3,287 Comments for Danvers State Hospital

They still do ECT now in asylums and hospitals as far as I know. It should read Welcome to your nightmare under those doors. I don't know if what Margeret says is true or not but I'm glad that I did'nt have to live through it myself to know. Many of the patients of these places are quite old now. If I would have checked into this info alot sooner I would have asked my mother what it was like where she was. Anyone else?

Before the Kirkbride Hospitals came into being the mentally ill were mainly kept in prisons and much worse places. Kirkbrides whole idea was to have a place where the insane and mentally ill would be treated with dignity and respect and given windows for sunlight and colorful areas to live in as you can see in many of the Kirkbride pics. My mother had schizophrenia and spent 5 years in the Kirkbride hospital in Fergus Falls, MN. from about 1960-1965. I used to think that they were all treated inhumanely (her included) until I started investigating more into it all. The Kirkbride in Fergus Falls is probably in the best condition of any of them and they have tours also! And I would definately like to go. I just found a site called flikr.com and if you search kirkbride you will see that a whole lot of people are very interested in seeing inside these buildings. Anyone can download their Kirkbride pics onto the site and it is so amazing to see these memories of the past.

wow, what a beautiful and amazing surreal picture!

I worked there for one summer, when I was just 17 years old as an attendant on one of the violent wards (B3) and it was quite an experience. The one thing it took me a long time to forget, was the smell.

Truly incredible, such a waste of true historical beauty.

WOW i see the person looking down. neat! Great shot motts, very dark and forboding

Brad, I'm so sorry about your brother. I know how you feel, and my heart goes out to you. Mott, awesome photography!

And yes (this is sade) I so would go in there even though the creeps would take over. Anyone want to go with me in there to eat some lunch? (laughs wickedly)

wow. I am a huge fan of danvers, even going so far as to check out the mimick of danvers state hosp. on Second life. Keep it up!

Ammm man, that ceiling's sensational...

You'd be forgiven for thinking that was Ripper era London... Just beautiful.

yeah that was obviously put there after the fact by adventurers/thrill-seekers/no-good teenagers in order to scare other adventurers/thrill-seekers/no-good teenagers, seeing as they often go to places like that at night. im from bayonne, nj and a bunch of us crazy teenagers went to explore the old seaview hosp in staten island once. we slipped in through a downed section of chain-link fence, soon surrounded by forest. not long on our trek into the grounds did we happen upon another group of youths lying in wait in the shrubbery. one would jump out, brandishing a machete, in order to scare those passing thru. another had a video camera. they declined on playing the joke on us, and i can't help but suspect it may have had something to do with several members of our party who were both formidable in appearance, or black, or both. thats not meant to be offensive, btw. lol offensive would be to say that the black guys were integral to our HMSEWS: Horror-movie-scenario early-warning system. if one of them buys it, we know its time to leave.

I like session 9 so much because it's the only film i've seen that replicates (albeit not entirely) 'the shining's way of creeping you out without relying on the use of darkness, and instead using the well-lit emptiness to inspire fear. that said the outside of the building's are not scary at all. the oldest buildings at Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass. look just like that, only they're kept in pristine condition. for those that will miss the Danvers buildings, try visiting the Holy Cross campus, it could give you an idea of what Danvers looked like in its heyday. And for the complete "insane asylum" experience, go there on St. Patrick's Day, which is right around the corner.

cool only a few thousand? ima put one in my backyard, which will then cease to be my back yard and will become... my spire. From its peak i shall remain ever vigilant, and justice shall return to the streets of Gotham...

oh, and no, gargoyles would be tacky and cliche, hardly befitting a building of science.