The Danvers State Hospital remained abandoned for 13 years as it continued to fall into disrepair. [2], The entire campus was closed on June 24, 1992 and all patients were either transferred to the community or to other facilities.[3]. It eventually grew and became a state hospital after the 1920s. Most of the buildings on campus were connected by a confusing labyrinth of underground tunnels. Danvers State Hospital, illustration published in the Annual Report of the Danvers Lunatic Hospital, circa 1886, In 1984, the Kirkbride building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. It was part of the countrywide concept at least in the late 1800s that people with psychological problems needed to be cured inside specially made facilities. With the increase in patients came the increase in inhumane treatments. 5 members in the Danversstatehospital community. While most horror movies create their terrifying cinematic magic in studios, there are a few horror films that have been filmed in real-life locations. My grandmother lived there until she died. The hospital was a mental health facility built in the year 1874 that consisted of. what records still exist are in the Massachusetts Archives. Forest Haven Asylum was first opened up in 1925. In addition, several former patients and staff members have also published memoirs about their time at the hospital, including Nobodys Child, published in 1987 by former patient Marie Balter, who returned to the hospital in 1988 to work as the Chief Hospital Spokeswoman, and Danvers State: Memoirs of a Nurse in the Asylum, published in 2004 by Angelina Szot. A Study of Accidents in a Mental Hospital. The American Journal of Psychiatry, vol. But as the team members start working in the abandoned facility, they find themselves unearthing the locations dark past. Danvers was built in the mid-1800s and operated until 1992. The outermost wards were reserved for the most hostile patients. In 1958, another building, the Bryant Building, was added to the property to expand the hospital. Here is another website with more information on the grisly details of patients abuse. The remaining two wards and the center building were gutted, leaving only the buildings facade. The tunnel leading up from the power plant still exists, but is blocked at the top of the hill. Danvers State Mental Hospital . Originally opened in Philadelphia in 1907, Byberry Mental hospital was built to be a self-sufficient farm for mentally ill patients. [1], The Danvers State Hospital was officially opened in 1878 after four years of construction. My brother and I drove up there a few years ago we were curious about the new apartments the apartment building reflect the architecture but neither of us have any desire to live there. Danvers State Hospital was famous for many things such as its design, treatment of patients and legends surrounding the site. Beautiful building. Patients would be locked in cages if the staff considered them to be unruly. Experimental lobotomies were performed on patients by the traveling Dr. Walter Freeman. Danvers State Hospital, Danvers, Mass, date unknown. I had to pick up an ex from there one night.upon entering the grounds i received that same uncomfy feeling.heebie neebies, to say the least. Why Danvers State Hospital Ranks Among Historys Most Infamous Asylums. It was built in 1874 and opened in 1878, staying in business until it was closed in 1992 due to budget cuts. The judge that presided over the Salem Witch Trials, John Hathorne, once lived here a few hundred years ago. However, its reputation remains. Danvers State Hospital opened in 1878 near Boston, MA. During the 1960s as a result of increased emphasis on alternative methods of treatment, deinstitutionalization, and community-based mental health care, the inpatient population started to decrease. Dr. Walter Freeman, the traveling lobotomy doctor, frequented here to perform lobotomies on patients. Im not sure but I think employment records are confidential. Tunnels of Traverse City State Hospital A subterranean world of tunnels links several buildings of this rare 19th-century asylum. Danvers State Hospital illustration circa 1875. 2023 Cinemaholic Inc. All rights reserved. In January,1878 Calvin S. May was appointed its first Superintendent. By 1985, the majority of the original hospital wards were closed or abandoned. im wondering if you have photographs of any of the closed state mental hospital. In the 1890s, Dr. Charles Page, the superintendent, declared mechanical restraint unnecessary and harmful in cases of mental illness. Most of all, i did like the main enter of the place, it look like a manion from a movie or something, that was the only beautiful part of it. For more information about the court case, check out this website. The Bonner medical building was built on the property the following year and was named after Bonner in honor of his service to the hospital. The Hell House on the Hill (one of several unkind yet accurate nicknames for Danvers State Hospital) looks brand-new today. Built in 1852 and opened in 1854, the Tewksbury State Hospital was originally established as the Tewksbury Almshouse. In 2005, the hospital was purchased by Avalon Bay Development for $12 million with the plan to turn it into an apartment building. A total of 278 people died at the hospital that year. When shock therapy failed, the lobotomies started. A lawsuit was filed by a local preservation fund[4] to stave off the demolition of the hospital, including the Kirkbride building, which was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Patients walked through hallways naked. The facility started to decay in the 1960s due to budget cuts. I was lucky enough to go into the hospital before construction started roughly ten years ago. In 1994, the hospital was added to the National Register of Historic places and it officially closed its doors on April 3, 2003. Over the years, newer buildings were constructed around the original Kirkbride, and alterations were made to the Kirkbride itself, such as a new gymnasium/auditorium on the area of the old kitchens and multiple solaria added onto the front of the wards. The design, based on the Kirkbride plan, totaled 313,000 square feet in size and 1,100 feet in length and was nicknamed the castle on the hill by locals. The following is a list of these abandoned mental hospitals in Massachusetts: Address: 1101 Kirkbride Dr, Danvers, Mass. I dont think you can access them. One building remains unused and has partially collapsed but the plot of land it is located on is currently for sale by the state. At the present, the Trans Alleghany Lunatic Asylum has become a tourist attraction. 84002436 Added to NRHP January 26, 1984 12, issue 1, 23 Sept. 1996, scholarworks.umb.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1461&context=nejppStart Probe of Bay States Insane Asylums. The Telegraph, 1 Feb. 1938, news.google.com/newspapers?id=9whAAAAAIBAJ&sjid=qaQMAAAAIBAJ&pg=2608%2C4303579Richard, Ray. The graveyard on the grounds was the only place that kept up with the demand of the increase in patients. The hospital was based on the Kirkbride plan and originally consisted of a three story brick building that could house 250 patients. Built in 1874 and opening in 1878, the Danvers State Hospital was under a prominent architect from Boston, Nathaniel Jeremiah Bradlee. The following year, the hospital purchased 100 more acres to expand its farm and, in 1903, opened Middleton Colony, an addition that housed 300 long term female patients, down the street from the hospital in Middleton, Mass. (I have an even better Danvers State tunnel video on my channel as well. Designed in 1874 by noted Boston architect, N.J. Bradlee, it is a handsome and intact implementation of the nationally recognized Kirkbride plan. Much of the wood from the demolition project was salvaged and recycled into flooring and other millwork.[5]. The design supposedly helped draw breezes through the entire facility. Finally, read up on actress Frances Farmer and her involuntary commitment to a mental hospital. There is a need of a large number of nurses, both male and female, to give proper ward supervision to our patients. A senior living complex has since been built on the site where the hospital stood. Patients were sleeping on the floors due to the lack of furniture. I dont know anyone could not just live there but work there as well. Rebecca Beatrice Brooks is the author and publisher of the History of Massachusetts Blog. In the 1870s, when the commonwealth of Massachusetts decided to build an additional psychiatric hospital to house the states growing mentally ill population, it decided on the rural Hathorne Hill as the location and persuaded Dodge to sell his 200-acre farm to the state for $39,542. Another difficult group to treat were those suffering from intemperance and dipsomania the nineteenth-century terms for substance abuse, or the ancient enemy, as administrators called it. They lived in their own filth from a lack of basic hygiene. My grandmother Charlotte McIntyre worked and lived at the Colony which was one of the nursing homes that was separate. Also during this time, the place was decaying and not maintained. my grandmother had cancer . I originally posted this in r/northshore but did not receive any replies. I remember visiting my great grandpa there.i was really young. Hathorne Hill in Danvers, Massachusetts harbors a beautiful Kirkbride building with its gothic-style spires and red brick construction. The rooms were cold because there was no central heating. i remember when i lived in mass. The hospital began closing wards and facilities as early as 1969. Her parents noticed that she had bruises on her arms. Westborough State Hospital was an abandoned state hospital that has since been demolished. A hospital cemetery was also established on the grounds in 1878. lol. Avalon Bay predicted that they would have properties available for rent or sale by Fall 2007. Part of the underground tunnel network in Danvers State Hospital. But as time went on, Forest Haven became an atrocious place for the patients that lived there. It was intended to be a self-sufficient farming community for children and adults with intellectual disabilities. 0314. Definitely a surreal experience to be inside them!! No props required for filming apparently. The only original buildings that are still standing are the Bryant Building and Hale Building. A large and unwanted influx of criminals stirred things up, though the 1886 construction of a hospital for the criminally insane in Bridgewater, Massachusetts, helped stem this tide. When it opened in 1878, it was considered a cutting edge facility for the treatment of mental health. Kirkbride goes on to say that such hospitals require at least 100 acres of land necessary for farming and gardening as well as for privacy, exercise, labor and occupation for the patients which are now recognized as among the most valuable means of treatment (Kirkbride 7). The Trans Alleghany Lunatic Asylum opened its doors in 1863 in Weston, West Virginia. I always dreaded theese visits. Danvers State Hospital Kirkbride Complex circa 1893. Construction of the hospital began in 1874, and the 70,000 square foot building was completed four years later at a cost of $1.5 million. The renovations turned the once-macabre lunatic asylum into Avalon Danvers Apartments. The building sits on Hathorne Hill, where the judge leading the Salem Witch Trials, John Hathorne, once lived a few hundred years ago. According to reports, the movies filming was only carried out in a small section of the hospital and almost all the props featured in the movie were already available on the location. Danvers State Hospital Kirkbride Complex circa 1893 The Tewksbury State Hospital was a state hospital that has since been re-purposed into a medical hospital. For more information on Byberry Mental Hospital, check out this website. Then read about the real horror story of Bedlam, the Bethlam Royal Hospital. See more ideas about danvers, hospital, underground tunnels. Sterling Publishing Co, Inc, 2005. It wasn't a video I prepared to make. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. I haven't been able to stay at my house for over a week because of increased paranormal activity. The Metropolitan State Hospital was an abandoned state hospital that has since been partially demolished and re-purposed into condominiums. ALSO, I realize we are totally wrong about what this tunnel was used for. By the 1920s the hospital was operating school clinics to help determine mental deficiency in children. in journalism. For more information on the history of Danvers State Hospital, check out this website. The Danvers State Hospital (also known as The Danvers Lunatic Asylum, The Danvers State Insane Asylum, and the State Lunatic Hospital at Danvers) is located in Danvers, Massachusetts. I remember my mom work there as registered nurse for the 2 shift staff for many years and i remember my dad had to pick her up after 11 pm, that place look sooo scary at night. Plan of the Hospital, illustration published in the Annual Report of the Danvers Lunatic Hospital, circa 1886. Share Deinstitutionalization of People with Mental Illness: Causes and Consequences. AMA Journal of Ethics, Oct. 2013, journalofethics.ama-assn.org/article/deinstitutionalization-people-mental-illness-causes-and-consequences/2013-10Westboro State Hospital has long history, but many are looking toward the future. The Telegram, 24 June. In the fall of 1990, the Massachusetts Association of Mental Health published a working paper suggesting that three state hospitals, Danvers, Metropolitan, and Northampton, were prime candidates for closure. Other buildings on the hospital grounds were added over the years until there were about 40 buildings on the property, including a building for tuberculosis patients, a chapel, a laundry building, nurses quarters, a pump house, the Bonner medical building and others as well as a maze of underground tunnels connecting them all. (The first picture illustrates the original tower in 1893, the second and third pictures illustrate the new replica in 2006 and 2007, and the fourth picture illustrates the one from 1970.) Portions of Danvers State Hospital were shut down in 1969. Arcadia Publishing, 2018.Hogarty, Richard A. Even in death, administrators at Danvers State Hospital did not dignify their patients. Printers to the Commonwealth, 1882.Eighth Annual Report of the Trustees of the Danvers Lunatic Hospital for the Year Ending September 30, 1885. Danvers was a success at first. In 2008, the Kirkbride building and the other remaining buildings on the property, except for the Administrative building, the Hooper Turrett and the Hale Building, were demolished. It was designed by a Boston architect named Nathaniel Bradlee, who was responsible for the famous Jordan Marsh store in Boston as well as Boston's Downtown Crossing. A few of the original buildings still remain standing and are unused, such as the former hospital auditorium. I remember looking up the hill and being afraid of that building, with all of it s scarry stories. The patient-run farm produced large harvests that kept the institutions kitchen busy. Since then, the buildings management has been hit with a flood of complaints from tenants about the poor construction quality of the building, according to the websites Apartment Ratings and the Danvers State Insane Asylum. At first, when this article came out, the state decided to reform the facility. In 1992, the facility shut down for good. Like so many asylums, Forest Haven quickly became overcrowded and understaffed. Rebecca Beatrice Brooks is the author and publisher of the History of Massachusetts Blog. Share The only thing that remains of the asylums past is the graveyard on the grounds. An Act Making The Gardner State Colony A Reception Hospital For The Insane And Changing Its Name to Gardner State Hospital. State Library of Massachusetts, archives.lib.state.ma.us/handle/2452/60457Richard, Mike. in journalism. This place gave me an uncomfortable feeling. The original plan was designed to house 500 patients, with attic space potentially housing 1000 more. The idea was that the facility would be self-sustaining, meaning that everything it needed was on site. In 2007, the part of the hospital in Lexington was purchased by Avalon Bay in 2007 and re-purposed as luxury apartments. . The hospital is now a condo complex, but these tunnels are about a mile away. It was built to only have up to 500 patients, but like many mental hospitals it became extremely overcrowded over time. Two friends and I just randomly decided to check out a patch of woods in Danvers where I heard the infamous \"Danvers State Mental Hospital tunnels\" were located, we didn't expect to ACTUALLY find an open tunnel at all! The Gardner State Hospital was an abandoned state hospital that has since been re-purposed into a prison. Built in 1874, the Danvers State Hospital was known as the Danvers Lunatic Hospital until it changed its name to the Danvers Insane Hospital sometime before the turn of the century and then changed it again to the Danvers State Hospital in 1909. Lewis & co, 1888First Annual Report of the Trustees of State Lunatic Hospital at Danvers, 1879Trask, Richard B. Danvers: From 1850 to 1899. During the 1800s, the hill was the home of the Dodge . From 1992 until 2007 it was abandoned and served as a beacon to thrill-seekers and ghost hunters. Doors slamming. After further investigation, the family pursued a lawsuit against the state for mistreatment towards their daughter. While the asylum was established to provide residential treatment and care to the mentally ill, its functions expanded to include a training program for nurses in 1889 and a pathological research laboratory in 1895. The hospital featured a main building, where the administration offices were located, with four wings radiating off both sides of the structure. The hospital remained abandoned for decades until 2005 when it was purchased by Avalon Bay who demolished eight wards of the main building, as well all of the other buildings on the property, and converted the hospital into an apartment building with condominiums on the grounds around it. Lights turning on and off. Danvers State Hospital. And we and our progeny are the losers. Despite being included in the National Register of Historic Places in 1984, the majority of the building was demolished in 2007. In 2007, most of the buildings were demolished by the Avalon Bay Communities. Sometime before the turn of the century the hospital changed its name to the Danvers Insane Hospital. The main hospital building was shuttered in 1989 and the remaining patients were transferred to the Bonner Medical Building until the entire facility was closed down in 1992. The population of the hospital swelled to 2,360. When they misbehaved, they were put in straight jackets and forgotten. Unfortunately, theres no way you can visit this iconic building now as it was demolished in 2006. We just went to see if it were true, and there it was! 2010,www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2010/06/10/danvers_state_redevelopment_forging_ahead_in_slow_economy/Roy, Mathew K. Change Atop Hathorne Hill. Salem News, Eagle-Tribune Publishing Company, 5 Jan. 2007Danvers State Hospital. Opacity, opacity.us/site22_danvers_state_hospital.htmDanvers State Hospital. Danvers Archival Center, Peabody Institute Library, www.danverslibrary.org/archive/?page_id=1096Danvers State Hospital. Kirkbride Buildings, www.kirkbridebuildings.com/buildings/danvers/History. Danvers State Insane Asylum, www.danversstateinsaneasylum.com/historyEx-Patient Is State Hospital Official. New York Times, New York Times Company, 27 Nov. 1988, www.nytimes.com/1988/11/27/us/ex-patient-is-state-hospital-official.htmlHistory of Essex County, Massachusetts; Volume 1.