‘Haunted’ NJ psych hospital to become park in Monmouth County

It was the stuff of Weird NJ urban legend.

Opened in 1931, the Marlboro Psychiatric Hospital sat on hundreds of acres in Monmouth County and was made up of many structures. The buildings of the psychiatric campus were connected by tunnels, which later developed a dark history.

A number of patients used those tunnels to commit suicide. Once closed in 1998, the structures sat abandoned for years.

During that time, many legends were shared about hauntings.

Paranormal investigators visited here and felt there was something to the stories. A cemetery stood on the site where hundreds of psychiatric patients whose families didn’t even bother claiming their bodies were buried. Only small numbered stones marked their graves, but in the center was a full monument wall with names and corresponding numbers.

The buildings were eventually demolished, and now that land is finally being transformed into a park for recreational purposes. Under a land management agreement with the state, Monmouth County will manage the land and, in 2033, will have the opportunity to purchase it when the state pays its bond debt off.

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Hiking trails are going in before the end of the year.

But along with all the nature and wildlife people will enjoy here, the reputation persists and was even mentioned in jest at a press conference by Mayor Jonathan Hornik.

“This place has ghosts,” Hornik said. “And I know this because on my desk as mayor, every year, I get notified and asked if professional ghostbusters can come in here and run activities. By the way, it’s something we should probably do around Halloween here.”

If they did embrace the dark history, perhaps run a scare farm and have a supernatural fair there, they’d probably make a fortune for the township every October.

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