Comments

Hauntingly Beautiful!

Nothing short of perfect, Motts!

If anyone would like to see pictures of Byberry in the 1930's and 1940's,you can go to the Philadelphia Historical Digital Image Library.Type in Byberry in the search box.You can click on each picture and get a full screen image.There are some pictures of the patients/residents,and staff inside the hospital.

Oh Motts.... You are extremely talented and modest too! You're a GEM! :)~

Oh. A coal bin? I wonder how many patients "disappeared" in there... *huarr-huarrr*

I like this "lone chair" shot

If you guys are saying the House of Horrors opened in 1963, why is this month's Rhode Island Monthly saying it opened in 1938? And was there REALLY" teenage gang violence" in the park as Rhode Island Monthly claims?

Hi Lynne,
I was referring to the Opacity home page for the Pennhurst school.That home page and both sets of pictures have information describing some of the conditions at the school.There is also a link to check out some of the Pennhurst documents.None of it paints a very good picture.Some of the things that went on were pretty horrible.That does not mean that everyone was treated like.That also does not mean that everyone who worked there treated people poorly.Most of the people who worked there tried their best.The few who did their job poorly or abused patients made everyone look bad.
Each place shown on Opacity has a little background information.Many of the hospitals,asylums and schools had some history that was sad.For many,that is what they think when they look at the pictures.When you look at the outside of Danvers State Hospital,you see a beautiful building.When you look at the inside,you see darkness..For someone who does not know much about mental illness,it is difficult to think that anything good ever happened there.When a Kirkbride asylum or hospital opened,it was a beautiful,well run facility.By the 1950's many of those places were horrible.They were not funded adequately,there was not enough staff and they had more patients than they were designed to hold.The state goverment has responsibilty for many of the problems.Society has some responsibilty for not wanting to have anything to do with the mentally ill.For many,out of sight was out of mind.
There are many things that get repeated in history.The human race does not always learn from their past errors.We still experience things today that went on in the past such as wars,conflicts over religion,and many other things.The killing of millions in the death camps during WW2 happened 60 years ago.We would have hoped that something like that would not be repeated,but it happened again in Cambodia,Chechnia and many other countries.It happened many times before World War 2.I dont know why this happens.Is it human nature?
I think it is important to talk about mental illness.There are lots of people who would like to know more about it.I have suffered from mental illness since the 1970's.Learning as much as I can about my illness has been very important.It is a learning experience that never ends.Please dont get so frustrated when someone makes a comment that is negative to your profession.People with mental illness have lived with those remarks for a long time.

dont slip on the soap

Wow, Men without hats, how do you remember the lyrics/

There are no words to describe this photo!

I love this place, I went there with some friends about 2 weeks ago, i was so pissed it's complteley torn down. PLEASE IF ANYONE KNOWS HOW TO GET TO THE TUNNELLS, OR WHETHER OR NOT THEY STILL EXIST, PLEASE WRITE BACK TO ME.

So Scary!

Is This A Hospital Or A Asylum!?

I do! That Is So Scary!