The hospital first opened its doors in 1904 in Norwich, Connecticut. It was built in an idyllic location chosen for its therapeutic properties overlooking the River Thames.
The Norwich Insane Asylum was built isolated from civilization, which worked to its benefit as it began to grow during its early years sprouting new buildings that accompanied the original construction (see aerial view of the hospital here). These new construction projects included patient wards, staff cottages, laboratories and workshops. All of the structures were interconnected by a large network of underground utility tunnels. These tunnels transported electricity, hot water, and patients to various areas on the grounds. The hospital remained self-sufficient, almost like a small town, with its own power plant, pump house, working farm, kitchen, theater and church.
Over 3,000 patients and 1,000 employees were residents on the asylum grounds in the 1950’s.
Slowly patients began to leave Norwich State Hospital due to deinstitutionalization and it permanently closed its doors in 1996. Since then time has basically stood still on the property with a few exceptions. Currently there is talk about converting the grounds into a theme park, but nothing has been set in stone.
After a long tedious drive we leave the car in a commuter parking lot close to the buildings. Ever the vigilant group of explorers we notice a State Trooper making his rounds and dive into the forest for cover. Luckily we outsmarted the police yet again and after regrouping walk along the Thames River for a few hundred feet. We finally see the abandoned pump house looming in the distance and decide to make this our entryway into the campus.
This site has a reputation for being well guarded, well patrolled, and does not take kindly to trespassers. I am always on edge when exploring across the Atlantic and the numerous “State Property – No Trespassing” signs that litter the grounds did not bode well for my paranoia. Instead of exposing ourselves above ground to security and prying eyes, we decided to take the underground route through the utility tunnels.
Using the tunnels we explored many buildings without ever being forced to go outside. This method of travel was soon confirmed to be the safest. On our first attempt to venture outside we were only a few feet away from a security officer in a black uniform. Fortunately he didn’t look our way and we quickly receded back into the tunnel network. For a while we hid in the abandoned theater so we could look around the campus without being seen.
This encounter with security dampened our spirits and made our visit a whole lot shorter than we would have liked. We made our grande exit through the empty chapel, this allowed us to avoid walking back through the forest. As we were walking back to the commuter lot to pickup our car we noticed the State Trooper had been watching us as we suspiciously walked down the road. I wonder where we went to and were coming back from?!
Archive document introducing a new therapy (click to enlarge):
Special thanks to Dr. Bob for sharing the old postcards.
T.A.P.S just said nsh is haunted
Well that was disapointing! they are in the halls of Ribicoff facing the street and seeing stuff move? called shadows from headlights! I saw that shit all the time...so that sucked...and the tunnel stuff was gay too. Sparkles and I heard more last time we were there. and the whole "found" an "unknown hospital"... it was Russell...or Lodge...not a mystery! I guess TV needs to be exciting but it was hokey at least... I bet the site gets hit by all kinds of people now!! what do Ya'll think?
i live 15 min from this place very ominous. Huge too! Over 40 buildings. Have friends from work who's parents worked there in the 80's and they say it was crazy! Sirens would blast when a mental patient would escape... no imagine living near there. Problem now is security. THey should really think about doing somehting with this place cause it's very impressive and holds a lot of history.
is this place safe to go and explore or is there security up their , any info would be great,
This is true.... You have personal experience in doing so? lol
...I always thought a fresh grave would be an excellent place to bury someone! No one would notice if you dug there, fresh dirt and all, and it takes a court order to dig it up!
Of copurse, the absolute best place to dispose of a body would be a funeral home. You could "double up" a closed casket, or if you had acess to a crematorium, then it would be a simple burn, grind and dump, preferabley in the ocean.
I always thought a good place to bury murder victims would be in a cemetery. Especially ones that are older like those that have numbers in abandoned property's. No one cared or now cares about those ones. muah haha
Pub: Why would it surprise you that the town would put out a bid for scrappers? The other option would be for the town to use town workers to remove it, transport it, and sell it to a scrapyard. I doubt in this current economy, Preston would have the extra manpower and resources to accomplish this without taking away from other projects of higher civic interest. And to hire extra employees and purchase equipment would most likely result in a higher cost to the town, when you factor in benefits, insurence, possable union issues, and what to do with the extra resources after the job is done, etc. To hire (thru the bidding process) an outside contractor to deal with the scrap, taking into account the estimated value of the material, the labor, and a modest profit for the contractor, would more than likely be a more profitable arrangement.
Shed is gawn gawn gawn! (mis-spelling intentional!) Now I just need to deal with a deck footing issue, and hopefully one big problem will be solved! A few more major hurdles to get over, but when all is said and done, hopefully, it will be all worth it!
Oh, read back thru the posts, you will see some pretty imaginative theories!
As for dead bodies....I wonder if there are any secreted in or around NSH? Seems like an excellent place to go and drop off the leftovers from a hit. Go out back, bury them where nobody will find them for several years, or just dump them in some obscure crumbling tunnel and then instigate a collapse? Something that massive could easily hide a half dozen remains.
And are there any locked areas, that nobody has gotten to? Besides the obvious dissapointment of doing an NSH version of Geraldo investigating Al Capones Vault, I wonder if there are any final secrets waiting for those who dare?
sound's like something danny would say lolololol
Sensitive subject I guess..There are some low IQ rumors going around that bodies are apparently shipped via rail-road..to keep things low profile in a completely abandoned hospital. Dumbest thing I have ever heard in my life. Of all the things I hear about Norwich..this is the dumbest.
Wow...where did ya pick that little tidbit up? haha...
The train cars that are there belong to the railroad. They have NOTHING to do with NSH.
hey guys i say we go there one last time but we film the hole thing king of like a old fashion "HELL NIGHT" let me know
Indeed..someone did actually get caught on the Norwich side..Saturday I believe it was. He was young..and dumb as well. Never went there before..and walked straight from the commuter lot towards kettle..During the day none the less..Better luck next time.
i heard from a little bird that somebody got caugh by 10.95 an hour security on the norwich side of nsh mmm you could this be lololololololol. hey paul.d the jerk fish work,s this tues half of 2nd an the rest of 3rd let me know how it goes lol have fun
Glad to see someone else writing a book about the site. My project is based on quite a few locations however Norwich is dear to me. I actually did NO work at all to get the interview with the woman who worked at the hospital. Her entire family has worked there since nearly the sixties. She came in contact with me via Facebook believe it or not. It was a tough interview..Lots of sadness was attached to her stories and unfortunately the interview was cut quite short after the subject of patients attacking nurses and other staff. Good luck with your project however..and remember if you do find someone to interview-use extreme care when talking about sensitive subjects.
JPT- I too doubt that Preston would allow "scrappers" anywhere near that property. They are almost relying on the scrap there to fund some of the demo process. They had an estimated scrap value for the site written up..not sure where I saw this but they even stated that they had "hoped the site would pay for itself" so to speak. Glad your shed project is underway.
Paul- For some reason they were actually loading some of the 40yrd dumpsters with dirt. They were digging deep in the woods passed lippitt..I looked a bit deeper into it and seems like the "Preston riverwalk assoc" is hoping do soil cleanup around the perimeter of the site before any other demolition is underway. It is one of there phases of demolition. And as for the two buildings that are set for demo..My guess would be that they would go after buildings built first..being that there are less hazards attached to them..I remember the planning and zoning thing I read stated that buildings that are more recent to the site MUST be thoroughly gone through to remove everything down to the lighting fixtures being that they hold a significant amount of mercury..not only that..but the older buildings are sitting on Wood frames..that are surely viewed as being in bad shape.
Well the dumpsters and machines are an obvious sign of change... Im sure Preston will continue filling dumpsters with the beds,filing cabinets desks etc like they were when I worked there. The copper Roofing gutters sophits flashings etc may be sub contracted demo of material but Prestonwill cash it inthemselves. why pay someone to scrap it? there is a lot of heavy guage copper on the buildings still. I imagine the theatre is coming down. Its in bad shape and getting worse every rain. The town was emptying Storage and Main of Metal back in Dec so its a safe bet. Galt an Kirkbride are empty except for bed frames and they are old so they might go. Sparkles and I were talking about this yesterday and with Preston yahoos smashing tunnels and knocking trees down and into buildings I dont feel like opening a door and having a tunnel colapse or an exterior fall down on top of me!! I was lucky to have gotten paid to run around NSH and get time to explore the site. the site in a snowstorm at night is awesome and Im glad I got to experience the hospital un bothered all night for months! I dont feel safe with the demo taking place...I got some cool swag from there even shared some with Sparkles! but the end is here...
During the removal of a shed on my property, I met a gentleman who is a legal "scrapper"- he puts in bids for removing recyclible items prior to demolition. He has put a bid in on two NSH buildings (larger ones, he said) that are scheduled to be torn down. He is looking at the copper and about 25 bedframes. Planning to take out a window and throw them out.
Do any of you have any idea which building(s) he would be talking about?
Regardless, it seems the days are numbered for NSH.
This is all assuming that he wasnt BSing me, or that plans dont change.
I've been researching NSH and collecting information about the hospital for the past year as I'm actively working on a book about the location. I'm curious to know how you were able to locate a family who worked for the hospital that was willing to speak about their experiences there. How did you go about finding them? I've been very fortunate that I work with people who had relatives as patients there back in the day, but have not yet been able to find anyone who worked there.
Send me an email sparkles_believes@yahoo.com
Three sites in Three days..I have learned a lot in the three days I have been exploring with a purpose. I have been to each of these sites more than once..However I never had such a purpose for my explores. Looking behind every door and picking through every scattered piece of paper that litters the hospitals core. My collection of information is quickly growing and my photo-sets are currently being developed. Over 300+ photos of each location interiors and exteriors. I told myself two years ago that writing a book would be a cool idea..But never did I think I would actually put it into motion. Within three days I have already covered my top three locations. Today is dedicated to the write-up for Norwich and Ct Valley..I'm also currently looking into hosting a site for the project..however I have yet to find feasible server space to host the site.
Mcstabbleson- Glad to see that you understand the information provided on my last post. The reasoning for keeping it simple is not only that I will be using this in my project..but also to maintain good "tact" so to speak..Being discreet is how things should be done around here. It was a big find for me..and surely anything I come across that is useful to the community I will share..with extreme diligence anyways.
Architect- You actually have my e-mail address..If I come across any questionable medical content that I need a second opinion on..surely I will shoot a message your way..
Sparkles- I spoke with a woman who's entire family worked at NSH. Real emotional when we talked. She understood the purpose of the (phone) interview and at first was really helpful when explaining the "violence" used around the time she worked at the hospital. I think my interest in certain subjects were a little to much as she declined to continue talking about personal experiences involving staff and patients.
If anyone knows of any server space of (cheap) site hosts..please let me know.
We are out this weekend re-visiting a few locations in PA, NY, CT which brings us to here Norwich. allot has changed in the past year. Read about it but it hits home to see it in person, Above ground tunnels gone, under ground tunnel filled in, over growth cleared, lots of stuff boarded up, train parked to deter people from coming up the back, cleaning out buildings into dumpsters. The over hang on club was knocked down, stairs on the oil tanks torn up. Mounds of dirt piled in front of the plywood covered doorways.
A dump truck w\trailer hauled away a dozer around 11am Sat., an unmarked state trooper was parked at the chiller he was inside for about 3-4 hours??? There is at least 2 security companies on site SSC was guarding the back side mostly around the power plant around 4am he spent 40 min watching us we split up he left his car by club and went on foot over to the steps thinking we would come up that way HAHA! that was fun, he lost us then we watched him, gotta love exrs radios and 60X cameras. Murohy M security spends there time sitting at the gate entrance by lippit they seem to only be on site from around 11am-7pm. Anybody have idea why there is 2 security companies? We read they switched from SSC to Securitas in March???? No mention of Murphy M on the sites. Also the chilller door says Securitas we thought it said security last year maybe we miss read it.
Either way it was still cool to take what might be a last look at Norwich, spent the entire day there even walked completely around Kettle, Lodge, ate lunch at the park & ride SSC only made 1 drive by Kettle in 4 hours, he drove through the sand trails and down on the tracks often parks in the bushes just off the tracks behind OT,
Sad to hear about the arson shit, we lost a site in 1997 Hell House (St. Marys) in MD to arson, was an awesome place.
By all means, keep it vague- no good can come from too much info posted online. Nice find! It's rare now to find something like that there. Luckily the wich is big enough and has a few nooks n crannys left. I found a bunch of interesting charts pretty recently in such a spot. But that book you found is about as good as it gets!
please sir do explain more or give me youre email address and let me take a look at this log, i have a lot of medical experiance and could research some of the things that you have found. thank you.
Found log books buried in a plaster filled bookcase. Patient names are present and (oddly) enough the one in best condition was January 1943 - January 1944 It's a massive book. Including different wards. It could be a physicians log..as it covers different patients and describes the dealings with the individual with (side notes) The logbook verifies that Hydrotherapy was used at least as early as the 40's (frequently) Reading on the logs also verify patients restrained and held at salmon. The log is detailed enough to state the type of restraints used in a case-by-case basis..they documented mechanical restraints and the use of "sheet-restraints" Which I am (assuming) to be our modern straight jacket. Reading on there is documentation of medications being transferred between buildings. Another interesting fact flipping through the log is that patients being transferred from Salmon to other areas were given sedatives before they were moved. There are other interesting FACTS about the hospital found by digging these logs..They documented each "alarm"..most of which consisted of patients leaving a ward or hospital grounds in general. The tops and bottoms of the page are signed and dated..The front page gives the month Jan-Jan of the next year. Signed by I believe a physician..and the superintendent. There are others there..In a section of the hospital that apparently is slightly overlooked by explorers. I share this only because it made my jaw drop when I starting flipping through it..Sorry for being vague..but this is my holy-grail.
i think whoever is lighting shit on fire has no life. its rediculas to burn down building especially ones that have such beauty. some people think old decreaped buildings are retarted but i see a certain type of beauty in it. i just wish the town of preston could see that in the buildings at nsh. i work in a hospital and as a sit in my office i wonder what its going to look like after 50 years or so. i love looking around and trying to guess what it will look like when its all decomposed. kinda cool.
hey paul i gave danny a new name it,s "dork fish" iam going to nsh sat night an sun looking to get some fire bugs
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