Waiting for Inspiration & Greystone Park Insane Asylum

Someone once told me she was waiting for inspiration to come knocking on her door before she submerged herself into her novel.  She was, and still is, a very good writer and storyteller; has been for years.  She also has hands-on experience to write her book but as I already mentioned, she is waiting for a revelation to beam down from the Heavens, run through her veins, and write the story for her.

 

I simply told her this… "If you choose to wait, you might be waiting for a very long time.  Your story isn’t going to write itself, nor is inspiration going to stalk you until you do.  You have to find the time, dedication and dig deep within your mind and heart to let your novel unfold.  The mind and heart will battle each other constantly.  It’s going to be gut wrenching and frustrating at times and you are going to want to CRY or PULL YOUR HAIR OUT.  You are going to fight with your plot until you get it right.  Your characters are going to set up their camp inside your head until the story is completely written, edited and sent off to the publisher or agent.  Literally, they will talk to you even when you aren’t writing. “

“BUT, this is the raw and unfiltered beauty of your story.  Inspiration will start to show its face when you least expect it because you have the fire lit inside your soul.  And this fire is going to burn so bright, by the end of your first finished manuscript, you are going to be a different person, a better writer… someone who didn’t wait for a lightning strike carrying a river of visions behind its tail.” 

Sometimes, we have to pull the ladder out and climb up it ourselves in order to reach for our dreams.  Inspiration comes and goes, but perseverance will always be there to get us through the dog days of our writing as well as the untamed highs of our story. 

AND NOW, A HAUNTING IN MY BACKYARD! GREYSTONE PARK, located in Morris Plains, New Jersey.

 

We literally live a few minutes away from one of the most haunted places in northern New Jersey, Greystone Park.  This haunted asylum was famous for electric shock, insulin therapy and lobotomies.  It sits on the lavish green hills of Morris Plains, nestled amongst 1000 acres of land.  Greystone hospital opened its doors in 1877, housing 342 mentally ill patients.

 

Geystone Park is known for having one of the largest continuous foundations in the Kirkbride building which was built in the Second Empire Victorian style.  The Kirkbride building has been used in numerous shows and films, including House and Marvin’s Room.  The only other building surpassing Kirkbride is the Pentagon built in 1943.

The Kirkbride Building

 

The main building had 40 wards which were split into two wings; one to house men and the other for women.  There were also dormitories built to accommodate the growing number of patients.  Two people occupied each patient room. 

 

Greystone became so massive that its grounds included staff housing, a chapel, a post office, fire and police stations, a working farm, recreational facilities, ponds, green houses, morgue stables, and its own quarry as well as gas and water utilities.  A trolley line connected Greystone to the New Jersey transit.

 

Train depot at Greystone

 

While mental abuse was accredited to demonic possessions, some doctors believed these patients could be cured by kindness and the comfort and care of their surroundings.  Sadly, tales of abuse and neglect of patients grew in the later years.  And the population peeked in the 1950s with the return of soldiers from WWII suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. 

It’s even speculated and stated in an article in the magazine, Weird New Jersey, Jack the Ripper may have died here.  Rumor has it a Norwegian sailor named Folgema (thought to have been Jack the Ripper) was committed to the Morris Plains lunatic asylum for fits of rage and insanity, describing scenes and incidents clearly connecting him to the gruesome murders in London.  But no one knows if there is any truth behind this story.

Once Greystone was abandoned in 2003, tales of ghastly hauntings grew among the teenagers who trespassed (including my dear) and those were worked there.  A lot of these hauntings occurred in the frightening underground tunnels which connected various buildings and was used to transport patients.  People who have worked on the grounds have claimed, “feeling watched,” or “not able to get out of there quick enough.”

Ghost Adventures visited the asylum after hearing about the hauntings during their first season of filming back in 2008.  I believe it was episode six if you are interested in looking it up!



Greystone Park tunnel

When my dear was in high school, he and a group of friends visited the grounds.  They claimed to have seen a disturbing image in a window of one of the buildings.  They were so horrified they ran as fast as they could to get back to their cars. 

 

I drive past Greystone all of the time but because it resides far back from the main road, I can hardly make out any of the property.  Maybe one of these days, I will get a group of people together to scope it out but until then, I will share with you a clip from the movie Oliver Stone’s son, Sean Stone, filmed on the grounds in 2009. 

Apparently, he and his crew got a lot more than they bargained for!  Here is a trailer from the movie based on their experience in the asylum, Greystone Park.






That’s it for me!  Have you heard about Greystone Park before?  Will you be checking out this movie?  Do you prefer paranormal or gory?  I have an interview tomorrow with an award winning author on her radio show!  More about this next week=)  Happy Wednesday!