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My experiences at this location had a very profound impact on me. This particular building dates back to the 1920s and has been used for many things and many types of patients over the years. Most notably, it housed dangerous criminals, geriatric patients and the "feeble minded." It reached its peak of occupation during the 1950s and 1960s, with rumors of as many as 300 patients inhabiting a single ward area.
This hospital has a particularly notorious reputation for mistreatment of patients, unjust use of restraints and extensive isolation, medical malpractice, and eugenics (forced sterilization), just to name a few. Success rates were abysmally low and mortality rates were high. It was run by an organization that has changed names many times throughout its operational years, which makes researching it a bit tricky.
Until recently, I was not aware of the perceived epidemic of the feeble minded and the attempts made by the mental health community to control and contain this population. Eugenics/forced sterilization became a very popular practice, with the general justification that it prevented the reproductive spreading of what would only become a burden to society. Many times this was done as a condition of release from the facility or without consent from the patients. So who were these people that were deemed "feeble?" Statistically, African Americans and women were the two groups who were targeted the most frequently. Qualifying diagnoses ranged from mental retardation, epilepsy, alcoholism, manic depression, autism, promiscuity, sex perversion, and a whole range of other afflictions that could easily be deemed as behavioral or subjective.
The things I saw during my explores here changed my life. I walked the halls of a real life horror movie set. The rooms were rife with traces of the children and patients who inhabited its walls. Charts and files were strewn across floors. Drawings, books, clothing and lace-less shoes of all types and sizes mingled with the decay of a location that had been condemned and sealed for more than 20 years. Isolation chambers with tiny chairs lined the darkest corners of the basement, and I suspect that no one smiled in the "Smile Room."
These are just a few of the things I saw that day. It was compelling enough for me to go back and see other portions of the location, but I will post those pictures later. Horror is a very real thing, and sometimes the scariest monsters lie within plain site or within each of us.
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http://www.flickr.com/photos/katharsys/ |
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Really cool set, and looks like an awesome place to explore. Nice job.
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Awesome location! Some of these pics are downright creepy...i love it!
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Amazing, those dental office shots are awesome.
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Why does something tell me that there wasn't too much smiling done in the room in #16? Beautiful and haunting shots. Made me really think hard what it would have looked like when it was active.
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Smile room!!!!
That's awesome
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glad you got to see it!!!
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That dentist chair is pretty rad.
Flickr: http://www.flickr....os/kenfagerdotcom/ |
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Cool pictures. Yeah if you think about the history of asylums too much it can really fuck you up. Prisons, too.
www.flickr.com/photos/pressingleap |
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Ive been meaning to get to that one... Maybe tomorrow.
Fucking Spiders..... |
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Pretty creepy...
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Thank you everyone. I am glad that I was able to see it too. Gives me a different perspective, that's for sure.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/katharsys/ |
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Posted by kenfagerdotcom
That dentist chair is pretty rad.
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If by pretty rad, you mean friggen horrifying. Hahahaha. I got lost in that little dank room. All kinds of weird dental relics, syringes, and pastes......mini toothbrushes. RUNNNNN!!!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/katharsys/ |
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It really does make you think... I really hope that peek-a-boo wasn't there while people were living there!
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Heading there today. Should be interesting. At least if I don't make this one There are other options in the area or on the way back.
Fucking Spiders..... |
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Posted by Anaklusmos
Heading there today. Should be interesting. At least if I don't make this one There are other options in the area or on the way back.
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Did you make it in?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/katharsys/ |
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Posted by lonewolf34
Really cool set, and looks like an awesome place to explore. Nice job.
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Thank you. It was a life changing experience for me. It still seems surreal that it exists.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/katharsys/ |
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Didn't make it in unfortunately, got spooked by the cop driving around the premises way too fast as if he were looking for someone. The hospital down my way has all been cleared out... So looks like thats my nearst best bet on another asylum now. I'll be seein it sometime soon.
Fucking Spiders..... |
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Posted by Anaklusmos
Didn't make it in unfortunately, got spooked by the cop driving around the premises way too fast as if he were looking for someone. The hospital down my way has all been cleared out... So looks like thats my nearst best bet on another asylum now. I'll be seein it sometime soon.
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we got really lucky when we went. My friend's foot was literally going through the p.o.e when a cop circled around for the second time. definitely high risk. I've been wondering when they will clear it out......
http://www.flickr.com/photos/katharsys/ |
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Shot with film?
Everyone has a dark side, mines just a little more illuminated. |
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