Eerie pictures show creepy abandoned mental hospital

By Douglas Whitbread via SWNS

These eerie images show the remnants of an abandoned mental asylum that has been deserted for more than two decades.

Meanwood Park Hospital, which sits on 178 acres of sprawling grounds, first began admitting patients 105 years ago.

But now the former sanatorium - developed as a ‘colony for the mentally deficient’ on the outskirts of Leeds, West Yorkshire - has fallen badly into disrepair.

And creepy recent pictures reveal what is left inside the main hall, known as the "mansion," including its crumbling walls, empty cupboards and dead wild animals.

It has since become a haven for ghost hunters - with even staff and inmates reportedly seeing a "gray lady" stalking the corridors when it was still open.

The infirmary's first patient was Frank Tottie who came to the hospital in August 1919 aged ten after the Leeds Corporation rented and then bought the building.

He would stay there for the next 60 years until he passed away in November 1979.

The hospital, which was known for its harsh regime, originally housed around 90 patients, but later more "villas" were built to accommodate over 800.

The local authority first had responsibility for its upkeep before the NHS took over the hospital in 1948.

It eventually closed in the late 1990s and has since attracted dozens of curious ghost hunters and explorers.