New York Ghosts

39. Pilgrim Psychiatric Center

New York, NY

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998 Crooked Hill Rd #83 Brentwood, NY 11717 Pilgrim Psychiatric Center opened in 1941 to help ease the overcrowding in the other psychiatric facilities in the area, including at Kings Park Psychiatric Center. It was designed to hold 12,500 patients, but at its peak, held around 16,000. Sitting on 1,900 acres of land, still today it holds the record for being the largest psychiatric hospital in the world. The facility was massive, and consisted of several buildings, and was a working campus in itself. It had a theater, homes for employees, a farm, firehouse, church, court, a bakery, Potter's Field, and more. It was as if it was its own small working town. In the 1940s, a new 13-story hospital - Mason General Hospital - was built right next door by the U.S. Army and was used to treat war veterans, served as a POW camp, and was a tuberculosis hospital. Once Kings Park and Central Islip facilities closed down, patients had nowhere else to go but Pilgrim Psychiatric Center, but there was still not as great a need for psychiatric care. In 2003, a developer bought the property and knocked down 50 buildings. However, the psychiatric facility is still in operation today, and many of the old buildings remain. Rumors say you can see lights flickering inside, hear whispers, screams and moans, hear and see doors slamming shut, and see apparitions make an appearance before walking through walls. Photo Credit: Sean Hopkins http://citynoise.org/article/9169