Inside abandoned psychiatric hospital 'one of most haunted buildings in UK'

July 2024 · 3 minute read

Haunting images have been taken inside an abandoned psychiatric hospital which has been dubbed "one of most haunted buildings in the UK".

The images were captured and shared on the Exploring with mike Facebook page on Wednesday, January 6.

The page has been set up by 12-year-old Michael, who loves to explore old and abandoned buildings and videos his adventures on his YouTube channel Urbex Mike.

Michael has visited schools, hospitals and even an abandoned woman's and children's refuge during his recent adventures, which he goes on with sister Shannon, mum Louise, dad Paul, brother Jamie and sisters-in-law Kirst and Jade.

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He went and explored St Thomas' Hospital in Stockport in November last year, but only shared his creepy photos and video footage on Wednesday, January 6.

In the post about his visit to the site, Michael wrote: "St. Thomas Hospital closed in 2004.

"It was first built in 1841. St.Thomas’ was a workhouse known as ‘The Grubber’ which accommodated nearly 700 inmates.

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"The conditions in the workhouse and its infirmary were reported in 1894 to be of total brutality and chaos.

"So from a horrible workhouse to a psychiatric hospital, it’s of very little wonder that the building is said to be one of the most haunted in the North West."

St Thomas' Hospital opened its doors as Stockport Union Workhouse on Christmas Day 1841 and went on to treat thousands of older people and psychiatric patients.

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The dreaded institution became home to scores of Stockport’s poor and unemployed during the 19th century.

An 1895 British Medical Journal report found that inmates were "packed in like sardines in a tin" while the female wards were "comfortless and barnlike" as well as being "dangerously overcrowded".

In one notable episode from its history, a group of rioters from Hyde descended on Stockport, turning out the workers from the hat-making mills and print works.

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With their numbers swelled they attacked the workhouse, stealing 672 seven-pound loaves and a number of copper coins.

After 1912, the workhouse was officially known as Stockport Poor Law Institution before being renamed Shaw Heath Hospital in 1948.

From 1954 it was known as St Thomas Hospital, which cared for thousands of elderly and psychiatric patients before its closure in the mid-2000s.

Ambitious proposals to build 68 new homes - a mix of apartments, mews houses and new-build terraces - as well as a 70-bed care home dubbed The Academy of Living Well at the Grade II-listed St Thomas’ site were progressed to the ‘detailed design’ stage late last year.

Documents refer to the development as 'St Thomas' Gardens'.

To see more of Michael's adventures visit his YouTube channel here and Facebook page here.

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