Latest news with #CriminallyInsane
The Irish Sun
a day ago
- Entertainment
- The Irish Sun
Inside dark history of abandoned asylum that starred in blockbuster Hollywood thriller as it plans £22m transformation
A SINISTER abandoned asylum which has starred in several blockbuster films is set to receive a massive £22million make-over. The creepy Medfield State Hospital was Advertisement 13 The abandoned asylum Medfield State Hospital has starred in several films Credit: Getty 13 The eerie asylum has been abandoned for years Credit: Jam Press/@places_forgotten 13 It housed thousands of psychiatric patients Credit: Jam Press/@places_forgotten 13 The island was used as a filming set for an iconic 2010 thriller starring Leonardo DiCaprio (R) Credit: Handout And the When it was cosigned to the The But that was until its Advertisement READ MORE WORLD NEWS The deserted asylum featured in Hollywood blockbuster Shutter Island, starring The The blockbuster film chilled viewers to the core - and the striking effect was only possible with the help of the historical site. In the film, Ashecliffe Hospital is the fictional asylum used to house the Criminally Insane. Advertisement Most read in The Sun Exclusive So Medfield Hospital, with its Brit explorer Ben Stevens travelled to the long-abandoned hospital - which used to be known as the Medfield Insane Asylum. Shutter Island He ventured there after learning it was used as the shooting location for Shutter Island. The Brit told What's The Jam: "It felt very cool to be there as I'm a very big film fan. Advertisement "I found out about it because I wanted to know where they filmed Shutter Island." He added: "Obviously, they dressed up a lot of the building as a set for the movie. "But I just liked the whole feel of the place, it felt very New England with the red buildings and the leaves." And the list of Medfield's big screen appearances doesn't stop there. Advertisement The sinister island has provided ambient filming locations for movies such as The New Mutants and The Box. Chilling images of the historical hospital, which once accommodated as many as 2,200 patients, have also been revealed by Stevens. 13 One of the beds in the haunting asylum Credit: Jam Press/@places_forgotten 13 The exterior of the abandoned asylum Credit: Jam Press/@places_forgotten Advertisement 13 Wheelchairs seen rotting inside Credit: Jam Press/@places_forgotten 13 The eerie site is set to receive a massive £22million make-over Credit: Getty After entering the former infirmary's haunted walls, Stevens came across lots of old equipment which were abandoned along with the hospital. Dusty wheelchairs stood motionless in corridors, alongside derelict beds which hadn't been used for years. Advertisement Stevens, 31, detailed: 'I even found a patient's shoes. The whole place was very sinister because I know they conducted a lot of experiments on their patients. "They also had a very high security wing, which apparently mobsters were sent to, which is pretty cool." Medfield State Hospital opened in 1896 and was the first of its kind to adapt a cottage-style design - which ironically maximised daylight, fresh air, exercise and socialistion. This image stands in stark contrast to its haunted and silent reputation today. Advertisement The location was used by local dog walkers - as well as film crews from across the country. Its destiny is set to be reshaped again - as a local nonprofit is hoping to transform the site into a hub for music and education. Seemingly unable to escape the entertainment industry, Medfield State Hospital is facing plans to become a brand new venue. The nonprofit has already hosted a variety of live music and festivals on the hospital grounds. Advertisement The town of Medfield purchased the property in 2014, with discussions over what to do with it already ongoing. There were also concerns over how to handle a contaminated portion of the location. 13 The derelict hospital was set up in the 19th century Credit: Jam Press/@places_forgotten 13 It was used for over a hundred years Credit: Jam Press/@places_forgotten Advertisement 13 The island featured in Shutter Island (2010) Credit: Handout After four years of collecting public input, the town completed a master plan in 2018. And in 2020, the Bellforge Arts Center secured a 99-year lease with the town on two signature buildings at the core of the new campus. Bellforge Arts Center programme director Paul Armstrong said: 'We're not here to copy what's being done, we're here to surprise, challenge expectations of a suburban art center and try to create something truly different for both the artists, the audiences, and the community.' Advertisement The nonprofit is still raising funds for the £22million megaproject, which will involve renovating the Lee Chapel and Infirmary, linking two buildings with a glass annex, and developing surrounding green space for outdoor performances and community events. The groundbreaking performance venue will also feature a 300-seat auditorium for music, theatre, and dance. The flexible space will accommodate lectures, films, readings, community and business meetings, as well as special events like weddings. It will also hold indoor art exhibits, a kitchen and office space. Advertisement The construction is starting this summer and is set to last about 16 months. Aside from the two buildings that will become an arts centre, the other 25 are set to become apartments. 13 Aerial view of the creepy asylum which holds 27 buildings Credit: Jam Press/@places_forgotten 13 The site is going to be converted into an arts centre and apartment buildings Credit: Jam Press/@places_forgotten Advertisement
Scottish Sun
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Scottish Sun
Inside dark history of abandoned asylum that starred in blockbuster Hollywood thriller as it plans £22m transformation
A courageous Brit ventured into the creepy asylum which has been left derelict for years TORTURED SOULS Inside dark history of abandoned asylum that starred in blockbuster Hollywood thriller as it plans £22m transformation Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) A SINISTER abandoned asylum which has starred in several blockbuster films is set to receive a massive £22million make-over. The creepy Medfield State Hospital was left rotting for years after it was set up in the 19th century to treat thousands of psychiatric patients. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 13 The abandoned asylum Medfield State Hospital has starred in several films Credit: Getty 13 The eerie asylum has been abandoned for years Credit: Jam Press/@places_forgotten 13 It housed thousands of psychiatric patients Credit: Jam Press/@places_forgotten 13 The island was used as a filming set for an iconic 2010 thriller starring Leonardo DiCaprio (R) Credit: Handout And the asylum turned filming location is now set to benefit from a multimillion-pound facelift which will once again change its purpose entirely. When it was cosigned to the dustbin of history in 2003, the hospital in Massachusetts, US, seemingly shut down for good. The nightmarish 128-acre site saw its 27 buildings closed down and boarded up. But that was until its ruins were chosen by filmmakers to appear on the big screen. READ MORE WORLD NEWS PUTT UP FOR SALE Abandoned golf course where Justin Rose won first tournament up for sale The deserted asylum featured in Hollywood blockbuster Shutter Island, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, in 2010. The eerie site made a perfect filming spot for Martin Scorsese's heartstopping psychological thriller. The blockbuster film chilled viewers to the core - and the striking effect was only possible with the help of the historical site. In the film, Ashecliffe Hospital is the fictional asylum used to house the Criminally Insane. So Medfield Hospital, with its creepy and empty vibe, served as the perfect shooting location for the fictional asylum. Brit explorer Ben Stevens travelled to the long-abandoned hospital - which used to be known as the Medfield Insane Asylum. Shutter Island He ventured there after learning it was used as the shooting location for Shutter Island. The Brit told What's The Jam: "It felt very cool to be there as I'm a very big film fan. "I found out about it because I wanted to know where they filmed Shutter Island." He added: "Obviously, they dressed up a lot of the building as a set for the movie. "But I just liked the whole feel of the place, it felt very New England with the red buildings and the leaves." And the list of Medfield's big screen appearances doesn't stop there. The sinister island has provided ambient filming locations for movies such as The New Mutants and The Box. Chilling images of the historical hospital, which once accommodated as many as 2,200 patients, have also been revealed by Stevens. 13 One of the beds in the haunting asylum Credit: Jam Press/@places_forgotten 13 The exterior of the abandoned asylum Credit: Jam Press/@places_forgotten 13 Wheelchairs seen rotting inside Credit: Jam Press/@places_forgotten 13 The eerie site is set to receive a massive £22million make-over Credit: Getty After entering the former infirmary's haunted walls, Stevens came across lots of old equipment which were abandoned along with the hospital. Dusty wheelchairs stood motionless in corridors, alongside derelict beds which hadn't been used for years. Stevens, 31, detailed: 'I even found a patient's shoes. The whole place was very sinister because I know they conducted a lot of experiments on their patients. "They also had a very high security wing, which apparently mobsters were sent to, which is pretty cool." Medfield State Hospital opened in 1896 and was the first of its kind to adapt a cottage-style design - which ironically maximised daylight, fresh air, exercise and socialistion. This image stands in stark contrast to its haunted and silent reputation today. The location was used by local dog walkers - as well as film crews from across the country. Its destiny is set to be reshaped again - as a local nonprofit is hoping to transform the site into a hub for music and education. Seemingly unable to escape the entertainment industry, Medfield State Hospital is facing plans to become a brand new venue. The nonprofit has already hosted a variety of live music and festivals on the hospital grounds. The town of Medfield purchased the property in 2014, with discussions over what to do with it already ongoing. There were also concerns over how to handle a contaminated portion of the location. 13 The derelict hospital was set up in the 19th century Credit: Jam Press/@places_forgotten 13 It was used for over a hundred years Credit: Jam Press/@places_forgotten 13 The island featured in Shutter Island (2010) Credit: Handout After four years of collecting public input, the town completed a master plan in 2018. And in 2020, the Bellforge Arts Center secured a 99-year lease with the town on two signature buildings at the core of the new campus. Bellforge Arts Center programme director Paul Armstrong said: 'We're not here to copy what's being done, we're here to surprise, challenge expectations of a suburban art center and try to create something truly different for both the artists, the audiences, and the community.' The nonprofit is still raising funds for the £22million megaproject, which will involve renovating the Lee Chapel and Infirmary, linking two buildings with a glass annex, and developing surrounding green space for outdoor performances and community events. The groundbreaking performance venue will also feature a 300-seat auditorium for music, theatre, and dance. The flexible space will accommodate lectures, films, readings, community and business meetings, as well as special events like weddings. It will also hold indoor art exhibits, a kitchen and office space. The construction is starting this summer and is set to last about 16 months. Aside from the two buildings that will become an arts centre, the other 25 are set to become apartments. 13 Aerial view of the creepy asylum which holds 27 buildings Credit: Jam Press/@places_forgotten
Daily Mirror
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
'Sinister' abandoned asylum filled with shoes of patients who were experimented on
The long-deserted Medfield State Hospital makes for a haunting site, inspiring filmmakers for years with its dark, shadowy corners and long, and often sorrowful, history Eerie photos show the interior of an abandoned asylum, which has featured in several seriously creepy films. Urban explorer Ben Stevens ventured to the long-deserted Medfield State Hospital, formerly known as the Medfield Insane Asylum, after learning it was used as a shooting location for the 2010 psychological thriller, Shutter Island. Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Shutter Island sent a chill down the spines of moviegoers, not least because of its depiction of the strikingly eerie Ashecliffe Hospital for the Criminally Insane. Like the fictional Ashecliffe, Medfield treated many thousands of psychiatric patients over the years, from 1892, right up until April 2003. Nowadays however, it lies empty and silent - and is said to have a 'sinister' feel. Brave Ben Stevens told What's The Jam: "It felt very cool to be there as I'm a very big film fan. I found out about it because I wanted to know where they filmed Shutter Island. 'Obviously, they dressed up a lot of the building as a set for the movie. But I just liked the whole feel of the place, it felt very New England with the red buildings and the leaves.' As well as Shutter Island, Medfield, situated just outside of Boston, in the US state of Massachusetts, has also provided an atmospheric filming location for movies such as The New Mutants and The Box. And photos snapped by Ben aptly demonstrate why it's the ideal site for jump scares. Once inside the former infirmary's walls, Ben, from Cambridge, UK, came across plenty of old equipment left behind when the last patients left, forgotten and gathering dust. This included long-disused wheelchairs parked motionless in corridors, and beds which hadn't been slept in for years, complete with mattresses. Ben, 31, revealed: 'I even found a patient's shoes. The whole place was very sinister because I know they conducted a lot of experiments on their patients. "They also had a very high security wing, which apparently mobsters were sent to, which is pretty cool.' Extraordinary photographs taken by Ben show the derelict state of the asylum, which once housed as many as 2,200 patients. The gloomy interior is in a well-worn state, and it's difficult to believe so many people once lived and worked there. Many rooms are extremely dark, and certainly not for the faint of heart. Continued deterioration ultimately led to Medfield closing its doors one final time. However, it's also understood that concern from Medfield residents over criminally insane patients brought over from Bridgewater State Hospital, also in Massachusetts, also contributed to this decision. Those who wander the grounds may come across The Medfield State Hospital Cemetery, the final resting place of 841 residents who passed away between the years 1918 and 1988. Established after the Great Influenza outbreak of 1918, as per John Thompson's A Short History of Medfield State Hospital, 1890-2016, up until 2005, gravestones were marked only by small concrete squares bearing a number. Then, in September 2005, more personal markers, complete with names and dates, were added to each of the graves. Following restoration, the grounds of the old facility are now open to the public, making this the only abandoned asylum in the US where the grounds are free to roam. Trespassing past dark is forbidden; however, with local Medfield Police tasked with patrolling the facility at night to ensure it remains as quiet as the grave.
Boston Globe
28-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Boston Globe
Frederick Wiseman, superstar
'That's amazing,' said Wiseman when informed of Google's description. 'Not that I don't think my films are funny. There are some sad, funny sequences in that one.' 'Hospital' is one of nearly two dozen highlights from Wiseman's colossal filmography that will be screened over the next two months at a consortium of venues, including the Brattle, Somerville, and Coolidge Corner theaters and the Museum of Fine Arts. The retrospective kicks off Saturday, March 1, with a rare screening at the MFA of Wiseman's feature-length debut, 'Titicut Follies' (1968), a disturbing glimpse inside the old Bridgewater State Hospital for the Criminally Insane, which helped spark a national debate about healthcare reform. Screenings of the film in Massachusetts were banned until 1991. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up Since then, the Cambridge-based filmmaker has completed more than 40 observational films, averaging a new one every year and a half. From his early focus on institutional settings ('High School,' 1968; 'Basic Training,' 1971; 'Welfare,' 1975), Wiseman has expanded both his scope of interest ('Aspen,' 1991; 'La Comédie-Française ou l'Amour joué,' 1996) and the length of his films. 'At Berkeley' (2013) and 'City Hall,' his 2020 opus on Boston's city government under the Walsh administration, are two of several that clock in at more than four hours. Advertisement "City Hall." Courtesy of Zipporah Films, Inc. Wiseman, who was born in Boston in 1930, released his last film in 2023, and he's not sure he'll make another. Reached by phone at his second home, in Paris, he explained that he's been fighting a cold. 'Doing one of these films requires a lot of energy, and at the moment I don't have a lot,' he said. 'I'd like to go on forever, but I have to recognize that I'm 95.' 'I feel like he has one of the most important filmographies, in documentary and indeed in filmmaking in general,' said Ned Hinkle, the Brattle's creative director. 'He's so expert at painting a portrait of a place and a time. Advertisement 'I know Fred doesn't like to think of these movies as the 'truth' of a situation. It seems like a real fly-on-the-wall thing, but he admits that camera placement, editing, all these things come with some kind of bias. In the editing process, he tries to find a truth.' In an essay about Wiseman's work, his friend and fellow filmmaker Errol Morris once wrote that Wiseman's films — all those scenes of bureaucrats and educators and attendants — excel at 'showing a disconnection between what people think they are doing and what they are doing. Irony abounds in Wiseman's films. No one, absolutely no one, really knows what he is doing.' "National Gallery." Zipporah Films In conversation, Wiseman disagrees, as he often does. 'I don't think Errol really believes that,' he said. 'I have a theory about what I'm doing. You don't make the films by throwing the rushes [raw footage] down the stairs and splicing them together in the order they fall.' When it comes to the people in front of his camera, however, he concedes the point. 'If you're talking about what people do in their daily lives, absolutely. In many situations, we have no idea the effect we're creating by what we're doing.' The subjects of Wiseman's films are typically institutions of some sort — a boxing gym in Austin, Texas; a public housing complex in Chicago; London's National Gallery. Wiseman said he finds the second Trump administration's recent purge of many of America's institutions 'extremely depressing.' 'I think they don't know what they're doing,' he said. 'Trump is a man who has no education, no experience. It's cliche to say, but he's a classic narcissist.' Advertisement The impact of the administration's drastic cuts to institutional staffing and budgets will affect the sort of people Wiseman has been watching in his films for 60 years, he said, 'both the workers and the clients. And they have no awareness of how destructive their policies are.' "Hospital." His films — he prefers that term to 'documentaries' — feature no talking heads, no voice-over narrative, no sense that there is a director behind the camera. As unassuming as his technique, Wiseman speaks plainly about the legacy his films will leave. 'I hope that people continue to watch them,' he said. 'I think there might be, in 50 years, somebody who wants to know something about the institutions that existed during the time that I lived, and they'll be able to look at a police department or a high school. 'People a hundred years ago couldn't have done that. People a hundred years from now will be able to do that, assuming the world still exists.' The Boston retrospective follows a similar program that ran earlier this year at New York's Lincoln Center. Hinkle said the collaboration among the city's theaters has reached a level he has not experienced in his years at the Brattle. 'I'm hesitant to use the word 'unprecedented,' but I think this is verging on that.' The reason is simple: Wiseman, he said, is one of a kind. There are talks underway to schedule local screenings of even more Wiseman films later this year, Hinkle said, perhaps with more venues involved. Wiseman and his team have restored 33 of his films in Ultra HD. To the filmmaker, they're all of a piece. 'I don't have any list of favorites in my head,' he said. 'Strangely enough, I like them all.' Advertisement For more information go to James Sullivan can be reached at .
