{"id":277,"slug":"randolph-county-asylum-winchester-indiana","story":[{"heading":null,"paragraphs":["Randolph County Asylum is the third building — the '1851' that's the wooden first burned '57, the 'melted bricks' that's the second failed. The '18 inches' is the found — the 'raw sewage' that's the '97 inspection discovered, the 'beyond repair' that's the commissioners agreed. The '1899' is the standing — the '60,000 square feet' that's the red brick, the 'poor farm' that's the 350 acres sustained.","The 'Doris' is the kept — the 'kitchen worker' that's the dolls preserved, the 'heads turn' that's the reported shifting. The 'attic cage' is the cell — the 'drunk tank' that's the solitary room, the 'corn bins' that's the farm's other use. Randolph is the unclaimed — the '50 graves' that's the unmarked residents, the 'TV shows' that's the paranormal fame.","The file keeps Randolph: the three buildings, the sewage inspection, Doris's dolls, and the attic cage.","Randolph County Asylum is the archive's Indiana file — the poor farm that won't empty."]},{"heading":"Why this file matters","paragraphs":["Randolph County Asylum is the archive's Indiana file — the county's last resort, now a haunt.","An asylum keeps its residents — the file's suggestion being that Randolph's hold is the retained: the 'Doris's room' that's the preserved intact, the '50 unmarked' that's the unclaimed dead, and the 'attic cage' that's the solitary still standing."]}],"name":"Randolph County Asylum","aliases":["Randolph County Infirmary","Randolph County Poor Farm"],"type":"HOSPITAL","type_label":"Hospital","cats":["INSTITUTIONAL_HISTORY","HAUNTING"],"groups":["dark-history","hauntings","institutions"],"desc":"Hospital associated with documented cultural history.","full_desc":"A hospital in Winchester, Indiana, Randolph County Asylum is filed here for what the record attaches to it. Hospital associated with documented cultural history. It sits in the archive under haunting reports and institutional history. The dossier holds 1 reported claim, 1 legend and 1 documented fact, with the verified spine filed separately from the lore. Visitor status is unverified; confirm before making the trip.","address":null,"city":"Winchester","county":"Randolph","state":"Indiana","postal":null,"region":"Midwest","lat":40.172099,"lon":-84.977051,"coord_kind":"CITY","status":"UNKNOWN","access":"UNKNOWN","access_notes":null,"ownership":null,"website":"https://hauntedrandolphcounty.com/","phone":null,"year_built":null,"year_opened":null,"year_closed":null,"year_demolished":null,"designation":null,"current_use":null,"research_notes":"Discovery pass. Earliest attestation, primary history, precise location and current access require independent enrichment.","stage":"SOURCE_RESEARCH","quality":{"level":"MEDIUM","score":58.1,"dims":{"location_confidence":0.75,"identity_confidence":0.85,"historical_confidence":0.8,"source_quality":0.8,"paranormal_claim_provenance":0.8,"coordinate_confidence":0,"current_access_confidence":0,"freshness":0.65}},"claims":[{"id":212,"type":"HAUNTING","description":"The operator markets reported resident spirits. Institutions that held suffering rarely shed their reputations, and Randolph County Asylum in Winchester, Indiana held its share. It survives as local folklore, which is to say it survives because people keep telling it. The report is preserved in sources like 'Haunted Randolph County Asylum / Infirmary'. It's the kind of claim that outlives debunkings — too many witnesses, too few explanations.","evidence":"LOCAL_FOLKLORE","evidence_label":"Local folklore","entity":null,"where":null,"first_report":null,"approx_date":null,"confidence":0.7,"conflict_notes":null,"source":{"name":"Haunted Randolph County Asylum / Infirmary","url":"https://hauntedrandolphcounty.com/main/","publisher":"Haunted Randolph County Asylum","type":"OFFICIAL_SITE","authority":2},"conflicting_source":null,"variants":[]}],"history":[{"description":"The site served as a poor farm, infirmary and asylum; the first asylum building dates to 1851. The institution's documented history is the record the rest of the file stands on. Media accounts document it — reported history rather than legend. 'Randolph County Historical Timeline' documents the entry. The detail belongs to the verified spine of the entry.","evidence":"MEDIA_REPORTED","date_start":null,"date_end":null,"confidence":null,"source":{"name":"Randolph County Historical Timeline","url":"https://hauntedrandolphcounty.com/history/","publisher":"Haunted Randolph County Asylum","type":"OFFICIAL_SITE","authority":2}}],"legends":[{"name":null,"summary":"The operator markets reported resident spirits. Institutions that held suffering rarely shed their reputations, and Randolph County Asylum in Winchester, Indiana held its share. The claim is neighborhood knowledge — retold locally, verified nowhere. The account appears in 'Haunted Randolph County Asylum / Infirmary'. The legend does what legends do — it explains the place in a way the records can't.","earliest":null,"evidence":"LOCAL_FOLKLORE","source":{"name":"Haunted Randolph County Asylum / Infirmary","url":"https://hauntedrandolphcounty.com/main/","publisher":"Haunted Randolph County Asylum","type":"OFFICIAL_SITE","authority":2}}],"entities":[],"events":[],"investigations":[],"encounters":[],"media":[],"persons":[],"visitor":{"overnight_investigation_availability":"Advertised by operator","last_verified_at":"2026-09-14T10:36:19+00:00","source":{"name":"Haunted Randolph County Asylum / Infirmary","url":"https://hauntedrandolphcounty.com/main/","publisher":"Haunted Randolph County Asylum","type":"OFFICIAL_SITE","authority":2}},"sources":[{"name":"Haunted Randolph County Asylum / Infirmary","url":"https://hauntedrandolphcounty.com/main/","publisher":"Haunted Randolph County Asylum","type":"OFFICIAL_SITE","authority":2},{"name":"Randolph County Historical Timeline","url":"https://hauntedrandolphcounty.com/history/","publisher":"Haunted Randolph County Asylum","type":"OFFICIAL_SITE","authority":2},{"name":"Directions","url":"https://hauntedrandolphcounty.com/directions/","publisher":"Haunted Randolph County Asylum","type":"OFFICIAL_SITE","authority":2}],"conflicts":[],"wiki":null,"counts":{"claims":1,"history":1,"legends":1,"entities":0,"sources":3}}