00:00Moving northeast to Jones County near Monticello, Iowa, stands a location with a far more sobering past, Edinburgh Manor.
00:08Before the manor itself was built, the land was home to Jones County Poor Farm, established in the mid-19th
00:14century.
00:16Between 1850 and 1910, dozens of residents died on the property from disease, old age, and tragic accidents.
00:23In fact, a small unmarked cemetery sits just off the property grounds, containing the final resting places of over 80
00:31souls who passed away while living at the poor farm.
00:34By 1910, the original wood-framed poor farm building was deemed unsafe and tore down.
00:41In its place, the county constructed a sprawling two-story stone building designed specifically to serve as a long-term
00:51care facility for elderly and the mentally ill.
00:55Edenburg Manor
00:56Edenburg Manor operated continuously from 1911 all the way until 2010, functioning as an asylum and care center for individuals
01:06with nowhere else to go.
01:07For nearly a century, hundreds of residents lived within its sterile walls.
01:12Over its hundred-year operation, record books document numerous natural deaths, along with suicides and sudden medical emergencies.
01:19The sheer concentration of human struggle, isolation, and emotional suffering created a heavy, palpable atmosphere that seems to have soaked
01:27directly into the building's original posture and floorboards.
