Gonjiam Psychiatric Hospital in Gwangju, South Korea, is considered one of the countries most haunted locations.
Legends persist of mysterious patient deaths being the cause of the hospitals sudden closure in the 1990's, their tortured souls lingering on in this creepy, abandoned facility.
Legends persist of mysterious patient deaths being the cause of the hospitals sudden closure in the 1990's, their tortured souls lingering on in this creepy, abandoned facility.
Closed Before Its Time?
Formidable front gates. Nestled away near the small city of Gwangju, a little south east of Seoul, South Korea, stands the abandoned Gonjiam Psychiatric Hospital. Now little more than an empty shell of stained grey concrete with rusty doors and smashed windows, this location is regarded as one of Korea's most haunted destinations.
The building has a look of one that has long been abandoned, but the truth is it was only shut down, albeit suddenly, in the late 1990's. Although many reasons are given for this facility’s sudden closure, the most popular story states that for ten years patients and staff were suddenly, and inexplicably dying, found dead in their rooms or at their desks in their offices.
The building has a look of one that has long been abandoned, but the truth is it was only shut down, albeit suddenly, in the late 1990's. Although many reasons are given for this facility’s sudden closure, the most popular story states that for ten years patients and staff were suddenly, and inexplicably dying, found dead in their rooms or at their desks in their offices.
Gonjiam Psychiatric Hospital. With patients families not given a reasonable explanation as to why their family member had died, people began to talk, and soon a story emerged. That is, of course, if the deceased still had a family wanting to claim them for their own.
Stories of a mad doctor make their way through South Korean chat rooms and websites dedicated to the supernatural, as did tales of hideous experiments. Whether or not there was a mad doctor offing his patients and staff will probably never be made clear, and there certainly is no public knowledge of an investigation into such activities having ever taken place within the hospital.
However, another side of the story states the hospital’s sanitation was not up to code, and with the owner having left the country, it was thought most cost effective to close the facility and transfer the patients elsewhere.
Stories of a mad doctor make their way through South Korean chat rooms and websites dedicated to the supernatural, as did tales of hideous experiments. Whether or not there was a mad doctor offing his patients and staff will probably never be made clear, and there certainly is no public knowledge of an investigation into such activities having ever taken place within the hospital.
However, another side of the story states the hospital’s sanitation was not up to code, and with the owner having left the country, it was thought most cost effective to close the facility and transfer the patients elsewhere.
Exploring this Massive Location
Upper entry ways are clear... if you can get to them. People argue for and against each of these stories about the hospital’s closure, but all can generally agree that the place will have been filled with much sorrow, and no doubt more than a few violations of basic human rights. Psychiatric hospitals, no matter where they are located in the world, are generally places that are under staffed, underfunded, but most crucial to a recipe for human suffering, a place for people who do not fit society’s mould of ‘normal’ are placed in order to be forgotten.
Regardless of the reason for closure, those who have visited the slowly crumbling ruin can attest to the fact that the hospital looks as though it was abandoned in a hurry. Beds, desks and other patient furnishings still remain within the rooms. Doctors examination rooms still contain dusty white coats, rusting exam chairs, and in some cases, paperwork. Patient’s personal effects can also often be found, games, books, photo frames...
Regardless of the reason for closure, those who have visited the slowly crumbling ruin can attest to the fact that the hospital looks as though it was abandoned in a hurry. Beds, desks and other patient furnishings still remain within the rooms. Doctors examination rooms still contain dusty white coats, rusting exam chairs, and in some cases, paperwork. Patient’s personal effects can also often be found, games, books, photo frames...
Corridors are long with many doorways... Making the journey out to the hospital is not made easy by the locals, who have no real want to have this facility remembered. Perhaps they know the truth of what took place there?
Should one manage to find the entry, it is also not made easy with every possible entrance on the ground floor barricaded, boarded up, with metal bars crisscrossing doorways and windows. However, should you make it inside, you will find a place where the light of day does not shine, the central rooms and corridors in perpetual inky blackness as you pass through, hoping something does not lurk in the shadows.
Should one manage to find the entry, it is also not made easy with every possible entrance on the ground floor barricaded, boarded up, with metal bars crisscrossing doorways and windows. However, should you make it inside, you will find a place where the light of day does not shine, the central rooms and corridors in perpetual inky blackness as you pass through, hoping something does not lurk in the shadows.
A Haunting
Much has been left behind. This place is considered one of the most haunted for good reason – all manner of paranormal activity is said to take place there. It would not be considered unusual for someone to run screaming from the building, frantically scrabbling from a window, feeling the pain that is obvious on any part of unclothed skin – scratches by the dozen, beads of blood oozing from the wounds.
Did the untrimmed nails of a former patient’s ghost cause the wounds, or was it from the shards of glass that have been said to be hurled about the halls and rooms?
Shadows, voices, moans and screams would also likely be on the agenda as the residual presences of the patients and staff linger on in the intimidating Gonjiam Psychiatric Hospital.
For an awesome album with heaps more photos check out SteveSmash on flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/stevenchea/sets/72157627475012619/
Did the untrimmed nails of a former patient’s ghost cause the wounds, or was it from the shards of glass that have been said to be hurled about the halls and rooms?
Shadows, voices, moans and screams would also likely be on the agenda as the residual presences of the patients and staff linger on in the intimidating Gonjiam Psychiatric Hospital.
For an awesome album with heaps more photos check out SteveSmash on flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/stevenchea/sets/72157627475012619/
Please post your comments below!
Ashley Hall 2013
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