Pilgrim Psychiatric Center opened in 1931 with a comprehensive mental health campus that was the largest of its time, including a farm, post office, power plant, courts, and even a fire department along with its hospital and cemetery, yet by the late 1990s it had fallen into heavy disrepair.
During its height, the hospital served an overpopulation of over 13,000 patients. Reports were made of thousands being given unnecessary lobotomies and being subjected to electroshock therapy, which was believed to restart the brain.
While some of the area has been redeveloped, most is now empty and abandoned. Although long empty of these tortured souls, locals still report hearing screams coming from the dilapidated structure at night.
A museum in the new Pilgrim called the Long Island Psychiatric Museum is open to the public, and hold artifacts related to the history of all three Long Island hospitals: Kings Park, Central Islip, Pilgrim.