Overbrook Hospital, Cedar Grove, Essex County, New Jersey
A few weeks ago the new show on the Travel Channel, Ghost Adventures, traveled to NJ to do an investigation. They did not name the abandoned psych hospital because the county did/does not want investigators and people thronging to the site, but having grown up in the area, I knew exactly what and where it was as soon as they showed the buildings. They went to Overbrook Hospital in Cedar Grove.
Zak Bagans is the Host and Lead Investigator for Travel Channel's Series' Ghost Adventures. Zak is also the Co-Founder for the Ghost Adventures' Crew (GAC). Zak began his quest into the paranormal after he came face-to-face with the spirit of a woman who haunted his old apartment building in Trenton, MI. This life-changing encounter was the catalyst for his Quest in gathering evidence from the "other-side" and his product thereof: The Documentary Feature Film, Ghost Adventures, that aired last year on the Sci-Fi Channel. He partnered up with Nick Groff (Investigator) and together they set the foundation for the Ghost Adventures Crew.
Here is the website that tells about the show http://www.executiveservers.com/ghostadventures-com/about_gac.php
Here is the website that shows the photos they took when visiting Overbrook: http://www.travelchannel.com/TV_Shows/Ghost_Adventures/Former_Psych...
This is a video taken when they investigated at Overbrook: http://www.travelchannel.com/Video_&_Photos/Video_Detail?player...
What struck me about the show was that the ghosts spoke and made sounds that were audible to the listener. Often in other ghost shows you may here banging or movement, but not voices. In this investigation you clearly heard someone say “Hello” and a woman singing, as well as a woman answering Zak’s question – you could not understand what she was saying but you could clearly hear her voice. I was amazed that they would go into that hospital, specifically bldg 5 and let them lock them in over night. There are tunnels under bldg 5 that run to every other building in the complex & the caretaker had told them not to go into the tunnels as they might get lost. They also had to wear face masks because of the asbestos and severe mold. Of course the team went into the tunnels anyway….. I would certainly not have been as brave, and after what happened to my daughter and myself, I really doubt I would go in for an investigation at all – sorry folks – I am not very brave.
here is a brief history of the place - In 1896, a large portion of land was purchased by the City of Newark, New Jersey; the land was bought to build a new mental institution for Essex county, known as Overbrook. It operated until the 1990s and minimally into the early 2000s for alcohol and drug abuse meetings only. It is abandonned now except for a few buildings being used by Essex county by the Sheriff’s office and the Emergency Management Office.
The hospital complex has over 90 acres and at its height of operations had 1,800 patients, so they had their own fire department on the campus.
In the literature I had read about it, it said it was called a town within a town. There is some additional tragedy reported in the history – in the early 1900s a boiler broke and a group of patients froze to death when the hospital went without heat in the winter for at least a week.
My aunt was a patient at Overbrook when she was in her early 20s. She had a psychotic BiPolar episode and was way beyond what my grandmother could deal with. She was there for about 6-9 months. The treatment she got there was good and when discharged she has been fine and went on to live a very productive and healthy life. However her time there was hard and she was very depressed to be there, which is understandable.
When I was in high school in the 1960s I applied for a job to work in the cafeteria there. I was offered the position, but when I found out I had to work on Sundays I could not take it. I was very active in my church and youth group and did all the music for them and did not want to miss that. I actually in retrospect am glad I did not work there, as I probably would have gotten upset and been too empathetic with the patients.
My mother [who was not very stable but would never admit she had problems] used to threaten us as children, saying if we did not behave, we would drive her crazy and they would have to take her to Overbrook. I reminded her recently that she always said that and she laughed and said it was a great tool to get us to behave.
When I delivered newspapers in the early AMs in the 1990s, I delivered to 3 towns in that area and cut through the hospital property. Every time I drove past bldg 5, which is the largest of the buildings and the one Zak and his team investigated, I always felt like people were watching me drive by from the windows. At that time I did not know or believe what I do about spirits, and I laughed at myself and told myself every day that it was abandoned and of course no one is watching me. OR were the spirits of unhappy patients watching me?
My daughter was very interested that I knew where the hospital was and that it was less than 7 miles from our home. We went there twice last weekend. When we arrived last Saturday afternoon, my daughter and I took our cameras and walked over to bldg 5. As soon as I crossed the road and was on the walkway I had an overwhelming feeling of abandonment and helplessness. It was a deep grief and sadness as well. I did not say anything to my daughter as she is very impressionable and I wanted to get her feelings before I told her what I felt. Later she told me that she had very strong feelings of the same thing. This of course is understandable since I am sure many mental patients felt their families had abandoned them there, and I am also sure there were some that were there their whole lives and probably had no visitors. We both took photos of the outside of the bldg and the attached building beyond that runs to the admin building. It was very cold so we did not stay long, and we were both very affected by the feelings we were having. I am also very sad that these people would still be trapped here after all these years.
I then drove across the street and we drove past several bldgs over there. I wish I had written down the bldg numbers but I did not, and the photos do not clearly show which bldgings we photographed. I have learned now that all the houses on that side of the street have been bought up by a private company and I was trespassing and could have gotten fined. thank the Lord I did not get caught and I did get some great photos. I got photos of a dorm type building, 2 smaller dorm like buildings, and the firehouse.
In the day photos I believe there are some spirits, but I prefer to just post the photos and have all of you just look at them and determine what you think you see.
Then we went 2 nights later which was a bit spooky. We went back Monday night which was a full moon and drove through the property. I felt uncomfortable the whole time and my daughter kept announcing that she saw spirits milling around. She got many more orbs in her photos then I did, but I did get a very bright blue one outside the cafeteria building.
Now - the most amazing experience: We were on our way home and went to turn around in a U driveway so we could take photos of the dorm houses at night. I missed the dorm drive and instead drove into the drive that led to the firehouse. I had rolled down our windows so we could take photos from the car. As soon as I got near the building I could clearly hear voices coming from the building. The building is all boarded up and signs are posted to not trespass, and there is no electricity in the building anymore. It is obviously empty and boarded up. As I was thinking to myself, those voices are so loud, my daughter turned to me and asked me if I could hear all the people talking. Before I could answer her, above the voices came a loud female voice making a loud and high “whoop whoop whoop” sound. Very loud, very high, and continuous. “whoop whoop whoop whoop” Your logical mind says – “maybe it is a bird, maybe it is an alarm” but you can clearly hear it is a woman. She sounded quite crazy to be honest and it was frightening. Later we laughed hysterically that other people hear ghosts moaning or saying threatening words, but our ghost said “whoop whoop whoop” As I quickly tried to turn the van around and get out of there, my daughter said she heard another woman tell her “get out of here, you are not welcome”
We pulled into the U driveway that was next and drove past the dorm. I took photos here and again heard an underlying mumbling and voices coming from the building. My daughter asked me later "what was poker?" She said she heard a man in that building say “Hey, let’s play poker tonight.” Makes perfect sense to me as I am sure residents often got together at night and played cards.
So that was our experience. They plan to tear down all the buildings soon – I wish someone could go and do a full blown investigation. Photos of the hospital taken by me are at http://travel.webshots.com/album/570078906KfjLHT
My daughters are at http://travel.webshots.com/album/570085080KPJfpY
below are 2 of my photos and one from the Ghost Adventures investigation.
any of the photos on webshots you want me to pull off and post here for you to further investigate, let me know. Also I can post the Ghost Adventures photos if you want.
happy hauntings
jane
Zak Bagans is the Host and Lead Investigator for Travel Channel's Series' Ghost Adventures. Zak is also the Co-Founder for the Ghost Adventures' Crew (GAC). Zak began his quest into the paranormal after he came face-to-face with the spirit of a woman who haunted his old apartment building in Trenton, MI. This life-changing encounter was the catalyst for his Quest in gathering evidence from the "other-side" and his product thereof: The Documentary Feature Film, Ghost Adventures, that aired last year on the Sci-Fi Channel. He partnered up with Nick Groff (Investigator) and together they set the foundation for the Ghost Adventures Crew.
Here is the website that tells about the show http://www.executiveservers.com/ghostadventures-com/about_gac.php
Here is the website that shows the photos they took when visiting Overbrook: http://www.travelchannel.com/TV_Shows/Ghost_Adventures/Former_Psych...
This is a video taken when they investigated at Overbrook: http://www.travelchannel.com/Video_&_Photos/Video_Detail?player...
What struck me about the show was that the ghosts spoke and made sounds that were audible to the listener. Often in other ghost shows you may here banging or movement, but not voices. In this investigation you clearly heard someone say “Hello” and a woman singing, as well as a woman answering Zak’s question – you could not understand what she was saying but you could clearly hear her voice. I was amazed that they would go into that hospital, specifically bldg 5 and let them lock them in over night. There are tunnels under bldg 5 that run to every other building in the complex & the caretaker had told them not to go into the tunnels as they might get lost. They also had to wear face masks because of the asbestos and severe mold. Of course the team went into the tunnels anyway….. I would certainly not have been as brave, and after what happened to my daughter and myself, I really doubt I would go in for an investigation at all – sorry folks – I am not very brave.
here is a brief history of the place - In 1896, a large portion of land was purchased by the City of Newark, New Jersey; the land was bought to build a new mental institution for Essex county, known as Overbrook. It operated until the 1990s and minimally into the early 2000s for alcohol and drug abuse meetings only. It is abandonned now except for a few buildings being used by Essex county by the Sheriff’s office and the Emergency Management Office.
The hospital complex has over 90 acres and at its height of operations had 1,800 patients, so they had their own fire department on the campus.
In the literature I had read about it, it said it was called a town within a town. There is some additional tragedy reported in the history – in the early 1900s a boiler broke and a group of patients froze to death when the hospital went without heat in the winter for at least a week.
My aunt was a patient at Overbrook when she was in her early 20s. She had a psychotic BiPolar episode and was way beyond what my grandmother could deal with. She was there for about 6-9 months. The treatment she got there was good and when discharged she has been fine and went on to live a very productive and healthy life. However her time there was hard and she was very depressed to be there, which is understandable.
When I was in high school in the 1960s I applied for a job to work in the cafeteria there. I was offered the position, but when I found out I had to work on Sundays I could not take it. I was very active in my church and youth group and did all the music for them and did not want to miss that. I actually in retrospect am glad I did not work there, as I probably would have gotten upset and been too empathetic with the patients.
My mother [who was not very stable but would never admit she had problems] used to threaten us as children, saying if we did not behave, we would drive her crazy and they would have to take her to Overbrook. I reminded her recently that she always said that and she laughed and said it was a great tool to get us to behave.
When I delivered newspapers in the early AMs in the 1990s, I delivered to 3 towns in that area and cut through the hospital property. Every time I drove past bldg 5, which is the largest of the buildings and the one Zak and his team investigated, I always felt like people were watching me drive by from the windows. At that time I did not know or believe what I do about spirits, and I laughed at myself and told myself every day that it was abandoned and of course no one is watching me. OR were the spirits of unhappy patients watching me?
My daughter was very interested that I knew where the hospital was and that it was less than 7 miles from our home. We went there twice last weekend. When we arrived last Saturday afternoon, my daughter and I took our cameras and walked over to bldg 5. As soon as I crossed the road and was on the walkway I had an overwhelming feeling of abandonment and helplessness. It was a deep grief and sadness as well. I did not say anything to my daughter as she is very impressionable and I wanted to get her feelings before I told her what I felt. Later she told me that she had very strong feelings of the same thing. This of course is understandable since I am sure many mental patients felt their families had abandoned them there, and I am also sure there were some that were there their whole lives and probably had no visitors. We both took photos of the outside of the bldg and the attached building beyond that runs to the admin building. It was very cold so we did not stay long, and we were both very affected by the feelings we were having. I am also very sad that these people would still be trapped here after all these years.
I then drove across the street and we drove past several bldgs over there. I wish I had written down the bldg numbers but I did not, and the photos do not clearly show which bldgings we photographed. I have learned now that all the houses on that side of the street have been bought up by a private company and I was trespassing and could have gotten fined. thank the Lord I did not get caught and I did get some great photos. I got photos of a dorm type building, 2 smaller dorm like buildings, and the firehouse.
In the day photos I believe there are some spirits, but I prefer to just post the photos and have all of you just look at them and determine what you think you see.
Then we went 2 nights later which was a bit spooky. We went back Monday night which was a full moon and drove through the property. I felt uncomfortable the whole time and my daughter kept announcing that she saw spirits milling around. She got many more orbs in her photos then I did, but I did get a very bright blue one outside the cafeteria building.
Now - the most amazing experience: We were on our way home and went to turn around in a U driveway so we could take photos of the dorm houses at night. I missed the dorm drive and instead drove into the drive that led to the firehouse. I had rolled down our windows so we could take photos from the car. As soon as I got near the building I could clearly hear voices coming from the building. The building is all boarded up and signs are posted to not trespass, and there is no electricity in the building anymore. It is obviously empty and boarded up. As I was thinking to myself, those voices are so loud, my daughter turned to me and asked me if I could hear all the people talking. Before I could answer her, above the voices came a loud female voice making a loud and high “whoop whoop whoop” sound. Very loud, very high, and continuous. “whoop whoop whoop whoop” Your logical mind says – “maybe it is a bird, maybe it is an alarm” but you can clearly hear it is a woman. She sounded quite crazy to be honest and it was frightening. Later we laughed hysterically that other people hear ghosts moaning or saying threatening words, but our ghost said “whoop whoop whoop” As I quickly tried to turn the van around and get out of there, my daughter said she heard another woman tell her “get out of here, you are not welcome”
We pulled into the U driveway that was next and drove past the dorm. I took photos here and again heard an underlying mumbling and voices coming from the building. My daughter asked me later "what was poker?" She said she heard a man in that building say “Hey, let’s play poker tonight.” Makes perfect sense to me as I am sure residents often got together at night and played cards.
So that was our experience. They plan to tear down all the buildings soon – I wish someone could go and do a full blown investigation. Photos of the hospital taken by me are at http://travel.webshots.com/album/570078906KfjLHT
My daughters are at http://travel.webshots.com/album/570085080KPJfpY
below are 2 of my photos and one from the Ghost Adventures investigation.
any of the photos on webshots you want me to pull off and post here for you to further investigate, let me know. Also I can post the Ghost Adventures photos if you want.
happy hauntings
jane
Tags: overbrook_hospital
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abandonned-bldg2.jpg, 153 KB -
roads-at-back-of-property-lighter.jpg, 265 KB
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ghost_adv_ss_essex_011.jpg, 80 KB
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Tkay - Moderator on -
Hope you get better soon!
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Permalink Reply by Kate Broderick on -
I've been wanting to see the inside of this place for a while. I caught the episode of Ghost Adventures last night and when they panned the morgue I saw a friend's name on the wall behind one of the guys so I watched the rest. I would love to go inside!
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Permalink Reply by Jane on -
Hi Kate -
you can not go inside. The only way would be if you paid the county to tour. They will be tearing it down in the near future and making the grounds a park.
it is very haunted, not sure if you really would want to go in there. You would need to wear masks against the abestos as well.
in any case - the experience I had outside the fire house building still is very clear in my mind and truly spooked me.
You can walk around outside on the one side of the street and that part of the property is big so you can always do that - the other side is private property.
jane
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Permalink Reply by Kate Broderick on
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I've already been inside 22 abandoned asylums and state hospitals.
I just haven't had the opportunity to get out to NJ yet to see this one. There are ways in, though rather risky. It's a beautiful little cottage plan hospital. We don't have those here in Massachusetts so I'd love to see one.
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Permalink Reply by QueenBellaMia on -
That would be an amazing place to investigate. I'm not sure if I would go inside. If you got that much activity just on the outside, I can't even imagine what you would get on the inside. And if I'm outside, I can run away faster. LOL
I remember that episode of Ghost Adventures and remember thinking "I wonder where that is at." And now I know. :-)
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Permalink Reply by Kate Broderick on
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I have a million stories! I have a bunch of photos from different buildings I'm hoping you all like too. Some very interesting from tunnels and such. I love going into those buildings and just touching the walls, sitting in the patient rooms. They're such beautiful places and so... touching when you're inside.
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Permalink Reply by QueenBellaMia on
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I love those old buildings. As long as no ghosties are after me I wouldn't mind going in. LOL
I would love to see the pictures of the tunnels. Have you posted them already? I will go to the photos section and look.
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Permalink Reply by Kate Broderick on
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I just posted it a second ago! =)
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Permalink Reply by Tkay - Moderator on
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Do you know if they started to tear the buildings down yet?
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Permalink Reply by Jane on
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no I do not think so - but I can check today. I have to go over to Verona to pick up Shivonne's glasses now and can pass by that way - will let you know.
jane
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