Ghosts aren’t real… right? Either way, Staten Island has plenty of creepy landmarks with equally bloodcurdling backstories. From haunted hospitals to spooky school grounds, the Forgotten Borough really has it all. But these now eerie structures were once fully functioning establishments, crawling with life and mysterious atmospheres. 

Seaview Hospital was founded in 1913 as a treatment center for tuberculosis patients. Tuberculosis is a deadly bacterial infection that mainly affects the lungs. At the time, tuberculosis was especially widespread in the New York Area. The then deadly disease had no cure yet besides fresh air, a clean diet, and sunlight. Seaview Hospital was known as one of the most expensive treatment facilities for tuberculosis, costing the equivalent of 111 million dollars in modern day money to build. The unusual treatments that were thought to work at the time can still be found on the hospital floors. Remaining with time, the facility’s numerous tuberculosis devices and peculiar medicinal remedies can still be observed within the hospital’s walls. Despite all the attempts to cure this disease that plagued New York, nearly one-third of the Seaview Hospital patients died from tuberculosis. Their medical records are still strewn across Seaview’s boarded-up floors and abandoned rooms, a time capsule of plague. With the deaths of so many patients long gone, many paranormal enthusiasts believe that the old hospital grounds remain a spiritually active site of the deceased patients after its closure in 1961. The decaying remnants of the hospital still give urban explorers an eerie sensation.

A few decades after the opening of Seaview Hospital, another chilling establishment was opened, this one with a much darker history. Willowbrook State School, which was founded in 1947, was originally built as an institution for children with intellectual disabilities. While its exterior might have seemed like an average boarding school, in reality, it was a vastly overcrowded building where children were subject to more than inhumane conditions. Until its public exposure in 1972 by Geraldo Rivera (who conducted an undercover investigation on the school’s horrifying living conditions), the institution would go on to become notorious for its ghastly practices. Willowbrook’s children were trapped in filthy living quarters, starved, and neglected by staff. During the 1950s, one of the most infamous incidents of neglect was Dr. Saul Krugman’s medical experiments done on the institution’s vulnerable children, who were forcefully infected with hepatitis. For years, Krugman used these intentionally infected children to study the growth of the disease. Beyond the school’s eventual class action lawsuit and closure in 1987, the effects of the institution’s disturbing methods are still haunting the 2,300 alumni who survived, and the reputation of the school’s dilapidated remnants. Some paranormal believers think the school’s tragic history has left its remains haunted with the spirits of deceased children. Either way, the school’s legacy is a reminder of the importance of speaking up against unethical practices in the professional field and advocating for systems that protect vulnerable populations.

These landmarks, haunted or not, serve as a window into Staten Island’s eerie past. Their remains will continue to intrigue paranormal believers and curious visitors alike, who will ensure that the Forgotten Borough’s abandoned landmarks don’t become forgotten. While it’s up to you to decide whether or not these structures are haunted or not, we can all agree that their backstories are bone-chilling.

Works Cited

“Staten Island: Off the Beaten Path.” Powered by Blogs @ LREI, blog.lrei.org/sibeatenpath/2019/02/18/abandoned-seaview-hospital/. Accessed 22 Sept. 2024. 

Saraniero, Nicole, and Untapped New York. “Inside the Abandoned Sea View Hospital on Staten Island.” Untapped New York, 11 Apr. 2023, untappedcities.com/2023/04/11/sea-view-hospital-staten-island/. 

Lerner, Barron H. “Once upon a Time, a Plague Was Vanquished.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 14 Oct. 2003, www.nytimes.com/2003/10/14/health/once-upon-a-time-a-plague-was-vanquished.html. 

Staff, Banner. “College of the Damned: What Willowbrook Left Behind.” The Banner Newspaper, 1 Apr. 2018, thebannercsi.com/2018/04/01/college-of-the-damned-what-willowbrook-left-behind/. 

“Renee Meckler:Tragedy at Willowbrook State School.” Mount Hebron Cemetery, www.mounthebroncemetery.com/legacy/stories/view/?id=53#:~:text=The%20New%20York%20Times’%20investigation,from%20mistreatment%22%20(Weiser). Accessed 22 Sept. 2024.