Comments

Did the doctors and staff have free room and board? Does any body know? Just curious

This picture is amazing. It reminds me of the movie "Inquery" featuring Chuck Davis from "dark tranquility". Nice work!

That's quite a piece of work. I do admire what you guys have done here, sure sounds like an adventure.

I worked as a music therapist here in 1980. This was the hospital. From this view, my office was straight ahead and to the right. This is very weird.

dolts in the public sector is the only reason i can think of of why polititions would turn their backs on people in need . as well as letting these buildings fall in disrepair. if it afected their precious lives you can bet they would do something .

i beleave i was housed in building 22 for me it was a house of horras that will forever live in my mind, abuese"s beatings beatings and more beatings, THAT is the treatment the staff treated the childern of building 22 too, some staff members wanted to make sure i learned about sex and took it apon him self to teach me and who could i tell , if i told any one i would be in big troble!!! yes he would be fired but i would still pay for not keeping silent. some times i would heair an other boy cry out in the middle of the night help me g-d or for his mother we were childern and got treated to some of the worst treatment post world war two. i want the world to know that even these are not the worst crimes comitted on the childern as if all of this wasen"t enough, yes they did radiation exprierments on us!!!

The museum idea is great - to showcase the progress of mental health treatment in this country over the years. Some of those buildings are just too beautiful to have to disappear forever.
These pictures blew my mind. This is the first time I've been to any site like this (I've gone through all the NSH gallery and comments for the past 3 days). Motts - you're truly gifted! And I've learned so much - from the photos, links and comments! I can't wait to explore the other galleries now - I'm hooked. I'd love to hear more true accounts from those who've spent time here. Mental illness runs in my family but no one spoke about it out loud until recently - it explained so much about my entire existence just to find that out. I'm so grateful to be alive in a time when it can be treated more easily than it once was.
For anyone else who is fascinated by the treatment of mental illness before modern medications I recommend a fictional mystery called "Shudder Island" by Dennis Lehane. As I said, it's fictional but you'll feel as though you're right there and you'll be haunted by it long after you've finished it. Read it through to the end - it's not what you think!
Thanks Motts and everybody - you're all fascinating people!!

I love your pics! I grew up in GlennDale and me and my friends spent many late nights "going through GlennDale hospital" scared out of our minds, we were all over that place--this was in 1985-1987. I remember someone smashed a jar of jelly in that place and it looked like blood! Then we heard the police were using it for training and we never went back.

Its certainly not your old school Kirkbride but I still say their is a definite beauty in even these, now old and history filled buildings.

Summerrains and spidergirl, must be related to one another.

That place has been completely TRASHED...

That things been drawn all over on by now, I think it was in Hilltop?? I really don't remember.

I've never seen everything so bright

There are some bowling balls we went bowling in what was it this just past November, I believe. A few pins as well, but not actual ones they were little kiddy ones. It was pretty fun...

Just about every power plant has connections to the power grid that allow it to take in power when the generators have to be shut down for maintainance or emergencies. This allows the facility to keep lights, controls, pumps and other critical equipment operating. Without operating generators, the plant is just another industrial building that uses power from an outside source (but it has some cool stuff inside).

By the way, it is not that unusual to see power on in a seemingly abandoned building. There is hardly any land in the USA that some private entity or local/state/federal govenment is not responisible for. The land is probably owned by some real estate holding company that pays a custodian to check on the building once in a while and keep the power on for security lighting and fire alarm systems, etc.