Comments

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.

I wonder if they are getting ready to restore it since the floors ahve been swept. They could do a lot with this place

This palce would be beautiful with a fresh coat of paint

Thats kinda creepy

Great floor, drary blue walls but looks nice.

Wow, I love the floor, railings, archways and ceiling in this place. This should really be restored

I'm not sure which building this was shot at. In buildings 22 and 24 there were two wards per floor in each building and there were three floors. I would imagine that this would one of those wards. The central room of each ward was called the "ROTUNDA" and had platered domed ceilings. The Nursing Office, Dining Room, Ward Main Entrance (Locked) Door, the Bathroom/Shower/Laundry Room, the Dayroom and the Hallway to the Patient's Dormitory Area all ran off of this central "ROTUNDA" The Dormitroy Area contained two (2) rooms with simple metal frame beds, upon whidh were institutional matteresses. The beds were packed pretty tightly toghether. Most wards had about 35 patients (There were no bunkbeds only singles on the floor for safety). The photographs of the caged solariaums at the end of each floor are of these buildings. The caged solariums were smoking areas until OMH banned smoiking indoors in all of their buildings. The Dayrooms usually contained a bookshelf or two, a pool table, a ping pong table and a bunch of padded charrs with a few loveseats here and there. There were no fullsize sofas to prevent patients from sleeping all day long on the couches. Many of the patients were so sedated they could barely keep their eyes open, but they were not allowed to lay down during the day as the door to the dorm area was locked and the MHTA staff admonished them frequently for lying in "fetal positions" on the tiny loveseats. Sometimes there was a lively game of Spades, the Television was on constantly. Some of the patients with Honor Cards would take collections and orders from the other folks without privileges and make COFFEE and CIGARETTE RUNS to the Commissary on the other side of the campus. The Locked Door to the Unit(s) was opened with a huge skeleton type Key which fit all of the units in the building. I had a key in the 80;s and again later when I was Director of Recipient Affairs during the 90's. I had intended to report it "LOST" so I could keep it as a souvenir, but t urned it in to Facilities/Engineering over by the Power Plant when I left the job in 1996.

Hey JJ, I'm sure TOM TOM could tell you if he stayed for free, and I'm sure he brought a female guest, or two with him....lol Just kidding TOM TOM, no hard feelings.

Building 25 was renovated in the mid 90's at the same time we were redoing 80-81-82. Building 25 was the Geriatric Building. It was called the Brill Pavillion. Named after a Dr. Brill. Historical references and a bust of him were in the lobby. The lower level was Physical and Occupational Therapy and Physiatry (Physiucal Rehab Medicine) The building had 9 floors. The wards were full of long term patients, some of whom had been there (Transferred in from Central Islip State Hospital or Kings Park State Hospital) since the turn of the 20th Century.. I used to transport patients in their "geri-charis" which were reclining, padded wheelchairs, to PT and OT for awhile back in the mid 80's. The patient's history summaries in the first few pages of their charts told of being admitted for such diagnoses as INVOLUTIONAL MELANCHOLIA and DEMTIA PRAECOX back in the days when William James was lecturing, BEFORE Freud visited America. After William James arranged for Freud to guest lecture in the US, Freud left America declaring that Americans were savages and barbarians. He returned to Switzerland and never came back to America again. Karl Jung, on the other hand, opened an office in New York City whiere it remains a going concern today. That is the Jungian Center. Many of the geriatric patients who spent there entire lives trapped in the mental health system were contemporaries of James, Jung and Freud. It was quite sad.

When we closed Central Islip (which was all geriatric in the 90's) we moved most of those patients here to this building which was renovated around 94 - 95. Some patients were transferred to other nursing homes in the area, but most came here.

There was a Physical Therapist who had worked there since the 70's. He was a former Marine who had been wounded in Nam. Shrapnel in both legs from a grenaded tossed into his night time listening post position. After many surgeries at the Philadelphia Naval Hospital and a whole lot of Physical Therapy he toured Europe with some buddies by Motorcycle, then came back to the US to become a Physical Therapist himself. I can't remember the names of all of the people in the department there but they were a really nice group of folks. Unfortunatley, there weren't many of the octogenarian and older patients who wer able to effectively communicate. Many had been lobotomized or had tardive dyskinesia which impaired their ability to speak clearly due to uncontrollable involuntary movements of the mouths and tongues. Most were there for so long they weren't interested in speaking to anyone at all. The higher functioning patients could communicate a great deal of information and were motivated to attend PT as it was the only thing they had to do besides sit in their "geri-chairs" all day.

If that tub could talk!

Have an infection, lick the wall, I'm sure Penicillin or Amoxicillin are growing on there somewhere!

So this is where Led Zeppelin got the idea for the song "Stairway to Heaven"...

I remember going into one of the buildings a long time ago with my sister, as we both love exploring abandoned structures... no longer standing I presume?

Kind of what PlantMonster said, about the Lobby. If I hadn't of seen it, or the photos of the kitchen, I would swear I'd see the Breakfast Club running around...running away from Mr. Vernon!

awesome Shot motts!!