Inside The Ruins Of 9 Abandoned Asylums Where The ‘Treatments’ Were Torture

The Willard Asylum For The Chronic Insane In New York, U.S.A.

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The Willard Asylum for the Chronic Insane received its first patient in 1869. sarah_yost/Instagram

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Like most mental health care facilities of the 19th century, the hospital was meant to be a forward-thinking treatment facility, but gross overcrowding destroyed that objective.ramoneschick/Instagram

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The hospital was the brainchild of New York's Surgeon General Sylvester D. Willard, who was an advocate for mental health reform. The hospital's approval was signed off by President Abraham Lincoln himself — six days before he was assassinated.jbsquidfire/Instagram

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In its prime, the facility featured state-of-the-art amenities including a movie theater and bowling alley. witchazel666/Instagram

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Patients underwent electroshock therapy and ice baths, which were believed to be legitimate treatments at the time. Like most mental health patients of the earlier centuries, the patients at Willard endured abuse and neglect.mr_frenulum/Instagram

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When Willard was shuttered in 1995, workers found hundreds of abandoned suitcases stashed in the attic. They were filled with the personal items of patients who had been admitted and never released.Community Consortium, Inc/Facebook

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Today, the Willard Suitcase Project documents these items and keeps them on display as a tribute to the myriad people who died at the facility.girlnextdoor18/Instagram

Inside The Ruins Of 9 Abandoned Asylums Where The ‘Treatments’ Were Torture

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Like nearly all of the mental facilities of its time, the Willard Asylum for the Chronic Insane was meant to be a forward-thinking treatment facility when it welcomed its first patient in 1869. And just like the other abandoned asylums on this list, its mission was destroyed by overcrowding.

The hospital was proposed by New York's Surgeon General Sylvester D. Willard, who was an advocate for mental health policy reform, and it was approved by President Abraham Lincoln just six days before he was assassinated.

Willard was a state-of-the-art facility that featured a gymnasium, arts and crafts classes, a movie theater, and even a bowling alley. It was meant to be a place where people living with mental illnesses could either devote themselves to their recovery or live in a safe and active environment. One of the hospital's main missions was to treat patients with the goal of preparing them to rejoin society.

Despite this ideal, the hospital fell victim to the incomplete ideas and harsh treatments of its day. Patients were still subjected to electroshock therapy and ice baths, and some patients were kept at the asylum until their deaths. Many were buried under unmarked tombstones that still dot the abandoned asylum's grounds.

The hospital was finally shut down in 1995. Perhaps most tragic about the asylum's history, however, was the discovery of hundreds of suitcases that were found cataloged in the hospital's attic upon its closure. These were the belongings of patients who died in the hospital and were unclaimed by next of kin. The staff was apparently unable to throw these mementos away.

The stories of these former patients have since been brought to life through the Willard Suitcase Project, which has been documenting these belongings and collecting information on the forgotten patients who owned them.

Although it is mostly a now-abandoned hospital, the grounds of Willard have since been transformed into another treatment facility, the Willard Drug Treatment Campus.