Haunted Landscapes Final Exhibition
Created by Dalton Danis
Abandoned hospitals are quite symbolic of death and often impose feelings that onlookers and explorers may consider haunting, chilling, or sorrowful. The decay resulting from abandonment warps the hospital's clean and sanitary design into a scene that exemplifies entropy and further pushes the aesthetic toward that of a haunted building. What were once bustling hosts of activity, abandoned hospitals are often considered haunted due to their original purpose of dealing with life, death and pain, their lack of use, and their old age. The stories of ghosts and creepy areas, the symbolism of death, the decaying aesthetic of the original architectural design, and the many characteristics of a haunted building are all found present in abandoned hospitals thus proving that they are indeed haunted spaces.
When talking with my father about a particularly intriguing and seemingly haunted space I had visited, the South Street Hospital in London, Ontario, I found out that he had been born there (Danis, 2019). Curious about his ties to the hospital, I showed him what it looks like now in its dilapidated, abandoned form. My father told me a story of a time when he visited the hospital and ran into a security guard with whom he had a conversation about dark corners and chilling corridors within the building (Danis, 2019).
The security guard spoke of certain areas in the now-demolished part of the hospital where even the guards did not want to venture; these places invoked a child-like fear of the haunted and supernatural that may exist at the ends of the hallways (Danis, 2019). There were things that could not be explained and a collective avoidance of the places in the hospital that were considered haunted (Danis, 2019). Security guards may be thought of as fearless and strong, yet when
Figure 1. Ghost in The Window. May 20, 2019.
they suggest something spooky or are unable to explain the goings on of seemingly ghostly activities, one begins to wonder if the hospital truly is haunted. Looking up into the broken windows of the old South Street Hospital, one almost expects to see an otherworldly face appear as if to say their memories still exist within this building. Stories such as these develop the cultural acceptance of hospitals as haunted spaces since they feed the imagination and allow people to believe in something beyond our world, living amongst the places we no longer wish to visit.
Those who have moved on to a place beyond our world that we sometimes believe to haunt old buildings such as this abandoned hospital have made the ultimate voyage into the unknown; death. RomanyWG, a popular urban explorer, describes the hospital as “a gateway between this world and the next” which may very well contribute to our widespread curiosity toward hospitals due to the nature of their past purpose (The vale of death, 2010). Within this photograph of the Colborne Building, which used to be an exten-
Figure 2. Severed. May 20, 2019.
sion of the South St. Hospital before it was torn down, one can see the symbolism of death in the physical remnants of this space. The building has been severed from its previous life and now exists as something abandoned and haunted as it guards the field where it used to serve a purpose. Much like life, it has passed on to become something lesser after having run its course, and yet, it still intrigues onlookers as if they were considering the very concept of death itself.
As RomanyWG says beautifully, “full of intimate mementoes and intriguing details, it’s easy for the witness to become absorbed in the visions and reverie”, abandoned hospitals are truly a haunted space that feeds the imagination and beckons the adventurer in all of us (The vale of death, 2010).
Gazing upon a scene such as this, one might let their imagination take hold and wonder if this old hospital was being torn down to quiet some spirits or unexplained phenomena? A half-torn down, abandoned hospital seems to ignite one’s childish instincts as to what exists behind those crumbling walls after dark. Very much applicable to sights such as this, RomanyWG suggests that “the narratives of decay, entropy, and the encroachment of nature contrast with the intended narrative of the architect”
(Spatial poetry, 2015). The vines and plants beginning to consume the building from the ground up and the exposed rubble of this once bustling institution create a juxtaposition with the original purpose designed by the architect for a clean, sanitary building full of hope and productivity. A small lookout peaking out above the collapsed side of the building could almost be considered a small part of the architect, hoping to remain preserved by staying above the destruction of
Figure 3. Persistence and Collapse. May 20, 2019.
the buildings it once kept watch of. Even though the architect’s creation did not fully survive, perhaps any ghostly remnants of the patients of this building still visit that perch to look out over the place where they spent their last moments in this world. The architecture of abandoned hospitals is just one of the many characteristics found in a haunted building such as this.
Some other characteristics that can define a haunted space are outlined by the National Design Academy, a renowned interior design school in Britain, which includes the lack of use, tragedies on the site, aesthetic style and design, and age (2017). Hospitals are known for what goes in them: lives are brought into this world but there are also many ill patients, and even those who pass away during their stay. Abandoned hospitals are a step up, a combination of the frightening loneliness of a deserted
Figure 4. Victoria Health Services Building. May 20, 2019.
building with the knowledge of all of the souls that once were hospitalized there creates a very intriguing atmosphere.The National Design Academy suggests that when the building’s useful life is over, nature begins to take over and changes the area into an environment of ruin and horror (2017). With many tragic deaths occurring in hospitals, this abandoned hospital is a perfect site to “evoke an emotional, empathetic response" in the
onlooker or adventurer (National Design Academy, 2017).People often believe that ghosts or spirits haunt areas where people have passed away, and hospitals are certainly a hotspot for such stories and hauntings.
The abandoned hospital is arguably one of the most easily classified haunted buildings due to its notoriety for dealing with ill and near-death patients. One may associate the lives of these patients with tales of ghosts haunting the place of their death and attribute this factor to an old, abandoned hospital such as the one on South St. in London, Ontario. The abandoned hospital is an easy target for ghost stories with its symbolism of death, its decaying architecture and haunted aesthetic, and the characteristics of a haunted building suggesting that these decommissioned institutions are a strong candidate for being haunted spaces.
Figure 5. Window to The Past. May 20, 2019.
References
Danis, G. (2019). Personal Interview.
National Design Academy. (2017, August 15). What makes a haunted building? – Intimidating interiors – Vol. 1. Retrieved from https://www.nda.ac.uk/blog/what-makes-a-haunted-building-intimidating-interiors-vol-1/
RomanyWG. (2010, June 15). The vale of death: The heavy symbolism of the derelict hospital. In Beauty in decay. Retrieved from https://www.fanshaweonline.ca/d2l/le/content/949615/viewContent/7092554/View
RomanyWG. (2010, June 15). Spatial poetry: Architecture & decay. In Beauty in decay. Retrieved from https://www.fanshaweonline.ca/d2l/le/content/949615/viewContent/7083033/View