Metropolitan State Hospital (Massachusetts)

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Metropolitan State Hospital
(U.S. National Register of Historic Places)

Location:	Waltham, Massachusetts United States
Built/Founded:	1927-28
Architect:	Gordon S. Kobb
Architectural style(s):	Colonial Revival
Added to NRHP:	January 21, 1994
Reference #:	93001482

The Metropolitan State Hospital was an American public hospital for the mentally ill, located in the city of Waltham, Massachusetts. The Gaebler Children's Center for mentally ill youths was located on the grounds of the hospital.

It was closed in January 1992 as a result of the state's cost-cutting policy of closing its mental hospitals and moving patients into private care (see privatization). Since being closed, it has become a popular destination for "urban explorers" as well as curious locals, especially teenagers, despite security measures and safety risks. As of 2005, the large complex of buildings is being gradually demolished.

It should not be confused with the Metropolitan State Hospital in California.

[edit] Patient Murder Scandal

In 1978, Metropolitan State patient Anne Marie Davee was murdered by another patient, Melvin W. Wilson. Wilson dismembered Davee's body and kept seven of her teeth which were discovered in his possession by employees of the hospital. Despite this discovery and its obvious implications, no action was taken against Wilson until Massachusetts State Senator Sen. Jack Backman (D-Brookline) led a Senate investigation into the case along with 19 other reports of negligence by state mental health workers. On August 12, 1980 Wilson led investigators to at least three burial sites where he put pieces of Davee's body. Much of the material evidence in the case had been destroyed or gone missing. This evidence included a "hut" in the woods where Davee and Wilson met, clothes and even sheets which hospital employees discovered the day after her disappearance. Nearly two months after her murder, another search by hospital staff yielded pieces of Davee's clothing and belongings along with a hatchet, the supposed murder weapon.

See also "All of God's Little Angel's," a documentary/dead website. In the early 1960's, Met State had an active children's ward. Before the Davee/Wilson case, more than two dozen preteens died and were buried on the grounds. It is rumored that the preteens were poisoned with strontium that had been put in their milk by doctors believing it would treat them.

It is generally thought to be haunted by local children and teenagers. The hospital became an attraction for urban explorers after it was closed, possibly due to stigma from the murder, the many large buldings and churches to roam, and the tunnels which ran underneath it all. The hospital has been since torn down. But the tunnels are still there.

"The dismembered body of a Metropolitan State... " Boston Globe Newspaper Aug 12, 1980
"Backman: Hospital Murder Data Missing" Boston Globe Newspaper Aug 15, 1980