“I want to say goodbye to my fellow countrymen”
Two decades later, nine staff members were charged with several crimes, ranging from slapping and beating patients to arranging for patients to assault each other.
Arguably America’s most infamous hospital, Pennhurst opened in 1908 as a state school for the physically and mentally disabled. However, it did not live up to its promises. In 1968, correspondent Bill Baldini of NBC10 exposed horrifying conditions and accusations of neglect.
One of the reports alleged that children who bit another child would first get a warning, and upon being admonished a second time, would have their teeth pulled out. The hospital permanently closed after a federal judge ruled in 1977 that the institution violated patients’ constitutional rights.
These women were subjected to treatments ranging from freezing, shocking, kicking, and even lobotomizing.
One of these women was Margaret Schilling, who was found dead in 1978 in the asylum’s attic, where she became trapped and reportedly starved to death. She was found a month after dying. It is said that an imprint of her body can still be clearly seen on the floor. The facility permanently closed its doors 1993.
Established in 1874, the center is infamous for its care of women diagnosed with issues related to what was formerly called “hysteria”—the name given to the medical condition where women "suffered" from desire and strong emotions. Between 1968 and 1970, 132 female patients were deemed insane for these issues, including “menstrual derangement.”
The facility, which already had serious overcrowding issues by the 1930s and 1940s, became almost uninhabitable after World War II, when thousands of soldiers were admitted for then-unnamed PTSD. Reportedly more than 150 patients went missing during this time. The hospital closed its door permanently in 1975.
Built in 1878 on the very ground where John Hawthorne, a prominent judge in the Salem Witch Trials, once lived, the hospital’s patients seemed to be doomed for tragedy.
The home-like structure opened its doors in 1896, and showed early signs of serious neglect. There was an incident in 1917 when 24 patients froze to death in their own beds.
Established in 1854, the hospital housed many dangerous patients, including the infamous Jane Toppan, a serial killer nurse who killed at least 31 of her patients before being admitted to the mental hospital.
Many legends float around about the dubious practices carried out at the hospital. One of them claims that some of its medical staff belonged to a cult and used patients in satanic rituals carried out in the hospital’s basement. The hospital closed its doors in 1975.
Staff at Danvers State Hospital used horrendous techniques to treat patients, ranging from use of straight jackets and shock therapy, to full-scale lobotomies. These wards served as the filming location for the 2001 horror film ‘Session 9.’ The hospital permanently closed in 1992.
The historic building was demolished in 2008 after being deemed irreparable, but another building was erected on the same campus and still operates today.
Built in 1864 with the capacity to house 250 patients, the medical center was housing more than 2,400 people by the 1950s. But overcrowding seemed to be the least of the patients’ worries.
Any reason seemed like a good enough reason for being committed to the asylum, including trivial things like falling from a horse or laziness.
The Charleston Gazette reported in 1949 that unruly patients were often locked in cages, that lobotomies were being performed with rudimentary tools, and that there was overall neglect and unsanitary conditions. The hospital permanently closed in 1994.
The cruel methods used on Pilgrim patients ranged from shock therapy, to pre-frontal lobotomies, to insulin shock therapy, which sent patients into a coma. The center is still in operation today, albeit on a much smaller scale and without the cruelty.
Built in 1876, the facility was meant to alleviate the overcrowding at the state’s only psychiatric hospital at the time. The hospital designed to house 350 patients had more than 7,700 patients at one point, resulting in unprecedented overcrowding issues.
The center was established in 1931 to help with the state’s overcrowding issues in its mental hospitals. With its capacity to house 12,500 patients on 1,900 acres of land, it was once the largest medical facility in the world.
Check out the creepy backstories behind some of America’s hospitals and asylums.
The dark stories behind America's mental hospitals
You can visit many of them
LIFESTYLE Creepy
The US has a complex, controversial history with the care of its mentally ill population. Treatment generally consisted of separating the mentally ill from society, and so these patients were often victims of neglect or even worse crimes.
Check out the creepy backstories behind some of America’s hospitals and asylums.