America's 10 Scariest Abandoned Asylums & Hospitals

8. Letchworth Village - Rockland, New York

A residential village housing both the physically and mentally disabled of all ages, which opened in 1911 and closed in 1996. The buildings are now badly deteriorated, some vandalised and the site is the stuff of local legend. Notable was the successful experimental Polio vaccine that was given to a child patient in 1950, which was subsequently administered to another 19 young patients, albeit without consent. Allegations of abuse were rife from the 1920s, to the extent that some staff even mistreated their co-workers. The village, which extended to 130 buildings over several acres, was essentially self maintaining, but it also suffered from lack of resources.

Many of the residents were abandoned by their families, their disabilities seen as shameful. The village cemetery holds about 900 graves, several of which have no names on their markers. Regarding supposed ghosts, the Boy's hospital is seen as the most haunted building in the village. It's been suggested that the ghosts haunting Letchworth are of the former patients. A little girl's disembodied giggle was heard at the end of a hallway, and there have been reports of the sounds of something being dragged along upper floors, as well as sharp drops in temperature.