Every paranormal investigation worth their salt has heard of the notorious Pennhurst Asylum in Pennsylvania.
Originally called the Pennhurst State School and Hospital, and first known as the Eastern Pennsylvania State Institution for the Feeble-Minded and Epileptic, was an institution for mentally and physically disabled individuals of the south-eastern part of Pennsylvania.
It was shutdown on December 9, 1987 after 79 years of controversy amid claims of patient abuse and appalling conditions.
In 1968, the conditions at Pennhurst were famously exposed in a five-part television news report anchored by local WCAU-TV correspondent Bill Baldini, and in 1981, a Time magazine article described the place as having “a history of being understaffed, dirty and violent.”
In 1983, nine employees were indicted on charges ranging from slapping and beating patients (including some in wheelchairs) to arranging for patients to assault each other.
It was a real house of horrors, a place where the forgotten people of society were left to rot in utter despair.