An Island of Outcasts

Just a stone's throw from the bustling prosperity of Manhattan lies a two-mile strip of land that once served as New York City's ultimate rug to sweep its problems under. Originally acquired by the city in 1828, Blackwell's Island rapidly transformed into an inescapable containment zone for the criminal, the destitute, and the contagious. Instead of upscale apartments, the island boasted a grim trifecta: a gothic Smallpox Hospital, a formidable Penitentiary, and the notorious New York City Lunatic Asylum. In a cruel stroke of municipal efficiency, much of the island's heavy architecture was constructed using the forced labor of the inmates, who quarried local gray gneiss rock to build their very own cages.

Nellie Bly and the Mad-House

The island's asylum became legendary in 1887 for all the wrong reasons when pioneering investigative journalist Nellie Bly feigned a mental breakdown just to get committed. She willingly subjected herself to the freezing baths, rotten food, and sadistic nurses of Blackwell's to uncover the truth. Her explosive exposé, "Ten Days in a Mad-House," revealed that many inmates were just poor immigrants who couldn't speak English, locked away and driven genuinely mad by the horrifying conditions. The ensuing public outrage forced sweeping reforms, though the island's haunting reputation was permanently cemented into the bedrock of the city.

The Ruins That Remain

Today, the island has been rebranded as Roosevelt Island, complete with a scenic aerial tramway and luxury condominiums, but it hasn't entirely shaken off its morbid past. Living atop an epicenter of Victorian misery might seem strange, but prime real estate always trumps a few lingering ghosts.

• The Renwick Ruin, the ivy-strangled remains of the former Smallpox Hospital, still stands at the southern tip like a gothic ghost ship.
• The Octagon, once the grand entrance to the horrific lunatic asylum, has been bizarrely incorporated into a modern residential complex.