Dark Skies

What a great, spooky photo. Excellent.

I would like to know when this photo was taken. I went to school at Pilgrim back in the '60s.

Wonderful capture of the clouds. The overgrown sidewalk and cloudy sky set the mood just right.

My mother was emitted into pilgrim state less then 20 years ago, i will never go back

Me and My cousin went to the stairs of this building .. if you stand there long enough its almost as though someone is standing there with you..really scary stuff

BUILDING 23 HOUSED THE SCHOOL OF NURSING. THIS IS SURE NOT HOW I REMEMBER IT IN '78.

SHOULD HAVE PROOF READ THE YEAR WAS '77. THAT WAS THE LAST GRADUATING CLASS.

I finally got to see pilgrim yeay! I was on my way to tanger outlet center in suffolk and my dad noticed a sign that Said Pilgrim Psychaitric center and i started flippin out lol i was goin insane. And then we missed our exit so i got to see pilgrim yeay. i was suprised that it was so close to the damm exit. We were tryin to find our way back to our exit so we were just goin around in cirlces around Pilgrim. I also saw Kings park signs (might sound stupid but im a 15 year old who lives in nassau and i aint goin urban exploring for a while)

I was in the main hospital just this past sunday the 4th of september 05 and I can almost with no doubt say there are no evil spirits or anything just imaginations at work i spent about 3 hours video taping the whole building, and they got a serious bat infestation now in the rafters somewhere i couldnt find them but theyre real.

This shit is Crazzzyyyy, it's like a movie scene.

I once pased this place while going to soccer practice and i thought I saw a 7 ft. tall women but then she disappeared.

I live right down the block from the center and when we were kids we used to "investigate" the buildings....Let me advise everyone not to do it. It is really spooky and from my point of view it is haunted!

Your photography is excellent. You capture the spirit and the angst that emanates from these dwellings of days gone by. You have picked up the feel, spirit and the nuances that your photos portray. Upward and onward my friend.

OMG AMANDA U R SO DAMN LUCKY IM GOING THERE SOON WITH FRIENDS WE WANNA GO SEE IT SO BAD IM FLIPPING OUT HERE TOOOO

Pilgrim is not big deal. I've worked here for over 35 years nothing is spooky about it at all. People let their imaginations run away in places like this. There are no 7 ft tall women, no screaming voices and no ghosts roaming around the empty buildings. Believe me. I've been in the empty buildings. Sure they are spooky and your imagination can have fun here.

The above picture is not Bldg. 23. It's Bldg. 18 which was the old Administration Bldg.

Upon further investigation of the above picture it is not Bldg. 18. It is the main entrance of the 3 building complex known as 22, 23 & 24. 22 & 24 were the Admissions Building for the different catchment areas of Brooklyn back in the 70's.

I have also been here to explore over a dozen times. It is not haunted in anyway. It is however very open to your imagination as stated earlier. There are Bats, Cats, sometimes wild dogs, and worst of all junkies and homeless people who live in there during the summer months. If you plan to go , go in a group of 5 to 10 to be safe. Nothing and noone will bother a group while the crazeez will mess with a small group of three or less. I went the last time at night with only one other person and we kept thinking we were being watched... as it turns out we were. A spanish man with a beard maybe sixty to seventy years old was following us the whole time we were in there and we only caught site of him as we were leaving. He never used a light and only got caught because of my room buster ( a clear plastic ball with seven mini mag-lites in it, attached to a line about thirty feet long.) I tossed it down the hallway near the mourge and the guy ran off into the darkness. Needless to say we booked it out of there. Just a warning... BE CAREFUL.

Hi considering there is an active building in back of pilgrim state and secruity circling the whole facility, how did you get into the building to take pictures?

my company was scouting there 4 video shoots recently. And I don't buy into alota spiritual crap cuz I'm mostly agnostic. But the crew all witnessed a strange trembling in the building. I also heard a faint girl's moan twice. I never mentioned it cuz I figured I imagined it. Until someone else admitted outwardly, "I thought I heard a girl's voice moaning." I felt a chill when he said it. I couldn't believe i was buying into this spooky crap. the voice was quick and sounded spacey. The echoes in the long narrow tunnel can play mind tricks on u though.

these storys all sound spooky nd interesting but i wont believe nutten till i see it myself.

2 b truthful, the ocurrences I mentioned earlier only happened once and we've been there at least 8 times 4 extensive periods of time shooting. I'm glad we're done now! I don't care 2 c anything paranormal! I'd have nothing 2 say anyway!

I go to school in one of these buildings. The school's called Eastern Suffolk School of Practical Nursing. Tonight the place was esp eerie, foggy and haunting. When I got home I had to go online immediately to research this place. I really didn't think it was this amazing place and story. I sensed something strange about the place from the beginning. A peculiar sense of eeriness. It's definitely spiritual. Thank you for this site.

I went to nursing school at Pilgrim State in the 60's. So strange to see your pix. Lived there for 3 years (as a student !!!)and nothing strange happened as far as I remember. Love the pictures you have. Do you know the date of the library picture? Sure looks like the time I was there. I guess we all did look the same then!!

Im planning on going there sometime soon with a bunch of people...im scared..but i want to see it for myself..is there really wild dogs??? lol...what is the best way to get in to that main building..right down the front path??

I can literally walk to this place from my house. I live in Dix Hills. I deliver pizzas to this place. Its so big and so many building but you can see the main building from a mile away. We go quading (atv) at night hear and they have there own state police that potrol the area on atvs at night they fired at my friends tires once and got him. They actually opened fire on us for being on there property but this place has to be one of the scareiest places on this site especially at night and knowing its still active. the buildings dont looks as abandoned as that picture the buildings are in the same shape but windows and stuff are fixed still scary as all hell. message if you ever wanna come hear and want a scare.

I will be on the remaining wards December 4th 06, giving a holiday party. We visit the locked wards and then give a big bash (deejay, etc) for those permitted to come to the party.

I worked in the Long Beach Adult homes in the early 80's where patients were dumped in the exodus that occured (I think) after certain psychotropic drugs were introduced to keep these folk calm. I love them all and was well-loved. I heard their tales of diabetic comas and saw lobotomy scars. That was at the Brighton Home in Long Beach on Lincoln Blvd. and the Boardwalk - it is about to come down, but there may be a few of those folk still there - I've not visited for a while. At that time I only knew of Pilgrim as the place my friends had come from, now I live out here iright near there and still work with younger folk who've come through there or are housed there. I MUST SAY that I think the fascination with this place DOES have to do with what was done to people with mental illness, but sadly, the fascination is also with to those to whom it was done. This is all about stigma that must be broken. Just know that many of us on Zoloft and Paxil would have been placed here and institutionalized as well back in the day. There was shame then in having mental illness in the family and there is still today. Thank God, today most of us in mental health focus on RECOVERY rather than CONTAINMENT and control. There is life and recovery for those with mental illness diagnosis - when once it was thought incurable and sensational.

Expect to find homeless folk finding shelter there. There are still a lot of mentally ill and/or addicted who don't want to enter the current system. The buildings are very accessable and it's cold outside. Brentwood and Central Islip have many homeless folk. So yes, there may be someone following you - they probably want a dollar.

growing the edgewood building was so scary my brother and i would climb the talest tree in our that building was so huge it over powered everything around it my friends brother got jumped there in the80S thrown down the elevator shaft other friends would go in the tunnles and get crocked i never got to do that but i used to go into the heartland complex at night with friends and my hoopdi a1980 ford mustang painted camoflolge oh the great times we had

I worked for a Sewer and Storm Pipe inspection company and I worked in Pilgrim State numerous times in a 3 year span. I have been in most of the abandoned out buildings and I've also been in Pilgrims extensive sewer system underneath it and I never experienced any paranormal activity or anything out of the norm. The only thing I've seen there was rats, bats and roaches the size of ash trays and the occasional crazy person but no ghosts. This was back in the late '90's

Amazing site! Amazing pictures. I am fascinated with this facility and I am currently doing psychiatric medical training here and this picture embodies everything I felt the first day I drove up the the facility! SIMPLY AMAZING!

I wouldn't recomend trying to go into the buildings. For many reasons. I actually tried to cut through Pilgrim once (by car). My self and my sister thought we would take the short cut through Pilgrim to the Sagtikos Pkwy. I had been there once during the day, it seemed very simple. All of a sudden we were lost driving in circles. I have a good sense of direction and could not find my way out. We both started getting really scared that we would not be able to get out. As we were driving we came apon a dirt road and a water tower and we saw something about waits high moving towards us on the dirt raod. It scared the crap out of us but we had to see what it was. As we got closer we could make out what it was. It was one of the wild dogs previously mentioned. It was scary yet sad at the same time. The dow was obviously malnutrioned, his ribs were severly caved in. WE were relieved that it was just a dog, but kind of confused why this dog was out in the middle of no where. We were still lost and now getting even more paranoid that we wouldnt be able to get out(it was about 9:30 pm) Finally after driving around for over 15 minutes we ran into a police officer. I pulled him over and explained how we were trying to cut through and couldnt find our way out. he gave us directions and I haven been back since just recetly. I started taking classes at Suffolk Co. College at night. I cut through to take the SAg home. Every time I see those buildings I get this really erie feeling. I think that place really is haunted! I didnt know half of the history on the place that I done now from researching. But I truly believe that places has spirits. Once people enter Pilgrim (patients) they never left. Unmarked graves a little too coinsidental if you ask me!

whats the deal behind pilgrim? Did some of the parts close down because of labodemies going on or just ended up getting abandoned?

john, i think most of these places have closed because of lack of funding and in some cases , reported patient abuse , also there was a brillant idea to let patients be dinstationalized i didnt spell that correctly but im sure you know what i mean.

Cathy
I was a member of the last class of Pilgrim. Were you?

Wow, it brings back all of the memories of me and my friends being idiots and doing stupid things in the abandoned buildings by the power plant, there was soo much cool stuff just laying around, actually found an old gas mask... lol

I LOve it

Every single person has the ability to feel energies, weither you know it or not. If you felt something errie, chances are , it was something very errie.

ayo readyy??.....aight i went to dis shyt 2nite at 1030 on tha 24th of august 2007 n we went in this entrance that everyone b talkin bout.......we juss went in a lil there wus lyk 7 of us.....we kept scarin eachotha n shyt but wuteva it wus styll pretty creepy cuz of tha "history" of this place.....i wouldnt say it wus that scary to me but tha real shyt happ when we finally left n we wus tryin to get bak to our cars when tha fukin cops came lol....every1 jeted sum ppl hid in spots but sumhow i ended up on tha highway lol until i called ppl n they finally picked me up....no one got caught by tha cops but between them and tha bums that was tha only things really scaring me that nite...

What you have to keep in mind about PSH is that back in the 1950s and 1960s, when most of the surrounding architecture was brand new development homes, this was the biggest architectural feature of western Suffolk, looming over the landscape for miles.
It was spooky at night and especially at Halloween, but rather than eerie, it was appallingly dreary -- you could sense all the unwell (and desperately unhappy) people who had ever been there.
And a mental institution should NEVER be designed to look like a fortress prison. Especially one named for a Pilgrim, someone journeying to a holy place. (Besides, Pilgrims are Mass., not NY social myths.)
Just look at the enlightened "therapies" they performed. You're not officially allowed to do any of that to a prisoner of war nowadays.
Like so many of its companion "hospitals" in Suffolk, it deserves to be closed, and razed.
Maybe something healthy and good can grow there now.

DATZ ALL BULL SHIT I WENT YESTDAY NIGHT NOTHIN SCARY I EVEN GOT OUT OF DA CAR TO CHECK IT OUT

nephew george was there and visited by a young girl spirit on rooftop(friendly) and throughout. Also saw by old rail train tracks spirits waitng for there train. it seems all are still caught there like an imprint in time. always leave there with a kind heart and warm thoughful respectful prayer.

This photo is stunning. Probably one of my most favorites on the whole site.

This is outstanding! What a great view of an impressive place.

Have you ever seen Weston State Hospital in WV?

This picture is beautiful, and the colours really suit the 'mood' you'd expect.

Excuse me if these happen to be stupid Questions:
1 - If this place is only partially closed down, does that mean there's a part of it NOT falling apart?
2 - What was the point of "shock" therapies?
3 - What was a lobotomy supposed to achieve?

Thanks =)

well its is nov8 now 2008 and just before it was nov 7th.. im a 15 year old kid from East islip new york and i am adventures.. so me and my friends here about this place called Central islip phyciatric center... we go there, its basically all rubble exxept this one building wich was an old fire department that was partially burned down... we go in there and we recorded alot and took pictures. but it wasnt that scary.. eery but not scary.. so we decided to go to pilgram state, we rolled up in the car on the side of building 23, then were like ok lets do this lets commit and go in. we get to the fron and we look down the walk way and we didnt c anything because of all the bushes. we pulled in the semi circle drive way and procceded under the over hanging cove.. there is a broken bench and half a couch there... then we pulled in front of the door and my freind jimmy screems from the back right seat of the car and he's ike somthing touched me.. so we all looked at the door way and honest to god we all saw this half of a human body in a shadowy form horizantal but hovering about 2 inches from the ground.. i was like what the " f " is that.. and right after i said it, it flew at my window really fast with its mouth agap and a balled head.. and i started to punch the window and the dash board in fear. my freind jimmy at this point litteraly pee'd in his pants and we were all screaming my freind nick was in shock for about 2 hours after the experiance.. all of them said they would never go back but not me... im so curious as to what it could have been.. im goin back soon ill post more

holy crap! they did not close cuz of paitent abuse.! there r still buildings if that was the case then ALL of the buildings would have closed and they werent.
1)they didnt need trhe buildings
2) couldnt afford to have that many
3) y dont u ask some1 who works there!

i just went there today i snuck in through the woods and i got to the tower i looked inside and it was really scary there is like a dark tunnel under it it creeped me out

well i went there the other day just because i've never really been scared before...me and like 8 other ppl went...it actually wasnt that bad it was a little spooky bcuz we went there at like 12 and it was pitch black...but nothing major...i want to go inside the morgue or something next time just to go back in time...

i went at 1:00 am i saw somebody on the building and he/she jumped off

me and my friends are currently plotting to go in this building ...about 6 of us..and i wanna know from experienced explorers the #1 hazards and precautions we should take before entering this building

Be careful on the insides of the buildings. There is a lot of asbestos, a lot of contaminated IV tubing as well which were used on the patients. There have been air samples done of the area which picked high counts of Radon and contaminated construction metals as well. I would be careful, as it is not worth picking up an airborne contaminant just to see the place. The state police and Suffolk county police patrol there regularly. Also, there are still many deep wells which are contaminated and are uncovered. Be careful you don't fall in. Finally the EPA did a lot of research on the bugs and whatever nighttime moths or animals that frequented the area, and those who were affected had photo phobia. Not sure of the cause of that. Be careful around the contaminated construction metals, as they can cause an air borne type of meningitis which is dangerous. So honestly, my thoughts would be to not enter the buildings and I would stay off the property. I had a list of all the contaminants at the site only because that is the type of work I do, most of them were low, the higher counts were the infectious fertilizers on the property.

For anyone who refuses to heed warnings, thought I'd throw in some advice from someone with experience in ignoring the warning signs.
Falling through a floor is more of a passive danger, and a preventable one at that.
The prevalent dangers are the nature of the beast, both human and animal. You don't know what any other living being is thinking. If you can't or won't (legally) exercise your 2nd Amendment rights, an l.e.d. mag-lite may serve you well in more ways than advertised.

Please excuse me, I got caught up and neglected to mention what an incredible photo this is.
As many pictures as I've taken, I can get interesting shots, but they never quite have that certain "feel" as this. Makes the scene so familiar, yet leaves a sense that I've never seen it before, if that makes any sense.

I go to the grant campus of suffolk comunity college, so its literally down the street from the campus. Ive passed by there a few times and it gives me the creeps! I dont think i'd ever be brave enough to go in there!

I went there twice. I don't believe in ghosts, or none of that stuff. But there is something messed up in there. I don't know what, but it's something more than we can comprehend. I was in the main hospital, building 23, and there are things in the third floor and up. Hear moving, noises, the whole nine yards. But nothing was like the doctor's quarters. I don't know what happened there, but it must of not been to good. THe basements is where the creepy stuff is.

You're not allowed to go into the abandoned buildings. I went there for a special reason with authorized people. Some people do not get caught, but a lot do. Watch out for the security. However, the security stops making it's rounds over there around 10...

these storys are scary im going this saurday and im really scared i went yesterday and almost pooped my self cause we heard all spookey sounds......i need to know what to bring and whats there to except....you can message me on facebook type in my name Nicolas Dainotto im from ny long island deer park..thanks.

I actually went to visit pilgram state yesterday for a photo assignment..... one of the coolest expierences of my life.... in every picture i have spirit orbs showing up, you can even see faces in some of them

me nd my friends went in about 3 days ago at night to hang out... scariest place you can ever go to hang out for the night at...you guys should try it one time

I'm actually a Long Island NY resident and have passed this building many times on my travels. I can report that not only is it creepy looking...but I usually see shapes floating along the lawns in broad daylight....the place just gives many people the creepy vibes. Blessed Be.

I had a friend named Shary Harmon who i lost contact with years ago, she went to Pilgrim State Nursing School back in the late 70's does any one know her? Also if this building is so dangerous why don't they tear it down, and build a new psych hospital, or revamp this one.

does anyone know if this building has been demolished ?? or if any of the other abandoned buildings on the pilgrim property have been demolished ?? im doing a school project about this place..

I've been through the hospital a couple of times. Me and my friends all heard a voice at the same time, so i knew it was just me freaking myself out. My friend started getting bad anxiety when we went in a certain part of the hospital and she said she heard a ton of voices in her head repeating "get out, you shouldn't be here, they dont want you here, we don't want you here" over and over. and she said when we went into a room that must have been just a room for the patents to hang out in, that she saw them and she felt like she was walking through and it was all kind of in sepia.. it's weird but it freaked her out so we left. she's never had voices in her head and never has seen anything like that. i know she wasnt just making this up because when we went in that room i saw her looking around like there was people there..freaky what that place still has the power to do. idk what really went on there..but i'm not too sure i really want to know.

Although this trip I had taken there was the greatest trip ever I would def advise u to go with many people bc I went wit 4 and the bums that live in there could be violent and come in groups believe me it happened to us that night so wen u go bring at least 5 people and bring some sort of a weapon to keep u safe

what makes it creepy is the sky is dark.
i wanna go in there real bad.
:P

Just went in there tonight... Soooo creepy but didn't here nothing or see anything.. Went with legit ten friends.. I highly recommend it, it makes you feel a lot safer I felt fine.. Not sure what bldng we went into but we went up several floors.. Very fun. And creepy. And these comments creeped me out :(

I'd like to go. im 25 and from long island..anyone wonna get a group of people to meet up there and go let me know..email me i live in suffolk too..lata...

Dark skies. sound sad. i believe nobody wanted live here. just because of their situation, condition, live and die here. they are chosen to be there. and they soul always belong to God. we as human being just pray to their peace without prejudice. amen.

My mom worked at Pilgrim and also had a room she lived in on campus. I can remember being very young and staying in the room while she worked and also seeing the patients when I was taken on the floors. This was back in the early 1960's. Pilgrim has always haunted me then and that is before people started talking about it.

I'm really scared, all these comments are really creeping me out. Well anyways this is my story. Me and my friends couldn't decide whereto go, but we were looking all over places and we thought of somewhere fun to go to. Then we all thought of going to the pilgrim state hospital since its near. We all went walking together in the morning. We didn't go inside though. We were thinking of going again at night. Should we? Can anyone tell me why it was abonaded? Why can't someone burn the whole building If its abonaded? Why can't someone buy it? Is there spirits there? Have anyone seen ghost? Is there really hobo's, cats, dogs, and bats that live there? Why would anyone go at night if there's polices? Can a ghost follow you? My important question is, Is Pilgrim State Hospital really HAUNTED? Someone please give me a big description about the Pilgrim State Hospital and answer all of my questions, thank you very much.,

don't go!! this place is not for some cheap fun.
these places should be treated like a sacred place.
if you do go take only photos leave only tracks
THAT GOES FOR ALL WHO GO WITH YOU,

I'm a professional paranormal investigator and I can assure you a place such as this, with the number of deaths there and the negative and angry emotions that occured daily there, there has to be spirits still there. Intelligent and residual (you ghost hunter folks know what I am talking about). You cant hear anything if you're in a large group of noisy people running through a building. You have to sit and be quiet and observe. You WILL hear stuff then. You have to have EMF detectors, audio voice recorders(most spirit voices you will NOT be able to hear with your own ears, they show up later on your audio when you play it back), etc. Any place like a hospital, nursing home, etc is going to be haunted. Some more than others--spirits are just about everywhere. Dont fool youselves!

My grandmother died at Pilgrim State in the 1930s. It was a bit of a family mystery for years and eventually I was able to obtain her medical records from the facility. Seemed like a very sad place to be.

I went to Pilgrim the other night and as soon as I turned down the street to 998 Crooked Hill Road, I got chills. The place is really creepy. To be honest, I have never seen anything like it. It was really dark, there are not many street lights. There was like a dark cloud over the place. I went with my husband and my brother. My husband was very uncomfortable and said that he would never go back there, he forced me to leave. I went back the next day so that I could really see the buildings. It was horrible. I just can't get this place off my mind. I was there looking for building 5. There are operable buildings there and I don't know why. The place is depressing. They have like 2 inpatient rehab facilities out there.

I really don't understand why they just don't get rid of those buildings!! Oh, there were was police presence on the grounds.

there is still an underground room, locked way down down, under the water table, sealed away, a being so feared and respected...

SWEET
PICS

Kim,
My family is searching for answers to a family mystery. We know our family member was at PSH in 1940. We do not know if she died there or was released. How were you able to get access to records? Thank you for any help you may be able to give.