Revealed
WELCOME TO HELL GATE
Extraordinary drone footage shows off-limits New York island that once housed a LEPER colony
The spooky off-limits quarantine island where patients – including notorious Typhoid Mary – were locked up for years
EXTRAORDINARY drone footage has been shot of a creepy abandoned leper colony located in an area called Hell Gate - where hundreds of victims rotted away out of sight.
The quarantine hospital on North Brother Island on New York’s East River has been deserted since the 1960s.
Since then it has been a source of intrigue for history buffs, ghost hunters and urban explorers alike.
Now new drone footage reveals the errie off-limits island from the air.
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It was here patients struck down with infectious diseases were isolated to avoid epidemics plaguing New York.
Meanwhile this island of doom sent shudders down the spines of ordinary New Yorkers who feared one day they would become inmates.
The incredible drone footage was posted by David Erath, who was in a boat in the East River when he shot it.
He said: “A couple of long time friends decided to take their boat out into the East River and fly their drones over an abandoned island to capture some amazing footage never seen before.”
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Trees have now sprouted around the institution which not so long ago caged unfortunate diseases carriers such as the infamous patient Typhoid Mary.
Mary was the first ever diagnosed asymptomatic carrier of a disease and infected scores of people throughout her life working as a cook.
Three people are confirmed to have died as a result of the disease she passed on to them.
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But many more are thought to have been killed as Mary always moved on and often changed her name after starting another outbreak.
She was eventually forcibly quarantined on North Brother Island in 1915 and kept isolated until her death 23 years later.
A new tuberculosis wing was built in 1941, but became obsolete just two years later when a cure was discovered.
Creepy images inside the Hell Gate facilities have been taken by New York local Brendan Clinch, 31, from Long Beach.
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After World War II, the grounds were used for housing for returned servicemen. Later, the island was reinvented as a heroin rehab centre.
At its peak, 40 buildings graced the island, including dormitories, a church, a lighthouse and a morgue.
But in 1963, the hospital was shuttered and the island abandoned by the city. It’s languished largely untouched since.
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Pictures show nature beginning to reclaim the island as vines grow over and through some of the buildings that may have housed Typhoid Mary.
And books can be seen scattered across the floor mixed with rotting leaves in what may once have been the library.
The snaps were taken by American civil engineer and urban explorer Brendan Clinch, 31, from Long Beach, New York.
Clinch used a Canon 5D Mark II to capture the stunning yet creepy images.
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