The site is the former Saratoga County Homestead Hospital that opened in 1913 as a tuberculosis sanitarium. It is located about 20 miles west of Saratoga Springs, NY. When a medical cure for TB was discovered the need for sanitariums was eliminated and the hospital eventually closed in 1960. The property was sold in 1982 to a developer who failed to follow-through with redevelopment plans and the building fell into total disrepair. Over the intervening years it became a magnet tor the occult and thrill seekers who considered the building to be haunted. Amateur horror movies and You Tube videos were made inside the building. The ground floor windows and doorways are open and there are walls full of graffiti, rooms with mattresses, food containers, beer bottles etc. In 2014 a fire occurred and the structure was partially destroyed. Fire department officials toured the building after the fire and discovered friable asbestos pipe and duct insulation, drums and smaller containers of paint and chemicals. In the back is a mechanical graveyard with old boilers and pipes with asbestos insulation hanging off. The site is located in a State designated wetlands and is near a creek and is within the Great Sacandaga Lake watershed. The site was referred to EPA from the NYSDEC for an assessment and possible Superfund removal action.
