The Gartloch Estate was bought by the City of Glasgow in 1889 for £8,600, for the Glasgow District Lunacy Board to build an asylum for the poor people of the city. The first patients were admitted to the hospital in 1896 and the hospital could accommodate 540 beds. Within a year the hospital housed 465 patients; 236 male and 229 female.
In 1902 a tuberculosis sanatorium was opened on the site and it remained until the end of WWII. It was also used during the war as an Emergency Medical Services hospital, and a number of temporary hutted wards were built.
In 1948 Gartloch joined the National Health Service and was placed under the Board of Management for Glasgow North-Eastern Mental Hospitals. After the mental health act was changed in 1990 the hospital was under Greater Glasgow Community and Mental Health Services NHS Trust, where it remained until 1996 when it finally closed down.
Most of the smaller buildings on the site have now been converted into modern housing with the remaining larger buildings awaiting conversion.
We investigated Gartloch in June 2014
Investigating were Wayne, Becky K and myself - Lorraine
It was a lovely sunny afternoon and as we approached the site of the asylum we could see the towers from the main building dominating the skyline in front of us. When we arrived at the main building I was totally amazed by the grandeur of the place. This impressive Gothic looking building with detailed architecture was built to house the mentally ill. The surrounding buildings were almost equal in grandeur, all built in the same style and all looking formidable and eerie. It was kind of surreal seeing the newly restored and new builds amongst the derelict empty shells of these large imposing buildings.
We wandered around the site taking photos and discussing the coming night's investigation, hoping we were in for a good night.
We arrived back at the site at around midnight and made our way to one of the large buildings. Being so close to occupied homes we were unable to take any photos of the inside of the buildings. As we entered the building I instantly felt uneasy and felt like we were not wanted there. Myself and Becky stayed at one end of the room and spread out while Wayne went to the other end of the room, and we all started recording.
Almost straight away we heard knocking when asking for a sound to be made. We carried on calling out and heard a few strange things but the feeling of someone watching me was growing.
After exploring and investigating this building we decided to head over to the main building, this was what I had been waiting for. When we arrived at the main building we were sad to see that it was nothing but an empty shell. That was irrelevant to our investigation so we wandered inside and continued to investigate. This building did not have the same feeling as the one we were previously in, it was calm and peaceful. We called out and we got nothing and after some time we decided that if this building was active it was not coming out to play for us.
We decided to conclude our investigation of the asylum and I felt a bit disappointed we did not get more activity.
.jpg?timestamp=1403779173517)
.jpg?timestamp=1403780242306)
