Visiting Griffin Memorial Hospital an Abandoned Mental Health Institution in Norman Oklahoma
In 1915, the state of Oklahoma bought the Oklahoma Sanitarium Company and continued to run this asylum through the 1960s, when it was slowly decommissioned building by building.
Something you might not know about me is I have a thing for abandoned buildings. So when we came across this gym in our journey through Oklahoma, you know we had to stop.
Griffin Memorial was originally a girl's school in the late 1890s. However, in 1895, it was bought up by the Oklahoma Sanitarium Company and turned into a mental asylum.
In 1915, the state of Oklahoma bought the Oklahoma Sanitarium Company and continued to run this asylum through the 1960s, when it was slowly decommissioned building by building. These buildings, where people received horrific treatment, are still standing today.
Transcript:
Lyric: Something you might not know about me is I have a thing for abandoned buildings. So when we came across this gym in our journey through Oklahoma, you know we had to stop.
Griffin Memorial was originally a girl's school in the late 1890s. However, in 1895, it was bought up by the Oklahoma Sanitarium Company and turned into a mental asylum.
In 1915, the state of Oklahoma bought the Oklahoma Sanitarium Company and continued to run this asylum through the 1960s, when it was slowly decommissioned building by building. These buildings, where people received horrific treatment, are still standing today.
Lyric: Yesterday we got kicked out.
David: We didn't get kicked out.
Lyric: We weren't allowed to go exploring.
David: We just chose to leave, but we stayed there as long as we wanted.
Lyric: Now we're gonna drive through.
The footage you're about to see may be disturbing for some viewers.
Is there a food truck actually delivering there? Do they still use this for food?
What? Oh my gosh. Here we go again. Oh yeah. That building isn't boarded up.
So this building's still in use .
David: This one is?
Lyric: Yeah, they're getting a food delivery right now. So it's still in use.
David: There's a citizen walking the street over there.
Lyric: That's what I said. We can go walk the streets. I just don't think we should leave our RV here.
Is that the security guard right there in front of you?
David: That's okay. He'll have to chase me down.
Lyric: You can wave at him.
David: You gotta catch me! In the RV, right
Lyric: And everyone can catch you very easily.
Some of these buildings are still in use. Some of these are not, which is that building over there that has cages on it.
This is a citizen walking.
I think this building is no longer in use here. Boarded up buildings.
There we go. Coming up on these big buildings here.
I'll get them from all the angles I can.
David: Come out your window.
Lyric: Oh, awesome. Yeah. Perfect. There's the chapel over there.
I, I can see it just fine. Um. Oh wow.
We really are sneaky. Gotta get in and outta here really quick before security shows up.
David: Cages.
Oh my god, that's horrible.
Lyric: Bars on the windows and cages on second Story balconies only give hints that the atrocities committed inside this asylum: lobotomies, electro sock torture- I'm not gonna call it treatment, and many more things that I'm not gonna list here today.
This is the pre neurodiversity era.
You can see there's stuff in there. All kinds of stuff in there.
Or is it the roof falling down.
Okay. You gotta get outta here. Really? Security comming?
Okay, good.
Well, we're leaving.
David: Look at this grass!
Lyric: Get out before he gets us. I know.
Oh, I got in there inside. See inside.
That's
David: what he said!
Lyric: I wasn't even filming that. Man, I had such a good shot and I didn't even get it.
You gunna go back for my shot?
David: Pay attention to your shot.
Lyric: We're gonna be here too long and security's gonna get us, but look at the, like the glass windows. Those are awesome.
It's a video.
David: You've never seen glass before- it's awesome.
Lyric: Oh, it's just so broken out and I got you in front of it. It looks good.
David: I've got I in front of it.
Lyric: Yeah, you, I put you in the shot. I put you in the video.
This is so rough.
David: Lennon. It says.
Lyric: Yes.
David: Lennon distribution.
Lyric: This is like the laundry facility. See they got those big trap doors over there on the ground cause. So it had like lots of water waste, I guess.
That building over there is interesting too. It's also like... I zoomed in on it, but we can't really go back to it right now.
Vine colors. The windows are not so broken out on that building. Look at that! I love that it's not smashed out yet. Most of these windows of these buildings are like smashed, like the backside of that - the one with the cages?
David: Smash!
Lyric: Yeah. The backside of the one that has all the cages. Those are all smashed out.
That building probably had a lot of violence happen in it.
That building. This building looks like it may have been more recently decommissioned
Hayden H Donahue. This building is in much better shape.
Yeah, and I can see the front of it and they're ma, they're mowing this one still, like, I don't know.
Look at that smashed fountain. Someone had some strong feelings.
As we pull away from Griffin Memorial, my mind goes to all the neuro divergent people who were locked here against their will over the years, and the cruelty they faced.
These buildings are remnants from the mental health dark ages. In the time of their operation, being diagnosed Autistic would result in recommendation to being placed in a facility such as this one, so I can't help but think of how lucky I am today.
Thank you. You got me really close.