Pilgrim State

There's a shortcut to get from Brentwood to Bay Shore through Pilgrim State, a mental institution, that cuts 5 minutes off your commute. There are a bunch of abandoned buildings all teenage-proof and boarded up. There's a large field with a watchtower, where people have speculated dead bodies have been buried.

The biggest myth I heard was about tunnels that patients created to escape. Some did it successfully and there are several openings in the ground where anybody can access. You just need to find them first.

It's an unusually large campus and one big building sits at the heart. Tens of other smaller 4-storyish buildings dot around, but are all boarded up. Why not demolish them if they're unoccupied and not usable? They all sit silently like the shy kid in school. Hesitant to reveal themself, but knowingly hiding something bigger.

After hearing the myths and stories, it changes the way you see it. It's not just another dark building, but now it's one with a terrorized past. It makes you want to lock the doors and roll up the windows.

2 summers ago, we drove by the main building around 10pm. On the first floor, we saw a patient getting ready for bed. He was dressed in a gray nightgown and was frail, pale and tall. Driving slowly, we watched him fixhis bed. It seemed that there was nothing "mentally" wrong with him. He seemed quiet (perhaps tired?) and could obediently arrange himself. There was no menacing look. But I felt I was intruding on something intimate. I did not see anyone else in the room, perhaps a roommate or nurse, and it made me uncomfortable. Combining the darkness, stories and brooding atmosphere, I felt like a monster should be popping out to shield off the nosey from the patients.

During the day, I've seen a couple teenagers roam around, taking pictures for art class (maybe they find the damage appealing?). I've seen the pictures on Facebook with a romantic appeal. It's usually someone dressed well against a rundown building. Or some weeds growing out of walls.

The institution actually extends to Suffolk Community College. Part of the college was built upon some land that Pilgrim State did not wholly use. Today, students would walk upon the same ground where the mental institution was.