside its dilapidated front—this is the scene of nightmares. And the tales that make up the site's backstory don't help tone down the eeriness, ranging from unexplained deaths to doctors turned insane. Whether these stories hold any real weight, though, is another thing altogether.

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8. Riverview Hospital

Riverview Hospital housed patients more recently than you think. Up until the summer of 2010, it tended to some of British Columbia's most psychotically disturbed male patients, who resided mainly in West Lawn. Since then, there have been reports of reopening the site due to several attacks in the surrounding area.

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9. Denbigh Insane Asylum

Also known as the North Wales Hospital, the Denbigh Insane Asylum opened in 1848 and provided care for patients with a range of conditions, from children with learning disabilities to seniors with dementia. Many soldiers of WWI also stayed at the hospital, even when no treatment was available to give them. Electroconvulsive therapy and lobotomies were also among the operations that were performed.

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10. Severalls Hospital

Many tragedies took place at Severalls Hospital, which sits just north of Colchester. It was bombed in 1942 by the Luftwaffe, killing 38 patients. Experimental treatments were also performed, such as prefrontal lobotomies and electroconvulsive therapy. Many patients were also admitted by their own families and were often mistakenly deemed insane.

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11. Morisset Hospital

The overcrowding of patients at other psychiatric asylums was what prompted the swift construction of the Morisset Hospital, then known as the "Morisset Asylum for the Insane" in the early 1900s. In the beginning, staff and patients lived in tents, and this continued even after makeshift wards were made. By the 1940s during World War II (WWII), experimental treatments like electroconvulsive therapy were administered, but by the 1980s, the hospital was already declining in numbers with overgrown lawns.

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12. Ospedale Psichiatrico di Volterra

Of the various insane asylums that were closed due to cruelty, Ospedale Psichiatrico di Volterra (Volterra Lunatic Asylum) is often cited. In a way, its derelict appearance with abandoned wheelchairs, graffitied walls, and an old telephone booth seems to reflect the horrors that happened inside. Here, nurses were referred to as "guards" and were to treat patients—who were caged in prison-like rooms and isolated, sedated, or immersed in ice baths—like criminals. Test pills and poison were administered without regard for health consequences, and insulin was commonly given to induce coma. The abuse was so grim that a patient, Fernando Oreste Nannetti, even painted murals documenting the atrocities, along with letters to relatives, poems, and drawings.

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13. Pool Park Asylum

Before being sold in the 1930s, Pool Park Asylum, meant for 87 patients, housed as many as 120 and was briefly used in WWII as a prisoner of war camp. It eventually became the extended grounds of the Denbigh Insane Asylum due to overcrowding. It now sits abandoned, its rotting interior a glimpse into what it was once like.

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14. Willard Asylum for the Chronic Insane

A movie theater, bowling alley, and gymnasium, along with arts and crafts classes were offered to patients at the Willard Asylum for the Chronic Insane. But everything wasn't all bright on the inside. Treatments like electroconvulsive therapy and ice baths were still the norm, and patients weren't allowed release until administrators gave the okay, which meant many were trapped until their deaths. 

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15. Danvers State Hospital

Built to house 450 patients, Danvers State Hospital saw as many as 2,000 crammed within its walls. The cruelties that happened inside also inspired American author H.P. Lovecraft to use it as a setting, and the asylum even appeared in DC Comics' Batman universe. Overcrowding meant patients lived in their own filth, and again, treatments like lobotomies and electroconvulsive therapy were no strangers here. When lobotomies didn't work, patients were strapped in straitjackets, deemed by doctors as "incurable" and left to suffer. The abuse continued all the way up until the asylum's closure in 1992.

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16. Bethlem Royal Hospital

Though not technically abandoned, the horrors that occurred inside Bethlem Royal Hospital deserve a mention. As one of the oldest asylums in Europe, Bethlem morphed from being a hospital, to a psychiatric facility, to being a place for criminals and outcasts. This meant those with learning disabilities were placed in the same quarters as murderers. Treatments were cruel and bizarre, one of which included suspending patients from the ceiling and spinning them around 100 times to induce vomiting, which doctors believed could purge disease. To add onto this, without proper funding, living conditions at the institution were poor, and many patients were beaten, starved, strapped in straitjackets, and dunked in ice baths. The wealthy would sometimes come by and observe the patients as if they were zoo animals, paying entrance fees to watch the "freak show."

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17. Philadelphia State Hospital at Byberry

Perhaps it was overcrowding that led the the eventual violence and murders at the Philadelphia State Hospital at Byberry. Since, because of the overflow of patients, many staff were hired without proper qualifications. Many of them would beat patients, and patients were violent too, with one stabbing another using a sharpened end of a spoon. Two workers confessed to strangling a patient due to post-traumatic stress disorder. One woman was brutally assaulted and whose body wasn't discovered until staff noticed patients carrying parts of her teeth. Operations were often performed without prior numbing or painkillers. Many more inhumane acts occurred onsite, and are still remembered long after the hospital shut down in 1990.

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18. Forest Haven Asylum

Forest Haven Asylum opened in 1925 for children and adults with intellectual disabilities. By the 1960s, lack of funding meant cost cuts, and unqualified staff were brought on—leading to the start of horrifying abuse. Frustrations were taken out on patients with belts and baseball bats, and many were physically assaulted and violated or completely neglected. Some even underwent medical experiments. Respect wasn't even given after death, and many were buried in a mass grave with an unmarked headstone. The institution finally closed down in 1991 after the years of violence came to light.

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19. Harlem Valley Psychiatric Center

The Harlem Valley Psychiatric Center opened in 1924 and spanned 900 acres with over 30 buildings, housing as many as 5,000 patients and 5,000 staff at its peak. Many experimental treatments were practiced onsite, from insulin shock therapy and electroconvulsive therapy to lobotomies. Today, the grounds of the institution have been repurposed into a university.

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20. Old Changi Hospital

Known as one of the most haunted places in Singapore, the Old Changi Hospital once housed military units in the 1930s, and then was used as a facility to nurse prisoner-of-war detainees during Japanese occupation of Singapore in WWII. For paranormal enthusiasts, this is prime hunting ground for ghosts, with reports of wandering soldiers and a crying boy frequently sighted.

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