彰化縣立員林醫院

March 30th, 2017

Despite having spent a lot of time in Yuanlin, a mid-sized city in central Changhua, Taiwan, I have only recently begun to explore some of its more famous ruins. Among these is Changhua County Yuanlin Hospital (彰化縣立員林醫院), informally known simple as Yuanlin Hospital (員林醫院), originally built in 1963 and operational until the the turn of the millennium, when it was used to store the bodies of several victims of the 921 Earthquake. Nowadays it is one of the more notorious abandoned places in central Taiwan, where it is regularly featured in news reports, particularly around Ghost Month (鬼月). Taiwanese media engage in an annual outpouring of overly sensationalized stories about haunted places—and hospitals, as liminal spaces of birth and death, often appear in such reports, complicating research into the real story of what went on.

Deep afternoon at an infamous abandoned hospital in Yuanlin, Taiwan.

At the entrance to the old hospital. Some effort has been undertaken to seal the building but this was obviously undone long ago.

Notoriety is a curse for urban explorers interested in experiencing a genuine sense of what a place was like before it was abandoned to the elements. Yuanlin Hospital is far from unspoiled—almost everything of value and interest has been stripped out of the interior and the walls are covered with adolescent graffiti (most of which has been carefully cropped out of my photos).

This scene is the first thing you’ll see when you step inside the lobby.

Although this hospital is located on the edge of town it is immediately adjacent to a busy schoolyard—and you can be sure that kids regularly dare one another to enter the “haunted” hospital, play pranks, and spread rumours. Some half-hearted effort was undertaken to seal the building long ago but it is now effortless to walk inside if you know the location. Bizarrely, several news reports I’ve perused openly list the address of the hospital, inviting members of the public to take a look for themselves. Yuanlin Hospital is far from secret but it is not without a certain vintage charm.

On the left side of the lobby is a counter with the phrase “wishing you a quick recovery” (祝早日康復) emblazoned overhead.

Ascending to the upper levels of the abandoned Yuanlin Hospital.

A lone chair on the sheltered rooftop of the ruined hospital. Playground sounds from the school next door made this place much less creepy than it looks in pictures.

Minor misgivings aside, Yuanlin Hospital is a fine example of the institutional aesthetics of the martial law era, all reinforced concrete, angular ironwork, and patterned tile. The teal paint running along the corridors should be familiar to anyone who has visited any of the nation’s historic military villages. You might not feel like you’re the first person to set foot in this place in years but it’s still worth a visit if you’re interested in urban exploration in Taiwan.

Rusty ironwork on the third floor of the hospital.

Stalking the deserted corridors of Yuanlin Hospital.

As for what really happened here, it sounds like this hospital was doomed by government inefficiency rather than anything sordid like medical malpractice or embezzlement. From what I understand the hospital was originally owned and operated by the Changhua County Health Bureau (彰化縣衛生局)¹. After it was closed property rights were transferred to what is now the city of Yuanlin, and I suppose they’ve just taken their sweet time getting around to redeveloping the site. Recent news reports suggest it will be turned into an activity center some day.

Light seeps in from the back of the hospital. There were many rooms just like this one stripped of almost anything of interest.

Mud-speckled walls on the back side of the hospital. Heavy rain or run-off from the roof is likely the cause of this unusual pattern.

Tortured window blinds coiled around a column. This hospital has endured exposure to all manner of typhoons over the years.

The former operating room devoid of almost anything of interest. There was a small observation window on the other side, unseen in this photograph.

Ghost in an exposed mirror on the balcony.

Entrance to the X-ray chamber (X光室). I’m guessing the characters below are probably the name of a doctor or technician, Lài Qīnrén (賴欽仁).

Inside the mosquito-infested X-ray room. There were some interesting artifacts inside the back room but it wasn’t pleasant being there.

Blue scrubs at Yuanlin Hospital. The logo is composed of six characters: 縣立員林醫院.

In a curious coincidence Yuanlin Hospital has been in the news since I visited earlier this month. Police received panicked reports about someone hanging themselves inside the hospital only weeks after I was there—and in Changhua suicide by hanging is an extremely serious issue, necessitating a unique purification ritual known in Taiwanese as sàng bah-tsàng (送肉粽); see my post about Daodong Academy (道東書院) in nearby Hemei for more about this practice).

Downstairs at the dispensary. Please wait until your number is called…

Luckily there was no hanging—it was a prop from the filming of an episode of the television drama series Love, Timeless (鐘樓愛人). The crew had left a dummy hanging in the hallway and a concerned parent had seen it while walking their kid to school. This strikes me as being rather irresponsible given local beliefs about hanging—but whatever, the news media ate it up.

Around the bend at Yuanlin Hospital. This corridor runs along the side of the L-shaped building.

Dead end on the ground floor. Directly opposite this exit is a busy schoolyard.

A cramped look at the abandoned ambulance.

One last look at Yuanlin Hospital. Don’t expect this to last; the government is planning to build an activity center here in the near future…

For more about Yuanlin Hospital some Taiwanese bloggers have written accounts here (with more photos here) and here (continued in part two here). I also found another post with some great photos that you might like if you were expecting something spooky. If you enjoyed this post you might like to peruse my write-ups about Xinglin General Hospital in Tainan or Minxiong Ghost House in Chiayi. Finally, for more about Yuanlin, check out this extensive post.