Fallout Wiki
Register
Advertisement
Fallout Wiki

Parsons State Insane Asylum is a location in the Commonwealth in 2287.

Background[]

Built by the Cabot family and formerly administered by their son Jack as superintendent, Parsons State Insane Asylum housed and cared for Boston-area residents who were deemed mentally ill or insane. Subterranean rooms were constructed in the facility's basement to house the most difficult cases, including Lorenzo Cabot.[1] Following an 1894 archaeological expedition in the Middle East to find the lost city of Ubar, Lorenzo was institutionalized at the asylum for life[2] for his and his family's safety. The expedition had uncovered a mysterious artifact that bestowed upon him supernatural powers, but also made him mentally unstable, resulting in his admittance to the institution.[3]

In the years following the Great War, the Cabots hired a security team to protect Lorenzo and his secrets from exploitation by outsiders.

Layout[]

Exterior[]

The grounds are fairly mundane, notable only for a few mercenaries roaming around. A road leading in from the northeast passes by the main entrance on the south side of the asylum, the only way into the building. A wall surrounds the grounds, but some sections have crumbled over the years. Around the back of the asylum is a large outdoor area where patients could get some fresh air.

Interior[]

The interior of the asylum is not accessible until the start of the quest The Secret of Cabot House. The main entrance opens to an admissions area in the administration section, with two initially locked doors: a key-locked door to the east, and a door chained on the other side to the southeast. The open hallway to the northeast contains a couple wrecked offices and ends in a staircase leading upstairs. At the end of the upstairs hallway (along which is an Advanced-locked closet with an Expert-locked wall safe) is a supply room with a broken wall, allowing access to a staircase back to the first floor.

Back on the first floor, to the southwest is Jack Cabot's main office, which contains a currently unusable elevator connected to the basement and a terminal Jack will use to unlock the door east of the main entrance. The hallway to the northwest continues to the chained door southeast of the main entrance. Through the now unlocked door to the east is a large high-ceilinged courtyard with a central fountain. Scaffolding leads up to a hole in the wall to the east providing access to a therapy room. Through the door on the east wall of the room is the asylum section.

The entrance to the asylum section opens to a wide corridor heading west. An Advanced-locked door to the south leads to a room with several beds and five clapping cymbal monkeys. Across the corridor to the north is a cafeteria and kitchen area. The collapsed floor leads down to a common room with a few offices to the south. Through another hole in the wall to the east, a narrow space between the walls allows for a descent to the lowest levels of the asylum. The next hallway is lined with several small cells each containing only a bed, a dresser or shelves, and a toilet, likely used for the more unstable patients. A hole in the floor at the end of the hallway to the west leads to a therapy room, three more solitary cells, and a small side room with an Advanced-locked floor safe. The hallway ends to the west at a utility elevator that descends to the basement.

The basement leads through an excavated area to the control room. A security corridor operated by Jack finally leads to Lorenzo Cabot's personal prison cell, which is protected by four generators and an Abremalin field. Inside is a bed, a chair, a curio, some tables, and Lorenzo himself. An elevator on the west side of the control room returns to Jack's office in the administration section.

Inhabitants[]

Notable loot[]

  • Eight or more vials of mysterious serum:
    • One is on the ground next to a raider immediately inside the main entrance.
    • Four are on the raider Lefty in the room containing Lorenzo's cell.
    • Three are on a surgical tray on a table in the room containing Lorenzo's cell.
    • Additional vials are rarely found on raiders in the asylum, who must be killed before they use the serum in order to take it from their corpse.
  • Three overdue books in the basement:
    • One is in the room with the elevator from the asylum section, inside an open filing cabinet on the west side.
    • One is in the control room, inside an open filing cabinet in the northeast corner.
    • One is in the control room, inside a loose filing cabinet drawer above and to the left of the second book.
  • Two Vault-Tec lunchboxes:
    • One is in the administration section, on a bench in the hallway northeast of the main entrance.
    • One is in the basement, on a cardboard box on a shelf in the room just before the control room.
  • Cell key - In the administration section, in two filing cabinets: one is in the entrance room, and the other is in a corner near the desk in Jack's office.
  • Charisma bobblehead - In the administration section, on the desk in Jack's office.
  • Syringer rifle - In the asylum section, in the last room on the left at the end of the hallway lined with cells.
  • Massachusetts Surgical Journal issue #16 - In the basement, in Lorenzo's cell on a table.
  • Lorenzo's suit - On Lorenzo Cabot's body if he is killed during The Secret of Cabot House.
  • Lorenzo's Artifact gun - Reward obtained by siding with Jack during The Secret of Cabot House and then waiting one in-game week.

Related quests[]

Notes[]

  • The interior can only be accessed during the quest The Secret of Cabot House. To begin this quest, the Sole Survivor must first meet with Edward Deegan at Bunker Hill, The Third Rail in Goodneighbor, or the Dugout Inn in Diamond City, or travel directly to Cabot House and pass two speech checks to be allowed inside. After talking with Edward, he will give the player character an objective to meet Jack Cabot at Cabot House. Following a discussion with Edward and Jack, the quest Special Delivery will be received. After the completion of Special Delivery, the next quest Emogene Takes a Lover will be given. Completing that quest will begin The Secret of Cabot House, the final quest in the chain.
  • The asylum's map marker may be added to the Pip-Boy map by a settler at Greentop Nursery. As the settler is approached, they will say "the Parsons State Insane Asylum should be avoided." The map marker will then be added to the Pip-Boy.
  • If you attack the mercenaries outside the asylum before the start of The Secret of Cabot House, Edward Deegan will reprimand you upon speaking to him about the quest. However, this will have no effect on the quest line.
  • The corpses of raiders and mercenaries found outside the asylum entrance during The Secret of Cabot House will not despawn even after many days have passed. Upon returning to the location, there will often be one or two raiders outside the entrance.
  • In the administration section in the hallway northeast of the main entrance, five wooden blocks on a bench form the word "CRAZY."
  • In the asylum section behind an Advanced-locked door to the south is a room with two monkeys on a bed frame and three others nearby on the ground, possibly a reference to the nursery rhyme "five little monkeys jumping on a bed." In the same room, two wooden blocks form the phrase "FU."
  • In the asylum section, one of the cells has four question marks, two squiggly lines, and one straight line chalked on the wall, with pieces of chalk on the ground arranged to spell the phrase "HELP ME."

Companion comments[]

  • When at this location, companions make comments, which are activated in two locations: at the entrance foyer on the rug just past the front door and in the cellar when approaching the Lorenzo's prison cell control room. These comments are made during the quest The Secret of Cabot House, when access to the interior becomes possible.
Location comments
Character Comment
Cait "I don't like admittin' it, but this place is givin' me the shivers."
Codsworth "Are you certain you want to go in there? I doubt time has erased its sordid reputation. It's probably far worse."
Curie "The stories I have read of Parsons are most disturbing."
Danse "All signs point to this location being extremely dangerous. We should proceed with caution."
Deacon "Something about this place. Be careful."
John Hancock "They always said I'd end up in the looney bin."
Nick Valentine "Not sure they're taking new wards, but for us, they might make an exception."
Piper Wright "Parsons. Even the name sounds vaguely macabre."
Preston Garvey "This place has a bad reputation. Just thought you should know."
Robert MacCready "Hey, this place doesn't look so bad. Some paint, a few throw rugs and it'll be good as new."
X6-88 "In the Institute, mental disorders are a thing of the past."

Appearances[]

Parsons State Insane Asylum only appears in Fallout 4.

Behind the scenes[]

The "Abremalin field" imprisoning Lorenzo is a reference to a historical occult work, The Book of Abramelin.

Gallery[]

References[]

  1. Fallout 4 Vault Dweller's Survival Guide Collector's Edition pp. 276-277: "[2.07] PARSONS STATE INSANE ASYLUM
    Before the Great War, this asylum was built to house the addled, weak of brain, and terminally confused folk of the Commonwealth. Old records state that additional subterranean rooms were created to house particularly difficult guests. The location appears to have been built by the Cabot family of the Beacon Hill neighborhood of Boston. Armed mercenary guards currently patrol the facility."
    (Fallout 4 Vault Dweller's Survival Guide Map)
  2. Parsons State Insane Asylum terminal entries; Jack's office terminal, Patient Records, Patient 001-MS
  3. The Sole Survivor: "Where do you get this serum from?"
    Jack Cabot: "My father, Lorenzo Cabot, is... confined in Parsons. He became dangerously unstable after handling an artifact he found on an archaeological dig in Arabia. He gained various seemingly paranormal powers... as well as becoming increasingly irrational and violent. In the end, I had no choice but to confine him - for his own safety as well as ours."
    (Jack Cabot's dialogue)
Advertisement