1,927 Comments for Pilgrim State Hospital

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

The Mansions or "The Circle" was home to doctors and administrators, later some of the buildings were used to house community based or transitional serviced programs. This area was always considered dangerous at night. It is South of G Road and isolated from the former main campus. It opens up onto hundreds of acres of undeveloped state land along Crooked Hill Road/Fifth Avenue. The tract of land adjacent to these particualr buildings was home to packs of ferral dogs which attacked several folks in the area. There was at least one murder of a young patient there who was a gang member from the Bronx. He was lured out by some rival gang members and stabbed to death in that area of the campus. The neighborhood's drug trade was a factor in getting a number of staff busted (4 I think) a providers of dope to staff and occassionally patients in the 90's. The ghost stories are pretty interesting as urban myth,, but a lot of folks died there and in my day, as we were closing down Central Islip and Kings Park, the big problems were wild dogs roaming the grounds and drug gangs out of los Centranos.. I would imagine if someone were to actually look, they might find an awful lot of bodies buried in the "Pine Barrens" South of the campus. Local gansters have probably been stashing frames there since the 50's. That wooded area runs, or at least used to run, for miles down between Commack Road and Crooked Hill/Brentwood Road. Lots of scary stories, but the scariest are the one's about all of the human and civil rights abuses which happened damned near everyday in mental hospitals here and abroad. They still happen everyday here and abroad..

This was the former Executive Director's Residence. It is )or was) on the Southside of G Road, east of Building 64 (The former Single Doctor's Residence/former NYSOMH Regional Office) It was used to house community based education and counseling programs on and off during the 80's up to the early and mid 90's. I was never inside. It was closed while I was working at that part of the campus between '93 and '96. However, there were two homes being utilized in "The Mansions" section just behind and South of this House. One was occupied by a 74 year old patient who had live at PPC since 1949 until 1995. The gentleman who lived there was told by the staff at PPC;..." he would never have to move and could stay for the rest of his life..." when the Business Office fo PPC forced his eviction to an outpatient housing program located in the village of Bayshore.I held up his eviction until he hesitatnly agreed to move to an apartment set up for him by Catholic Charities Case Managememnt supervisor Kate Bishop in Bayshore. That was 14 years ago and Fred, if still extant, would be about 88 now. The other home still in use in 1995 was next door to Fred's home. It was an apartment set up for in-patients to have extended family visits. They could entertain family and friends during visitation with a full kitchen and living room. It was also used to prepare patients being discharged to independent living in the community in order that they learn or relearn housekeeping and cooking skills. It was called the "Family Visiting Center" (?) I think... and the Social Worker who ran it was a woman by the name of Fran Greene. Fran married Jim Mullins, building 64 (The NYS/OMH Regional Office) Director of Quality Assurance. His office was 2 doors down form mine on the second floor of building 64.

This is the front entrance to building 64. It is on the Southside of G Road. Earlier contributors are correct. This was once the Single Doctor's Residence. The columns are at the front door which opens into what used to be a reception room for entertaining. There was a chandelier, fireplace and a grand piano. Local debutants would be escorted to dances for the single residents and MDs to this entranceway. The dining room was attended by patient staff and patients provided the housekeeping "maid" service to the residents. For a period of time this was used as patient apartments,, but later converted to the Long Island Regional Office of the New York State Office of Mental Health. My former office was a doctor's apartment with a sitting room, a bedroom and a full bath with shower. The wall jack/mount for an old fashioned telephone was on the wall just inside of the exterior door on the second floor. I shared that office with Wendell Knight who was contracted by OMH to facilitate the development of George Fairweather's FAIRWEATHER LODGE PROGRAM between 1993 and 1996. Nassau and Suffolk County's were not particularly receptive to the model, preferring instead to seek more static and consistent sources of funding via budgetary line items in their respecti ive county mental health budgets augmented by NYS OMH contracts, grants and federal HUD support. I don't believe the building has been used since 1996. We moved the regional management team (what was left of it when Pataki gutted OMH, closed all five (5) Regional Offices, and reduced us to a staff of 7 from a staff of 35 under Mario Cuomo)... We moved few survivors of Pataki's forced retirements, layoffs and transfers to locations in building 20 and building 72. I don't know who (staffwise) is still there, and quite frankly I don't think I care.

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

Oh my goodness, there is a chair! How'd that get up there?

to dames, me my brother and friend heard the same thing we took one step in and took a pitcure and then something fall then a baby cry after that it is scary lol i was crying so bad how scary it was lol.

i went in that building and heard something fall and then a baby cry after that then i ran to my bike and cryed.lol

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.

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.

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 went inide building 35 yesterday and i heard something fall and thena baby cry after that and i just ran crying haha.

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...

I worked here in the 80's and actually had to clean the metal. I also assisted at one of the autopsies

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!