Greystone Park Psychiatric Center (a.k.a. The State Asylum for the Insane at Morristown) 1876 - 2015

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Originally opened in 1876, The Greystone Park Psychiatric Center (originally named The State Asylum for the Insane at Morristown) has a unique history in that, to date, its story is still continuing to develop. And it's not a happy story. The facet of this video that stands out to me the most is probably the collection of old circa 1899 photos that my research uncovered, most of which I ended up using within the production. I seriously doubt that these old photos accurately represent what the asylum looked like on a continual, ongoing day-to-day basis, however. No, more than likely, each one of the asylum locations photographed had been especially spruced up and prepared for each of the photos. Still, the photos do well represent how the facility had been intended to be and the great lengths that our society was willing to go to toward the treatment and care of the mentally ill within our country well over a hundred years ago. Now, I can only hope that the day will eventually come back around to where our present-day society is once more willing to go to such extensive lengths toward tending to the circumstances and needs of the mentally ill that continue to still live and suffer within our midst. Perhaps this time around we’ll finally get it right.
This video has been produced by the mentally ill, for the mentally ill, and as well as all others who might have any kind of interest in them. It is strictly a not-for-profit production.
The Abandoned Atlas Foundation and its subsidiary, Abandoned Kansas. You can learn more about these fine organizations and sample more of their work at the following sites:
URBEX Playground
www.urbexplayground.com/
Weird N.J.
Yweirdnj.com/
Abandoned America
www.abandonedamerica.us/
The musical background track in this video has been provided by Fesliyan Studios and A Tourist in the Land of Reason wishes to both acknowledge and thank Fesliyan Studios for the continued use of their musical backing tracks. Find more Fesliyan Studios backing tracks on their RU-vid channel at / fesliyanstudios

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13 сен 2022

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Комментарии : 59

@ragoff Год назад

The music strangely makes me feel calm and sad at the same time. Watching the images sadness definitely takes over.

@Leatherface123. Год назад

The demolition of greystone was not only a crime, it was an insult

@atouristinthelandofreason5284 Год назад

Sometimes I have to marvel because I'm sure that none of the builders of the old asylums ever thought that their creations might still be around 150 years and more later, nor did the people who worked at and run them over the years, decades, and generations. By the time they began to realize the overall societal significance of their places of employment, in many cases, it was already too late to adequately save and preserve them. Out of all of those asylums that were built, perhaps 25 continue to stand and operate in carrying capacities. So now it's more important than ever that we cherish them for their history and continue protecting them to the utmost best of our ability.

@rlinden4 Год назад

I'm very appreciative of this video. I worked at GPPH in the mid-70s during the deinstitutionalization era. I was just starting my career as a psychologist and it was quite an intense emotional experience.

@rlinden4 Год назад

I am now a college professor in NJ and recently gave (and recorded) a presentation I made on the history of GPPH.

@atouristinthelandofreason5284 Год назад

@@rlinden4 Thank you so much for having watched this video and for also having taken the time to comment on it and share your own thoughts and experiences. These things mean more to me than you know. I've actually written two books pertaining to mental illness and disability, and they are now in the process of being published. I had initially created this channel to simply serve as an already-made companion of sorts for these books as they come out. I've been so touched by the reception that these videos continue to receive that I'm now considering creating a podcast based upon their content and this channel, though. In addition to chronicling the history of these facilities and others like them, the podcast would also provide a forum for people such as yourself to share your own memories and experiences pertaining to them, thereby helping make the history all the more real for the rest of today's society. And by thus heralding the history of the mentally ill, then perhaps we can also begin to spur society toward making some of the many changes that we're still in need of today. We'll see what ends up happening, I guess :-)

@rlinden4 Год назад

@@atouristinthelandofreason5284 I would be delighted to participate in a podcast. I recently drove up Central Ave and I felt so odd to encounter an empty field where Main Building once stood. I knew it was demolished but to see it was something else. Woody Guthrie's majiky tree was still there but not looking very healthy.

@atouristinthelandofreason5284 Год назад

@@rlinden4 Thank you so much for your continued interest in the channel and its developing missions. Prior to the podcast, I'll probably further test the possibility of the concept with a few videos based around potential epsidoes first. Please contact me at MrHayseedplowboy@aol.com at your convenience so that I can add you to the developing database and be able to further communicate with you when the time comes. And thank you again, too. I've been deeply touched by the channel's preliminary success and the ways in which it seems to be touching the minds and hearts of a growing number of people. :-)

@tevadurham1276 Год назад

My great grandmother was confined here from sometime around 1920 until her death in 1967. Her daughter, my grandmother, was made a ward of the State separately from her brother and eventually picked up by an uncle but was told that her mother was dead. Not only was she unaware that her mother was alive all that time but she never learned what happened to her father or brother. I wish there was a way to learn more about the reason for my great grandmother’s long confinement there. I wonder if there are any surviving records the family could request.

@atouristinthelandofreason5284 Год назад

At some point, after the turn of the year, I will begin a type of "phase 2" on the channel and begin producing videos around peoples' personal experiences. If you would at some point like to share your memories and recollections around your grandmother's stay and experiences pertaining to the facility, as well as how it affected your family, then I would very much enjoy working with you around them when the time comes. Please feel free to email me at MrHayseedplowboy@aol.com so that I can add your information to the database. :-)

@brega6286 Год назад

@@atouristinthelandofreason5284 Will do soon ! Was there as student mid 60's

@atouristinthelandofreason5284 Год назад

@@brega6286 My email address is MrHayseedplowboy@aol.com and please let me know if I can help you do so in any way. I'm now posting a series of narrated videos that might give you an idea of the nature of video that I'm seeking to now do along these lines. All that you really have to do is write out your memories, thoughts, and recollections - and the more the better - and I'll convert them into monologue form and go from there with them 🙂

@franksimpkins4471 5 месяцев назад

I was a 19 year old night watchman in mostly the main building and perimeter in 1985 and it still had some patients in wings. I carried these big skeleton type keys to turn in these remote old brass boxes that record time on a ticket type of sort to prove you made your rounds in all the out of the way dark corners. It was pretty spooky over night. Always looking for people breaking in or out. I may or may not have done mushrooms and be let go and then asked to come back for more money as no one would stay. I do not believe in ghosts but that place...I loved it and have been going into these old relics since before then. Sad to see it gone. I remember Karen Ann Quinlan across the street passed away when I was there. That sucked.

@atouristinthelandofreason5284 3 месяца назад

Wow, thank you so much for having watched this video and for having taken the time to share such a moving, inciteful, and deeply relevant comment. In sharing your own first-hand experiences and personal observations, you have helped to bring the facility, its history, and its impact on the world around it to life. I'm very happy that our paths have been able to cross here, and I hope that you are able to remain involved with the channel as we continue to move forward. We walk best when we walk together.

@lilabrantley916 4 месяца назад

Please keep these videos available for watching I enjoy these very much❤😅😂😮

@greeneyedlilpup745 Год назад

I loved this!!! Ty!!🤗

@disk5000 8 месяцев назад

I had the chance to explore all of the buildings after they were abandoned and still had power, a couple years before they were torn down. Amazing place. I have many pictures on black and white film

@atouristinthelandofreason5284 6 месяцев назад

Thank you so much for having taken the time to both watch and comment upon this video - these things accomplish more than you might realize and mean more to me than I know how to share. One of the greatest strengths of this channel will always be those people who comment upon it and share their own personal experiences regarding these old historic facilities and all the various roles that they played within our society over the course of their years. And it's easy for to understand how you chose black and white for the photographs that you captured of it, too...sometimes black and white can accomplish and capture things that color is unable to manage and achieve.

@chloeew4627 10 месяцев назад

Magnificent buildings,old craftsmanship stunning 😊

@atouristinthelandofreason5284 9 месяцев назад

I really don't think that most people alive today realize and appreciate the depths and the greatness of the efforts made by earlier generations toward tending to and properly housing our nation's mentally ill and disabled. And yes, it's true that the majority of their efforts probably ended up being grossly subverted and sadly failing...but if we could simply take the nature of the efforts that they made back then and combine it with today's knowledge, resources, and technologies, then perhaps we might finally achieve a measure of the success needed by combining the best of both eras.

@pennyg2312 Год назад

Fantastic videos. So informative. Thank you

@lilabrantley916 5 месяцев назад

These songs you are playing for the hospital is a med for my ears ❤😂😂

@brega6286 Год назад

Thank you ! What an excellent documentary. I have subscribed and have some stories to add.

@atouristinthelandofreason5284 Год назад

Thank you so much - this means more to me than you know. I'm working on a type of "phase 2" for the channel in which I do narrated videos. If you would like to share your memories, experiences, and incites in these areas, then I would very much enjoy turning them into a narrated video so that they might be remembered in a way that will allow others to benefit from them. My email address is Mrhayseedplowboy@aol.com, and I'll be more than happy to assist you in whatever ways that you might need and in which I am able.

@SShahids Год назад

After 100 plus years working in mental health and transferring patients to Greystone , how these connects were meant to be !

@mw2300 10 месяцев назад

Thank you for making these great videos, I have learned so much from your videos. Would you ever make these videos into a mini series for the TikTok platform? Some political discussion about bringing back similar types of institutions with religious flare. I don't think a lot of people understand or know why these types of institutions were closed down or the mistreatment of patients in the asylums. Keep up the great work😊

@bobobaggans6871 9 месяцев назад

What are your thoughts on why the mistreatment and the institutions were shut down?

@SShahids Год назад

The walls tell stories!!

@lilabrantley916 6 месяцев назад

The metal hospital I like watching the videos because you going back in time I thanke you f for this❤😊😅😂

@rebeccamunroe5910 Год назад

My grandmother died in that hellhole in 1962.

@atouristinthelandofreason5284 11 месяцев назад

Thank you so much for having taken the time to both view and leave a comment on this video. I continue to be both fascinated and humbled by all of the comments being shared by those who have either had personal experiences at these old historic facilities or whose overall family was in some way affected by them. We're in the process of making a very important journey on this channel, and I'm very glad that our paths have been able to cross at this time and in this way.

@alangray9117 Год назад

I always think of Woody Guthrie. He was a patient here from Huntington's Cholera. We can thank Lou Christie for tearing it down sadly.

@atouristinthelandofreason5284 Год назад

Yes, I made sure to give Woodie the attention that he most definitely deserved in the video - he really was quite the remarkable figure :-) Some of these videos end on better notes than others, and I was saddened by this video in that regard. Sometimes people learn and change and the system benefits...but sometimes the destructive downward spiral of negative events proves to be too great for them to really ever win free of...and that would seem to be the case in this instance. At least for now, anyway.

@alangray9117 Год назад

@@atouristinthelandofreason5284 there are kirkbrides that have been preserved like Fergus falls in Minnesota, Weston State in West Virginia and Traverse State Asylum in Michigan as historic sites.

@atouristinthelandofreason5284 Год назад

@@alangray9117 Yes, I’ve already produced a video around the old asylum in Weston and, if there are sufficient photographs and historical information available, I will probably end up producing videos around the others, as well. I’ve been very touched by the initial success of this channel. I’ve actually written a couple of full-length novels now in the process of being published pertaining to mental illness, and I set myself to creating this channel to serve as a companion of sorts to work in conjunction with them. The channel would seem to be taking on a life of its own, however. And it’s still much too early to say that the channel will go on to be successful. At this point, the best that I can say that it is being successful right now. But if it does continue to be successful and if it keeps picking up steam, then the channel just may end up serving as the launch vehicle for the novels, which would be kind of cool and make things a whole lot easier. We’re contemplating a possible book signing tour and one of the thoughts that have been put forward is to schedule book signing events at the remaining Kirkbrides, and I must say that the idea does appeal to me. :-)

@alangray9117 Год назад

@@atouristinthelandofreason5284 I'm going to get you a link to a great channel with some great documentary and exploring some great asylums. Some are still around and sadly some are not but you will like them.

@alangray9117 Год назад

@@atouristinthelandofreason5284 ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Q1kA0ynta74.html

@cko8980 Год назад

hopefully you will make a video about hilltop ... i remember that place from high school.

@atouristinthelandofreason5284 Год назад

Thank you so much for having taken the time to watch this video - it means more to me than you know :-) And when you say "The Hill," which facility are you referring to? More than one of the old asylums ended up being referred to by this phrase, so I can't help but be curious.

@cko8980 Год назад

@@atouristinthelandofreason5284 its in Cedar Grove nj Essex County

@atouristinthelandofreason5284 Год назад

@@cko8980 Glancing at the online resources available, there's a high probability that I'll be able to produce a video around it...I'll add it to the list that I'm working on 🙂

@atouristinthelandofreason5284 Год назад

@@cko8980 The video on my list to produce is based around the Overbrook Asylyn, which was first known as the Essex County Asylum for the Insane...just wanted to let you know :-)

@cko8980 Год назад

@@atouristinthelandofreason5284 I can't wait to watch and get the word out to my friends. It's a blast in the past of our days in high school exploring that place

@user-ml7ty3mp1o Год назад

It was in Morris Plains, not Morristown. My mother worked there in the lab in the 70’s

@atouristinthelandofreason5284 Год назад

At some point after the turn of the year, I will be entering into a type of "phase 2" with the channel and begin producing videos based around people's personal experiences. If you would like to work further with me on this basis toward developing a video based upon your memories of your mother's experiences and how they affected her, your family, and the people and community that she worked with and around, then please feel free to contact me at your convenience at MrHayseedplowboy@aol.com, and I'll add you to the developing database for when I begin producing the new type of videos :-)

@ethelhoose1196 Год назад

It really is sad how mentally ill people were treated

@atouristinthelandofreason5284 11 месяцев назад

One of the things that I find myself wondering at times is, how would it go if yesterday's leaders were placed in charge of today's efforts? Because back then, even though their understanding and knowledge was extremely limited and so many of their efforts were largely misguided, they were still willing to commit vast resources and immense levels of finances to them. Whereas today, our understanding and knowledge are so immense...and yet we're now hardly willing to commit any resources or finances at all. It seems like there ought to be some type of middle ground between the two extremes in which the mentally ill and the mentally disabled actually end up receiving all of the care and treatment that they actually need.

@lilabrantley916 6 месяцев назад

Ilile the sing to the hospital ❤lila 6:40

@dmmchugh3714 Год назад

Where is the Greystone patient cemetery located ? Were the deceased moved when the land was purchased and redeveloped ?

@atouristinthelandofreason5284 11 месяцев назад

I'm going to share a link with you here. It should lead you to a page with information on the "Evergreen Cemetery," where many of the former patients of Greystone would appear to have been buried, some dating all the way back to the Civil War. www.greystoneoralhistory.com/additional-information/

@dmmchugh3714 11 месяцев назад

@@atouristinthelandofreason5284 : Thanks for the info !