BUILT: 1900
OPERATION TIME: 1902 to 2012
KIRKBRIDE PLAN: No
STATUS: Closed
History
In 1900, a mental hospital was built on the former site of the Mount Vernon Arsenal in order to help relieve the overcrowding situation at Bryce Hospital, which was located in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Originally, the hospital was called the “Mount Vernon Hospital” when it opened in 1902 but was renamed “Searcy Hospital” after Dr. J.T. Searcy, the hospital’s first superintendent, in 1919.
Unlike Bryce Hospital, it only treated African-Americans as a form of segregation. It remained this way up until 1969, having gotten in trouble with the Civil Rights Act from 1964. The hospital had 400 extended-care beds and 124 intermediate-care beds for patients with severe illness in 2010.
On February 15, 2012, the Alabama Department of Mental Health announced that it was going to close three state-run mental hospitals, including Searcy Hospital. It closed on October 31, 2012. The hospital is currently haunted by those who died in the hospital.
Sources
- Ghost Stories and Haunted Places. “Searcy State Mental Hospital,” www.GhostStoriesAndHauntedPlaces.blogspot.com
- Ghost Stories and Haunted Places. “Searcy State Mental Hospital and Horror,” www.GhostStoriesAndHauntedPlaces.blogspot.com
- Wikipedia. “Searcy Hospital,” www.Wikipedia.org
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