Though these abandoned hospitals once saw countless patients pass through their doors for medical treatment, they're now ghostly shells of their former selves.
Before these institutions became the derelict ruins of ghost hunters’ dreams, they were either the pinnacle of health in their era — or a torture chamber thinly disguised as a hospital. Indeed, some of these abandoned hospitals are a stark reminder of the terrors they once hosted.
From the abandoned hospital in Pripyat, Ukraine that fell victim to the most catastrophic nuclear disaster of the 20th century to the Nazi hospital that tended to Adolf Hitler’s soldiers, the historical appeal of these crumbling medical centers is matched only by their fear factor.
Some abandoned hospitals have been turned into tourist attractions, while others have become protected sites. Yet others have simply remained abandoned, sparking rumors that evil forces are found within their walls.
Step inside nine of the creepiest abandoned hospitals below.
Chernobyl’s Abandoned Hospital In Pripyat
On April 26, 1986, engineers at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Pripyat, Ukraine made an irreversible mistake while performing a seemingly standard test on reactor number 4. The reactor exploded and led to a meltdown, resulting in the worst nuclear accident of the 20th century.
In the days following the Chernobyl disaster, 134 servicemen involved with the clean-up in and around Pripyat were hospitalized. Then, 28 responders died of acute radiation syndrome (ARS) in a matter of weeks, and 14 died of radiation-induced cancer within the next 10 years.
Chillingly, the complete effects that the disaster had on the health of the public in Pripyat and the surrounding area is still not totally known.
Pripyat is located in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, an area that remains contaminated with radiation and is mostly uninhabited by humans today. But the former Soviet city once housed 50,000 citizens and was becoming a respectable symbol of modern progress before the disaster.
The Chernobyl GalleryIn 1986, Pripyat Hospital was inundated with firefighters and other first responders who were exposed to dangerous levels of radiation at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.
There was a cultural center in town, several schools, public sporting grounds — and a large hospital that's now abandoned. Pripyat Hospital consisted of an inpatient building, a lab, and three separate clinics. With a total capacity of 410 patients, it was a professional healthcare facility that was put to the ultimate test that fateful spring day back in 1986.
Located on Druzhby Narodov, or "Friendship of the People" Street, the hospital was flooded with casualties in the early hours of April 26th. Over 100 firefighters and plant workers who were irradiated during their efforts to quell the inferno and evacuate the area were among the first to be treated.
When it was all over, 237 Pripyat locals suffered from acute radiation sickness. Those who managed to survive were safely removed from the disaster site and transported to safer medical centers in Moscow.
Decades later, the basement in Pripyat's abandoned hospital remains an area of fascination. Clothes and other items frantically left behind by first responders are still sitting there, emitting high levels of radiation.
