Pennhurst asylum and school – formally called the Eastern Pennsylvania Institution for the Feeble-Minded and Epileptic — ran for the better part of the 20th century as a home for people with mental and physical disabilities, but it was forcibly shut down after exposures of patient abuse and decades of litigation. Pennhurst’s cases of horrific treatment — which included arranging for inmates to harm each other, continuous overcrowding, and beatings by the understaffed workers — led to a public condemnation of the institution. The sort of negative criticism lobbied against Pennhurst contributed to an Anti-Eugenics movement in the United States that aimed to give humane treatment and inclusion to all Americans. This movement opposed the ideas of some of Pennhurst’s founders who categorized people with disabilities, orphans, criminals, and immigrants as populations who should be separated lest they “bring down” the general public. After Penhurst was shut down in 1987, many of the buildings went into disrepair and neglect. Today, several of the structures (including a morgue and tunnels linking the lower campus buildings) are used as a popular haunted tourist attraction around Halloween, and one serves as a museum for the institution.
