Why Poughkeepsie Residents Refuse to Step Foot in the Hudson Heritage Plaza

Right near the Townsquare Media Studio is Hudson Heritage Plaza, right across from Marist College and right next to the Home Depot Plaza, right off Route 9. The new plaza has given residents a brand new Shop Rite and CVS, along with great restaurants such as Cue & Brew, Wing Stop, Moonrise Bagels, Ichiddo Ramen, Chipotle, Starbucks, and more! The development is perfect for college students and residents alike, becoming one of the hottest places for shopping and recreation in Poughkeepsie.

Why People Are Scared of Hudson Heritage Plaza

I was talking to a few friends of mine, and I casually mentioned how I picked something up at Shop Rite in the plaza, and they told they refuse to shop there. I asked them why. Do they have a thing against Shop Rite? They told me it was because of The Hudson River State Hospital. They are superstitious and concerned about any paranormal energy. They would say, "I don't want to bring home a ghost or a demon!"

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If you grew up in the early 2000s when The Hudson River State Hospital laid vacant, then you might know a lot of the rumors and myths surrounding the grounds. Hudson Heritage Plaza now resides on the grounds of what used to be a psychiatric hospital. Nicknamed by many as the "Psych Center," the land was said to be haunted with "evil energy."

The legends of the grounds grew as paranormal and zombie culture took over the media, with films like Blair Witch Project, and Paranormal Activity, shows like Ghost Hunters and The Walking Dead, and even like the Zombies feature in the Call of Duty video Game franchise. Even films like Shutter Island, focusing on mental asylums caught people's interests.

Legends of Poughkeepsie's "Psych Center"

As a pre-teen and teenager at the height of the Psych Center's popularity, I heard many of the "legends." One myth was that they stored hundreds of corpses of dead patients in tunnels that ran under the facility. Another one was that they would run government experiments on the patients, torturing them and mutating them. Other people made claims that they had to shut down the hospital because it was built over a portal to Hell, and that employees and patients would get possessed by demons. 

Hudson River State Hospital, NY [OC][1600×1198]
byu/shermancahal inAbandonedPorn

Passersby say that they have seen ghosts and witnessed other strange activity in the old hospital. Orbs have materialized from thin air to chase trespassers away, and after nightfall the spirits of former patients manifest to wander the grounds. Many have heard strange noises and screaming coming from the abandoned hospital. My dad had a friend who would do ghosts hunts, and said that the abandoned Hudson River State Hospital grounds was filled with negative and evil paranormal energy.

Growing up so close to grounds, I'll admit, my friends and I would sneak in often to explore. We were just curious about what was there, and we would hold amateur ghost investigations. We would bring thermal cameras, voice recorders, and camcorders to try to capture any potential ghosts. One time, we caught what looked to be an apparition of a nurse in one of the buildings. We were some of the more tame visitors, though.

Vandals would come in to deface the buildings with graffiti or breaking things. Arsonists were also suspected of lighting certain buildings on the campus on fire. Not just that, but people would go there to buy/sell and use drugs, and it became a popular spot for homeless people in the community.

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Whether or not you believe in the paranormal, there are members of the community that cannot shake the History of the land, along with the myths and legends that have circulated throughout the years. I've shopped in the plaza many times, and I've never experienced anything terrible; however, I would love to interview people who work in the plaza. I wonder if any of them have experienced anything paranormal during a shift?

History Behind The

The Hudson River State Hospital is a former New York state psychiatric hospital which operated from 1873 until its closure in the early 2000s. The campus is notable for its main building, known as a "Kirkbride," which has been designated a National Historic Landmark due to its exemplary High Victorian Gothic architecture, the first use of that style for an American institutional building. It is located on US 9 on the Poughkeepsie-Hyde Park town line.

Changes in the treatment of mental illness, such as psychotherapy and psychotropic drugs, were making large-scale facilities relics and allowing more patients to lead more normal lives without being committed. A major fire destroyed a hospital wing in the 1960s and threatened to spread to the administration building, but was halted in a connecting hallway. The section was rebuilt, although some large roof beams still showed evidence of the earlier fire.

Though 1971 saw the addition of the Snow Recreational center, by the late 1970s the hospital administration had decided to shut down the two main wings as few patients were residing in them and due to neglect some of the floors had collapsed. The hospital housed 1,780 patients by 1976. The state offices of Mental Health and Historic Preservation clashed over a plan to demolish the wings, even after the National Historic Landmark designation in 1989.

In the 1990s, more and more of the hospital site would be abandoned as its services were needed less and less. It was consolidated with another Dutchess County mental hospital, Hudson River Psychiatric Center, in 1994 and closed in 2003.

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The campus was closed and abandoned in 2003 and fell into a state of disrepair. Authorities struggled with the risk of arson and vandals after suspicion of an intentionally set fire. The male bedding ward, south of the main building, was critically damaged in a 2007 fire caused by lightning.