Elgin State Hospital

One of Illinois' oldest psychiatric institutions, open since 1872. The campus treated patients for over a century, spanning an era that included some of the most troubling practices in the history of mental health care.

The Elgin Mental Health Center (formerly Elgin State Hospital and the Northern Illinois Hospital and Asylum for the Insane) opened on April 3, 1872, in Elgin, Illinois. It didn't take long for the hospital to receive its first criminal patient deemed "not guilty by reason of insanity" in 1873. At times, the facility treated mental illness, tuberculosis, and provided federally funded care for veterans, eventually sprawling across 1,139 acres with a patient-staffed farm.

During its early years, treatments were often experimental, and some patients died from procedures only to be buried or incinerated on the very grounds. Years of suffering left an indelible mark on this place. At its peak in the mid-1950s, the hospital housed 7,700 patients, but by the time of its partial closure, patient numbers had declined dramatically.

Between 1993 and 2008, most of the older buildings were demolished due to decades of abandonment and deterioration. The site became popular among teenagers and paranormal enthusiasts due to claims of hauntings in the older buildings and the hospital cemetery, where countless patients were laid to rest.

Though most historic structures are gone, new facilities now operate on the same grounds, serving troubled youth and the criminally insane--those found "not guilty by reason of insanity" or "unfit to stand trial." The Elgin Mental Health Center continues its mission today on land saturated with over 150 years of mental anguish.

Ghost tours of Elgin, including coverage of the asylum grounds, are offered by local tour companies. Visitors report feeling watched in the remaining areas, encountering sudden temperature drops, and sensing the sorrowful echoes of patients who suffered within these walls.

Together with other haunted sites like a former factory and an old school building, the asylum grounds form part of a network of ghostly tales that define Elgin--ensuring the town's dark legacy lives on.