234 Comments Posted by rich_edwards79

Thanks all. I was feeling particularly poetic the other night, happens occasionally ;-). And Neefer, do you *really* need another reason to boycott Wal-Mart?

Agreed. I've seen more than a couple of crematoria (at cemeteries and so on) and they NEVER have chimneys like that, usually they're shoert, stubby and well-hidden by the roof of the building, disguised as a tower etc.

I'd imagine that relatives wouldn't really want to see a huge factory-style stack dominating the skyline and reminding them of the exact fate of their loved ones' remains.

People's images of crematoria seem to largely stem from images of Nazi death camps, which I suppose would have had those big chimneys to put the fear of God into those sent to them :-(

Lynne, that's a great set of links, and an interesting insight into the downside of de-institutionalisation. Shame it was taken over by the military... I wonder if there will be anything left for urban explorers when they've finished their exercises on the campus?

For me it's the vegetation that makes the difference. Incredible how Nature takes over.

If your friend's room looked like that, perhaps there was something s/he wasn't telling you LOL!

I blame One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, and those pictures of abuse from Byberry and Pennhurst (1940s and 1960s respectively) which people think still goes on. Didn't Byberry have 4000 people in it at one point, and Pennhurst 2,500? Overcrowding isn't the word... but I'm sure that de-institutionalisation has massively depleted figurs like that!

Big corporations have no time for history. I've seen that time and again. All the likes of Wal-Mart want to do is concrete over the world with their corporate identity, they're not for sharing it witht he relics of the past. I hope that eventually we all order groceries on line and have them delivered, then these huge superstores and their endless parking lots will be mere dinosaur stables, for the next generation of Motts to explore...

A dead cat?

http://www.opacity.us/image136.htm

Hey, I'd take the 'Duke' anyday - she's beautiful. And UK law dictates that any squatted structure is automatically yours after 10 years :-)

And a beautiful building, which will finally be at peace very soon, returned to dust, her work all done. Those rays look as though they're calling Dixmont and the ghosts of all who resided here back home...

Nice to see those curtains and dividers. The stalls are rudimentary, but they'd have afforded some privacy...

A great set. Thank you very much for sharing...

I would if I were locking up this place for the last time - a note saying 'Unlucky'....

;-)

Looks like a gurl - albeit one with three arms! Am I right?

Now that is some big-time structural failure. I hope even you didn't think of getting too close...