Posted in New York Nature October 25, 2016 by

Most People Don’t Know The Story Behind Long Island’s Decaying Insane Asylum

The Kings Park Psychiatric Center on Long Island is one of the most infamous abandoned asylums in the country. It once housed thousands of New York’s mentally ill, and the treatments performed at this institution were shocking by today’s standards. Thanks to footage from YouTube Channel “The Proper People,” we can see inside this gargantuan, decaying reminder of our medical past.

Kings Park was established in 1885 in order to deal with overcrowding in nearby asylums.
Wikimedia Commons
It was a “farm colony" asylum, where patients fed livestock and grew food as a form of therapy – and revenue.
YouTube/The Proper People
The asylum encompasses over 100 buildings, and housed more than 9,000 patients at its peak in the 1950s.
Flickr/Matthew Hester
As time went on, however, gentler methods were replaced by more invasive and damaging therapies.
YouTube/The Proper People
These included pre-frontal lobotomies and electro-shock therapy.
Flickr/Matthew Hester
After the rise of medication as a treatment for mental illness, most asylums across the nation closed their doors. Kings Park closed in 1996.
Flickr/Matthew Hester

Check out the footage below for an look at the inside of this massive, decaying asylum.