Bethlem Royal Hospital (Bedlam)

Bethlem Royal Hospital, colloquially known as “Bedlam,” has operated since 1247, making it the world’s oldest psychiatric institution. The hospital has occupied several locations across London, and each site bears the psychic scars of centuries of mental anguish and primitive treatment methods. During the 17th and 18th centuries, Bedlam was a tourist attraction where the public paid to watch and mock the “lunatics” chained in cells. This history of suffering has created intense paranormal activity at every location the hospital has occupied, with witnesses reporting screaming, wailing, and the rattling of phantom chains.

Former staff and urban explorers who have accessed the abandoned wings report some of the most disturbing paranormal experiences in Britain. The sounds of anguished screaming echo through empty corridors, particularly at the former Moorfields and Southwark locations. Shadow figures pace cells that no longer exist, and investigators have recorded EVP (electronic voice phenomena) capturing pleas for help and incoherent ranting. The most chilling reports come from the hospital’s former restraint rooms, where witnesses describe overwhelming feelings of panic, the sensation of being grabbed, and visions of patients in straightjackets and iron restraints.

Even at its current location in Bromley, opened in 1930, staff report paranormal activity they attribute to patients from the hospital’s darker past. Nurses have witnessed apparitions of Victorian-era inmates wandering the grounds, heard phantom screaming from empty rooms, and experienced equipment malfunctions in specific areas. The hospital’s museum, which houses disturbing artifacts from Bedlam’s brutal history including restraint devices and patient artwork, is reportedly one of the most active areas. The name “Bedlam” entered the English language as a synonym for chaos and madness—and the tortured spirits who remain seem determined to prove that reputation eternal.