Top Ten Craziest Mental Asylums that Actually Existed

The Asylum was made at Athens, Ohioand operated around 1874 to 1993.
Around the 19th century, women who exhibited sexual desire and strong emotions were diagnosed with the medical condition "hysteria." From 1968 to 1870, the formative years of the Athens Lunatic Asylum, 132 female patients were deemed insane due to similarly "issues," including "menstrual derangements." The asylum's treatment for these women included freezing, shocking, kicking, and in some cases, lobotomizing said patients to rid them of their sickness. One of the patient, Margaret Schilling, is said to still haunt the asylum. In an attempt to escape, Schilling had hid in the attic, and ultimately died of starvation there. They say the stain her decomposing corpse left behind on the floor can't be scrubbed clean.

The Asylum was made in Morningside Heights, New York City and operated around 1821 to 1880. Journalists Julius Chambers in 1872. With the help of the senior editor of the New York Tribune, Chambers had himself committed to the institution for ten days. He published a story detailing the inhuman practices at the asylum, including patients who were kicked and choked until they bled, and, in some cases, "driven to suicide by systematic cruelties." The story resulted in the release of twelve patients at the facility who were not mentally ill, and his subsequent book, A Mad World and Its People, led to reform for the rights of the mentally ill.

Made at Brentwood, New York and operated 1941 to Present. This Asylum has unsettling details, like the cruel methods Pilgrim patients endured for treatment, including shock therapy, pre-frontal lobotomies, and insulin shock therapy, which was intended to send patients into a coma. Piligrim is still operating today, though on a much smaller scale, and of course, sans the Medieval methods of treatment. This Asylum is still active that's crazy.

The Asylum was made at Byberry, Pennsylvania and operated during 1907 to 1987. 36 black and white pictures is all it took to shut the Asylum down. Charlie Lord, a conscientious objector assigned to duty at the hospital, compared the wards to "nazi concentration camps," describing overcrowded conditions where patients were sleeping in their own feces and urine. The facility was filthy, and hundreds of patients were allowed to roam the facility naked. So after all this they finally shut the place down.

The Asylum was made at Morris Plains, New Jersey and operated during 1876 to present. The Asylum could only hold 2,412 patients in a space meant to hold no more than 1,600. To make matters worse, Greystone adopted controversial treatment for its patients. Regularly administering Insulin shock therapy, and electroconvulsive therapy to veterans suffering from PTSD. As accounts of sexual abuse, suicide, death, and even a well-publicized escape of a rapist became to accumulate. But they are Yet, New Jersey's mental health officials have since made plans to replace the facility with a smaller hospital. One can only hope the new 750-bed facility will provide more humane humane treatment.

The Asylum was made in Topeka, Kansas and operated around 1872 to 1997. The patients weren't treated very nicely and in fact they were force to be pretty much like lab rats so they could get cured. You may ask how is that bad well the employees don't know what the effects of the cure does so they died of poisoning and etc because they were forced to take cures that didn't work and instead killed them. On top of that they were abused and raped.

All this looks like straight outta creepypasta! These mental hospitals are indeed indescribably bizarre!

It started in Weston, West Virginia and operated 1864 to 1994. The place was made for 250 patients but, in 1949 it had over 2,400 people in its care so it was overcrowded. That the fact it was overcrowded wasn't the issue. A investigation had found out unruly patients were locked in cages, lobotomies being performed with rudimentary instruments such as ice picks, and hundreds of neglected patients, conditions that undoubtedly contributed to the tens of thousands of lives the asylum claimed over its years of operation. The institution was closed in 1994. Now it is known as a haunted Asylum.

Created at Danvers, Massachusetts and operated during 1878 to 1992. The place was said to have demonic spirits but, nothing bad happened at this Asylum. But there were theories that some thought the doctors were resorting to various methods, like overdosing patients on insulin and violent shock treatment, just to control the population.

Created at Spring City, Pennsylvania and Operated around 1908 to 1987. The conditions were shown that children's screams filling the air, large scale physical and sexual abuse, and a general lack of empathy towards patients. It was reported children who bit one another got a warning, and upon being admonished a second time, had their teeth pulled.

This place is reportedly haunted. It is now a tourist attraction that's famous for their haunted house around Halloween

I live 1 hour from this place