Other Listings Nearby [Browse Lapeer, MI    Browse MI    ]      Maps of area: [ Google Maps       Live Maps ] Search for more Info: [ Google Search    Live Search    You Tube Search    Local Newspapers    States History ] Old State Home (Oakdale) Property Lapeer, MI 48446 Cheap hotel in Lapeer, MI. County: Lapeer WebSite: None     Remove Listing From Site Printer Friendly Version Location Description:            An unmarked cemetary still exists on the property of the old state home. The cemetary is unmarked and to get there you have to go down an overgrown two-track road lined with large trees. A number of the headstones simply have first names and date of death. Shrouded in overgrowth and trees, it is pitch black at night and mumbling can be heard from the outer woods. Do you personally know about this location and wish to update the article? Click here to request control!

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UglyNRude St Helen, mi Last Seen: 2/7/2010 7:02:13 AM       Comment# 929     9/20/2006 12:00:00 AM       Edit / Flag       Reply To This This established in 1895 and closed in 1991, It held many names during its existence, my favorite, Michigan home for the feeble minded (no I didn`t attend here)

AnonymousVisiter 24.247.203.104       Comment# 47599 ReplyTo# 929     1/31/2010 1:59:00 PM       Edit / Flag       My investigation team reportedly seen a 4 legged creature, dressed as a patient from the asylum. After research, we discovered that what we have seen was a demon...scray stuff over there!

mattsghosts Grayling, mi Last Seen: 7/8/2008 10:29:17 AM       Comment# 6136     10/18/2007 5:53:00 PM       Edit / Flag       Reply To This I know that the property has college buildings on it now, but is there any of the original buildings left, especially the one that was fenced in with barbed wire..wheree the criminally insane was???? e-mail me at matt@midmipi.com if you know

queenpoisonmetallica Fontana, ca Last Seen: 2/5/2009 4:31:48 PM       Comment# 6158     10/19/2007 10:41:00 AM       Edit / Flag       Reply To This Good bs listing

queenpoisonmetallica Fontana, ca Last Seen: 2/5/2009 4:31:48 PM       Comment# 6159     10/19/2007 10:42:00 AM       Edit / Flag       Reply To This Ok, I just figured out the rating system oh what a blond moment!!!

AnonymousVisiter 24.247.89.235       Comment# 6250     10/21/2007 8:45:00 PM       Edit / Flag       Reply To This I have been at that graveyard...and it`s creepy. There is also a mass grave about 100 feet away from that graveyard. Also, there is still an underground tunnel system where the people were transported. My boyfriend and his friends went there last night. They got in where the oakdale septic place is. They said it was creepy. When all the oakdale buildings were still up, they went in and they said that it was weird, because everything was still there, including patient files! I believe this place is haunted. Once time, my boyfriend and two of his friends went offroading back in the field by the graveyard. They hit a tombstone (accidentally), but all of a sudden out of nowhere something hit the truck and ripped off the mirror. There were no trees or nothing anywhere close that could have done that. They got out of there as fast as they could! And he doesn`t believe in that kind of stuff...

AnonymousVisiter 71.13.56.111       Comment# 9882     2/24/2008 9:54:00 PM       Edit / Flag       Reply To This i broke into the old hospital,i have tried to get into the tunnels. they have found dead animal carcasses at the graveyard as well as some type of alter. i have been to the graveyard and it is really freakish. 20/20 or 60 minutes did a story on the abuse and the "cleansing" that went on there but I havent seen it in years.when we broke into the last building we had a night vision camera with us and though you couldnt see it while you were there on the video there is a white fog that follows us around and there was a noise like someone warming their hands or breathing short warm breath. The noise never got any louder or quieter no matter where you went inside.wild shit!

AnonymousVisiter 68.250.0.186       Comment# 12093     4/21/2008 5:02:00 PM       Edit / Flag       Reply To This My boyfriend and I just was there yesterday, biking. I found something like an old drain hole or sewer, we didnt go in, in fear of some homeless people, but I cannot find the graveyard, if someone knows EXACTLY where, plz contact me. BelleFleur143@aol.com

AnonymousVisiter 198.111.56.52       Comment# 23661     11/20/2008 12:55:00 PM       Edit / Flag       Reply To This The room where I had my math and english classes for Mott CC is where they used to chain the patients to the wall to give them baths, you can see the the holes from the chains... that room was always colder than the other rooms I was in.

AnonymousVisiter 172.162.106.77       Comment# 24424     12/8/2008 10:54:00 PM       Edit / Flag       Reply To This duuude. have you noticed the fact that your vision changes, both when you enter and when you leave? the second you step foot into that cemetery it feels like you're walking in a dream. what room at mott are you talking about? is it at the lapeer campus?

AnonymousVisiter 172.162.106.77       Comment# 24426     12/8/2008 11:19:00 PM       Edit / Flag       Reply To This stupid question, of course it is. geeeesh. my bad.

AnonymousVisiter 24.180.184.237       Comment# 27603     2/19/2009 10:21:00 PM       Edit / Flag       Reply To This the only building that is left is now a community college Mott. there are a ton of doors that they always keep locked. there are still kitchens and bathrooms all over mott. ive see the room where they use to chain people and a ton of rooms that have no windows and where they would keep those who was behaving. there are a few rooms in mott where you get a chill all the time and it doesnt matter how high the heat is up. as for the underground tunnels they only closed them off at one end. and as far as i know that hospital place was not one of the bests, they would make it so every person couldnt enjoy sex or have children. ive seen a paper that was on the wall back in the day where it said IN CASE OF FIRE TAKE ALL PATIENTS TO ROOF they would have cared less if they would have all burned

AnonymousVisiter 99.33.138.204       Comment# 28038     3/1/2009 2:48:00 PM       Edit / Flag       Reply To This This was not a hospital, it was an institution where those shunned by society were housed. Orphans, or children born into families who could not afford to take care of them. Eventually is housed individuals with disabilities. There were places like this all over the country. Some of us have dedicated our lives and careers to ensure that NOTHING like that ever happens again! Some would say that the mini-institutions that are now in use to care for folks with disabilities are no better. Michigan learned a lot from what the people who lived at places like Oakdale went through. We have processes to recognize and protect their human rights.

AnonymousVisiter 99.150.162.184       Comment# 31025     4/19/2009 2:06:00 PM       Edit / Flag       Reply To This Hello I went to the Cememtary today with my kids and sister and heard some very weird noises and i felt something push my shoulder my brother inlaw thought I was crazy I thought my son did it but he swears he didn't do it. My oldest son said he felt like something was breathing down his neck. I took some pictures there is some fog in the back of some of them but I have not yet finished looking at all of them, I just could not get past the fact that some of the kids that are burried out there where just babies. How sad, I would like to learn more so If someone wants to contact me mmary983@yahoo.com

AnonymousVisiter 99.150.162.184       Comment# 31028     4/19/2009 3:12:00 PM       Edit / Flag       Reply To This Background: Oakdale Regional Center for Developmental Disabilities, located in Lapeer, was originally established in 1893 as the Michigan Home for the Feebleminded and Epileptic. It has also been known as the Michigan Home and Training School, Lapeer State Home and Training School, and the Oakdale Center for Developmental Disabilities. It was opened for patients on August 1, 1895. The institution's goal was to create a home for those who, because of mental defects could not adjust to community life; it also operated on a developmental model which presupposed returning the residents to community living when possible. The center closed in 1992. Summary: The Superintendents' Files series documents administrative activities of the superintendents, mostly through correspondence; it documents community placement, patient abuse cases, and publications. The Frederick Campbell series contains historical records, public relations material, and facility publications which aim to educate the community about Oakdale Regional's role. The patient log books series contains admittance logs, inmates registers, records of visitors, and other similar logs. Resident records, the largest series, contains case histories, daily events recordings, and family histories. The collection also contains photographs, slides, and negatives of residents and employees.

AnonymousVisiter 69.87.137.139       Comment# 40650 ReplyTo# 31028     10/3/2009 2:57:00 PM       Edit / Flag       Do you know where I can get or review Patient Log Books and Resident Records from 1919 thru June 1920? If body of a young child was release to Otsego and the undertaker was S.D. Brown, do you know what cemetery he worked for? modraks@yahoo.com Thank you

AnonymousVisiter 98.209.250.73       Comment# 43482 ReplyTo# 31028     10/31/2009 1:37:00 PM       Edit / Flag       Are all the records of patients now in the archives in Lansing?  My great aunt died at age 15, she was a resident of Lapeer Home and then buried in Carson City, MI.  If you know where I can find records on her, please email me at karriebaldwin@hotmail.com      Thank you.

AnonymousVisiter 207.73.252.254       Comment# 33489     6/3/2009 5:48:00 AM       Edit / Flag       Reply To This I live in laper and this is probably one of the creepiest things to attend at night, number of grave stones are not even listed with names, but with numbers to identify those who had died.

AnonymousVisiter 69.19.14.22       Comment# 33501     6/3/2009 12:58:00 PM       Edit / Flag       Reply To This does anyone know how to access the tunnels and what they were used for? I think i can get into the tunnel because someone told me its an underground network of tunnels connecting the schools like white, lapeer west, and that hospital.

AnonymousVisiter 24.247.197.228       Comment# 35181     7/5/2009 2:40:00 PM       Edit / Flag       Reply To This The building where the Mott classes are held have NEVER been used for patients. The buildings were all demolished in the early 90's with the hospital being last in the late 90's. The tunnel is demolished and there's nothing for kids to see in the cemetery plus with the prison nearby, it's patrolled frequently. Just headstones with numbers. Serious people can find info on a yahoo group called Lapeer Home. If anyone says they were in the buildings, they have to be lying or a teenager in the 80's cuz the place has been boarded up since then. The tunnels never went miles down the roads to like White Jr. High. If you want to know what the inside of the buildings looked like (since I know), watch the movie Session 9 with David Caruso in it. Asbestos, peeling paint, water damage, papers everywhere, wheelchairs, all the same.

AnonymousVisiter 67.59.43.225       Comment# 43520 ReplyTo# 35181     10/31/2009 7:05:00 PM       Edit / Flag       BS!! The building that Mott uses was used for patients. My father worked and retired from there. That was building 45. Chatfield school is also an original building. It was all administration, no patients. Building 45 held pts. I went there as a child to watch the fireworks with my dad and his kids,(patients). The back property and cemetary does have its haunts. I wont go back there, even in the day.

AnonymousVisiter 75.133.41.189       Comment# 45609 ReplyTo# 35181     12/12/2009 3:18:00 PM       Edit / Flag       the tunnels do too go to White jr. High> there is an entrance in the gym.  Ask any police officer in lapeer i have heard the stories straight from them the tunnels while possibly caved in now also run to West highschool and crampton park.

AnonymousVisiter 98.209.246.138       Comment# 37477     8/8/2009 8:43:00 PM       Edit / Flag       Reply To This hello my name is ray my uncle harry was there in  1964 to 1973 so i know . JUST ASk . me

AnonymousVisiter 66.227.200.5       Comment# 37768     8/12/2009 9:15:00 PM       Edit / Flag       Reply To This Hi, I am in my 40's and I have been to Oakdale when it was up and somewhat running. My first job was in a group home in Almont, I was trained at Oakdale in the current Mott building. There were a few residents still there (1986) The hospital was still standing at that time as I took one of our residents to the dentist there. It was at that time only used for dental work as these people were on state insurance and that is what we did. around a year later when all had been moved out, myself and some friends went out there. More or less to scare ourselves and found the cemetary. This cemetery not only had residents of Oakdale buried there, but was known as a "Potters Field" where the poor of Lapeer were buried. There are according to what I have heard over 300 graves. The residents were given a headstone only if family could or would pay with name and client number on it. When my friends and I went out there in@1987 we went past meijer and hit a dirt road. It had old stone markers at each side of driveway. It had a huge house of sorts on the south side of road. I thought maybe this was a staff housing of sorts. We went back further and did find that some of the buildings were still standing, but I had been told that many had been torn down before this. I found a huge building with old equipment and wheelchairs etc. It was cool as the wheelchairs were the old high backed type. The old buildings that had housed the bad residents had already been torn down #30, 15,13 were some of the bad ones. I am currently in a group home in which 3 of our guys came from Oakdale. One was what was called an enforcer. He helped the staff to "control" the unruly residents. Two others can and will tell us stories, when in the right frame of mind. These guys are all in thier 70-80's so some of it, is not current, as they have lived where they are at, for loads of years. This home was just not for the "feeble minded" it was also an orphanage, and a place to put people you weren't sure what to do with. Please remember, while I don't condone it, but this was a farming community and if a man's wife passed and he had 6 children he couldn't care for they were taken to the home. Not all these people were "handicapped" in the sense we think of now. I have heard horror stories of the abuse, as I know people have worked in Oakdale. They used to put oranges in a stockings and beat them. Doesn't leave bruises. One woman who is reported to have worked in the laundry area, was put in Oakdale at a young age as an orphan, and never left. She wanted to leave, and get married and have children, but was told she could leave if only sterilized so she stayed. Keep in mind she passed at 100yo in 1988 so when she was young enough to leave in was early 1900's. While I do not agree with any of this keep in mind that is the experiments of the past that have taught the medical field the current miracles they now can perform. Another thought, which should cause a ruckus. I have worked in group homes for over 20 years, with loads of different clients. I do not feel that these places should have been closed completly down, but better monitored. There are still alot of residents that should not be in public. Some of them are in group homes today and are allowed in public. They are the killers, and the molestors. Yes most of the residents I have worked with should have been moved out, but some just should have never been released.I worked in a nursing home that had a former Clinton Valley resident, released at the end, whom should never had been left out. He was a child molester and I know for a fact that he was raping women in the nursing home at the time. On his records we were told that no children could be near him for any reason. Let me tell you, he was scary not in a loud way but in a quiet way. He was moved to the nursing home, because someone thought all these people should be in public, and most should have but some place should have been kept open for the others....I have seen the criminally insane in these group homes...

AnonymousVisiter 67.167.182.220       Comment# 38819     8/30/2009 8:33:00 PM       Edit / Flag       Reply To This Can anyone give exact directions to me?I have been in the area searching for the cemetery for photos,but I have not been able to find it.The directions I received on my first trip were very vague.Can anyone help me?Email me at theconfesser@gmail.com  thanx!

AnonymousVisiter 24.180.185.168       Comment# 39941     9/21/2009 8:34:00 AM       Edit / Flag       Reply To This Ayyy, i have been back there twice. Nothing odd happened to me. Most of the headstones are just bricks. Its really sad. Mott, Chatfield, and some houses are all thats left. Chatfield used to be an administrative building. And yes the tunnels have been blocked off. I live around that area and know about it.

AnonymousVisiter 24.180.185.138       Comment# 44214     11/9/2009 11:59:00 AM       Edit / Flag       Reply To This What is now the Mott CC building used to be the nursery. The tunnels just connected the Oakdale buildings and were used in the winter time. Those are all closed off now and now accessible. I've heard two different things about Chatfield: it was either the Admin. building or the hospital. Visiting the cemetary is strongly discouraged due to safety issues, according to law enforcement.

AnonymousVisiter 75.133.41.189       Comment# 45608 ReplyTo# 44214     12/12/2009 3:12:00 PM       Edit / Flag       Chatfield was the administration building, where all the records on the patients were kept.  My mom did dictation for the doctors there for about 19 years.  I have many memories of going to visit her at work in that building!  i also was on the team that did all the landscaping for chatfield.

AnonymousVisiter 76.226.156.204       Comment# 46361 ReplyTo# 44214     1/6/2010 9:46:00 AM       Edit / Flag       The Mott building started out as the nursery. Later it was just Bldg 45 and had all ages living there. What is now Chatfield was originally called the hospital annex. It wasn't the administration building at first because there already was one. The building also called the castle was then officially the administration building. I worked in the basement of the castle in high school. The location is now just part of the Mott parking lot.

AnonymousVisiter 216.25.191.108       Comment# 44378     11/12/2009 4:23:00 PM       Edit / Flag       Reply To This does anyone know if there is a way to find out names of patients from about 1961..I have a 1/2 sister that was givin up for adoption..and had health issues and was taken there in 1961..I do have a name  please email me  if anyone knows anything   dawn3755@hotmail.com  thank you

AnonymousVisiter 99.196.0.56       Comment# 44536     11/15/2009 4:54:00 PM       Edit / Flag       Reply To This ok i need more info on this and the tunnels ive heard many rumors about it and i would like to visit this place///i live very close to it so if you have any info contact me at gd247roxx@hotmail.com

AnonymousVisiter 75.133.41.189       Comment# 45607     12/12/2009 3:09:00 PM       Edit / Flag       Reply To This My mom was one of the last working employees in 1991 right before Oakdale was closed.  She helped box up the records and send them to the archives in Lansing.  She has been in the tunnels, she has seen ghosts and she has some crazy stories from information her and her fellow employees read in those archived files.  I have spent many hours researching the history of Oakdale.  There was a small pox epidemic in the fifties or sixties in which a few died, causing the national gaurd to close it to the public for a period of time, no one in OR out.  Some children have been hit by the train running behind the property throughout the history of it housing residence.  It was also said that patients were sterilized against there will, a point which was taken seriously enough that the tv show Twenty/Twenty came to Lapeer to investigate,  Oakdale has a rich and sordid history some of which the public will never know or have access to.  I believe if any place in Lapeer is haunted this would be it.

AnonymousVisiter 24.231.200.69       Comment# 46175     1/1/2010 6:16:00 PM       Edit / Flag       Reply To This The tunnels were used to heat all the schools and buildings back in the day. They went from oakdale to West,and White and a few other buildings. When I was a kid before they tore it down we use to go in the old buildings and the tunnels. I have a straight jacket from there.

AnonymousVisiter 99.29.197.25       Comment# 47497 ReplyTo# 46175     1/29/2010 1:25:00 PM       Edit / Flag       No tunnels went to White. West and Oakdale, yes, but they were powerhouse tunnels for utility use and not for patients. Patients were not tied up to the walls for bathing in the Mott building either. My 85 year old aunt was a head nurse there for years and years. When I told her of this site and asked her about things you guys have been writing she laughed so hard. The house just as you entered from what is now Meijers was the farm with the head farmer living there and minding the more capable people that worked the farm. Records were packed up but not all of them were. They had a deadline to get things out and for some reason when that day came and stuff still remained they got left. My aunt tried to go back there to get more of her files but security didn't allow it and the doors were chained up. Her severance from Oakdale did not cover what her pension should have and she lives on $900 a month now. She lives with her grandson in Warren.

AnonymousVisiter 76.226.151.160       Comment# 47544 ReplyTo# 46175     1/30/2010 3:01:00 PM       Edit / Flag       Thank you.(I left the reply on 1/6/2010, in an earlier thread.) I worked in Bldg 45, now the Mott Bldg, for a lot of years, and that story about chaining people to walls to bathe them was just too ridiculous. I have both good and bad memories from that building, but certainly none like that!

AnonymousVisiter 68.188.172.222       Comment# 46536     1/11/2010 11:15:00 AM       Edit / Flag       Reply To This I would like to buy a dvd or vhs about the 20/20 episode on oakdale, if anyone has any info please email me at megmoo12@yahoo.com

AnonymousVisiter 66.227.159.55       Comment# 47793 ReplyTo# 46536     2/4/2010 10:02:00 PM       Edit / Flag       i have heard soooo much stuff about Oakdale. Not too sure what is true and what isn't. I have been to the cemetary but never experienced anything crazy tho i know people who have seen ghosts there. i do have a co-worker who worked there many years ago and she won't talk about it. also know a guy from there and hes crazy...

arizonaray Last Seen: 2/6/2010 10:46:19 AM       Comment# 47872     2/6/2010 10:52:00 AM       Edit / Flag       Reply To This My e-mail address is arizonaray@hotmail.com This is my 2nd try for a comment to be posted.  I had a brother die in Oakdale at the age of 15 in 1959.  I did not know him, but he WAS my brother.  I spoke to a psychic yesterday that talked about him.  He said "They murdered me" and to please clean up his gravesite it's all weeded over.  After reading some threads, if I found his stone it would probably on have a number on it.  Someone mentioned archives in Lansing.  Where in Lansing?  Is there a phone number?  I want to do something to help his memory and if fact he was murdered.  It's probable been too many years to prove anything there but I would like to do something.  Does ANYONE  have any ifo at all for me?? Thanks in adavance Ray