La Castañeda — the phantom patients of Mexico's infamous asylum

La Castañeda, officially the Asilo General de La Castañeda, was Mexico's largest and most notorious psychiatric hospital, operating from 1910 to 1968 on a site in Mixcoac (now part of Mexico City). At its peak, the facility held over 3,000 patients in conditions that were widely condemned. The hospital was demolished in the 1960s, but one central building survived and has been associated with paranormal phenomena ever since. Staff and visitors to the surviving structure report hearing patients' screams, seeing figures in hospital gowns in the corridors, and experiencing an overwhelming sense of anguish in the former treatment rooms. The area where the rest of the hospital once stood — now developed with residential buildings — has also produced reports from residents who describe unexplained sounds beneath their apartments and the feeling of a distressed presence. La Castañeda represented the worst of institutional psychiatry in Mexico, and its demolition was intended to erase a shameful chapter. But as with many sites of mass suffering, the physical destruction of the buildings did not eliminate the spiritual residue of what occurred within them.