Spooky Season is upon us! Happy Halloween, everyone. To celebrate, I am going to help you get your spook on with some of my favourite chilling abandoned locations.
I (of course!) have the obligatory long, dark hospital corridors. Likewise, there are closed operating theatres and clinics complete with equipment and outdated medicines. I can also drag up an abundance of dimly lit, musty morgues and mortuaries. Additionally, I can add a splash of crypts, ossuaries, and crematoria for some macabre variety. How about some empty theme parks? Dim and oppressive prisons; check those off as well. If your desire is for gothic castles and churches, I can also supply some of those to darken your day.
Abandoned Horror Attractions
The Scare Woods, England
Hidden inside a small wooded area lies an abandoned horror attraction: The Scare Woods. It is an odd assortment of props and set pieces.
Eerie English Folklore
THE CHAINED OAK, ENGLAND
There is an old oak tree known as the Chained Oak that stands in the woods of northern England. Ancient, sturdy chains have been wrapped around the tree limbs. This tree plays a key role in an interesting piece of English folklore.
RIP – Graveyards, coffins, crypts, ossuary and crematorium
Gothic Crypt In The Forest, Scotland
A Gothic Crypt In The Forest of Scotland; an enchanting place surrounded by a small woodland. It was a private chapel for a wealthy family.
Cemetery of the Skull, Belgium
The skull’s mouthis grotesquely agape in a centuries-long silent scream, resting on a pillow of crossed femur bones. Bright green moss covers the gravestone.
Chapel Of Skull, Bulgaria
The Chapel Of Skulls is an old ossuary in the mountains of Bulgaria. This collection of human remains lay in a crypt below the chapel.
Lost Coffins (Coffin Factory), Belgium
These musty, damp wicker coffins lay forgotten in a derelict warehouse in Belgium. The coffins are stacked in an apparently haphazard arrangement.
Cemetery of the Insane, Belgium
Cemetery of the Insane is the graveyard of an old psychiatric hospital. Those unfortunate souls were buried in this forest cemetery.
Krematorium D, Germany
This dark abandoned crematorium basem*nt is thick with soot and ash. This heavy metal cart has loaded around 10,000 bodies into the furnaces over 85 years the crematorium operated.
Oval Crypta, Portugal
This grand oval-shaped ossuary is the final resting place of many affluent Portuguese deceased. There is a vintage wooden body trolley with large cart-like wheels. There is also a metal scissor lift.
Cemitério Ossuary, Portugal
This ossuary lies in one of the side rooms of an old church. The ancient caskets are ornately carved and inscribed. A human thighbone lies on the floor, having seemingly fallen out of one of these caskets.
Macabre Morgues and Mortuaries
MEDICAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE, PORTUGAL
This Medical Research Institute was once a hub of scientific advancement. At one time, cutting-edge research was carried out here. That was many years ago
Morgue S, England
This abandoned morgue has three stainless steel body tables. The morgue has been abandoned for a decade.
La Morgue Prélude / The Blue Morgue, France
This beautiful morgue is remarkably clean and brightly lit. It is apparently used as a movie filming location.
Orange Morgue, Germany
This old German morgue has yellow and orange wall tiles. There are several body trolleys and wheeled tables with embalming tools laid out on them.
Red Morgue, Hungary
The morgue slab is made of bright red marble, with white quartz veins. The walls have olive green tiling. The lights above the slab zig-zag across the ceiling.
Ancient Mourning Hall, Germany
The Ancient Mourning Hall was once a chapel of rest, where family and friends could say goodbye to the departed before burial.
Abandoned Asylums and Grimy Hospitals
An Iron Lung & Hyperbaric Chamber; two interesting pieces of old medical equipment that remain in a former hospital in Ireland.
Manicomio di R, Italy
This Italian asylum opened in 1870s, housing 600 patients during its heyday. The maze-like corridors hold a treasure trove of dark photography opportunities.
Manicomio di C, Italy
Manicomio di C is an abandoned psychiatric hospital in Italy, that closed in the 1970s. It now lays in ruins, a painful reminder of the past.
Manicomio di VG, Italy
This asylum closed in the 1990s. This area was called “The Rotunda of the Furious”, here the most violent patients were kept here. They lived in small solitary cells lit only with narrow slit windows to let light in.
Pripyat Hospital No. 126, Chernobyl
This maternity ward lies within the Nuclear blighted town of Pripyat, in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. The room holds old rusty baby cots.
Hospital S, England
These 1950s operating theatres sit deep within an abandoned English hospital. The back-up power for the operating lights still functions, despite being abandoned for nearly a decade.
Hospital for Women, USA
This state hospital was established in the 1910s. It was set up to treat “feeble-minded” woman; an archaic term for those with cognitive, neurological or learning disabilities.
Sky-Blue Clinic, Japan
This Japanese obstetrician-gynaecologist clinic is shrouded by bamboo forest. On a table is a vintage scales with wicker basket; this is where newborn babies would be weighed.
Beelitz Heilstätten, Germany
This place was a health resort/sanatorium for those suffering from lung disease, including tuberculosis. Patients were sent here to recover in the fresh air of this hospital deep in the pine forest. In the days before antibiotics, this was the only treatment for this often fatal disease.
Ominous Abandoned Theme Parks
SPIRITED THEME PARK, JAPAN
Spirited Theme Park is a small abandoned theme park in Japan. The theme park was built in the 1970s, and is the setting for an interesting macabre tale.
WOODEN ROLLERCOASTER, USA
This vegetation strewn wooden rollercoaster dates back to the 1930s. The amusem*nt park has been closed since the mid-2000s.
SPREEPARK, GERMANY
Spreepark is an abandoned theme park in Germany. The most iconic ride is a roller coaster that goes through a tunnel-shaped like a blue roaring cat.
WESTERN VILLAGE / WILD WEST THEME PARK, JAPAN
Western Village is an abandoned Wild West theme park in Japan. The park features a re-created American frontier town, and a game arcade.
CAMELOT THEME PARK, ENGLAND
Camelot Theme Park is an abandoned amusem*nt park in England. It opened in 1983, and closed in 2012 due to declining visitor numbers.
Gloomy Prisons
The Crown Courts Cells, England
These dark basem*nt cells sit under an abandoned court house in England. The accused would be held here before their court date, when their case would be heard.
Prison 11, Belgium
This small cell block is part of a former army barracks. The cell doors were locked with heavy-duty slide bolt, and a lockable viewing window lies below the stencilled cell numbers.
The Green Mile, Germany
This prison was used by the Nazi regime as a detention and torture centre for ethnic minorities. There were enough cells to house around 50 inmates when the facility.
Eastern State Penitentiary, USA
Eastern State Penitentiary operated between 1829 and 1971. The prison lay abandoned for over a decade, before becoming a museum in 1994.
Prison M (Pastel Prison), France
Prison M (Pastel Prison) is an abandoned prison in France, abandoned since the mid 2000s. Pastel-coloured flaking paint covers the wall.
YELLOW PRISON, PORTUGAL
Yellow Prison is an architecturally fascinating abandoned penitentiary in Portugal. The prison operated for over a century before it closed.
Forboding Chateaus
Château Miranda, Belgium
The exterior of this 19th-century neo-Gothic castle in black and white embodies the idea of “foreboding castle” perfectly.
CASA AZUL / CHALET DO CONDE, PORTUGAL
The hauntingly beautiful abandoned Casa Azul sits atop a small hill in Portugal.
Manoir Colimaçon, France
The French chateau has a very striking, fairytale-like exterior. Ivy drapes over the main entrance. The chateau-style pointed roof gives an imposing and almost Gothic appearance.
Dilapidated Gothic Churches
Hospital A, Scotland
Hospital A is a large and dilapidated medical complex in Scotland that cared for the poor and destitute. It closed around 35 years ago.
Dark Dogma Church, USA
. This church was built in an imposing Gothic Revival architectural style, with a tall looming vaulted ceiling.It is over 120 years old.
Blue Miranda Church, England
The Blue Miranda Church was built in the mid-1800s. The church was plagued with dry rot, and services ceased in the late 1990s due to structural concerns. It was deemed too expensive to repair and therefore closed.
Evangelist Church, England
The architecture of Evangelist Church is typical of Victorian ecclesiastical buildings, bold Perpendicular Gothic. Green algae grows on the red sandstone walls as the building succumbs to decay.
GOTHIC REVIVAL CHURCH, USA
This location is a Gothic Revival style Roman Catholic church, constructed in the 1840s. It has lain abandoned for over twenty years.