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With Halloween upon us, we take a look at one of the most well known "haunted" locations in the Southeast.
Built in 1920, and opened in 1921, the Souris Valley Mental Health Hospital was originally known as one of the largest buildings in the British Empire.
When it first opened, the common method of treatment was a "work and water" treatment. Easier patients were put to work in the kitchen, garden or laundry room, while more difficult patients were treated with insulin therapy, hydrotherapy, lobotomy and electroshock. By 1954, LSD experiments, originally to help treat alcoholism, had begun, first with volunteer staff and eventually patients.
Originally built to house up to 900 patients, at it's peaked there were approximately 2,500 patients.
In 1971, it was closed as a mental hospital and closed entirely in 2005.
With the circumstances surrounding those who stayed there, it is no surprise that this area makes Top Ten Most Haunted lists on a yearly basis, even after it had been demolished.
Many people who have seen the hospital describe being overwhelmed by sadness, anxiety, anger and fear as they got closer to the building. Many describe hearing strange sounds in rooms and the surrounding area. As well, one common story is of a woman who supposedly paces the hallways of the fourth floor at night.
A poem left on one of the walls by former employee Margaret Strawford sums up the building in an eerie way:
The clocks have stopped, the lights are out, the people have all gone
The hallways now are empty of folks who called them home
The Golden Staircase disappeared, the pitted stairwells worn
The plaster cracked, wood railings chipped, the curtains stained and torn
No curling rink, the workshops gone, the gardens now are bare
The tunnels dark, the boilers out, no one to even care
No more the cries and silent screams to echo in the night
No more the staff to help the souls and put the wrong to right
The silence of the bedrooms, ghostly whispers in the halls
The stories and the tales the could tell are embedded in the walls
The clocks have stopped...
The lights are out...
Originally built to house up to 900 patients, at it's peaked there were approximately 2,500 patients.
In 1971, it was closed as a mental hospital and closed entirely in 2005.
With the circumstances surrounding those who stayed there, it is no surprise that this area makes Top Ten Most Haunted lists on a yearly basis, even after it had been demolished.
Many people who have seen the hospital describe being overwhelmed by sadness, anxiety, anger and fear as they got closer to the building. Many describe hearing strange sounds in rooms and the surrounding area. As well, one common story is of a woman who supposedly paces the hallways of the fourth floor at night.
A poem left on one of the walls by former employee Margaret Strawford sums up the building in an eerie way:
The clocks have stopped, the lights are out, the people have all gone
The hallways now are empty of folks who called them home
The Golden Staircase disappeared, the pitted stairwells worn
The plaster cracked, wood railings chipped, the curtains stained and torn
No curling rink, the workshops gone, the gardens now are bare
The tunnels dark, the boilers out, no one to even care
No more the cries and silent screams to echo in the night
No more the staff to help the souls and put the wrong to right
The silence of the bedrooms, ghostly whispers in the halls
The stories and the tales the could tell are embedded in the walls
The clocks have stopped...
The lights are out...
Sat, May 11, 7:00 PM
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