By Martin Ruffell
THIS CREEPY Kent mansion filled with discarded clothes and mannequin parts has been inhabited by spiders and squatters since being abandoned over a decade ago.
One photo from inside the huge Victorian property in Kent, showed the fully made bedroom of a former occupant, only the bed had been left to rot for a number of years and was covered in black mould.
In a second, the unnerving bust of a mannequin was propped at the bottom of a staircase, suggesting that the house’s previous inhabitant might have been in the world of fashion.
In another image taken from the bathroom, an ancient looking bathtub was left to peel surrounded by walls that were covered in dripping green mould.
An image taken from one of the building’s living rooms showed a mattress left discarded on the floor, hinting that squatters had been living in the property.
Urban explorer Joshua King (27) alongside his friends Joshua Lang (27) and Isaac Rye (26) from Newbury, Berkshire, UK captured the snaps of the scary house on a Huawei P20 phone camera.
“I was captivated by how many floors and rooms the place had, and was overwhelmed with photo opportunities,” said Joshua.
“The amount of artistic graffiti was breath-taking, every corner you took there was a different piece to be mesmerised by.
“Most of the building was still furnished but personal possessions of the occupants had been taken bar one of the downstairs apartments.
“In there were what felt like the complete possessions of a woman in her early twenties.
“It felt like she must have left in a hurry or perhaps had taken the decision to declutter her life when she left.
“In the room were many clothes, her bra was still on her ready-made bed and the floor was covered in shoes.
“I looked through a box full of CDs and saw albums from bands of the early noughties and nineties.
“In the loft there were mannequins, sewing equipment, measuring tape and many more clothes suggesting she worked in fashion.
“Clearly someone capable of making bold and difficult decisions in great haste lived there or perhaps simply little regard for her material possessions.
“There were mattresses left on the floor in a couple of rooms, so it seemed as though squatters might have been living there at some point.
“Our explore turned a little scary towards the end once we entered the basement.
“Littered with spiders covered in fungus, the sight wasn’t for the faint hearted.
“We stopped for a minute to discuss something and were startled by a squeaking, scratching noise.
“We were frozen in place for a moment until I quickly ran into the hallway where the noise originated from.
“Before I even uttered the words I heard heavy footsteps running towards me from the opposing room.
“I jumped back when all of a sudden the torch started to flicker, which was odd as it had been fully charged.
“We got out of there pretty quickly.”
The Ministry Of Housing, Communities and Local Government puts the number of empty houses in the UK at just under 650,000, with 225,000 of these classed as long-term empty properties – those that have been abandoned for over six months. A report by the charity Shelter in 2019 estimated that there are approximately 280,000 homeless people in England alone.
