Abandoned Slaughterhouse, Marlboro NJ
The Story:
Many years ago before most of you were even born, the Marlboro slaughterhouse was part of a large farm, over 500 acres. This farm was owned and operated by a man who went by Mr. Allen, and earlier his family. Unfortunately, the state decided they wanted to build a psychiatric hospital conveniently on Mr. Allen’s farm land. Obviously Allen refused to sell his land, but this did not stop the state. This essentially robbed the man of his livelihood and left him with a few pennies in his pocket. The farm buildings were left to rot and fall apart while the Marlboro Psychiatric Hospital prospered with many buildings and over 1,300 mental patients. Mr. Allen slowly lost his mind and was commonly spotted wandering aimlessly on hospital grounds at night; he even threatened the innocent hospital staff. Allen was arrested and evaluated to be insane and was further hospitalized in the hospital. Yes, the Marlboro Psychiatric Hospital, the same one that took his land and seemingly later, his life. He, Allen, escaped the metal institute and even after a massive manhunt, was never seen again. Soon after his disappearance, squealing animal noises echoed from the empty building to the psychiatric hospital. One night a guard went out to do his rounds and never came back. Some brave staff ventured out to look for him and what they saw was beyond disturbing. There he was, hanging from a hook, underneath him a glossy pool of blood reflecting the pig head that was placed on his roughly decapitated body. No one was ever pinned down for the murder. The Marlboro Psychiatric Hospital was closed in 1998 due to patient abuse. But the ghost of Mr. Allen still protects his land sitting and waiting in the attic of one of the buildings peeking out of a hole rotten in the roof waiting for his next victim to approach.
My Take:
The vibes from this strange place are, well, strange. As I walked through and around all of the buildings of the slaughter property I got the feeling like someone was watching me. I almost feel as though the mythical story is true; that Mr. Allen is watching every adventurer from the attic. Not to mention there are a lot of dead deer on the property, which begs the questions, "Is Mr. Allen still alive? Is it his ghost slaughtering deer? Is someone following in his foot steps?"
Building on the Hill:
The building on the hill, to the right of the slaughterhouse, has always intrigued me. No matter who I ask and what I look up, I have never been able to find information on the building. When you go in you will find a board on the wall that says something along the lines of, “Inmate Sign In.” I believe that this was a school and or camp setting for the younger inmates of the psychiatric hospital. The building has a swing set in the field adjacent to it, a baseball field, a basketball hoop, and school desks on the property.
Locations:
Mapped below is the rough layout of the slaughterhouse property. The "house" on the map is not to be messed with or broken into as it serves as a male halfway house for addicts. Also, here is a list of the general locations and what is there.
Slaughterhouse Buildings: silos, indoor pig pens, outdoor pig pens, barn, water container, misc. buildings.
Farm Barn Building: barn with farm equipment and electrical shed.
School Building: swing set in field, boiler room, school building itself, baseball field and basketball hoop.
Watershed: random building with no known reason
All locations are: ILLEGAL
Parking Location: 40°20'56.3"N74°13'50.1"W
As you can see below I only starred the parking, watershed, farm barn, school, and general area of the slaughter building location. I believe that searching through the slaughter buildings is most of the fun go the adventure there.
Genuine Warnings:
UPDATE: As of 3/29/20 the Marlboro Slaughter House Property has been taped off and under construction. I do not know the state’s plans for the property, as they also have been working on the old Marlboro Psychiatric Hospital property. I am sure if you played your cards right you could still get in for a good adventure, but be careful.
As you can see on the map below there are many buildings on the property, if you go in as a group make sure to stick together as a group, and leave as a group.
The rotten buildings are all very decrepit; it is very easy to disturb the floors and walls that have settle oh so perfectly to not fall apart. If you dare go into the attic you will fall through the floor if you don’t walk carefully on the rafter beams.
Do not park where you are easily spotted from Conover Road. I tend to park directly to the left on the road to the watershed. I also suggest doing a drive by before pulling into the driveway to the property as cops often sit there shooting radar to catch speeders on Conover Road, but they also patrol the property.
There is also a camera on the property. It is in the right field on the top of one of the electrical poles. I am not sure if it evens works of if its connected to anything, but still be vigilant of any other cars pulling onto the property if you're there. Here is a piece of advice: If a cop shows up DO NOT run, it will seem highly suspicious. If you were in a building, exit immediately and continue about your business. Act like you're just there to take some instagram pictures and play dumb; the "Sorry officer, I didn't know this was private property. Our friends told us about the place, we had no idea." line normally works well.
This should all go without saying the slaughterhouse is heavily patrolled by marlboro cops who are anything but understanding and friendly.
DO NOT GET CAUGHT!
Neighboring Location(s):
The wooden hangers that once stood on the airfield no longer do; they were demolished shortly after the airport closing. This as I'm sure may be a bummer for a few of you looking for abandoned buildings…
The land was originally 432 acres of farm land designated for the patients at the Marlboro Psychiatric Hospital. This means that it once contained a piggery, dairy farm and other agricultural operations. The Park System purchased this property from the state in 1997, around the time the hospital closed…
