Copyright © 1999 NLThomas
All Rights Reserved

Insane Asylum Gathering Set for May 29, 1999

A Spiritual ceremony will be held at the Hiawatha Insane Asylum Cemetery located in the Hiawatha golf course in Canton, South Dakota on Saturday, May 29, 1999 beginning at 12:00 noon.

The Asylum opened only 12 years after the Wounded Knee Massacre in which the United States government continued its campaign to stop all spiritual activities in communities on reservations nationwide.

For thirty-two years the Bureau of Indian Affairs operated and maintained the facility at Canton, providing patients of various tribes with treatment that was influenced by a mixture of humanitarian concern. Often times, the treatment received by patients was harsh or in some form of punishment.

Because of ill treatment, the institution was under investigation by a federal agent who witnessed deplorable conditions in the living quarters of the patients.

His investigation indicated that patients were beaten, women were raped by white male workers in the asylum, bed sheets were blacken because of the lack of change, chamber pots were not changed and the smell was so bad the investigator could not understand how patients continued to live in such deplorable conditions.

This year's organizers are asking all traditional, spiritual people to attend this years ceremony as well as the public.