4,224 Comments for Northampton State Hospital

seeing this picture was a gut punch. beautiful, the pain is almost tangible.

breathless, am i. this is a shot of dreams. well done!

i was there ive seen the hole buliding and it is quiet a site. indoors and out

Speaking of morgues. I worked at Walter E. Fernald School in Waverly Ma. and was told to go to certain bldg. to pick something up. I found myself in this small brick bldg. that on the shelf held dozens of brains pickled in alcohol on shelves. I had no idea what it was all about , but later on in life I found that they were used for experimental purposes to try to find out why the, god bless there souls, why they never had a decent burial and were given the respect that they all deserved. I'll never forget the little bldg. with the pickled brains. Every one a human being that once had a life but was reduced to a brain in a bottle. I kid you not folks, this was a fact, and in later years there was a short article in the Boston Globe that verified this fact. Just another brick in the wall.

Motts, I remembered the howling winds in the winter used to sing a strange song, like voices that wer'e trying to tell you something. I never found it unpleasant, but a force that was trying to communicate a message. Again, Motts, you have given me a venue for feelings that have been dorment for a long time. It could actually a cartharsis to understand what it was about and what it will be about.

In dreams I float through these lybrynthian tunnels, these empty corridors, wards and I find that the lost souls travel with me as I contantly wander this place. I am a part of the lost souls and they are a part of me. Haunted, indeed.

Thank you SO much for the wallpaper!

Beautiful!!
This looks familiar..
Is this the south infirmary?

Just to ellaborate on my last comment. Your expertise absolutely gives you the crendentials to make the photos a living history that will not be recorded in a way that anyone can relate to in the present sense. It takes an articulate person with your experience and focus to details to pull this off. You bring in people that would never understand what it was all about unless you anserwed the questions that was asked of you. You come off as an historian, a compassionate devotee of the mental healthj system of this country. My experience has been direct care and essentially management and experienced what was in the 60's, 70's , 80's and the 90's. Worked at Walter E. Fernald in the mid 60's where brutality was the norm of the day. As they used to call a back ward, where the stench of urine and feces were the norm of the day. Where the temp. hovered around 62 in the winter and in the summer was whatever the temp was outdoors. Poor pathetic folks who had no chance but to live in conditons that might equal the death camps in Nazi Germany. They were abused, they were treated as non persons and worse. I live somewhat with guilt that witnessed but I was young and a novice and was told in no uncertain terms to go along with the program. I then took a job at Mass Mental Health in Boston which was a very progressive mental facilty where Harvard psych students afficliated. The difference between the two was outstanding. Only the classic cases of mental health were accepted and the staff was an integral part of a progressive program. I then worked at Boston State Hosp. on an ward that took care of the mentally/physically ill. Again, a lot more abuse but also with staff that went out of there way to accomendate the poor souls who needed so much compassion beyond the capabilities that most people had at that time. My next job was at N.S.H. for an extended time. I have made so many comments of how I feel about the old place and how I so appreciate Motts photos because it brings back so many memories for better or worse. After I retired from all the things I had seen I took a job in Florida at Sarasota Fla. in a small psych hosp. in Sarasota that we called a theraputic community. All compassion and understanding. The mental health history has been long tortusous and so archaic, but as long as the folks who know what it' s all about and relate it to the wonderful folks who comment on this website, progress is being made. Thanks, Lynne and Motts for the wonderful photography and Lynne for documenting every photo in a way that has illuminated the commentators.

Great pictures. An idea for a movie, maybe.

Definately do more of these shoots Motts, as you can see, this one is a big hit. Candace does an awesome job.

Damn she makes for an awesome looking psyco! Wotta great shoot Motts! Definately medication time.

AWESOME pic Motts! So lovely and deranged looking, I LOVE it!

Your the best Lynne. My hat and my most reguards to for your eloquent comments and understanding for all that has taken place in the years that we have both witnessed and you have so well stated in your many comments. Actually, I feel humbled by your understanding and comprehension of the macro history of mental health/ retardation, but also the details and minituae that also posess. You are a important facet of this site and have made so many people cognizent of what this whole field is about. Thankyou and carry on brave one. Lots of respect.

Pain in the butt, mostly. :-)

I am a licensed clinical psychologist with a Ph.D. I have a dual emphasis in mental retardation and clinical child psychology. I've worked for many a long year in this field and prefer "hands on" the most because of the incredible nature of the folks I work with (or who work with me, as they often let me know).

Over the most recent 21 years I have worked in 5 different large residential facilities for people with intellectual disabilities. Two of these facilities have subsequently closed after I left and the other three have downsized significantly over the past 20 years. Between 1972 and the present I have also worked in various outpatient clinics, hospitals, group homes, schools, community settings, etc., and consulted with nursing homes and school districts, etc. I was also able to spend some time with the families at the Oklahoma City bombing site and spent several weeks doing Red Cross disaster work at the Pentagon in September, 2001.

I mentioned elsewhere that I have done a lot of investigation and research on the history of the field of mental health, and more specifically, in the areas of intellectual and developmental disabilities. That's what brought me to this site. I was looking up websites that dealt with various facilities such as these across the country when I found Opacity.

I have been a huge fan of Motts' work since I first came here, and I admire him for how hard he has worked to learn about the various workings of the field - the various and sundry exotic pieces of adaptive equipment that are used, the policies and practices that used to exist in the field, and the dramatic changes that have overhauled the entire system the past 20 years. He looks things through and analyzes them - not just condemning with a broad brush, and I especially admire him for this because it would be easy to make all abandoned facilities look like Frankenstein's lab and torture chambers after years of disuse. He doesn't fall for the bathos that so many people seem to enjoy - the pity and horror and fear that they have in themselves which I believe directly relates to how they are afraid they would treat other people in the same circumstances or how they secretly feel about these folks.

I didn't start commenting for a while after I found this site until I saw that many people had done too little reality checking and had learned all their "facts" from the newspaper headlines, "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," and "The Snake Pit." Not that there isn't some powerful and accurate information in each of these, but the hideously skewed viewpoint they have taints the popular view until it isn't safe to walk down the street admitting you ever had mental health issues ("You must be homicidal") or worked in a residential facility ("You must beat all the patients").

Because I have made my living, in essence, off the suffering and problems of others, I believe I owe a debt back to them and the people who work with them. One way of doing that is to explain what really happens when comments are made publicly or issues are raised, such as occurs at this site. That doesn't mean to excuse it or cover it up, but to ask people to look at it from all sides of the picture.

Motts has been extremely gracious and allowed me to make these comments, and I am forever grateful to him for allowing me to say the things I have said, even though I have not always been particularly gracious in the way I have said them.

How's that? :-)