Old Asylums as Haunted Houses?
A hard no out of respect for the dead.
It’s spooky season again. The veil thins, the decorations come out, and it seems like most people are celebrating my favorite things: ghosts, witches, and everything supernatural.
Something that people like to do this time of year is to visit haunted houses. I did it when I was younger, but haven’t for many years. I’m not a fan of jump scares but don’t begrudge anyone who enjoys it. It can be fun to be scared sometimes, when we know it’s not real. All of the movie monsters popping out, the fake blood, the depiction of our worst fears can be somewhat cathartic when we know that nothing will actually hurt us and we’ll be safe ouside in a few minutes.
I have no problem with haunted houses. You do you, Boo. I do, however, have an issue with making a haunted house in an abandoned mental asylum.
There’s a famous haunted mental asylum near me, the Eloise Psychiatric Hospital in Westland, Michigan. Built in 1839, it housed the former residents from the Wayne County Poorhouse but soon expanded into a self-sufficient institution including a working farm, police, and fire departments. Its population soared to more that 10,000 during The Great Depression. The most famous patient of note would be Elijah McCoy, a Black Canadian-American whose remarkable inventions coined the phrase, “the…
