Needham Asylum

The decommissioned Needham Asylum.

The Needham Asylum. Decommissioned in '63. Sound like Crowley's kinda place to you? – Sam Winchester, 11.06 Our Little World

History

Needham Asylum is a decommissioned mental hospital located near Fall River, Massachusetts. Crowley, during his tenure as King of Hell, held court in the asylum while on Earth, preferring it over going to Hell to conduct business. The asylum is protected with various warding sigils on its exterior, while its doors are locked with a simple bike lock. Crowley calls the asylum his palace.

After Crowley's death, the demons continued using the abandoned asylum as the site of their Earth-side operations under Asmodeus's tenure as King of Hell, until he was killed by Gabriel, leaving the insane asylum abandoned once more.

Episodes

Crowley sits in his throne room.

10.03 Soul Survivor

Crowley is holding court, signing documents and sentencing Abaddon loyalists for high treason. When a demon offers to be his new "wing man," Crowley simply snaps his fingers and the demon disintegrates into smoke.

Sometime later, Crowley continues to sentence demons who sided with Abaddon to death, and watches them be executed. As he is about to blithely sentence another, a demon rushes in, standing between the prisoner and Crowley, demanding Crowley stop. The demon lists off Crowley's offenses, telling him he has squandered the loyalty of his subjects. He produces a bottle of holy oil and pours the contents over his clothes. The demon flicks a lighter on, and Crowley’s eyes widen in surprise when he brings the lighter to his chest, setting himself on fire in front of Crowley's throne.

10.07 Girls, Girls, Girls

After Raul is killed by Rowena, Gerald vacates his meatsuit and possesses the nearest one he can find before heading to Crowley's lair to inform him of what happened. When Gerald tells Crowley of the bordello he and Raul opened to get souls, Crowley is none too pleased, as he believes the sex trade is "tacky."

After Crowley had dispatched demons to capture Rowena for her act of aggression, she is brought to Crowley's lair, chained up, and tortured in his dungeon.

As Crowley enters the room, Rowena begins to verbally taunt him, however Crowley is in disbelief and can only utter the word "Mother?"

10.09 The Things We Left Behind

Still chained up in the dungeon of the asylum, Rowena watches as Gerald brings a demon, Trish, in and chains her up. Rowena pleads with Gerald to let her speak with Crowley, but Gerald just locks the door and walks away laughing.

Trish tries desperately to get free of her chains, but Rowena tells her it won't work. Annoyed, Trish mocks Rowena's accent. Rowena questions what Trish is locked away for and Trish explains that Crowley only allows certain demons Earth-side, and—since she wasn't on the list—she got herself smuggled up from Hell and then was caught. She worries about what Crowley is going to do to get her to confess how she managed to get smuggled Earth-side. Then, she asks Rowena why she's locked up. Rowena answers, "I was a horrible mother."

Meanwhile, in the throne room, Crowley vents to Gerald about how awful a mother Rowena was. He relates a story about how she almost traded him for 3 pigs, and complains about the name she'd given him (Fergus). Gerald suggests killing her, and even offers to do it himself.

A while later, Gerald returns to the dungeon and opens the cell door, announcing that Crowley will see Rowena now. He leads Rowena into the throne room and they have a back and forth where Crowley insists on being referred to as Crowley, not his birthname Fergus, but Rowena refuses. She praises him for rising to the position of King of Hell and insists she always said he was destined for great things. Crowley counters that by reminding her she had predicted he would die in a gutter covered in his own vomit. Rowena tells him she was motivating him to do better. Crowley confronts her about abandoning him when he was 8 years old, and she tells him he's being dramatic. Their conversation leads to Rowena confessing that she doesn't know who Crowley's father was as he was conceived at a Winter Solstice orgy. She then goes on to tell him that she only abandoned him because she had a disagreement with some locals who then set their hounds on her. Crowley questions why she then stayed away for hundreds of years, and she dismisses his questioning, telling him that they have a second chance to be a family now. After insisting that he can trust her, Rowena approaches the throne that Crowley is sitting on and tells him she'll always be his mother and that she loves him, before planting a kiss on his head.

This causes Crowley to have Gerald throw Rowena back into the dungeon cell. As Gerald is trying to shackle Rowena back up, Rowena cries out to Crowley that she knows who had been smuggling souls back up from Hell. Crowley is intrigued, and Rowena points straight at Gerald, accusing him of the soul smuggling. Trish speaks up and confirms what Rowena is saying. Gerald protests that they're lying and wraps his hands around Rowena's throat, choking her. Crowley tells him to stop but, when Gerald refuses to, Crowley stabs him in the throat with an angel blade. Rowena thanks him for saving her life, and follows him out of the cell. Trish quickly pleads with Rowena to let her out since she lied about Gerald for her. Rowena tells her she'll be back in a flash—the same words she said to an 8-year-old Crowley before abandoning him—before closing the door of the cell behind her.

10.10 The Hunter Games

Crowley has a vision that he is being assassinated by his own demon henchmen in a hallway. Rowena brings him back to reality where he sits at his throne, staring blankly into space. She shows concern and offers to help him in any way. However, Crowley insists that nothing is wrong and tells her she can't do anything to help him. Immediately after he exits the room, she pulls out a hex bag from under his throne.

Later, when Crowley isn't around, Rowena snoops around the throne room—opening chests, an old locker full of ties. She's about to reach for an old scroll atop the lockers when Guthrie appears and tells her Crowley didn't want her wandering around unattended. Rowena tries to sweet talk Guthrie before Crowley enters and asks Guthrie's opinion on a form he's signing. When Guthrie leaves, and Crowley is seated in his throne, Rowena begins sowing further seeds of mistrust in Crowley's head against his demon henchmen, telling him they've been plotting against him. Crowley tells her he sees through her, but Rowena insists that she's nothing but a proud mother. Crowley reminds her that she managed to stay away from him for 300 years to which Rowena explains that she had to escape the locals who were about to try her for witchcraft. She then tells him they can be a family again.

Rowena enjoys some tea from a golden tea set as she reminiscences with Crowley about a lullaby she used to sing him nightly after he fed their goat. Crowley reminds her that she didn't sing him a lullaby, she dosed him with whiskey until he passed out. Rowena praises her pharmacology skills as she takes a sip of her tea. Crowley's phone rings and he answers it, greeting Dean. Dean insists that they have to meet, and Crowley instantly agrees without question, eager to get out of his mother's company. He tells Rowena he has to leave on business, and Rowena praises his importance once more, straightening his tie. Rowena asks whether he'd like dinner when he gets back. Crowley reminds her that he she doesn't cook, and he doesn't eat, before promptly disappearing. Once she's alone, Rowena takes a pair of scissors from a drawer, walks over to Crowley's tie locker, and snips a swatch of fabric from one of his ties.

As Crowley meets with Sam and Dean, Rowena uses the swatch of fabric to cast a spell which helps her astral project and spy on Crowley. Through this, she finds out that Sam and Dean are asking Crowley to bring them the First Blade in order to use it to get rid of the Mark of Cain. Crowley reveals the First Blade is in a crypt along with his bones in Guam. Using this information, Rowena manipulates Guthrie into going to Guam and receiving the First Blade—telling him that it's an order from Crowley himself.

When Guthrie returns, Rowena is relaxing on Crowley's throne. Guthrie insists that the blade is now his responsibility and that he'll deliver it to Crowley personally. Rowena walks over to him, praising his loyalty, before stabbing him with an angel blade, killing him. Crowley enters moments later, surprised to find Guthrie dead. Rowena puts on an act, falsely accusing Guthrie of having incited unrest among the court. Crowley refuses to believe it at first until Rowena mentions the Winchesters and tells Crowley Guthrie had went to get the First Blade of his own accord because Crowley "couldn't be trusted". She tells Crowley that she confronted Guthrie only to be attacked, forcing her to kill him. Crowley muses on his earlier vision of Guthrie attacking him, and wonders how he knew of his meeting with the Winchesters. He takes the First Blade from Guthrie's satchel and Rowena warns him against trusting the Winchesters.

Having taken his mother's words into consideration, Crowley sits on his throne and calls Dean. He tells him that he has the blade, but will be keeping it until Dean works out how to get the Mark of Cain off his arm.

10.14 The Executioner's Song

While Crowley is holding court, a crossroads demon brings up a grievance regarding the lack of recognition he has received for soul collections he has gotten in the last quarter, saying he simply wishes to be given credit where credit is due. Crowley dismissively obliges his request and gives him credit. However, Rowena tells Crowley that he shouldn't be giving in, as "whiners beget whiners"; she suggests that he cut the crossroads demon in two and nail his bloody halves to the doors of the court as warning to all demons not to waste the King's time. After a brief contemplation, Crowley goes with his mother's plan and has the crossroads demon dragged away, screaming.

As Crowley is walking the corridors of his lair, he is stopped by Rowena who begins sweet talking him into dealing with a member of the Grand Coven, Olivette. However Crowley reveals that he has been on to Rowena's manipulations from the start, which Rowena readily admits to. With everything now out in the open, Rowena once again attempts to talk Crowley into helping her. Crowley looks at Rowena and turns and walks away.

Later we see that Crowley has agreed to help Rowena with an assault on Olivette, though as Rowena is preparing a plan of attack, Crowley gets a phone call from the Winchesters, asking for the First Blade. Crowley tells his Mother that they need to move back the attack, much to Rowena's dismay. Crowley opens a panel in the wall and pushes a button. A drawer opens up underneath containing the First Blade in a leather wrap, Crowley takes the blade out of the drawer. Crowley walks out of the chamber and down a hallway as Rowena yells after him.

10.21 Dark Dynasty

Crowley is enjoying a game of darts on one of his demon minions when he gets the news that Rowena has gone missing. Not liking what he's heard, he picks up an angel blade and kills his minion, and orders the other to track his mother down.

Sometime later Crowley is conversing with the hamster Olivette, trying to dig up dirt on Rowena he can use against her. While Olivette tells him how horrible Rowena is, it's nothing he doesn't already know, until Olivette mentions Rowena's demon lover as well as a man by the name of Oskar. With this new information on his mother, Crowley summons one of his demon minions and orders the minion to track down Oskar.

11.06 Our Little World

Amara returns to the lair after consuming another human soul and aging into a teenager. In response, Crowley locks Amara in her room and assigns Jervis, who notes that the court is short on demons due to Amara consuming them all, to guard the door. Amara refuses Crowley's offer of more food and Crowley focuses more on figuring out how to connect with her than on holding court. He later offers Amara his protection as incentive for Amara to stay.

After catching wind of the assassination of Len Fletcher, the Winchesters capture and interrogate the demon Marco, who reveals some of Crowley and Amara's actions but refuses to identify Crowley's location. After Dean kills Marco, Sam goes through his phone and maps out the locations of Amara's soul-sucking in Fall River, Massachusetts. Looking for possible lair locations in the area for Crowley, Dean notes the Needham Asylum, which was closed down in 1963, and the Winchesters realize that an abandoned insane asylum would be perfect for Crowley.

The Winchesters launch a raid to kill Amara, finding a padlock on the door to keep humans out and warding sigils to keep out everyone else. Sam is able to subdue Jervis and another demon, but is forced to kill a third with an angel blade while Dean confronts Amara in her room. Dean can't bring himself to kill her before Crowley interrupts, intending to kill Dean. However, Amara stops Crowley and forces him to grant the Winchesters safe passage out once she is gone. Amara subsequently departs to settle "the oldest grudge" while Crowley broods on his throne once both the Winchesters and Amara are gone.

11.09 O Brother Where Art Thou?

After his demons capture Rowena, Crowley has her brought to his throne room so that he and the Winchesters can discuss with her their plan to speak with Lucifer in Hell using the Book of the Damned.

11.18 Hell's Angel

Crowley tells the Winchesters how Lucifer kept him prisoner in his own "palace" and forced him to clean the floors with his tongue. While originally confused, Dean realizes that Crowley means the abandoned nuthouse he uses as his lair.

11.22 We Happy Few

Crowley holds court with many of his demons, trying to regain power in Hell. However, the demons simply laugh at Crowley's attempts and abandon him, leaving Crowley alone in the deserted asylum.

While trying to recruit an army to defeat the Darkness, Dean visits Crowley in the throne room where he convinces the despondent King to help them by giving Crowley a solid plan to present to his demons, rather than Crowley presenting his own ego to them as he did earlier.

12.08 LOTUS

Crowley mentions to the Winchesters and Castiel that he is once again persona non grata in his own palace, causing them to become incredulous when Crowley calls the old insane asylum his palace yet again.

12.12 Stuck in the Middle (With You)

After the whole Ramiel ordeal, Crowley returns to his throne room, where he is on the phone with one of his remaining demon minions ordering him to search Ramiel's home until they find the Colt. Exasperated, he hangs up and makes himself a drink. A voice begins mocking him with a song, telling him he can never really trust the Winchesters, as they will eventually kill him like all other demons. Crowley simply tells him to shut up and calls him a dog, only for Lucifer's eyes to flash red and tell Crowley that isn't his name.

12.13 Family Feud

In a cell, Crowley taunts a restrained Lucifer, telling him he will eventually break and call him "master."

13.07 War of the Worlds

Castiel and Lucifer imprisoned in Needham Asylum.

13.12 Various & Sundry Villains

While Asmodeus is away, Castiel and Lucifer continue to be held in their cells inside the lair, taunted by the demon Dipper, who reveals that the warding on Lucifer's cell was strengthened to hold the archangel. While locked up together, Castiel continually refuses to allow Lucifer to take some of his grace, while Lucifer discovers that anger allows him to use his telekinesis. The two angels draw Dipper in before Lucifer pins Dipper to the bars of his cell with telekinesis, breaks the stick Lucifer has been practicing his powers on off in Dipper's neck and burns out the warding in his cell and Castiel's. Castiel smites a shocked Dipper and Lucifer takes his angel blade, but the two are then accosted by four more demons. They eventually kill all four and escape.

Outside, the angels are forced to stop due to Lucifer exhausting himself in his weakened state. Lucifer again tries to get Castiel to give up some of his grace and assaults Castiel at the bottom of the lair steps. Though wounded himself, Castiel manages to wound the weakened Lucifer with an angel blade.

13.13 Devil's Bargain

After regaining consciousness, Castiel returns to the lair and calls out for Lucifer, but he is gone.

Mr. Ketch later meets with Asmodeus in the throne room, where Asmodeus assigns him to find and kill Lucifer while Lucifer is still weak. When Ketch returns, having failed in his mission and having formed a secret alliance with the Winchesters, Asmodeus reveals that he has gotten his hands on an archangel blade, the only known weapon capable of killing an archangel such as Lucifer or the Apocalypse World Michael. When Ketch points out that only an archangel can kill another archangel with the blade, Asmodeus introduces Ketch to his prisoner, the archangel Gabriel.

13.17 The Thing

Ketch is blocked from visiting Asmodeus by a guarding demon. After getting too impatient, Ketch enters the throne room to discover Asmodeus extracting Gabriel's grace and injecting himself with it. After being briefly dismissed, Ketch later meets with Asmodeus and reveals his knowledge that Castiel was in Syria searching for fruit from the Tree of Life. Enraged by Ketch's audacity, Asmodeus beats him up around the throne room to establish Ketch's role in the pecking order.

After being left alone in the throne room with Gabriel, Ketch decides to rescue the archangel and steal Asmodeus' supply of Gabriel's grace along with the archangel blade. As Ketch drags the terrified archangel along, he is accosted by the same demon who blocked his way earlier. Ketch kills the demon with the archangel blade and successfully escapes with Gabriel and the stolen items to seek refuge in the Bunker.

13.18 Bring 'em Back Alive

Following Ketch's escape with the archangel Gabriel, an enraged Asmodeus sits on his throne, rolling a pair of marbles in his hand and trying to detect Gabriel's location. After finally sensing that Gabriel is at the Bunker, Asmodeus calls Sam and threatens to destroy the Bunker if they don't hand over Gabriel in ten minutes. When Sam doesn't comply, Asmodeus leaves to lead a demon incursion, but is killed in the process.

Trivia

• The exterior of the Needham Asylum was previously used as a background in 4.16 On the Head of a Pin when Castiel meets with Anna after Alastair's death.
• Crowley's throne in Needham was previously seen in 9.16 Blade Runners in Cuthbert Sinclair's invisible fortress, after Sam and Dean are allowed inside.
• Despite first appearing in 10.03 Soul Survivor and acting as a major location in the series from that point on, its location was not revealed until over a year later in 11.06 Our Little World. Prior to its reveal, many fans assumed Crowley's palace was located in Hell.
• Three of Hell's leaders have used it as their base on Earth: Crowley, Lucifer, and Asmodeus.
• Needham is the only location in the series consistently used as a base by Crowley for more than a few episodes. Typically, Crowley abandoned a base once it was discovered by the Winchesters, but he kept using Needham even after they found it.
• While the timing of Crowley's initial choice of the location is unknown, it appears to have been following his adventures with demon Dean as he was using an office in the last few episodes of Season 8 and was either imprisoned or hunting for Abaddon in Season 9.
• On at least two occasions, Crowley has referred to Needham as his palace, leading to incredulous responses from the Winchesters and initial confusion the first time before Dean realizes that he means Needham or "the abandoned nuthouse" as Dean puts it.
• Crowley, Lucifer and Gabriel have all been held prisoner in the cage in the throne room which Crowley calls a kennel in 11.18 Hell's Angel.
• Following the death of Asmodeus in 13.18 Bring 'em Back Alive, the Needham Asylum no longer appears on the series, reflecting the lessened role of demons in Season 14 and Hell no longer having a ruler until Season 15.
• After Rowena dies, she takes over as Queen of Hell, having her own throne room in Hell, where the demons remain to conduct their business rather than continue using the Needham Asylum for their earthly affairs. It's later revealed that Rowena ended the practice of making crossroads deals and outside of the rare summoning, locked down Hell so no demons would resurface on Earth, no longer needing the asylum to conduct any of their affairs.