10/08/2012
Well I went to that abandoned psychiatric hospital last night. Its a huge complex and we only would have seen about 25-30% of the place.
22:45 Met the other two people I was to go with. Met them on a local urbex site so this was the first meeting IRL, we ended up meeting at a local supermarket car park. From there we drove out to the hospital, parking in the spot I usually park. From there we headed across the farmland surrounding the hospital toward the first building we were to infiltrate. I had been here before but hadn't found a way in. One of the guys had been here quite a bit over the last year or so and knew of a roller door that was unlocked so we entered through here. It was a loading dock for the isolation ward. Upon entry we were greeted by the warmth of the building as it was fucking freezing outside, the air inside smelled stale as expected. Below are some pics I took while here.
It was difficult to take photos here as we were uncertain of the security situation on site. We entered the mens changing room and were greeted by one unusual smell, not one of mould but one I and the others couldn't quite figure out. It was weird seeing the names of staff members still printed on little labels on the locker doors. We exited that room and entered the staff break room, on the wall was a blackboard with a farewell message including all of the names of the staff that worked in that ward on the very last day back in 1998, none of that message had been tampered with indicating that no one other than a couple other urbexers had been there. We then headed back out into the cold to decide where to go next and that using red light was best as any white light seen couldn't be mistaken as ours.
We decided to head toward the security office to check if they were around as none of us had seen them during previous visits. We passed the maintenance workshops and boiler room on the way across the hospital grounds then walked up toward the old admin block which would have easily been the most modern building there. It is a large two story concrete office block near the main gate. After coming to the conclusion that they can't be out patrolling or even at the hospital we headed toward the mortuary as I and one of the others hadn't been inside before as it is heavily boarded up. One of the guys had been out a few weeks prior with an Aussie guy that came over and had loosened the board on one of the windows to create an entry point. After a tight squeeze through the window we were standing in the mortuary. In front of me stood the mortuary table with its light still hanging from the celling above and against the wall was a gurney used to transport the dead, why it has a soft foam mattress I don't know. maybe the dead like to be comfortable? who knows. Below are some pics I took while here.
Probably used to control the undeadOne of the guys took a member of the Aussie Cave Clan (urbex group) out there recently
After about 20 minutes of looking around and realising what shit cell coverage you get in a concrete building built like a fucking bomb shelter and it was only the size of a single car garage, we squeezed through that small window back into the cold night air. The mortuary was surprisingly warm. We headed over toward the forensics ward used to house the criminally insane patients. Its outside recreation yard surrounded by a tall chain link fence topped with barbed wire. Around the back we went where there was a broken window that had been covered with chicken wire that had been loosened to provide an entry by another urbexer. One of the guys headed in to open another window for us to make it easier to get in. After waiting for him to head back out and secure the chicken wire, we headed into the ward. This place had a real post apocalyptic feel to it as the police had obviously used it for training and doors were blocked off with police tape and windows were blacked out making it look like some serious shit had gone down at some stage. I will get some pics next time I head out so you can see what I mean.
Down the corridor we went where the cells were located. The size of the fucking locking bolts on the door were huge. two of them kept a heavy steel door secure to keep psychotic individuals from escaping. The cells bare with a small raised portion at the back to sleep on, a small window to let light in and the light fixtures recessed into the ceiling and locked to prevent tampering. Around the corner were the newer cells similar to what you would see in your average prison. They had a toilet and basin and a small raised platform to sleep on. The large steel door had a small window in it and locked with a key. In all there would have been around 5-6 of these newer cells and 3-4 older ones from memory, the door leading to them had a whiteboard with the patients names and the date they were last showered. Below are pics of one of the cells.
We ended up leaving through a door at the other end of the building as it would lock behind us. From there we headed over toward another ward which we couldn't gain entry to then headed back toward the children's ward where there was an unlocked door around back. After around 10 minutes of looking around inside and seeing the Christmas decorations from the last time the building was used, we decided to try and get into this large two story admin block. First we tried to get into the smaller and older two story brick building across the car park but the lock was fucked and wouldn't open. Some of the glass panels from the lead light windows were missing so you could reach in and unlock the door or try to anyway.
We crossed the car park again and tried the front door to this admin building. As expected they were locked but they had a small phone box next to them labelled
Night Enquiries . We opened it to find an old telephone with the old rotary dial on it which was pretty neat, it no longer worked as expected. On the inside of the door was a sign saying "
For all night enquires dial 0000 for the operator" One of the guys decided to try calling them to see if they would let us in "
hmmm I have an idea, ill call the operator.... they won't answer". after that we went around back into this dead end where a window was missing its glass louvres so he climbed in and went around to unlock the door for us. We went in and locked the door behind us. The amount of shit littering this building suggested that the guards had based themselves here in the past. It was also the only building we could find with a working toilet. We found the safe which was open and piles of someone's belongings including photo albums and what not. In one office someone had decided to dump their bags of garbage in it. We went into a side room which turned out to be the switchboard room for the hospitals phone system. That PABX system was fucking ancient to say the least.
We were looking at the old phone switchboard when all of a sudden, "
Did you see that?. Fuck those lights wern't on before. Shit they are moving behind that brick building". We went back into the corridor when all of a sudden there was a bright light shining through an office window. "
Fuck its a car parked outside don't move". One of the guys quietly ran to the other end of the corridor toward the main doors to get a better view of that end of the building while me and the other guy waited either side of that office door seeing what the fuck the guards were doing. They drove away after about a minute so we thought they would come back past so we couldn't leave yet. "
They are likely to come back past. Fuck how do we know if they saw our lights or not, they may not know we are in here. They know the layout of this building so if they do come in they have an advantage over us". We knew that there were two stairwells in that building and only one guard so if we went up to the floor above to get a better view of where the guard was, we wouldn't get cornered on the second floor. Navigating only by feeling along the walls and light snapping of our fingers so we knew were each other was, we found the stairwell and went up to one of the offices near the front side of the building to get a better view trying not to fall over the shit littering the floor and the door on its side nailed to the walls of the corridor in the process.
After seeing the car drive back past and out the front gate we got the fuck out of there and went back to the car and drove back into town. We got back to the supermarket car park at around 0345. It was a good night until our scare with the guards plus I got to meet up with some fellow urbexers who I will meet up with again some other time. We are going to head back out again some time and explore some of the buildings we didn't see.
Comments
10/10.
It made the news when a guy died while exploring a flooded tunnel.
So the council pays guards to monitor the hospital?
Ouch. That would be an awful way to die - thats why you should ALWAYS check the weather forecast before heading out into drains or tunnels. Never venture in if it's raining, even if the tunnels initially seem safe as you never know, a grate or sluice may open and flood the entire tunnel with water. Keep your wits about you, tell someone where you're headed before you leave, etc.
Yeah its either them or the health department. I'm guessing they have made a few cutbacks as the guards were patrolling about once an hour at one stage, now its once a night if that. There are servive tunnels under some parts that can be accessed and the rooftop on the boiler room that can be accessed. I'm not sure if there is roof access in the admin building or not. I'll have to have a look next time.
Seems like there's loads to explore on your island! I have visited an old hospital for urbex but my hard drive busted and I lost all the photos (seriously I had ones of blood splashed up the wall and long hallway shots).
Glad to hear you're heading back again. Make it worth it.
Also the talk about the water tunnels under Sydney, there's a rather crummy film about them but I just can't remember the name.
Now I'm curious. Is that Lake Alice, Kingseat or another psychiatric hospital?
Oh Ya! Winrar post and an interesting read. :thumbsup:
Another hospital in the Waikato. One of the guys I was with has done Lake Alice but from the sound of things, Kingseat is near impossible to get into ever since Spookers opened on the same site.