Sam and Colby's Secret Adventures

Castle on the Hill

Sam Golbach and Colby Brock were driving up the hill towards the Greater Binghamton Castle with Justin Bishop and Doctor Mikhail Varshavski, he was a blue-eyed, dark-haired, 26-year-old Russian doctor in New Jersey. The two ghost adventurers had gotten permission from the New York State Office of Mental Health, which owns the building known as the Castle On The Hill. The asylum was built in Binghamton, on May 19, 1858, and the cornerstone of the edifice was laid on the 24th day of September in the same year. The style of architecture in which the hospital is built is of castellated gothic, with massive towers, turrets, and buttresses embattled at the top. The design of the buildings combines prominence with neatness and beauty. All the exterior walls of the buildings are of stone. The interior and partition walls are of brick. The length of the five buildings which comprise the asylum is fourteen hundred and fifty-three feet. The first story of the transept of the west building is divided into four rooms. These are used for the Superintendent's office, sleeping room, trustee room, and reception room. The second story of the transept contains three parlors. These parlors are connected by sliding doors. The transept also contains sixteen tower rooms and is also divided transversely by a hall fourteen feet wide running from front to rear entrances and longitudinally by another hall of the same width communicating at each end with the corridors of the wings. The lower floors of the south wing contained the dining room, surgical wing gymnasium, ballroom, and workshops, which were part of the physical and moral therapy. The remaining patient quarters were divided into ten wards containing patient apartments. The heating plant and two cisterns were located in the basement. Two kitchens and a bakery are located in the basement of the East building. Then there is a large store room, a grocery room, a vegetable storeroom, a fan room, a boiler room, the engine room, four bath rooms, the work shop, a wash-room and a dry-room. The assorting room and the mangle room, fifteen other rooms that were for servants, nurses and doctors. The woodwork of the building is of cherry, black walnut, chestnut, and maple oiled no paint having been used in finishing any rooms in the asylum. In the East building there are two reservoirs with lead piping and marble wash stands in each patient's room where an abundant supply of pure water will be furnished. Then winter garden or conservatory when completed will accommodate about one million of plants, which will afford the patients recreation and study and make for the asylum a perpetual Summer. Bowling alleys billiard tables, pleasure boats on the river and an extensive gymnasium in course of construction will contribute to the exercise and amusements of the patients. Justin got out the camera and began filming them. He then gave the two a thumbs up. "Hey! What's up, guys? It's Sam and Colby. We are here with Doctor Mike and Justin Bishop. Their social media accounts will be linked down in the description. We are standing in front of The Castle On The Hill in Binghamton, New York. We will be doing an overnight in the Castle On The Hill." Sam said as he looked over at the doctor he was a blue eyed, dark haired, 26 year old russian man. "We will be getting into the history of this place pretty soon but first get that merch!" Colby said as he and Sam showed off their clothes. They walked through the gate and locked it behind them. They walked up the steps and into the huge castle. They walked around the lobby. "Wow, this is so beautiful." Sam said as he looked around the area, Mike was admiring the engraved wooden railings. "This is such prestine and well preserved wood work." Mike said as he ran his fingers along the vintage wood. Justin panned the camera around the area before he finally stopped recording. They set up their tripod, sat down, hit record and started their history segment of the video. "For as long as there has been a City of Binghamton, there has been the Castle on the Hill. During its century as a state mental institution, the imposing Gothic Revival building served as a place for critical care as well as an economic driver for the region. Just as important as the Castle itself, though, are the thousands of patients who were treated there during its history, a time when science and society had much less understanding about mental illness than today. Some of their experiences are well-documented, while others have faded as the decades passed." Colby said into the camera as they sat inside the lobby of the castle. They were going to put the schematics of the building into the video when they went to edit. "The original idea for the Castle came from Dr. J. Edward Turner, a native of Bath, Maine, who was among the first medical professionals to see alcoholism as a disease rather than a moral failing. In 1855, young architect Isaac Perry was hired to design what was renamed the New York State Inebriate Asylum. Turner had some firm ideas about the look and layout of the building, based on European research trips to study alcohol treatment." Sam said, taking over for Colby as he had done tons of research. "After Turner raised money through $10 subscriptions for capital stock, the cornerstone for the inebriate asylum was laid in 1858, and the three-story, 123,300-square-foot limestone structure took six years to complete. In addition to patient rooms, it featured hand-carved interior staircases in the central entry area, an ornate director's office, a two-story chapel at the center of the building, and large meeting rooms at the end of each wing, along with a reception room, three parlors, and a library. The first patients arrived near the end of the Civil War in early 1864, but a fire in the north wing that September was blamed on Turner." Sam stated as he looked over at Colby who smiled at him encouragingly.