45 Comments Posted by BustedTrespasser

The State of PA owned the Dixmont site until 1999 when it was bought by a neigbor of the site. He bought all 407 acres for about $757,000, intending to control the property so that his neighboring farm wouldn't be disturbed by possible development. He then intended to sell the front 75 acres of the property to WalMart after they approached him about purchasing the property. When the final agreement was made, only 35 acres of the front of the property was sold to WalMart for $35 million. The local neigbor has kept the other 372 acres, but many of the complex's structures, including the Kirkbride, are on the 35 acres now owned by WalMart. The cemetary has about 1,300 graves in a 1 acre plot that the state never sold as part of the 1999 deal. So the cemetary is still owned and maintained by the State of PA and is far enough from the WalMart site that it won't be disturbed.

Beware the lurking construction workers. One in a red Dodge pickup alerted his boss (the guy in charge of the whole site I was told) yesterday when I visited with some friends. The boss called the cops on me and as we were walking back to my car getting ready to leave, the tow truck arrived to steal my car. Luckily for me, the cops and the tow truck driver were really cool with us and I think we got everything worked out, but I may still be charged with defiant trespass.

There are construction trailers down by Rt. 65 near the old water treatment plant and powerhouse where it seems that someone from the construction company stays 24/7. The police are on high alert now since on Saturday they told me someone got in one of the big Terex earthmovers and drove it into the side of a building. The cops also told me something about the EPA being a pain about people coming to the site because of the asbestos all through the main building.

Those plants are all gone now. The trees have been cut down and removed, and the weeds in the road have all been smashed up by the tracks of the construction equipment that now surrounds the building like and invading army laying seige to an ancient city.

That is so cool! Where was this safe located?

It's too bad that the safe company misspelled the city that it named itself for. Twice. Pittsburgh, PA is spelled with an "H" at the end, Pittsburg with no "H" at the end is a city in California.

One of the cops who cited me for trespassing and was about to tow my car said he is a long time resident of the neighborhood where Dixmont is located. He said that he knows somebody who used to work in the hospital and is very familiar with the tunnel system. He got a "tunnel tour" from this guy and said that the tunnels run all over under the entire complex. The officer also claims that the tunnels under the main building extend three stories underground and some exit down by the Ohio River. He also said that it is really dangerous to go down in those parts because if you weren't familiar with the tunnels, you would surely get lost.

I have to believe him about the tunnels going all the way down to the river banks because I know this same thing is true of the Cardello Electric site a bit farther down the river. The Cardello building is on the site of an old steel mill. The mill had a full underground conveyor system that carried raw materials into the mill. Barges on the river would dock at the mill's dock and be unloaded by cranes on the river bank and the materials were carried up by the underground conveyors into the mill buildings that are now long gone. I work for a local contractor and we did some work there about 2 years ago and I got to see some of what remains of that conveyor system.

I saw this room yesterday. It was cool to see (safely from the doorway, of course). What was even more cool was looking at this scene in the room below it.

There was definately a fire in that area from what I saw yesterday. If you look up at the damage before you walk in the front door, you will see a heavy wooden crossbeam is about the only remaining structure in that area, and it looks like it was pulled out of a campfire---all cracked and charred.

I think I remember seeing that chair still there yesterday, but it was turned on it's side. As for it's mysterious condition, anything is possible since over the past 21 years of the building's abandonment scores of kids have been going to the building to party, drink, do drugs, and who knows what else.

Actually, I think those lines are water lines from the sprinkler system that was added. Probably a sprinkler head in each room like modern hospitals and hotels.

Some of the bathrooms had full length shower curtains that were identical to those privacy curtains that are still hanging there. Funny how something so typically mundane as a bathroom can be so interesting.

These corridors are gone now as I posted to an earlier pic thread. All that's left is just the door nearest the photographer that leads to about a 15 foot drop down to the roadway below. And as for cyclops, I saw one spray painted on a wall in one of the rooms.

The reflection is from the plastic cover of a flourescent light fixture. The appearant smoothness of that section of ceiling may be from the lack of paint. Many sections of the building, particularly those exposed to a lot of moisture from the leaking roof, have already lost all their paint and all that is left is the bare plaster. Some parts of the ceilings have even lost the plaster and all that remains is the steel structure and subflooring from the floor above. The building really has fallen into terrible shape.

These windows are gone now. All the windows except for some of the glass block ones have been removed. I suppose this was done in preparation for the pending demolition.

I must add, though, that the 4th floor is very badly damaged now from the fire and water. I couldn't look around up there very much because the floors were very weak and I didn't want to risk falling through.

That partition is still laying there just like it is in the photo. I was standing on it yesterday trying to figure out where it once stood.