A Haunting At Newsham Park Hospital
There’s a little-known place in Liverpool with a fierce reputation for paranormal activity. This abandoned building, huge in size and beautifully gothic in design, was built as an orphanage, funded by the rich merchants who lived in the grand homes around Newsham Park, at the edge of which the building stands.
It later became a psychiatric hospital and was then abandoned in that state.
Stories of ghosts and paranormal activity have emanated from the imposing building ever since. Below, we’ll take a look at some of those stories, as well as the history of the building and how it’s inspired stories, both mine and those of many other writers.
Ghost Sightings And Paranormal Activity At Newsham Park Hospital
Tattered beds sprawl in rooms frozen in time, their frames whispering echoes of a bygone era. Rusted wheelchairs and trolleys stand sentinel, frozen in the spectral dance of yesteryears. Names etched on empty lockers serve as solemn tributes to staff long departed.
In the morgue, the fridge doors yawn wide, unveiling the chilling embrace of vacant drawers.
The first known ghost story came from a lone nurse who claims to have seen multiple ghosts. In a cruel twist, she was later discovered lifeless atop the grand staircase of the main corridor.
Other patients of the hospital spoke of 'the children', and staff often reported patients conversing with unseen beings. Some wondered if it was merely delirium, whereas others suspected something more paranormal.
Perhaps the most haunted part of the building is on the top floor, leading to the attic. There you can find a row of cabinets that bear the ominous moniker of 'naughty cupboards.' Within their confines, poor children endured hours of solitude and punishment.
Legend has it that the lingering spirit of a young boy, imprisoned within one such cupboard, roams the halls. His spectral presence manifests in the gentle sway of doors, opening and closing in somber refrain.
There are also scores of stories from workmen who have found their tools disappearing, only to reappear in the most random of places. They also report whispers and shadowy specters flitting through the dusty corridors.
As for the source of all of this activity, paranormal historians point to the fact that some 16,000 orphans were suspected to have passed through here over the years. And that’s not to mention the lost souls of the mental asylum.
The History Of Newsham Park Hospital
Newsham Park Hospital was originally built as an orphanage for the orphaned children of seamen. It was funded by shipping merchants and philantropists who called Liverpool home.
Let’s take a look at its past.
The Orphanage
The orphanage was opened on 30th September 1874. When it first opened, the service covered children still living with their widowed mothers as well as those who had no parents. This allowed more children to get support.
In all, the orphanage supported around 1,000 children at any given time. As time wore on, funds began to dry up until in 1949 the orphanage was closed. It was sold to the Ministry of Health with the funds donated to charity, and the orphanage was converted into a hospital.
The Psychiatric Hospital
The repurposed Newsham Park building opened as a hospital in 1954 and took in an influx of patients with severe mental health problems. In 1992 a nearby institution was forced to close its doors and took more patients. Rainhill Hospital, which was also known as the “Rainhill Lunatic Asylum”, at one time housed nearly 3,000 patients.
They were housed in Newsham Park for just 5 years before it finally closed in 1997.
A Gold Mine Of Inspiration
The Newsham Park Hospital is one of the most amazing buildings in the whole city. I’ve always found it so bizarre that it stands there so imposingly, yet so empty. Its almost as if people are afraid to go near it, that nobody can stick it out long enough to develop it.
I live just a ten minute walk from this place and unsurprisingly its inspired some of my stories. A novel I’m currently drafting has a chapter set entirely in this building, with the main characters tasked to hunt a demon that’s been let loose in there.
If that sounds like your jam, you can join my mailing list here to get some free stories, plus read more like this in the future.
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Excerpt:
Like a flock of dive-bombing gulls, the great stones of the Yurrish trebuchets and catapults twisted and turned in the air. One jagged chunk struck the bow of a Karraban galley and splinters and shards burst forth to a chorus of cracks and screams. Another great boulder obliterated the masthead of a nearby ship, hurling those upon the deck overboard.
More missed than struck. The yellow tide did not falter.Driven forward by oars, the Karraban fleet ate up the water, moving in a diagonal line. The trebuchets were taking an age to reload. From his vantage point, Jem could see those on the quay hurrying to winch back the catapults. At the sound of a frantic horn, the arms of the catapults were unleashed and clusters of iron balls, stones and rocks rained down on those ships leading the Karraban charge, puncturing hulls, sails and decks.
Still they came.
The trebuchets, ranges adjusted, loosed again and once more struck a destructive blow. The Karrabans still persisted. Yurrish archers upon the quay walls unleashed their first volley. Unfortunate rowers upon the open decks screamed, and the momentum of a number of ships waned, oars falling slack or tangling with others. One talented, or lucky, archer struck a helmsman and the galley veered into another, scraping its side and snapping its oars, and, no doubt, the arms of a few oarsmen too.
The Karrabans answered with arrows of their own, their archers placed in crow’s nests and platforms built amongst the rigging. The air quickly grew thick with darts. The persistent shouts and cries of men were incrementally drowned out by the great crashes of stone against wood as the loads of catapults and trebuchets fell. The frenetic scene around the quay wall absorbed Jem’s attention. Creeping into the top of his vision, looming behind the chaos, came the first of the great galleons. Its rowers slowed, turned portside, level with the quay gate.
"Sir, the galleon carries the thunder. You must stop it!" Jem shouted.
Gundar looked to where he pointed and nodded. He dispatched messengers to the quay and artillery stations. Jem spotted hatches opening on the portside of the ship. Catapults continued to fire at the galleys, though some quick-thinking engineers had turned their aim to the galleon.
Their loads fell short. The trebuchets were still reloading. They were the only ones who had a hope of hitting it, if any of their operators had the presence of mind to know where to aim.
One by one, their great wooden arms swung forwards. Huge rocks hung in the air like eagles.
Everyone upon the wall had their eyes upon them, hoping they struck, willing them to do so, and despairing as they watched each one splash harmlessly into the water.
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