Episode 164: The Belchertown State School
“The Belchertown State School for the Feeble-Minded” was the third state school in Massachusetts and had the initial intention to house state residents who suffered from intellectual and physical disabilities. Opening in 1922, the school saw a massive welcome of acceptance and by the end of the first decade, the population of the school, which spanned over 845 acres and had over 57 buildings, had over 750 residents. The residents who lived here were often sent in hopes to be given good medical care and be taught life skills, such as cooking and cleaning, maintaining a basic job, and perhaps even living on their own, so they could be functioning, productive members of society. These state schools often began with these intentions, but often found themselves in over their heads as the demand grew rapidly. Families who had loved ones that proved difficult to care for would often seek out the assistance of these schools, and before long, the capacity of the campus was overflowing.
In 1970, nearly 50 years after the opening of the school, a reporter named Jeremy Shanks wrote an article for a local newspaper entitled, “The Tragedy of Belchertown” which revealed horrifying details of the conditions inside the walls of the institution. This prompted the formation of a special Joint Commission who did a thorough examination into the truth of living at Belchertown State School in March of 1971. The findings of the investigation were nothing short of horrifying, detailing not only poor living conditions, but lack of resources and funding, the atrocious treatment of patients, and major safety concerns.
For starters, the Belchertown State School, like most of its kind, was overcrowded, far exceeding its cap of 953 residents. The buildings they lived in were cold, without sufficient locking mechanisms, and fire alarm systems that often did not work. Cleanliness was impossible to find here as the resources were always lacking. Detergents, mops, soaps and disinfectants were far and few in between, and often times the staff were pulling from their own pockets in an attempt to get some cleaning supplies. Due to the lack of sanitation, infection ran rampant through the halls, with dysentery spreading like wildfire. Residents were often covered with rashes and boils as a result of never having clean furniture or living spaces and were often surrounded by urine and feces left on the floors and toilets. Cockroaches had taken over entire buildings and had even been seen on more than one occasion crawling over immobile residents.
Medical care at the Belchertown State School was nothing short of abysmal. The lack of funding already played a large role in the very simple fact of availability of not only some medications but basic medical supplies like bandages, gauze, adult diapers, etc. In addition to the goods being in high demand, the services were just as hard to get. Residents would often wait years to receive a fitting for eyeglasses or hearing aids, and this only pushed back any potential discharges. Besides one superintendent, there were no employees certified to practice psychiatry, which is vital to the care of individuals who have any sort of disability and may have difficulty communicating or functioning in daily life. There was no enrichment, either. An outdoor recreation area was non-existent, and indoor play areas were simply big rooms with couches and tables. The staff barely had time to give actual care to the patients due to the lack thereof, so they simply did not have time to set up games or anything of the like.
In 1972, University of Massachusetts Professor Benjamin Ricci filed a lawsuit against the Belchertown State School on behalf of his son, Robert, who was a resident there. He was frustrated and astounded at the unsafe and neglectful conditions his son was living in and demanded a change. As a result, the judge, Joseph Tauro, visited the school without prior warning, and witnessed for himself the absolute squalor people of his state were living in. He saw residents running around naked, he saw a little girl drinking out of a commode full of feces, and he noted that the entire length of his visit, he heard incessant screaming. His visit inspired him to enact a massive overhaul on Massachusetts mental healthcare facilities, which included budget increases and hiring more staff.
In 1973, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts launched another investigation into the death of four residents between November 19th, 1972 and December 3rd, 1972. The purpose of this was to evaluate the response of staff and if they acted accordingly, or if they should be held accountable for these deaths. In summary, those four deaths were as follows:
November 19th, 1972: Linda Jean Buchanan, 26, died of exposure after she had wandered off and subsequently got lost. She was last seen at breakfast, realized missing at lunchtime, and a small group of staff began searching for her before calling the local and state police at dinnertime that night. It wasn’t until nearly 6:30pm that a search party began, and then was disbanded at around 10:00pm due to the chilliness and darkness. Upon the resolution of the search at 7:00am the next morning, Linda was found within five minutes, nude, having died of exposure. The investigation found the state school responsible for her death and felt there were several mistakes and delays regarding her search.
November 20th, 1972: John P. Abbott, 28, was a man who suffered from profound developmental delays and was confined to a wheelchair. He was estimated to have had the mental age of an infant and was unable to communicate verbally. Up to ten days prior to his death, John had begun drooling excessively and had some cold-like symptoms, including a cough. On the evening of November 20th, 1972, John was found in his bed hemorrhaging from his mouth, choking on his own blood. He was rushed to the hospital and had surgery with subsequent x-rays being taken, which showed an open safety pin in his throat. Several hours later he began to bleed heavily again and unfortunately died of exsanguination. An autopsy performed immediately revealed that it was likely John had swallowed the safety pin up to ten days prior, as the tissue around it was necrotic. The state school was determined to be held responsible as it should have been noticed that John had obtained an open safety pin as he did not have the fine dexterity to open one and take it off his diaper.
November 24th, 1972: Christopher R. Adams, 18, had been diagnosed with Landon-Down Syndrome, which caused profound developmental delays. He had a tendency to bang his head against a wall and wore a helmet. He also had extreme difficulty swallowing and had had several serious incidents of choking. On November 24th, 1972, Christopher had just left the dining room after having a dinner of clam chowder and bread when he began to gasp and collapsed on the ground, turning blue. Several staff members rushed to him and began resuscitation, including a finger sweep to remove some food from his throat. After over twenty minutes of resuscitation, Christopher was pronounced dead. His death was found to be not a result from the staff of the school due to their prompt response and diligent first aid.
December 3rd, 1973: Rena A. Aubin, 23, died at the Belchertown State School. She had some moderate developmental delays and was heavily medicated for occasional aggressiveness and a tendency to “whine”. She suffered from a fairly intense lack of muscle tone and scoliosis, and also had a tendency to overeat. On the day of her death, Rena had just returned from a home visit with her mother and appeared normal. Sometime after 8:00pm, Rena began to complain of bad back pain, which escalated into being pale and agitated, as well as having a rigid abdomen and groaning in pain. For several hours she complained of these pains to the staff and eventually had a bowel movement, complained of exhaustion and went to lay down. Immediately after getting in bed, she began to gasp and then turned blue. The staff on hand began to perform measures to save Rena’s life, including CPR and administering resuscitative medications, but after almost thirty minutes, she was pronounced dead. Rena had been killed by a spontaneous rupture of the stomach, secondary to severe gastric distention. The staff was found to not be responsible because they acted promptly and diligently, used successful and accurate first aid, and called for help. Additionally, Rena had the predisposing factor of the intense lack of muscle tone, which stretched her stomach muscles too far and aided in the tear.
In 1992, after numerous lawsuits, truthful publications in media about the conditions of the facilities, and more deaths, the Belchertown State School closed down. Two years later, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places. The property was purchased in 2012 by the town of Belchertown with the intention of a $1.25 million project to be passed on to a new owner. Unfortunately, the buyer backed out before the projected finish date of Winter 2014 and all of the buildings were boarded up. Since 2015, a slew of arsons done by vandals have increased the police presence around the campus and deterred curious people from the area. The property does have a refurbished and restored cemetery with correctly marked and numbered graves of those who died at the school. Multiple former residents have written books on their experiences at the school and detailing the horrors they endured.
Urban explorers have risked trespassing charges and fines to walk the halls of the abandoned school, sharing that the school is haunted and telling accounts of hearing screaming, crying, footsteps, seeing shadows and orbs and feeling intense cold or fear.
Image sources:
masslive.com - “Book documents ‘dismal’ history, demise of Belchertown State School”
reddit.com - “Belchertown State School” r/urbexnewengland