Stop 1: Rockland State Psychiatric Hospital
From our New York campervan rental site, it’s about 1.5 hours to Tallman Mountain State Park near Sparkill. This is a great area to camp if you’re leaving after work. Then you can get dinner at the Tallman Grill by NoCo, and hang out at the Tallman Beach and Pool Club–just keep in mind it closes at 10 pm. The next morning, get breakfast at the Orangetown Classic Diner before heading into Rockland State Psychiatric Hospital in Orangeburg to start your haunted road trip.
The Inside Scoop from Zaq:
“There really is nothing like visiting an old mental hospital to remind you to feel grateful for, you know, not getting lobotomized or whatever. Rockland was once one of the largest mental asylums in New York, but the patients and staff now take up only a tiny portion of the campus, which spans over 600 acres.
If you wander through the warrens of crumbling buildings, you’ll find rooms at varying levels of creepiness, from an abandoned bowling alley (3/10 scare points) to mouldering children’s wards (12/10 — the eyeless stuffed toys are totally going to come to life any second and get stabby, get me out of here, thx).”