485 Comments for Manteno State Hospital

needs a coat of paint.
great shot.

I'm sure I'll be told I'm reading too much into this, but looking at the soap dispensers and cookies from a sociological perspective, they make up part of the culture of the group. Those "tired old jokes" have helped to create this cyber community and a part of its common history. A new person can feel like a "real" member when they happen upon the origin of the jokes and understand them. In your family, don't you have stories that you tell over and over?

I did q quick search on "ice baths in mental hospitals." The links I came up with mostly just repeated references to past treatment practices that "included submerging patients in ice baths until unconscious" or "horrible medical practices like ice baths." There were no references that actually described or recommended ice baths. In some sources the reference was "ice bath," while in others it was "ice-water bath." In a survey of treatment history, I found a reference to William Tuke, who established the York Retreat in England in the nineteenth century and "discouraged ice baths." One book included a poem with the lines
"I was raped by orderlies, gnawed on by rats, and poisoned by tainted food.
And I survived.
I was chained in padded cells, strapped into straitjackets, and half-drowned in ice baths.
And I survived." (Farmer, 1972)

So I think we have an urban legend, that started with some truth (water that felt cold to the person in the bath), and then was made much more sensational than it ever was in reality. There is a big difference between "ice" and "ice water." "Ice water" is a general description used for cold water. If I get into a swimming pool with a water temperature of 85 degrees, I'm going to complain that it's "icy." The poem above may have a degree of poetic license--"ice bath" creates a much more vivid image than does "cold bath."

(BTW--and DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME--ice water does have legitimate medical uses. Putting one's face in very cold water is one home remedy than can be used to "shock" one's heart back into sinus rhythm in cases of specific arrhythmias, but ONLY under the direction of a cardiologist.)

I've found the posters here to be some of the most interesting and intelligent people I've encountered anywhere on the Internet. Some of the least interesting people are the ones who complain about the comments of others not being "appropriate" or whatever. If a person's time is so severely limited that it is upsetting to read a few short words written in fun, I wonder how they have time to be on the Internet at all. And no one forces anyone to read it. Just skip over it. But don't try to make the rules for everybody else (set up your own site if you want to do that). Also, the really smart people are usually the very last ones to question anyone else's intelligence or lack thereof.

It reeks of madness.........

whenever I see places like this I always try to imagine what it must have been like when it was alive with people. As always, great work Motts!

this is stunning.

Psychodelic... I shiver while I look on the photo...

Her name is GENNIE PILARSKI. Sorry !

PLEASE READ THE GENNIE PILARI STORY BEFORE YOU COMMENT
The woman in the pictures is naked, because thats how defenseless she is in the grips of a psycological problem, and a state structured system. This building is now the story of this poor damaged womans life. Like more than a few that I knew from my young life. They ended up in ELGIN, or MANTENO, when their families FELT they could no longer take care of us, or if we had become too much of an "embarrassment". We used to joke about it , "Who would be the next to give up the MANTENO CRY' (the scream of an anguished, mentally confused young woman) . All of the wonderful, knowledgable, men who ordered those treatments had one thing in common. The letters " Dr." after their names. They all took the same oath, but to many of them it was just a game, and a subject for their next report. "Did you see that last one jump when the juice hit her?"
ENOUGH

THIS ONE IS FOR MISS RENEE DVORACEK, ELGIN, "CLASS OF 1972"

alone with my madness.... i sat and imagined how i would feel standing in the middle of this room alone. Pretty amazing..

I agree with Quinnifer

Reminds me of my first time in prison. The place had formerly been an insane asylum. Today it is Eastern Ore. Correctional Inst. located in Pendleton,Ore. Anyway the toilets were just like photo except there were no dividers! It was supposed to be haunted. I had a job washing dishes in kitchen. It was connected with the tunnels that most of the old institutions had. It was a creepy place.

If Gennies story is true,the people responsible for her torture should have been imprisoned and tortured in the same way. eye for an eye. Aside from that the pictures are great.

looks like that doors been kicked in by someone. creepy