danvers state hospital tunnels
Again, sorry for the erratic filming and choppy editing on this one (and the lighting, we only had some weak flashlights on hand!) Join us as we head to Salem, MA to explore the old Danvers State Hospital and the patient cemetery in Danvers, Massachusetts. 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. For more information on the history of Danvers State Hospital, check out this website. My Uncle Ted died in the hospital as well. 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. She was put into restraints, which re-traumatized her. Designed in 1874 by noted Boston architect, N.J. Bradlee, it is a handsome and intact implementation of the nationally recognized Kirkbride plan. People werent being cured. 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. 96, issue 2, Sept. 1939, pp: 283-295, ajp.psychiatryonline.org/doi/10.1176/ajp.96.2.283Corkery, Michael. 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. Construction started the following year during which six of the original eight wards of the Kirkbride building were demolished, as well as the male and female nurses homes, the two hospital chapels, the Bonner medical building, the male and female tuberculosis cottages, the mechanics garage, the laundry building, the Gray Gables, the gymnasium and the kitchen. Department of Mental Health, Danvers State Hospital, 1938Laidler, John. Avalon Bay predicted that they would have properties available for rent or sale by Fall 2007. They should, if possible, be near turnpikes or other good roads, or on the line of a railroad. Strangely, the judge who presided over the Salem Witch Trials, John Hathorne, also lived here a few hundred years ago. After 1918, a hospital cemetery was built on state land near the Charles River, which still exists in a grove of trees off of Route 127. The report also states the daily population of the hospital in 1939 was 2,360, an increase from the previous year, and the number of patients who died in the hospital that year totaled 278. (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.) A century later, it was criticized (like so many others like it) for it's overcrowding and maltreatment of patients. In 1956, Chlorpromazine (Thorazine) was introduced to treat schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders. Often referred to today as "the Witches' Castle on the Hill", Danvers State Lunatic Asylum was built in 1878 on a site which was originally in Salem Village - the first actual location of the Salem Witch Trials in 1962. Its good reputation proved to be Danvers undoing. The following year, a state study determined that the building although impressive, is neither appropriate for or capable of cost-effective rehabilitation for modern hospital standards,. Danvers State Mental Hospital was built by prominent architect Nathaniel Jeremiah Bradlee from Boston, in an extremely rural, out-of-the-way location called Hathorne Hill. The hospital officially closed in 1975 and the building was used for a variety of purposes until it was abandoned in 1996. In 1958, another building, the Bryant Building, was added to the property to expand the hospital. Originally constructed to help ease overcrowding at other nearby state hospitals, Medfeld eventually became overcrowded itself by the 1930s and 40s, with over 2,300 patients residing there. 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. The design supposedly helped draw breezes through the entire facility. The facility was in Laurel, Maryland and operated by the District of Columbia. Patients were put into solitary confinement and put into restraints. But you pretty much get a good idea of what it's like to be inside the tunnel! 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. 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. 2005, www.wsj.com/articles/SB112242767408496949Brown, Francis H. The Medical Register of New England. Fortunately, Hathorne Hill met all of these requirements, as it was the site of a large farm in the countryside on a scenic hill yet it was in close proximity to Salem and Boston and nearby railroads and good roads. i work @ a nursing home in danvers and would have to drive by danver state hosiptal to get home i would wonder why it was still standing at the time . my great grandparent had a country home near there and my grandmother could hear them wailing at nightthey were the FRANK W WEBB FAMILY who also had an intown home on beacon hill. I always dreaded theese visits. 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. Tunnels of Traverse City State Hospital A subterranean world of tunnels links several buildings of this rare 19th-century asylum. We grew up in Lynnfield, knew that it was the asylum, never put together that Hathorne (State School) was related to a witch trial judge. The Danvers State Hospital was first opened way back in 1878 as a mental health hospital. With its peaked towers, labyrinthine corridors, and network of underground tunnels, the abandoned hospital was as creepy as a movie set. Between its closure . From 1992 until 2007 it was abandoned, and served as a beacon to thrill-seekers and ghost hunters. The Danvers State Lunatic Asylum was one of the many psychiatric hospitals built in the state of Massachusetts during the Industrial Revolution; that is before the turn of the century. The goal of the facility was to completely cure patients of their ills. Occupational therapy and sedative forms of hydrotherapy have also contributed to this program . The Metropolitan State Hospital was built in 1927 and opened in 1930. He thanks you for reading his content. Danvers State Hospital, Danvers, Mass, circa 2013. 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. Is there any record of the former employees? and she did .i am glad that place is gone i could never live there knowing what went on there. By the late 1930s and 1940s, over 2,000 patients were being housed, and overcrowding was severe. We were just so shocked we were inside the tunnel that I didn't really think much about the video while I was recording. 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. Definitely a surreal experience to be inside them!! 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. The former Danvers State Hospital is located at 1101 Kirkbride Drive, Danvers, MA 01923. The hospital opened on May 1st, 1878 and the hospitals first patients arrived on May 13th. my grandmother had cancer . Psychiatric hospitals and asylums are primarily an invention of the 19th century and are now a relic of it as well. Jun 13, 2014 - The tunnels under Danvers State Mental Hospital in Danvers, Massachusetts. As a result, the quality of care began to deteriorate as the overwhelmed staff struggled to control the massive number of patients. The population of the hospital swelled to 2,360. Danvers was built in the mid-1800s and operated until 1992. Rebecca Beatrice Brooks is the author and publisher of the History of Massachusetts Blog. 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. Many of the Commonwealth institutions for the developmentally delayed and the mentally ill at the time were designed with tunnel systems, to be self-sufficient in wintertime. The Plymouth County Hospital: A Story of What It Once Was. The Hanson Tunk, Hanson Historical Society Newsletter, Summer 2013, hansonhistoricalsociety.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/tunksummer2013.pdfDeSorgher, Richard. In 1939, it was renamed the Tewksbury State Hospital and Infirmary and in 1959 it became the Tewksbury Hospital, which it remains today. i live in the old foxborough Dispsomaniac & Inebriates hospital and would love a picture of it. Similarly, Hank (Josh Lucas) uncovers a treasure trove of . Arcadia Publishing, 2018.Hogarty, Richard A. The living spaces couldnt keep up with the demand of people being admitted to the facility. The original plan was designed to house 500 patients, with attic space potentially housing 1000 more. After further investigation, the family pursued a lawsuit against the state for mistreatment towards their daughter. Sorry. Portions of Danvers State Hospital were shut down in 1969. It's a different, more in depth, creepier tnnel that goes all. Then there was a time, when they had an open house christmas party for the staff and patients and but that didnt set right with me or my younger sister on going to this, but was picking up my mom at that time. Nathaniel Jeremiah Bradlee was the designing architect, and he created the hospital at a whopping $1.5 million dollars at the time. The hospital was closed in 1993 and by 2007 the buildings were all demolished. In 1974, 20 orphans were relocated to Forest Haven. 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. 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 Mental Hospital . Eventually, Forest Haven was shut down in 1991. 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. Finally, read up on actress Frances Farmer and her involuntary commitment to a mental hospital. 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. When it opened in 1878, it was considered a cutting edge facility for the treatment of mental health. id like to do an arrangement on a wall of as many as i can find. Visit this site's About page to find out more about Rebecca. In 1909, the Danvers Insane Hospital changed its name again to the Danvers State Hospital. 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! I dont know anyone could not just live there but work there as well. 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. Hi Ingrid, That would be Dr. Francis X. Sullivan, my grandfather. 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 . It eventually grew and became a state hospital after the 1920s. Incorporated in 1884, the Westborough State Hospital was originally known as the Westborough Insane Hospital. Under the plan, the remaining patients at Danvers State Hospital were to be moved to Tewksbury Hospital, which had about 200 empty beds. The following major additions to the Kirkbride Complex were also made: 1897- compatibly designed, three story brick annexes to the ends of high security wings A and J, presumably to house additional chronic patients. ALSO, I realize we are totally wrong about what this tunnel was used for. pic.twitter.com/9pw3vmEvfL. Place was creepy even now. Danvers State Lunatic Asylum. Back then, the tall Romanesque spires of the bat-shaped building housed close to 600 patients. Gothic spires rose from eight wings that radiated from a 130 foot central tower. 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. No one would let them leave and held them against their will. After venturing inside the tormented history of Danvers State Hospital, see these haunting photos taken inside asylums of decades past. Does anyone have information of a Parker Smith who worked there I believe in the early 1900s 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. 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. In 1989, the Kirkbride building was shuttered after the remaining patients were moved to the Bonner medical building. Danvers State Hospital. Rebecca Beatrice Brooks is the author and publisher of the History of Massachusetts Blog. Buildings fell into disrepair, which made conditions worse. The dark history behind this former insane asylum in Massachusetts will give you chills. Yesterdays Grim Asylums, Tomorrows Grand Apartments. Wall Street Journal, 27 July. The left wing of the building was destroyed and the right wing was partially damaged during a fire in 1991. A Study of Accidents in a Mental Hospital. The American Journal of Psychiatry, vol. In December 2005, the property was sold to AvalonBay Communities, a residential apartment developer. Lovecraft's novel, Arkham Sanitarium , and Batman's Arkham . The Grafton State Hospital was built in 1901. I plan to go back and find more (if there are any more) I am astounded by the size of these facilities. Construction was seriously delayed in 2007 after a mysterious fire broke out on the property and burned down most of the newly constructed building and some of the construction trailers on site. Lovecrafts short story The Thing on the Doorstep. The Trans Alleghany Lunatic Asylum opened its doors in 1863 in Weston, West Virginia. A few of the original buildings still remain standing and are unused, such as the former hospital auditorium. The hospital is now a condo complex, but these tunnels are about a mile away. The hospital closed down in 1976 and the administrative building in the center of the complex burned in 2006 and was torn down. The patients regimen involved exercise and the creation of elaborate gardens. Forest Haven Asylum was first opened up in 1925. It consisted of a total of 58 buildings on 900 acres of land with thousands of doctors, nurses and support staff. 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. in journalism. It was originally built to house 500 patients, but by the 1940s it had over 2,000 patients. With the increase in patients the staff didnt put an emphasis on sanitation. None of them had mental health issues. The generating equipment located in the power house has long reached its peak of efficiency and letters have been sent to the Department of Mental Health reporting the fact that our generating equipment is aged and may fail at any time in its function, The problem of destruction by disturbed patients has received careful attention. Poor lady. Terri Lee Halderman had been a patient at Pennhurst. of corse over the years i would hear the about the things that went on there. Doors slamming. i believe my grandmother was sent there from saugas hospital. Prominent Boston architect Nathaniel J. Bradlee was chosen for the project and construction plans were soon drawn up. We just went to see if it were true, and there it was! Sometime before the turn of the century the hospital changed its name to the Danvers Insane Hospital. My grandmother Charlotte McIntyre worked and lived at the Colony which was one of the nursing homes that was separate. The property also had a number of other supportive buildings such as a theater building, chapel, farm, staff residences, and two patient cemeteries. These five mental institutions live up to the name of creepiness and horror. But whatever you call them, most people associate these places with creepiness and fear. Share Nurses would pull and drag patients by their hair. 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. Exploring one of the Danvers MA tunnels. The lack of funding continued. By means of better segregation of patients, better supervision on the part of nurses and attendants, the use of special garments and the use of bed care for denudative patients, a considerable reduction in destruction has been obtained. 0314. Touch device users, explore by touch . 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. Pictures still clinging to the wall of one of the children's rooms in the hospital. 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. 2010, telegram.com/article/20100411/NEWS/4110497Preer, Robert. It is now a renovated apartmen. One building remains unused and has partially collapsed but the plot of land it is located on is currently for sale by the state. With the increase in patients came the increase in inhumane treatments. Did they lose money or show positive cash flow? Patients unable to bathe themselves would be left in their own fecal matter for days on end. Where should I start? People can tour the decrepit building and grounds. Perhaps the tormented spirits of the dead put a curse on the place. Built in 1852 and opened in 1854, the Tewksbury State Hospital was originally established as the Tewksbury Almshouse. Plans for the other sections of the property include a golf course or open green space. The facility that once housed Danvers State Hospital is now home to a residential community featuring fully renovated apartments. Danvers State Hospital, Danvers, Mass, date unknown. Arcadia Publishing, 2002American Biography: a New Cyclopedia, Volume 5. Danvers was a success at first. (I have an even better Danvers State tunnel video on my channel as well. 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. When it started out, Danvers was renowned for its modern treatments and superb patient care, but it wasn't long before the asylum fell victim to lack of funding . In 2018, Arcadia Publishing published the book Danvers State Hospital as part of its Images of America series. 2016, telegram.com/news/20160624/westboro-state-hospital-has-long-history-but-many-are-looking-toward-futureHammel, Lee. The commission conducted an inspection of 31 facilities and held 15 hours of public hearings on the matter. . The Hell House on the Hill (one of several unkind yet accurate nicknames for Danvers State Hospital) looks brand-new today. So this video is unlike my usual videos. 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. But after living there for a few years, some of these children started to suffer from mental health issues. 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. With the increase in patients came the increase in inhumane treatments. During the 1800s, the hill was the home of the Dodge farm, owned by local farmer and Civil War veteran Francis Dodge. Im told that a portion of this building was a reform school. Basement 'Tunnel' prev | next Danvers State Hospital Page. Much of the wood from the demolition project was salvaged and recycled into flooring and other millwork.[5]. The Danvers State Hospital remained abandoned for 13 years as it continued to fall into disrepair. Her doctor acknowledged that that was common to victims of sexual abuse, but refused to release her from the restraints. . 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. 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. In 1994, the hospital was added to the National Register of Historic places and it officially closed its doors on April 3, 2003. He was injured in the war. By 1985, the majority of the original hospital wards were closed or abandoned. Some of the treatments that were performed on patients were shock therapy, lobotomies, and straightjackets. 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. This is primarily due to a deinstitutionalization movement that began in the 1960s which was spurred by three factors: the belief that asylums were cruel and inhumane, improvements in psychiatric medications and the desire to reduce state and federal spending. 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. Even if they weren't, it's still heavily populated at this point. So this video was VERY spur-of-the-moment. 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. 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. He retired to Topsfield, passed away 1978. Boston: Cupples and Hurd, 1888.Cregg Probes Mystery Death, Danvers State Hospital. The Telegraph, 28 Sept, 1934, https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=Ah5AAAAAIBAJ&sjid=oqQMAAAAIBAJ&pg=7167%2C5832183Diesenhouse, Susan. The original hospital, known as the Worcester Lunatic Asylum, was built in 1833 which makes it the first state hospital built in Massachusetts. Danvers State Hospital was one of many hospitals built in Massachusetts during the industrial revolution. The Gardner State Hospital was an abandoned state hospital that has since been re-purposed into a prison. Address: 45 Hospital Road, Medfield, Mass. Most of the buildings on campus were connected by a labyrinth of tunnels. Her parents noticed that she had bruises on her arms. By 1945, the Grafton State Hospital had 1,730 patients and 250 staff and a sprawling property with numerous buildings. 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. Here is another website with more information on the grisly details of patients abuse. Doctors and nurses routinely drugged their patients for minor actions. 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.
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