‘Just let it lie’: Lake Alice survivor says water tower vandalism is hurting victims

Scott Phillips and Trudy Reeves own the former Lake Alice water tower which is being targeted by vandals, upsetting survivors of the psychiatric hospital. Photo / Bevan Conley

Vandalism of Rangitīkei’s Lake Alice water tower has prompted one survivor of the former psychiatric hospital to call for the “disturbing” behaviour to stop.

The water tower once supplied Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital - where young children were subjected to torture through electric shocks and numbing paraldehyde injections in the 1970s, under the charge of lead psychiatrist Dr Selwyn Leeks.

The original hospital buildings have been destroyed and turned into farmland, with the remaining water tower now in private ownership.

A Lake Alice survivor said in recent months there had been groups visiting the water tower in the middle of the night. They had been doing burnouts, smashing windows and tagging the tower.

She had seen comments on social media that included people saying “there’s ghosts out there”.

The inside of the former Lake Alice water tower. Photo/ Bevan Conley

Scott Phillips, who owns the water tower, suspected it was being targeted by people with an interest in “dark tourism”.

“Whether it’s kids thinking it’s a neat thing to do to hold a seance out there, or to write their names on it - I don’t know.

“I’d like to believe the people doing this have no concept of what actually took place there.”

The survivor said she found the behaviour “really upsetting and disturbing”.

“Every time I hear this, and the other survivors hear it, it’s upsetting that people are treating it like it’s some sort of joke.

“Just let it lie now.”

Phillips said it was “disappointing” because to access the tower people would have to climb over a barbed-wire fence and it was clearly private property.

Nighttime visitors had left behind empty alcohol bottles and climbed to the top of the 23-metre tower, he said.

“They could potentially fall off the top.”

He has now boarded up the bottom windows of the tower to prevent people from breaking in.

Memorial or private sale

The tower is still facing an uncertain future.

Phillips and his wife Trudy Reeves have listed the land for private sale after declining a government offer to purchase the tower.

Phillips is still hopeful a government buyout could be arranged to turn the tower into a memorial for survivors.

He is considering transforming the tower into a wedding venue as part of his business as a wedding celebrant. His vision is for rustic, farm-style themed weddings, but he would not want to disrespect the history of the psychiatric hospital.

Dismantling the tower to clear the land would be a costly exercise, Phillips said.

A Lake Alice survivor said she strongly supported the idea of a memorial.

“I know survivors that go out there to visit, or just to sit in their cars.

“It’s healing.”

In February, the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists issued a public apology to survivors of Lake Alice, but it was seen as lacking by many survivors.

Eva de Jong is a reporter for the Whanganui Chronicle covering health stories and general news. She began as a reporter in 2023.