The Haunting Abandoned Island In The Middle Of NYC

Patients Were Held Against Their Will

A disturbing note was found etched into one of the walls of a seclusion room in the tuberculosis pavilion. It read: “Help I am being held here against my will.” The note was most likely the writing of a drug-addicted rehab patient who was confined to a seclusion room to wait out his withdrawals before Riverside’s drug program became defunct. His disdain for the facility was not uncommon.

One thing almost all patients had in common – from those infected with typhoid, smallpox, and TB to those who were in drug treatment – was that they didn’t want to be there. These people were being treated for socially stigmatized diseases and essentially imprisoned on an island.