Few things are as legitimately creepy as an old-school, vintage insane asylum, and wouldn't you know it: there just so happens to be one right here in North Dakota. San Haven Sanatorium is a place with a history so dark that it's no wonder ghosts are suspected to roam the empty halls. This creepy, abandoned asylum in North Dakota is pure nightmare fuel, and you'd better go see it before it's gone: it's destined to be demolished soon.
The road leading to the sanatorium is worn, run-down, and unkempt.
What it leads to is a place where unimaginable suffering occurred over a period of decades; this suffering seems to have created an imprint on the very soul of the place.
Originally opened in the early 1900s as a tuberculosis hospital, it eventually became a hospital for many things, including folks suffering from mental illness.
The sanatorium saw many deaths over the years; some say it was as many as 1,000. And the death didn't exactly stop when it closed: the most recent death to occur here was as recent as 2001, when a teenaged boy fell to his death in an open elevator shaft while exploring the property.
The air here is heavy with sorrow and fear, a likely remnant of the dark past it holds.
According to legend, when patients died here, many were buried on the grounds in unmarked graves. It is unknown just how true this is, or how many bodies actually lie beneath the soil at this creepy abandoned asylum in North Dakota.
Nowadays, it's not safe to explore yourself (see: the story about the boy who died here doing just that), but those who have been inside have reported numerous bizarre and unsettling occurrences.
It isn't uncommon to hear what sounds like children playing in what used to be the children's ward, the cries and pleas of patients being "treated" for their ailments in outdated and barbaric ways, and plenty more.
While in operation, many people met terrible fates here.
It was an unpleasant, depressed place of great suffering and sadness, although some still-living ex-employees claim that nothing bad ever happened there. After allegations of abuse and mistreatment became public, there was much outcry and anger about the old asylum before it was closed for good in the late 1980s.
Soon, it will no longer exist; it'll fade into the annals of history, remembered only by those who are alive now.
And one day, those folks will die - and with them, the last memories of the horrible place called San Haven.
Are you totally obsessed with creepy places in North Dakota (same)? You might want to think about doing this awesome haunted places road trip!
Subscribe to our newsletter
Get the latest updates and news
Thank you for subscribing!
