96 Comments Posted by Devin

Why is it that the clown that are intended to be very un-scary have the creepiest effect?

The chairs are a Luther Conover design from the 1950s. They are made of fiberglass. The chairs are probably different colors just because different colors were available. These were manufactured in the whole rainbow of colors as well as black and white to match any decor.

I think those are records on the floor too. But there are small like 45s except they don't have the large center hole. They may be 7" LPs, or 7" vinyl 78s. The one is warped in a way that suggests it is vinyl. There were vinyl 16-RPM discs made for Muzak machines in the late 50s-early 60s -- possible.

Purple chair,
purple chair.

I only want to see you sitting in the purple chair.

The painting and the American Eagle decal on the piano are not original to the piece. That is a style known as "antiquing" which became popular in the late 50s-70s. A base coat of light beige was used and then the darker streaks were brushed on lightly over top of that. It was intended to resemble old Pennsylvania Dutch, Shaker, Early American painted furniture that was done usually with milk-paint (home-made paint made from milk or other protein-base substances) and the old furniture often has a streaked look that was mimicked in this piano. The decal was added after the paint was dry and maybe varnished over. A couple of the stars are missing.

The piano looks like an early 20th-century upright. Before it was antiqued it likely had a mahogany, walnut, or quarter-sawn oak veneer. The uneven level of the keys indicates that there are broken hammers and levers and the whole action is likely frozen.

This has been consistently well-maintained and kept clean-clean-clean for a long time. We know that it must have seen some heavy use, the edge of the tub has been chipped off and the iron below the porcelain is exposed. The shine on the chrome is amazing. This could be used as an advertisement for whatever they used to clean it with.

The Changeling, starring George C. Scott, 1979. One of the scariest movies ever made. To this day I can't look at an antique wheel chair without thinking of that movie.

I was exploring a junk yard in the 70s. It was just after all the stores had switched from these mechanical cash registers to the electronic kind. There several were small mountains of these machines waiting to be scrapped. I did take pictures but i have no idea what happened to them. Possible my parents may still have them.

They still used these types of duplicating machines when I was in grade school -- before xerox copiers were common. If the teacher made the copies just before class the papers would be cold and slightly damp. The ink was blue and sometimes a bit smudged -- a little blurry but still readable.

I'm sure that some of the information in this would still be relevant.

Cool! The position of the 'X' would change throughout the day and vanish at nightfall.

The chair is a Luther Conover design. It is made of fiberglass and they came in just about any color you might want. They were made in the late 50s-early 60s. Conover was, along with Charles Eames one of the modern style furniture designers for Herman Miller.

I remember these chairs being quite common when I was a child in the late 60s- early 70s. By the late 70s they were considered old junk and thrown away, especially if the fiberglass had cracked from frequent use as one would see in these chairs that were in institutions.

Today, if that chair were cleaned up and it was free of cracks, it would easily fetch $100 wholesale.

Those were nice suits at one time. Formal attire. Sometimes patients in these type of institutions have musical talent and were assembled into performing acts. If they were performing for a public event they would want to be dressed in appropriate duds. Even Nazi concentration camps had musical groups consisting of the prisoners.

Just one possible explanation. The information that we have is, some things that were at one time really nice suits are hanging in the basement of what was at one time a mental hospital. They were there for some reason. Put there for some reason. And left there -- why?

Considering the exposure to mildew, moisture, and just time, those suits would not even survive an attempt to clean them. They would end up in shreds.

It's one of those with the thing missing.

I just don't know. Did a Google image search for all the suggestions, Gabby Bear, Teddy Ruxpin, Alvin/Chipmunks doll, and there is nothing that I came across that I could confidently say is a match. The slot in the forehead is strange -- I have no clue as to what purpose it served and I have never seen a toy with that kind of thing in the forehead. The mouth suggests some kind of ventriloquist item and the hair that remains on the face as well as the nose indicate an animal character.

Maybe is was a rare proto-type.