Okay, so it doesn't look so spooky in this picture, but this is in fact a "supposedly" haunted, former insane asylum.
I work in the Seattle area, but my company's headquarters is in this building in Massachusetts - the partially renovated "Foxborough State Hospital".
It originally opened in 1889 to treat alcoholics and was called the "Massachusetts Hospital for Dipsomaniacs and Inebriates". By 1910 though, it had been renamed the Foxborough State Hospital and was solely dedicated to treating psychiatric disorders, and it served in that capacity throughout the dark days of American psychiatric treatment until it was closed in 1976.
It's been abandoned for the last 30 years or so, and given its history, general creepiness and New England location (just a hop, skip and a jump from Salem after all) it's not surprising that it's rumored to be haunted. And hey, if someone, whilst among the living, was strapped to a gurney or confined to a straitjacket or padded room, or given a lobotomy or weird drugs that messed with their brain - and now they want to do a little haunting or have some unresolved issues, far be it from me to tell them to "go towards the light" (I bet ghosts hate hearing that).
Well, ghosts or not, some enterprising developers had the bright idea of converting the complex into office space, townhomes and apartments (oooh...I see the makings of a horror movie here). Well - Mr. Renovation had a little run in with Mr. Recession and so at this stage, most of the complex is still boarded up and abandoned.
And so, given the interesting history of the place, when I was there for a week last month, me and my feeble cell phone camera did a bit of exploring to see if there were any ghosts.
There are lots of these pathways between buildings. The hallway above is unfinished on the inside and aside from the front shown here, those buildings behind are still run down and boarded up.
Crematorium?
Here's a partial view from the back of the complex. Someone told me this used to be a crematorium, but I doubt that.
This is typical of the many abandoned buildings in the complex.
Here's one with the door missing - well, I don't need any more of an invitation than that...better look inside!
I expected to find rats at least, but only found a bunch of junk...
Obligatory arm's length cell phone shot.
Rooms like these will make nice townhomes someday, I suppose.
... and any self-respecting haunted, insane asylum needs a morgue.
(There's a graveyard somewhere too, but I couldn't find it and I didn't want to creep out my co-workers by asking for directions).
A local urchin exploring like I was, I guess - kind of weird though ...
So, the verdict? Interesting and a little creepy, but alas - no ghosts that I could find.
Well, when I get out there again I'll give it another look. Maybe I have to go at night or take an ectoplasm detector or something!
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This has me shivering and wanting to get back under the covers, but it's too pretty today.
Foxboro may well have its own set of hauntings, but Salem can't be blamed--Myself, I blame the Patriots.
Nope - it's in Foxborough/Foxboro (every other sign in the town spells it differently) - it's actually about half a mile from the Stadium. And yes, Foxoborough is about two hours from Salem, but for someone from the west coast that counts as a hop, skip and a jump.
I actually visited Salem a few years back (have friends in Marblehead) and enjoyed it. Toured the Nathanial Hawthorne house and later read a great book on the Salem witch trials (A Delusion of Satan, by Francis Hill).
Sirenita,
Yes, there's something tempting about abandoned places - there's an old army fort near where I grew up and as kids we liked to rummage through the abandoned barracks there.
I found it especially odd that there was a mirror intact in that building I looked in - maybe it was put there more recently, because I can't imagine a large mirror surviving for decades in there given that I'm sure local kids rummaged around in these buildings a lot. And I know that when I was a kid, if I'd have found a large piece of glass or a mirror inside an old building - smasho!
Just south of Tacoma are the remains of the Washington State Hospital where the lobotomy was first pioneered. No need to go to Massachusetts to get your scare on! My friends and I will be revisiting the place soon and will post up video. We've started a blog on Open Salon for it: A Year of Weekends.
Love your stuff! Rated. Clicking an ad ...
yes, I've heard and read several pieces over the years regarding lobotomies and the horrendous treatment of the mentally ill during the middle of the last century. Strange and dehumanizing, but on the other hand I guess if you work with people who are batsh&* crazy and perhaps violent too, then after awhile it's easier to stop seeing them as human. Unfortunate.
Lana,
In fact, I saw online somewhere that there were four different graveyards. And the pictures of them online made it seem as if they would be fairly easy to find. Given that I don't think it's legal to just build over the top of graveyards, they're either still there or else maybe the developers have moved the graves - which seems unlikely given the cost. Anyway, I figured that the next time i go there I'm going to print out the pictures of the graveyards and see if that helps me locate them.
voicegal,
the room that I said might make a good townhome some day, that's MJ's face (from Thriller video) lurking in the dark to the right of the picture.
(and a confession here - a couple of the pics above I actually pulled from online - for dramatic effect, such as the morgue. supposedly it's still there, but I couldn't find it.)
But then I suspect we live in a holographic universe.