The story of one of Greater Manchester’s most haunted buildings will keep you up at night

Barnes Hospital, a stunning Grade-II listed building in Cheadle, has now been transformed into flats – but you might not be the only thing that lives there…

Up there with churches, I can’t understand why anybody would want to transform an abandoned hospital into flats. Sure it makes sense, economically – but really?! This place is HAUNTED guys.

First of all, obviously it’s haunted. It’s an old abandoned hospital. It’s got death intertwined in its foundations, with pillars of illness throughout.

Secondly, during the initial building phase of the hospital, pieces of three Celtic Christian high crosses were found. And do you know what that means? A church nearby. And do you know what that means? A graveyard even closer.

Built in the 1870s by Robert Barnes, the hospital was designed to help the then thousands of factory workers in Manchester who worked and lived in dangerous and filthy environments.

During the Second World War, the hospital turned to taking care of wounded soldiers, many of whom were suffering with trauma.

Eventually, the doors to the hospital closed in 1999 after 120 years of serving the ill and injured.

Shortly after it closed, the building became home to over 100 traveller families.

It has since topped the list of ‘15 creepiest abandoned places in Britain’ and was the set for Let Sleeping Corpses Lie a 1970s horror movie.

And when you get a glimpse of what it looked like, you can completely understand why this sinister-looking building could give anyone the spooks. 

Throughout the building’s history, paranormal activity has pretty much always been reported. From nurses expressing the feeling of being watched, to phantom nurses being seen walking around treating patients.

One individual reported that he saw a nurse, clear as day, doing her rounds of the patients. Only there were no patients, no beds and the tune she was whispering echoed deafeningly around the entire building. 

Of those who have been brave enough to step inside the doors of this hospital, many have reported moans, bangs, doors slamming and all sorts of other send-shivers-down-your-spine activity.

Most recently, before the building was developed, watchmen were hired to ensure the building was protected.

Most of these watchmen reported seeing people walking past windows and even the distinct shape of patients in beds in their peripheral vision.

There’s no doubt this building will have an unearthly feel, it’s been a hotspot for paranormal activity and a place that must have seen thousands of deaths.

But it’s nothing a lick of paint can’t fix… right??

The building recently underwent £12.5m worth of development, creating 39 apartments in the creepy old hospital.

I think there’s some still available, if you think you’re hard enough – according to a recent report, residents in the new apartments said their lives have become a ‘nightmare’ after finding dozens of faults in the properties.

The work of ghostly spirits? Who could say…