Written by:  Rick Garner Case Filed:  08 /18/19 - Spring City, Pennsylvania Executive Producer:  Rick Garner Pennhurst Asylum. Spring City, Pennsylvania. Officailly known as Pennhurst State School and Hospital, this property was originally named the Eastern Pennsylvania State Institution for the Feeble-Minded and Epileptic. For 79 years, its buildings housed thousands of mentally and physically disabled. It would seem many remain here.  On November 23, 1908, the first patient was admitted. By 1912, the facility was overcrowded. At the time, the mentally ill were considered a blight on society - to be feared and not allowed to associated with the general population. A Pennhurst Chief Physician, Dr. Henry H. Goddard, even said, "Every feeble-minded person is a potential criminal." Spciety's view on those  “feeble minded” essentially excused unspeakable horrors to be exercised in the halls and rooms of Pennhurst. in 1968, reporter Bill Baldini exposed conditions