LI Haunted Hotspot: Kings Park Psychiatric Center - Watch here!
Abandoned buildings. Underground tunnels. Reports of screams, shadow figures, and unexplained footsteps. Nearly 30 years after closing its doors, one of Long Island’s most notorious landmarks continues to raise a chilling question: Is something still lurking inside?
Tucked away on Long Island’s North Shore in Kings Park sits a sprawling former psychiatric hospital that looks like something straight out of a horror movie.
The Kings Park Psychiatric Center, once home to thousands of patients, officially closed in 1996. But the massive brick buildings, particularly the towering 13-story Building 93, remain a haunting reminder of a very different era in mental health care.
And according to local legends and paranormal investigators, not everything left when the hospital shut down.
A Hospital With a Troubling Past
Originally opened in 1885 as the Kings County Farm, the facility was intended to provide psychiatric patients with a quieter, more therapeutic environment away from overcrowded institutions in New York City.
Over the decades, it grew into an enormous, self-sufficient community, complete with its own power plant, railroad, fire department, farms, staff housing, and underground tunnels.
By the 1950s, the hospital housed more than 9,000 patients, becoming one of the largest psychiatric institutions in the country.
But behind those towering brick walls, psychiatric treatment looked very different from what we know today.
Throughout its history, patients were subjected to procedures including electroconvulsive therapy, hydrotherapy, and lobotomies. While some were considered legitimate treatments at the time, they remain controversial chapters in the history of psychiatric medicine.
Overcrowding and changing approaches to mental health care eventually led to a dramatic decline in the hospital population.
By 1996, Kings Park Psychiatric Center had officially closed.
Contrary to a popular local rumor, officials did not simply unlock the doors and release thousands of patients into the surrounding community overnight. The closure was the result of decades of deinstitutionalization, with patients discharged, transferred, or transitioned into other forms of care over time.
Still, the sudden silence of a once-bustling hospital campus helped fuel the legends that followed.
Building 93: The Most Infamous Building on the Property
If there’s one structure responsible for Kings Park’s chilling reputation, it’s Building 93.
The enormous, 13-story brick building was constructed around 1939 and served as a treatment and residential facility, including for elderly and physically ill patients.
Today, its dark windows, deteriorating interiors, and imposing silhouette make it one of Long Island’s most recognizable abandoned landmarks.
But it’s what people claim to have experienced around the building that makes it especially unsettling.
Visitors and paranormal enthusiasts have reported hearing unexplained banging, screams, disembodied voices, and footsteps coming from the abandoned structure.
Others claim to have spotted shadowy figures standing in windows or moving through darkened hallways.
One local urban explorer even described hearing an extraordinarily loud banging while inside Building 93, as though something were trying to tear the building apart.
Of course, these experiences have never been scientifically established as paranormal. But they’ve certainly contributed to the building’s reputation.
The Underground Tunnels Beneath Kings Park
As if the abandoned hospital buildings weren’t eerie enough, Kings Park also has an extensive network of underground utility tunnels.
Originally designed to carry steam and other services between buildings, the passageways created a hidden infrastructure beneath the sprawling hospital campus.
Over the years, stories have circulated about mysterious noises, unexplained footsteps, and frightening encounters in the dark spaces below the property.
Some urban legends describe patients being transported through the tunnels, although the documented purpose of the network was primarily infrastructure and utilities.
Today, the underground passages have become a major part of Kings Park’s haunted lore.
And with decades of deterioration, these tunnels are extremely dangerous and off-limits to unauthorized visitors.
Screams, Shadow People, and Ghostly Children
Building 93 isn’t the only place associated with paranormal activity.
According to accounts collected by paranormal investigators, several other former hospital buildings have their own chilling stories.
Building 15, also known as Wisteria House: Witnesses have reported hearing unexplained screams coming from the abandoned structure.
Building 23, the former recreation center: Local ghost stories describe the alleged spirit of a former patient named Joseph, who is said to linger in the building.
Buildings 7, 29, and 136: Paranormal enthusiasts have reported apparitions, unexplained voices, and shadowy figures.
The former playground area: Perhaps one of the most unsettling legends involves the sound of children playing, laughing, and screaming in an area where no children can be seen.
Investigators have even claimed to capture electronic voice phenomena, or EVPs, including whispering voices and sounds resembling children’s cries.
These recordings remain open to interpretation, but the stories continue to attract paranormal enthusiasts from across Long Island and beyond.
The Cemetery Legends
Another disturbing chapter of Kings Park’s history involves its former patient burial grounds.
The hospital maintained cemeteries for patients who died while institutionalized, including individuals who had little or no family involvement.
Paranormal researchers have documented legends surrounding multiple burial sites, including stories of mist-like apparitions and shadowy figures.
One particularly chilling tale describes an unexplained figure allegedly chasing visitors away from an old cemetery area.
While these ghost stories remain unverified, the existence of patient burial grounds serves as a sobering reminder of the thousands of real people who lived, received treatment, and died at the institution.
The Legend of Mary Hatchet
No discussion of Kings Park’s supernatural folklore would be complete without the legend of Mary Hatchet.
According to the urban legend, a young woman named Mary murdered her parents with an axe, was committed to the psychiatric hospital, and was later killed during an attempted escape.
The story became so well-known that it inspired the 2009 horror film Blood Night: The Legend of Mary Hatchet.
However, there is no reliable historical evidence establishing that the events described in the legend actually occurred.
Mary Hatchet remains a fictionalized part of local horror folklore rather than a documented piece of the hospital’s history.
What Really Happened After Kings Park Closed?
When Kings Park Psychiatric Center officially shut down in 1996, its remaining patients were relocated or discharged through the state’s mental health system.
The campus, which had once functioned almost like a small city, gradually fell into disrepair.
Over time, abandoned rooms were vandalized, windows were broken, and portions of the property became increasingly hazardous.
Some structures have since been demolished, while much of the former campus became part of Nissequogue River State Park.
The site has also been the subject of redevelopment and preservation efforts.
Although visitors can enjoy designated public areas of the state park, the abandoned hospital buildings are not open for exploration. Entering them without authorization is illegal and dangerous.
Haunted or Just a Haunting Reminder of the Past?
Nearly three decades after the final patients left, Kings Park Psychiatric Center continues to fascinate historians, photographers, paranormal investigators, and thrill-seekers.
Are the mysterious sounds simply the result of deteriorating structures, wind, and wildlife?
Are the shadow figures tricks of the light?
Or is there something more to the countless stories that have circulated for generations?
There is no verified evidence that the former hospital is haunted.
But one thing is undeniable: Kings Park Psychiatric Center holds more than a century of history, including stories of suffering, treatment, recovery, and the thousands of lives that passed through its doors.
And while the hospital officially closed in 1996, some Long Islanders believe its story is far from over.
So, Long Island, what do YOU think? Is Kings Park Psychiatric Center really haunted, or is its disturbing history enough to make anyone’s imagination run wild?
