3,287 Comments for Danvers State Hospital

I think this may be my favorite picture on the site. I haven't seen them all yet, but I don't think there is a picture out there that could match the poignant beauty of this. You can't really put it into words.

Absolutely beautiful Motts.

I'm a little embarassed to say, I used to believe all those rumours too. But reading all the comments here and on the forum has definitely changed my mind. I've learned so much! And lately I've been considering art therapy as a career. :)

Thanks Lynne =)
Don't worry, you're not the only one who generalizes around here. I must admit that before I found this site and started reading these extremely thought-provoking comments, I probably would have been more likely to believe all the rumors about mental health institutions, considering they're mostly what you hear about. You rarely hear about any of the good things that happen. Although I now believe that the good outweighs the bad a million times over, and it's thanks to people like you Lynne, and everyone else out there that contributes their time, patience, smiles and tears to people who really need them.

Oh and by the way I've never seen anything in the way of ghosts either! Maybe we're just deaf and blind to anything that's out there. =) I just know that until I get some proof one way or the other, I'm definitely willing to believe in the possibility of paranormal activity.

Sorry for the long posts Motts! I absolutely love your pictures. You are a talented and compassionate artist.

P.S. Make a book!

Well spoken, Florida Jen! I admit I am one of the bad ones who generalizes about people who look for afterlife stuff. In fact there are people who seriously want to explore what they think might be indications of an afterlife and this is a different group from those who either want to use the afterlife stuff as a springboard for the old Boy Scout hold-the-flashlight-under-your-face- and-tell-stupid-ghost-stories-and-scream- like-Nancy-Kerrigan-while-getting-your-friends-to- pee-their-pants or the ones who are "certifiably unusual" and are, quite frankly, a little beyond the pale themselves already. I am a skeptic because it seems like after multiple decades in the business I ought to have seen SOMETHING by now that's unusual. Well, something unusual other than myself, that is. But if people are looking critically at evidence I applaud them and am sincerely interested in their efforts. Anything done empirically is fabulous. In my humble and unsolicited opinion. :-)

Storage. There was extra space under the dormers, so this was an economical use of that space.

Ok I just found this site a week ago and I need to comment on something that was posted late last year.

I'm gonna assume the *Lynne* roll here =)

Ghosthunters are actually quite professional in what they do. Yes they believe in paranormal occurances, however when they investigate a site, they do it with the intention of "debunking" so-called hauntings instead of blindly validating them. They are their own toughest critics and in no way are they "asshat" nor do they pee on anything they're not supposed to. Just because they believe in something that has yet to be proven, does not mean they are charlatans or fools.

Sorry for the rant but everyone else here is so passionate about respecting the staff and patients and not assuming that these places are lairs of torture, so now I can speak up for something that I'm passionate about.

No disrespect intended and I think everyone here is just wonderful...especially Lynne with her pillows! =)

Motts, thanks for the links. Though it's so sad to look at the Kirkbride in such a state - I hate buildings that are half gone. It's like they've been amputated somehow.

I was under the impression that a graveyard cannot be relocated until the last body has been laid to rest for 100 years. If that is indeed true, Danvers should be OK.

Wow I'm looking at this calendar and thinking on June 28, 1979 it was my husband's 4th birthday...I wasn't even born yet. That's just amazing and also a tad unsettling! =)

There are two cemeteries on the property, I know one has been cleaned up and a memorial set in some time ago, not sure about the status of the other.

I don't think anyone plans to relocate the graves, so they will probably remain where they are.

John Archer has one, although I don't know much about the transaction. He is standing in front of the detached spire in this news article photograph - http://www2.townonline...2221&format=text

Also found some shots of another spire and the metal ornament that everyone wanted to have, they look to be ready for auctioning off. There are some photos of the Kirkbride being gutted on the second page as well. http://community.websh...lbum/551863350xjSrDw

I really hate to say this, but the book I just finished on Danver's said that some of the really older patients actually walked around in their area naked; which I thought was very shocking. People got committed many years ago for things today we wouldn't bat aneye for; like hitting too much, arguing, or just getting in minor trouble. Some were as young as 6 and they lived their whole lives there. Since it was the only home they ever knew, alot never even wanted to leave.

Session 9-"What are YOU doing here?"

I just finished a book on Danvers. It was written in 2005 so iy's fairly recent. There was an interesting part about all the graves that were discovered; incidentally by the Danver's State Hospital Memorial Committee; who they, themselves were former patients. The graves were neglected for so long and so over-grown, the committee had to search and they finally discovered them. 768 people were buried at Danver's and they were marked only by a number. The state "supposingly: lost the records of which name went with which number, so the committee memebers had to research the death certificates in different town halls in order to identify them. I really felt that was really sad. As the book states,"Each had been a unique individual in life yet here they were unnamed and unacknowledged in death. The committee cleared the site and said,"These graveyards have been forgotton--as these people were in life. There are voices here that haven't stopped speaking yet. We are their living echoes." This truly got to me. So if Danver's is no longer there and they build condos or whatever they're going to do, what about this cemetary. Does anyone know?

And who bought them and what are they going to do with them? Also, who gets the profits from the sale???