Exploring the insanely creepy and abandoned hospital on the edge of Turkey’s Lake Van
The city of Van lies in the East of Turkey, a sprawling metropolis situated on the pleasant banks of Lake Van, the largest lake in the country.
There’s few tourist attractions in the city- a big castle, some strange cats with different coloured eyes and a lot of police riot vans to keep the regular Kurdish street riots in check.
The main tourist sight though is the huge abandoned hospital.
It’s insanely creepy.
So I went exploring.
I found the hospital slowly crumbling. There’s floor after floor of disintegrating masonry and discarded needles.
I steeled myself, ready for whatever could be inside the darkened shadows of the building, and walked straight through the revolving doors at the entrance.
The hospital’s ruins are on the edge of the city of Van. Near the castle if you ever want to visit. I found it right on the main road in an area still called ‘Medical Park’. There’s even a functioning bus stop outside, and the buses that travel past are still labelled as Medical Park. It was clearly a recent abandonment.
I was surprised to find the doors wide open and zero security present to thwart my exploration. But in Turkish Kurdistan the police have more pressing things to worry about than a spot of jovial trespassing.
So I walked on through to check in at reception and then headed off down the corridors.
The Accident and Emergency Department is located on the ground floor. I took a stroll around. The emergency doors were wide open.
I was sure they were closed when I’d walked in from the front entrance…
What horrible secrets did this abandoned hospital have to unleash upon me?
The floors were covered in surgical equipment: old rubber gloves, needles, hoses. I’d certainly recommend the wearing of boots if you include Van’s abandoned hospital on your next holiday itinerary. You wouldn’t want your Turkish getaway ruined by a stray infected needle.
The rooms have mostly been stripped bare. The beds were gone. Scavenged or removed.
Although in a darkened corner of the hospital an x-ray machine was still hanging from the weakened ceiling.
I ventured higher up into the depths of the darkened hospital corridors.
The elevator was out of order unfortunately. So I took the rickety stairs, which were covered in discarded medical dossiers and patient files.
In the lobby on the second floor I could hear loud clanging noises coming from the levels above. Voices too.
Had malformed patients been left behind, waiting now to take their revenge on an unwary traveler? Was this a Kurdish PKK training hospital? The start of a 28 Days Later nightmare?
I didn’t hang around to find out what was going on. I made a quick getaway to the outside, where I found Bio hazard waste had simply been left behind in the hospital grounds. Disturbingly, so had a former patient’s scans.
I can only guess that due to there being an even bigger hospital in operation a few miles a way, that this one simply became defunct, derelict and abandoned when the new one opened its door for the sick and injured of Van. It was still being pillaged and plundered by locals risking the stray needles for a new hospital bed to take home.
And if I’m honest, I don’t know why this crumbling and abandoned hospital doesn’t have a higher rank on Trip Advisor…
About the Author: Richard Collett
I’m Richard, the founder and editor of Travel Tramp. I’m a dark tourist and travel mad Englishman who loves going to countries that don’t even exist and destinations no one’s even heard of.
You can find my dark travel blog at www.travel-tramp.com
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