Season two of FX's American Horror Story: Asylum comes to a close tonight at 10 p.m. Set in 1964 at fictional mental institution Briarcliff, and staffed by a crew of morally ambiguous nuns, (Jessica Lange and Lily Rabe), creator-producers Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk have provided plenty of material for a wild, occasionally terrifying ride that we're sad to see come to an end (but that will no doubt haunt our dreams for some time to come).
The hi-jinks of your favorite mentally unstable staff may be over after tonight, but you don't have to check out of the institution just yet. The US has a rich history of deeply flawed asylums that have set the scene for countless real-life American horror stories that make Briarcliff look like a retirement home.
Here are the worst of them: Get to know The 10 Craziest Mental Asylums in America.
RELATED: The 50 Craziest Prisons and Jails in the World
Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum
Where: Weston, West Virginia
Years Of Operation: 1864 to 1994
The Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum was built to house 250 patients, but by 1949, the hospital had over 2,400 people in its care. Shockingly, overcrowding was the least of the Trans-Allegheny's issues. A 1949 investigation conducted by The Charleston Gazettefound unruly patients 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. Amazingly, the institution only came to a close in 1994. Now, it's billed as a "haunted asylum" to paranormal seekers, who can stay overnight if they can summon the courage.
Byberry Mental Hospital
Where: Byberry, Pennsylvania
Years Of Operation: 1907 to 1987
36 black-and-white photographs was all it took to take down Byberry Mental Hospital. 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. Lord's images of the inhumane conditions were published in a 1946 issue of Life magazine, and sparked widespread reforms of mental health facilities. The pressure of the negative publicity also resulted in downsizing of the hospital, and eventually, its closure. Thank god for Pacificists with cameras.
Danvers State Hospital
Where: Danvers, Massachusetts
Years Of Operation: 1878 to 1992
Danvers State Instiution is said to be haunted by malevolent spirits. Despite being in the town formerly known as Salem Village, indeed, on the very ground where prominent judge in the Salem Witch Trials, John Hathorne once lived, the paranormal activity is inspired by neither of these things. Instead, it is human cruelty that's said to motivate unearthly appearances. Danver's aggressive methods of treatment ranged from use of straight jackets and shock therapy, to full-scale lobotomies. It's no wonder the wards here were later used as the set for the demonic asylum movie Session 9. Danvers is the stuff of nightmares.
Bloomingdale Insane Asylum
Where: Morningside Heights, New York City
Years Of Operation: 1821 to 1880
Stressed out students studying at Columbia University's Buell Hall can take solace in the fact that they're not nearly as insane as the building's former occupants; The grounds were once home to the Bloomingdale Lunatic Asylum.
Created in 1821, the hospital intended to morally rehabilitate insane patients. This "moral management" included some unsavory practices that were exposed by journalist 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.
After emerging, 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.
Pilgrim Psychiatric Center
Where: Brentwood, New York
Years Of Operation: 1941 to Present
Pilgrim Psychiatric Center was once the largest hospital, asylum or otherwise, in the world. But that's not what it will be remembered for. Alan Ginsberg's mother was treated for schizophrenia here, and died here in 1965, but that's not what comes to mind when one mentions Pilgrim, either.
Its legacy is built on more 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.
Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital
Where: Morris Plains, New Jersey
Years Of Operation: 1876 to present
If intentions counted for anything, Greystone’s noble mission to provide a sanctuary for the mentally ill might have meant something. That is, had they not went on to interpret “sanctuary” as squeezing 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, there was increased pressure for Greystone to conclude its program. 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.
Overbrook Insane Asylum
Where: Cedar Grove, New Jersey
Years Of Operation: 1896 to 1975
The comely, house-like structure that is Overbrook Insane Asylum doesn't belie the horrors that once took place within. The facility, part of a self-contained treatment center for the daily care of the mentally ill, was originally chose because of its tranquil setting, but the patients never found the solace they were promised.
Overbrook’s patients were subject to a horrifying level of neglect, including an incident in 1917 where 24 patients were left to freeze to death in their own beds. After an influx of patients post WWII, the Overbrook’s facilities became dangerously crowded, and as many as 150 patients went missing. Despite an expansion, the asylum closed its doors in 1975. The hospital and its tunnels are said to heavily guarded against trespassers, but you can take a peek its supposedly haunted wards in the screen adaption of Chuck Palahniuk’s Choke, for which the asylum was used as a set.
Topeka State Hospital
Where: Topeka, Kansas
Years Of Operation: 1872 to 1997
The Topeka State Hospital is a real-life American horror story of unsettling proportions. The patients at the hospital were regularly subject to cruelties meant to "cure them" of their illness. Patients were reported to have been abused and raped, and, according to one report, "confined in leather straps so long, the skin was growing around the straps."
But the asylum's true claim to fame was for castrating many of its patients. In 1931, Kansas law gave the thumbs up to castration for "habitual criminals, idiots, epileptics, imbeciles, and insane." As a result, 54 castrations took place at the Topeka State Hospital. This was particularly troubling considering the hospital was later found to have many patients whose identities and illnesses were unknown, and lacked the proper paperwork to be committed. So, maybe castration as a cure-all wasn't the best idea.
Pennhurst Insane Asylum
Where: Spring City, Pennsylvania
Years Of Operation: 1908 to 1987
Pennhurst Insane Asylum was built to educate and care for the mentally disabled, but in a little less than a decade, it became clear they were doing nothing of the sort.
In 1968, CBS10 correspondent Bill Baldini televised an exposé of the institution called "Suffer the Little Children." The news report showed harrowing conditions: neglected 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.
The report, along with former resident Terry Lee Halderman's account of "unsanitary, inhumane and dangerous" conditions led to a successful class action lawsuit. The court found that over 3,000 of the institution's patients were not receiving adequate care, and the institution was subsequently closed.
Athens Lunatic Asylum
Where: Athens, Ohio
Years Of Operation: 1874 to 1993
In 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 such 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.
