Kings Park Psychiatric Center - Closing the Center

Documentary by Jim Fleming - 1996
Re-Edited by Stephen Weber
Unique perspective on the closing of the KPPC, filmed in 1996, before the 1997 closing, a moment in time which quickly passed and still continues....

[@si12volt1]

They put me in there when i was 17 they told my parent's id never leave I was to sick I Had shock treatments in there and after crying out GOD HELP ME .. i was out after 4 or 5-week I forget exactly ... Today I am 64 and a business owner for 35 yrs a productive member of society living in So Calif oh yea I also got clean n sober at 30 yrs old off the addictions I was self-medicating with to relieve my sick mind emotions and soul and I haven't had any mental illness or medications OR STREET DRUGS OR BOOZE SINCE.... life is great today the heal was an inside job... Mostly spiritual healing... mentally spiritually physically.. I owe it all to a loving caring forgiving God ...I AM a living example there is a GOD... I could NOT get from the hell I was living inside to where I am today without one...all I did was surrender and followed direction

[@mapobjecky]

I really loved the sincerity of this documentary. I was born and raised in Kings Park, I worked in the various buildings during high school and beyond for about five years in the kitchens and dinning rooms. My mother was a supervisor in Group 4 and there were more friends and family who had some employment in Kings Park. This town never saw the depression because of the multitudes employed here. Thanks for the great memories. Great Job!!!

[@cg-ny9078]

Your comment was so long ago, so u may not even see this reply. Kings Park looked like a nice place. I admire how many of the staff members were like family to the patients who were abandoned and never visited by anyone. It's sad to see how vandalized it has become. I'm sure you have fond memories.

[@TheK24Kyle]

it cant be any more inhumane then shutting these places down and putting the patients on the street. homeless, no money, jobs, food or clothes, and open exposure to drug abuse which is why 90% of the hobos on LI are nuts. they wouldve been admitted here. the craftsmanship of these buildings and wards was like no other and its a complete shame such a well constructed facility is left to rot.

[@Rob-bo7yn]

90% of the people on LI are nuts! :D

[@loveycat5474]

There was cruel treatment such as lobotomy and electric shock therapy. It was overcrowded and no privacy. These people did not have to be put in a isolated place. Many people with mental illness were not dangerous to society. These people lived in these large, out in the county places because people did not want crazy people living next door to them. There was a place for disabled children like those with Autism and other developmental disabilities. Now parents are encourage to keep their special needs children at home instead of putting them away to be forgotten.

[@loveycat5474]

They need to be in society and not isolated. They were not nuts they are mentally I'll. Many are treatable and fit into society. Many people who are inventors, actors, musicians and caregivers live with their own mental challenges. They learned how to fit in and contribute to society. If not they supply need for the caring professions. We all will need care someday.

[@derhembailen]

@@loveycat5474 exept that you forgot kings park was not like pennhurst. Lobotomies were not forced to the patients, personel wasn't so cruel to the patients, no human experimentation occured, era of wrong treatments (ICT, Electroshocs, Lobotomies, etc.) did not lasted long. Kings park was different styled asylum.

[@Cygnusart0843]

I’m pretty sure all of the buildings had asbestos and what not, and they probably would’ve gotten some kind of lung cancer or disease if they stayed.

[@Spiritof48]

I am happy to see an honest and positive story about a psychiatric hospital , a lot of people had good lives there unlike today where many are left homeless to fend for themselves.

[@andrewdimonda10]

Rasmus Lykke they're lying, most of the patients there were horribly mistreated

[@katareeves]

When I was 13 years old in 1970, I went to visit my 15 year old sister at Kings Park. I was so horrified at the conditions, I resolved, at age 13, to do everything I could to help her get out, and to NEVER allow to have her committed to a place like that again. 50 years later, and it still brings tears to my eyes to remember seeing her in this horrific place.

[@djexplorations578]

Kathryn Reeves I’m currently in the process of making a documentary trying to get both sides of the story about this place. Is there anyway you’d be interested in doing an interview or give me some info that you gathered?

[@LisaMarie51968]

I hope your sister is doing well now, God Bless!

[@mikem4696]

@@djexplorations578 How is the documentary going? I'm very interested.

[@djexplorations578]

@@mikem4696 it’s out! kzbin.info/www/bejne/kJPJkqp7ZZqdiJo

[@sew11754]

That was then... older and wiser you might say, having worked there as a teenager, I alway felt very confortable with the patients. But try not to feel sad, its our town, both the good history and the not so good history.

[@johnc1970]

12 hour shifts, 6 days a week? Only 4 days off a month? Oh man....they don't call them the 'Greatest Generation' for nothing, I suppose.

[@geddyleesowlnose]

johnc1970 yup..

[@sew11754]

There were very kind people and very cruel people. Like society in general. I still think of that one fellow at Lucy's screening who told of being a patient on an adult ward as a 12 year old boy, brings a tear to my eye at the strangest of times.

[@acib40]

Stephen, This brings so much light to what we as kids experienced and witnessed. The times we went "uptown" to hang out and made fun of the mentally ill and stayed clear of them or feared them. We didn't know as kids what was going on. Why didn't we know? I went back to a 20 year KP high school reunion and went around my old haunts. I sat in my car in the Ben Franklin shopping center and still experienced mentally ill people accosting me in my car. It brought back so many memories it was sad.

[@allencollins6031]

I remember.

[@Skydog75]

What an embarrassing, sugar coated rendidtion of the human dumping grounds KPPC really was. I lived in KP for 20 years and worked at the facility with my friends and their parents who lived off the state gov't dole for a number of years. During that time I visited every bldg. (Grp 4, Bldg. 93, the MR Unit, etc.) going deep into the wards and witnessing 1st hand the abuses, ignorance and stifling environment.

[@margaretcortes9809]

I agree that every ward had a few abusive aides and nurses that didn't take this job as seriously as they could have. They were not at representative of all the staff. When I moved there in 1963, my stepfather was a psychiatrist. We lived in drs. apartments and cottages. The greenhouse was still there and clients still worked on the grounds. I thought it was a pity that the clients no longer had a farm to work out in the open air anymore. From what they told me, they enjoyed it. It was only as bad as the help who worked there and they (we) weren't all bad. Some used our own time to take the clients out for a movie or shopping. If it had worked harder to get better trained help, I think the hospital was a better place than a jail or homeless like they are today. Now there's no place to put the mentally ill at all. I lived on the grounds. I worked on the wards. It could have been improved, not disposed of altogether!

[@mfirmes]

People with Mental Illness are our neighbors, friends, brothers, sisters, children and parents. They deserve our compassion. If you or someone you care about has been diagnosed with a mental illnes on Long Island NY, join us the third Wednesday of each month at the South Oaks Hospital Chapel, Sunrise Highway in Amityville. 10:00am - 12noon. This year the LI Festival & Walk for Mental Health will take place in Heckscher Park, Huntington Sunday 9/21/2008, starts at noon. Call MHA Suffolk

[@sew11754]

Thanks, everytime I see Mr Szurnicki speak it brings a tear to my eye, he just passed on a few months ago, that why I beleive these types of videos are so important, once these people leave us, with out this record, these memories would be lost forever! all the best Steve

[@gabescube]

I live in walking distance from there

[@andrewdimonda10]

Gabriel Ciccone me too lol

[@Anthony_Super]

Do u still live there

[@Anthony_Super]

@@andrewdimonda10 do u still live there

[@andrewdimonda10]

@@Anthony_Super why lol

[@Anthony_Super]

@@andrewdimonda10 I was just there trying to see the place

[@neubee27]

There was an inlet behind and east of York Hall. Employees and locals had their small boats there. Often fished with the patients and cooked up the catch an fried tomatoes with it . Great times!

[@shadow8732]

I was there today at 4 AM, lol there were cops patrolling the place but we sneaked in, we went to the power plant also

[@nicklarson9098]

Where’s the power plant

[@LisaMarie51968]

Scary part is I’d be put here if I was born in those times because I suffer from depression. Scary thought!!

[@karenhaupt4321]

Thank you!

[@sew11754]

Thank you for your kind Comment!

[@neubee27]

Excellent video! There were significant WWII shell shock veterans living there.

[@geddyleesowlnose]

Neubee Jones how do you know

[@neubee27]

Played in the corn and hay fields. Patients did most of the work. We never feared for our safety.

[@Skydog75]

The patient conditions were inhuman and horrible throughout. The former workers commenting on the "beauty of the trees" and the "corn" they grew to help sustain the facility is a overly romantic, pollyanish view.

[@nhoverhaulinfan2]

I love this video, thanks for added this video.

[@Skydog75]

Lets talk to some former patients and get their perspective! I saw on a daily baisi geriatric patients, allowed to walk around with the own excrement stuck to their legs, kitchen cooks who spent their dayys drinking, recreational drugs sold sold by workers, food eaten by ward workers that was intended for patients, milk, meat, cheese, bread, etc. smuggled out by workers for their own consumption thru old, unused exits.

[@sew11754]

What year was this? Before Willow Brook the conditions for the cildren were bad, its a tough situation, you have people with profound illness, how do you take care of them an isusre taht they are not a danger to themselvers or others, some may rip off their garments other may have them removed hecause the may try to hang themselves, its not an easy place to work or live. Some patients has to be druged inorder to stop convulsions or self mutulation or attacks on staff and other patients.

[@lawnguylanda912]

What is the name of the documentary? If you have it can you upload it ? 🙏🏼

[@jaysharp789]

I work in Kings Park. I do deliveries all over town, so I know the area extremely well. I've driven through and walked through this now ghost town, which is now part of the nissequogue river state park, many times. I've gone inside the abandoned buildings. However, I'm looking for the "Kings Park Potters Field", where hundreds of inpatients were buried in a mass grave. There is a marker somewhere, but I'm not sure. If anyone stumbles upon my little comment here who has knowledge of its whereabouts, would you kindly describe the exact area for me? I'd love to check it out

[@allencollins6031]

It's on old dock road before the junior high on the right hand side if you are driving up towards town from the bluff. It just looks like an open field surrounded by woods.

[@jaysharp789]

@@allencollins6031 Actually I found it and it's off of Indian Head rd, down by Old Indian Head near Raleigh's Poultry Farm. It's a few miles from the psych center. I walked through it. There's a hole in the fence. When you walk in there is one small tombstone saying that thousands of inmates are buried here and there is a large wooden white cross at the end of the open field. I literally drove past it for years without ever knowing it was there. . I know the field you are talking about too, and that spot would make more sense. I was surprised to find it where it is

[@allencollins6031]

@@jaysharp789 well there is one on kppc grounds too. Grew up in kp.

[@jaysharp789]

@@allencollins6031 Is there a marker there? I'll check it out and walk around. The one off Indian head is pretty creepy. You would never know it's there and there are houses right next to it on the other side of a fence. The stone says: "This plaque is placed in memory of the hundreds who are buried here. They lived with severe illness. May they rest in peace" . . And then it's just a big fenced in field with the cross at the end.

[@allencollins6031]

@@jaysharp789 yeah I don't think there is a marker. Would just appear as crappy asphalt heading in. Somewhere between the bar and Flynn rd. If u find the access the field is on left. I'm gonna look on Google maps to see if it is visible.

[@sew11754]

and that is the true story of the center, with the understanding that grouping people together in this type of situation, in and of its self is not a good thing.

[@sew11754]

Did you work there? The Inlet is still there, they use as a marina.

[@sew11754]

I can list story after story about the towns people abusing the patients, I can find almost none about the patients abusing the towns people. The patients would come down to the school and apply for job, sometimes it woudl take a few min to figure out!

[@bigtonycicero1]

I worked there and new king Pedler he lived in home T. VERY NICE MAN.

[@lawnguylanda912]

Who was king pedler?

[@sarahnewt]

where can I get more on KP - is there a documentary?

[@thevintagepoet]

Its sad this historic building is left to rot

[@sarahcolombo1547]

I worked there.....

[@cannonpro2309]

Lol

[@sarahcolombo1547]

sad actually & powerful .....

[@kevinreyes945]

Sarah Colombo how old are you??

[@geddyleesowlnose]

Sarah Colombo damn... I feel bad .. what years?

[@mgaeeeee9150]

You related to Joe?

[@peterungerer7754]

I was just there doing research

[@93matheu]

Mental health is the one field that gets the shaft and it sucks. It’s also hard for someone to get mental health help unless you are homicidal suicidal or have made an attempt on your life. Today things are a lot different in psych hospitals. These places are hard to come by because again funding .

[@ItIsCody]

right next to the center. I live there.

[@ShesThe1yup]

searched on You Tube couldnt find her films???

[@sew11754]

Rock On, thanks!

[@urfavblondiexx]

they made it seem like they treated the patients right, not so true. they were mistreated.

[@lawnguylanda912]

Yea they really made it seem nice and fluffy and filled w rainbows lol most ppl can see right through that 🐴💩

[@cannonballkid]

Mistreating the mentally ill is putting them out on the streets to be homeless or wind up in jail. Which is exactly what happened when many of these hospitals closed in the 80's and 90's. Its really sad.

[@praisekek]

They never mistreated patients.

[@loveycat5474]

@@praisekekThe treatments of the illness were cruel such as electric shock and lobotomy. These treatments did not cure the illness, it made them zombies.

[@praisekek]

@@loveycat5474 At Kings Park the staff treated people good. No one was abused there.

[@sew11754]

I went to Lucy's Fim Preview at the smithtown library, I liked here film, but the comments from those who attended was very moving. I hosted a film festival in KP a month or so ago, had film which were from both perspectives, positive and negative.

[@bduff007]

Worst thing this nation ever did is close these facilities

[@Granite11]

Is there anyway to get a copy of the original documentary?

[@UNOWHO29]

WOW flash back, I usto go here ALOT when i was young. Went from the top where mountains of dead birds/poo lined its floors from birds that had wondered in through broken windows to the underground channels connecting each building to one another. Very spooky even during the day. I remember a friend daring me to spend 20 minutes locked in a tray in the morgue that still had huge old stains on the floor that looked like blood (uncomfortable to say the least. Good times! Any-who..CHECK OUT MY VIDS!

[@kirbyman1kanden7pf]

go there and look....I have. ofc its not a place you can take a tour of.

[@chasebands6641]

Why did you close the center

[@sew11754]

I second that!

[@Tauruspt2]

Go KP woot i luv to go to that place

[@sew11754]

yes, so true and WWI on the federal side, sad to say I dont think we have come much futher when I see some of the stories about the Iraq or Afganistan Vets and their treatment!

[@DonKonroiModzzz]

I always looked at that place as a shit hole and a place where they ruined lives... wow, now walking through that place ain't so creapy, haha.

[@thecritic3710]

they wre better off before nys got involved....country club for the state employees.

[@Charmedone9805]

oh nice its good to see what it looked like before it was vandalised btw it clsoed in 1996 not 1997 but it clsoed at the end of 1996 but yea cool vid

[@seewhaticando3885]

Thanks for sharing and God bless and keep you! Before WW2 city/farms like these 25-50% populated.. at the end of WW2 vets return and these type of places became 150% populated.. The medication is very helpful for some.. but things have changed and medications are like tests done on humans.. Let's try this one and that one and oh now you twitch try this.. it's become a real shit show

[@AutoWorldzz]

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[@thomasbinninger1355]

Rip joe stassi kings park.

[@Youtubeusegahdj]

A group of terrible people

[@vasilljones1283]

Anyone remember Jonathan's round table?