What happened
The asylum in Owińska was founded in 1838 in the buildings of a former Cistercian convent. For decades it was the only public psychiatric hospital in the Province of Posen and one of the best-equipped in Germany, and after 1920 it came under Polish administration. In autumn 1939, after occupying Greater Poland, the Germans murdered about 1,100 patients – one of the first mass killings of psychiatric patients in occupied Poland. Some were shot in the forests near Oborniki, others died in the gas chamber at Fort VII in Poznań. From 1943 to 1945 a labour camp operated here, and from 1952 to 1993 a youth correctional centre. Since then part of the complex has stood empty. Locals and visitors speak of a child crying, footsteps in the corridors and unexplained lights in the windows – legend says the patients never left.
Witnesses
Local residents and urban explorers; the accounts are retold by “National Geographic Traveler” and travel websites.
Explanations and hypotheses
The murder of the Owińska patients is a documented crime, described by historians of psychiatry. The ghost stories grew out of this tragedy and the emptiness of the abandoned buildings, and there is no confirmation of them. The site is now privately owned. The victims are remembered at the memorial in Fort VII in Poznań and in Jakub Małecki's novel “Przemytnik cudu”.
Legend A story handed down through generations – it can be neither confirmed nor disproved.
Sources
More: Wikipedia (pl) Wikipedia (en)