Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital

Founded in 1876, Greystone had the largest building foundation in the United States until the Pentagon was built. At its peak, over 7,700 patients lived in overcrowded conditions. Folk singer Woody Guthrie was a patient here, calling it "Gravestone."

Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital opened on August 17, 1876, in Morris Plains, built specifically to relieve the severe overcrowding at the Trenton State Lunatic Asylum. Designed according to the Kirkbride Plan -- an architectural philosophy that believed structured environments with fresh air and natural light could help cure mental illness -- the original building encompassed 673,700 square feet, making it the largest single building in the United States until the Pentagon surpassed it in 1943. The hospital was initially built to accommodate 350 patients. Over the following decades, that number grew catastrophically. By 1953, Greystone housed 7,674 patients, more than twenty times its intended capacity. Wards designed for privacy became warehouses of human suffering, with patients sleeping in hallways and common areas.

Among Greystone's most notable patients was Woody Guthrie, the legendary folk singer and songwriter, who was committed on May 29, 1956, after being arrested for wandering aimlessly on the highways. Guthrie was suffering from Huntington's disease, a hereditary degenerative condition that had been misdiagnosed for years. He remained at Greystone until 1961 before being transferred to other facilities, eventually dying in 1967. Over the decades, reports of patient suicides, sexual assaults, and various forms of mistreatment accumulated. The underground tunnels that connected the various buildings on campus, originally built to transport patients between wards without exposure to the elements, became symbols of the institution's darker aspects -- isolated corridors where cries went unheard.

The paranormal reputation of Greystone grew in parallel with its decline. Those who entered the abandoned wards reported shadowy figures moving through the deteriorating hallways, disembodied voices echoing from empty rooms, and sudden temperature drops that left investigators shivering in corridors that had been comfortable moments before. The most frequently described apparition is the ghost of a nurse, seen making her rounds through the abandoned wards as though still tending to patients who departed decades ago. A young girl in a pink dress has been reported in corridors far from any section that housed children, her appearance and disappearance both sudden and unexplained. Greenish lights with no identifiable source have been observed floating through the upper wards, and investigators have documented electromagnetic anomalies and unexplained sounds on recording equipment.

Despite considerable public opposition and preservation efforts -- including a bid by Alma Realty to restore the building at no cost to the state -- Governor Chris Christie ordered the demolition of the main Kirkbride building, which began in April 2015 and was completed by October of that year. The destruction of the 673,700-square-foot structure was one of the most significant losses of Kirkbride architecture in the country. The 2012 horror film "Greystone Park," directed by Sean Stone, was filmed at and inspired by the hospital. Though the original building is gone, several structures on the campus remain, and some investigators and former staff believe the spirits that accumulated over nearly 140 years of operation are not bound to the bricks that housed them. Visitors to the grounds still report unexplained sounds, cold spots, and the persistent feeling of being watched from windows that no longer exist.