3,287 Comments for Danvers State Hospital

This has always been one of my favorite places to explore, even after the fires, them tearing all but the Kirkbride down, etc. There is a feeling there that cannot be replecated and should be respected. If anyone wants to see more of this location, you can watch the movie "Session 9". It was filmed there and gives you a brief history into its troubled past, and you will love the inside shots of the asylum.

when i was there in 2004 the dummy was laying on a stretcher or tble of some sort in the center of the gym surrounded by a circle of chairs.

I THINK I SEE A BODY ON THAT WINDOW WHEN U COME IN

CREEEEPPPPYYYY

Always have enjoyed your work and visiting your site, Thanks for all you do!

....well a tiny little part of it was........saved......

...this place is just ..just ..awesome. Lucky you to visit. Love this album. What a complex building. And saved, also. Good part of story..

Maintain this site! I have never forgotten the film. And i'll not forget your stories...thanks to all who have shared in the past. 2008 is the latest date I see in the comments. Please do not let DSH die. Physically gone, sure, but the spirit(s) of that place will not be destroyed quite so easily.

Hello...............Doc

June 1979,

I was 2 months old & I guess enjoying life, what I knew of life at that age. Lots of carefree days & nights at that time. ^_^

Love the simple photo & how it has spoke to us all, thanks Motts.

I went with a patient who had requested shock therapy (he had been before and believed it helped a bit). It was not done in the psychiatric facility, but off site. He was sedated while lying on a stretcher. When the shock was applied, his right arm raised up momentarily, and so did his leg. After the shock, while the sedative wore off, he had to have assistance breathing. I don't recall the name of the device, but it was similar in function to a siphon bulb like you might use to transfer fluid from one container to another. Squeezing the "bulb" forced air into the lungs until he was able to breathe on his own, maybe 15 minutes or so later. I don't think the whole procedure took more than an hour or so, It was nothing like Hollywood movies show of someone being executed by electrocution. That was 1981, and I'm told "they" use less current for shock therapy now, and when it is used, the number of sessions are limited.

Lost Soul- your comments strike a cord; I worked at Mass. Mental Health, in Boston for a year. I remember one patient, a guy big enough to play pro football. When he was on his meds, he was a pussycat and very sociable; but when he stopped taking meds he was very aggressive and difficult. He once was returned to the unit with 3 Boston cops restraining him, one of whom commented that one day this guy was going to get himself shot while resisting arrest. It's a shame that the meds which can have such positive results also have side effects that make the patient miserable. The difference between some folks on meds or off is like day and night, as you apparently know first hand.

Though in Mental Hospitals they could have put the tape over a former patients name when Ann was placedin the room... No clur but the picture is so eerie.....

The name starts with a V far left on the tape you can partially see a V... Ok yeah very hard to read in a photo

one of the most beautiful shots on the sit