Georgia’s Central State Hospital was once among the world’s largest and most notorious state-run psychiatric facilities. Located in Milledgeville, about two hours from Atlanta, it housed more than 12,000 patients by the 1960s.

Most of its 200 buildings have now shut and fallen into disrepair. But the dark history of what went on inside — treatment and mistreatment, lobotomies and electro-shock — still casts a long shadow for former patients, their families and the thousands who worked there.

In August I traveled to the site for the BBC Travel Show. We learned more about how the city is acknowledging interest from visitors while respecting the memory of the tens of thousands who died while under the hospital’s care.

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