Comments

Pat u are soo funny

They very well could be, but I haven't experienced anything that would lead me to believe it.

I wonder what kind of comments this would receive if we didnt know what it was used as or how it was built. Personally I think its beautiful construction

I haven't studied eugenics in whole; however I could only find a racism correlation regarding state institutions and eugenics in southern states (see Defective or Disabled?: Race, Medicine, and Eugenics in Progressive Era Virginia and Alabama by Gregory Michael Dorr). It seems like an interesting topic to investigate, but doesn't really give much insight to the origin of these murals at an institution outside Philadelphia.

Some other publications that delve into eugenics in state schools that might be of interest:

Inventing the Feeble Mind: A History of Mental Retardation in the United States
The Ugly Laws: Disability in Public
Mental Retardation in America: A Historical Reader

Any discussion about abortion will be promptly removed; it has no bearing on this photograph and is off-topic.

this looks like the entrance to Hell. love it.

I worked at Ladd School in the 1970s. This chair was usually used for patients that had severe Cerebral Palsy. There were a lot of patients that did and those that did usually had other medical complications. It was designed to keep the patient from falling out due to the lack of muscle coordination.

I always have a feeling that you're not the only one in places like this. Do you ever get the sense that these places are haunted?

at least the people got to have some enjoyment in a place like this. I wish I got to roller skate when I was "invited" to stay in one of these places as Carrie Fisher would say haha

Is this an isolation room? It definitely looks like one with the lack of doorknobs and the observation window.

Wow, the first time I ever heard such a thing. Have you ever studied or traced the origins of Eugenics that sprung out of Social Darwinism? This was a thought that originated by racist German and Anglo Saxons of Europe. Their cover was the “improvement the human species” through their systems of control (Eugenics). They believed that they were at the pentacle of human evolution. This thought gave reason for wanting to preserve and improve their “species” by way of selective mating and of coarse covertly destroy the “lesser races” through various methods. Now there were many philosophical debates among their own scholars which method would be the best course of action. One famous Eugenicist in America was Margaret Sanger who created Planned Parenthood which is nothing more but an abortionist clinic. Her aim was to reduce the numbers of blacks in America which end up being very successful because the #1 killer of blacks in America is now Abortion. Eugenicist roots are birth out of disdain for other races. Modern psychology was birth out of Eugenics and Pennhurst would have never came into existence if it was not for eugenics. I'm sorry if this sounds a bit too much but it's the truth.

Very surreal & dangerous looking.

Nature always wins. It might take 10,000 years, but at the end of the day, nature will emerge victorious.

thank you for sharing your photos with us Mr. Motts