At This Abandoned New York State Psychiatric Hospital, Who’s In These Unmarked Graves?
There once was a revolutionary psychiatric center in Brentwood, New York, notorious for treating certain patients by drilling a hole in their head to treat their mental illness. Abandoned buildings, a brick silo and a graveyard filled with former patients are about all that remains of the 'Lobotomy Hospital', Pilgrim State Hospital.
Scroll through the pictures below to see what was and what is left of this abandoned home for the insane.
WARNING: Under no circumstances should you enter this property. By doing so you risk bodily harm and/or prosecution for trespassing on private property.
Building 23 at the Pilgrim State Hospital was the site of thousands of the crude, 45 minute, brain surgeries known as a lobotomy. These operations started at the hospital in the 1940's and continued into the 70's. Often times these procedures would leave the individual lifeless.
A lobotomy was the leading treatment for mental illness until 1980's when drugs became available. Once pharmaceuticals reached the public not only did the procedure go away, so did the need for such facilities. But what is left behind?
Many say the old site holds a lot of spirit energy, perhaps of former patients. There is a graveyard on the property and many buried here are those that once endured a lobotomy. Many of their graves are simply marked with a number and no name.
Let's scroll through these pictures of the Pilgrim State Hospital in Brentwood, New York. Some of the pictures will show what the facility was like when they conducted lobotomies and others show the ruins of what was left behind.
Abandoned Pilgrim State Psychiatric Hospital
Gallery Credit: Karolyi