Ghosts of Moorhaven Mental Hospital - Moorhaven Village

Many people that we have spoken to have been very wary about the history of Moorhaven (Blackadon Hospital) and the suggestion that paranormal activity takes place there. If you have any other stories on Moorhaven we would love to hear from you. Please contact us through the forum or via email at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

We have no contacts in the area however we have come across several strange stories whilst working on our web pages we have included one such below.

History

Moorhaven was originally the Plymouth Asylum, built in response to a mental health act of the 1880's that required each major county and city to build an asylum for its own patients. J Hine and Odgers submitted the lowest tender of £25,900 and built the main buildings between 1886 and 1889. The hospital, designed to accommodate 203 patients, was formally opened by the mayor of Plymouth, J T Bond, in 1892.

The NHS took over the hospital in 1949 and finally in the 1980's a descision was made nationally to dispose of most asylums. Moorhaven was redeveloped and in 1998 was sold off as private dwellings

Hauntings

The following account was located on the BBC website if you are the author please email us ASAP and we will credit you. We have changed the names in order to preserve their identities:

"David and I were babysitting in a house in Moorhaven. The house in which we baby sit is part of a number of houses that used to be Moorhaven Mental Hospital (previously know as Moorhaven Lunatic Asylum, Blackadon Hospital).

The hospital was home to over 400 mentally ill patients who lived and died at the hospital. Their bodies either buried in the neighbouring chapel or in the morgue (now converted into a nursey). The nursey is said to be haunted by a ghost name Whinnie who haunts the baby room and near the toilets. She has been sighted by workers there. Hannah and I were babysitting one night when, as we sat in the lounge, the whole house blacked out.

We were left in embrace, in pitch black for 2 minutes before the lights returned. When they came back we armed ourselves with two fireplace pokers for protection and went into the hallway, towards the kitchen when the grand piano in the lounge began to play, which we have also encountered on a precious occasion. Having heard this we ran towards a cloakroom at the front of the house, armed still with the pokers and went into the room.

As soon as we had shut the door behind us the lights immediately cut out. We were left in complete darkness for 45 minutes with no phone connection, only the eerie sounds of the house. We were later informed that the houses fuse box, that is connected to the lights and switches, can only be manually switched back on after power failure, which we did not do due to not knowing where the fuse box is situated.

The houses are said to be haunted by the patients that were treated and died at the hospital. We have no doubt that the houses are indeed haunted and hold a tragic terror within them.

Our thanks to:

http://www.bbc.co.ug/devon/have_your_say/myths_legends.shtml

Unknown author

History: http://www.moorhaven.org.uk/history.htm

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