1,927 Comments for Pilgrim State Hospital

I WAS AN OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY STUDENT THERE IN 1945-6. WE DID THE BEST WE KNEW HOW, WITH CARE AND SYMPATHY. TODAY MEDICNE HAS ADVANCED MERCIFULLY FOR ALL.

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...

my mom's sister was committed to Pilgrim State when she was in her 40s, must have been in the 1960's, late 1960's. Her name was Helen Steiffel. She had two young daughters at the time. Have vivd memories of visiting my Aunt Helen when I was 6 until early teens, My mom visited her almost weekly, brought goodies for her and the other patients in her ward and the nurses who attended her. I remember it as an otherworldly place, everything was big and slightly scary; nonetheless, I liked going there. Patients always wanted to engage me. My mom was one of the few who visited regularly-had the sense that the patients in my Aunt's section were seldomly visited. Received a cathachism book from a male patient when i was sitting outside with my aunt one day. My mom was in a quandry as to whether or not I should take it as we are Jewish. I took it home, cherished the book and studied the lessons until I lost interest. Still, the memory lingers. My aunt ultimately died at Pilgrim State about 10-12 years ago or thereabouts. She was buried in the next best thing to a Potter's Grave somewhere in Staten Island. I visit one of her two daughters , my first cousins, on occasion. She is retarded, lives and works on her own and is about in her mid to late fifties. Never asks or talks about her mom..

As stated, filled with PCB oils. If one of those was opened, it would require a massive cleanup. How careless to leave something so deadly behind... I wouldn't have even gone in the room once I saw that...

Picture we put up in Bldg 23 Ward 3; the female surgical unit. Every time Joint Commission would come for accreditation we would get painted, get new curtains, bedspreads, etc...this picture was put up in the late 70s maybe 1979.

Graduated from Pilgrim School of Nursing in 1977 (last class). What a great school and an awesome place to work...worked in Bldg 23 the Med/Surg Unit for 15 years and became Nurse Administrator. Sad to see it so desolate; it was so vital once. So many memories I couldn't even begin to tell you. From the classrooms to the dorms in the Nurse's Circle to the morgue to the lab to the underground tunnels to the cemetery to the train station...so much happening. From lobotomies to ECT to chemotherapy; what changes. I remember Pilgrim from 1956 when I lived on Harrison Street in Brentwood and we would steal the vegetables from the farm and then I attended the Nursing Progrram...what an education; not enough money to pay for that kind of training. So SAD to see its demise.

Silent Hill 2 comes to mind. Is that you, Mr. Pyramid Head..?

My brother died in Pilgrim State in the mid-70s. He committed suicide. He had been in and out of that place for years. He was only 33 years old. Only my parents know all of the horrors that went on there and thank God they never fully shared them with us. My brother was a wonderful man who had a horrible desease and suffered God only knows what. I only hope others will have a more humane fate.

the tunnels run al the way to comack rd where the edgewater building stood before demolition.lots of bodies turned up in the tunnels after the edgewood building closed so they tore it down and sealed the tunnels,the tunnels were well known dumping grounds for murders commited by
local gangsters and drug dealers.be careful at night there are a lot of squaters and homeless in the empty buildings seeking shelter and the grounds still turn up an occasional homicide or two per month.
they tore down a lot of buildings since i worked there.

Yeah.

Its called Skeleton Stories on Discovery Health
The episode is titled "Buried Secrets" and it airs again on July 13, 2007 @ 10 pm and 1 am.
It was REALLY intresting! So SET YOUR DVR!!!

Interesting! Do you remember the specific title or name of the show or when it was on? I'd be interested in seeing that. :-)

Hey Lynne, I saw a show on the Discovery channel about a house being renovated and under the basement floor they found (24?) infant skeletal (sp?) remains, some w/ out the skull. After research of the land, they found it use to house a poor house and being sent there was basically a death sentence in its own. Anyway, they found out that some of the bodies were stolen by medical students because in the 1700's the students were responsible to find their own cadaver (sp?) to study. (the present day research team found the cut marks on the neck bones to be done with surgical precision) So I am all for donation of cadavers to science, at least we don't have to worry about uncle leo being snatched from his grave by med students.

Ah, pilgrim state....I live only a few town's away from it. Went to go sneak in one night...Pitch black, had the car parked up away from the road where the wannbe cop's made they're rounds...I went to open the door and get out, then suddenly I caught these glowing orb's out the side of my view. A bloody raccon! Dang thing came right up to the car and refused to be scared off. Needless to say I decided to leave....Spooky places I can handle....Bloody raccon's with no fear, eh...That is another story. : -(

I should go here and just take this machine. It would look very good in my basement.

There's one just like that at my local community center. More expensive pop, though.