Building 23

looks like they just shoved everything out the windows.

I was there the night they were claning out this building (Tanking my own set of photos, of the complex and some of its demolition) and yes they were basically throwingstuff out the windows. I spoke with the forman who said they were mearly cleaning out old debris and espestosis. The building as far as i know was not marked for demolition, as the center stip of the campus is still used and operated by the state and the OMH. The admin building is still used to store stuff in and some times the lights are on inside and can be seen from the sagtikos pwky. As for Bldg 23 and the admid/surgical hospital, they are still there, most of the buildings behind them are still used or in some way operated. the dormatories to the flanking sidea have all been torn down. This was over a year and 1/2 ago, and the rubble still sits there, sort of an erie marker or grave yard to where buildings once stood. Items can still be found inside the debris fields such as wall paintings that somehow survived the destruction. the land contractor wants to put in condos or town houses to the left, a strip mall and aquarium to the right. but since these dorms had been ripped down, no futher advance was made to build these new condos. Now i wonder, who's gonna want to live in a townhouse that stares out at an active psych hospital or go to an aquarium where no large body fo water is present. I went inside the buildings after the doards had been taken down, and they were in amazing shape. it was shuch a waste to destroy them. As for this building, they cleaned it and have left it sitting there with all the old stuff (bedposts, matresses,etc) still sitting outside. I hope they don't tear down these buildings and hopefully find use for them, but their future at the moment is unsure, as long as the stae has control they'll sit there.

Oh the Memories!!

Why throw anything out of the windows if you're not going to do anything with it anyway?

I worked in thet bldg. from 1968-1971. Some where on those grounds is a cemetery with unmarked graves where unclaimed bodies were buried. Kind of a Potters Field. Sad place.

My mother worked at Pilgrim for nine years as a ward nurse and she always said it was the best job she ever had. She loved her patients and they loved her. She and I visited the grounds the summer of 2003, one year before she died from breast cancer. My mom and a few of her co-workers all were diagnosed with breast cancer and after seeing the building remains I have questioned whether there is a connection between the asbestos and the incidences of cancer. My mom worked at Pilgrim from 1955 until she was 6 months pregnant with me. I grew up hearing wonderful, compassionate stories about her patients. I believe my mother loved them and cared for them as best she could. It was a great experience visiting Pilgrim and going to the museum there with her before she died. I stole a brick from the grounds for her and placed it in her casket when she was buried. Unusual? Maybe. Meaningful? Most definitely. A loving daughter's final gesture...

I used to live on the islad years ago and drove by on the sagtikos on a reg basis. I never realized the history here and that so much of it was closed down. weird how things sometimes happen in your back yard and you never know

this is so incredible huge a complex. how were patients with diverse severe disabilities separated? had some patients liberties or were they all pretty much closely supervised at all times? were some allowed to walk the grounds? after all this is an amzing place. and were males and females strictly separated at all times? how was this building separating the two buildings you mentioned as far as security? locked doors? this is such a majestic structure! the entire place should be used as some sort of museum or something alike. it has such historic value.

on the grounds is ck post a drug rehab they say in the underground tunnels patients were raped by doctors they say ghost's haunt the place

on 10/31 /06 we visted the grave yard potters field what an errrriiiieeee feeling

There is a cementary there down the road from the water tower.

Wow....I was doing research & stumbled upon this page. I'm actually quite frightened because I have had teh same dream with slight alterations in every one of them but the thing that never changed was THAT excat building. Well, it was in tact kinda, but when I went to find help and I returned to the building it was like, destroyed. Kindof like in hte photo above. I don't know what to think exactly but I hope it's just an odd coincidense.

wow. this is crazy. sounds like a sad place.

i see this photos and i remember when i work by the year 1988 in the building 25 on housekeeping

Graduated from Pilgrim School of Nursing in 1977 (last class). What a great school and an awesome place to work...worked in Bldg 23 the Med/Surg Unit for 15 years and became Nurse Administrator. Sad to see it so desolate; it was so vital once. So many memories I couldn't even begin to tell you. From the classrooms to the dorms in the Nurse's Circle to the morgue to the lab to the underground tunnels to the cemetery to the train station...so much happening. From lobotomies to ECT to chemotherapy; what changes. I remember Pilgrim from 1956 when I lived on Harrison Street in Brentwood and we would steal the vegetables from the farm and then I attended the Nursing Progrram...what an education; not enough money to pay for that kind of training. So SAD to see its demise.

my mom's sister was committed to Pilgrim State when she was in her 40s, must have been in the 1960's, late 1960's. Her name was Helen Steiffel. She had two young daughters at the time. Have vivd memories of visiting my Aunt Helen when I was 6 until early teens, My mom visited her almost weekly, brought goodies for her and the other patients in her ward and the nurses who attended her. I remember it as an otherworldly place, everything was big and slightly scary; nonetheless, I liked going there. Patients always wanted to engage me. My mom was one of the few who visited regularly-had the sense that the patients in my Aunt's section were seldomly visited. Received a cathachism book from a male patient when i was sitting outside with my aunt one day. My mom was in a quandry as to whether or not I should take it as we are Jewish. I took it home, cherished the book and studied the lessons until I lost interest. Still, the memory lingers. My aunt ultimately died at Pilgrim State about 10-12 years ago or thereabouts. She was buried in the next best thing to a Potter's Grave somewhere in Staten Island. I visit one of her two daughters , my first cousins, on occasion. She is retarded, lives and works on her own and is about in her mid to late fifties. Never asks or talks about her mom..

graduated class of 74- lived in the dorms -with all the patients walking around-lots had freedom to roam the grounds-went through a "hazing" for new nursing students that included being blindfolded and taken down into the tunnels and left to find our way out in the dark-no map-brought us to the morgue -where we had to put our hands into icky things( later found out the "eyeballs " were canned grapes and the "intestines" were some kind of pasta in oil)and put pillow cases over our heads...it was scarey at first but once you knew the layout and the rules it was just school. we were given HUGE keys to the wards-they weighed about 10 oz a piece and could go on any floor in almost any building-worked weekends and summers in Bldg 23 all through nursing school - each ward used to get a huge can of floor wax to polish the floors before thanksgiving and CHristmas because that's when most visitors would come-I loved the pts -and they loved the students because we gave really great care to them- they were amazing-there was guy who worked in the kitchen who had been born there -his mom was a pt but he never knew who she was-sad -you have to remember that psychotropic drugs were just starting to be used and before that there was little they could do for the mentally ill except put them away from other people and try to protect them from their own demons.the really tormented ones would stand at the bars in the solariums and scream - i don't doubt that those voices can still be heard. i have a brick from Pilgrim that a my brother in law got for me when they started tearing the buildings down- i will always remember all the buildings and all the pts but it's not a bad thing that it is closed.

I just can't get enough of looking at this building. I think it's stunning.

I don't know what to say. The words are stuck. All I can say is Wow!

I work at Pilgrom now, it's a really cool experience to be working in a place where there's such an amazing history. It's an eerie but cool feeling to be where so much has happened in the past. Kinda spooky to think of the loss of life and agony that took place here. I'm proud to work at PPC, it's a place of history

i have drove by this place b4 i hear all u say great things about it ....just wondering does anyone think this place is haunted ...

i came here on 6-6-08
it wasz so scaryy there is a dead body [of an animal] on the attic

I'd like to thank who ever took this pics, both my parents worked at pilgrim, mom was in bldg 9, then went to 10 before she retired, dad was in maintaince at edgewood, then went to pilgrim when edgewood closed, he worked his way up to Locksmith, and took a promotion to a unit on staten island. I remember going with dad to pick mom up at work, hell some of the patients remember me as a baby. Its sad some of the things that happened there, and its sad whats happening to it now. Again, thanks for the pics and the memorys of it

Gosh, it's beautiful. I'd love to visit there and I do think that there must be someone haunting the place. I mean with forced lobotomies and what not, there's bound to be a pissed off apparition.

Did any of you who visited the building after it was closed down, have any run-in's with police?

building 23..is the craziest building..to me i think this building is the most scariest to go in..and yes i did have a run-in with troopers..they stopped infront of the building..and just sat there for 5 min..me and my friends just stood still

what a shame to see this building in such poor condition. the state should have hired a care taker to keep the maintence up on these buildings.

my mom is a nurse there and they just didnt need the building anymore so they just stoped using it. btw do u know how expencive that would have been?

I went into building 24 and through a tunnel leading into building 23. i never felt so scared. I heard a little girl scream. and in the tunnel my friend took a pic. in the pic showed the face of a little girl with bangs clearly in the shot

my father is buried at the pilgrim state hospital grounds. can i ever find out where

My mother and grandmother both worked here for 25 yrs. as RN's. I have memories of going with her to pick up her check at the ward. It was the non-violent ward. We would also play ball near the graveyard where they would be many unmarked graves. How sad. It was a spectucular structure and scary when you are young. I can't remember which building she worked in, but 23 sounds familar.

These are great photos - thank you for that.

been there today, slimer came outa one of the windows,, i swear this green guy was really pissed.. i ran and i got slimed,,

i live on the grounds now and this place is crazy man im tell u but some advice dont go around there around holoween cuz there going to arrest u i almost got arrested and i live on the grounds

Diane - I know you posted your question in March, but if you are still checking the site, you can call New York State Office of Mental Health at 44 Holland Ave. in Albany New York. That is the Central Office for OMH. Speak with someone in Recipient Affairs (8th Floor) The office is run by Consumers/ Psychiatric Survivors/Ex-Patients. It is, or was part of the Commissioner's Office. I don't recall the phone number in Albany, but I'm sure you can get it from the OMH website or directory assistence. There was a book kept in the Business Office/Information Office and a copy at the Chaplain's Office which listed all of the patient's interred at PPC along with their grave marker number. The last burial I revall being done there was in the 90's. I think it was in 1994 or 1995. A woman who lived on the grounds for several decades as I revall. Her boyfriend may still live at Pilgrim. Kings Park and Central Islip State Hospitals also had burial sites. There may be more; than a few thousand graves at the three locations combined, but many of the bodies were claimed by family and buried elsewhere. There still may be a group of Catholic Sisters who do Chaplain duty at PPC. I think their convent is near St. Joseph's College in Suffolk County. Sister Judith was the Catholic Chaplain and there was a Rabbi who's name I can't recall. Call Kim Darrow at Mental Hygeine Legal Service located on the grounds at PPC as well. He will remember the Chaplain's names and be able to give you more information. We all worked in building 20 during 1995. I had transferred over there after we closed building 64 shortly after Pataki took office. Good Luck

Of all of the Grafitti on the walls and doors around the campus, the references "FATIMA" and the date were most prominent in and around building 23 during the 80's and into the 90's. Look up Fatima and Visions. I believe the date on all of these inscriptions was 1911 or 1918. I never found out who the patient was who kept reinscribing those messages everytime they were washed off or painted over. Eventually, I think Maintenance just left them there. They are cryptic references to visions of the Virgin Mary at Fatima around the time of the First World War in Europe which ended in 1918. Those grafitti messages, very neatly inscribed showed up all over the campus, but most of them were in and around buildings 22 - 23 - 24 and in the tunnels below the buildings.

The tunnels were common in most of the psychiatric hospitals on Long Island and quite extensive. They existed so that large groups of patients could be moved from building to building securely when there were secutiry concerns or just to protect the patients from the weather. Pilgrim, Kings Park, Central Islip and the Vetrerans Hospital in Northport, just West of Kings Park, had extensive tunnel networks. The Veterans Hospital on Middleton Road is still quite active and the tunnels are in use now. The "ghost" stories about the tunnels are intriguing and as was pointed out, an awful lot of people died in these places over the past century, but you can see what they look like when they are maintained by visiting the Veteran's Hospital in Northport, NY which is just off of Rte 25A between Kings Park and the Village of Huntington. Perhpas you can call and ask if they need any volunteers. There is also a very nicely maintained 9 hole golf course for the vets as well.

Here's a quick 1 min vidcap of what this place looks like in 2009:

http://www.facebook.co...976096851&ref=mf

Enjoy.

I worked at pilgrim from 1977-1983, for the food service department. I had a lot of good times there and also alot of scarey ones. I would like to see pictures of the dining rooms again ,but have'nt come across any. Does any one know where to look for those...also there are still a few buildings still opened, a friend of mine still works there since 1977,what a retirement she will have!

was there about 8 years ago in Phoenix House. Took the elevator down to the basement and when the door opened. I could not breathe, I went in anyway and every hair on my arms stood up I kept going and came upon an old mattress spring with ties on it, looked like old blood on the floor as well. Wasnt suppossed to be there so I never said anything. I remember running out like I was being chased by the devil himself. I explored alot and wish I had free domain of the place to explore it more. There were always rumors among the people there about it being haunted.

Went to nursing school there from 1966-1970. It really wasn't scary then, but I was only 17 years old and pretty fearless. A great education. I knew I never wanted to be a psych nurse because of my psych experiences while in school. (We went o other hospitals for much of our clinical training). A psychiatric diagnosis back then was pretty much a lock the door and throw away the key type of thing. So much wasn't understood. I really think they did the best they could with what was available.

My brother was there on and off for years. he was probably dyslexic but back in the 50's if you couldn't comprehend you were considered retarded and sent to an institution. My brother was maybe 10, it destroyed my Mom, hence our family. I never liked going there because when my brother came home it was bad enough that he wasn't 'himself' anymore. I think the psychiatric doctors back then were nuts. They labeled inocent people and ruined lives. May god rest my dear brother's soul, he is now at peace.