St. Elizabeths, one of the most historic and infamous landmarks in D.C., has been abandoned and closed to the public for decades.
At the facility originally known as the Government Hospital for the Insane, tens of thousands of patients were treated over the course of its 150 years. It’s also where one doctor did much of his research that would lead to his promoting the use of lobotomies to cure mental illness.
News4 was able to get exclusive access to the some of the buildings on the campus of St. Elizabeths in Southeast D.C., including the infamous autopsy theater.
It took more than a year to get permission to go inside.
The 180-acre campus has an incredible history, not just for Washington, D.C., but the nation. It was the first federal facility built specifically to treat mental illness, and while segregated, it treated Black and white people during and after the Civil War…