An abandoned mental asylum in New South Wales still remains enveloped in history. Known as the Denbigh Mental Asylum, this psychiatric institution has played silent witness to how psychiatrically-challenged patients were caged and lobotomized. The building today is partially destroyed, with its contorted cages, dilapidated floors and inundated ceilings.
The eerie asylum was said to have locked up mental patients and given lobotomies. It has been reported that when the asylum was still operational, more than 20 patients have been selected to undergo prefrontal lobotomy treatment between 1942 and 1944. One patient has died during the said procedure.
Lobotomy is a process which involves the removal of a part of the human brain. It has been carried out in the 1930s as a supposed treatment people who will be diagnosed as insane. However, the seemingly-barbaric practice has been stopped two decades later when antipsychotic medicines have been introduced in the market.
Ace Photographer Mathew Growcoot told Mail Online that during one of his photo shoots in the abandoned asylum, he heard disturbing groans within the complex. He described it as the ‘creepiest’ place he has ever been to. Moreover, he also shared that he heard “so many strange noises emanating from the buildings” that made him realize that he didn’t want to go far from his companions.
The abandoned asylum has been destroyed by fire. Even so, it has maintained some cages intact. These cages were used to prohibit patients from escaping their designated areas.
According to Atlas Obscura, the Denbigh Asylum is now in a state of picturesque decay. It shut down operations in in 1995 after 147 years of service. The hospital was constructed between 1844 and 1848. It served as a refuge for Welsh-speaking mental patients. Originally, it can accommodate about 200 patients. When it expanded in 1899, it accommodated as much as 1500 patients. In a recent, similar study, China has been found to be ill-equipped in addressing the mental woes of its patients.
