ShreyaThe Nurses’ Home
The Nurses home is one of the creepiest places on the island. It connected three floors of contagious patients. Even though the place had been completely worn down over the years 2e noticed that there had been some unusual activity in the place quite recently. One of the doors had bullet holes in it but the trajectory shows that the bullets were fired from inside. What happened here, remains a mystery.
Heroin Addiction
Even though the Tuberculosis Pavilion was constructed for the treatment of the disease it was never used for that purpose. Instead, it was used by the Riverside Hospital for juvenile drug treatment program. This is how drug addict patients who were going through withdrawal were treated- they were locked inside a secluded room and given just a mattress and a mess bucket. They were not given any medication unless their life was in danger and had to go through the process all alone.
Adapting the Island for Drug Treatment
After their ‘treatment’ was complete the patients were left into the sober world without being prepared for it. Riverside Hospital eventually realized that it was not a great plan and decided to keep the drug addict patients with them at least for 90 days.
The building was transformed to suit the needs of the juvenile. Part of a building was converted to a school, nurse house turned into girls’ dorms and one room turned into a library.
Drug Problems
The founders of the program were positive about the success of the treatment but unfortunately for them the relapse rates were high and people were abusing drugs on the island and inside the hospital premises.
There were reports of people smuggling drugs in the middle of the night. There have also been reports of physical and sexual abuse of the patients.
Patients Held Against Their Will
A note which read, “Help I am being held here against my will,” was found in one of the rooms in the Tuberculosis Pavilion. We are assuming that it was a message written by a drug addict patient. But it was not only the drug addicts but also the patients of smallpox and tuberculosis who did not want to be on the island, most of them were taken there forcefully.
Attracting Urban Explorers
Today, not everyone can visit the North Brother Island as it is illegal but people find a way. Most of the buildings are being gobbled up by nature as there is no human intervention. People who visit do not leave any marks and they are usually explorers, adventurers or history nerds.