Athens Lunatic Asylum

Even though we have come a long way when it comes to mental health treatment and care, we still can't forget where we started. Athens Lunatic Asylum is testament to that. The sprawling building in Southeast Ohio looked more like a castle than an asylum. Thousands of people over 119 years came through the doors, committed for reasons such as childbirth, general bad health and illness that was still decades away from being diagnosed. Some may still linger in the halls. Each had a story to tell.