from: Patrick

Until the late 70’s, early 80’s, there was a building in the city of Euclid, on Euclid Avenue, just West of E. 260th. (where the current retirement home is, on the south side of Euclid Ave) I remember relatives saying it was “the nut house” and I think it was the old Ridgecliff Psych Hospital, before it became Laurelwood and moved to Willoughby. Anybody able to offer any insight to me? Second part, also on the east side. Warrensville Heights, where the current Metro Health Skilled Nursing facility is (on the same property as Tri-C East). I have heard conflicting stories on this property. Is this the old Sunny Acres Hospital, which treated TB? The old nurses dorm (so I’ve been told) still stands, and from the outside, looks like it’s in pretty bad shape, and is supposedly haunted. Any truth to that? Third (and final) part… across the street from Tri-C East (where the Armed Forces Recruiting building is). There was (until 2000 or 2001) a group of buildings that was possibly the forerunner of the County Hospital which I’ve been told treated the poor, and psych patients. The buildings looked reallllly creepy before they were torn down. Is the info I got accurate? Any insight you could give would be appreciated.

Patrick

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17 thoughts on “Questions

  1. I was the last one to live in the Ridgecliff "nut house" before it was demolished, I was the caretaker there for about 9 months in what I would guess would be 1982ish. I was 19 years old and my father was working in commercial real-estate at the time and his company was attempting to sell the old mansion and accompanying side building after the mental facility closed. I was offered the job by my father as they needed someone to cut the lawn and keep an eye on the place. I spent many a night there alone and I can stand here as a very honest and alert person and tell you with out a doubt that this place was very haunted. Not only was it haunted with the souls that stayed there as a mental facility it also had spirits from the old mansion that stayed in the top floor of the mansion once used as the servants quarters. The amazing level of paranormal activity chased away roommates and finally spooked me to the point that i could no longer stay there. I have many stories from those 9 months and i will attempt to post some of them here over the next few weeks. Todd

  2. My mom used to be a patient at sunny acres/metroheath. It was used until a few years ago, when they decided to sell it and build a nicer facility near Parma. I don't know what happened with the sale or what's going on now, but all the patients have moved to different hospitals and I think it's empty now, though I drove past it earlier this week and there was a window open and a light on. It's not really in bad shape, it's just old. I don't know if it's haunted. i'm not really that good at feeling stuff and my mom isn't really able to tell much (there's a reason she lives in a nursing home).

  3. me and some of my friends checked it out last night. i've lived in euclid my whole life and i've never heard of it before we went there. it was lightweight scary. the bridge was prolly the weirdest part. we couldnt tell if it was underneathe there though cause there was some window openings it looked like.

  4. I remember Ridgecliff Hospital at the top of the Hill of Ridge & Bishop. Only the lighthouse remains. It was a beautiful home with beautiful grounds. Why was it demolished and what is its history prior to being a psych hospital?

  5. Hillandale is much closer to I-90, past the old Parklawn apartment complex. CuyLa was up the hill and just behind a subdivision of 50s tract houses. Ironically, the ex-wife of the owner worked at Ridgecliff.

    Ridgecliff was at Euclid, just W of E 260th in the 70s and the early 80s. Previously, that building had been Glencliff Nursing Home. The original Ridgecliff Hospital (aka Ridgecliff Asylum) was at the top of the hill where Ridge & Bishop Roads meet in Wickliffe. It was in an old house with a mock lighthouse next door, across from Wickliffe City Hall. The house, a one time mansion, was demolished in the 80s.

    Ridgecliff & Glencliff were owned by Paul Glendinning, a physician from a Social Register family, who has multiple sclerosis. He held forth primarily at Glencliff. In the early 70s, ownership changed to a non-profit which sold the original Ridgecliff and consolidated at the old Glencliff site, as a psychiatric facility. Because of the nursing home connection, Ridgecliff saw a lot of elderly patients. I worked there in the late 70s and learned a great deal about Alzheimer's because of it.

    The facility in Euclid was outdated, which led to the move to Willoughby.

  6. I think you are talking about the old cuyla home it is loacated on hillendale drive which is just east of e260th the place looks huanted looking feom the outside.

  7. I lived and grew up in the Hillandale "subdivision"/ track homes mentioned above. I lived on Collidge Drive. My grandmother spent her last days at Cuyla Homes Nursing Home at the top of the hill to the left and to the right was an impressive log home that the neighboring homes used their grounds for each year for wonderful "block parties" with all day event of pot luck, parade, games and live band. There is still a rock wall entrance on Euclid Avenue that my mom spent many hours trying to beautify with flowers and TLC. There was no such thing then as an association for such things, but they established a community group to maintain the area. My mom was secretary for years and I remember as a child cranking the "mimeograph" machine to print out purple ink fliers about the block parties and neighborhood meetings/issues. As a child, I remember seeing a faded sign for Cyla Homes ( I don't think that's how it was spelled) leading left "up the hill" and to the right was our block party and in later years the city of Euclid put up a city playground with structured activities. Beyond the park was what we called the "sand pits" that was an area of creviced land that after a rain became muddy and dangerous. I remember exploring it once and lost a boot in the mud at the bottom of one..like quick sand. The Cuyla Homes was an old home used as a nursing home, but as a kid of course we all made up scary stories about it because you could just see a bit of fire escapes and old wood through the trees. The first time I "went up the left side of the hill" was when I was 16 or 17 and my grandmother was brought from Fla. to live there. It was a quaint old home that smelled of old wood and old people. I have bitter-sweet memories of the place…although it was within walking distance for me to visit my grandmother, she had (as I understand now, but not as a teen) Alzheimer and I stopped visiting because she didn't remember who I was. As a social worker now and with a mother who has Alzheimer's, I wish I had "gone to that scary place" I grew up with. I don't even know if Cyla Homes is still there. It is a shame that we associate Cyla Homes and Ridgecliff Hospital with "creepy stuff". (I also worked with client at Ridgecliff-another post). This is how stigma gets perpetuated and the places at the grass roots of care don't get the neighborhood/community/ state help they need. I hope those of you like me that grew up with the "scary stories" of these places will take the time to "take the road (less traveled) up the hill and encourage your children to do the same to make a difference and debunk the "scary stories and folklore" and support these places as they are falling to the wayside and being taken over by "big box" insurance company control and mandated care.

  8. I remember as a teen living in Euclid about 1968, there was a supposed old asylum called Cuyla, . Think it was actually an old building used as a nursing home. A car full of my friends and I drove up a road that dead ended into a woods, must have been next to the road actually ending at Cuyla building.. Supposedly there were cages in the ground where the once asylum existed. Was said to be haunted area. We as well as many other teens drove up the dead end road next to the road actually leading to the Cuyla Nursing Home. Couldn't see the building from this dark dead end road. Legend was that in the woods at end of road is where there were in ground cells where years ago rumor was insane people were kept. The people who once were in these in ground cages, haunted the area. I don't recall hearing of anyone actually getting out of the car and looking for the in ground old deserted cells. We were told that if you got out of car and walked in wooded area you would hear chains rattle from the ghosts who died there. I think some used the dead end as a place to park ans drink and or make out in the 1960's. I remember driving up there 2 times with group of teens I hung out with. No 1 would get out of the car. We never saw any spirits or heard any chains or cries of suffering patients. It was still a scarey experience for us. Wonder if that road is still there? If the building that housed the 2nd Ridgecliff up the hill on Euclid Avenue was ever haunted, it was after I was older and had moved away from Euclid. Can't remember how close the 2 were, Cuyla and Ridgecliff, but Cuyla was a much older place. I remember visiting a patient in Ridgecliff Psych Hospital in about 1974. The hospital had a beautiful garden like area behind the building. It was not a scarey
    place at the time I visited there. Never was in Cuyla, but know it was much older buiilding.

  9. I came across this as I was trying to list my work history. I worked at Cuy-La in 1987-1990 as a nursing assistant. I did not drive at the time so I would have to walk up that long hill. I would have to stop before getting to the middle. I was 19 at the time (Lol) eventually it became a breeze and I could get up there in no time flat! The name came from the building from where it sat. At the bottom of the hill was in Cuyahoga County and at the top of the hill where the building sat was Lake County. Thus the name Cuy-La. The big house was the owners original home and across from it was the original nursing home. The nursing home burnt down and they converted the big house into the new nursing home. The old one was gone well before I started working there. It was an all female facility and the owners resided there to oversee the home. I remember the days when the Amish ladies would come once a month to clean and do the windows. The residents were elderly with some bedridden. Thats how it was when I worked there and I worked the second shift. So I don't know anything about it being an asylum.

  10. I came across this as I was trying to list my work history. I worked at Cuy-La in 1987-1990 as a nursing assistant. I did not drive at the time so I would have to walk up that long hill. I would have to stop before getting to the middle. I was 19 at the time (Lol) eventually it became a breeze and I could get up there in no time flat! The name came from the building from where it sat. At the bottom of the hill was in Cuyahoga County and at the top of the hill where the building sat was Lake County. Thus the name Cuy-La. The big house was the owners original home and across from it was the original nursing home. The nursing home burnt down and they converted the big house into the new nursing home. The old one was gone well before I started working there. It was an all female facility and the owners resided there to oversee the home. I remember the days when the Amish ladies would come once a month to clean and do the windows. The residents were elderly with some bedridden. Thats how it was when I worked there and I worked the second shift. So I don't know anything about it being an asylum.

  11. I knew an LPN who worked there but not for long, she worked the 3rd shift and said at night the fawcett's kept turning on , after she would shut off and walk away just to hear faucet turn on again, she stopped shut off faucet and watched faucet turn on again right in front of her eyes she left after shift and never went back! Does anyone know if blog. Still there? I would like to take an adventure!

  12. I knew an LPN who worked there but not for long, she worked the 3rd shift and said at night the fawcett's kept turning on , after she would shut off and walk away just to hear faucet turn on again, she stopped shut off faucet and watched faucet turn on again right in front of her eyes she left after shift and never went back! Does anyone know if blog. Still there? I would like to take an adventure!

  13. I worked with a company who owned Hillandale(cuy-la) in the early 2000's. Sat on top of a hill and after the leaves fell in the fall the buildings sillohuette could be seen through the trees from route 90. And had a steep drive up hillendale st. To get there. The company that owned the building moved the residents out and then the building had to be torn down due to being unsafe to reside in. I remember attending dept. Meetings there and attending a dept. Halloween party there, it must of been an awesome personal home at one time. Each time I went, the dept. Attendees had to go to the 3rd floor, no air conditioning, so for air circulation we had to open large windows that led out to fire escapes. I always felt those fire escapes were not safe due to hearing them creak with the slightest breeze and causing them to slightly move too. Also always got a feeling of really strange energy and a sense of being watched when I was there. One of the residents that lived there and was pretty coherent and oriented divulged to me, that the place was very haunted, but not to worry most of the spirits were okay, but a few were difficult and could harass the residents, ie; pulling blankets off on a cold night, sounds in the night and such. Interesting place though, but sadly no longer there.

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