11 Haunted Former Asylums And Their Unsettling Pasts

In these often overcrowded facilities, patients were mistreated and subjected to cruel medical experimentation. We explore the dark history of these asylums.

July 22, 2021

By: Beth Braden

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Photo By: Joe Brecker

Photo By: Dakota Laden, Tanner Wiseman, Chelsea Ladena and Alex Schroeder at Sheboygan County Asylum, as seen on Travel Channel's Destination Fear. [via Discovery Inc.]

Photo By: Darryl Dobson

Photo By: Harrisburg State Hospital [via Historic Harrisburg Association]

Photo By: semi-recent photo of Cannon Memorial Hospital [via Appalachian Regional Healthcare System website]

Photo By: The TWC team investigate a massive abandoned hospital in Vicksburg, Mississippi. [via Discovery Inc.]

Photo By: Randolph County Asylum [via Official Randolph County Asylum/Infirmary website]

Photo By: Eloise Asylum [via Eloise Haunted Tours]

Pennhurst Asylum in Spring City, Pennsylvania

The sprawling campus of “The Eastern Pennsylvania Institution for the Feeble Minded and Epileptic,” later known as the Pennhurst Asylum, first opened its doors in 1908 before closing in 1987. The facility was overcrowded and understaffed, leading to horrific patient abuse that wasn’t taken seriously by the public until a news reporter gained access for an exposé in the 1960s.

To learn more about the sordid history of this asylum, stream the "Pennhurst State School" episode of Destination Fear on discovery+.

Rolling Hills Asylum in Bethany, New York

Originally opened as a poorhouse for disadvantaged residents in Genesee County, New York, the facility soon expanded to include people with mental disabilities. Its residents, referred to as “inmates” no matter the reason they lived at Rolling Hills, were forced to work on the farm and in the woodshop building caskets for use at the facility and to be sold to nearby funeral homes. Zak Bagans and the Ghost Adventures crew found malevolent spirits and evidence of satanic rituals when they dove into the former asylum.

Stream the "Roling Hills Asylum" episode of Ghost Adventures on discovery+ to learn more.

Sheboygan County Asylum in Sheboygan Falls, Wisconsin

The site of the old Sheboygan County Comprehensive Health Care Center isn’t even the first asylum in the area, but it is the most recent. When the new center was built in 1940, it housed elderly residents as well as people with developmental disabilities. During WWII, the site also housed German and Italian prisoners of war who were forced to work on the grounds. The caregiving work was known to be grueling and several nurses died by suicide. The spirits who remain do not want visitors.

To learn more, stream the "Sheboygan County Asylum" episode of Destination Fear on discovery+.

Asylum 49 in Tooele, Utah

Half of the Tooele hospital is a nursing home and the other half has been turned into a haunted house called Asylum 49. The haunted house half opened in 2006 while nursing home residents occupied the other half until 2017. It may be make-believe at Asylum 49, but the ghosts who reside in the abandoned nursing home are as real in death as they were in life.

To learn more about the history of this haunted facility, stream the "Asylum 49" episode of Ghost Adventures on discovery+.

Odd Fellows Asylum in Liberty, Missouri

As seen on Travel Channel's Kindred Spirits, this aslyum housed both the old and the young when they opened an elderly care home and an orphanage at the turn of the 20th century, and while the orphanage closed in the 1950s, the nursing home was in operation until 1993. A cemetery on the grounds is the final resting place for more than 600 people. Do they haunt the winery and inn that currently occupies the main building?

For more on the haunted history of this asylum, stream the "Odd Fellows Asylum" episode of Ghost Adventures on discovery+.

Peoria State Hospital in Bartonville, Illinois

Operating for 70 years, the sprawling campus of Peoria State Hospital was the home of thousands of patients. Legend has it one of the resident ghosts is Manuel A. Bookbinder, a patient who was on the burial crew and cried for each fellow patient he helped bury. The paranormal investigators of Ghost Asylum were the last investigative crew allowed into the shuttered facility before it was demolished.

Stream the "Peoria State Hospital" episode of Ghost Asylum on discovery+ to learn more.

Cannon Memorial Hospital in Banner Elk, North Carolina

Nestled into the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina, the old Cannon Memorial Hospital was abandoned more than 20 years ago. Despite the neglected property’s status as “for sale,” nobody has been brave enough to purchase the property. Investigators went inside after local reports of hauntings and found they had to confront the evil still lurking within the red brick walls.

For more on the haunted history of this asylum, stream the "Cannon Memorial Hospital" episode of Ghost Asylum on discovery+.

Kuhn State Hospital in Vicksburg, Mississippi

Kuhn State Hospital’s history is marked by disease and tragedy. Originally opened in response to an 1832 smallpox outbreak, the facility went on to treat injured Civil War soldiers as well as yellow fever, and people with mental disabilities. The hospital was finally closed in 1989. With so much death on the property, investigators encountered a particularly talkative spirit in the morgue.

To learn more, stream the "Kuhn State Hospital" episode of Ghost Asylum on discovery+.

Randolph County Asylum in Winchester, Indiana

It was opened as a place to warehouse single mothers, the poor, the elderly, orphans, and people with disabilities, and that’s exactly what the Randolph County Asylum did for more than 100 years. Its history includes reports of deaths by suicide, homicide, and other unexplainable or tragic deaths of residents. The souls who remain, some of them likely belonging to bodies in unmarked graves, are eager to tell their stories.

Start streaming the "Randolph County infirmary" episode of Destination Fear on discovery+ learn more.

Eloise Asylum in Westland, Michigan

Eloise Asylum holds the distinction of being the first asylum in the United States to practice lobotomies on its residents with mental disabilities. The facility was designed to hold just 2,500 people, but became overcrowded with 3,800 people. The asylum grounds are home to a mass graveyard with more than 7,000 graves marked only with numbers. During an investigation, ghost hunters were able to make contact with the spirit of a man whose death was noted in a local newspaper.

Stream the "Eloise Psychiatric Hospital" episode of Destination Fear on discovery+ to learn more.

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11 Haunted Former Asylums And Their Unsettling Pasts

Related To:

Shop This Look

Pennhurst Asylum in Spring City, Pennsylvania

Rolling Hills Asylum in Bethany, New York

Sheboygan County Asylum in Sheboygan Falls, Wisconsin

Asylum 49 in Tooele, Utah

Odd Fellows Asylum in Liberty, Missouri

Peoria State Hospital in Bartonville, Illinois

Cannon Memorial Hospital in Banner Elk, North Carolina

Kuhn State Hospital in Vicksburg, Mississippi

Randolph County Asylum in Winchester, Indiana

Eloise Asylum in Westland, Michigan

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