My First Ever Ghost Hunt: 20 Years Ago This Halloween Night
October 20, 2024 1:00 AM ‐ Paranormal • Ghosts • Paranormal Investigation Reports • Halloween • Weird Bristol
On Halloween night twenty years ago, I set out on my very first ghost hunt at Hortham Hospital, a sprawling, abandoned mental hospital in Almondsbury, just outside of Bristol. I was joined by a few friends, Nathan, Carla, and Mike, and together we were in search of ghosts.
Built between 1929 and 1931, Hortham was an enormous institution designed to house mental health patients. It officially opened in 1933, and it has several dark tales associated with its past. Among its residents was John Straffen, who would go on to become Britain's longest-serving prisoner after committing several murders following his release from Hortham. Although he'd later be surpassed by Moors murderer Ian Brady.
Hortham scaled back operations in the late 1980s and finally shut its doors in 1991. By the time we arrived in 2004, the place had suffered years of neglect. Arsonists, vandals, and time had taken their toll. The sprawling complex was in ruin, with gutted interiors and fire-blackened walls. It's no wonder there were rumours of ghosts, the place was a fitting location for any ghost story.
Although I'd been on a ghost hunt before with a local paranormal team, this night was my first attempt at ghost hunting off my own back. Our approach was about as low-tech as it comes. We had no gadgets, just our senses and a digital camera. This is my preferred approach to this day. Going in armed to the teeth with gadgets is fine if that's what you're into, but for me, I want to personally experience the things that give a location its haunted reputation to start with. A flashing light on an EMF meter proves nothing for me.
Mike commented on the plan to investigate the site in a message ahead of the night, saying, "I don't know why derelict mental hospitals are supposed to be haunted, ghosts do not exist in the scientific universe. Poltergeist activity is something different however, over many years in these places, there has been a lot of concentrated pent-up emotions, which may get absorbed into the surrounding environment of these edifices, and get released as some form of energy, causing things to get thrown about, etcetera, there is no intelligence at all with these phenomena." As far as he was concerned, we might see some strange things, but nothing would prove any ghostly presences.
Hortham was pitch-black and eerily quiet except for the sounds of the wind howling through broken windows. Carla quickly took a dislike to a building called Gifford House. It was probably the creepiest part of the site, especially with a nasty burnt-out look, thanks to arson damage. Gifford House once held Hortham's most disturbed female patients, and, as the stories go, a female apparition is said to walk its halls, passing right through walls. We didn't see her, but we did hear some unexplained movement in the building. And at one point, we all heard what sounded like screaming that lasted for a good thirty seconds or more.
We also found the hospital's old swimming pool, where we came across a rather disturbing room nearby with strange drawings on the walls. This area added to the eerie vibe of the night, but beyond the atmosphere, nothing specifically paranormal happened.
On a previous afternoon visit to Hortham, when I'd gone simply to explore the site rather than for a ghost hunt, I managed to twist my ankle almost as soon as I arrived. This Halloween night, another hazard presented itself. While walking through the grounds, I stepped on a rusty nail that went straight through the sole of my boot. Luckily, I felt it prick my foot just in time and managed to stop myself from putting my full weight down. It was almost as if something there didn't want me around.
During our time at the location, we heard enough unsettling sounds to keep us on edge. In fact, some were pretty scary at times, but we concluded that most of the noises could be blamed on the derelict buildings creaking in the wind. Although a fun experience, nothing happened that convinced us that Hortham was genuinely haunted.
Hortham Hospital met its final end in 2006, two years after our visit, when the demolition crew came in. By December that year, every building was gone. The site is now a housing estate, and though the hospital's physical footprint is no more, rumours persist among residents who claim to have witnessed strange goings-on.
Despite the atmosphere, Hortham isn't all ghost stories and grim history for me. My dad, a postman, used to deliver to Hortham in its operational days on his round. He once told me about one particular day when he buzzed in as usual and drove his van up to the main building. Just like you'd see Pat the Postman do, Dad grabbed his bundle of letters and began his route towards reception. But perched up in one of the trees out front, a patient sat quietly in his pyjamas, spotting my dad and deciding to have a little fun.
As Dad walked up, the man raised his hands into the shape of a gun and aimed right at him, pretending to fire off a shot from his treetop perch. Always up for a laugh, my dad played along by clutching his chest, he staggered back, collapsing theatrically onto the bonnet of his van as though the shot had done him in. After a moment, he miraculously recovered, only to return imaginary fire with his own finger gun.
High up in the tree, the patient also acted out his own dramatic response to the bullet hitting him. He clutched his chest with an expression of agony, went limp, and tumbled straight out of the tree. My dad didn't quite know what to do and hurried inside with his letters and let a member of staff know.
After leaving Hortham that Halloween night, we all went back to Carla's house and watched the final hours of 'Most Haunted Live!' at Pendle Hill, which is still one of the show's most talked-about investigations to this day. With the memory of Hortham's dilapidated buildings still fresh in my mind, watching the crew experience a glass seemingly moving across a table on its own felt like a fitting end to a night of ghost hunting. The live broadcast ended with a dramatic moment where the glass shot across the room and shattered against a wall. It left me wondering if strange energies were as real as they seemed on TV or if it was all part of the Halloween spirit.
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