The Story Behind This Haunted Asylum In Vermont Is Truly Creepy
Built in 1834 as the Vermont Asylum for the Insane, the Brattleboro Retreat has some places that you won’t want to go after dark. This haunted asylum is beautiful, and in some areas, terrifying.
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It was renamed The Brattleboro Retreat in the late 19th century in order to eliminate confusion with the state-run Vermont State Asylum for the Insane.
More than 600 acres of the campus, including most of its buildings, were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.
The patients were treated with dignity and respect in a caring, family-like environment.
However they still cautiously approached treatments such as electroconvulsive therapy ("ECT"), although they were utilized in a fairly limited capacity. Today the Retreat's ECT clinic is closed.
This is where most of the hauntings on the campus happen.
At the time, doctors believed that physical labor could help mental patients regain their stability.
The tower was meant to provide a scenic overlook of the asylum grounds.
They would climb to the top of the tower and leap off onto the rocky cliff below to commit suicide.
The tower was sealed off and remains so today, although they do open once or twice a year to allow the public to climb the spiral staircase and take in the view from the top.
But the apparition always disappears before it hits the ground.
The tombstones date back to the 1800s and are in poor condition.
Some have reported seeing fleeting shadow figures or images out of the corners of their eyes.
There is a registry of the deaths that occurred at the retreat, yet there are far more names than there are graves.
But the legends and stories of the old days, and perhaps the ghosts, live on.
If you like scary things, take the ultimate haunted road trip through Vermont!
