Built at the turn of the twentieth century, the once-abandoned Tranquille Sanatorium looms at the edge of the Kamloops border.
According to the Kamloops Museum and Archives, the sanatorium was originally built in 1907 to treat patients with tuberculosis, and continued to do so until 1958. Following this, "the sanatorium facilities were transferred to the Mental Health Services Branch of the B.C. provincial government and the site was used as an institution for the mentally disabled." Afterwards, the institution permanently closed in 1983.
Empty for decades, people have reported feeling a penetrating eeriness when they visit the site. There are multiple buildings at the site and even mysterious tunnels that connect many of them underground.
"Visitors claim to see a mother crying for her child on the sixth and eighth floors while others have reported hearing the voices of kids playing in the children’s ward or seeing bright orbs near the main entrance," reads one report on the Travelzoo website. Likewise, other reports note that the tunnels below are filled with lonely voices and cries.
Reader's Digest includes Tranquille on its list of the 10 Most Haunted Places in Canada.
Now, a company called Tranquille Farm Fresh operates on the site and has given tours in past years (their 2020 and 2021 seasons have been cancelled due to COVID-19). In 2018, the abandoned sanatorium was turned into a creepy escape room for Halloween. The "Escape from Padova" took place in the abandoned tunnels below the sanatorium and offered one hour of heart-pounding terror in the dark.
Images of Tranquille Sanatorium
