Pilgrim State Hospital History Documentary Long Islands Historic Past

Pilgrim State Hospital History Documentary
2,000 lobotomies were performed at Pilgrim State Hospital during the 1940s and 50s. I did some urban exploring of building 23, the Medical/Surgucal building years ago, before it was demolished.

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Pilgrim Psychiatric Center, as it is now known, started out as a farm colony for psychiatric patients. It is located on Long Island in New York State. At one point in the 1950s it was the largest mental hospital in the world, housing more than 13,000 patients.

Conditions in the hospital were horrendous, but did not differ from other mental hospitals at the time. Electroshock therapy, insulin shock therapy, and lobotomy were all common place at Pilgrim State Hospital. Estimates say that 1 in 25 lobotomies in the U.S. were performed here.

This video is a brief history Pilgrim State Hospital.