Ghosts in the Asylum

The Grim is opening the gate and entering Medfield State Hospital Cemetery located in Medfield Massachusetts. Revealing a haunting landscape where 841 former psychiatric patients lie buried beneath small numbered markers – their identities erased even in death. What began as the "Medfield Insane Asylum" in 1892 evolved into a sprawling mental health facility that operated for over a century before finally closing its doors in 2003, leaving behind a legacy of isolation, mistreatment, and forgotten lives.

Beyond its troubling history as a psychiatric institution, many visitors recognize these grounds from popular films like Shutter Island, Knives Out, and X-Men: New Mutants. Yet few realize they're walking across the same soil where patients lived, suffered, and died – their stories silenced by stigma and institutional neglect. When the devastating Spanish Flu swept through in 1918, claiming 55 patients and 5 staff members, the hospital established its own cemetery rather than continue burying their dead in the town's Vine Lake Cemetery.

For decades, these graves remained anonymous, marked only by cold metal numbers driven into the earth. It wasn't until a determined Boy Scout from Troop 89 undertook the painstaking work of matching numbers to names that these forgotten souls began to reclaim their identities. Today, a memorial stone stands at the entrance with the poignant inscription: "Remember those buried at Medfield State Hospital, for they too have lived, loved and laughed."

As the only abandoned psychiatric hospital in America where visitors can freely roam the grounds, Medfield offers a unique window into our troubled approach to mental health care. Film crews report unexplained phenomena, with one director noting "literally every single person on my crew had weird things happen." Whether you're drawn by historical curiosity, cinematic connections, or paranormal possibilities, this Massachusetts landmark invites reflection on how we remember – or fail to remember – those society once chose to forget. Listen as we dig deep into the stories beneath our feet and restore dignity to those who were numbered rather than named.

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