Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum 5/25/2009

Posted by Nathan

On Memorial Day, Nathan and I headed up to Weston and visited the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum. We had talked about it in the psych rotation of my nursing class. I searched for information about it when I got home and found out that the place, while closed, gives tours that tell the history of the place. And yes, there are ghost stories too!

The Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum, constructed between 1858 and 1881, is the largest hand-cut stone masonry building in North America, and is purportedly the second largest in the world, next to the Kremlin. It was designed by the renowned architect Richard Andrews following the Kirkbride plan, which called for long rambling wings arranged in a staggered formation, assuring that each of the connecting structures received an abundance of therapeutic sunlight and fresh air. The original hospital, designed to house 250 souls, was open to patients in 1864 and reached its peak in the 1950's with 2,400 patients in overcrowded and generally poor conditions. Changes in the treatment of mental illness and the physical deterioration of the facility forced its closure in 1994 inflicting a devastating effect on the local economy, from which it has yet to recover.

They offer tours of just the first floor and tours of all four floors of the main building. Our tour took almost two hours and we were told that we had not seen a third of the facility. The place was equal parts fascinating and creepy as all get out. The sun was shining as we started the tour. Then, it began to get cloudy, then it began to thunder until we had a full out storm on our hands!!

For braver people, they offer ghost tours where people can stay the night and look for ghosts.

The four floor tour costs $30, but the money they get goes back into helping restore sections of the building so that more of it can be open to tours and preserve the intact parts.

It may not be the best choice for real young ones (there were a couple in our group and ended up hanging onto their mom due to being scared), but I thought it was such a neat thing to see. Our guide was a person that worked at the hospital for several years up until it closed in 1994. The building sat empty for about ten years and suffered much vandalism and decay from being abandoned