Locations
Gowanda Psychiatric Cemetery
The cemetery for the former Gowanda State Hospital, which was turned into Collins/ Gowanda Correctional Facility in the early 1990's.Ironically, inmates from Collins/Gowanda do the maintenance at this cemetery. This is one of those places that leaves you with more unanswered questions. Who was number 20? What happened in his life that he ended up here? Who was Elizabeth Chase? What was her story? What was she like? A sad, fascinating place with thousands of stories that no one will ever hear
Hudson State Hospital
Opened in 1871. Although the entire campus is abandoned, the Kirkbride is the most stunning building on the property. Artifacts are everywhere inside, making a dangerous building worth the risk. In front of the Kirkbride, there is a memorial dedicated to the employees of Hudson State who served in World War II. This is one of the more thought-provoking remnants of the old hospital. Why are the patients who served in WWII not mentioned on the memorial? Were their sacrifices not worth as much because they're sick? Even if it was just an oversight, it says a lot about people's attitudes back then. Also a visitors center, employee residences, this place has a lot to see. There is also a newer medical building, the most imposing structure I've ever seen at a state hospital, very well sealed to keep people out, however
Bethlehem Steel Administration Building
Built in the early 20th century, could find no evidence of anyone using the building since 1982. Amazing building, inside and out. Artifacts are everywhere, very little graffiti or vandalism.
J.N. Adam
Built around 1920, used as a tuberculosis hospital until 1960, J.N. Adam then became a home for the developmentally disabled, until small group homes became the preferred method of treatment. Most patient rooms have exterior doors opening onto screened porches, in order to get fresh air to the patients. Arched windows, brick fireplace, like taking a trip into the past.
Wilcox Road Cemetery
This cemetery, no longer maintained, contains the grave of a Revolutionary War soldier. Lots of tombstones are still readable after more than 150 years, in some cases. What's striking is the number of young deaths. How difficult life must have been back then.....
Haverford State Hospital
Haverford State Hospital sits high atop a hill, out of place in a modern Pennsylvania suburb. Built in 1960, and abandoned in 1998, patient artwork still decorates the walls. Interesting place, despite the plain, modern exterior.
Buffalo State Hospital
Built in 1870-1896, and used until around 1980. The signature twin towers make this one of the most recognizable Kirkbrides anywhere. Heavily patrolled and difficult to access, the inside is an untouched treasure. Tiny patient rooms, some with wire observation cages built into the doors. How would it be to go back in time for one day- just long enough to see what they saw, hear what they heard, feel what they must have felt.....
Metropolitan State Hospital
Met State opened around 1930 and was in use until 1992. This hospital was a special project of Frankin Kirkbride, son of Thomas Story Kirkbride. Thomas Kirkbride was a Quaker from Pennsylvania, and a pioneer in asylum medicine who advocated humane treatment for the mentally ill at any cost. Seems strange that a facility so closely associated with one of the Kirkbrides would degenerate into a place of overcrowding, neglect and patient abuse, yet that's what happened at Met State. Towards the end of it's life, Met State was the subject of one investigation after another, most involving patient mistreatment. Despite that history, or maybe because of it, Met State is an awesome place to see. The largest building, at one time housing over 2,000 patients, surrounds a large courtyard, now completely overgrown with trees. Like all abandoned mental hospitals, there is an aura of sadness and despair here, overwhelming, yet drawing you in to see inside every room, down every hallway, if only to imagine what it must have been like....
Kings Park The Quads
Kings park was at one time one of several state mental hospitals on Long Island that took some of the excess patients from New York City. The quads building is directly across the street from the infirmary, building # 93.The quads is a large building, prison-like, almost every window is heavily barred. Hard to imagine what life here must have been like.. Mostly open wards, very few private rooms, and those were probably used as isolation rooms. Not many choices for the patients, either you're in isolation or you're on an open ward with no privacy... Overgrown, ivy completely covers some of the windows, even those two and three stories up. Not much left inside, but the building itself and the few scattered artifacts inside really make you think.....
Abandoned Farmhouse
Even though old houses don't usually interest most urban explorers, this one was an exception. Only four rooms, the rest of it was gone, only the foundation remained. We had permission from the owner, who told us it had been built around 1860, and had been abandoned since 1975. Some artifacts inside, including a textbook from the 1930's. The area around this house is changing rapidly, going from rural farmland to developed property, so at least this old farmhouse is preserved here before it's gone forever...
Kings Park Building 93
Like the Quads building across Old Dock Road, this building was built in the 1st half of the 20th century. One of the first things I noticed was the intricate artwork on the basement walls, presumably drawn by a patient. Used as an infirmary, the more physically disabled patients were housed on the upper floors. As you get closer to the top of this building, there are fewer day rooms, and handrails appear more frequently in the hallways, since the sicker patients wouldn't need day rooms, but would need handrails. This building doesn't cover a lot of ground, but is worth seeing, seemingly endless flights of stairs lead you closer to the top, where there is less graffiti and damage. A place like this is modern enough to let you imagine how it looked when it was open, yet really all we can do is guess how it might have been.....
Norwich State Hospital
Located in Connecticut along the Thames River, Norwich State Hospital is probably the most extensive, most photogenic network of state hospital buildings I've ever seen. Built in 1904 and used until 1996, this hospital at one time housed over 3,000 patients. Many of the buildings are connected by a tunnel system, which makes much of the complex easy to navigate. Conditions of the buildings range from fairly modern with little damage to very old and near collapse. Beds with mattresses and sheets sit in some of the rooms in one of the most ancient buildings in the hospital, just like time stood still. This place is stunning in its beauty and originality, absolutely breathtaking, a true one of a kind misfit....
Foxboro State Hospital
Foxboro was opened in 1889, as the "Hospital for Dipsomaniacs and Inebriates at Foxboro". In 1905, it started allowing "male chronic insane" as admissions, and by 1915, was no longer treating alcoholics, only the mentally ill. Closed in the mid 1970's, the hospital is being renovated for other uses. Unfortunately, by the time I arrived in July, 2007, the renovation project was well underway, which meant the buildings were gutted and devoid of most hints of their past lives. The only exception to this was in the addition that was built in the 1950's, as some of these rooms were unchanged since the hospital was active. These rooms were tiled from top to bottom, and the only opening to the outside world was a small "detention screen" (actual name), in each room. Looking in these rooms, I thought they were either rooms for seriously disturbed patients, or else this was simply the institutional building style in the 50's. Either way, hard, cold, and uncomfortable, a place that could make you feel alone and unwanted, sad, yet powerful, especially after all these years
Genessee County Home
The only building that still stands on this site was used as a nursing home from 1938 until 1974, when the facility was closed and moved to Batavia, NY. The property on which it stands, however, has a rich history, being the site of a poorhouse, originating in 1827. The inmates of the poorhouse included the elderly, orphans, single mothers, the mentally retarded, alcoholics, the poor, and any others unable to take care of themselves. The poorhouse also provided care to the mentally ill until 1887, when all cases were transferred to either Buffalo State hospital, or, for "cases of violent, chronic insanity", Willard State Hospital. An investigation of the facility in 1857 revealed acceptable conditions, stating that of 90 inmates at the poorhouse, 20 were "lunatics", and of these, 7 were male and 13 were female, only one was confined to his room by a chain, and the remainder were confined at night, but otherwise were "mostly at liberty during the day". This property is privately owned, and guided tours are available, I went in with permission. There are no artifacts anywhere in the building, except for those that have been removed and placed in an on-site museum, including an old wooden bathtub, a baby carriage, and some documents from the 19th century that provide a glimpse into the lives of these unfortunate people.
Transit Manor
Doug and I hit this place early on a Sunday morning in late February, 2008. Built and operated by the Floss family from 1962 until the early 1990's, the Transit Manor started deteriorating after it was sold by the original owners, and currently sits vacant as the town leaders decide various zoning and traffic issues relating to the redevelopment of the property. This place catches the eye of anyone interested in abandoned buildings, being the only overgrown lot in an area of endless strip malls and heavy traffic. Seems to have been an extended stay hotel or type of rooming house towards the end of its life, as there were cooking facilities in most of the units, and personal property, (photographs, etc..), everywhere, presumably belonging to the guests of this hotel long, long ago...
Marlboro State Hospital
Marlboro State Hospital was opened in 1931, amid concerns about the overcrowded conditions at New Jersey's other psychiatric institutions. Although Marlboro State sits in a fairly well-populated suburb, adjacent to a very well to do neighborhood, stepping onto the property is like entering another world, one that has been completely forgotten since 1998. Marlboro is a cottage-style hospital, consisting of a large number of residence halls, administrative buildings, and several small houses, which I assume were either employee housing, or very small patient quarters. Marlboro is similar to a lot of other hospitals built during the 1st half of the 20th century in that there are a lot of open wards, very few private rooms, and most of these, at Marlboro, are heavily fortified and are labeled "quiet rooms". One of the more modern buildings contained six huge open wards, three male and three female, with the only difference between the two being the decorations on the walls, flowers for the girls wards, blue stripes for the men's wards. Each ward, however, contained huge exhaust fans, hard tile floors, harsh fluorescent lighting, and little in the way of comforts for people who were forced to spend, in some cases, years in these places. Several articles on the internet talk of patient mistreatment, unqualified hospital attendants, and a general lack of concern for these people at Marlboro State, stories that are all too familiar to anyone who has ever researched the history of mental health care in the U.S. during the 19th and 20th centuries. Marlboro State is very worth seeing and photographing, most buildings are difficult to enter, and as a result, are not heavily damaged or covered in graffiti. Wandering around this place for five hours early one Sunday morning, I found an intenseness, a feeling of "this is what it must have felt like to be here, alone and forgotten." Like always, very sad, yet very powerful feelings......
BryLin Hospital
I came upon this place completely by accident, thinking the building in front of the hospital was an abandoned church. This location was one of several BryLin locations around the Buffalo area, and its primary emphasis was the inpatient treatment of those with substance abuse disorders, and those with co-occurring mental health and drug problems. BryLin came into existence in 1955, as a private hospital, and expanded over the years. I couldn't find any information as to when this particular facility was opened, but 2004 seems to be the last year it was open, judging from the calendars that remain on the wall. There is full power to the building, cameras, devices that look like motion detectors, yet the building is slowly falling apart, and I had no problems with police or security while I was there. This hospital seems to have been a fairly comfortable place to be, compared to some I have seen, with men's wards in the back of the hospital, girl's in the front, scattered artifacts, wheelchairs, beds, and some very interesting patient artwork that was, unfortunately too difficult to photograph because of the light...
Pilgrim State Hospital
Pilgrim State opened in 1931, as the largest mental hospital in the world, designed to house and treat 12,500 patients. Although there is still an active hospital on the property, there are only a very small number of abandoned ward buildings left. We hit this place in the early morning, and, leaving in the daylight, saw evidence of all the buildings that had been demolished recently. Pilgrim is a lot like Long Island's other mental hospitals, and the wards here seem to be a combination of private rooms, semi-private areas, consisting of several areas separated by concrete barriers that are around 4 feet high, and also open wards, which were probably used as dayrooms or sleeping areas depending on the time of the hospital's history and the overcrowding situation. Several of the wards had heavily reinforced steel cages in a separate area, apparently for disturbed patients. The worst overcrowding in these hospitals occurred from the 1930's until the 1960's, and the same factors that alleviated the overcrowding, (better drug therapy and an effort to de-institutionalize psychiatric patients) eventually led to the closing of most of these hospitals.
Bethlehem Steel Industrial
Walking through these buildings, I was amazed at the size of the equipment inside, as well as the size of the buildings themselves. Knowing nothing about steel making, it's difficult to imagine exactly what was done here. Most of this complex, which at one time employed thousands of people, is gone now, and the buildings that have not been re used are in rough shape. I hadn't been here since 2005, when I shot the administration building, and it was worth the visit. Inside, I found blueprint drawings from the 1930's which were actual blueprints, having been made by the cyanotype process, where a photosensitive compound is coated onto paper and then exposed to light to make white lines on a blue background. In-plant work orders from the early 1980's, process instructions from the 1970's, danger signs everywhere, very intriguing.....
Along the Tennessee Kentucky Border
Odd, interesting places and abandoned structures seem to be everywhere in this part of the country. Visiting family in the area just after Christmas, 2008, I took the opportunity to photograph some of the sites here. Judging from graffiti on the wall, the house in these pictures has been abandoned for at least 14 years, though it has likely been much longer than that. In the back yard, there was a concrete entry to an underground bunker. While it looked like a tunnel entrance, it was very short, just long enough so that the room could be completely underground, built, as it was, into the side of a hill. The bunker itself contained only one room, constructed of concrete. This could have been Cold war era, or possibly for use in case of tornadoes, which do occur in the area. The cemetery in the photo set was just down the road from the house, and is a family cemetery, surrounded on all sides by a concrete barrier around 3-4 feet tall. I don't know the purpose of the barrier, but, again, it may have been for protection from tornadoes. An old unused barn next to the cemetery can be seen in the photos. This cemetery contains the grave of a couple, I assume husband and wife, born on the same day in 1863, as well as several graves of children and young adults who passed many, many years ago. For those who have been here the longest, their lives have been reduced to a name, date of birth, and date of death, even though there was so much more, so many stories, fascinating in their poignancy, unknowable, and long since forgotten...
Taunton State Hospital
Although small in comparison to other old state mental hospitals, Taunton has a long and rich history, having been built around 1854 and used until the mid 1970's. The buildings were designed by Eldgridge Bowden, a renowned architect of his time, whose talent remains apparent today, even in the midst of all the decay these buildings have seen. The famous bridge, connecting a wing with a medical building, was built around 1920, and is one of Taunton's most unique features. Inside, Taunton is remarkably untouched, despite all the popular interest, and this is most likely due to a black, unclimbable fence that surrounds the campus, as well as the wing that is currently being used by the Massachusetts Dept. of Youth Services, as a type of youth detention center. Arriving early in the morning in late May, 2009, I had to be very careful and very quiet to avoid detection. Despite its beauty, Taunton is in very rough shape and will likely be taken down very soon.
German Roman Catholic Orphanage
I decided to hit this building on July 4th, 2009, without much planning, and ended up being very surprised by what I found, since I had only recently even heard of it. The orphanage was completed in 1875, and originally housed 24 girls and 39 boys, charging the families of the residents, if any existed, $1.50 per week for the room and board of the children. In 1919, a fire destroyed much of the campus, which was rebuilt within six months. In 1927, a separate school building was built, which I saw but did not access. The chapel, which still stands, adjacent to the girls dorm, was added in 1938. The beginning of the end for the orphanage, as it had always been, occurred in 1956, with the outbreak of another fire. The orphans were transferred to other facilities in the fall of that year, and the campus was converted to a Diocesan Preparatory Seminary, then to the Diocesan Educational Campus, which is the sign that remains to this day, as you look at the property from Dodge Street. During this time, the dormitories were converted into classrooms. These buildings were sold to private developers in the early 1990's, but nothing has been done with the property since. This site is amazingly rich in its history, having housed over 15,000 unfortunate children in its lifetime. Artifacts from the later days of the school are everywhere inside, including hundreds of painted cinder blocks containing the names and unique identifying information of departing students (varsity basketball, track, etc..), very cool, and very worth experiencing firsthand...
Jackson Sanitarium and Resort
The original building on this site was built in 1854. Although it burned in 1882, the building that replaced it in 1883 still stands. This place takes its name from Dr. James Jackson and other members of his family, who believed that, in many cases, people's health could be restored by pure water and food, as well as other new-age type techniques. The Jackson family declared bankruptcy in 1914, and the facility was used for a short time as a psychiatric hospital for shell-shocked WWI vets. In 1929, the property was purchased by Bernarr McFadden, who operated it as a resort hotel, offering social and recreational activities, as well as the health-related treatments that were so much a part of the building's legacy. After McFadden's death in 1955, the hotel was purchased by another resort operator, and it remained a higher-end resort, until its end, in 1971. In the basement, I found receipts from the mid-1960's, showing clients who were paying over $8,000 for a stay at this hotel, obviously, a lot of money in 1965. Guests had the choice of either staying in the main building or in one of the cottages, several of which are still standing and are included in the picture set from this place.
Pennhurst State School
Pennhurst State School, which opened in 1908, operated until the mid 1980's, when allegations of patient mistreatment, along with related legal problems, forced its closure. Although several buildings are being re-used, a small cluster of buildings remain vacant and are slowly deteriorating. I arrived at Pennhurst pre-dawn on a rainy Sunday morning in August, 2009. Waiting for sunrise in one of the upstairs rooms, I sat, smoking cigarettes and watching the daylight slowly emerge, overcome by a feeling that this was once a place of almost unimaginable sadness. Having toured several abandoned mental hospitals, I was struck by the fact that people can and do recover from mental illness, while the vast majority of residents at a place like Pennhurst, being developmentally disabled, will never recover. While many of the empty buildings at Pennhurst are tightly sealed, the buildings that can be entered make it a worthwhile place for any urban explorer to experience, both for the photography and the feelings it inspires.
Essex County Psychiatric
Essex County Hospital, also known as Overbrook, sits in Cedar Grove, in northern New Jersey. Opened in 1896, the hospital operated until 2006, when a new facility opened just down the street. The old hospital is a very large complex, at one time having housed over 3,000 patients at the same time, and certain sections have been abandoned much longer than others. Walking through, I noticed some parts near collapse, or already collapsed, while other parts looked to be in very good shape, by comparison. Essex is one of the more well known sites in the northeast, and I was very careful approaching the building in the early morning hours of Labor Day weekend, 2009, having heard that it's routinely patrolled by the Essex County Sheriff's Office. Parking is difficult here, since the cops watch the nearby streets for cars that don't seem to belong... touring the building, however, was well worth all the trouble... artifacts are everywhere, and, once inside, you can navigate most of the complex without going outside again... this place is like a maze, easy to get lost the first time through. The history of this place is similar to that of similar institutions, and the hospital has undoubtedly seen good times and bad, such as the winter of 1917, when a boiler failure led to the deaths of 24 patients, with another 32 suffering frostbite... Essex County Hospital tried to do its best when it was needed, but was eventually phased out by medical advances, and the only thing left is a huge and outdated building. All the buildings will soon be demolished, and there is video, all over the internet, of some idiot politician in a hardhat, knocking the first brick out of the wall of one of the buildings, to turn the whole thing into a park. So much for preservation and respect for the past...
Athens State Hospital Cemetery and TB Ward
The Athens State Hospital originally opened in 1874 as the Athens Lunatic Asylum, and operated as a mental institution until 1993. Most of the complex, which is very large, is now being used by Ohio University. The main building now houses the Kennedy Art Museum, as well as studios for art students. Although much of the Kirkbride, as well as most of the other buildings are either vacant and tightly sealed or else being re-used by the university, the TB ward building is both empty and, with some effort, accessible. I arrived early in the morning on New Years Day, 2010, and quickly located a hole in a fence and an open window. This building was constructed in 1924, in response to an Ohio state mandate that every county have a hospital specifically designated for those suffering from TB. It's not clear if this building was used for TB patients from the general population of the county, or for TB patients from the Athens State Hospital only. After the threat of TB had subsided, the building became the "Beacon School" for developmentally disabled children and younger adults, until its closure in the early 1980's The most fascinating part of this site, to me, is the state hospital cemetery bordering the TB building. The cemetery was used from the 1870's until 1913 or 1914, and contains approximately 2,000 graves. Most of the graves are marked only by a number, but there are many with names, including several Civil War veterans, a veteran of the Mexican War, and a 32 year old married woman, Isabella, who was interred in the cemetery in 1883, presumably after dying in the state hospital. Among the most touching memorials in the cemetery is the marker for Sarah Boyd, placed by her great, great grandchildren in 2002, on the 100th anniversary of her death. I left this place after a quick tour, because of the cold, happy to have been able to witness a small part of the history this place holds...
Middle of Nowhere, Ohio
I came upon this place returning from Christmas vacation visiting my family in Virginia and Tennessee, having been in Ohio to see the Athens State Hospital. This is central Ohio, and the house is in Guernsey County, a couple of miles outside of Byesville, a small and very isolated town in an area where much of the land is used by the Pittsburgh based Central Ohio Coal Company. This is probably the most rural, desolate place I've ever driven through, and this house is just down the road from a church that also looks abandoned, yet well sealed. The house has at least four fireplaces, a unique spiral staircase in the rear, and two outbuildings, which I did not enter. Obviously, this place has been abandoned for many years, and inside, I found a newspaper, the Daily Jeffersonian (Cambridge, OH) from June, 1952, laying on the floor, still almost 100% readable. Cambridge is a town of approximately 11-12 thousand people, sitting around 74 miles east of Columbus. I'm not sure how far this house is from Cambridge, but it's some distance, since I didn't see any towns that large anywhere near this place. Paneling on the walls seems to indicate this place may have been renovated in the 70's, but its condition suggests it has been long forgotten by whoever owned it...