Home of the assassins: Inside the abandoned psychiatric hospital which once housed a gunman who killed the President and two more who tried but failed

This eerie photograph shows a shattered glass window in a door leading to a stairwell in St Elizabeth's Hospital

The now-abandoned psychiatric hospital in Washington DC has housed some of history's most notorious killers - as well as some would-be assassins 

The pictures and footage were taken by photographer and urban explorer Chris Hall, 17, from North Beach, Maryland

St Elizabeth's Hospital opened in 1855 as the first federally operated psychiatric hospital in America

This picture shows an empty box of hypodermic needles, which once would have been used to inject patients with drugs

The hospital held Charles J. Guiteau, right, until his execution after he assassinated the 20th President of the United States, James Garfield, in 1881, left

At its peak, in the 1950s, the facility housed more than eight thousand psychiatric patients

This creepy image shows a blood-stained operating table in the theater where patients would have been taken for surgery

The hospital at one point had a fully functioning medical-surgical unit, a school of nursing, and accredited internships and psychiatric residencies

The facilirt has been abandoned since 2010 when a new hospital was built on the site, but the decaying remains of the building offer a glimpse into its past

John Hinckley Jr, left, was detained in the hospital after he shot President Ronald Reagan, right, in 1981 but failed to kill him

When the hospital closed little care seems to have been taken to clear it out with blood-stained tables left behind

The hospital was set to provide care for indigent, mentally ill residents of the District of Columbia, as well as for those in the U.S. Army and U.S. Navy who were deemed 'insane'

Soon after the hospital opened in January 1855, it became known officially as the Government Hospital for the Insane

Tens of thousands passed through its doors, with this shattered watch left behind by a former patient

Richard Lawrence, who attempted to kill Andrew Jackson in 1835, as depicted in this etching, was detained in the hospital

By 1996, only 850 patients remained at the hospital, and years of neglect had become apparent, with staff reporting equipment and medicine shortages, and complaining that the heating system was broken for weeks at a time

St Elizabeth's is believed to have treated over 125,000 patients, though an exact number is not known due to poor record keeping, and it is believed thousands are buried there in unmarked graves

The modern facility still houses patients, about half of whom are forensic patients - those found not guilty by reason of insanity or considered incompetent to stand trial

Well-known former patients of St Elizabeth's include would-be Presidential assassins Richard Lawrence, who attempted to kill Andrew Jackson, and John Hinckley, Jr., who shot Ronald Reagan, as well as the assassin of James Garfield, Charles J. Guiteau, who was later executed

Much of St Elizabeth's campus has now fallen into disuse and is in serious disrepair, and it has been named one of the nation's 11 Most Endangered Places in 2002 by the National Trust for Historic Preservation

The hospital, which was created in August 1852 with a grant of $100,000 from the United States Congress, is historically significant for being the first such facility of its kind