by SullivanRose

Created on: June 22, 2009   Last Updated: April 18, 2011

Have you ever wondered about the souls of patients who died at Dorothea Dix Hospital? Or wondered if it was haunted? Perhaps you need to know the names of the people who were placed in Dorothea Dix Cemetery. Whatever your reason for reading this article, I hope you will find your answers here. I will be addressing the history, haunted and not, of this very old hospital for the mentally handicapped located in Raleigh, NC.

Attitudes toward the mentally ill were very different in the 1800s than they are today. The actual process of thought for a "lunatic asylum" started in 1825, but nothing happened. In 1844, Governor Morehead pushed to build an institution for the "unfortunate insane, blind and deaf", but the issue somehow stood still with Delaware and North Carolina remaining the two states of the original 13 that did not have housing facilities for the "insane". In December of 1848, the bill which began the funding process to build a state hospital for the mentally ill was finally passed.

Originally, the hospital was called the "Insane Hospital", but was named "Dix Hill". The hospital was named after Dorothea Dix's grandfather, Dr. Elijah Dix. Dorothea was the most instrumental person in the founding of the institution, but she refused to have it named after herself.

A site was chosen outside of Raleigh about a mile west of the city on a hill near Rocky Branch. Raleigh was not as large as it is today. The site had a view of the city that was believed to be "perfectly healthy". 182 acres were purchased from Maria Hunter Hall and Sylvester Smith. The two tracts of land were originally a plantation owned by Col. Theophilus Hunter in the late 1700s.

The first structure to be built in 1851 had two wings with a large center. It was designed by Alexander T. Davis in a Romanesque style. Soon two additional buildings were added. One was for a steam boiler, gas manufacture and laundry. The other building was a bakery and kitchen. It had apartments above it for the staff. Apartments for the main building staff were on the second floor of the original structure.

In 1856, a patient suffering from "suicidal mania" was the first to be admitted. In the first nine months, 90 patients were placed in the hospital.

In the 1800s, the prevailing thought was social conditions caused mental illness. Madness cost a person dearly. "The insane" were removed from their homes, family, friends and community and placed in the "the Insane Hospital". Most, if not all of the patients,

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