real time web analytics
Report - - Rockland Asylum, USA March 2015/May 2016 | European and International Sites | 28DaysLater.co.uk

Report - Rockland Asylum, USA March 2015/May 2016

Hide this ad by donating or subscribing !

mookster

grumpy sod
Regular User
Rockland Asylum is one of the most well-known abandoned asylums in probably the entire USA. It was established as Rockland State School in 1927 before being widely known as Rockland Psychiatric Center later on. It was originally intended to house just under 6000 patients but at it's peak in the late 1950s it was recorded as having over 9000 residents plus 2000 staff on site. Buildings and facilities on site began to be wound down and closed from the 1970s onwards and nowadays around three-quarters of the sprawling site is abandoned, making it one of the largest intact abandoned psychiatric facilities anywhere in the USA.

Rockland is a weird place to walk around, as the roads are all 'public' roads. So you can drive and walk through the site untroubled, but if you walk around with backpacks on and camera equipment and are unlucky enough to be seen by staff members from the active parts, or it's own campus police who patrol regularly, or even the state troopers that like to drive through from time to time you will immediately be told to leave. Because parts of the sprawling facility are still active, patients walk around the grounds with you and sometimes follow you about, which can be a bit odd but it's all part of the experience.

It's difficult to really get some sense of the scale of this place. Imagine our own Whittingham, or Severalls, and times it by three or four. Unlike asylums in the UK, most asylums in the USA are composed of lots of standalone buildings that aren't interconnected by corridors so the sites can be alarmingly large. Underneath the asylum is a network of miles of tunnels, in some areas three layers deep criss-crossing the buildings which does enable easy movement between them if you can locate an entrance.

My first visit was on a blisteringly cold snowy day in March 2015. We had planned to hit all the good stuff but as soon as we drove through the gates it was obvious the campus police units were present and alert. We saw a group of kids run across the site so they were obviously busy trying to catch them and we didn't fancy getting caught in the crossfire. After doing a couple of loops it became clear we weren't going to have much luck in the main body of the asylum so instead decided to explore two of the buildings on the outer edge - the old children's wards and one of the outer adult ward blocks. Rockland isn't a very interesting site architecturally, but it's one exceptional building was the children's wards. A sprawling single storey building connected by walkways that looked more suited to a facility on mainland Europe than the USA. This was a double edged sword though, as it was both the most interesting building in terms of architecture and stuff left behind but, with it being so close to the outer fence and road, it was the most trashed and the most graffitied of all of them.

16749562788_4157576f5b_b.jpg


16749790050_ccbdd04d50_b.jpg


16314834384_f05852161f_b.jpg


16749555368_0398892d4c_b.jpg


16936245851_3424555413_b.jpg


16314824884_169d16da36_b.jpg


16751014239_7947de4a2d_b.jpg


16729863757_a7e5b8954e_b.jpg


16935888172_6fb71bc5fb_b.jpg


16937199695_ecdc9dcb08_b.jpg


16749523278_d1e20ca0c6_b.jpg


16936214441_60b4d7a416_b.jpg


16750987989_261c36281a_b.jpg


16317135623_0fd51f909d_b.jpg


16750981489_26eba5527a_b.jpg


16317132163_fd0c361756_b.jpg


16314780994_2093f5a907_b.jpg


16729833517_0c3e9264e4_b.jpg


16750971919_bca5f74d74_b.jpg


16936192341_e80c643c95_b.jpg


16937167855_026a320046_b.jpg


16750963179_a0da53602e_b.jpg


Continued....​
 

mookster

grumpy sod
Regular User
A year and a bit later I returned, with just my trusted exploring companion and no others. This was a dream trip, we only saw security once all day compared with the year before. We got in with no mess or fuss and had the run of the place to ourselves which was awesome. We walked miles that day, exploring the place for hours popping out the tunnels in random wards and buildings as we went. The majority of the buildings at Rockland are very stripped but they are also in very good condition with little to no graffiti, other than in the auditorium which is where most of the idiots congregate as it's glaringly obvious which building it is.

After many hours and many photos (all taken handheld as I had misplaced my tripod at this point) we emerged into the setting sun and called it a day. We even managed to see the padded cell which is a feature almost nobody manages to find, hidden somewhere deep in one of the buildings - god knows which one.

Apologies for the quality of some of these photos, they were all taken without a tripod as I said previously.

26831650664_061de29093_b.jpg


27341800842_d3160b261a_b.jpg


27341794152_77698b0108_b.jpg


27164235180_9c8441a62f_b.jpg


27341776652_d4665ded1f_b.jpg


27440784675_034a1479f6_b.jpg


27341774242_506e2913cd_b.jpg


27368907451_8a57abc6dc_b.jpg


27341758302_9928dd94af_b.jpg


27341753002_c7999dd8cc_b.jpg


26833428183_cbf8b68fff_b.jpg


26831598174_64f59d8611_b.jpg


27406581466_928b992559_b.jpg


27341726442_e60f2ff789_b.jpg


27440734275_559e4199d7_b.jpg


27341718182_b76e1fa8f4_b.jpg


26831569284_c4fb72dd4a_b.jpg


The future looks bleak for the campus, as a communications company recently bought a large chunk of the land and is currently demolishing over 40 of the abandoned buildings to make room for a new headquarters.

Thanks for looking :)
 

host

28DL Full Member
28DL Full Member
That is one sweet report, how the hell do you misplace a tripod? did a ghost steal it.
 

mookster

grumpy sod
Regular User
Cheers all, this was such a fun place to run around. After Overbrook was demolished this became my friends new hangout explore location, and now this one is going the same way I don't know what he's gonna do.

That is one sweet report, how the hell do you misplace a tripod? did a ghost steal it.

I think I had left it in my friend's girlfriend's car or something after coming back from another location, something silly like that!
 
Top