Forest Haven Asylum

Forest Haven Asylum (also known as the D.C. Training School) was a mental retardation facility operated by the District. When it opened in the 1920s, Forest Haven had a reputation as a state-of-the-art treatment facility. The 250 acre compound was occupied by over 30 buildings - including cottages, a kitchen, theater, gym, a hydrotherapy building, and various other hospital and educational buildings. As time elapsed, Forest Haven's promising beginning crumbled and it became a dark and wretched place where the only way out for many of its morose patients was a tiny basement morgue which was the last stop before an unmarked grave onsite. It has been reported that the very same graves are occasionally uncovered by flooding and erosion. Forest Haven was closed in 1991 by the Federal Government after a lawsuit reported hundreds of incidents of abuse, neglect, molestation, and theft. There were also reports of experimental medical testing on helpless patients who were forced into trials as human guinea pigs. Today, a handful of the buildings remain in use for education and rehabilitation but most of the site remains forlorn and rotting. source

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