HauntBound archive · catalog record
Reported phenomena, as catalogued
Delaware's first public psychiatric institution, opened 1889 — the 777 documented patient graves in its on-site potter's field were restored with a memorial in 2016 after decades without proper markers.
Farnhurst Road, New Castle, DE 19720
Research updated September 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
The cemetery area was restored as a public memorial in 2016. The original hospital buildings were largely demolished by the 1990s. Check current land access status; the area is adjacent to the Delaware Psychiatric Center, an active state facility.
Access
Accessibility not stated
Cemetery grounds; terrain varies. Adjacent to active psychiatric facility grounds.
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1889 · Delaware's First Public Psychiatric Institution · Potter's Field Cemetery with 777 Documented Graves · 2016 Cemetery Restoration and Memorial
The Delaware State Hospital for the Insane at Farnhurst opened in 1889 as the state's first public institution for the mentally ill. Located on Farnhurst Road in New Castle County, the hospital was established during the era of large state-operated custodial psychiatric institutions that expanded across the United States in the late 19th century.
Over the decades of operation, the hospital interred patients who died on-site and had no family to receive their remains in an on-site potter's field. Graves were marked with numbers rather than names — a common practice at state institutions of the period, reflecting the treatment of pauper and institutionalized patients as administrative subjects rather than individuals with recognized identities.
Most of the original hospital buildings were demolished by the 1990s during consolidations and modernization of Delaware's psychiatric care system. The state's psychiatric services were consolidated into the Delaware Psychiatric Center, which operates on the broader campus. The Farnhurst cemetery was neglected for years after the original hospital functions were transferred.
In 2016, a restoration and dignification project was completed at the cemetery. WHYY reported at the time that 777 graves had been documented and that the project was undertaken to restore respect and dignity to the patients buried there. The memorial acknowledges the individuals whose deaths at the institution had not been individually marked.
Sources
The Farnhurst site's paranormal reputation centers on the cemetery rather than the demolished hospital buildings. Paranormal Traveler, a documented paranormal investigation source, has covered the site and describes EVP captures near the numbered graves — audio recordings characterized as phrases or responses that investigators interpret as residual activity tied to the patients interred there.
The nature of the site — hundreds of individuals buried without individual markers for decades, then restored to recognition only in 2016 — is the kind of history that supports persistent local folklore about restless or unacknowledged dead. The EVP accounts are consistent with what paranormal investigators document at potter's field cemeteries and forgotten institutional burial grounds across the country.
The restored 2016 memorial changed the physical character of the site: numbered markers were replaced with dignified recognition of the 777 documented graves. Whether this has altered the paranormal dynamics described in earlier accounts is not documented in our sourcing. The cemetery is now a memorial site rather than an abandoned space.
The Farnhurst cemetery was restored with a memorial in 2016 recognizing the 777 documented patient graves that had previously been marked only with numbers. The site acknowledges patients who died at Delaware's first public psychiatric hospital and were buried without individual recognition. Visitors should respect the active psychiatric facility adjacent to the site.
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