Sussex County Hospital by Nicole

Sussex County Hospital: For Your Safety or For Your Insanity?

     Sussex County Hospital is like any other hospital in Sussex County; EXCEPT the fact that it was a state lunatic Asylum. In the video above, it shows what has been left behind from this creepy place, including dental areas, bathing areas, and places that just give you the chills. The Overbook Asylum was known for having a high altitude location which was believed to have a 'peaceful setting', giving itself the name Overbrook. It was located on verona but is now located on Cedar Grove.

 

   "In the early half of the twentieth century, Overbrook was at full capacity. In the 1940s and 50s, thousands of patients were housed at the Fairview Avenue facility at any given time. The facility was so large that it had its own train stop on the Caldwell Branch of the Erie Railroad, used to transport the massive amounts of coal and fuel needed to run the hospital complex." - Weird NJ

 

     It was an important hospital in the 1920s, and it was also important to the town's local legends. The Hospital was asylum was split into two different facilities. One portion, called the Mountain Sanatorium, sat on top of the hill. This facility used at various times to treat tuberculosis patients, wayward children, and drug abusers. These two facilities, and the many abandoned buildings associated with them, became Essex County’s most legendary location, home to escaped lunatics, troubled ghosts, and roving gangs that were up to no good.
     For this specific generation of North Jersey teens, a visit to “The Asylum,” “The Bin,” or “The Hilltop”, was just a way to show your mental strength and stability to your friends. The thousands of tales that made their way back from the site via these adventurous teens have long cemented Overbrook as a vital part of the tapestry of New Jersey’s local lore.

     Soon, the Overbrook facility will join the Mountain Sanatorium in being demolished and gone forever. But the stories that abound regarding the site have ensured that it will never be forgotten.

Mountain Sanatorium

 



Overbrook Asylum

Citations:
http://weirdnj.com/stories/abandoned/overbrook_essexcountyhospital/

http://www.mountainsanatorium.net/images/c/comfb.jpg

http://abandonedplaces.livejournal.com/1988880.html