Norwich State Hospital Series: Recordings Prove Campus is Haunted

At night, drivers going down Route 12 see large orange lights shine on a historic and gothic looking building which stands behind construction equipment. 

The Administration Building at the former Norwich State Hospital is even more visible to travelers now that the chapel and rectory have been demolished.

Fifteen buildings so far have been demolished by Manafort Brothers Inc. 

All of the aging buildings, except for the Administration Building, are slated to be demolished.

Previous articles in the series noted the history of the campus and that former patients were chained in an effort to control them. 

Other patients managed to successfully escape the hospital and not get caught until after committing suicide or homicide off the property. This is despite the fact that, according to Preston First Selectman Robert Congdon, horns that would go off when a patient did escape.

There have been many accidental deaths, suicides, and homicides on the hospital property.  

According to Reality Wanted “people have reported hearing blood curling screams, footsteps, moaning, children playing, animals, and other strange noises. Also reported were mists, shadows, strange lights, and human faces coming out of nowhere.”

Sci-Fi’s Ghost Hunters called in The Atlantic Paranormal Society (TAPS) to investigate the claims. 

TAPS co-founders Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson investigated the Abraham Ribicoff Research Center, a building where lobotomies were performed and housed the hospital’s morgue.

They admitted seeing a figure going from left to right at the end of a hallway, seeing a light flash in the stairwell, and hearing footsteps. 

TAPS investigators Britt Griffith and K.J. McCormick went to the mental hospital’s patient rooms. They heard a loud banging and saw a figure about three to four feet tall while investigators Amy Bruni and Kris Williams started an EVP session in the hospital’s morgue after hearing a noise which was documented by audio tape. 

The #1 piece of evidence of the hospital being haunted was witnessed by Amy and Kris when they saw and heard a door opening and closing by itself. When they called out and asked for the door to open and close again, it did and it was followed by a dragging noise. This was also witnessed by videotape. 

The Salmon Building, one of the most recent buildings to be demolished on Route 12, was in the worst shape of all the buildings that TAPS investigated. 

Jason and Grant reported hearing footsteps, moaning, and other noises. 

All of the claims by TAPS backup items noted by former caretakers of the hospital. 

Additionally, according to Damned Connecticut, spirit orbs and unexplained mists and shapes have been recorded and documented. 

The Norwich Bulletin reports that the Preston Redevelopment Chairman Sean Nugent has “no comments at this time” regarding a closed-door meeting with developer candidate JMH Development.