South Carolina State Hospital

My special guest tonight is author William Bechheit who's here to discuss South Carolina's Lunatic Asylum founded in 1821. Nearly two decades after it closed, the South Carolina State Hospital continues to hold a palpable mystique in Columbia and throughout the state. Founded in 1821 as the South Carolina Lunatic Asylum, it housed, fed, and treated thousands of patients incapable of surviving on their own. The patient population in 1961 eclipsed 6,600, well above its listed capacity of 4,823, despite an operating budget that ranked 45th out of the 48 states with such large public hospitals. By the mid-1990s, the patient population had fallen under 700, and the hospital had become a symbol of captivity, horror, and chaos. Author William Buchheit details this history through the words and interviews of those who worked on the iconic campus.   🔮 Unlock The Vault! Become a ⭐️ Mysterian ⭐️ and get instant access to hundreds of ad-free, uncensored episodes — plus exclusive bonus editions. 🎧 Start your FREE 7-day trial on Patreon: 👉 patreon.com/mysteriousradio 📡 Confirm Your Signal You're always out there... listening in the dark. Confirm your signal and get automatic entry into every giveaway we run. 👉 Confirm your signal here 🌐 Visit mysteriousradio.com to explore all membership tiers. 📲 Download the Patreon app for iOS 📲 Download the Patreon app for Android   👽 THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE. SO IS YOUR COFFEE. Meet Mysterious Grounds Coffee — seriously delicious premium coffee for people who like their mornings bold and their world a little unexplained. Choose Area 51 Roast, Eerie Grounds, or Zombie Drip. UFOs? Classified. Ghosts? Investigating. Zombies? Before 8 A.M., absolutely. Amazing coffee? CONFIRMED. ☕ Get yours at MysteriousGrounds.com Brew something strange. NOTICE: This audio, RSS feed, and associated metadata are the exclusive intellectual property of Mysterious Radio. Unauthorized redistribution, modification, suppressed metrics, or insertion of third-party tracking prefixes or advertising into this feed without express written consent is prohibited and may constitute copyright infringement (17 U.S.C. § 1201), unauthorized computer access (18 U.S.C. § 1030), and wire fraud (18 U.S.C. § 1343). Violations will be reported to federal authorities.