The empty, imposing structure of the Sheboygan County Comprehensive Health Care Center is typically referred to as the Sheboygan asylum. The actual Sheboygan County Hospital for the Insane was located in Sheboygan and was torn down in 1960.
Built in 1940, the Sheboygan asylum served as a care facility for the elderly, mentally ill, and developmentally disabled. The building was requisitioned by the US Military in 1944 and 1945 and renamed Camp Sheboygan. It was used to house Italian and German WWII prisoners who were put to work in the fields.
The hospital became an acute care facility for the mentally ill in 1969, also offering drug and alcohol rehabilitation. In 1978, the hospital began caring for people with chronic illness and developmental disabilities. These types of facilities started being phased out in 1988, and the hospital closed in 2002.
Hospital staff experienced paranormal occurrences in the building in the years before it closed. Those rumors of ghosts in what was believed to be the abandoned asylum lead to many curious explorers being arrested and fined for trespassing. Eventually, the building was opened up for haunted tours.
Visitors have reported hearing a young girl humming a song, being touched and having their hair pulled, loud bangs, doors slamming, whispers and screams. Numerous nurses are said to have committed suicide in the hospital throughout its operation. A 2020 episode of Destination Fear explored the building, including the tunnels, surgical center, and morgue. They photographed what appeared to be a large shadow figure in one of the tunnels.
Watch the Sheboygan County Asylum episode right here.
The Sheboygan asylum is private property and no trespassing is allowed. You can visit the hospital by joining one of the ghost tours conducted by the Fox Valley Ghost Hunters, who also host paranormal investigations at the Old Glenbeulah School.
The original Sheboygan County Hospital for the Insane was built in the ghost town of Winooski and served as a lunatic asylum from 1876 to 1882. It was replaced by a larger facility in Sheboygan, which remained in operation until the Sheboygan County Comprehensive Health Care Center opened in 1940. The asylum was torn down in 1960. The Sheboygan Pick n Save now stands where the asylum had once been.
Have you experienced something paranormal at the Sheboygan Asylum? Share it in the comments below!
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