HauntBound archive · catalog record
Reported phenomena, as catalogued
Massachusetts's second state asylum (1854), its Kirkbride demolished after a 2006 fire
60 Hodges Avenue Extension, Taunton, MA 02780
Research updated September 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Active state psychiatric campus; no public tours of the grounds. The perimeter is viewable from public roads only.
Access
Limited Access
Active hospital campus on rising ground off Hodges Avenue; drive-by viewing from public roads
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1854 · Second State Asylum in Massachusetts · Kirkbride Plan Hospital · Demolished Historic Building · Massachusetts Psychiatric History
The Taunton State Hospital opened in April 1854 as the second state asylum in Massachusetts, after Worcester. It occupied a 154-acre farm along the Mill River and was built on the Kirkbride plan, with a central administration block crowned by a neo-classical dome designed by the architects Boyden & Ball, flanked by long ward wings.
The institution operated for well over a century. Like other large state hospitals, it ran as a near-self-sufficient community and, over its history, buried unclaimed patients who died there in a potter's field at nearby Mayflower Hill, many under numbered markers rather than named stones. The main dome was taken down in 1999 as the historic structure deteriorated.
On the night of March 19, 2006, a major fire broke out in the center of the building, in the area of the administration block and theater. The damaged historic sections stood for a few more years before demolition of the remaining Kirkbride building began in May 2009, with the work completed in early 2010. Newer buildings on the campus survived, and the site continues to operate as a state psychiatric facility, housing inpatient beds and several treatment and recovery programs.
Sources
Before its demolition, the abandoned Taunton State Hospital Kirkbride was one of southeastern New England's most-visited urban-exploration sites, and the stories from that period are what fuel its reputation. The most repeated is a tall, dark 'shadow man' figure said to be seen in the lower levels of the building, along with accounts of screams and footsteps echoing through the basement and lower wards.
Those accounts belong to the era of the empty building, between its decline and the 2009-2010 demolition. With the historic structure now gone and the campus operating again as a psychiatric facility, there is no abandoned interior to explore, and the older urbex lore circulates mainly in regional haunted-history and asylum-history communities.
The somber core of the site is the patient burial ground at nearby Mayflower Hill, where many who died at the hospital lie under numbered markers. The campus itself is a working care facility; view it only from public roads.
Notable Entities
The Taunton State Hospital campus off Hodges Avenue is an active state psychiatric facility. The historic Kirkbride building that drew urban explorers is gone, demolished in 2009-2010 after a 2006 fire. View the grounds only from public roads; the campus is not open to visitors and the patient-care areas are restricted. A staffed greenhouse on the campus has sold plants and produce to the public.
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