Comments

I could have ended up in place like Fernald or Pennhurst had I been born earlier in the century.
I was born in 1969. My IQ registers quite high, 137, but I have endured severed depression my entire life. A lot of it is hereditary, some was environmental.
I was depressed, withdrawn, didn't socialize well, and was easily frustrated in childhood. These exhibited behaviors might have classified me as an "almost."

Thank you, and yes I do hope to visit the UK and/or Scotland sometime soon to photograph the asylums there.

Eh, not really. It would be scare if there was a bag of bones on the the thing! Otherwise, it's just a slab. Most of us will end up on a slab not much different from this, but by the time you're there, you don't care anymore.
How do you feel now, Java?

The story that made Geraldo Rivera famous was his expose of the Willowbrook state school on Long Island. I believe that was 1972.
As both Motts and Cecilia point out, parents with seriously handicapped children were encouraged to "put away" the child and forget about him/her.
Families often felt ashamed of having a retarded or mentally ill member, a holdover from the "eugenics" attitude prevalent in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
This attitude of "denial" continued straight through the 1950s, in spite of muckraking books, such as "Shame of the States."
From what I've read, there was a lot of talk about reforms in the professional community in the '60s, but Geraldo's "Willowbrook" report grabbed America's dirty secret and flung it right in the face of the general public. Willowbrook may have paved the way for the Pennhurst lawsuit.

There's an old frame! It's probably solid steel and weighs a ton!

After the maintenance and temperature controls cease in these kinds of big buildings it doesn't take long for the paint to peel like that. Nature takes its course quite quickly.
Even if buildings are successfully sealed from vandals, the elements still have their way with the structure. I'm sure Motts can attest to this!

A lot of chronically homeless people are pretty strange characters. They don't necessarily share the same perspectives on the physical world as you and I, Bella!

Beautiful work with light and shadow. Very crisp and stark image.

RedDragon,
I would have thought ALL electricity to the joint was cut off long ago. Perhaps there was one connection they neglected to cut. I know fluorescents last a long time, but we're talking 20 years!

NICE colors!

This room look sweet. how the fuck do i get to it...

Heyy guys. recently found ther opacity site and being an occassional (well, a little more then occassional) visitor of dearest byberry, id figured id comment.

first off - this pictures are fanastic. very dramatic and theatrical at times. whoever took these knows their camera.

second off - ive taken home a few souveniers from byberry. my growing list of stuff includes a medicine bottle and a patient restriction form. theyre both pretty cool i think.

im gonna keep lookin through pictures. these are awesome and take me to byberry without my half hour drive. :) rock on guys. i <3 byberry

That is a totally beautiful shot.

They almost look still in use and functional from this picture. What a culture shock, eh?

I concurr with you, Motts. They really do hold that resemblence.