My Trip to The Infamous Forest Haven Asylum

In late December 2017, I made a trip out to the not so abandoned Forest Haven Asylum located Laurel, MD. I took the trip with my partner in crime & awesome sister @ohmenlightened.

I have always been interested in abandoned structures and buildings. I also have an avid interest in instuitionilization (largely anti-) & also the paranormal and finally, the history of mental health care in the U.S. Therefore, what better place to visit than Forest Haven Asylum, where according to some stats a reported 1 in 12 residents admitted to the asylum died from clear cut cases of neglect & abuse.

Interesting that such a place is left rotting in ruin but relatively available for any adventurous soul to see. Why not bull doze it? The answer is unclear. To access forest haven one must trek through the woods and park their vehicle at another location. There is one rather obvious trail that can be taken and anther reported one that I didn't personally see.



Along the trail are remnants of other buildings...

At the end of the trail you can see a glimpse of your first building...

As you emerge this small building become more prominent.


We did not go in the smaller building you just saw as we didn't feel comfortable going in there due to its size. And this is because we suspected a larger group of people that came in prior to us maybe in that building. I don't know what that group was up to but they scurried in just prior to us with backpacks and hoodies.

Knowing there were other somewhat questionable people around certainly added a weird element to the already somber environment. These individuals had parked their vehicles before we did ours and went into the trail about 10 minutes before we did & their vehicles were gone when we left so they couldn't have been up to much. However, there's definitely tons of graffiti (some "nsfw"...)





Before I get too ahead of myself, let me explain why we had to "sneak" down the trail. The entrance to forest haven is guarded and there's aactually a building for male juvenile detention on that portion of the grounds. Naturally, over time people found other ways to gain access to Forest Haven.

After passing the small building you've seen first, we encountered the next building that I believe to be Curley Hall.









From my understanding this building housed some 200 of the most disabled patients when the other buildings were overcrowded (which unfortunately became the norm.)
The lower levels/ basement are flooded and there's some seriously dingy looking water...





Yes, that pinkish/ red stuff is the actual color of the water...perhaps from the bricks or littered paint cans from graffiti artists.... all the more eery of course those basketballs just hanging out floating on the water, seemingly abandoned mid-game from the nearby court...

At this point you may be wondering, well, what sort of people found their way into forest haven? The "intellectually disabled" both children and adults. I think Foest Haven might've had possibly good intentions to initially. But, over time and with government cuts to funding crucially needed rehabilitative programs, the place became overcrowded and understaffed. Furthermore, the qualified & educated staff left or were snuffed out and unqualified people took their place to include doctors with malpractice suits against them. There are literally a plethora of horror movie inspiring acts that went down at this place. There's also a mass grave on the property with more than 300 buried, in unmarked graves.

Unfortunately, during our visit we had more than just company from the first group I previously described but, also saw an unmarked black SUV stop off at one of the buildings past Curley Hall. Due to these individuals presence we weren't able to explore and see the gravesite or the chapel both of which I really wanted to see.

I have many photos from within curley hall and the adjacent building. I was pretty astonished to see actual patient records and what would now be considered protected health information lying about. You will see some of that in the following photos. Additionally, you'll see that a LOT of stuff still remains in these buildings. Following the judge ordered shutdown of Forest Haven, one would wonder why these documents weren't either destroyed or relocated. Maybe becayse the residents of Forest Haven "didn't matter." Not only were the truly mentally disabled sent there, so were those with mild cases of dyslexia or other functioning but mildly cognitively impaired. The environment caused the mildly impaired to become worse. Eventually drug addicts and other societal rejects ended up stuck at forest haven. This wall "art" well sums up the general heavy emotional feeling in the air at Forest Haven Asylum...

Take a closer look:

"Welcome to hell, thx....." yeah that pretty well sums up the living conditions these residents dealt with. From being chemically and/or physically restrained, these residents took the worst type of abuse. There are reports of "medical testing" and "experimentation" being performed here and I wouldn't be surprised. In the photos to follow I hope to impart this feel to you, as it was heavy!


























































As you can see, parts of the forest haven facilities are remarkably intact. The stark contrast of the drapes with the decay and peeling paint was interesting to me. Additionally, the in somewhat decent condition typewriter and sofa in contrast to the disarray and patient files scattered throughout. It has been this way since 1991 when the facility finally moved the 15 remaining residents elsewhere, more than a decade following the 1978 court ordered shut down of this place.

As I stated earlier, I'm anti-institutionalization. I think most individuals can be treated, rehabilitated, or placed in a small group home setting of some sort that specializes in said area. Group home is a milder form of institutionalization I'm aware...however, for some individuals such as those with severe antisocial personality disorder or untreatable schizophrenia institutionalization can be a safe alternative for both the individuals' own safety and that of the general public.

Simply sticking ALL societal rejects in one place clearly doesn't work and Forest Haven is a solid example of it. Humans get too carried away with an "easy fix" to problems and that's when we have overcrowded facilities. Then comes the government cutbacks and worse leads to worse.

I'm glad we visited foresthaven. I don't think it'll be around forever and I feel happy I was able to see a piece of history, regardless of what a terrible piece of history it is. I really feel for all the souls who suffered in this place. As a rehabilitative healthcare professional myself, I am enraged to think of the work environment that some of these "professionals" called their workplace & why more wasn't done & sooner to stop this mess.

What do you think? Should all institutionalization be done away with? How should we be treating the severely mentally ill & disabled? Where should they go? Would love to hear your thoughts on this. Thanks for visiting my blog.