The Ghost Wing

Now the Glenside Campus of the University of the West of England, housing mainly the Faculty of Health and Applied Sciences, this was once known as the Bristol Lunatic Asylum, opened in 1857. Apart perhaps from its little changed, stark exterior of grey sandstone, there is almost nothing disquieting about the building. Except perhaps...

On my rounds of the academics' offices (as part of my work at the University), I came across a few corridors here and there that would end in permanently locked doors; padlocked or otherwise. A peak through the little reinforced glass visor in the doors made me wonder - I saw the corridors continuing into darker places, with dust-covered floors and walls covered in flaking paint. I was curious but thought nothing more of it; if they're locked, they're locked - and went on with my daily tasks.

One of my recent errands led me to a back alley between buildings, sheltered beneath an overhanging roof. I proceeded down this walkway, looking for a room I just could not find, only to reach an unmarked green door. The bustle of students was dying away behind the corner of the building as I approached the door - could this lead to the room I sought?

I opened it casually and stopped dead in my tracks - or was I stopped? Before me was a realm of silence and decay. I was in the disused wing of the building, the ghost wing. None abided here, bar the faint memories of past madness, lying long undisturbed. The day was the 31st of October. Funny how things happen.

I felt slightly guilty; was this door meant to be unlocked? Had someone forgotten? Could I be here? Was there some horrendous Health & Safety bureaucratic nightmare investigation waiting for me if someone found me here? I took a few steps down the unsettling hallway, glanced at the rooms which opened either side and left quickly, quietly; resolved to return.

The next day at lunch break I came back, armed with my camera, to snap a few photos of this eerie realm, one of them - this blip.