Comments

In nurses training in 1970 my entire class was taken on a field trip to a looooovely facility called [name removed] in OH. It is closed now and may even be gone. The things I saw that day almost made me leave nursing. Patient's were strapped to beds or restrained in chairs. Some of them were not able to conmmunicate except by screaming. There were MR/DD and mentally ill all in the same areas. The ages were young children and up. The rooms were packed. Cribs by adult beds. I can't remember if this area was the ward or a day room. I am hoping in my mind that it was a day room where all ages mixed. Many of the patient's reached out to us and seemed hungry for human contact. It was and is the worst "medical housing" I have ever experienced. It felt like there were warehousing people.
But it was worse when they closed all of the facilites in my part of the state. There was very little provision made for most of the patients. They were mostly taken back to the county they originally were from and became a burden to the county. Many group homes were opened. Most of the MR/DD stayed in the homes. The mentally ill....not so much. I live in the county seat and many of the mentally ill stay in my town so they can walk to the offices that provide their benefits. So we have "crazy" people walking around town all of the time. Many of my neighbors are afraid of these people. The folks are not violent, but they act out and scare people.
The old way was bad and probably Very bad in many instances, but this new way is not better. The only difference is now there is no large hospital building for the state to support. The mentally ill are still underserved and abused, but now this happens because there is no where for them to go. They live on the streets, in garages with no plumbing, and anywhere they can find. They do not wish to be confined and with the current laws unless they are a danger to themselves or someone else there is no way to force them to stay anywhere. Some of them choose the street over the nice warm dry housing they were originally assigned. So do we have it right this time? My answer is NO. Do I have an idea that addresses all of the needs? NO, but I wish I did.
Getting down off the soap box now. Thanks for listening.
:)

Yeah, the tape didn't seem to demarcate anything of importance (structural stability, etc), so I assume it had a purpose in segregating weapon storage areas. There wasn't anything beyond it except for more very empty rooms...

Wallpaper anyone!?

I grew up at this hotel. My father was the emcee for the best part of 30 years until his death in 1990. If you want to know the real story, contact me. Robnkip@aol.com Just put Johnny Greco in the subject line. I'll tell you anything you want to know about the Pines from 1970-1990

Europe's LARGEST petri dish...

This is quite possibly the creepiest picture on this website. Need I say more? 10/10

Job well done, Motts!

I worked for a hospital that built a totally new building in the 70's. The colors of those chairs are the colors that were on the walls, the chairs, the carpets, and everything else you can think of when we moved into the new building in Aug 1977. So that would give some idea of the date for these chairs.

...sorry, spelled that wrong....

Ouibliette with a ladder..... That shot is truly creepy. Another one out of a nightmare. At least there's not 20 feet of black, inky water at the bottom....:-0

Great one! Looks like the dirt floor on the left might fall into the black abyss below. Don't know if I'd walk there.

Really like this :-)

Noooooo!!.....(moaning in a state of "creeped-out-ness" at the dark water that shouldn't be there)..... Like the composition, though, and the spot of green in the middle sets it off well.

Nicely balanced :-).

......agghhhh. I can hardly LOOK at these "creepy underwater" shots... Great shades of green, though. The reflections are a nice effect, too.

Zara, I agree. Something about things underwater that SHOULDN'T be is just WRONG, especially when you can't see down into the water. Interesting that this is so clear. Deep, dark, abandoned pools, or any kind of water are always beyond creepy. Nice shot.