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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
National
Kieren Williams

Inside abandoned WWI tuberculosis hospital where kids' dolls still hang from windows

Sinister pictures reveal the inside of a creepy abandoned wartime tuberculosis hospital where children’s dolls still dangle from the windows.

The eerie hospital is located just 30 miles from Edinburgh but has been left to rot since its closure in 1997.

It was used as a naval station during the First World War and then as tuberculosis spiked in the UK the base was converted into a sanatorium, with open-air verandas being added to many of the buildings.

The abandoned rooms are still full of many of the long gone patient’s personal effects.

Baby prams can be found decaying on the hospital’s grounds as children’s dolls were strung from the windows.

Children's toys still hang from some of the windows inside the abandoned hospital (Mediadrumimages/Grant Vincent)

The inside of the former medical facility is decaying and falling to pieces, with crumbling walls, floors strewn with debris and piles of mattresses.

The beds which were once occupied by the hospital’s patients often remain in place as well.

Many of the windows are shattered and broken with ivy increasingly taking over the structure.

Eerie scenes were uncovered throughout the hospital (Mediadrumimages/Grant Vincent)

Tuberculosis is a bacterial infection that primarily affects the lungs and was one of the leading causes of death in the early 20th century.

Grant Vincent (@_grantventures) is the urban explorer behind these eerie images that were captured during his longest exploration to date.

"We were exploring this location for over three hours," he said.

This exploration was urban explorer Grant Vincent's longest to date (Mediadrumimages/Grant Vincent)

"To begin with, I just felt the excitement of being on another explore, eager to start documenting the location.

"The more I moved through the hospital, the more haunting it felt.

"I could definitely feel some kind of energy in some of the buildings, especially the ones with beds and gurneys.

This was one of a number of the remaining beds that once belonged to a patient (Mediadrumimages/Grant Vincent)

"The most shocking thing I encountered during the exploration was the sheer number of beds and gurneys we found even finding a whole room full of mattresses.

"Also, there were a lot of old prams, cots, and other children's items which was really quite eerie.

"There was a surprise around every corner and that made for a great explore."

One room was stacked full of mattresses that were brought in for the patients (Mediadrumimages/Grant Vincent)

On the outside, the property cuts through the leafy Scottish landscape, and looks mostly in-tact, hiding the horror within.

The hospital’s former superintendent held some strange beliefs when it came to the cause of the disease.

It is known he thought TB was spread by cats and ordered nurses to shoot all stray felines on sight.

Baby's prams are scattered on the hospital grounds (Mediadrumimages/Grant Vincent)

In spite of the eccentric orders, the superintendent may have be more correct than once thought because in 2019 a Scottish family had to be tested for TB after their cats contracted a strain of the zoonotic disease.

As the Second World War began the hospital was repurposed into an RAF airfield serving as one of Scotland’s main air defences.

Chairs are decaying and the floors remain covered in debris (Mediadrumimages/Grant Vincent)

But from 1949 to 2007 it served once more as a sanatorium.

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