I had a free afternoon earlier this week so set off to "Hell House". Hard to believe but I drove past this place twice a day for seven years without even knowing it was lurking right in front of me. @Mikeymutt helped me with pinpointing the place and warned me that it was "a bit grim", bloody traumatizing would have been more apt 
It's called Hell House for a reason - and if you've ever been you'll know why. Infact it was quite an upsetting trip for me and the trip turned into a quick "point and press" look in each room then escape into some breathable air. It had rained the day / night before and everything was damp outside - add this to the 10 inches of dog crap literally covering the floor from wall to wall in every room and you get the idea of how it smelt in there! The house is surrounded by trees which traps the stale air in the garden and gives the whole plot a dark and sombre feeling.
As soon as you walk in you're greeted with the full skeleton of a dog which died while shut inside its cage. Another few skulls are laying around in other rooms and it was easy to see the owners were dog (and cat) fanatics - dog toys, photos, memorabilia, leads, bags, books, vet contacts, medicines were everywhere. Even a postcard sent from holidays on the Isle of White mentioned the dogs before anything else. Outside there were around five wooden kennels in the garden and at the back of the house there were some concrete outbuilding type sheds which had once housed dogs as well. Judging from some photos of and the amount of housing there could well have been in the teens of dogs living there. It was impossible to touch anything without cringing and my tripod legs needed a thorough disinfect when I got home!
The house seems to have been abandoned sometime around 2001 by the last resident, a Mrs Woolley who died there. I noticed quite a few notes with her doctors details on and dates for her prescriptions - according to other reports she had alzheimers which would make sense. It occurred to me that she could have forgotten she even had the dogs from time to time as there had been a lot of gnawing at some of the wooden kennels outside, and as mentioned above the one locked in its cage was a sad sight.
I wouldn't rush to visit this house simply because of the feeling you are left with. Here are some of the photos I took - nothing very creative due to rushing around but I've tried to capture the feel of the place, which was DOGS.
It's called Hell House for a reason - and if you've ever been you'll know why. Infact it was quite an upsetting trip for me and the trip turned into a quick "point and press" look in each room then escape into some breathable air. It had rained the day / night before and everything was damp outside - add this to the 10 inches of dog crap literally covering the floor from wall to wall in every room and you get the idea of how it smelt in there! The house is surrounded by trees which traps the stale air in the garden and gives the whole plot a dark and sombre feeling.
As soon as you walk in you're greeted with the full skeleton of a dog which died while shut inside its cage. Another few skulls are laying around in other rooms and it was easy to see the owners were dog (and cat) fanatics - dog toys, photos, memorabilia, leads, bags, books, vet contacts, medicines were everywhere. Even a postcard sent from holidays on the Isle of White mentioned the dogs before anything else. Outside there were around five wooden kennels in the garden and at the back of the house there were some concrete outbuilding type sheds which had once housed dogs as well. Judging from some photos of and the amount of housing there could well have been in the teens of dogs living there. It was impossible to touch anything without cringing and my tripod legs needed a thorough disinfect when I got home!
The house seems to have been abandoned sometime around 2001 by the last resident, a Mrs Woolley who died there. I noticed quite a few notes with her doctors details on and dates for her prescriptions - according to other reports she had alzheimers which would make sense. It occurred to me that she could have forgotten she even had the dogs from time to time as there had been a lot of gnawing at some of the wooden kennels outside, and as mentioned above the one locked in its cage was a sad sight.
I wouldn't rush to visit this house simply because of the feeling you are left with. Here are some of the photos I took - nothing very creative due to rushing around but I've tried to capture the feel of the place, which was DOGS.
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