There’s Something Truly Terrifying About This Abandoned Insane Asylum

New York is full of abandoned places, but few have as imposing of a presence as one particular sprawling estate in Ovid. Even fewer have as much history. This grand Victorian structure may look like the remains of a once beautiful mansion, but the massive complex was actually the site of the Willard Asylum for the Chronic Insane. Thousands of mentally ill individuals lived and died in this now-abandoned hospital. Sadly, Willard Asylum is just one of several abandoned asylums in New York state. What it looks like today is absolutely chilling, as are the heartbreaking Willard Asylum patient stories.

The Willard Asylum for the Chronic Insane was built in 1866 by the Surgeon General of New York at the time, Dr. Sylvester D. Willard.

Willard had the noble goal of creating an alternative to the common practice of abandoning the mentally ill to “almshouses.” These were filthy, overcrowded shelters where many died of disease and squalid conditions.

The first patients that the asylum took in had led terrible lives. At that time, there was a severe lack of understanding about mental illness.

One woman named Mary Rote had spent ten years within the walls of an almshouse, another young girl had been chained in a cell since she was a toddler, and another actually arrived at Willard confined in a chicken crate.

Willard's hope was to treat, care for, heal, and house these individuals under much better conditions.

The Willard State Asylum was divided into male and female wings. The male side was further segmented into “violent” and “non-violent” sections.

The hospital was largely self-sufficient, and patients routinely helped grow crops and tended livestock on the property.

Life at the Willard state psychiatric hospital was a mixed bag. The institution offered unheard of opportunities for patients to enjoy themselves, such as a basement bowling alley, a movie theater, and even crafting classes.

However, there was also a dark side to the activities at Willard. Whole buildings were devoted to electro-shock therapy, and patients were subjected to freezing ice baths in order to “calm” them.

Around 50,000 patients were admitted to Willard Asylum while it operated. Nearly half of them died within the walls of the institution.

The Willard Asylum for the Chronic Insane finally closed in 1995. The hospital’s cemetery is the final resting place of thousands of unclaimed bodies, buried in unmarked graves.

After the hospital’s closure, cleaning staff stumbled upon hundreds of old suitcases in the attic. They were filled with the personal belongings of former patients, including stuffed animals, lockets, family photos and journals.

Sadly, the contents of many of the suitcases make it clear that quite a few of the patients believed their stay at the asylum would be temporary.

Want a closer look? Freaktography documents the entire complex in a series of YouTube videos.

In recent years, annual walking tours of the Willard Asylum in New York have been held by the Five Points Correctional Facility, although the state is more and more hesitant to allow tourists on the property due to the crumbling infrastructure. At this time, the future of this historic building is uncertain. Still, it stands as a reminder of the past as we strive to do better for our residents in the future.

Please keep in mind that this is private property that is still being utilized by the state and is regularly patrolled.

If you're curious to see more pieces of New York history, here are several more abandoned places in New York. If you're in the mood for a road trip to see some of New York's abandoned places, check out our road trip essentials list.