www.deborahnadeau.com

(WBZ) DANVERS: Dozens of people were forced to evacuate their homes overnight after a four-alarm fire ripped through the old Danvers State Hospital.

The first 911 call reporting the blaze came in around 1:50 a.m.

Seven buildings were destroyed in the fire, but no one was inside because they were all under construction. The facility was being renovated into condos and apartment buildings. According to WBZ's Sera Congi, the main building at the Avalon Hill Development suffered some fire damage, but it is still standing.

The site gained some attention from Hollywood in 2001 when the horror flick "Session Nine" was filmed there. It starred David Caruso as a member of an asbestos cleaning crew working in an eerie, abandoned mental hospital.

AvalonBay plans to build 497 apartments and condominiums on the site and demolish most of the Kirkbride building, a Victorian Gothic-style, eight-winged fortress stretching for a quarter-mile that has lured artists and ghost hunters since it closed in 1992.
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For those of you that don't know Danvers, it was a beautiful state hospital for the mentally ill. Established in the 1870's - one of the most amazing Kirkbride Buildings I've ever seen. I was one of the unfortunate ones that never got to see the inside. Preservationists did try to save her for a long time.

This is her in 1893:

And...after Avalon Bay moved in: