Abandoned Letchworth Village – Some Things Look Better on Paper

Greg McAvoy
October 17, 2022

We All Make Mistakes

We’ve all seen things that are a good idea or look more appealing in our minds. For example, Jaws 3. First two were great. Communism: everyone is equally rich. The McDLT. I mean a healthy McDonalds? Sign me up.

It all sounds so good, and it all makes perfect sense. Nothing could sour this plan! Then, the plan inevitably sours. It was great idea on a thin slice of tree, but after being put into effect… well maybe not.

The Office ‘s Dwight Schrute said it best, “Not everything’s a lesson. Sometimes you just fail.” Damn right. And I am sure the higher ups of Letchworth Village would agree. It is important to learn from your failures, but some people don’t, and that is why Jaw’s: The Revenge was greenlighted.

What Could Go Wrong?

Letchworth Village is a shining example of this. Named after William Pryor Letchworth, this 2,000+ acre ‘village’ in the hamlets of Rockland County, New York was once a promise of being a safe haven for the insane and mentally ungifted. The idea was simple: a sustainable environment where the mentally challenged can thrive within their own community, as opposed to battling the odds in a world unfavorable for anyone who has trouble keeping up.

It was an incredible concept. Unfortunately, Letchworth himself kicked the bucket before he had the chance to see his hard work in action. However, I have a gut feeling that he would have scrapped his hard work if he knew what was to co

The patients at Letchworth Village were given the opportunity to build upon useful skills and become productive members within their own community. They could farm, cook, clean, sew, dabble in carpentry, amongst other things. An honest day’s work, right? Of the 130 buildings located throughout the village, there was a firehouse, hospitals, and theaters. There were also dining halls, a bakery, a gymnasium, Sunday school, and multiple administrative offices.

Most buildings were accompanied with a playground outside and a basketball court at the bare minimum. These patients had all the necessary tools to live an enjoyable and productive life where they are also to be looked after and receive proper care. Letchworth Village even benefitted the towns around it as well by employing around 10,000 institution workers. This place truly was a win-win for everyone associated with it.

Letchworth Penitentiary

If you had a disability or any type of mental incapacity, this was the place to be. But, with a great reputation comes a great amount of attention. This type of attention led to an alarmingly quick rate of growth, and it didn’t take long for Letchworth to become the last place anyone, including the workers, would want to be.

I can’t speak for anyone out there, but I personally would hate to be in a group labeled ‘feeble-mindedness’. Every patient there was under the umbrella of this grouping and was categorized into one of three categories: ‘imbecile’, ‘moron’, or ‘idiot’. Blame Dr. Charles Little for his choice of poor words. After deciding what category, the patients fell under, they were then separated into three different types of buildings:

Young and Improvable
Middle age and Industrious
Infirm and Helpless

Many of the patients there were children. After pulling a random 506 patients in a demographic study, 317 were between ages 5-16, and 11 of them were under the age of 5. Visitors reported numerous counts of malnourishment amongst the children. They were quick to blame it on the scarcity of necessities to properly treat all their patients due to the overcrowding, but something more sinister was going on.

Many of the children were victims of outright neglect. They were crammed together in tiny dorms with mattresses lining the hallways, too. Patients were sometimes found unclothed, unbathed, and covered in feces. The ones that were severely handicapped and needed the most support were deemed ‘unworthy’ and were subject to horrific and unsanctioned experimental testing. Brains of the recent deceased were stored in formaldehyde, and the bodies were dumped in a nearby cemetery under an unmarked grave. Even the employees suffered abuse, with some reporting instances of rape by fellow co-workers.

A Well-Kept Secret

No one really knew what was really going on behind closed doors. Families dropped their loved ones off at this beautiful and hard-working community of people all working through their disadvantages together. I imagine the brochure was along something along those lines. It was not until the 1940’s that everything began to change.

Irving Haberman revealed the true nature of Letchworth Village in a series of photographs, something no one had ever done prior. People had a glimpse into the horrific lifestyle these patients were forced to endure. His photos shined some light into the darkness that was their everyday life of neglect and uncleanliness. Haberman knew the Letchworth would have to questions to answer and problems to fix.

From Vaccine to Obscene

By 1950, the mental institution housed about 4,000 patients and it finally seemed as if Haberman’s photos would cause a public outcry for change. Then, Hilary Koprowski, a Polish virologist, kept the doors open for decades longer.

On February 27, 1950, the first polio vaccine was administered… to an 8-year-old patient. It was recorded that the vaccine had no life-threatening consequences and was given to 19 more patients. And let’s be honest, even if it did have life-threatening consequences, I am sure it would have been hushed away. Out of the 20 patients that received the vaccine, 17 of them developed antibodies to the disease that was crippling thousands of people around the world at the time.

This remarkable discovery gave the doctors and scientists the green light to continue their experimental testing and kept Letchworth Village around until 1996.

A couple decades before it’s closing year, another man looking to bring attention to the horrors that Letchworth Village had to offer visited the institution in 1972. Geraldo Rivera, who had been doing a documentary to expose the terrible treatment in the Willowbrook facility, visited Letchworth Village to include footage in his mission to bring reform. Mario Biaggi, a congressman at the time, accompanied Rivera to upstate New York. They arrived two hours early to capture a real look before the institution cleaned everything up for the cameras. Biaggi reported Letchworth Village as “the worst possible conditions I have ever seen in my life.”

Even after his documentary being featured on ABC News to an entire nation of people, it still brought little attention and reform to the conditions of the hell on Earth.

Is It Gone Yet?

Like I said before, it wasn’t until 1996 that Letchworth Village finally shut its doors for good, and the majority of the land and buildings were left to crumble away. It didn’t take long for our good-natured society to vandalize and commit arson to these now abandoned buildings.

I say majority of them because there are still a few buildings currently operating as administrative buildings for the town. Others include a gymnasium for recreational basketball leagues, a middle school, research centers – sanctioned and ethical research – and a clubhouse for the Patriot Hills golf course that was constructed on the abandoned land.

As for the patients that succumbed to their illnesses and the poor treatment, they are buried in a cemetery nearby in Stony Point. Their remains are marked by what resembles a white wooden ‘T’, and their identities reduced to the serial numbers they were once identified by. In the front of all the crosses is a large stone that reads “THOSE WHO SHALL NOT BE FORGOTTEN.”

Our Chilling Experience

Now that I have laid out the history of Letchworth Village, I can tell you that it is by far the most disturbing and unnerving place to be around. There have been many accounts of paranormal activity occurring on the grounds and in the buildings of this place and was even featured on an episode of Ghost Adventures (Season 5 Episode 6).

The buildings get colder inside, and the air feels unnaturally heavy. The entire time we were there, it felt as if there had been a pair of eyes on our backs. A stray cat darting past you is plenty enough to need a clean pants change. Even the artwork in there has a sinister vibe to it.

A firsthand account of paranormal experience from my brother who was in the building with his friend is enough to turn your camera off if ever inside.

After poking around in the buildings, the one with the long ramp in the back to enter, we came across a large, detailed pentagram on the wall. After I took a picture of it, and my phone died. I didn't think anything of it because my phone was at 10% battery and it was old, so it wasn't uncommon for it to die before zero. Then my friend took a photo with his phone, and shortly after his died as well, however, he was at 90%. Safe to say we busted ass out of there and continued checking out the grounds. Later that night, after my phone had turned back on, I woke up at around 4 in the morning. I knew I was in my room in my own bed, but everything outside of that felt like I was right back in that room looking at the pentagram again. The air was just as cold and the hair on my arms was standing up and the whole thing just felt evil. I went right to my phone, deleted the picture, and just tried to pretend none of it had even happened.

My Brother

For anyone not familiar, the pentagram is often misconstrued as a sign of satanic worship and rituals. It is actually symbolic of Christ, however, being that the Christain church had often been accused of heresy, symbols of the occult, such as the pentagram, became heavily associated with Satanic belief.

For anyone daring enough to trespass and explore the chilling history these buildings have to offer, I recommend leaving the spray can and beers at home. You will only get yourself in more trouble.

So What’s Next?

Throughout the years, the towns of Haverstraw and Stony Point have argued over what to do with this land. There are always whispers of something new going there, but it has still been crumbling for two and a half decades. People thought maybe a college would end up there. Then it was a Legoland. As of right now, its about revamping the walking trails and possibly putting in new rec centers. Will anything actually come of it? Who the f**k knows. As long as they don’t try a grand reopening of what Letchworth Village once really was.