Homeland Security Seeks Asylum At Former Mental Hospital

By Julian Wash
For: rattlereport.com

In a humorous example of the expression “if the shoe fits” the Department of Homeland Security has apparently decided on a future headquarters location -a former mental hospital.

St. Elizabeth’s Hospital, which is situated on a 176-acre parcel, will play host to a $4.5 billion site development, helping to consolidate some 50 locations currently used by the agency throughout the Capitol.

It will mark the largest construction project in the District of Columbia since 1943 when the Pentagon was completed.  The location, which has largely remained deserted since the hospital closed in the 1960′s, now provides sanctuary for deer, wild turkey and even a bald eagle.  Outside the tall security fence surrounding the property a much more hostile environment is known to exist.  The former asylum is located in Anacostia, a D.C. neighborhood known for its high crime rate.

DHS intends on using many of the original old hospital buildings, including a dining hall where inmates once took their meals.  The restored cafeteria, festooned with hanging pastel-colored globes, will someday accommodate upwards of three hundred Homeland Security employees. 

But there is much work ahead.  Flashlights and golf carts are used for navigation throughout the facility which remains in various stages of decay, not least to mention the holes in the floor and collapsing ceilings.  It’s been reported that the heat had been left on for a number of years after the hospital had closed and the effects of the “steam” in the building caused excessive rotting and floors to collapse on each other.

DHS seems to be inexplicably drawn to this ominous location, undoubtedly their reasons are manyfold.