The past cannot be undone, unfortunately, and the way we used to treat mental illnesses and what we did with the patients to either attempt to “cure” them or just keep them locked away from society has ranged from good (yet misguided) intentions to downright barbaric. Thankfully, times have changed, and the handling of developmental and mental disabilities has improved by leaps and bounds in just the past half-century alone. However, relics of this darker history still remain to this day. These are two such places and their stories, both of which are still here! Learn the chilling tales behind these old abandoned asylums in North Dakota:

1. North Dakota State Hospital in Jamestown

Don...The UpNorth Memories Guy... Harrison/Flickr
If you're searching for "abandoned hospitals near me," The NDSH still stands and operates today as a psychiatric care facility in Jamestown. Of course, today it is run much differently than it used to be. The hospital was built and opened when North Dakota was still just part of the Dakota Territory back in 1885. By the following year, just over 100 patients were admitted to the hospital. At that time, it was known by a different name: North Dakota Hospital for the Insane.
Thomasp94/asylumprojects
Overcrowding quickly became an issue. Patients were sleeping two to a bed and attic spaces were used as sleeping areas, as well. Not only that but the hospital was severely understaffed. Patients were kept locked up or restrained all night and day due to not enough people being there to attend to everyone. Controversial sterilization procedures were carried out on most of the female patients without consent, as it was thought at the time that their illnesses could be passed down to children.
North Dakota State Hospital, 2605 Circle Dr, Jamestown, ND 58401, USA
Google maps
In 1953, a state health department official, Dr. R.O. Saxvik, was appointed to improve the appalling conditions at the hospital. "Gone are the cages, strait jackets, leg irons, stern guards, malnutrition, windowless seclusion rooms, unorganized departments ... the naked despondent patient on a backward, the odors from wards crammed with untidy and helpless men and women," he wrote in a report after a few years of working there. It is terrifying to think of a facility with all those things mentioned. It still operates today but, fortunately, very differently than it did back then.

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2. San Haven Sanatorium

Andrew Filer/Flickr
San Haven Sanatorium was one creepy North Dakota state hospital. This facility's history started as a tuberculosis treatment hospital. This was the primary purpose of the facility from when it was built in 1909 up until about the mid-1950s when it was partially converted into an asylum for those with developmental disabilities and mental illness.
Andrew Filer/Flickr
At peak population, the mentally ill and disabled patients reached numbers of around 1,300. As time went on and tuberculosis became less prominent, the hospital became a facility mostly used for these patients. By 1971, the name had changed from the San Haven Tuberculosis Sanatorium to just San Haven State Hospital.
Dan Turner - substreet.org
There had been a lingering controversy about how the patients were treated here. The state did not cover all of the costs of the hospital. The condition of the grounds and the quality of patient care seem to be deteriorating over time. In 1980, a lawsuit was filed against the State of North Dakota to improve the conditions. From the evidence presented of the inadequate care the patients were receiving, the court ordered the state to improve the facility.
San Haven, ND 58329, USA
Dan Turner - substreet.org
The improvements were only partially carried out and the hospital remained open for just seven more years before closing its doors for good in 1987. It has remained abandoned and slowly falling apart to this day, with no current plans to demolish or rebuild it. The ghostly shell of what it once was sits there still.

Take a look at this video by @MickeyNixonFilms:

It is sad that places like these operated as they did back then, but fortunately, today there are many more resources and help for those in need of it that are constantly being improved through research. Have you seen either of these abandoned asylums in North Dakota? Let us know. And if you decide to take a road trip to any abandoned place in North Dakota, check out our road trip essentials packing list before you leave.

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More to Explore

Insane Asylums in North Dakota

Tori Jane | June 03, 2022

Where was North Dakota State Hospital?  

North Dakota State Hospital is a creepy place in North Dakota. Here are some facts about it:

  • It was built in Jamestown, North Dakota, in 1885. It’s had a long, tumultuous history filled with fear, abuse, and darkness, as terrible things regularly transpired within those halls.
  • Interestingly, though, it’s still open and operational, and thanks to modern-day regulations, it’s run much better (and safer) than it used to be.
  • It started as an insane asylum and, over the decades, evolved into what it is now.
  • You can still find it today, working as hard as ever, in Jamestown.  

 

Are there any interesting, abandoned hospitals in North Dakota?  

There are an incredible number of abandoned places in North Dakota, from houses to homesteads, post offices, and even hospitals – you just gotta know where to find them. Some of our favorite abandoned places in North Dakota are some of the spookiest, too: hospitals. You’d be surprised at the sheer number of incredibly large and expensive buildings (like hospitals) that are built and left to decay.

The only well-known abandoned hospital in North Dakota is the creepy-as-all-get-out San Haven Sanatorium, a home for severely mentally ill patients who were treated even worse on the inside than they were on the outside. You’ll find it northeast of Dunseith.  

Where are all the creepy asylums in North Dakota?  

Asylums no longer technically exist, considering they were brutal and cruel places with very little actual mental healthcare but a whole lot of rampant abuse. However, there are still some state hospitals in North Dakota that might have been considered “asylums” back in the day, like the creepy but interesting North Dakota State Hospital, a healthcare facility that used to house and “treat” (we use the term lightly) mentally ill patients that’s still operating today, although it’s certainly cleaned up its act. There’s also the old San Haven Sanatorium, an abandoned mental institution whose history was wrought with abuse.  

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