THE STORY
Reported Haunting
Norwich State Hospital is one of Connecticut's most infamous abandoned psychiatric hospitals. Visitors have reported shadow figures, disembodied screams, phantom footsteps, and apparitions believed to be former patients and staff. The sprawling abandoned complex has long attracted paranormal investigators.
Built in 1904 on the site of an old Native American village, the hospital was called the Norwich State Hospital for the Insane. The many deaths related to the place include a patient who hanged himself in 1914, a 1919 hot water heater explosion that killed two employees, an employee killed while crossing the street, and a nurse who committed suicide in her home. In its past history, the hospital was believed to have been an unpleasant place where the patients suffered beatings, starvation, and prolonged confinement in cells, among other abuse. It closed in 1996; reports say the plan is to demolish the buildings and make the grounds into a park. Witnesses say the site is haunted, as evidenced by ghostly apparitions, eerie feelings, EVPs, mists and orbs. It was featured on TV’s Ghost Hunters.