Anoka State Hospital - Visit - Summer 2010

On 7th Ave in Anoka, well beyond downtown, there is a complex of old, rather creepy looking buildings. Nowadays it's called the Anoka-Metro Regional Treatment Center, but long ago, when it first opened around 1900, it was called the First State Asylum for the Insane.

Later, the name was changed to Anoka State Asylum, removing the unfriendly "Insane" from the title. Apparently the title still wasn't friendly enough, because it was changed again in the 1930's to simply Anoka State Hospital. Whatever it was called, the hospital housed patients that were deemed insane and unfit for society.

Anoka State Hospital, circa 1937

Pretty much anyone who lives anywhere near the area has heard the stories. Legend has it that the hospital was particularly brutal to its patients. Rumors float around the area of crazed doctors who pioneered electroshock treatments and raped female patients to cure their "hysteria". Driven to escape the asylum, the story says that dozens of inmates made their way to the steam tunnels underneath the hospital that connects the adjacent buildings. Unfortunately for the patients, these tunnels were locked up tight, and knowing there was no way out, they committed suicide in the tunnels. Maintenance workers say these tunnels contain the restless spirits of the patients, and report hearing voices and screams, feeling dramatic drops in temperature, and even feeling breathing on their necks or tapping on their shoulders when no one else was around. These stories are intriguing, but you have to wonder how much of it is really true and what is simply embellish or outright lies.

In the fall of 2009, my brother Blair and I went to the Anoka County Historical Society to dig up some information about the hospital to separate truth from fiction. What we found was surprising, and not too far from the crazy stories. The hospital was in fact noted for its treatment of patients, and the experimental treatments that were performed there would be considered barbaric today. It operated at almost full capacity at all times, which was another contributing factor to patient unhappiness. Records showed a mean occupancy percentage at 98, which was higher than any other mental institution in the midwest. However, we could find no records of any suicides occurring in the steam tunnels. Most of the paranormal encounters there are anecdotal and don't have much in the way of real evidence, but they are quite good stories.

Anoka State Hospital, circa 1957

In 1920, amidst the Influenza epidemic that swept the nation, over 150 patients of the asylum were killed. Given the fatality rate of the time and the gross population of the hospital, this figure is not alarming. Most of the bodies were neglected by their families and were instead interred in the asylum's cemetery, which is really more of a potter's field. Over 1000 bodies are buried here in an area less than half the size of a football field. Not exactly conditions that would allow the spirits of the deceased to rest peacefully.

We decided that we would explore the asylum and see what the deal was for ourselves. However, we found a couple of big problems that kept us from actually getting inside. For one thing, half of the buildings on the grounds are still in use as the treatment center. The other problem, and the biggest issue, is that one of the buildings on the grounds is now a workhouse for Anoka County, housing inmates who are on work release. Given that fact, there is security stationed outside at all times and trespassing is strictly forbidden.

Fear not readers, we will get inside the buildings. We just haven't yet. We did however make a trip out there in the summer of 2010 to to take some photos of the buildings. Some of them are pretty creepy.

 

Please feel free to post any personal stories you may have regarding the hospital. 

- Donovan