SCOUTING
FIELD NOTES

Scouting An Abandoned Mental Asylum: A Visit To The Rockland Psychiatric Center, Part 1

01/25/2011

I gotta admit, when I see a pair of worn iron gates…

…what looks like an abandoned property in the distance…

…and the side entrance slightly ajar…

…ancient, rusted-over NO TRESPASSING signs might as well say ENTER HERE.

What I didn’t realize is that these gates surround a massive, 600 acre insane asylum from the 1920’s – and nearly all of it abandoned.

(huge pan – click for larger sizes!)

This is the Rockland County Psychiatric Center, built in 1927, and “sprawling” does not do it justice. Here’s the facility in its heyday, and yes, that’s its own power plant in the distance:

At its peak year in 1959, Rockland Psychiatric had 9,000 residents and a staff of 2,000. Today, most of the facility is empty, left to decay as roots and vines slowly overtake it.

Rockland Psych is one of the most amazing places I’ve ever visited in New York, if for no better reason than it set my imagination firing like crazy.

Though the buildings may be boarded up, the place is heavy with history, and you can feel it in the air.

Visiting Rockland Psych is also like taking a trip back in time, as so wonderfully little has changed. Even little details, like these awesome street lights…

…made me feel I should be driving an old jalopy to pick up my buddy Norman Bates from his weekly session.

Very few places I’ve been to have offered such an all-encompassing out-of-time experience as simply driving down this long, snow-covered road past boarded up buildings:

(huge pan – click for larger sizes!)

I couldn’t stop thinking of questions: how many thousands of patients had passed through Rockland Psych during its operation?

How many had been subjected to primitive, often barbaric treatments like electroshock and lobotomization, both of which were employed at Rockland as “state-of-the-art”?

And man did it set the mood when I climbed up on this heavily gated porch and peered through a window into a shadowy room…

…and saw this on a chalk board:

Please don’t think I’m giving this property a hard time – the architecture is absolutely gorgeous, and it’s only the disrepair and neglect that gives it that haunting feeling. And enjoy it while you can…

It seems that Orangeburg has basically agreed to tear a massive amount of it down in favor of senior citizen condos…

(huge pan – click for larger sizes!)

…as seen in this lovely picture below, which I’m sure absolutely mimics the reality of the project (does anyone else get the feeling The Smurfs are about to walk into the frame?):

I’m not going to get into what a loss this would be in terms of both history and craftsmanship. I get way too passionate about these things when it seems like so few care – hell, I couldn’t even find a mention of the demolition on the Rockland County Historical Society website (though if I missed it, please point me in the right direction).

Instead, I’ll just take you on a tour of what I had the pleasure of seeing.

(huge pan – click for larger sizes!)

The Rockland complex literally has secrets at every corner waiting to be discovered…

Not only is this window-lined hallway fascinating in itself…

…Later, while processing the pictures in Photoshop, I noticed something amazing: hidden in the shadows along the upper walls are these hand-painted scenes from NY history:

Another, showing Henry Hudson’s Half Moon ship:

More windows, and a forgotten pirate hat:

Many of the ends of buildings have little pavilions. Seems pleasant, until you notice the heavy bars preventing escape (note the little trap door for deliveries on the right):

More barred windows. You weren’t going anywhere…

A forgotten table:

Judging by the wall art, I’m guessing this was a school at one point:

Not many remain, but I love the gold and brown carved signs around the complex, which remind me of the National Parks motif:

As you can see in these satellite pictures, the buildings are all constructed in very interesting patterns…

Another:

Many of the buildings in the north-east corner meet in a cross, which seems to me like a ton of space for hallways:

But space was clearly a luxury here, and the windows must have really opened the place up, especially for patients who weren’t allowed out much:

A door that hasn’t been opened in some time, judging by the trees that have grown in front of it:

As you make your way to complex’s center, the buildings feel more austere, as if this is where the real treatment took place:

Many of the buildings have beautiful terra cotta entrances…

…which I’m sure the town is going to recycle when they tear this all down:

Inside, lots of chipped paint. I love the enormous wooden glassed door:

Another room, with chipped paint in the way that Hollywood loves to fake in all of its run down asylums. Note the plaid curtains on the rear window:

Another building:

Love this fire escape…

…Especially when you get up close:

I suppose it was a better sign if you were put in this ward…

…as opposed to this one:

I thought this was incredibly cool too: this building (which feels like a dorm to me) is U-shaped, and if you look into the middle…

…you’ll see what has to be one of the coolest parking spots in New York, lined on both sides with 30 foot trees:

Another beautiful building:

The stairway:

Nearby is the classroom with the “I’m Scared” chalkboard…

I love the whimsical eyeglasses-wearing mouse…

…and these other animals…

…which include probably the most psychotic looking bear I’ve ever seen (those rabbits are a little creepy too).

Haha, that bear makes me laugh every time I see it. Look at it again! Hee hee…

Another arched building nearby…

…has an awesome pair of doors (“yes, we’d like the triangle wedge design, please”):

Inside, more ruins (though the wood-paneling looks like it was purchased yesterday!):

Does someone out there knows what this device does (I’m guessing sterilization)?

A pool table:

Think you’re done? No one gets out of Rockland Psychiatric that fast! CLICK HERE FOR PART 2 OF THE TOUR!

Also, if you grew up in the area, I’d love to know any legends you used to hear about the place as a kid!

-SCOUT

PS: More Rockland Psychiatric Center history here!

Many more posts in the archives!

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Terri

01/25/2011

If you think that is creepy. Head up to North Rockland area and go to Letchworth Village Area. Those buildings would really creep you out..

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1. Marrrk
  
  01/25/2011
  
  I know exactly what you’re talking about Terri. I play golf a lot at Rotella and you can see many of the old houses on Ridge and Letchworth Village Roads. Always wondered what they were as they’re all uniform. Do you know?
  
  Reply
  1. SD
    
    01/26/2011
    
    A google search shows that Letchworth Village was a home for epileptic and feeble-minded persons…but I’m not really sure what they mean by that. I grew up in Rockland County, and when I was young, our chorus actually visited Letchworth and sang to the patients. I remember it being a really creepy place but not much else about it. Apparently it was closed down in 1996…and some people claim its haunted. Its weird to think I went there as a child.
    
    Reply
    1. Marrrk
      
      01/27/2011
      
      ah yes, google. i’m an idiot. i never knew the name of the place and didn’t even think to look it up when Terri said Letchworth Village. thanks for the info guys!
      
      Reply
  2. Terri
    
    01/27/2011
    
    When my family moved up near Letchworth, it was filled with mentally retarded people. Both with Downs Syndrome and other mental diseases. Most of the larger building were dormitories. My mother mentioned that Geraldo Rivera did an expose that basically started the movement of removing people from institutions like that one and starting the group home way of living. It’s interesting that the building are starting to be repurposed, (made a junior high out of some buildings) but some of them are falling down..Sometimes even driving through there some night on the way to my folks house I get creeped out a little..
    
    Reply
    1. Peter
      
      01/30/2011
      
      It was Willowbrook on Staten Island that was the subject of Rivera’s expose. From what I understand, the expose really was a watershed moment, leading to a nationwide change in the treatment of the mentally retarded. The deinstutionalization of the mentally ill, which lead to the scaling-back of the Rockland Psychiatric Center and the closing of many others, was the culmination of a trend and not the result of any single event.
      
      Reply
      1. Chris
        
        01/08/2014
        
        You can watch the documentary on youtube
PattySFV

01/25/2011

I am one of those “feely” people and let my imagination go when I enter an old or abandoned building. I feel the people (I actually see them in appropriate period clothing), smell the smells, try and get into the thoughts of the prior inhabitants and think about what their day may have been like. I love all your posts and am a huge fan. I really “felt” these pics…a certain sadness and despair but I really felt strong vibes of utter loneliness. Keep em’ coming Scout and thanks for your work and sharing it with all of us.

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mcg

01/25/2011

Wow… awesome Scout. I really enjoy your work- but this really spoke to me in a special way. I can imagine the sadness and isolation a lot of those patients must have felt. I’m sure those walls speak volumes. What a beautiful place to have housed such sadness.

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Jeremy In Kansas

01/25/2011

This might be the wrong place to ask this, but how were states and municipalities able to afford to build places like these and why were they allowed to go into decay?

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Dan

01/25/2011

Awesome! This post reminded me of the Harlem Valley State Hospital, which is across from the Harlem Valley-Wingdale station on Metro North. I drove by the hospital once on the way to western Connecticut and really wanted to stop, but my wife vetoed that. I’d love to get up there sometime, though.

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1. Bill
  
  01/25/2011
  
  Ha. I drove by with my wife, and just at the end was someone thumbing for a ride. I jokingly asked if we should stop and give him a ride. Cold dinner that night.
  
  Reply
sue

01/25/2011

these old pysch centers are just fabulous. there’s one up in utica that must be considered the white house of pysch centers. it’s awesome, utica pyschiatric center only part is in use now.

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Paige

01/25/2011

Best. Post. Ever.

Can’t wait for part two.

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Joey Nitz

01/25/2011

Had a buddy who was a patient there briefly in the eighties.
Went to visit him with another friend and was impressed at
how vast this place was,it even had it’s own onsite fire station
that we had stop at to ask for directions when we got lost.
What was weird, was how most of the buildings were obviously
unoccupied but my friend and other patients were housed in one
building. Even stranger, when we walked in on the ground floor
all of the patients were milling about and the staff were in
an office seemingly “safe” behind a dutch door while we were
surrounded by these poor souls looking for attention and cigarettes
from us.Although most of the patients seemed harmless it was a
very unnerving experience.

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ann

01/25/2011

I was also interested in the mention of electroshock therapy since it definitely is still in use (or was not very long ago- I’d heard of it and then met a friend’s sister who was ‘in a bad way’ and in the middle of a series of shock treatments. It was unforgettable. It does seem barbaric…)

The pix of the bear, bunnies and hippo- they are creepy in that setting. That hippo looks like there are balls of fire coming out of the end of its snout… gave me a turn!

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Aldo

01/25/2011

Forget about the sterilizer thingie, that chair is awesome:
( http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5212/5385555103_d4927e997e.jpg )

Great post, Scout. Glad you’re making photos of these buildings as they are now. Often the only time we get to see pictures of abandoned buildings are when the excavators are ploughing through it! It’s such a shame there’s not more interest for re-use currently. I guess it’s way cheaper to tear it down and dump cheap concrete buildings instead, but in 20 years time our children will scold us for removing everything that reminds us of our history.

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1. John
  
  01/25/2011
  
  I was thinking the same thing. Would love to get my hands on that chair!
  
  Reply
Jo

01/25/2011

Completely captivated by these photos. I spent time scrolling through, and will come back again and spend more time. Wonderful stuff — thank you for posting these!

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Lumicite

01/25/2011

You have an uncanny ability to capture tHe “creepy” in the abandoned buildings that you photograph. This place was partcularly disturbing especially the schoolroom with the chalke board flanked by those morbid animals. It was as if It had been waiting for you to come along.

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Jay

01/25/2011

It was a blast from the past to see these photos. Both of my parents worked at this facility. My mother worked in patient care from 1961 to 1981 and my Dad worked in the power plant. I had the opportunity to visit them both at work on various occasions while I was growing up. I have to say that I feel very lucky to have had the opportunity to observe the world of mental illness first hand. I grew up with an understanding of this aspect of life’ one that most people are ignorant of. It was a very sad day when the State of New York in its infinite wisdom decided to open the doors and put the patients out on the street!

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1. Nicky
  
  03/08/2011
  
  To me it was also a blast from the past. A past that i remember so well, yet I’m not too sure. I was a patient at Rockland state back in 1961. Even though it did have all those weird and creepy people, remember, that they were people in need. When i got there i was given a ground pass. I Was 15 y/o. I use to run around the ground and i knew practically all the case care personnel workers I probably knew your family but, its been so long that i don’t remember any names or faces.i liked the months that i was there, i had some very happy times. Its been 50 year and i would like to see it before is gone. I was there for 6 months. PS. All the workers at rockland hospt.were very ggod people.
  
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Jen

01/25/2011

Wow, I’m glad you posted this today and not tomorrow, or I wouldn’t have been able to find these pictures on my random search of the day. I’m from the area, and I heard a ghost story or two of patients escaping. Also drove by it whenever my brother needed a ride to PT at the Natl Guard building.
Were you able to get to those areas from the main entrance? I was always too freaked out to enter, but it really does look quite amazing.

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Sterlingrachel

01/25/2011

the I’m scared is so obviouly graffiti that i don’t find it in the least creepy – what is kind of sad and creepy is that there are rooms seemingly for children (?) unless that was for DD adults…
It is too bad that all will be sacrificed when renovation could potentially result in very lovely living quarters for varying levels of assisted/independent living seniors. But from a marketing standpoint, how many would really want to move into an old asylum!

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1. Peter
  
  01/26/2011
  
  But from a marketing standpoint, how many would really want to move into an old asylum!
  
  The old cancer hospital on Central Park West was converted into luxury condominiums some years ago, the buyers obviously being able to overlook the building’s unhappy past. It probably will work much the same if this facility ever becomes housing.
  
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Jim

01/25/2011

There was a movie called “Snakepit” that was filmed at the R.P.C. I believe the film was made in the 40’s.

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Erik

01/25/2011

This is what kinda chaps my hide about developers. They’re rather destroy than reuse. If the building is structurally sound I see no reason to tear it down. Sand/water blasting and paint can do a lot. The interesting thing I keep on saying about NYC and the areas around it is the eclectic architecture and its varied history. There’s always something for me to do on my annual trips up there. When all these moronic developers get done with all they want to “develop” there won’t be anything worth developing.There’s just way too much destruction all in the name of making a buck.

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Peter

01/25/2011

Around 1990 I made a few trips to a state employees’ credit union branch that was located on the grounds of the Fairfield Hills mental hospital in Connecticut. The hospital was still open at the time, but just barely, with most of the buildings boarded up and the employee parking lots nearly empty. It was a distinctly creepy experience, the frisson heightened by my knowledge of what the facility had been. A largely abandoned college, for instance, wouldn’t have been nearly so bad.

Fairfield Hills closed for good around 1995. I would imagine that the credit union branch was gone sometime before that.

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tomthirtysix

01/25/2011

Thanks for the pics, Scout. My wife grew up minutes from there, and my in-laws still live nearby. Might have to stop by next time I’m in the area.

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Old Skool

01/26/2011

Amen to Eric, Why tear down when the place should be rehabbed. Scout, as always thanks for some awesome pix. Really cool place. Can’t see why it can’t be redeveloped without tearing the whole place down and starting over again. That level of workmanship will be hard to replicate.

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