Northern State Mental Hospital: Exploring an Abandoned Psychiatric Hospital in Washington

Some abandoned places feel eerie. Abandoned hospitals feel different.

Long hallways, empty patient rooms, and forgotten medical equipment create a strange atmosphere that’s difficult to describe until you experience it yourself. Hospitals are places where life begins, where lives are saved, and sometimes where they end. When those spaces are abandoned, they become powerful reminders of human vulnerability.

During one of our exploration trips, my brother and I visited the abandoned Northern State Psychiatric Hospital in Washington State. At the time, we were simply documenting an abandoned location—but later we discovered the site has long been rumored to be haunted. Had we known that beforehand, we might have prepared for a full paranormal investigation.

Instead, this visit became something just as interesting: an urban exploration of one of the Pacific Northwest’s most fascinating abandoned institutions.

Why Abandoned Hospitals Feel So Unsettling

There is something undeniably fascinating about hospitals that have been left to decay. Unlike many abandoned buildings, hospitals contain objects that feel deeply personal and human.

Wheelchairs left sitting in hallways.
Deteriorating operating rooms.
Old nursery cribs.

Each one can trigger a visceral reaction.

Part of this reaction comes from our cultural memory. Decades of horror movies, ghost stories, creepypastas, and urban legends have trained us to see hospitals—especially psychiatric institutions—as inherently unsettling.

One of the earliest examples that shaped this perception for me was the film One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Stories about lobotomies, unethical experiments, overcrowded asylums, and poor living conditions have all contributed to the dark reputation surrounding historic mental hospitals.

Because of this, when people walk into an abandoned psychiatric facility, their minds are often already primed for the experience. And that was certainly the case for us.

Exploring Northern State Psychiatric Hospital

When my brother and I arrived at Northern State Psychiatric Hospital, we already knew the building had a reputation. The hospital had become associated with many of the darker chapters of early psychiatric care in America. Whether those stories are exaggerated or not, simply being around the structure was enough to make our imagination run wild.

Peeling paint covered the walls.
Windows were broken or boarded.
Long corridors stretched into dark, silent rooms.

Even without the ghost stories, the atmosphere alone was powerful!

A Brief History of Northern State Hospital

Northern State Hospital opened in 1912 near Sedro-Woolley, Washington, and served as one of the state’s major psychiatric institutions for much of the 20th century.

At its peak, the hospital operated as a massive self-contained community. Patients lived and worked on the grounds, which included farms, workshops, and housing for staff. Like many psychiatric facilities of the era, treatment methods reflected the medical practices of the time—some progressive for their day, others that would later become controversial.

The hospital continued operating for decades before eventually closing in 1973. After its closure, many of the buildings were abandoned, leaving behind a haunting snapshot of a different era in mental health care.

Today, parts of the property have been redeveloped, while other structures still stand as reminders of the past.

Watch the Full Exploration Video Below

Credit: My brother’s YouTube channel Saages Abandoned.