As a self-proclaimed adrenaline junky, summer is my time to shine. From cliff jumping to possibly trespassing just to get that perfect photograph, Forest Haven Asylum has been my all-time favorite trip so far this year. One of the better known but more difficult "adventure spots" that is known around my area, Forest Haven, is home to twenty two ill kept buildings with a playground, chapel, offices and dorms.
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In its prime, Forest Haven housed over one thousand patients, that is before the budget cuts set in. Once the money ran out, it became known as one of the United States' most deadly asylums. As creepy as the graffiti and peeling paint was, the real fear was elicited by the knowledge that thousands of patients had been abused under the failing system and hundreds had died.
The final decision to shut down Forest Haven was made after numerous patients had died from aspiration pneumonia. This particular form of pneumonia is caused by foreign materials in the bronchial tree. At Forest Haven, this was caused in patients due to being fed while laying down and then remaining laying for much of the day. Having even one death come from a mistake like this points to the extreme neglect of most of the patients at this asylum.
If one was to visit Forest Haven and be worried that the spirits coming for them weren’t sane even before they entered the afterlife, they would have little to fear. While most of the patients at Forest Haven were diagnosed with intellectual disabilities there was a long list of patients who should never have entered in the first place. The deaf, dyslexic, illiterate, epileptic and non-native English speakers were often placed in Forest Haven's care after failing an IQ test. At one point, 20 children from a closing orphanage were relocated to Forest Haven when no one wanted to put in the effort to find alternate housing for them.
Of those patients who died while under Forest Haven’s care, most were buried on site. There were rumors of shallow graves and bodies being discovered as the seasons passed. After the closing of the asylum, former residents families payed for a large headstone to be erected onsite with the names of all who had died, the list was roughly 380 names long, but with poor record keeping the actual number of those who perished is likely higher. This area is now named The Garden of Eternal Rest, with the former patients being relocated to other graveyards leaving sunken patches in the lawn as a reminder of the horrors that occurred.
After our visit I looked back on the photographs that I had gathered and decided that they did justice to just how people should feel about asylums. The dated technology, peeling lead paint and asbestos particles floating through the darkened hallways all made for photographs that sent just a few shivers down spines, but it also serves to remind us that people were once trapped in these places and they couldn’t just slip under a fence when they decided that they had had enough.
