Old Arkham Asylum

The Old Arkham Asylum sits across the Mystkonic river from Mystkonic University in Arkham Massachusetts. The old Asylum built in the late 17th century in the Gothic style was intended to be a warehouse for the insane and socially unacceptable. Located in a small town away from any concentration of people the more idealistic thought the bucolic atmosphere would be good for the mentally disturbed.
In it's heyday it was indeed a warehouse...of horror. 17th to 19th century care for the insane was closer to a zoo run by habitual animal abusers. While the 20th century saw advances in humane care and actual attempts to treat mental disorders, the old building was tainted with the horrors of the past, not to mention crumbling away. It was closed in 1954. 
The current Arkham Mental Health Center is a state of the art facility that specializes in the criminally insane. It is not considered a tourist destination. It works in association with such facilities as the Big Sur Mental Health Clinic. It is located next to he old facility.
==The Truth==
Arkham Asylum never closed. The outer rooms are left in a state of genteel decay and unused. Tales of unsoundness are circulated to keep the casually curious away. The inner core of the structure has been updated to resemble less a hospital than a super-max prison run by the superstitious. Magical wards are located all over the asylum. 
The old buildings are indeed tainted with the past. They are currently used to house the most dangerous of the magically insane and possessed. People that have dealt frankly and deeply with Things Man was not Meant to Know. Arkham is the place the absolutely hopeless are sent. The place to protect the world from those whose insanity wishes to inflict others.
Some patients have by the grace of God recovered and left this place, but they are by and far the rare exceptions that prove the rule.
Category:Earth Gazetteer
Category:Supernatural
Category:Bureau 13
Category:Medicine