In 1914, the alcoholic patients were moved to a new facility in Norfolk (Pondville State Hospital) and the Foxborough State Hospital became a psychiatric hospital. I am astounded by the size of these facilities. Previous to Danvers, Dr. May was an Assistant Physician at the Connecticut Hospital for the Insane from 1874-1877, and for 1877 was Acting Superintendent. With its harrowing shots of long dark corridors, chilling underground tunnels, and abutting shots of a massive mental hospital, 'Session 9' (2001) not only scares you with its scintillating psychological horror but also with its purposefully disturbing mise-en-scne. Share Even in death, administrators at Danvers State Hospital did not dignify their patients. In 2009, construction began on a new hospital on the site, Worcester Recovery Center & Hospital, which was completed in 2012. The building was based on the Kirkbride plan with a main building that housed the administrative offices and several wings attached on each side of the main building. 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. The design of the hospital was based on the Kirkbride plan and consisted of a series of nine buildings laid out in a rectangle with an inner courtyard in the middle. Danvers State Hospital Cemetery Danvers, Massachusetts Danvers State Hospita was built in the mid-1800's and operated until 1992. One patient who was there, Anna Jennings, told her doctor that she had been a victim of sexual abuse as a child. 2023 Cinemaholic Inc. All rights reserved. The Metropolitan State Hospital was built in 1927 and opened in 1930. The damage from the fire was estimated to be $60,000. In January,1878 Calvin S. May was appointed its first Superintendent. In 1927, Dr. Clarence Bonner became the superintendent of the hospital. Administrators begged the state for money to build more rooms and hire more staff, to no avail. I have many record stories from my grandfather and from her letters. The design of the hospital was based on the Kirkbride plan and totaled 313,000 square feet in size and 1,100 feet in length. Located in Danvers and first opened in 1878, the Danvers Lunatic Asylum (as it was also called) was an isolated and almost totally self-sufficient hospital. Even if they weren't, it's still heavily populated at this point. Construction on Danvers State Hospital started in 1874 and the first patients moved in sometime in 1878. Wikimedia Commons Danvers State Hospital in 1893. Topographical Sketch of the Grounds of the State Insane Asylum in Danvers Mass, circa 1875. and Lois E. Taylor. Nurses would pull and drag patients by their hair. It was built in 1874, and opened in 1878, under the supervision of prominent Boston architect Nathaniel Jeremiah Bradlee, on an isolated site in rural Massachusetts. It caused some reforms, but it would be another event that caused the closure of Pennhurst. By 1985, the majority of the original hospital wards were closed or abandoned. Forest Haven Asylum was first opened up in 1925. Danvers State Hospital was originally called the State Lunatic Asylum at Danvers (a cheerful name, for sure). My Uncle Ted died in the hospital as well. By the early 1880s, overcrowding had already become an issue, with the hospital housing around 626 patients in 1881 and around 788 patients in 1885, as reported in the 1885 Annual Report of the Trustees of the Danvers Lunatic Hospital: The number of patients sent here has for a considerable time been too large, and the increase continues to exceed all relief from removals.The crowded condition of the hospital was not provided for in its design or construction.. The former Danvers State Hospital is located at 1101 Kirkbride Drive, Danvers, MA 01923. Danvers State Hospital was originally called the State Lunatic Asylum at Danvers (a cheerful name, for sure). Shock therapy and straight jackets became the norm. But after living there for a few years, some of these children started to suffer from mental health issues. Hi Ingrid, That would be Dr. Francis X. Sullivan, my grandfather. Gothic spires rose from eight wings that radiated from a 130 foot central tower. Well, youll be surprised to know how realistic the movies filming location is. When patients died, they were thrown into an unmarked mass grave on the grounds. In 2005, the hospital was purchased by Avalon Bay Development for $12 million with the plan to turn it into an apartment building. Visit this site's About page to find out more about Rebecca. Arcadia Publishing, 2018.Hogarty, Richard A. The property also had an administration building, medical-surgical facility, staff housing, morgue and a power plant. That is, if patients could express their thoughts after having a portion of their brain ripped out during surgery. 2156. e1savage (Atlas Obscura User) Danvers State Hospital opened in 1878 as a mental health hospital, serving some 600 patients under its imposing gothic spires. Patients walked around in a drugged, hellish daze. Nathaniel Jeremiah Bradlee was the designing architect, and he created the hospital at a whopping $1.5 million dollars at the time. This was a REALLY awesome explore though! Lovecraft used Danvers as the inspiration for his Arkham Sanitarium. Also during this time, the place was decaying and not maintained. Grave of patient Annie Babcock, Danvers State Hospital Cemetery, circa 2013, One of the Memorial plaques dedicated to the patients of the Danvers State Hospital, Danvers State Hospital Cemetery, Danvers, Mass. Danvers State Hospital tunnels?? : r/urbanexploration - Reddit Some of the treatments that were performed on patients were shock therapy, lobotomies, and straightjackets. The Danvers State Hospital was a psychiatric hospital located in Danvers, Massachusetts. Construction of the Gothic-style building, made from locally-sourced red Danvers brick, began on May 1, 1874 and took four years to complete at a cost of $1.5 million, during a time when much of the country was still recovering from the financial strain of the Civil War. Again, sorry for the erratic filming and choppy editing on this one (and the lighting, we only had some weak flashlights on hand!) Address: 45 Hospital Road, Medfield, Mass. I always dreaded theese visits. They also originally offered workforce training to patients. One of a new kind of "compassionate care" facilities that viewed mental instability as a . Haunted Danvers, Massachusetts - GhostQuest.net On April 7, 2007, four of the apartment complex buildings and four of Avalon Bay's construction trailers burned down in a large fire visible from Boston, nearly 17mi (27km) away. my sister worked in the old Medfield State hospital in her first job after college. Exploring one of the Danvers MA tunnels. The renovations turned the once-macabre lunatic asylum into Avalon Danvers Apartments. Neurology experts often called Danvers State Hospital the birthplace of the prefrontal lobotomy. The moniker came from its widespread use, but also from the procedures refinement at the hospital. 96, issue 2, Sept. 1939, pp: 283-295, ajp.psychiatryonline.org/doi/10.1176/ajp.96.2.283Corkery, Michael. The following is a list of these abandoned mental hospitals in Massachusetts: Address: 1101 Kirkbride Dr, Danvers, Mass. A senior living complex has since been built on the site where the hospital stood. At its peak, the facility had 40 buildings and maxed out at 450 patients. A Study of Accidents in a Mental Hospital. The American Journal of Psychiatry, vol. Danvers State Insane Asylum, Danvers State Hospital, State Lunatic Hospital at Danvers, Danvers Insane Hospital, historical maps floor plans, aerial maps, wing plans, wards, bonner building plans, male home plans kirkbride plans plot plans, sewer plans, roof plans By the 1880s, the property primarily became a hospital helping both mentally and physically ill patients. The Foxborough State Hospital is an abandoned treatment facility that has since been partially demolished and re-purposed into condominiums. The facility started to decay in the 1960s due to budget cuts. With its harrowing shots of long dark corridors, chilling underground tunnels, and abutting shots of a massive mental hospital, Session 9 (2001) not only scares you with its scintillating psychological horror but also with its purposefully disturbing mise-en-scne. Plan of the Hospital, illustration published in the Annual Report of the Danvers Lunatic Hospital, circa 1886. Hathorne Hill in Danvers, Massachusetts harbors a beautiful Kirkbride building with its gothic-style spires and red brick construction. Looking for stories about Danvers State Hospital : r/Paranormal - Reddit Psychiatric hospitals and asylums are primarily an invention of the 19th century and are now a relic of it as well. Opened in 1889, the Foxborough State Hospital was originally known as the Massachusetts Hospital for Dipsomaniacs and Inebriates, and was used to treat alcoholics, making it the first state-operated facility of its kind. and even the labyrinth of underground tunnels connecting the several buildings. My grandmother lived there until she died. I dont know anyone could not just live there but work there as well. Finally, the state intervened. Creepy Ghost Places: Danvers State Hospital - Soul:Ask Hilltop Cemetery a Lasting Reminder of the Colony. The Gardner News, 8 March, 2012, thegardnernews.com/article/20120308/NEWS/303089614Foxborough State Hospital, Massachusetts Hospital for Dipsomaniacs & Inebriates. NPS.gov, nps.gov/places/foxborough-state-hospital.htmTaunton State Hospital. NPS.gov, nps.gov/places/taunton-state-hospital.htmBarclay, Melinda. During the 1970s, the massive building started to decay and crumble from the lack of upkeep, including the steeple which had to be removed entirely. It wasn't a video I prepared to make. Dr. Calvin S. May was appointed Superintendent through 1880. 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. Lights turning on and off. Danvers State Hospital Kirkbride Complex circa 1893 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. It eventually grew and became a state hospital after the 1920s. 2010, telegram.com/article/20100411/NEWS/4110497Preer, Robert. For more information on Forest Haven Asylum, check out this website. 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). Back then, the tall Romanesque spires of the bat-shaped building housed close to 600 patients. With its peaked towers, labyrinthine corridors, and network of underground tunnels, the abandoned hospital was as creepy as a movie set. 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. Danvers State Hospital, has a very dark past of its own. Despite being included in the National Register of Historic Places in 1984, the majority of the building was demolished in 2007. Danvers State Lunatic Asylum. Entire wards were closed down one by one and patients were shipped off to other facilities when the Department of Mental Health began the process of deinstitutionalizing its state hospitals. I remember looking up the hill and being afraid of that building, with all of it s scarry stories. During the 1800s, the hill was the home of the Dodge . Some of the abuses that were done by the staff were teeth extraction, sexual abuse, beatings with baseball bats, belts, and switches. The only thing that remains of the asylums past is the graveyard on the grounds. I remember visiting my great grandpa there.i was really young. Then & Now: Danvers State Hospital | Danvers, MA Patch Boston Ghosts - Haunted Massachusetts Hospitals Im not 100 percent sure but I doubt it because medical records are supposed to be confidential. Designed in 1874 by noted Boston architect, N.J. Bradlee, it is an implementation of the nationally recognized Kirkbride plan. The building sits on Hathorne Hill, where the judge leading the Salem Witch Trials, John Hathorne, once lived a few hundred years ago. The building remains abandoned but is still standing. Join us as we head to Salem, MA to explore the old Danvers State Hospital and the patient cemetery in Danvers, Massachusetts. Share Occupational therapy and sedative forms of hydrotherapy have also contributed to this program . 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. of corse over the years i would hear the about the things that went on there. 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. The hospital quickly became overcrowded and a new hospital, the Worcester State Hospital, was built in 1876 based on the Kirkbride plan. Built in 1902, the Gardner State Hospital was originally known as the State Colony for the Insane until it changed its name to the Gardner State Hospital in 1935. 0314. The only original buildings that are still standing are the Bryant Building and Hale Building. The dark history behind this former insane asylum in Massachusetts will give you chills. 2 eniugcm 9 yr. ago Yea, I knew they were all condos now. 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. It was supposed to be a self-sufficient place for mentally ill patients to live and thrive. 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. 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. But whatever you call them, most people associate these places with creepiness and fear. i remember when i lived in mass. At first, when this article came out, the state decided to reform the facility. In 1948, the first lobotomy was performed at the hospital and in the 1950s electric shock therapy was introduced. 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 . as an aside, when i was growing up and in college my church group and college sorority held parties for the patients at Eastern State Hospital, the oldest stat hospital in the country, i believe. Danvers State Hospital was a psychiatric hospital in Danvers, Massachusetts, USA and opened in 1878 at a cost of $1.5 million. 5 Notorious Insane Asylums - Psychology Of Crime Built 1871 Architect Nathaniel Jeremiah Bradlee Architectural style Gothic NRHP reference No. No props required for filming apparently. Sources:Yohanna, Daniel. Bonnes left his position at the hospital in January of 1988 when the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health found evidence of lapses in security at the hospital as a result of that incident and another incident in which a female patient was raped by a male patient in a womans restroom. They should, if possible, be near turnpikes or other good roads, or on the line of a railroad. Danvers State Hospital, c.1893 Location Danvers, Massachusetts, United States Coordinates 423452N705828W / 42.581234N 70.974394W / 42.581234; -70. The Trans Alleghany Lunatic Asylum opened its doors in 1863 in Weston, West Virginia. I have heard rumors of these tunnels for YEARS and NEVER thought I'd actually be INSIDE one! I was lucky enough to go into the hospital before construction started roughly ten years ago. New Chief at Danvers Aims High. Boston Globe, 14 March. actress Frances Farmer and her involuntary commitment to a mental hospital. On each side of the main building were the wings, for male and female patients respectively. Originally constructed in 1878, the Danvers State Hospital opened under the original name of the Danvers Lunatic Asylum. An explosion took the lives of an additional 13 miners here, which brought the death toll up to its now 250 lives lost. By 1901, the number of patients had dramatically increased to 1,137. 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. Avalon Bay predicted that they would have properties available for rent or sale by Fall 2007. It looked like a building out of a horror movie. Built in 1892 and opened in May of 1896, the Medfield State Hospital was originally known as the Medfield Insane Asylum until it was renamed in 1914. Danvers State Hospital, originally known as the State Lunatic Hospital at Danvers, was significant in both architectural and social history. Basement 'Tunnel' prev | next Danvers State Hospital Page. I originally posted this in r/northshore but did not receive any replies. Tunnels are blocked permanently and might have even been filled in. Insane Asylums - Atlas Obscura Danvers State Hospital opened in 1878 near Boston, MA. Originally opened in Philadelphia in 1907, Byberry Mental hospital was built to be a self-sufficient farm for mentally ill patients. that was a grim place, but it had porches just like the foxborough hospital. I remember driving up Route 1 in the summer when I was a kid, with my dad., in the 1960s, to go to WatsonS Farm to get fresh corn. 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. 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 Most of the buildings on campus were connected by a labyrinth of tunnels. He thanks you for reading his content. If the name Arkham sounds familiar, DC Comics latched onto the name and created Arkham Asylum as the backdrop for where Batmans ultra-psychotic villains come from. Pinterest. The original steeple, which had been removed in the 1970s, was recreated. Pictures still clinging to the wall of one of the children's rooms in the hospital. It was intended to be a self-sufficient farming community for children and adults with intellectual disabilities. 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). This place gave me an uncomfortable feeling. These five mental institutions live up to the name of creepiness and horror. Im not surprised that it is haunted. 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. Danvers State Hospital - FrightFind The historic Kirkbride was also demolished, with only the outermost brick shell of the administration area (along with the G and D wards on each side) being propped up during demolition and construction while an entirely new structure was built behind and inside of it, leaving the historic Danvers Reservoir and the original brick shell. The hospital was based on the Kirkbride plan and originally consisted of a three story brick building that could house 250 patients. Nov 8, 2016 - The State Lunatic Hospital at Danvers built in 1874 and opened in 1878 on an isolated site in rural Massachusetts. For information on tours, check out this website. Considering the appalling history of insane asylums it makes sense why people find these places creepy. The hospital officially closed in 1975 and the building was used for a variety of purposes until it was abandoned in 1996. By the 1950s, there were 2,400 patients living within the facility. Batavia, Illinois Batavia Depot Museum An exhibit of items. It was designed to be self-contained and somewhat self-sufficient in wintertime, thanks to its own steam power plant at the bottom of the hill. There was also a rehab on those same grounds.