1,476 Comments for Letchworth Village

THIS IS REAL. ME AND MY COUSIN WERE WALKING AROUND THERE TODAY WE HERD A SOUND AND THEN WE SAW A GHOST AND RAN AS FAST AS WE CAN TO THE GOLF COURSE

wow the made some of letchworth into a secondary school [8 and 9th grade].. i so happen to have went there and graduated 2 years ago. it was weeiiirddd to know your school was a mental asylum. i wanna go one day

to bug56....paranormal investigation is a very real and very scientific thing...learn a little about it before telling people to "grow up and stop chasing ghosts" Are you saying that it's "immature" to believe, research, and investigate what is beyond the realm of the human senses???
And to EPI....good luck with your investigating but do brush up on your spelling!!!

Does anyone know the story of Mikey? Cuz I really want to find out for research I'm doing (I'm a paranormal investigator) I was over in Letchworth and it's definitely "alive" with activity. That and does anyone have any idea of what buildings are which (I can't remember the layout of the grounds)

I happened to find this site by accident. I worked as a teacher/habilitation specialist at Letchworth in 1980 and grew up in nearby Mt. Ivy. As a kid I wandered in the farming buildings where equipment and livestock was once kept. We also happened to get close to a building where residents lived and stared out of the windows. It truly is a haunting place and reminds me of humanity's feeble efforts to do their best at helping. Letchworth was a good idea gone bad.....these photos capture the essence of great hopes that went awry.

I've got a suggestion for the EPI. grow up and stop chasing ghosts.

Gee, you know somebody else that has a metal desk with 5 cabinets and one narrow one on the top?!?! No way, I don't believe you!

In 1964, I attended a summer training program at Letchworth Village conducted by Howard Potter, MD a well known and highly respected child psychiatrist. At the time I was in my fourth year of training to be a child psychiatrist at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Dr. Potter’s training program was focused on developmental disabilities including epilepsy and mental retardation addressing the great need these individuals had for professional understanding and help with adapting to life outside of an institution. We interviewed patients and in a clinical case conference discussed each patient’s history, diagnosis, and the impact of institutionalization on their lives and the effects of being separated from family and community. One of the things that impressed me about the experience was how eager these institutionalized patients were to talk with someone who was empathetic and interested in understanding their life experiences. The program had a big effect on the rest of my professional career as a child and adolescent psychiatrist and developmental disabilities became a major focus of my practice over the next forty years.
In 1964 Letchworth Village was a beautiful place with well-kept and maintained buildings and grassy lawns and wooded areas. The food was equal to what I had in college cafeterias and military mess halls. The professional staff there seemed to be competent and caring. In my opinion the harm to patients was a result of being institutionalized and separated from family and community and having limited freedom to make choices about their lives. In the 1960’s and ‘70’s, there was tremendous change in the field of psychiatry and the focus shifted to avoiding institutionalization and keeping individuals with these types of disorders at home and connected with family and loved ones while being treated in community mental health centers close to home. In California where I practiced for thirty-eight years, the state hospitals discharged institutionalized patients sending them back to the community, but unfortunately the legislature did not adequately fund the mental health programs which resulted in a drastic increase of mentally disturbed individuals being homeless. We are still dealing with this large population of homeless individuals in California. I assume a similar phenomena developed in New York after they closed their state hospitals and would be interested in learning what did happen there and would welcome hearing from former patients at Letchworth Village.

this comment goes to andrew..ive been to the field house as well and its crazy.but if it was fixed up it would be nice..we were to scared of the basement..well actually disgusted cuz we saw a rat.

I would say that gauge pegged one or two hundred times. That kind of pressure in galvanized pipes, must have brought streak of panic a time or two....hundred.

My uncle spent 50+ years there when my grandmother could no longer care for him at home. I visited him in 1974 and he was severely disabled but well cared for.
This week, I visited the cemetery on the grounds. It is a lovely meadow with a view of the rolling hills that lead to the golf course.
we found the cemetery with the help a very nice people who used to work there and still live in Haverstraw. I was glad to see some of the buildings are in use for good purposes . That is a living tribute to the people who lived and worked there.

Oooo. There's something a bit unnerving and upsetting about this picture. I can't quite put my finger on it, but something about how that clock was working one minute and stopped the next. Life and death? Not sure.

Hah! Hah! Mis. America! That's funny!

I think our toilets need a warnning on them, especially after some members of our household get finished using them. Some of that caution tape, some crime sceen tape and one or two of those bio hazard, signs. LOL

I worked here from 82-85. I always thought the grounds were really pretty and the old buildings were pretty cool to wander through though they weren't nearly as creepy when they were loaded down with residents. I had thought this place was gone, but it sounds like it still around at least in part, so I'll have to plan a visit back that way before it's all bulldozed.

Dried Blood is a dark rust color.