Comments

The picture alone is breathtaking - I can hardly imagine what it must have been like to approach such an imposing, beautiful structure in real life.

Are you sure that lonely chair is left out or just watching??:)

Anyone else notice the un-broken light bulb? I love the little overlooked details!

Viewed this site forever but first time comment.. What I find interesting about this building is the set in radiators! For the age of the building I find this feature very interesting and after looking at other facilities this appears to be somewhat rare. Not only does it make occupants less likely to get burned but increases room size and decreases visable piping. I would think the lining of brick would also help radiate the heat further!

Motts,
When I first stumbled across your website, (a few days ago) I had mixed feelings at first as to why someone would even think of photographing such places. Now after getting this far (alphabetically) in your galleries, it has all become extremely clear. You're not a crazed lunatic, you're chasing a history that no one wants to admit to being part of.

You have brought so many of these old places back to life once again, and they should remind society of why they were built in the first place. True - there are portions of the mentally ill who can be cared for in other environments, but there are so many others who can never fit into society in any way. They are the ones who people ignored the mere existance of while institutions like this were in their prime, and years after the De-Institutionalization they are coming back to bite the government in the ass once again.

As a major in Clinical Psychology I applaud your work, but I practiced when we didn't have the technology available today. I worked as a Patient Advocate at Fairview State Hospital in Costa Mesa California, and back then it housed some of the most severely deformed people in this country. People who back then could never leave the hospital grounds, as they would have been labeled "Freaks or Monsters"

I thank you greatly for taking the legal and often life threatening risks to bring these pictures and stories to us, and just hope others appreciate them for their value as much as I do.

People equate todays litigeous post 9/11 world with days gone past.

Things were ALOT less regulated back then and people just didn't hink others would be corrupt and immoral enough to do things illegal or sue over things like discarded files,evenof a sensitive nature.
Technology is a double edged sword. Sometimes I think we were better off before it...

Slowly backing out of room with out taking eyes off of creepy door...

Cool!~

The picture on the wall was one of Motts photos of a dead cat in a file cabinet drawer.

Some of you seem to think this is disturbing? Ever see someone in four point restraints? Ever see what some people have done to warrant four point restraints? I have. More disturbing I feel. This crib is par for the time period. Also, it is only within a relatively short period in history that people were put in "cribs" and not jail-like cells. Medievil Europe and even colonial America. I have seen the Asylum at Colonial Willamsburg in Virginia several times. It is actually over the last half-century that the biggest advancements have been made. So in comparison, (aside from confirmed cases of abuse) The adult crib in this picture is quite humane.

Thanks, I'll be here all week.
sorry I only only mention mental illness. I have a rare one so I felt I could speak intelligently on the subject with at least a bit of copability

B

Every hay stack should have a fire extinguisher, because back then you were allowed to smoke anywhere.

All the fancy stuff might have been for the richies that survived the Titanic disaster, after they went nuts because everything they owned went down with the ship.

i went here not too long ago and in this building this exact hallway after upon the feeling of something grabbing at my pants leg. me and my friends shined the flashlights all the way down to this window and saw reflections of the lights, as you can see theres no glass for the reflection. this is the first time publicly i told anyone.. it brings back terrible memories it was so incredible yet amazing but the damn cops got to us before we could get out of the childrens building... message me on aim if youd like to hear the personal experience to talk shit to me no one will experience or believe me. But i am open to all comments astonishingeh is my aim feel free to shout at me,,,,

Wow Motts, now you have a lonely shovel to add to your signature collection. Very cool.

I thought the same thing right away, the grim reaper, very disturbing crypt.