1,384 Comments for Gaebler Children's Center

This room could be 2 things, 1). It could be the sub room coming off the office on D-Ward or E-Ward , with a door on the left just out of the picture that leads into the tv room.
Or 2). It is an observation room up on the 4th floor.
The 2 plug sockets lead me to think this was an observation room on the 4th floor.
I can only thank god that I was never part of the experiments that took place up there.

Not sure, but this is either looking into the tv room from the office or looking from the tv room into the office.

I would love to be a part of a documentary on this place.
I've been staring at this photo and I'm 99% certain this was the cafeteria.
It's been a long time since I was there, first time was 1973 or 1974, I was 6 or 7 years old then, and the second time was 1981 or 1982, was 13 or 14 then.
If anyone wants to do a doc on this place, I'm game for it.

These slots in the walls was to look in on us when we was watching tv in the tv room.
If memory serves correct.

hmmm, I think this was an office on the 4th floor, not on the first floor, too small for the first floor.

These drawings on the wall have the look of prison drawings or prison tattoos.

Signed: An American stationed in Mannheim, Germany.

9:57 P.M. German time
Monday / 24 / March / 2008

What was scratched into the wall?

[Administration: Directions on how to get to these locations and/or possible ways to enter are not allowed as per site policy. Thank you.]

Between the old Met State down the road, the old Fernauld center (where they fed kids with downs syndrome radioactive milk in the 50s as an experiment on the effects of gamma rays on the human body) across the street, Gaebler, McLean (and even a smaller place which is a MUCH more positive environment called the protestant guild up the street) that part of town used to be a mental health mecca. Even though some of the facilities at the Fernauld are still periodically used, and McLean is still in full swing, there's a lot of abandoned stuff around there I bet... though on google maps lt looks like the abandoned army installation has been turned into athletic fields... probably for bentley.

I believe that they still have what I heard was the Gaebler/Fernauld/Met state escapee alarm system in place... air raid siren lookgin things. One of them may still be on the corner of the fernauld property with wires going across the street towards gaebler.

It all really exposes our ineptness as a society to deal with those who are different than us, and therefore sometimes 'inconvenient' to deal with. gah.

People need to realize that these paintings/pictures ARE NOT the work of the kids who stayed here.
We were never allowed to do anything like that.
Any drawings you find from us were done with our fingernails scraping the paint off the walls.
Most of what you'll find is names and dates instead of actual drawings.

The room is not a seclusion room as GaeblerSchoolGirl claims, and you could not climb up the walls in seclusion to drop down on anyone.
I read your comments and I'm convinced you was never there, one way to prove it, describe the layout of the cafeteria and where was it?
Only someone who was really there would know the answer.

If you listen closely, you'll hear a thousand plus screams come from that room... Seclusion, striped naked as the day you was born and the only thing in the room was a blueish-green plastic mattress that, if you lift up you'll find shit and piss under, and that was what you had to sleep on.
No pillow, no blankets, no water, no food, no bathroom break.
Depending on what you did, your stay in here was for several hours or several days.

I was there. A long, long time ago.
Back in the 1970's.
When I was on B-Ward I almost escaped once, I was allowed to go home for the weekend and I found some old skeleton keys in my dad's garage, so I took them back there with me.
Made it down to the first floor and almost out before I was caught.
If any one else was really there, let me know.
Tell me where the cafe and wood shop was at. Where did they have coffee hour on sats and sundays?
I remember, do you?
Out of the 4 wards, I was only on 2 of them, B-Ward and D-Ward. Although there was a few times I was in seclusion on E-Ward.

correction, D-Ward is to your left. B-Ward is upstairs. The gym is on the second floor, not 3rd.
Been a long time. I was there back in the 70's, Back then Mr. Heathwood (not sure of the spelling) was in charge of the place.

I was there, twice in my life.
The gym has a cement floor, we used to roller skate on it. The doors at the back of the gym lead up stairs to the school.
If you turn around, you come out into a long hallway, B-Ward is to your left.
Still remember those calls..."All available help to B as in Boy." Then the smack down begun and seclusion was next.

One of the best photos I think I've ever seen. You could definitely find a thousand words from this picture.