The infamous St. Albans Sanatorium located in Radford, Virginia, was first built in 1892 as a Lutheran Boys School. Even before it was built, however, its grounds had a history. During the 1700s, competition arose between Native Americans and early European settlers over the territory. Their conflict resulted in an ambush by the Native Americans, leaving multiple people dead and others taken hostage. One of the more notable hostages was Mary Draper Ingles, who was said to have witnessed the torture of many of her fellow colonists, but eventually escaped. The Battle of Clyde Battle, one of the most violent battles of the Civil War, also took place at the grounds of the sanatorium, where Confederate soldiers were ambushed by Union artillery.…show more content… Miles, was built. Despite his best intentions for the school, the competitive atmosphere caused the school to become known as a “rough and competitive school where bullying was not only condoned, it was encouraged.” (St. Albans Sanatorium). Homicides and suicides frequented the campus, and eventually, it was forced to close down after enrollment rates rapidly decreased. After a few years of inactivity, Dr. John C. King opened a psychiatric hospital. Unfortunately, this didn’t result any better than the school. While Dr. King intended for it to be a place where patients would be treated and accommodated, the hospital become a place where the mentally ill were used as lab rats, and even tortured. In one particular room, patients were wrapped in freezing cold towels, strapped down in steaming hot vats, or blasted with a fire hose. The room became known as the Suicide Bathroom, because four people were said to have offed themselves rather than suffer through the torture. The horrific past that taints the grounds plays a large factor in the ghosts that haunt the hallways of the sanatorium today. (St. Albans
