The White Sanitarium of Central Texas

Posted: 03.01.2021 | Updated: 03.06.2025

Nothing says scary like an abandoned insane asylum in Texas. The White Sanitarium, known to locals as the Old Insane Asylum, sits just off California Street in Wichita Falls.

This haunted insane asylum first opened in 1926 under the direction of Frank S. White. Frank was formerly the superintendent at the Austin State Hospital, and wanted to open another asylum which championed a more “humane” view towards mental health.

White thought that the facility should resemble a home more than a prison. The White Sanitarium opened as a more pleasant place for the mentally ill to exist despite the Texas asylum practicing controversial procedures such as electroshock therapy and lobotomies.

During the 50 years it sat vacant, the White Sanitarium became a well-known hangout. Teenagers used the Sanitarium as a place to party, and ghost hunters came looking for signs of the paranormal. Throughout the decades, locals kept hearing the same stories.

The apparitions of mentally ill patients in hospital gowns, the glowing ends of ghost cigarettes floating in the air, and the voices of disembodied children. Many have also seen lights on through the windows of the building, even though there hasn’t been power for over 50 years.

In 2008, several paranormal investigators along with a local journalist entered the building looking for hard evidence of paranormal activity. They recorded loads of paranormal interactions, including EVPs and recordings of unusual voices.

Spiritual matters in Texas tend to create odd distrubances such as these. Find out for yourself on an Austin ghost tour with Austin Ghosts!

Who Haunts The White Sanitarium In Witchita Falls?

The White Sanitarium in Wichita Falls, Texas, is rumored to be haunted by the spirits of former patients, including a mysterious woman in white who has been seen wandering the halls. Visitors and paranormal investigators have reported eerie noises, strange lights flickering in empty rooms, and even fresh cigarette butts appearing out of nowhere, despite no one smoking in the abandonded Texas asylum.

The White Sanitarium: Early Days

Frank S. White was the superintendent of the Austin State Hospital in the early 20th century. While working at the hospital, he became enamored by the facilities emphasis on proper treatment of the mentally ill.

Instead of the exorcisms, banishment, and stigmatization of the 19th century, the asylum movement was seeking to provide care to the mentally ill, and ease them back into a normal mode of life. After leaving his post at the Austin State Hospital, White opened his own asylum, the White Sanitarium.

The White Sanitarium was modeled after the Austin State Hospital in that White aimed to “deinstitutionalize” mental health care. He wanted to provide the mentally ill with a pleasant place to live.

White aimed to remove the weight of being in an insane asylum from the backs of his patients, hoping to ease their recovery. The White Sanitarium was meant to be more like a residence, as opposed to an institution, and a number of activities were provided to the patients to stimulate their minds.

Instead of being confined into a single room for most of the day, patients were free to roam the halls of the Sanitarium. They had a communal living room, a library, and a card table.

Electroshock Therapy in Texas

Though the facility was relatively modern and humane for its time, the facility still performed controversial experiments on its patients, especially on those who acted out. Electroshock therapy was common.

Electroconvulsive therapy, as it’s called today, induces mini seizures in an attempt to provide relief to mental disorders. Many say that it does more harm than good, leaving patients traumatized, and sometimes causing damage to heart and brain tissue.

The White Sanitarium also performed lobotomies, a barbaric practice which tried to cure mental disorders by drilling a small hole into the patient’s skull. Most patients who received lobotomies were left with severe brain damage and completely unable to function in any normal capacity.

Those who were lucky enough to not end up as a vegetable were rendered emotionally blunted and in a trance-like state. A high percentage of these patients committed suicide.

Frank S. White only ran the Sanitarium for five years before an illness forced him to retire. The asylum stayed open under different directors until the 1950s. A major storm hit the area and caused heavy flooding, damaging the building and closing it for good.

The White Sanitarium fell into disrepair, and it became known to locals as the Old Insane Asylum. Like most abandoned buildings, ghost hunters, vandals, urban explorers and adventurous teens were drawn to the Sanitarium looking for a thrill. Most found what they were looking for.

The White Sanitarium was recently purchased and renovated. The haunted insane asylum has since been repurposed as an apartment building. Yikes!

A Texas Haunted Hospital | White Sanitarium

Insane asylums are known to be haunted, and the White Sanitarium has an especially high concentration of ghosts and paranormal phenomena. Most of the town of Wichita Falls is familiar with the Old Insane Asylum, and just about everybody has heard the stories.

Many have seen the ghost of a woman dressed in all white roaming the halls. Drivers claimed to have seen her on multiple occasions in the windows.

The apparitions of other patients have been seen often. They are clearly mentally ill and always wearing hospital gowns. Quite a few patients died at the White Sanitarium due to the experimental procedures, notably the lobotomies and electroshock therapy. It is believed that these apparitions are these dead insane asylum patients.

The old texas haunted hospital allowed patients to smoke inside, as many places did at the time. Witnesses say they’ve seen the glowing ends of cigarette butts floating in the air. These ghost cigarettes are most commonly seen around the card table, accompanied by the shadows of strange men.

Abandonded, the asylum hasn’t had running water or electricity for over fifty years. Yet, witnesses and passersby have seen lights on in the building. Others have heard running water flowing through the basement pipes. An eerie symphony of cascading liquid that quickly reminds all brave enough to enter of exactly where they are.

The White Sanitarium Investigation

In 2008, a group of paranormal investigators, along with a local TV reporter, decided to dive into the mysteries of the White Sanitarium. Armed with audio recorders, EVPs, a TV camera, and multiple smaller cameras, the crew went to see for themselves the terrors that lie in the haunted Texas asylum.

Within minutes of entering, the entire team’s electronics went down. One expert says that spirits feed off electrical fields when present, usually to absorb enough energy to become visible.

The EVP recorded the most activity in the living room and library. This is most likely where the patients spent most of their time. The cameras and audio recorders also went down, recording mostly static in these areas, and the crew felt cold spots and strong gusts of air. In the library especially, the crew had strong EVP readings.

Despite there not being any children present, the crew heard childlike voices, which were picked up on the audio recorder, along with conversations from unknown adult spirits. An old bicycle horn was also heard chiming in the library of the haunted insane asylum.

The investigation crew also felt a strong feeling of being watched, as a general sense of heaviness and uneasiness while in the building.

Learn more about the haunted history of Texas!

Texas is a big place. That means more ghosts and bigger haunted houses! Before taking a trip down to the Lone Star State, make sure to read up on local Texas haunts.

Austin State Hospital (which the White Sanitarium was modeled after) Skinwalker Ranch, and the town of Jefferson are some of the most haunted places in Texas.

Think you have what it takes to explore haunted Austin? Join us on an Austin ghost tour for an look into their world.

In the meantime, follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok for the latest and creepiest haunted content!

Sources:

• http://www.texasescapes.com/MikeCoxTexasTales/Haunted-Asylum-of-Wichita-Falls.htm
• https://www.onlyinyourstate.com/texas/haunted-asylum-tx/
• http://legendtripping.com/white-sanitarium-better-known-as-old-insane-asylum-texas/
• https://medium.com/@maryannpoll/haunted-destinations-white-sanitarium-wichita-falls-tx-5dece908068c