52 Comments Posted by mary

we at ypsi had visiting rooms where family could hug and could be brought food from the outside

i think this for people waiting to go to trail or committed due to crimes for we had visiting rooms on the units where family could visit and hug loved ones and bring them food and stuff.

My Great Great Grandmother was admitted to the State Hospital in 1884. She died there in 1904. Her husband returned to Norway and died there.

About 13 years ago my ex husband and about 10 friends went up there on about different occasions. The place itself has many storys to tell. Broken dolls and bottles on the floor. Old bed frames still in some of the rooms. Alot of graffiti on the walls from passerbyers. The place had a reched smell to it. I was there during the day. Have many pics from it and it wasnt bad at all or creepy. But once enetered at night the whole scene changes within u. There are sounds u cant explain, cold spots and whispers. Once again it could just be wind blowing through cracks and rats or bats throughout the halls echoing but i think theres alot more there than has ever been told. A friend of mines reletive died there during the tuberculosis era and claimed of the abuse and torturing that went on there. Not only to patients but also to nurses. Her family members thought she was just losing her mind due to the illness but there was many claims of these incidents. Nurses commited suicide and so did patients. Body remains were destroyed in the incinertor. But I do not personally know if any of this is real.

This looks like a machine we used to label clothing for clients where I work. Now we have a computerized labeler.

The sad partis that it is abandoned, Iam a person who visted the park in it glory days and o what fun was had to be a queen or king for the day. All that have missed this great advanture sorry for you I am one that would loive to see it opened for my grandchildren. all my wonderfull advantures of a child mary

The lab would have been like any hospital or health department lab. No torture. Just samples on slides to look for parasites like nematodes (blood fluke sort of thing) and hookworms. Blood drawn into little vaccutainer tubes to do basic bloodwork to diagnose and treat things like electrolyte abnormalities. A pretty simple urinary tract infection can make older folks completely crazy and that would have been some of what the lab would have been used for (analyzing the cup of urine...no patient attached).

Is Pennhurst still standing?? There's the VA hospital there! Is it further down the road from there??

Reminds me of a Tiffany stained glass creation!

I worked at this hospital in the 1950's. They had just stopped using hydrotherapy and were using shock therapy, which was brutal. That was in the days before modern tranquilizing drugs. I worked on the Admission Ward and relieved for dinner on the Violent Ward. It was a dangerous place to work if you didn't treat the patients with respect. I did, so I was never hurt.

Is it me, or is there a little toadie inside? It might be some leaves, though...

A serene watercolor, framed by antiquity.

Reminds me of a park in Wisconsin, where the steps through the woods led down to Lake Michigan. I get the same good feeling!

I have loved all of your galleries, esp. the old asylums, as I used to work in one (St. Louis State Hospital)

It probably is!