Marlboro Psychiatric Hospital, Part ll

Marlboro Hospital

In the first part of this post the sad history of abuse suffered by the patients at this hospital located in Marlboro Township, New Jersey is shared. This abuse is why many people felt this hospital was haunted after it closed down in the late 1990s.

Marlboro was torn down in 2013 and a park stands in its place today.

One popular legend told by Legend Trippers about this old psychiatric hospital involves the ghost of a demented farmer.

The story goes . . .

A farmer named Allen owned the land that the hospital was built upon. His 500-acre farm had been in his family for generations. But the state wanted the rural property for their new hospital.

Mr. Allen refused to sale but this didn’t matter to the government--they seized his property and kicked him off his land.

This took Mr. Allen’s livelihood away, and having lost everything he owned it is said he went mad.

Once the hospital was complete staff began to see Mr. Allen wandering the property late at night, muttering to himself. As time passed he became more irrational. When hospital staff tried to remove him he attacked.

Ironically, after this he was committed to Marlboro as a patient. He stayed to himself and the hospital let him tend to the grass and plants on the grounds.

One day he disappeared. A huge manhunt was organized but Mr. Allen was never found. A rumor later stated a vagrant passing through the state had killed him.

 

Old Slaughterhouse

Months after this, late at night strange animalistic squeals were heard near the old abandoned slaughterhouse on the hospital property.

These squeals became louder and louder until they began to disturb the patients. Several becoming hysterical had to be sedated.

Marlboro then hired extra security guards to patrol the grounds. One night a guard found strange messages written in blood on the side of the slaughterhouse. They read:

“I see you.” and “Tonight you will die.”

He told his supervisor what he had found and then returned to his patrol. The next morning it was discovered this guard was missing.

Several searchers entered the slaughterhouse. They opened the doors to a large metal freezer. Inside they saw the missing guard’s body hanging from a hook.

He was covered in blood and his head was missing. In its place was a severed pigs’ head.

The murderer was never found but later after several witnesses saw the ghost of Farmer Allen poking his head out of a hole in the slaughterhouse roof it was believed his ghost must have killed the guard.

This slaughterhouse was torn down shortly after the rest of the hospital buildings were demolished.

In Part l Marlboro Psychiatric Hospital, the story of the abuse that occurred at this hospital is told.

Marlboro Psychiatric Hospital, Part l

Almost every old psychiatric hospital in the U.S. has ghost stories that surround them. Most often it is said-- because of all the negative energy connected to these facilities that they must be haunted.

Marlboro Hospital

Marlboro Psychiatric Hospital located in Marlboro Township in New Jersey is no exception to this rule.

The hospitals history did produce quite a bit of negative energy. It opened its doors in 1931. It first treated adult, adolescent and children but by the 1980s it was being used for just male and female adult patients.

The facility had a long list of problems.

Early on, rumors started to spread that this facility abused it patients. Local residents often complained that the patients were seen unsupervised outside the hospital’s fences.

One female patient disappeared for 48 hours and was later found outside frozen to death.

In 1979, one hundred and thirty one patients became ill with food poisoning--4 of them died.

Another female patient who was on a liquid diet because of an eating disorder was forced to eat a peanut butter sandwich and choked to death.

A male patient was restrained for 80 hours over the course of 5 days. These restraints should have been loosened every 2 hours. This was not done. He died as a result of blood clots that were caused by these restraints.

Marlboro Cemetery

Over the hospitals sixty-plus years in service there were over 1,500 patients who died while being cared for here. The hospital’s cemetery located across the road from the hospital has over 900 graves--those buried here had no relatives to claim them.

This cemetery is off County Route 520 and is open to the public. Recent paranormal investigators claim this area is haunted. Several interesting EVP’s have been recorded.

In 1993, Senator Richard Codey established a fake background for himself--which reflected he was a known sex offender. Despite this he was hired to be an orderly at the hospital. During his undercover investigation he observed all kinds of abuse in the hospital.

He found rampant patient abuse, wasteful spending and other illegal practices. As a result the hospital was closed down several years later.

After it closed rumors ran rampant that the old buildings on the property were haunted.

Claims of shadow people being seen in the old slaughterhouse on the property as well as other buildings resulted in many people trespassing in hopes of encountering a ghost or two. Because of this security had to be tightened on the property.

The state of New Jersey solved this problem by having the buildings torn down in 2013. Today this rural site is managed by the Monmouth County Park system. The area is now Big Bear Park.

In Part ll of Marlboro Psychiatric Hospital, I share a scary ghost legend that was told for years about this hospital.