insane asylum hike

Today I went hiking in the area around my customer's site. There's a huge farm there with lots of trails.

My customer's site was built near the ruins of an insane asylum that was active in the late 1800s. Lots of murders and abuses went on there and eventually Rhode Island came up with a series of reforms and the asylum shut down. It was run by the owner of Smithfield Farm and he often beat and raped the women who were housed there (most of them for being unwed mothers). He would also kill the really crazy people.

As I walked along the trails I could see remains of Hanton City, also known as the lost city. I was lucky to be here before the vegetation was in bloom, so I could see the remains of the city.

one of the many stone walls built in the forest

No one knows what happened to the city. One theory is that the residents were runaway slaves living there secretly (one assumes they eventually left when slaves were freed). But the theory is unlikely because they would not have had the equipment to build the structures that are found in the lost city.

Another theory is that the city was where people with communicable diseases were isolated, which would explain why it's so remote.

A third theory is that the city was founded by British Loyalists, who were either forced to live in isolation or did it on their own.

I found the grave yard:

 

...which was pretty creepy. Also, all along the trail were stacked cairns. It felt like walking around the woods where they filmed the blair witch project.

Finally I came out on an area of the trail where the power lines are:

 It was pretty bizarre to walk out of a dense forest and see this. The power lines made a low hum. And, oddly, I could hear a band playing at what I'm guessing was the Bryant University campus. Spooky.

Then the weather turned and I was worried it would start snowing again (it snowed yesterday) so I headed back to my hotel (getting lost, briefly, on a trail).

That was one of the eeriest hikes I've ever done.

I head back to civilization Tuesday morning. I'm glad. I only brought one outfit to work out in and it smells really bad.

If you ever happen to find yourself in this area I recommend the house of pizza and yamoto sushi. I've been eating at both places all week.