273 Comments Posted by amy

Also...many parents were simply told or pressured to have their disabled children placed there by their medical professionals. That was the norm then, but it certainly has changed over time. Advances in cognitive therapies, social acceptance of the mentally disabled & better oversight of state & privately run facilites that care for the mentally disabled have moved this system toward what we would all call....an "Everyday Life".

Please don't forget that many of the Pennhurst patients were there from early childhood or even birth.... they didn't know what it was like outside, they didn't know their families, they didn't know what it was like to be loved.... because they never had it in the first place.

Many state institutions were self sustaining....the patients farmed the land for food, water treatment facilities were on site & most had generated their own electricity through a "powerhouse" that was usually a short distance from the campus.

There were also many violent patients kept at Pennhurst. They would keep them in the basement as to prevent them from assaulting the other patients/staff.

Amazing! Seeing that you had another brilliantly beautiful album up has made my day. Thank you!

They had it very nice on the first floor so the family thought everything would look nice in the whole area. They wanted the families to think that they were leaving them in good hands. They did some unspeakable things to people there.
They would ask families if they would give them notice when they would come down and then they would make sure they were dressed approriate. After they would make sure they were on the first floor so the families would only see that area...

My uncle worked the movie projector...I was about 4 years old (1961). He would take me, my sister, and his three daughters to see the nights show. I think I was too young to really understand where we were sitting in the dark, the five of us girls, ages 4-14 along with the patients who quietly filed in. I know I never felt afraid, but just a confusion of where exactly I was and who all those people were who couln't go home after the show.

This might be one of the most beautiful buildings I've ever seen. What a shame! The attention to detail is evident throughout! Too bad someone can't save it and transform it into something beautiful and useful once again! Great pics!

Both my grandmother and great-grandmother worked in this center for 30 year each. My great-grandmother was beaten very badly by a patient causing her retirement. My grandmother retired in the mid-80's. She has wild stories to tell about this place!

Actually I see Beth. Its hard but under what appears to be a D is another curve, at any rate its not death. No A, and if I were going to carve a word in a wall I would spell it all the way, otherwise...see what happens. :)

This crib is called a "fire" crib. When individuals had to be moved in a hurry, staff would sometimes place several "small" children in cribs like this to safely move them out of harms way. These cribs were sturdy enough to handle the weight.

wow....thats one beautiful chapel...that'd be an awesome place to get married.

they really should work on preserving that so generations to come can look back on it and be proud to live in that area.

the chapel is absolutely beautiful. i wish they made more chapels like this now.

that room looks so lived in because actually it probably is. hobos go and stay in the Sterling Hotel and during the winter they start little like fire pits in the rooms and sometimes the fires will catch the room on fire. and then the fire department has to come and put it out. and sorry about saying hobos i mean the homeless.. and people dont think i'm going by what i hear on the internet or from people...i know about the Sterling Hotel because i live right by it and the news people talk about the Sterling Hotel like at least a few times a year.