I worked there for a time.....it was an overcrowded hellhole where a lot of families dropped off their mentally disabled family members to get rid of them. When I worked there in the nineteen sixties, very few patients were being treated for their illnesses. It was a prison for the mentally ill and disabled. As a professional. I left there in complete disgust as did many others. If it looks "spooky" think of it as a horror movie without the filmmakers.
Someone was on the right track here. This is no doubt the cooler, in the Morgue, that held up to two deceased individuals, prior to their removal by the undertaker. There is almost the exact same set up at the former Norfolk County Hospital in Braintree which was built right around the same period as the PCH. They recently painted their old cooler Black, probably the only updating of there "storage" in almost 90 years!! The former Norfolk County Hospital, is still in use as a hospital but is now in private hands. It was from there that the superintendant of the hospital contacted me about 10 years ago and told me of some wonderful old Glass slides of the PCH from the 1920's and 30's, he knew of my History background and I still have them to this day. Fascinating stuff, old views of the hospital as it looked in its glory days, patients, staff etc., the better ones hand colored. Even a slide of the sheet music from the 1920's entitled "March of the TB Bugs"!! I kid you not.
Your photos are fascinating, knowing the History of the Hospital as I do, I can tell you in its Golden Age it was a vibrant, active and successful hospital, full of dedicated staff treating the "Great White Plague" Tuberculosis. Answering the comments made about the Stage/theatre, there were many events held there over the years to entertain the patients including vaudeville and minstrel shows, and plays. It was also a movie theatre as well, we were able to salvage the two permenently mounted 1940's movie cameras that were up in the projection booth, these and other salvagable items we were able to secure to at least preserve some vestige of the fascinating and once glorious history of this once proud structure. How Sad, and unecessary that a building that was "Built to last and to serve the people of Plymouth County, was so sadly neglected by those entrusted with its future well being. "
These shots in B&W are totally awesome!I love the way they tend to show a sense of mystery and daring to anyone who wishes to enter-at their own risk!They are simply beautiful!