Please check out our new video on the abandoned Seaside Sanatorium! If you are going to visit one abandoned place this summer, put Seaside Sanatorium on your list.
Posts Tagged ‘Children’s Hospital’
The Crumbling Kingdom — The Abandoned Seaside Sanatorium
Posted: September 3, 2015 by Hidden Wonders Photography in #postaday, Abandoned, Abandoned Attractions, Abandoned Business, Abandoned Connecticut, Abandoned Hospital, abandoned new england, Abandoned Sanatorium, Abandoned USA, Abandoned Wonders, Beaches, Bird Watching, Birds, Broken, Children, Children's Hospital, Closed, Connecticut, darkness, Death, Destruction, empty, Exploration, exploring the abandoned, Forgotten, forgotten beauty, Ghosts, Graveyard, Haunting, Hiking, History, Homeless, Information, left behind, lost, Mystery, nature, new england, nightmares, Ocean, Ocean View, overgrown, photography, Public Parks, research, Ruins, Safety First, Searching, seaside, Seaside Sanatorium, State Parks, Stories, Urban Decay, Urban Exploration, Urban Exploring, Urbex, Waterford, writingTags: #postaday, abandoned, abandoned buildings, abandoned business, Abandoned Connecticut, Abandoned Home, abandoned hospital, Abandoned New England, Abandoned Place, Abandoned Places, Abandoned Sanatorium, Abandoned USA, abandoned wonders, Atlantic Ocean, be prepared, beauty, Birds, boarded up, broken, Cass Gilbert, Chess, Children's Hospital, Connecticut, CT, danger, darkness, decay, empty, exploration, exploring, forgotten, Graffiti, haunting, hauntingly beautiful, hiking, history, Hospital, left behind, Mistreatment, mystery, Nature, New England, No Trespassing, Nurse, Ocean, Osprey, Overgrown, photography, Ruins, Safety First, Seaside, Seaside Sanatorium, urban exploration, urban explorer, urban exporing, urbex, urbex photography, vandalism, Waterford, writing
The Crumbling Kingdom
The Abandoned Seaside Sanatorium
Written by: Wilk
Photographs by: Lassie
A relic from the old world sits alone on the picturesque shores of New England’s Long Island Sound. The steady waves of the ocean lap up against the sandy shores, but she doesn’t move a muscle. Armies of birds of all shapes and sizes roost amongst her crumbling rafters, but she doesn’t seem to mind. Small crowds of beachgoers flock by to enjoy their holidays, but they pay this beautiful disaster no attention. This is Seaside Sanatorium, and though she doesn’t look it, she was once considered one of the finest hospitals in the state. But that time has passed. We visit this abandoned facility every year, and each year this once shining star seems a little less bright. It is sad to say that the State of Connecticut has apparently ceased its protection of this old facility, leaving it ripe for rampant and senseless destruction from local vandals.
The main buildings on the grounds were designed by the world renowned architect Cass Gilbert in the early twentieth century. He was the same man responsible for masterminding the famous US Supreme Court building in Washington DC and New Haven’s Union Station. The facility was opened during the early 1930’s, seeing a long and colorful history that lasted until 1996. Over the years it has served as a children’s hospital, a treatment center for the elderly, and a facility for the intellectually disabled. Its beautiful setting along the shores of the Atlantic Ocean were said to provide a very peaceful atmosphere for its residents. Sadly though, the facility was allegedly home to several incidents of violent treatment of patients in the early 1990’s which would ultimately cause the demise of Seaside. It now sits abandoned, though it can be legally walked as a recreation area.
While the Main Hospital is the main attraction, its supporting act is the Nurse’s Building. Though it is not as ornate or extravagant as the Main Hospital, the Nurse’s Building is just as hauntingly beautiful. Windows have been boarded up. Wild vines coat the outer walls. The stairs from the old fire escape have been removed. A doorway that had been busted open by vandals has been crudely barricaded with mounds of dirt and tree branches. A small squirrel keeps watch from the upper rafters. But most noticeable of all, a family of Osprey has taken up residence on the buildings chimney. Perennial occupants, these massive birds of prey hold a strong presence over the entire grounds. Small birds hide when they fly by. The fearsome screeches of their feasting young echoes from their nest. And the massive adults keep close watch on anyone who passes by what has become their empire.
Of all the abandoned hospitals we have visited in our time, the main hospital of Seaside is the most breathtaking. Two broken lighthouses stand at its corners. A towering spire forms the center of the facility. Five brink floors stand tall before the Atlantic Ocean. The old ruins of the building’s parking lot lie in the back. The pavement still cracked with age. What is left of a playground stands at the front, defiantly facing the sea. An old slide slowly rusts into oblivion. A child’s merry go-round has become overrun with wild vines. Windows have been shattered. Walls have been defiled with graffiti. Inside, the shocking white paint hangs from the walls like sleeping albino bats. A few old pieces of furniture stands guard over any trespassers. And an earie silence fills the halls that were once full of patients and doctors alike. It is both comforting and terrifying.
The grounds still have an echo of their old past. A few dead power lines hang from rotting poles. A ghostly chessboard slowly disappears into the wild grass. A rusted fire hydrant still keeps watch over the facility. On our last visit, a round the clock security force was in place around the abandoned buildings. Today, there was no security to be found. And according to the locals, they’ve been gone for some time. The grounds have noticeably suffered since our last visit. When the cat’s away, the mice will play. And what terrible games they have been up to inside this poor facility. We encountered several destructive vandals on our trip, and had to frighten them out of the building on our own. These are the people that give what we do a bad name, and these are the people that cause the steady destruction of abandoned wonders like Seaside Sanatorium. She was once a proud and dignified medical facility. Now, she is nothing more than a crumbling kingdom.
Torn to Pieces – Remembering Undercliff Sanatorium
Posted: November 18, 2014 by Hidden Wonders Photography in Abandoned, Abandoned Sanatorium, Abandoned Wonders, Children, Children's Hospital, Connecticut, Death, Forgotten, Hiking, Merden, Meriden CT, Safety First, Seaside Sanatorium, Tuberculosis, Undercliff Sanatorium, Urban ExplorationTags: #postaday, abandoned buildings, abandoned wonders, be prepared, Children's Hospital, CT, exploration, exploring, forgotten, hiking, Hospital, Meriden, mystery, Nature, Overgrown, Undercliff Sanatorium
Torn to Pieces
Remembering Undercliff Sanatorium
By: Sean and Amanda
The state of Connecticut is home to many well-known abandoned mental hospitals. In the shadow of the rolling hills of Southern Connecticut once stood one of our most feared and legendary facilities: Undercliff Sanatorium. Located in Meriden, CT, the grounds stood just a short walk off the beaten path of Hubbard State Park. Though several buildings on the grounds are still active state facilities, the main hospital had been abandoned since the seventies. Since its creation, it served several different purposes including a mental hospital and a storage facility. For many years after its demise, the facility sat empty and decaying. It was not until the spring of 2014 that the old hospital was finally demolished, torn to pieces over a few weeks. We were lucky enough to visit the abandoned Undercliff Sanatorium while it still stood in the early months of 2013.
First opening in 1910, Undercliff Sanatorium is still an active state facility. It has recently been renamed by the state as Undercliff State Hospital, since it is no longer used for its original purpose. Covering over forty acres in the town of Meriden, the facility was originally built to treat children with tuberculosis and other diseases. As modern medicine developed and these diseases became less common, the facility slowly evolved into a treatment center for adults. In the 1950’s, all adolescent patients were transferred to Seaside Sanatorium. (see our write-up here) In the 1960’s, Undercliff evolved once again into a state mental health facility. The main hospital officially closed in 1976, and has essentially remained unused. Much like all abandoned hospitals in Connecticut, there were rumors of patient abuse and there have been many alleged hauntings on the property.
Reaching Undercliff Sanatorium was no easy task. Due to large amounts of vandalism and trespassing, the official road signs for the facility had been removed to discourage visitors. We had read reports about some people being able to simply drive down the road and up to the facility itself. We found these hard to believe, especially considering a Connecticut State Trooper is housed on the grounds. Since it is still an active state facility, Undercliff was said to have a heavy police presence. We decided to park at the nearby Hubbard State Park. We made the climb up the mountain to Castle Craig, which gave us an excellent aerial view of the entire Undercliff campus and the surrounding towns. We then moved down the mountain to find a better way to get to the abandoned facility.
After climbing down the mountain, we came upon a road leading off into the distance. Across the road from us, we found an old path into the woods and decided to follow it. It led us deep into the forest, and eventually we came upon an open field leading up to Undercliff Sanatorium. It was massive, looming ominously in the distance as we slowly got closer. Despite all the rumors, we did not encounter a single trespassing warning. There were no fences, no signs, and we didn’t see a single police officer or security guard. The entire grounds seemed empty. It was weird. We cautiously moved closer and closer to the facility, unsure if it was illegal or not. But oddly enough, the closer we moved onto the grounds, the quieter things became. There was not a single sign of life. We continued moving up cautiously and quietly until we finally reached the hospital.
The abandoned hospital was huge. After successfully crossing the open field, we entered the parking lot of the main hospital. There were two buildings adjacent to each other. One was a simple rectangular building while the main hospital was blockier with each floor going up a little smaller than the one below it. Both were made entirely of brick. Every single window on the ground floor had been smashed and sub sequentially boarded up. Surprisingly, there wasn’t much graffiti on the hospitals exterior. A rickety chain link fence surrounded the main hospital, but there were so many holes cut into it that it was pretty much useless. The doors were all heavily boarded up, except the main door ironically, which had been busted open at the bottom. People were able to crawl inside easily through this hole, which looked relatively new. But there were asbestos warning signs posted everywhere.
We encountered several other explorers, who helped us get inside via the opening at the main door. Inside, Undercliff Sanatorium was a maze of darkness. There are no pictures of the interior because we foolishly forgot our flashlights. The main hospital was at least seven floors, including a basement which was mysteriously flooded when the facility was abandoned. Rumor has it that the facility’s crematorium and morgue were located down there, and it was flooded to keep people away from them. Each hallway was a little creepier than the last. Each staircase was in ruin. Around each corner lay more shadows and more destruction. Vandalism was rampant everywhere. Oddly a lot of supplies seemed to have been left behind, and summarily destroyed by vandals. The main attraction of the abandoned facility was the theater. On the north side of the main hospital, which could be seen from the outside, was a large and ghostly theater featuring hundreds of empty chairs staring at a rotting stage. There was definitely a dark vibe about this place. It could be felt throughout the entire facility.
Though it has since been demolished, the darkness of Undercliff Sanatorium can still be felt. When you visit a place like this, it never really leaves you. Just looking at the facility from the outside, we could feel presence that lay within its walls. It is unclear at this time what the state plans to do with the now demolished site. Since the grounds are still an active facility, it will more than likely continue to serve that purpose. One fun rumor we heard about this place is that the Travel Channel show “Ghost Adventures” wanted to do a paranormal investigation here and even offered the State of Connecticut a good sum of money to allow them to do so. But all offers were mysteriously turned down. Unfortunately, whatever dark secrets and evil deeds this facility once held are no more. But the ghost of Undercliff will always be there.
Abandoned Wonders 