Danvers State Hospital, c.1893 Location Danvers, Massachusetts, United States Coordinates 423452N705828W / 42.581234N 70.974394W / 42.581234; -70. Did they lose money or show positive cash flow? By June 2006, all of the Danvers State Hospital buildings that were marked for demolition had been torn down, including all of the unused buildings and old homes on the lower grounds and all of the buildings on the hill. Occupational therapy and sedative forms of hydrotherapy have also contributed to this program . Pennhurst State School and Hospital finally shut down in 1987. actress Frances Farmer and her involuntary commitment to a mental hospital. 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. By 2002, the committee succeeded in identifying the names of over three-quarters of the patients buried in the cemetery and installed new headstones displaying the names of each patient and erected a memorial to the patients whose graves could not be identified. on Abandoned Mental Hospitals in Massachusetts, Abandoned Mental Hospitals in Massachusetts, View all posts by Rebecca Beatrice Brooks, Abigail Williams: The Mysterious Afflicted Girl. In 1958, another building, the Bryant Building, was added to the property to expand the hospital. Topographical Sketch of the Grounds of the State Insane Asylum in Danvers Mass, circa 1875. Danvers State Hospital was originally called the State Lunatic Asylum at Danvers (a cheerful name, for sure). The Gardner State Hospital was an abandoned state hospital that has since been re-purposed into a prison. Tunnels of Traverse City State Hospital A subterranean world of tunnels links several buildings of this rare 19th-century asylum. Lovecraft used Danvers as the inspiration for his Arkham Sanitarium. Patients who received dental care there, were having their teeth pulled out without novocaine. By the 1930s, the hospital started to suffer from severe overcrowding and a lack of funding. Many patients would just vanish. It wasnt until 1994 that the hospital was shut down. It was originally built to house up to 250 patients. Rebecca is a freelance journalist and history lover who got her start in journalism working for small-town newspapers in Massachusetts and New Hampshire after she graduated from the University of New Hampshire with a B.A. Richard Trask of the Danvers Archival Center wrote, concerning the state's failure to preserve the Kirkbride complex, noting: The failure to protect and adaptively reuse this grand exterior is a monumental blot in the annals of Massachusetts preservation. If children or patients bit another person, they got a warning the first time, but the second they did it they got all their teeth extracted. Lovecrafts horror short story The Thing on the Doorstep. Danvers State Hospital opened in 1878 near Boston, MA. Downsizing the Massachusetts Mental Health System: The Politics of Evasion. New England Journal of Public Policy, vol. The Administration Block, in the original Kirkbride, building closed in 1989. In 1907, the Westborough Insane Hospital was renamed the Westborough State Hospital. and she did .i am glad that place is gone i could never live there knowing what went on there. Does anyone happen to know anything more about teenage boys living there? American Historical Society, Inc, 1919Citro, Joseph A. Weird U.S.: Your Travel Guide to Americas Local Legends and Best Kept Secrets. For more information on the Trans Alleghany Lunatic Asylum, check out this website. 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. When it opened in 1878, it was considered a cutting edge facility for the treatment of mental health. In June of 1991, Governor Weld accepted the commissions recommendations to close nine mental health facilities and public health hospitals within the next three years. Batavia, Illinois Batavia Depot Museum An exhibit of items. : (. Danvers State Hospital was the inspiration for the notorious horror writer and occultist, H. P. Lovecraft's Arkham Sanitarium in his 1933 story 'The Thing on the Doorstep', and the Arkham Asylum of Batman fame is an identical replica. In 1909, it was renamed the Tewksbury State Infirmary. When patients died, they were thrown into an unmarked mass grave on the grounds. They lived in their own filth from a lack of basic hygiene. When shock therapy failed, the lobotomies started. The rooms were cold because there was no central heating. Hathorne Hill in Danvers, Massachusetts harbors a beautiful Kirkbride building with its gothic-style spires and red brick construction. Pictures still clinging to the wall of one of the children's rooms in the hospital. It is now a renovated apartmen. In 2005, a development company bought the rundown property and tore down a large portion of the buildings. Their symptoms got worse. Danvers State Hospital. In 2014, Avalon Bay sold the building for $108.5 million dollars to the DSF Group which then changed its name to Halstead Danvers and more recently changed its name again to Bradlee Danvers. Jun 13, 2014 - The tunnels under Danvers State Mental Hospital in Danvers, Massachusetts. Lovecrafts short story The Thing on the Doorstep. You can check them out below: A post shared by Josh Richardson (@cool_shit_i_see), #ThrowbackThursday to the early 2000s when I visited the filming location for the psychological horror film 'Session 9' (2001) in Danvers, MA. The Metropolitan State Hospital was an abandoned state hospital that has since been partially demolished and re-purposed into condominiums. If you wanted to find ghosts, this would be the place. it took my aunt 2 weeks to get her out of that place. In 1968, NBC10 aired a documentary about Pennhurst. (I have an even better Danvers State tunnel video on my channel as well. The hospital administration refused to use physical restraints on the patients and emphasized curing patients rather than merely hiding them away from the public, according to the book Weird U.S.: When it opened in [1878], Danvers State Hospital was considered a leader in humane treatment. pic.twitter.com/9pw3vmEvfL. At the present, the Danvers State Hospital in now Bradlee Danvers apartments. My grandfather apparently went to it maybe during the 40s? Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. The Kirkbride building was also believed to be the inspiration for the Arkham Sanitarium in H.P. 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. Philadelphia: 1854.Third Annual Report of the State Board of Health, Lunacy, and Charity of Massachusetts. 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. i live in the old foxborough Dispsomaniac & Inebriates hospital and would love a picture of it. His tunnels have thought to have been constructed so . For information on tours, check out this website. Explore. So this video is unlike my usual videos. So this video was VERY spur-of-the-moment. lol. These five mental institutions live up to the name of creepiness and horror. Home exorcism isn't until the 30th. Part of Grafton State Hospital site to go up for sale, The Grafton News, 7 Feb. 2019, telegram.com/news/20190207/part-of-former-grafton-state-hospital-site-to-go-up-for-sale1935 Chap. i remember when i lived in mass. . Similarly, Hank (Josh Lucas) uncovers a treasure trove of . The hospital came under scrutiny in 1987 when its administrator, William Bonnes, faced criticism after a patient, Ann Houghton, wandered out of the hospital and was found dead the next day just 200 yards from the hospital after suffering a heart attack, according to news reports. We were just so shocked we were inside the tunnel that I didn't really think much about the video while I was recording. People were even held in the basements of the Kirkbride. Psychiatric hospitals and asylums are primarily an invention of the 19th century and are now a relic of it as well. My grandmother Charlotte McIntyre worked and lived at the Colony which was one of the nursing homes that was separate. The original hospital, known as the Worcester Lunatic Asylum, was built in 1833 which makes it the first state hospital built in Massachusetts. and even the labyrinth of underground tunnels connecting the several buildings. 2023 Cinemaholic Inc. All rights reserved. im wondering if you have photographs of any of the closed state mental hospital. Danvers State Hospital | Danvers State Insane Asylum | DSH HISTORY "The hospital opened on May 1st, 1878 and Dr. Calvin S. May was appointed Superintendent through 1880" IMAGES "Abandoned since 1992 and demolished in 2006, the Danvers State Hospital once occupied a site of over 500 acres" ARCHIVES In 1900, the Massachusetts General Court renamed the Tewksbury Almshouse the Tewksbury State Hospital. 189. r/ParanormalEncounters. I realize it's choppy, and doesn't have the best lighting and it's not as organized as my other videos. It looked like a building out of a horror movie. Over the next 20 years, the population of the hospital swelled to more than 2,000 patients despite its official capacity of 450. I live in a town close by and it is something that has always interested me. Danvers State Hospital, Danvers, Mass, circa 2013. Watson s was @ the foot of the hill where Danvers State Hospital sat. In 1874, in a secluded corner of rural Massachusetts, construction started on a state-of-the-art psychiatric asylum, the Danvers State Hospital.Designed by acclaimed architect Nathaniel Jeremiah Bradlee, it was very much a product of its time, a point in the history of mental health when options were limited and the best course of action was generally considered to be "stick them in a building . 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. Well, youll be surprised to know how realistic the movies filming location is. The movies complex storyline unfolds itself in the claustrophobic surroundings of an old insane asylum where a team of asbestos cleaners is hired to disinfect its contaminated premise. In 1927, Dr. Clarence Bonner became the superintendent of the hospital. Reports were made[who?] The Grafton State Hospital was built in 1901. At the present it has turned into a haunted house attraction. Terri Lee Halderman had been a patient at Pennhurst. That must have been a terrible place to live. Around the same time, the Grafton Job Corps Center opened on the property as well. of corse over the years i would hear the about the things that went on there. 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. I could tell it . The Tewksbury State Hospital was a state hospital that has since been re-purposed into a medical hospital. Why Danvers State Hospital Ranks Among Historys Most Infamous Asylums. After the tunnel opened, 30 more people lost their lives here due to freak accidents in and around the tunnel. The facility that once housed Danvers State Hospital is now home to a residential community featuring fully renovated apartments. Place was creepy even now. Sometime before the turn of the century the hospital changed its name to the Danvers Insane Hospital. Most of the buildings on campus were connected by a labyrinth of tunnels. Address: 475 Trapelo Road, Waltham, Lexington, Belmont, Mass. It was intended to be a self-sufficient farming community for children and adults with intellectual disabilities. The hospital featured a main building, where the administration offices were located, with four wings radiating off both sides of the structure. Built in 1852 and opened in 1854, the Tewksbury State Hospital was originally established as the Tewksbury Almshouse. what records still exist are in the Massachusetts Archives. Over the course of many years, over 40 buildings and structures were built on the property, including a reservoir gatehouse in 1876, a patient cemetery in 1878, Gray Gables in 1898, Grove Hall in 1902, separate buildings for tuberculosis patients in 1906, a laundry building in 1912, a service building in 1919, a pump house in 1921, a power plant and a vegetable storage barn in 1924, a male nurses home in 1927, repair shops dating between 1904-1932, several cottages dating between 1850-1932, a female nurses home in 1930, Farm Hall in 1931, a hay barn in 1951, the Bonner medical building in 1955, Our Lady of Hill Chapel in 1955, a farm garage in 1955, a water tower in 1960, St. Lukes Chapel in 1964, a new laundry building in 1964, as well as an elaborate labyrinth of underground tunnels connecting all of the buildings. Where should I start? In February of 1991, Governor Weld appointed a seventeen-member special commission to study the problem of state-operated hospitals, since it was found that a disproportionate share of the Department of Mental Health budget, about 47%, went to funding its antiquated state hospitals, even though they served just 6% of DMH consumers (Hogarty 7). Poor lady. In 2005, redevelopment of the property began and some of the buildings were demolished to make way for a shopping plaza while the main building was re-purposed as luxury condominiums. 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. Buildings fell into disrepair, which made conditions worse. It was built in 1874 and opened in 1878, staying in business until it was closed in 1992 due to budget cuts. With its peaked towers, labyrinthine corridors, and network of underground tunnels, the abandoned hospital was as creepy as a movie set. It wouldnt be until 1996 when the hospital was finally shut down. To this day people will find teeth laying about throughout the building. It was created by Bill Baldini and called Suffer the Little Children. People across the nation were outraged after viewing this documentary. 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. Even the scenes where one of the characters sits in a library and listens to the tapes of an old patient were filmed in the hospitals coffee room. In 2009, construction began on a new hospital on the site, Worcester Recovery Center & Hospital, which was completed in 2012. By the 1960s, state hospitals had become outdated and unnecessary due to better psychiatric medications, a more enlightened approach to treating mental illness and the establishment of a statewide system of community health centers. After four years of construction, the Danvers State Hospital was officially opened in 1878. Danvers State Hospital was a psychiatric hospital in Danvers, Massachusetts, USA and opened in 1878 at a cost of $1.5 million. I have heard rumors of these tunnels for YEARS and NEVER thought I'd actually be INSIDE one! By 1901, the number of patients had dramatically increased to 1,137. One of the unique things about this facility is the underground tunnels that connect all the buildings. In 1985, the Kirkbride building was abandoned. [1] Nathaniel Jeremiah Bradlee served as the designing architect.[1]. What might have been a dignified transformation of a magnificent structure which was originally built to serve the best intentions, but at times lost its way through human frailty, now is a mere ghost-image of itself. In 2007, the part of the hospital in Lexington was purchased by Avalon Bay in 2007 and re-purposed as luxury apartments. The goal of the facility was to completely cure patients of their ills. im happy to pay for the reproduction of some or all depending on cost. 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. At first, when this article came out, the state decided to reform the facility. From 1992 until 2007 it was abandoned and served as a beacon to thrill-seekers and ghost hunters. Sources:Yohanna, Daniel. There was a tunnel that ran from a steam/power generating plant (which still exists to provide service to the Hogan Regional Center) located at the bottom of the hill running up to the hospital, along with tunnels that connected the male and female nurses homes, the "Gray Gables", Bonner Medical Building, machine shops, pump house, and a few others. Although the ones who started the hospital were well-intentioned, the hospital later reportedly became a very hostile ground for the mentally ill where several inhumaneshock therapies,lobotomies, and drugs were being used on patients just to keep its population under control. The lack of funding continued. Also during this time, the place was decaying and not maintained. The only remnants of the horrific practices that went on in Danvers State Hospital are the gravestones in two nearby cemeteries, which contain 770 bodies. prev | next Danvers State Hospital Page. Session 9 belongs to the former category and it was filmed in the Danvers State Hospital in Danvers, Massachusetts. Wikimedia Commons Danvers State Hospital in 1893. Insane asylums are now called mental or psychiatric hospitals. Only the exterior of the Kirkbride complex was preserved in the demolition, and the cemeteries, several blocked tunnels, and the brick shell of the administration and the D and G wings are all that remain from the original site. The hospital was designed to house 450 patients suffering from various mental illnesses. The living spaces couldnt keep up with the demand of people being admitted to the facility. It was originally built to house 500 patients, but by the 1940s it had over 2,000 patients. After venturing inside the tormented history of Danvers State Hospital, see these haunting photos taken inside asylums of decades past. The overall design, as seen from the air, looked like a bat in mid-flight. Most of the buildings on campus were connected by a confusing labyrinth of underground tunnels. In 1910, the hospital changed its name to the Foxborough State Hospital as it began to transition more towards treating mentally ill patients instead of alcoholics. When they misbehaved, they were put in straight jackets and forgotten. He retired to Topsfield, passed away 1978. But after living there for a few years, some of these children started to suffer from mental health issues. Supposedly they used to lead to the Danvers State mental hospital where the transferred patients with Tuberculosis (and other ailments) to and from the hospital without exposing them to the outside world. Today. In 1954, Dr. Clarence Bonner retired as superintendent. He thanks you for reading his content. This sparked controversy. Im not sure but I think employment records are confidential. 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. and Lois E. Taylor. No one would let them leave and held them against their will. 1902 - one story brick Surgery Building with hipped roof and segmental arched windows to the front But as time went on, Forest Haven became an atrocious place for the patients that lived there. Wright & Potter Printing Co, 1886.Anderson, Katherine and John Duffy. A century later, it was criticized (like so many others like it) for it's overcrowding and maltreatment of patients. There was also a rehab on those same grounds. After further investigation, the family pursued a lawsuit against the state for mistreatment towards their daughter. This guy could have been in management. From 1992 until 2007 it was abandoned, and served as a beacon to thrill-seekers and ghost hunters. ALSO, I realize we are totally wrong about what this tunnel was used for. For more information on historic state hospitals, check out this article on abandoned mental hospitals in Massachusetts. The building remains abandoned but is still standing. Do you know of any such place This would of been in early 1900s. The hospital officially closed in 1975 and the building was used for a variety of purposes until it was abandoned in 1996. At its peak, the facility had 40 buildings and maxed out at 450 patients. In 1978, the hospitals former administration building was partially demolished and re-purposed as a veterinary school known as the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine. 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. J.W. In addition, mentally retarded patients mixed in with the general psychiatric population it was not until around 1980 that they were moved to their own unit.. Originally opened in Philadelphia in 1907, Byberry Mental hospital was built to be a self-sufficient farm for mentally ill patients. In 1909, the Danvers Insane Hospital changed its name again to the Danvers State Hospital. The population of the hospital swelled to 2,360. After having just watched Session 9 yesterday, for the first time, I knew immediately I wanted to do a piece on the building used in the film. During the 1800s, the hill was the home of the Dodge farm, owned by local farmer and Civil War veteran Francis Dodge. Lovecrafts The Thing on the Doorstep. This, in turn, was later the inspiration for Batmans Arkham Asylum.