Notorious American asylum welcomes visitors with new tour

Founded in 1842, Milledgeville's Central State Hospital stretched over 8,000 acres. Photo / 123RF

Drive 160 kilometres southwest of Atlanta and you'll eventually hit Milledgeville, one of Georgia's oldest cities.

Drive a little further and you'll stumble upon the half-abandoned remains of the town's chilling legacy; Central State Hospital.

Founded in 1842, the institute was originally called the Georgia State Lunatic, Idiot, and Epileptic Asylum.

By the 1960s the psychiatric hospital became notorious as one of the largest in the world, with over 12,000 patients.

Unfortunately, as was the case for many mental health hospitals, a lack of funding and primitive understanding of mental health resulted in brutal patient treatment.

Thankfully for the 300 patients still being treated at the hospital, the current regimen takes a more modern, attentive approach to care.

Meanwhile, over 200 other buildings on the 8,000 acres have fallen into disrepair, capturing the attention of urban explorers and ghost hunters.

The interest prompted Milledgeville to establish an official tour in January 2020. Running once a month, the tour takes visitors around the grounds, teaching them about the hospital's complicated past. Something tour guide Kari Brown said illuminates just how far we've come in the treatment and approach to mental illness.

"It's important to remember the history of where we came from and how we've continued to grow and a society and in the medical profession," Brown told the BBC during an interview.

The tour also offers a sense of closure for locals involved in the institution.

Edwin Atkins, a resident whose grandmother was a patient, said it was "extremely important" for staff, family, patients and future researchers to know what happened.

"I think history is important because if you don't know where you came from, you're not going to know where you go in the future," he told the BBC.

Boarding 'Milly' the trolley, visitors are taken around the Central State Hospital, including stops at Cedar Lane Cemetery and Chapel of All Faiths as they learn about the institution's history from a former employee and tour guide.

Those interested in touring New Zealand's history of mental health are somewhat out of luck.

Little remains of Otago's Seacliff Lunatic Asylum after it closed in 1973 and the land was privatised.

Meanwhile Kingseat Hospital in Karaka, Auckland fittingly became the location for the attraction park 'Spookers' after closing in 1999.