May 14, 2024
The first federally owned psychiatric hospital in the U.S., The Government Hospital for the Insane opened in 1855 in Washington DC. Though the expansive campus is undergoing redevelopment, many buildings remain in a state of decay–awaiting their turn for repurposing. And like the many historic large and overcrowded psychiatric complexes Read more…
December 4, 2022
Long overdue, another visit to Kings Park Psychiatric Center! I’m happy to report on some new interiors as access points continue to change. Building 90: Business Office & Personnel Office Though I have been inside these connected structures, this was a first venture to the upper floor. The hallways were Read more…
March 19, 2022
When Building 93 was completely vacated in 1996, only 1/3 of the massive 13 floor structure was in use. Like many large psychiatric hospitals, the advent of psychotropic drugs returned many patients back to their homes. It was Chlorpromazine, or Thorazine, that was the first to offer mentally ill patients Read more…
A quick stop up top of Building 29, Kings Park’s power plant. I was kind of scared by this tremendous half pipe Deep, dark decay Buttons and gages Pretty faded pastels Supplies At Pilgrim State now. I couldn’t resist hitting two farm colonies in one day. But there were kids Read more…
The quest to get in all the remaining structures at The Kings Park State Hospital, aka KPPC, continues! Building 7: Medical-Surgical-X-ray Labs & Clinic It was first back to the morgue–on the ground floor of Building 7. From there we spread out into portions of Building 21, the Brooklyn units. Read more…
October 17, 2021
All I wanted for my birthday during my Long Island Celebration was a trip to the morgue at Kings Park. Am I nuts? Kind of I suppose. But first a waiting in the car selfie on a glorious autumn day… Ok, so the goal was to enter Building 7 again Read more…
May 3, 2020
After my first visit to Letchworth Village in February, I knew that I would soon return. The expansive cluster of accessible remnants to the asylum for the physically and mentally disabled that was established over 100 years ago seems destined for eventual demolition… like in your next step through its Read more…
May 2, 2020
Creepy places on a beautiful day? Yes please. Emboldened by company and the bright blue sky, I watched the peeling paint in Rockland State Hospital‘s staff quarters. Following the sun’s rays out and about, there was just so much to explore. I wanted to take that hutch. We found it Read more…
April 5, 2020
This week’s photo excursion: the abandoned Harlem Valley State Hospital in Wingdale in New York’s Dutchess County. The hospital’s history, dating back to 1924, is much like the history of the State’s other rural farm colonies. Sprawling self-sufficient campus, catch-all for the “insane,” insulin shock therapy, eletro-shock therapy, ice-pick lobotomies Read more…
March 29, 2020
Every time I return to Staten Island Farm Colony’s remains it’s more brightly colored than the last. Because everyone is quarantining and it’s raining, I hoped I could have it all to myself–and I did. Though there was a shiny new fence securing my usual entrance off the Greenbelt Recreation Read more…
February 3, 2020
Letchworth Village, established 1911 in Rockland County, New York, is a decaying farm colony that was once a progressive solution to caring for the physically and mentally disabled. And like Staten Island’s Willowbrook State School, the hospital’s treatment of its most vulnerable patients –children– prompted major legislative reforms in the Read more…
February 2, 2020
I hatched a scheme to take myself on another abandoned photography mission in light of a Sunday that would surely have lighter traffic. And it turned out to be perfect timing, with sunshine for my early start and heavy foreboding clouds behind the many decaying structures I’d meet with enthusiasm. Read more…
January 31, 2020
My report on Long Island’s Farm Colonies continues with an introductory visit to the former grounds of The Central Islip State Hospital. Like Kings Park State Hospital, Pilgrim State Hospital, and Edgewater State Hospital (not yet explored though mostly demolished and captured on video), the sprawling colony was intended to Read more…
January 20, 2020
Back in Staten Island? Well, my list of places to see and things to eat grew quickly. Very, very quickly. With a full day of exploration, it’d take three different posts to house the highlights. Starting with the abandoned parts of the active Bayley Seton Hospital in Stapleton. The campus Read more…
September 26, 2015
**Updated for 2020** This post has received a lot of traffic since I first posted it in 2015, but more so recently. I have since discovered that it is now a retail “community center.” Considering the continued interest, I unearthed more shots from my visit in honor of the now Read more…