Screams of Torment: Kings Park Psychiatric Center

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Kings Park Psychiatric Center has to be one of the most haunted buildings in America. I actually knew a soldier that was admitted to this center for a period of 7 days. I will call this soldier “Corporal”. Corporal was a hard-stripe corporal that served in the Vietnam War. Corporal had some bad episodes from his PTSD. In 1974, the Corporal went into this center to be treated. Kings Park Psychiatric Center was established in 1885. Kings Park Psychiatric Center was originally constructed to be a beacon of hope for mental healthcare. Their goal was to avoid overcrowding and deplorable conditions of various institutions during that time period. The Center went from a “beacon of hope” to falling into the same disastrous situations as other institutions. At its height in 1953, the facility was home to 9,303 patients. Abandoned was the idea of rest and relaxation for the mentally ill. The patients found themselves as victims to more dramatic procedures such as lobotomies and electro-shock therapy. The Center became a living “Hell on Earth”.

One of the most diabolical doctors at this Center was Dr. David John Impastato. He was an American neuropsychiatrist who pioneered the use of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) in the United States. A treatment for mental illness initially called “electroshock,” ECT was developed in 1937 by Dr. Ugo Cerletti and Lucio Bini, while working in Rome. Impastato has been credited with the earliest documented use of the revolutionary method in North America, administered in early 1940 to a schizophrenic female patient in New York City. In 1988, a patient heard screaming coming from one of the rooms. When the patient went to investigate, he saw the deceased Dr. David John Impastato applying electro-shock on a ghostly patient. According to the Corporal, many patients were familiar with this story and claim that they have seen the full body apparition of Dr. Impastato. Dr. Impastato is known to walk down a hallway and looking into various rooms. He is usually seen with a sinister grin on his face.

A good number of patients have reported ghost sightings, seeing full body apparitions, hearing disembodied voices, and experiencing strange phenomena within the grounds. The Corporal witnessed paranormal activity at the Center and heard blood curdling screams, the sounds of chains rattling. The Corporal heard from other patients that sometimes they hear pounding on the walls, seeing doors opening and closing by themselves. According to the Corporal the most-scariest entity in the Center is the “Tongue Devil”. The Tongue Devil is described as having a dangling long tongue, bug eyes, hunched over when he walks. If the Tongue Devil touches you, the touch is somewhat painful. The area where the Tongue Devil touched you will develop an open pus sore or blister. Some patients believe the Tongue Devil was a former patient that was tortured to death. Large dark humanoid shadows have been seen moving along the walls and lights going out, when the dark figures appear.

Locals have also spotted ghosts through the windows of multiple buildings on the old campus and have reported hearing the screams of patients who died there. The chattering and grinding of teeth have also been heard, and it is not uncommon to hear tales of strange phenomena from those who have broken into the site. By the year 2000, a portion of the Kings Park Psychiatric Center was turned into Nissequogue River State Park. Since the grounds were turned over to the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation, the land itself became legally protected from residential and commercial redevelopment. The Kings Park Psychiatric Center operated from 1885 until 1996, when the State of New York closed the facility, releasing its few remaining patients or transferring them to the still-operational Pilgrim Psychiatric Center. Ghost hunters and paranormal enthusiasts that have snuck onto the property have gathered numerous EVPs of disembodied voices talking. Some EVPs you can hear unearthly screams. One investigator who does not want to be named, because they do not want to get in trouble for being on the grounds says that she got scratched up pretty bad from an unknown entity. The investigator has vowed never to return to this Center.