“It is said there is a fine line between genius and insanity.”
Aristotle
On
the outskirts of the quaint college town of Milledgeville, Georgia is
the remains of what is left of the Georgia State Mental Asylum which
is now known as the Central State Hospital since 1967. This hospital
was established in December 1842 and was originally called Georgia
State Lunatic, Idiot, and Epileptic Asylum and also went by the names
the Georgia State Sanitarium in 1897 and Milledgeville State Hospital
in 1929. It was built to be used to help those with mental illness
and developmental disabilities. At least, that was their intention.
After
seeing a couple of pictures of these abandoned buildings in
disrepair, I just felt driven to go see the place. I never imagined
how it would affect me and haunt me for weeks. During its heyday,
this hospital had 2000 acres, with 200 buildings, and housed over
12,000 patients. The land itself has decreased in size to 1,750
acres and the majority of the buildings are now abandoned. There are
only a handful of buildings in use for other things at this time.
On
this campus, during its prime, there was a beautiful pecan grove,
historic cemeteries, greenhouse, tennis courts, baseball field,
train depot, laundry building, prison, hospital buildings,
auditorium, chapel, power plant, and the largest kitchen in the world
which was dedicated July 23, 1998. This kitchen served 15,000 meals
on an average day and the maximum amount of meals they ever served
was 30,000 meals in one day. Most of the staff lived on the campus
and some lived in the cottages with their families. It was the
perfect set up.
This
place was much bigger than I imagined and is laid out like a college
campus. It must have been a beautiful place in its day. Now it is
quite eerie with these beautiful three story brick buildings vacant
with roofs collapsing and plants and vines visible through broken
windows. The grassy area is well maintained and appeared to have
been recently mowed. Driving through this virtual town that at one
time housed over 2,000 patients a day with the staff hustling about
doing their jobs, there was always so much going on here then and now
- silence. Now this sad place is in a state of decrepitude with
talk of it being torn down.
We
pulled over and I got out of the car to get some pictures. It was a
surreal scene with no noise except an occasional bird chirping, or a
squirrel running up a tree. It was so quiet that when I heard a leaf
blowing on the grass nearby from the wind, it made me jump and gave
me a scare. There was no one in sight except for an occasional car
passing down a street nearby.
What
I never imagined was by just seeing this property, how it would
prompt me to do as much research on this place as I could. I felt
driven to know what happened here. A strong feeling of sadness came
over me seeing these buildings and realizing the amount of men,
women, and children with illnesses, diseases, and handicaps like
epilepsy, down syndrome, small pox, pellagra, and tuberculous that
stayed here some for a short while, some over and over again, while
others stayed for all their lives.
Some
of the buildings were built in the late 1800’s while there were
newer structures like the auditorium, that were built in the mid 1900
to the late 1900’s. On the sides of the older buildings the vines
had taken over and some of the porches adorning the buildings were
collapsing. Many of the windows were shattered, boarded up, and
barred with limbs sticking out of them. On some buildings, the
roof had collapsed and the third floor was open to the elements.
They used to have tours here, but it isn’t safe to walk around many
of the building as they continue to collapse upon themselves. Many
people have gone inside and filmed the inside since it closed. It is
eerie seeing these films since when they closed these buildings,
they left everything pretty much intact including patient files.
There are no trespassing signs posted.
In
the early 1800’s, there was a movement to have a place to put
mentally ill patients that would be run by the state. Georgia State
Lunatic, Idiot, and Epileptic Asylum opened in 1842 and was run by
Dr. Thomas A. Green until 1879. He ran it more like a family than an
institution where the patients would help take care of the land,
cattle, and facilities right alongside the staff. That gave the
patients a feeling of self worth since they were helping and those
who could, worked. Dr. Green would eat his meals with the patients
and staff. Some folks said Dr. Green himself was really insane but
harmless. During the early days here, there were dances and some of
the patients were able to roam the park to get some sunshine.
The
very first patient ever brought here was Tilman Barnett, a thirty
year old male from Bibb County, on December 15, 1842 and was chained
to a horse-drawn wagon. He was said to be violent and destructive
and was diagnosed as a ‘Lunatic.’ He was also the first
casualty dying six months later from “maniacal exhaustion.”
In
the early days, a sheriff could declare you insane just by talking to
you. Then he would set up a court date where the judge could declare
you mentally ill. Many families put loved ones away because they
had seizures, depression, illnesses, or they had no where to go.
Some got put into asylums because their husbands died and the
families couldn’t afford to keep them and since the state was
paying for them to stay. Pellagra is a disease caused by the lack of
niacin and was common among the poverty stricken people in the
Georgia Mountains. The disease caused people to act crazy.
Lobotomy's, shock treatments, and ice baths were all common in the
early years when they truly believed it helped the patients. There
were some that stated in later years that the shock treatments helped
them.
The
Powell Building was known as the Center building and was built in
1858. The building is a large imposing white domed building that
has a whopping 181,582 square feet. This building once housed the
administrators with the patients living in both wings. Just
imagine, General Sherman and his troops camped on the grounds here on
the way to Atlanta. Standing in front of this enormous building
today, I saw the impressive beautiful of this building as well as
seeing the great need for repair. Oddly, the fountain is still
working and there are signs next to the front door that say this is a
quiet area. I am unsure if this building is being used at all
anymore, but today for sure, there is no sign of anyone.
The
Jones Building was where surgeries were preformed and sometimes even
without a licensed doctor present. The corpse drawers are located
in the basement of the building where they placed those who passed
away. The Walker Building was built in 1884 and constructed as a
home for white males to convalescent. The first building for colored
people was built in 1866, after the Civil War, and Central State
Hospital stayed segregated until the 1940’s. There was also a
building for adolescents known as the “Kingston Lounge.”
By
1904, the average patient load per day at the asylum grew to 2,880.
In 1937, Georgia was the last of the 32 states to erect a eugenics
law to stop patients who were likely to be released from being able
to procreate. Physicians and politicians said it was “scientific
and humanitarian.” They continued the practice of sterilization
until 1963 after sterilizing 3,300 people.
Conditions
continued to worsened. By the 1960’s, conditions were at it worst
on the campus. It was badly understaffed with only one doctor per 100
patients and Milledgeville became known nationwide for the
mistreatment of their patients. There were too many patients and many
slept on the floor in the hallways since they didn’t have enough
beds. In the 1960’s this hospital grew to be the largest mental
hospital in the world. Rumors were spoken of children confined in
cages, some adults in straight jackets all the time, ice baths,
lobodomy's, and shock therapy. Milledgeville became known as the
city of crazies and many people spoke of the ‘funny people.’
Parents used to threaten their children that if they didn’t behave
they would take them to Milledgeville.
A
child’s rhyme
Edmund's
sick,
Edmund's
ill,
They’re
going to take you
to
Milledgeville.
During
the 1960’s and 1970’s, they began the deinstitutionalization
movement when they started letting the people out of these
institutions. Sometimes putting people at risk since some still
needed help, but were released anyway.
In
2010, the Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental
Disabilities announced the hospital would be closed. In 2016, the
facility offered short term acute treatment for mental illness and
rehab programs for developmental disabilities. At this present time,
I am unsure if it is open at all. There is a museum on the grounds
at the old train depot that you have to make an appointment to see.
There
are over 25,000 graves of patients that were buried on the hospital
grounds. Some were identified by the patients file number with no
names or dates on metal stakes throughout the grounds. When some of
the prison inmates were mowing the grounds, they picked them up and
threw the stakes in the woods as they were in the way of them mowing.
The patients are now memorialized at the Cedar Lane Cemetery where
they have placed 2,000 cast iron markers to commemorate those who
passed while on the hospital grounds.
In
conclusion, I am haunted by visiting this place knowing what took
place here. No it wasn’t all bad and there were some successes and
there were some good people who worked there who wanted to help.
But it is the bad things that happened here that haunts me. Is it
haunted? Most likely. Is it scary? I would say yes, especially
at night. It is definitely eerie and as I got back into the car, I
said a prayer for those lost souls. Beware, if you go here – it
will change you forever.
Bye
for now.
Patient
Wisdom
“Before
you lock us up, take a look at those who bring us in.”
“There
are more outside the hospital than in.”
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