sold the property for $108.5 M to the DSF Group. prev | next Danvers State Hospital Page. The main building was stripped from the inside, but the outer faade still remains. She was put into restraints, which re-traumatized her. . Join us as we head to Salem, MA to explore the old Danvers State Hospital and the patient cemetery in Danvers, Massachusetts. 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. According to a book by Dr. Thomas Story Kirkbride, a physician and mental health advocate who created an institutional model for mental health hospitals in the 19th century, called the Kirkbride Plan, the location and surroundings of such hospitals was essential to their success: It is now well established that this class of hospitals should always be located in the country, not within less than two miles of a town of considerable size, and they should be easily accessible at all seasons. My grandfather apparently went to it maybe during the 40s? 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. of corse over the years i would hear the about the things that went on there. 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. 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. Then read about the real horror story of Bedlam, the Bethlam Royal Hospital. One of a new kind of "compassionate care" facilities that viewed mental instability as a . The Danvers State Hospital was first opened way back in 1878 as a mental health hospital. The hospital consisted of two main central buildings which housed administration with four wings branching off from each side. Administrators begged the state for money to build more rooms and hire more staff, to no avail. As a result, the quality of care began to deteriorate as the overwhelmed staff struggled to control the massive number of patients. 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. Philadelphia: 1854.Third Annual Report of the State Board of Health, Lunacy, and Charity of Massachusetts. Conditions at the hospital grew worse and worse as the administrations pleas for more funding fell on deaf ears. I remember visiting my great grandpa there.i was really young. The hospital was also featured in the video game Painkiller in 2004 and served as the setting for the book Project 17, a fictional story about a group of teenagers who break into the old hospital. I would appreciate any records of his service, including photographs. [7] The DSF Group released plans for the property to undergo further renovations.[7]. It eventually grew and became a state hospital after the 1920s. The only part of the building that remains are the wings that were attached to the administrative building, which are now used as a correctional facility for juveniles with a history of mental illness and violent behavior. Much of the wood from the demolition project was salvaged and recycled into flooring and other millwork.[5]. We just went to see if it were true, and there it was! The Danvers State Hospitals tainted history has found its way into several pop-culture mediums such as movies, video games, comic books, and Lovecraftian novels. Unfortunately, theres no way you can visit this iconic building now as it was demolished in 2006. It was just as cool as if looks in pictures. J.W. The outermost wards were reserved for the most hostile patients. Even in death, administrators at Danvers State Hospital did not dignify their patients. Massachusetts during the industrial revolution, abandoned mental hospitals in Massachusetts, View all posts by Rebecca Beatrice Brooks, Abigail Williams: The Mysterious Afflicted Girl. 5 members in the Danversstatehospital community. Batavia, Illinois Batavia Depot Museum An exhibit of items. It caused some reforms, but it would be another event that caused the closure of Pennhurst. I originally posted this in r/northshore but did not receive any replies. 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. Share 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. Lewis & co, 1888First Annual Report of the Trustees of State Lunatic Hospital at Danvers, 1879Trask, Richard B. Danvers: From 1850 to 1899. 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. The Grafton State Hospital was an abandoned state hospital that has since been partially demolished and re-purposed as educational and employment facilities. For information on tours, check out this website. Watson s was @ the foot of the hill where Danvers State Hospital sat. 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. im happy to pay for the reproduction of some or all depending on cost. 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. There was also a rehab on those same grounds. Are there patient records that can be researched from 1900? Sources:Yohanna, Daniel. The hospital quickly became overcrowded and a new hospital, the Worcester State Hospital, was built in 1876 based on the Kirkbride plan. my sister worked in the old Medfield State hospital in her first job after college. One building remains unused and has partially collapsed but the plot of land it is located on is currently for sale by the state. (I have an even better Danvers State tunnel video on my channel as well. Shock therapy and straight jackets became the norm. [1], The Danvers State Hospital was officially opened in 1878 after four years of construction. 276. The property also had a number of other supportive buildings such as a theater building, chapel, farm, staff residences, and two patient cemeteries. Perhaps that dark history cursed the building that currently sits on Hathorne Hill. With its peaked towers, labyrinthine corridors, and network of underground tunnels, the abandoned hospital was as creepy as a movie set. 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. In 1927, Dr. Clarence Bonner became the superintendent of the hospital. Danvers State Hospital, originally known as the State Lunatic Hospital at Danvers, was significant in both architectural and social history. Printers to the Commonwealth, 1882.Eighth Annual Report of the Trustees of the Danvers Lunatic Hospital for the Year Ending September 30, 1885. The number of patients grew to over 2,000 while the size of the staff remained relatively the same. I haven't been able to stay at my house for over a week because of increased paranormal activity. Medical science saw lobotomies as a cure for anyones insanity, and as a way to stop the deaths. I plan to go back and find more (if there are any more) I was lucky enough to go into the hospital before construction started roughly ten years ago. For more information on Byberry Mental Hospital, check out this website. Similarly, Hank (Josh Lucas) uncovers a treasure trove of . Its good reputation proved to be Danvers undoing. Patients unable to bathe themselves would be left in their own fecal matter for days on end. Massive budget cuts in the 1960s played a major role in the progressive closing of Danvers State hospital. It consisted of a total of 58 buildings on 900 acres of land with thousands of doctors, nurses and support staff. That must have been a terrible place to live. Her doctor acknowledged that that was common to victims of sexual abuse, but refused to release her from the restraints. 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 Doctors and nurses routinely drugged their patients for minor actions. it took my aunt 2 weeks to get her out of that place. The Danvers . It was Kirkbrides belief that this design would help cure more patients and eliminate the darkest, most cheerless and worst ventilated parts of the hospital. Danvers State Hospital Cemetery Danvers, Massachusetts Danvers State Hospita was built in the mid-1800's and operated until 1992. This place gave me an uncomfortable feeling. I am astounded by the size of these facilities. 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. 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 . Former psychiatric hospital in Massachusetts, USA, U.S. National Register of Historic Places, National Register of Historic Places listings in Essex County, Massachusetts, "Longleaf Lumber Salvaged Danvers State Hospital Woods", "Fire at Danvers State Hospital had 'tremendous head start', "Boston group buys Avalon Danvers for $108.5M", "Twenty-Fourth Annual Report of the Trustees of the Danvers Insane Hospital". But as time went on, it became a very disturbing place for the people that lived there. 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. 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. One of the unique things about this facility is the underground tunnels that connect all the buildings. My grandmother Charlotte McIntyre worked and lived at the Colony which was one of the nursing homes that was separate. 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. pic.twitter.com/BGx1pbupQJ, Cam30 (@pccote66) June 27, 2019, Actual photos as it was found for filming of Session 9. Wikimedia Commons Danvers State Hospital in 1893. The idea was that the facility would be self-sustaining, meaning that everything it needed was on site. The facilities slated for closure were: Danvers State Hospital, Northampton State Hospital, Metropolitan State Hospital, Paul A. Dever State School, John T. Berry School, Foxborough campus of Wrentham State School, Cushing Hospital, Lakeville Hospital and Rutland Heights Hospital. The hospital closed in 1976 and the building became the North Central Correctional Institute at Gardner in 1981. The facility was in Laurel, Maryland and operated by the District of Columbia. Rebecca Beatrice Brooks is the author and publisher of the History of Massachusetts Blog. William DeLong is a freelance wordsmith. For more information on historic state hospitals, check out this article on abandoned mental hospitals in Massachusetts. Danvers State Hospital. The Danvers State Hospital was an abandoned psychiatric hospital in Danvers, Mass that has since been partially demolished and re-purposed into apartments and condominiums. Strangely, the judge who presided over the Salem Witch Trials, John Hathorne, also lived here a few hundred years ago. I have many record stories from my grandfather and from her letters. No props required for filming apparently. id like to do an arrangement on a wall of as many as i can find. In 2007, most of the buildings were demolished by the Avalon Bay Communities. Danvers State Hospital Cemetery, Danvers, Mass, in 2013. 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. Danvers State Hospital was a psychiatric hospital built in 1874 on Hathorne Hill, where the Salem Witch Trials judge John Hathorne once lived. In 1907, the Westborough Insane Hospital was renamed the Westborough State Hospital. In January,1878 Calvin S. May was appointed its first Superintendent. that was a grim place, but it had porches just like the foxborough hospital. Construction faced delays in 2007 when a mysterious fire broke out and burned a majority of the new construction and some trailers. The location orginally intended for Winthrop, the work of the Building Commissioners was finished in October,1877 by Mr. Nathaniel J. Bradlee who designed a gothic modification of a Victorian style hospital based on a echelon/Kirkbride plan. 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. The Foxborough State Hospital is an abandoned treatment facility that has since been partially demolished and re-purposed into condominiums. Beautiful building. This was a REALLY awesome explore though! Danvers as it stands today, a much more cheerful place. When shock therapy failed, the lobotomies started. Most of the buildings on campus were connected by a confusing labyrinth of underground tunnels. Danvers State Hospital was a psychiatric hospital built in 1874 on Hathorne Hill, where the Salem Witch Trials judge John Hathorne once lived. The original plan was designed to house 500 patients, with attic space potentially housing 1000 more. Im not surprised that it is haunted. 2006, opacity.us/article44_state_vows_clean_sweep_to_keep_records_out_of_wrong_hands.htmMental Hospital Administrator Had Problems Back East. Moscow-Pullman, 20 Nov. 1990, news.google.com/newspapers?id=t5MrAAAAIBAJ&sjid=vdAFAAAAIBAJ&pg=6320%2C2763883Avert Panic of Mental Patients. The Telegraph, 13 Feb. 1941, news.google.com/newspapers?id=6oxAAAAAIBAJ&sjid=r6QMAAAAIBAJ&pg=5528%2C3083941Bonner, C.A.