Massachusetts: Taunton State Hospital
On a 154-acre estate along the Mill River in Taunton, Massachusetts, this hospital was constructed in 1854.
The State Lunatic Hospital, as the facility was originally known, was built to care for the mentally sick. It adhered to a strategy created by Thomas Kirkbride. He stressed that those who are mentally ill should be treated with kindness and care.
As a result, the hospital was constructed with a sizable campus, recreational spaces, and cosy bedrooms. It made it possible for patients to experience sunlight and clean air.
All of this appeared promising on paper, but for many years, this hospital—like the majority of mental asylums in the United States at the time—served as a dump for people who no one wanted to bother them.
One of America’s most haunted places, according to a local tale, is the result of the hundreds of mental patients who suffered here.
Some individuals think that the more violent patients housed at Taunton are what caused the spirits to linger. Jane Toppan, a notorious serial murderer, was one of these patients.
Toppan was raised by an insane relative and later became a nurse. She experimented on her patients. She injected them with a cocktail of medications, effectively poisoning them.
She found twisted, wicked joy in seeing them perish. It’s said to have awakened her. With her victims, she would climb into bed with them and hold them while they fled. Her foster sister and her husband were two of her victims.
According to some legends, this hospital is haunted due of a much more sinister past. There are rumours that certain hospital employees, including some of the physicians and nurses, belonged to a satanic cult.
There are rumours of patients being utilised as test subjects and sacrificed to the Devil.
It is said that this occurred frequently. When performing these rites in the hospital basement, these staff members would lead patients there.
Other employees discovered blood on the basement walls and odd inscriptions. One employee claims that when he attempted to descend to see what was happening, he was unable to get past the last stair step.
He claimed that he experienced intense agony and anguish. The very next day, he left his work. Even now, years later, he still finds it difficult to discuss.
Whether or not one accepts these tales, there is proof that patients started to refuse to descend down the basement with personnel. They were penalised for their refusal.
People still believe that this region is quite chilly, even in the summer.
The woods around the former hospital are another location that seems to be haunted.
Witnesses assert that they heard groans and screams for assistance. Every day, banging noises that are not explained are heard. Others have reported unusual lights and chilly breezes in this forest.
The hospital’s grounds include a cemetery that is reputed to be haunted. A patient who was too exhausted to leave his room one night and hide in this graveyard is when this haunting first started.
He was hunched over a gravestone when he felt a chilly hand squeeze his shoulder. Aware that he had been discovered, he rose up with his arms up, only to discover that nobody was there. A voice whispered “Leave” in his ear a minute later.
This man ran back to his hospital bed, terrified. Later, he saw a noticeable bruise where he had felt the touch on his shoulder.
Patients and employees have reported seeing a number of spirits at the hospital throughout the years. On the third floor, a man wearing white is frequently seen.
He may be seen moving along the hallway. Witnesses claim that he either completely disappears or fades in and out.
Even more unsettling, he can be seen slowly crawling down the wall as a shadow or walking across the hallway in plain view, appearing to be furious. More recent patients at the hospital claim to have observed this person observing them from a corner of their rooms.
He has a shadowy or faceless head. When the lights come on, this figure vanishes. Some people think that the Devil may be sitting here watching for the next human sacrifice.
There have also been reports of chilly spots, doors slamming, and lights going on and off at the facility.
Since it first established in the mid-1800s, this hospital has been continuously in operation. The majority of the older structures have burnt down, fallen apart, or been demolished. The hospital and its surroundings were added to the National Register of Historic Places in the 1990s.
Services for the mentally ill are still offered in the property’s more contemporary structures.
