^ ya no kidding silk.
That place is eerie as fk. They used to house lots n' lots of crazy peeps there, then downsized due to cutbacks. Messed up because lots of the junkies and fked up ppl roaming 'round the DTES, NewWest, etc. should still be certified/housed there, but instead, they are costing us (the taxpayer) waaay more in hospital stays, crime, etc. Dunno the stats, but i would assume lots more collectively than it would've to keep Riverview open at capacity.

But ya, the ppl u see roaming around are the "low risk" folks, hence the ability to walk around, while accross the street is Colony Farm, or the Forensic hospital where hte higher risk crazies are detained under the MHA (mental health act) in a more "jail like" environment.
But even if Riverview ain't "haunted" per se, a bunch of nutboxes walking around yammering fked up shit is enough to make ppl think its "haunted".
AND, lots of crazy shit went down at that place tho. Electro-shock therapy and many experimental "treatments". Deaths galore.

Well manicured lawns/garden tho! Go fer a picnic.

that mental hospital is creepy enough when i drive by it at night.

when u look at it at night, it's like a huge building on top of a hill with a full moon and a bit of clouds, makes a perfect scene for a horror movie.

Heard the same story. What I heard was the guy building the house had a heart attack and died in the house.

more on the riverview site (not current though):

http://niftyniall.googlepages.com/rvmapp

1930's pic... no lougheed hwy?

http://niftyniall.googlepages.com/IM..._0726-full.jpg

[EDIT}yikes. there is an old cemetery on the site...

woodlands in new west: http://www.michaeldecourcy.com/asylum/

i was in a hotel in Hawaii, walking down the hallway with my buddy.

out of nowhere i can hear a muffled moaning and creaking noises. we look around quickly an there's no one to be seen.

turns out there was a couple having sex in the room beside where we were standing. so we stopped and listened for a while to make sure there really wasn't ghosts.

haha.

Strathcona Community Centre and the surrounding area is haunted like crazy.

Friends with first hand experience have told me some really creepy stories.

I use to go to school near strathcona, that place is so messed up, trees looks weird, houses look odd, tell me about it...

i've been to the riverview a bunch of times because there are a lot of movies/tv shows/music videos etc. shot in the closed building. it's scary as hell, i was lost inside there briefly at night once too. there's tunnels under the hospital but they aren't TOO scary, the rest of the building is worse. i had a ton of pics on my old phone, i wish i could post them.

this video was shot at the riverview

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4u8DlQ9lIg

guess who made the fake blood..!

^^at the 15 second mark it looks like it says "HATE RS" but its "HATERS"...spooked me out a bit lol