I worked at Greystone from 1986 to 1989 I was in accounts payable in the administration building. It was heartbreaking for me to see it come down. R.I.P Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital, you were once beautiful, now you only exist in photographs.
I lived in morristown for 15 years during school, it was always surreal running xcountry meets at the greystone park complex but also gorgeous because of the backdrop. After seeing WVs plan to keep their kirkbride buidling alive i was hopeful the same treatment would be done for greystone, but alas...
I've been fascinated by Kirkbrides ever since I discovered urban exploration blogs in the mid 00's. As a person with severe mental illness they stand as a stark contrast to the more modern, sterile, bland, prison-like centers we have today. In California our Kirkbrides where the first to be demolished thanks to land speculation, and the general fact that the state has a hate boner for any structure older then 50 years that looks nice. Looking forward to more videos!
Kirkbrides are facinating aren't they, I can not get enough of looking at old photos of them and the accompanying history, I realise that horrible things happened but somehow it still fascinates me. On the Kirkbride site there are two accounts of patients (young boys at that stage) ((they wrote it themselves, so it is like a personal diary of their time there, it took place in the late 1960/70's, and it was eventually discovered that especially the one was there for nothing more serious than ADS and Epilepsy) The one is called Pete and the other Mike, I cant remember at which hospital they were, but it is well worth reading))
My friends and I snuck into greystone in 2007 through a hole in the fence that had been put up around it and broken basement window. We wanted to make a video for our film class in HS. It was surreal being in there (and also dangerous…we were oblivious 17yos). We were there for hours and now seeing this timeline I guess we were in the administration building? There were a lot of patient rooms and old equipment, but seeing old wheel chairs and the paint peeling off the walls was wild to see in person. We came back years later after college and had no idea it had been torn down. It was so sad to see.
I can imagine that was an unforgettable experience and yes assuming it was that central building with the tower it would be the administration building. Its incredibly sad to see the fall of Greystone and what it could've been if someone had saved it. Thanks so much for watching.
you obviously never had a loved one INSIDE GREYSTONE FROM 1975-1990's. it was sad, horrifying, ppl everywhere on their own , no clothes., no staff. Beautiful or not. there are NO good memories. sorry to tell an inside POV
This was a great video with much accurate information and many photos unlike a number of videos I have seen that have much false information and sensationalized info obtained online with poor or no proper research. How do I know, I grew up on the grounds of Greystone Park for 30 years of my early like. My dad was a doctor there. The hospital was still beautiful although severely outdated by 1964 when I was born. I remember the patients who worked on the grounds. There are so many stories of me and the many friends who’s mom’s and dad’s were doctors, nurses and to us, living at Greystone was our normal. Looking back I am so lucky to have had that experience, The grounds and property were our playground and we went undisturbed by the Greystone Police since we lived there and they knew us. Many things changed in the 70’s when they deinstitutionalized many facilities letting mentally ill patients free to roam the streets, seeding our homeless population and they switched to a non-medical administrative staff that did not know a lot about medicine. It was sad to see the decline.
That sounds absolutely charming, don't you think you should write a book or maybe a blog about it?? I have been wanting to read something like that for ages If you do know about something in that line will you please let me know. I would like to hear more from a human point of view etc. It is so damn sad about the many people that were discharged when the hospitals closed their doors ...so many of them can not fend for themselves, have no support system and either land up in jail or worse.....
I worked here for 6 years. Its a crime that they destroyed it. Patients were very well and content there. They were also well cared for, at least when I was there. The "new" Greystone had and has many problems. Just horrible.
Update: they turned the old Greystone hospital into a big field which is used as the start and finish area of the cross-country course. I was just there for the Morris County Championship Meet.
It's so sad that the powers that be don't see the significance of such beautiful architecture that is our history as humans. It's like archeology almost. We'll never see amazing Victorian design like on these state hospitals ever again. Now we only have sterile, boring looking glass and steel structures. It's sad.
It's extremely sad but at the very least the administration building being saved and considering the state of the building right now, thats more than most developers would do. Thanks for watching!
There was as much “rehabilitation” as anyone including the “experts” knew enough to provide. There was a “Man’s Industrial” and a “Woman’s Industrial” where beautifully crafted handwork was done, a fully functioning farm, fully functioning general store, religious services, a sports program that included a 2 hole golf course, uniformed baseball team, all with patient integration in each. Also a full roster of resident activities with scheduled dances, movies, and sometimes shows. In terms of specific services for individual patients, differential diagnosis was sorely lacking and still to this day lags behind, and for the most serious victims of any cognitive, affective and sometimes sensory disorders, no specific treatment existed. I recall a deaf man who might have been capable of independent living, but had never been taught signing or any other system of communication. When founded, Greystone was considered a model of modern care, but it’s naive to think that to this day, understanding of mental illness isn’t still an uncertainty.
That would mean having a care about the mentally ill population. JFK wanted residential in-patient and out-patient services and this would have worked perfectly for the Greystone campus. Unfortunately his successor had to fund the Vietnam War so there was no money allocated for Kennedy's Mental Health Care Act. (Guns and butter don't work as Eisenhower pointed out.) The mentally ill had no place to go and now we see them making up a large part of every city's homeless.
@@karenryder6317 Don't turn this into a partisan issue.If you are referencing the Community Mental Health Program, it was Reagan who didn't follow up with federal money to assist the states in community care after discharge. It was the states that were in a hurry to close down the big hospitals to save money. It was a multitude of different factors. The idea was for short-term hospitalization in the community.
Where is the Greystone cemetery ? I've tried to look for signs along the road, but can't locate it. Is the cemetery still maintained? I believe the hospital still takes patients somewhere on the property.
Evergreen Cemetery in Morristown was used for the vast majority of patients until 1966. Greystone never had it's own cemetery on the property as far as I can tell.
Who remember going to greystone getting into a fight and the workers betting you up What do you want what do you got I got anything you want What is it Coffee grinds cold coffee I don't want cold coffee
It is a crime that all over North America (Canada included, of course)) that important building sites, such as Greystone Park are been demolished in the name of "progress", whatever that means. Here , in Canada we see the same kind of approach. The old Maple Leaf Gardens arena(in Toronto) was converted into some sort of shopping mall with one of the most expensive supermarket we ever known in there. In Nova Scotia (the east coast, that is) they demolished the train station to build an ugly strip mall instead. In the event you want to see the original station just go to Bridgewater Town rail station and the photos of what is in there now. It is disgusting to see the kind of approach of our authorities about history and identity they all have about the rich history of these places.. Greetings from Toronto.
I agree with you, so many historical and absolutely stunning buildings get demolished in the name of "progress" when it is clearly obvious that the old buildings are far, far, far superior in all aspects
Hi the cesspool, great job. I thought I commented last night, but I can’t find my comment. It’s possible it disappeared because I offered my email address. I’d like to address a few things in here that are not quite correct, and offer some constructive criticism. How can I contact you privately rather than laying it all out in a comment?
@the cesspool, your email address is not in your profile, however, mine is in mine. If you wouldn’t mind emailing me, I’d much rather share this stuff privately.
@@TheCesspool_ hi again. I haven’t been able to reach you privately, so I am going to share some of my thoughts here, and encourage you to reach out to me. You did a great job - but there are a few problems that I hope you can find a way to rectify. I have a much longer email ready to send you that once you reach out, I will be happy to share. But in summary: There are a couple small errors about Greystone in more modern times, almost negligible, But there is a lot of misinformation in your section about the memorial that I would love the opportunity to correct. Additionally, there are some IP issues, dozens I recognize and can name the creators in the video but most egregiously your logo, that I hope you will do the right thing, seek permission AND attribute. I am going to assume this all born out of inexperience and not malice - but please reach out and I would be happy to help you. Your content is great, and I do not want to discourage you, but I also think other people’s hard work - from their photography to their paper cuts to their time spent towards the goal of a memorial - should be recognized as well.
Walczik : Dude be patient, they just started. In the event you can help this channel with your skills on sound, just offer them your expertise on the subject.
There's a huge difference between shell shock and P T S D. Shell shock is something you suffer after someone has been dropping bombs and mortar on your head for years. PTSD is something women suffer after having a bad hair day! Shell shock is exactly what it says, shocked by constant shelling, and it's specific to war.
@@TheCesspool_ yeah they had a real name for, and you couldn't describe it any other way " shell shock" totally different to some one having an emotional response to being savagely attacked by a dog, or a person, or in one case being bitten by a small spider. Being shell shocked is not just a mental issue, it's physical. Try telling the children who have been under attack by American bombs in Iraq or Afghanistan, that it's all in their minds. ✌️I suppose you have to be there to understand.
@@andrewgloury1891 I just simply base my information off of trusted, modern sources which is why I state what I state in this episode of Committed. That's all.
I worked at Greystone from 1986 to 1989 I was in accounts payable in the administration building. It was heartbreaking for me to see it come down. R.I.P Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital, you were once beautiful, now you only exist in photographs.
It truly was beautiful. I'm sure it was pretty impressive to see in person, especially in an operational condition. Thanks for watching!
I lived in morristown for 15 years during school, it was always surreal running xcountry meets at the greystone park complex but also gorgeous because of the backdrop. After seeing WVs plan to keep their kirkbride buidling alive i was hopeful the same treatment would be done for greystone, but alas...
I've been fascinated by Kirkbrides ever since I discovered urban exploration blogs in the mid 00's. As a person with severe mental illness they stand as a stark contrast to the more modern, sterile, bland, prison-like centers we have today. In California our Kirkbrides where the first to be demolished thanks to land speculation, and the general fact that the state has a hate boner for any structure older then 50 years that looks nice. Looking forward to more videos!
mentally ill people can do great work !!!
Kirkbrides are facinating aren't they, I can not get enough of looking at old photos of them and the accompanying history, I realise that horrible things happened but somehow it still fascinates me. On the Kirkbride site there are two accounts of patients (young boys at that stage) ((they wrote it themselves, so it is like a personal diary of their time there, it took place in the late 1960/70's, and it was eventually discovered that especially the one was there for nothing more serious than ADS and Epilepsy) The one is called Pete and the other Mike, I cant remember at which hospital they were, but it is well worth reading))
I worked at one of these old facilities. It was a I’d say modified Kirkbride. It had the huge impressive Admin Buildings and two large side wings.
My friends and I snuck into greystone in 2007 through a hole in the fence that had been put up around it and broken basement window. We wanted to make a video for our film class in HS. It was surreal being in there (and also dangerous…we were oblivious 17yos). We were there for hours and now seeing this timeline I guess we were in the administration building? There were a lot of patient rooms and old equipment, but seeing old wheel chairs and the paint peeling off the walls was wild to see in person. We came back years later after college and had no idea it had been torn down. It was so sad to see.
I can imagine that was an unforgettable experience and yes assuming it was that central building with the tower it would be the administration building. Its incredibly sad to see the fall of Greystone and what it could've been if someone had saved it. Thanks so much for watching.
Politicians and developers who prefer the MODERN crap like all those terrific strip malls that relaced beautiful old buildings. Just no class !
you obviously never had a loved one INSIDE GREYSTONE FROM 1975-1990's. it was sad, horrifying, ppl everywhere on their own , no clothes., no staff. Beautiful or not. there are NO good memories. sorry to tell an inside POV
I find these old institutions so interesting! I’ve got 3 old asylums in my city (U.K.) one of which is still open!
Loving this series, thank you!
Amazing video, great research. Nicely done!
this has a fabulous watch! thank you so much! 🙏🏻
Glad you enjoyed it!
I do cross country and I used to run there the idea that we were all running at an old mental hospital always wasn brought up
This was a great video with much accurate information and many photos unlike a number of videos I have seen that have much false information and sensationalized info obtained online with poor or no proper research. How do I know, I grew up on the grounds of Greystone Park for 30 years of my early like. My dad was a doctor there. The hospital was still beautiful although severely outdated by 1964 when I was born. I remember the patients who worked on the grounds. There are so many stories of me and the many friends who’s mom’s and dad’s were doctors, nurses and to us, living at Greystone was our normal. Looking back I am so lucky to have had that experience, The grounds and property were our playground and we went undisturbed by the Greystone Police since we lived there and they knew us. Many things changed in the 70’s when they deinstitutionalized many facilities letting mentally ill patients free to roam the streets, seeding our homeless population and they switched to a non-medical administrative staff that did not know a lot about medicine. It was sad to see the decline.
Wows thats incredible. Thanks so much for sharing and glad you enjoyed the video!
That sounds absolutely charming, don't you think you should write a book or maybe a blog about it?? I have been wanting to read something like that for ages If you do know about something in that line will you please let me know. I would like to hear more from a human point of view etc. It is so damn sad about the many people that were discharged when the hospitals closed their doors ...so many of them can not fend for themselves, have no support system and either land up in jail or worse.....
Wonderfully done.
I worked here for 6 years. Its a crime that they destroyed it. Patients were very well and content there. They were also well cared for, at least when I was there. The "new" Greystone had and has many problems. Just horrible.
Yes I've unfortunately heard the issues the new facility has faced, really a sad situation all around. Thanks for watching
I delivered pizza there everyday from 1985 to 1990 I been in every building there never the underground area just heard stories
Update: they turned the old Greystone hospital into a big field which is used as the start and finish area of the cross-country course. I was just there for the Morris County Championship Meet.
Yes I show some footage of that at the end of the video, thanks for watching!
It's so sad that the powers that be don't see the significance of such beautiful architecture that is our history as humans.
It's like archeology almost. We'll never see amazing Victorian design like on these state hospitals ever again. Now we only have sterile, boring looking glass and steel structures. It's sad.
It's extremely sad but at the very least the administration building being saved and considering the state of the building right now, thats more than most developers would do. Thanks for watching!
we the people of the United States of America have decided to join together to fight against government tyreny
This would make a stupendous movie! Or perhaps it has already been made??
A movie or book or even a blog.....I would love it. If you find out please let me know
Great series
It's ECT electro convulsive therapy.
I see no evidence of rehabilitation? Is that what we can except from any mental health facility today?
There was as much “rehabilitation” as anyone including the “experts” knew enough to provide. There was a “Man’s Industrial” and a “Woman’s Industrial” where beautifully crafted handwork was done, a fully functioning farm, fully functioning general store, religious services, a sports program that included a 2 hole golf course, uniformed baseball team, all with patient integration in each. Also a full roster of resident activities with scheduled dances, movies, and sometimes shows. In terms of specific services for individual patients, differential diagnosis was sorely lacking and still to this day lags behind, and for the most serious victims of any cognitive, affective and sometimes sensory disorders, no specific treatment existed. I recall a deaf man who might have been capable of independent living, but had never been taught signing or any other system of communication. When founded, Greystone was considered a model of modern care, but it’s naive to think that to this day, understanding of mental illness isn’t still an uncertainty.
What a waste. With all the homeless people living on the streets, most of that complex should have been refurbished for residential units.
That would mean having a care about the mentally ill population. JFK wanted residential in-patient and out-patient services and this would have worked perfectly for the Greystone campus. Unfortunately his successor had to fund the Vietnam War so there was no money allocated for Kennedy's Mental Health Care Act. (Guns and butter don't work as Eisenhower pointed out.) The mentally ill had no place to go and now we see them making up a large part of every city's homeless.
@@karenryder6317 Don't turn this into a partisan issue.If you are referencing the Community Mental Health Program, it was Reagan who didn't follow up with federal money to assist the states in community care after discharge. It was the states that were in a hurry to close down the big hospitals to save money. It was a multitude of different factors. The idea was for short-term hospitalization in the community.
Where is the Greystone cemetery ? I've tried to look for signs along the road, but can't locate it. Is the cemetery still maintained? I believe the hospital still takes patients somewhere on the property.
Evergreen Cemetery in Morristown was used for the vast majority of patients until 1966. Greystone never had it's own cemetery on the property as far as I can tell.
Who remember going to greystone getting into a fight and the workers betting you up
What do you want what do you got
I got anything you want
What is it
Coffee grinds
cold coffee I don't want cold coffee
huh??
🔥
Wasn't the site used in the 2012 film, "Greystone Park?" I have tried matching the exteriors in the film to the location, but nothing matches.
You know honestly I'm not sure but I don't believe they actually filmed on site. They likely used another Kirkbride as a stand-in.
so cool, fascinating
It is a crime that all over North America (Canada included, of course)) that important building sites, such as Greystone Park are been demolished in the name of "progress", whatever that means.
Here , in Canada we see the same kind of approach. The old Maple Leaf Gardens arena(in Toronto) was converted into some sort of shopping mall with one of the most expensive supermarket we ever known in there. In Nova Scotia (the east coast, that is) they demolished the train station to build an ugly strip mall instead. In the event you want to see the original station just go to Bridgewater Town rail station and the photos of what is in there now. It is disgusting to see the kind of approach of our authorities about history and identity they all have about the rich history of these places.. Greetings from Toronto.
It absolutely is. Unfortunately most people don't realize the importance of these kinds of structures until they are gone.
I agree with you, so many historical and absolutely stunning buildings get demolished in the name of "progress" when it is clearly obvious that the old buildings are far, far, far superior in all aspects
"Progress" means some big bucks for a certain group.
Audio sounds like a walkie talkie.
Yes I'm aware but unfortunately at the time I didn't have a mic with any quality at all.
wow so creative
Thanks man
Hi the cesspool, great job. I thought I commented last night, but I can’t find my comment. It’s possible it disappeared because I offered my email address. I’d like to address a few things in here that are not quite correct, and offer some constructive criticism. How can I contact you privately rather than laying it all out in a comment?
Yeah it is very likely youtube removed the comment because of the email address. Our email should be in the channel description. Thanks.
@the cesspool, your email address is not in your profile, however, mine is in mine. If you wouldn’t mind emailing me, I’d much rather share this stuff privately.
@@TheCesspool_ hi again. I haven’t been able to reach you privately, so I am going to share some of my thoughts here, and encourage you to reach out to me. You did a great job - but there are a few problems that I hope you can find a way to rectify. I have a much longer email ready to send you that once you reach out, I will be happy to share. But in summary:
There are a couple small errors about Greystone in more modern times, almost negligible, But there is a lot of misinformation in your section about the memorial that I would love the opportunity to correct.
Additionally, there are some IP issues, dozens I recognize and can name the creators in the video but most egregiously your logo, that I hope you will do the right thing, seek permission AND attribute. I am going to assume this all born out of inexperience and not malice - but please reach out and I would be happy to help you. Your content is great, and I do not want to discourage you, but I also think other people’s hard work - from their photography to their paper cuts to their time spent towards the goal of a memorial - should be recognized as well.
There are suck people in the world and unfortunately some are too damaged go fix.
you just need a better microphone!
Walczik : Dude be patient, they just started. In the event you can help this channel with your skills on sound, just offer them your expertise on the subject.
Good news: New microphone acquired
@@TheCesspool_ love it, congrats
There's a huge difference between shell shock and P T S D. Shell shock is something you suffer after someone has been dropping bombs and mortar on your head for years. PTSD is something women suffer after having a bad hair day! Shell shock is exactly what it says, shocked by constant shelling, and it's specific to war.
Shell shock is now considered a type of PTSD. Its more of a precursor to the mental illness since psychiatrists didn't have a real name for it yet.
@@TheCesspool_ yeah they had a real name for, and you couldn't describe it any other way " shell shock" totally different to some one having an emotional response to being savagely attacked by a dog, or a person, or in one case being bitten by a small spider. Being shell shocked is not just a mental issue, it's physical. Try telling the children who have been under attack by American bombs in Iraq or Afghanistan, that it's all in their minds. ✌️I suppose you have to be there to understand.
@@andrewgloury1891 I just simply base my information off of trusted, modern sources which is why I state what I state in this episode of Committed. That's all.
@@TheCesspool_ who might that be? Dr Phil !
@@andrewgloury1891 no, www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/ptsd/what-is-ptsd