Few places in Oregon have a history as dark as the Fairview Training Center. Hidden away on the outskirts of Salem, this former state-run institution housed thousands of patients from 1908 to 2000, when federal funding was cut off. The stories told by those who lived and worked within the institution’s walls paint a dire picture of poor conditions and inhumane treatment. The slowly decaying buildings of one of the abandoned hospitals in Oregon are all the only visible reminders we have left of the unspeakable horrors that once occurred here. Here are just a few staggering photos of the once-rumored haunted Fairview Training Center:
Editor’s Note: Due to the nature of abandoned destinations, many of the places featured in this series are off-limits to visitors or have actually been demolished. We do not condone trespassing and other illegal activity but rather encourage readers to enjoy learning about these fascinating destinations.
Located in Salem, the now-abandoned Fairview Training Center was established in 1908 as the State Institution for the Feeble-Minded. The facility was responsible for caring for and educating patients with developmental disabilities and epilepsy.
The concept seemed well intentioned, but unfortunately at this time institutions caring for the differently-abled did not have a good reputation. They were almost never about rehabilitation and were more often centered on control and unscientific practices.
The institution consisted of an administration building, a dormitory, a laundry and boiler house. Two more cottages were constructed in 1913.
Again, this all seems positive at first. Move patients to a larger facility with more space and theoretically more resources. Give them some fresh air and a kind of life. Unfortunately, what transpired was far from that utopia.
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The institution originally had a working farm that provided food and training for its residents. Hogs, chickens, and dairy and beef cattle were all raised on the farm. By the late 1960s, general farm activities were eliminated.
Children living in the center were grouped in families of 20 to 25 according to levels of intelligence. Male and female students were placed into separate dormitories.
What tools or markers they were using to determine intelligence we don't know. Presumably, not very accurate ones.
A number of unspeakable horrors took place behind the walls of the center. Former residents recall being disciplined with leather cuffs, helmets, and straitjackets.
Forced sterilizations were a fact of life in the center. More than 2,600 vasectomies, forced hysterectomies, tubal ligations, and even castrations took place here. Sterilization was a requirement for leaving the center up until the late 1970s.
Patients at the center had no avenue to advocate for themselves and most did not have families who were concerned about their well being and care.
The horrific tales of abuse do not end there. There have also been reports of residents being handcuffed to 60-pound blocks and forced to push them up and down the hall as a punishment.
High doses of sedatives and psychotic drugs were often administered and patients were cut with razor blades, put in isolation cages, beaten with their own shoes, and locked in closets.
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Escapes from the center were quite common, with residents usually being successfully returned within a few hours.
The center felt like a prison to the patients and the staff didn't even try to obscure the similarities. Residents were referred to as "inmates" and were treated like criminals when what they really needed was healthcare and support.
The American Journal of Forensic Medicine and Pathology reported that residents of Fairview were more than twice as likely to die from unnatural causes as people who were not institutionalized in Marion County between the years 1963 and 1987.
Rather than helping and rehabilitating these patients, as the mission purported, they were murdering them slowly through mistreatment and physical abuse.
When the U.S. Department of Justice investigated the center in the late 1980s, they were shocked and appalled at what they found. Federal funding was immediately removed, and the state was pressured by advocates and the federal government to develop a long-term plan for Fairview's closure.
Fairview was permanently closed in 2000. Governor John Kitzhaber issued an official apology in 2002 for the human rights violations that took place within the center. Unfortunately no apology will be enough to bring back the lives and well being of those who were tortured there.
To see more of the abandoned Fairview Training Center, watch this video from YouTube user james norman:
Do you remember the Fairview Training Center in Salem? And now, decades later, what do you think? Is the Fairview hospital haunted? Share your memories and stories about the center with us in the comments below.
For a much-needed palette cleanser after reading about such atrocities, how about something extra sweet? Salem is also home to some incredibly delicious pies, as well as a gorgeous waterfall trail! In fact, this sweet farmhouse in Sublimity is just minutes away from one of the area’s best waterfalls: Silver Falls.
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CC|December 14, 2022
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