Comments

That type of furniture has another safety advantage. It's heavy as hell, and unlikely to become a ballistic missle weapon during a snit.

I wonder...Is this how you treat your patients?

Honestly...dont give her the helmet...if she wants to bang her head let her. Why would you even keep reposting comments and rants like this when only a handful of people listen and you get upset at those who are just voicing their opinions and what they see? You are clearly a hipocrite...you think that you are always right because you work in a hospital nowadays..but not back then..and that you must let everyone know about how smart you are. I think you are childish because people voice what they see in these pictures...and then you yell at them and tell them your opinion. (which you obviously feel is full of facts and completely true) Maybe you should just let people think what they want to think, and ignore their comments huh?

Ok...So I want to start out by saying that my best friend's uncle was born in Pennhurst...and her grandma took him in when this place was shut down. He just passed away recently but there are many stories I have heard from her that her uncle has told her. I would like to first say to Lynne that you work in a hospital now..not back in the time of Pennhurst. Back then they didnt know about dissabilities and they didnt treat them like human beings in all cases. Sure some places did..but other didnt. You need to first put yourself back in these times and realize that they werent as educated as we are now today about people with dissabilities.

Secondly..I would like to let you know that her uncle (after being released from Pennhurst) didnt know how to read, write, walk, eat, or even go to the bathroom on his own. I can tell you honestly that he learned all of that from her grandmother when he was released. He informed us about how he was mistreated and abused. And was even put in a isolation room, sitting in his own waste, on a few occasions.

Up to the time of his death he was still afraid of people's touch. When a person came into their house that he didnt know..he would cowar and fall silent because of the tourture of Pennhurst.

I agree with you Lynne...In the sense that, yes, in these years people dont mistreat their patients. But I would like you to start thinking of what it was like then. You have stood on your soapbox and compared it to your experiences but what you must realize is that your experiences are not back in the times of Pennhurst.. when people were still ignorant to the disabled.

I know for a fact that people were abused here..from my friend's uncle. I wasnt entirely sure until now...but now i know.. and I thought that maybe someone should step up on their soapbox and try to enlighten you a little bit...

Joe, some of these people may be semi-illiterate, and maybe didn't grasp the concept of "words dont always spell the way they sound" or something. Creepy and eerie shot though...good job...

Waiting for what, Godot? Or a good case of lead poisoning? If you look closely, you can see the wainscotting -- quite beautiful!

It's almost as if the chair is watching itself and its surroundings age, so slowly, yet steadily. Like it wants to escape so bad, but it cannot. Maybe that's how the patients felt...

This photo just sorta hit me, and you can just imagine an exhaughsted hospital worker stuffing something in those shelves, or maybe another sneaking something. You can see the age, and decay, but they still stand. amazing really...

This scares me..

with the seats over the delivery room & this image, one would think this was perhaps a teaching facility?

So I know personally a few of my friends came in here when they were younger. They had no idea what Pennhurst was.. since they were only 10. But i do remember them telling me about how they were knocking over pews in an abandoned church. And then I came across this page and showed them.. and they said that this theater was the very same "church."

I would have to agree that not all mental asylums are bad, but since no one really knows what happened..and the gov't wont release any information...people like to make up stories.. most being about abuse and neglect. And I dont know what happened hear..But i do live about 10 mins from here..I hear many stories about this place. And i dont believe its haunted or anything like that. But I do believe that maybe this was once one of those hospitals where they didnt treat their patients very well. I know now they have very nice hospitals..but i know that back then, they werent as knowledgable about the disabled and maybe they didnt give them the care they deserved.

I wonder if they did any sedation for their patients...and how good the dentists were. Why does bulky machinery always instill fear?

Wow -- the "dark" at the end of the tunnel! Great shot.

This shot scared me to death...I thought it was a human skull *shudder*

I can't remember the dude in Toy Story II but I 'think' it was buddy or something like that. eh I can't remember, been months since my last babysitting job =)