In the Spirit of... Utah State Hospital Summer 2022 (posted 11/2025)

 Driving around Utah is not like driving around new England. The canyons, valleys, and land masses are so different. 

As we sought out our site the day turned to night and the difference in driving was striking.

East Provo on Canyon Road

Deer Creek State Park in Provo Canyon

Provo- Brigham Young University

A hard concept to take in as we traveled around the mountain west region was to be in one place of great conflict one day (Battle of Little Bighorn) and on another in the land that some folks are now beholden to and call "Mormon Country." We did not stop at any Mormon places per se, nor did we go to any of the national parks here; we had a different agenda. Sites of persecution can be defined in many ways, and I guess those folks who got behind Brigham Young probably felt that way. I mean the dude Brigham came here when this place wasn't even a state yet. It was a territory. Somebody else's land. A man on a mission, rising in status and power, I think, has univision (did I just make up a word?). He led "his" people into a desert canyon, and well known and documented exclusivity (aka racism), had to deal with the "Laminites" (Indigenous people according to the Book of Mormon). That old "kill or be killed" adage usurps the missionary focus of this religious sect. For battle they did. 

I did not have to ask, "What would BY do" in relation to the internment camps we visited. Not his day, not his watch, not his time (WWII), irregardless, I do not think I would have liked a megalomaniac with 56 wifes. I can't even ask him about the site we did visit, which is in the back yard of the school he founded. BY died in 1877, the territorial insane asylum was founded in 1885.

Some background info:

"The asylum was originally conceived as a place for individuals to be rehabilitated and returned to public life. However, the training and resources were insufficient and the institution soon became a human warehouse with terrible conditions."

A shift in attitudes toward the institution was signaled in 1903 when it was officially renamed the State Mental Hospital. Later in 1927, it was again renamed the Utah State Hospital in a further attempt to remove stigma. 

  

Remains of the day... One of my favorite travel things to do. This site, once upon a time, was separated from the town by swamplands and a dump. Now it is neighbors with BY University and has a campus of 312 acres.

Was it overcrowded? Yes. Peak population circa 1940= 1,100 in a place built for 700. Does it still exist? Yes, although we could not see any of the current site, nor the museum they have there.

The original site

And what's left:

What is circled is where we went. The remnants of the "old hospital." The modern campus is quite large + houses 312 patients. We could see little of this campus. We were happy/lucky that the campus security person directed us to the old part in the back. 

The original hospital building, a large Richardson-Romanesque style building (now you know part of where/how my curious mind wended here) was demolished in 1981. 

For a video on the Castle Ampitheater go here:

USH Castle Ampitheater

What hubby Peter + I were trying to sleuth out was the plaque that told who built this awesomely creepy in the night structure.

All stone and built on a hill; doesn't this sound like a wise idea for recreation (insert sarcasm)? This is an 800 stone-seated ampitheater that mostly was unused after being built in the 1930's.

It is impressive and spooky and currently used  (1970's rehab opened it back up) for public events.

This structure was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1986 (now you know what we were looking for!).

For nearly 3 decades (1971-1997), the site was used for an annual "Haunted Castle" by the community.

It is hard to conceive as a recreational center. Not sure what the thinking was at the time.

It looked forbidding and like a fortress to lock people in. 

Yes this looks awfully like a possessed spirit, but it is merely me. Back in the day, I would have been committed for "social nonconformity" (yup, a discriminatory practice that existed).

We didn't find this marker, nor the national historic brown one. A quick note; Utah was hit hard by the depression, and had an unemployment rate of approx. 36% (4th highest in the country in 1933). So this project, although probably ill-conceived and impractical, is a cool reminder of a, IMHO, good federal program to put people to work.

For more info: USH Castle Ampitheater

A pictoral essay in Utah Hx'cal Qtrly: https://issuu.com/utah10/docs/uhq_volume78_2010_number2/40

A good article about the "Haunted Castle Days: The Complex Ethics of a Haunted House Starring Psychiatric Patients

A hokey radio-type ghost story piece: Is the Utah State Hospital Haunted by Echoes of Its Dark Past? | Paranormal Deep Dive

We did not find any paranormal experiences, no plaques, and no humans either. This was the only sentient beings we saw silently moving about. They were awfully cute, and could care less about us.