The abandoned Mount Pleasant Center remains one of the most mysterious buildings in town.

The 119-year-old facility at 1400 W. Pickard St., was the last facility in the state for people with developmental disabilities to be offered
institutionalized treatment plans.

When the institution closed Sept. 10, the state employed heavy security to watch over the building, including cameras and security guards,
said Dave Sabuda, public information officer for the Mount Pleasant Police Department.

The building has “No Trespassing” signs about every 50 feet and all entries and exits are chained off with signs warning people to stay away.

When trespassers are caught, the police are called are they are subject to arrest or citation, Sabuda said.

“They’ve taken a very zero-tolerance approach,” he said.

Sabuda said many people have already been caught trespassing and more patrols are expected for Halloween.

“We’ve been writing quite a lot of citations,” he said. “There must have been at least six this weekend.”

The site claims that blood stains are on the floor, the sounds of moaning can be heard and even in the daytime a spiritual presence can be
felt.

It claims one of the hospital’s attendants was raped and killed by an escaped patient.

Sabuda said a homicide never happened. He said less than a dozen patients escaped over the years and the facility shut down due to budget issues.

“Some people left the grounds, but they were returned,” he said. “Some of them walked off the property and went into residences, but they didn’t hurt anybody.”

Sabuda said security is needed because some of the buildings that may be of interest are unsafe.

He said there are parts of the building that haven’t been maintained in years including spots in the floor where people could fall through.

Some rooms also have old equipment that people could cut themselves on in the dark, he said.

Sabuda said some of the building’s legends may have come from the creepy appearance.

“When you look at the older parts of the building it looks like something out of any scary b-movie,” he said.

E-mail the author: Joe Borlik