Old Dagenham Hospital...

[kurt]

[glow=red,2,300]’Old Dagenham Hospital’ site…[/glow]

The site of the old Dagenham Hospital is reputed to be haunted.

I have spoken to many people about this and it seems that apparitions have been seen here for many years. 100’s, if not, 1000’s of people have died on the site.

Here’s a map url to the location (circled in red) www.multimap.com/map/browse.cgi?lat=51.5331&lon=0.1671&scale=10000&icon=x

You will find the alley to the location in ‘Clemence Road’. Walk down the path until you reach the tree lined, sectioned off part, of the country park. It’s a public park and has 24/7 public access.

Here is a brief history of the site:



A 1952 aerial view of Dagenham Hospital also known as Rookery Farm or Cranbrook Farm.

A brook, the Wantz Stream, enclosed most of its 116 acres on the west and south. The River Beam formed the eastern boundary.

In 1894, West Ham County Borough Council bought the farm for £6,600 to build a smallpox hospital. This followed the epidemics of 1893 and 1894 when patients were taken to hospital ships to avoid infecting further members of the locality.

On October 20th 1896, Dagenham Parish Council objected to the plans for the hospital but the foundation stone had already been laid in August of that year. On March 25th 1899, the hospital was opened and used as an Isolation Hospital in 1912.

The Local Government Board agreed to its use as a sanatorium for "Insured Persons under National Insurance". In 1922, it was permanently approved by the Ministry of Health as a hospital.

It changed use from an Isolation Hospital to a Geriatric one in later years but in the 1990s was demolished.

The site is now a country park.

Before the hospital was built an old farm ocupied part of the site. The farm was known as Rookery Farm:

www.barking-dagenham.gov.uk/archive-photo/rural/th-d-rookery-farm-1894.jpg [/img]

www.barking-dagenham.gov.uk/archive-photo/rural/th-d-rookery-farm1933.jpg [/img]

All the above historical text, including the images, remains the copyright of:

www.barking-dagenham.gov.uk/images/logos/logo-lbbd-2003-col.gif [/img] Civic Centre. Dagenham. Essex. RM10 7BN.

www.barking-dagenham.gov.uk/

[gemini]

Kurt I used to live in Dagenham and I have also heard that the hospital site is haunted, and I have to admit for some reason it does give me the creeps.

[kurt]

Have you ever been there gemini?

I remember the hospital before they demolished it. When I used to bunk off school, with friends, we would go over there and explore the dilapidated buildings...

In the winter/spring of 2004 the site was fenced off (with access points added so the public can gain entry to it) and turned into a small country park within a larger country park. The site has still retained its eerie atmosphere though!

[Star]

Kurt I have never actually been on to the hospital site, but have driven passed plenty of times and for some reason it just sends cold shivers down my spine.
Ps I am now using this username now, long story why but something to do with problems with my email.

[Lauraakafoxy]

I think this may be a good site to do a small 'lets see if it is haunted' investigation with just 5 or 6 of us and if we do get activity open it up as a bigger one and maybe camp in the summer.
Im happy arrange visiting the site but i doubt we can do it until July as we are already investigating most weekends in June

[MrRee]

earlier today (26/8/04) i read that Phantasm had investigated the old hospital site here in Dagenham, and he kindly gave me directions to the site.

well tonight my daughter and i went to the site!

As soon as we got to the fence surrounding the site we felt unwelcome, cold and an oppressive feeling.
at the bottom of the fence there is an entrance to the site and we both went in! the place is seriously creepy.

we sat down on a bench and started talking hoping that something would answer, well i swear it did.
we both heard high pitched laughing, as if from an old person. we asked more questions then heard footsteps which sounded like they were coming down a corridor.
then the laugh came again!

I somewhat stupidly asked if it wanted us to leave! well my daughter and i both heard it quite clearly tell us to leave! ( i wont print the actual words you can guess ).
needless to say we left.
My Daughter then heard someone whispering in her ear and actually burst into tears!
as we left the site the feelings disappeared. so we went back to see if it was just us and as soon as we got to the fence the feelings started again.

It was an awful feeling.
we have decided we will go back and have another look, this time with a Camera and a tape recorder.
I did take a photo with my camera phone but i dont know how to post it on here, id love to show you!

Many thanks to Phantasm.

I dont think ill sleep tonight.

Mark

[Action]

Wow that sounds amazing, Might have to check it out for myself!

[kurt]

Make sure you do if you can - this site is locally known to be haunted.

[rowleydr]

Hello everyone, myself and 3 friends went to this site this Sunday and i took my digital camcorder that has a good night vision setting on it.

Im not sure if the area we walked around was the old hospital site, We entered throught the alleyway between 2 houses and followed the path to the fenced off area, then went through and walked around there. It was about 11pm didnt have any bad feelings or sense anything there. I have checked the tape briefly and nothing either there.

I want to see a ghost! so where is the most haunted place to go?

[kurt]

Friday, 19th August 2005.

Notes for an informal investigation at the Old Dagenham Hospital Site:

Grid ref: (Multimap.com) TQ504838 X: 550400m Y: 183800m Lat: 51:31:59N (51.5331) Lon: 0:10:02E (0.1671).

3 people in attendance: K, M, and L.

Entered the site at approximately 21:45:

Team did an initial walk-about to establish if anyone could sense any paraphenomena.

Our experiences included:

[M] Claimed to feel uneasy almost as soon as the fenced off boundary, North main entrance, was entered.

[K] Also claimed to experience a heavy atmosphere.

[L] Claimed to be attracted to field on the perimeter of the main site fence. Unknown to the team, at that particular time, Victorian isolation wards were once sited there.

[L] Claimed to see an outline of a figure standing against a tree. She ascertained that the figure was probably a silhouette made by street lighting and tree branches. Both [M] and [K] couldn’t visualise what [L] could see.

[M] Claimed to feel an uncomfortable atmosphere on almost all of the Old Dagenham Hospital site (within the perimeter fence) as well as the Victorian Road which would have once provided the only access to the Victorian hospital.

We left the site for approximately ten minutes at 10:04PM.

Once re-entering the Old Hospital perimeter (previously farmland and a rubbish tip before being converted into a country park) [L] wanted to explore the N/E perimeter pathway around the old hospital. Unknown to both [L] and [M] this pathway leads to an old war shelter. Nothing in particular was sensed in this area.

Conclusion:
Nothing in particular (such as any unmistakeable manifestations or direct clairvoyant contact) on this occasion actually occurred at this location; which could have been deemed as definite paranormal phenomena. Nevertheless it is worth noting that the actual hospital site can afflict an oppressive sense of atmosphere on those entering it. Whether or not this is psychological or paranormal is a matter for debate.

Additional notes:

Weather was overcast and cool with an outside temp of around 11oC.

The moon phase was full (100%).

Instruments used to help aid any possible paraphenomena detection included a laser thermometer, monocular night vision scope and digital camera.

[Star]

Sounds like you had a good time.

[Meg]

soz 4 the delay in replyin yep was a gd nite .big thanx to phantasma for organisin for us thanx hun .

meg xx