Tribeca 2026, where documentaries rule! One of the pleasures of this year’s festival has been the abundance of interesting documentaries. Mike Attie, Katarina Poljak, and Nathan R. Stenberg’s The Haunting of Pennhurst is a unique doc that examines the horrors of mankind’s most violent tendencies while existing as a testament to those who seek to overcome the prejudice towards the disabled communities. 

The film begins with shots of blueprints from the infamous Pennhurst State School and Hospital as recordings from a former patient detail the haunting history of the building’s insides. The many buildings of the institution were built between 1903 and 1908 in Spring City, Pennsylvania. Through the years, the so-called “hospital” earned a reputation for being an understaffed hell for workers. For the unlucky patients, abuse, torture, medical experimentation, sexual assault, and more atrocities shadowed their every waking moment. Bill Baldini’s Suffer the Little Children was the famous 1968 exposé that would spawn the deinstitutionalization movement and fuel landmark disability rights lawsuits in the United States.

Pennhurst closed in 1987. In September of 2010, the institution was reopened as a public attraction. Today it is a thriving attraction where haunted house aficionados and fans of the paranormal come for scares and fun; a strange symmetry with the buildings’ dark past.

The Haunting of Pennhurst begins with the introduction of the current-day “scare actors” as they create and workshop new characters. We watch staff members leading a training regarding how to conduct a proper tour and (for the new actors) how to play upon people’s fears to achieve the most terror. What makes the Pennhurst Asylum attraction so special is how its staff is largely populated by neurodivergent individuals. This close knit family of performers are shown to feel a connection to the souls who died at the hands of the hospital. One of the scare actors states that she usually apologizes as she walks through the rooms, in the hopes that the spirits of the dead will forgive their trespasses.

The documentary is narrated with the trauma remembrances of Roland Johnson, a man who spent 18 years imprisoned in Pennhurst. The filmmakers espouse how the neurodivergent makeshift-family that brings the modern haunted attraction to life, honors those who lost their lives and died in madness and/or pain. This is a fascinating throughline. Through the experience of the cast who triumph over the continued bigotry toward the neurodivergent communities, the darkness of Pennhurst’s past is acknowledged, while the spirit of its victims are honored. 

The show-runners encourage the performers to own their “disabilities” and incorporate them into their characters. It is quite interesting to watch the performers use bits of their own personal traumas in their performances. This exorcism of one’s mental scars through performance is proven to be an effective healing process. 

The most interesting aspect of watching the inner workings of the attraction is, while free to be as terrifying as possible, there are ground rules. No one can act out a disability they do not already have. In the performances, there will be no doctor-on-patient attacks of any kind. As one of the staff members reminds their actors, “There was enough of that going on in real life.”

Most importantly, they will not tolerate slurs and especially the use of the ‘R” word. Utterance of that one is cause for immediate, on-the-spot, firing.

The filmmakers have crafted a film that understands how the sins of the past cannot be undone, but future generations can honor those who were lost forever in such a dark and evil place by overcoming their own pain. 

Prejudice toward our neurodivergent brothers and sisters is still an unfortunate part of society. The Haunting of Pennhurst is an unsettling reminder of the grotesque events that went on inside the institution, yet, at its most potent, the film is a testament to the enduring spirit of those who embrace their own imperfections and fight to live a good life.


The Haunting of Pennhurst

Directed by Mike Attie, Katarina Poljak, & Nathan R. Stenberg
NR, 81 Minutes, Naked Edge Films