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What Once Loomed over Danvers Massachusetts was one of the most exquisite mental institutions ever built; Danvers State Insane Asylum.Construction began in 1874, and the 70,000 square foot Kirkbride building was opened four years later. It's Gothic peaks and spires looming over the solid red brick are an incredible sight of beauty and a symbol of grandeur and fortitude, but at the cost of over $1 million to build, local residents resented the beautiful castle on the hill being given to the "insane" while they were living meagerly. Danvers was a model for humane treatment at the time, with no restraint policies invoked and the hospital instituted a pathology laboratory that was held in very high regard in the medical field.
One of These Days
Add to My Profile | More VideosThe hospital soon filled with such varied types of patients that it soon became a problem; geriatrics, the mentally disabled, alcoholics, drug addicts, the criminally insane and all other people with varied degrees of mental illness were mixing together under one roof. By the 1950's Danvers State was reported to be just as bad as Byberry, using various shock therapies, lobotomies, and other methods to keep the overcrowded hospital under control. The original Kirkbride building had a recommended maximum capacity of 600 patients, and although some additions had been constructed, the hospital housed around 2,400 patients at one point!Upon the steady decline of patients that most nearby psychiatric facilities were experiencing, the Kirkbride building was abandoned in the early 1970's; the remaining patients were moved to the Bonner Medical Building across the lawn. Danvers State Hospital officially closed it's doors in the summer of 1992 in response to the many allegations of overcrowding, abuse and neglect in court. The movie "Session 9" was filmed on location in 2001, and brought a lot of attention to the old hospital. Urban Explorers and ghost hunters alike ventured in and out of danvers for more then 30 years. Danvers is now gone, only the shell of the kirkbride remains. R.I.P Danvers State HospitalMyspace Contact Tables
