There were two reasons for the visit by myself and Daisy to the abandoned grounds of Bangour Village hospital, near Uphall in West Lothian. One was for a client and the other to explore the apparent sightings of a ghost dog seen on a number of occasions by a family member who walked their own dog there. It is apparently a favourite for dog walkers and one can see why with miles of land to explore, but on this Sunday it was unnaturally quiet, infact in the three hours that we spent there we only saw a couple of people which included the security guard driving around in his van. I wasn’t really prepared for the vastness of the derelict grounds and was very glad that I was wearing my sketchers, no idea what I did before they were invented but having comfortable feet is a must when exploring. Although it was summer time, it was a typical damp and overcast afternoon, there was a stillness in the air which was lacking any type of breeze. As per normal we chose to do no in-depth research but I will admit that we did know that it had been at one time a psychiatric hospital and had also housed wounded soldiers before closing around 2004. The first thing I though of as I walked around was wow, all those abandoned buildings, the now silent bus stops, overgrown footpaths, faded lines of parking bays, why haven’t I been here before. I would have loved the opportunity to go inside some of them, a few stories to be told behind those closed windows and doors. But the buildings are unsafe apparently. Still; outside there was the sense of quite a bit paranormal activity, I have to say that at no time did I feel threatened or ill at ease. Daisy as usual wandered behind and ahead taking the photographs while I hovered around the areas that I felt the strongest activity. The shop area was particularly strong and I could feel that it was an area where people had gathered outside frequently. Had something happened nearby.? Was there some kind of protest, rally or gathering for a specific reason? need to research that point.
As we continued to wander around, we both were aware of strong smells, especially one of germolene or similar used to treat burns along with the spectre of a badly burned male who was following us around for a while creating an ice cold chill. Near to the woods at the top of the village near to the main hospital I had an image of a two shaven haired people, a male and a female, perhaps in their 20’s, had they wandered off ?, I felt that something sinister had happened to them both. Had there been experiments in this area ? It was starting to get dark , so we decided to head back to our parked car, this was definitely going to be worth another visit. There had been no sign of the ghost dog. perhaps another day.
As we neared the parking area, just over a bridge, Daisy noticed a black bag with something white and bulky bulging out the top of it hidden in the wooded area. It was on a slope and inaccessible due to the trees and branches After much speculation between us, we couldn’t decide whether it was just rubbish or a body. As soon as that thought jumped into our heads, a body !!! we were stuck with it. Imagine the headlines “Two middle aged woman in sketchers discover body”should we just go and forget about it but, what IF ? as we pontificated, a woman appeared from nowhere, and all three of us peered through the bushes, then the woman produced a pair of binoculars (because you always make sure to pack a set of these in your bag when you go for dog walk lol ) and low and behold as we zoomed in on the target our mystery was solved it was a duvet exploding out of a black bin bag. We set off home happy in the knowledge that we would not be front page news for ignoring a heinous crime and that some super sized soft duvet had finally made its bid for freedom.
Rose & Daisy x
This is a particularly dark and dreary place to photograph but compelling none the less it is full of uninhabited empty buildings filled with hushed secret silences built up over many years. Its like one of those movies sets from the 1950s where you see them do the nuclear testing in a deserted man made fabricated town and the main character has been left behind and needs to save himself (except we didn’t see any fridges to hide in should they detonate a trial blast.)
Psychics- Enchantedtrailseekers 