By Cheri Sicard
Some abandoned places stay off-limits behind locked gates and no-trespassing signs. That is why this stop at Indiana State Sanatorium felt so different. For Mona of the This Van Life of Mine channel, who had always wanted to tour old hospitals, schools, mansions, and sanatoriums, this was the day that dream finally happened.
While staying with her friend DK at a campground near Raccoon Lake in Rockdale, Indiana, Mona spotted a sign on the way into town. A quick search revealed that the now-abandoned Indiana State Sanatorium was open to the public for a fee.
After seeing the sign, Mona and her friend DK stopped by the office and spoke with Sam, who shared background on the property and what had happened there over the years. That was enough to lock in the plan. By the next day, they were ready for a self-guided tour, and the excitement was real. Mona even picked up a T-shirt as proof that this long-held wish had finally come true.
A quick look at Indiana State Sanatorium’s history
Indiana State Sanatorium opened in 1908 as a tuberculosis hospital for the state and stayed in that role until 1968. It was built as a self-sufficient campus, so both patients and staff lived on-site.
In 1978, the property reopened as the Lee Alan Bryant Center, which included a nursing home and psychiatric hospital. Then the state shut it down in 2011. Since 2021, the site has reopened for photography, urban exploration, and paranormal investigations, while restoration work continues. Current tour details and booking info are available through the Indiana State Sanatorium website.
Inside the original sanatorium
The first big moment came fast. Mona walked up the stairs, stepped inside, and saw the red-carpet grand staircase. Even in decay, it still hinted at how beautiful the building once was.
For $25, visitors can do a self-tour, and it easily fills a full day. Mona and DK lost track of each other almost at once because the place is so large. They kept meeting back up, comparing notes on rooms, staircases, and details the other had missed. After lunch, the staff let them back in so they could keep going.
Adams Hall, the nursing home, and what was left behind
Later, Mona moved on to Adams Hall. Built in 1954, it first housed staff. During the Lee Alan Bryant years, it became the psychiatric ward. The first and second floors were co-ed, the third floor was for women, the fourth for men, and the fifth for violent men.
The rooms there felt smaller, likely because the building began as staff housing.
In the nursing home section, the halls widened, and the rooms got larger. Bathrooms were shared across the hall, and some rooms had no windows at all, which made them dark even during the day.
One detail stuck with Mona more than anything else: a spring/summer week one menu still hanging on the wall. That kind of leftover everyday object made the place feel less like a haunted attraction and more like a life interrupted.
History mattered more than ghost stories
Mona made her personal view clear: She does not believe in ghosts or the paranormal. So the visit did not feel scary to her. Instead, she saw history, old systems of care, and the remains of lives left behind when the property closed in 2011.
That approach shaped the whole tour. Even with flashlight tours, paranormal interest, and the tunnel still ahead, the strongest part of the visit was the human story in the rooms, halls, and objects that remained.
Indiana State Sanatorium gave Mona something rare, a legal way to walk through a place she had wanted to experience for years. What stayed with her was not fear, but the scale of the property and the traces of people who once lived and worked there. For this stop in van life, history was more than a backdrop. It was the whole reason the place felt unforgettable.
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