4,537 Comments for Pennhurst State School

I'm not sure how it was at Pennhurst, but a lot of state run institutions actually did place patients' beds in the basements, due to a lack of rooms because of overcrowding.

This is an amazing shot. Pennhurst is an incredible location, and I can't imagine anyone's photos doing it justice but yours.

stairway to heaven...or hell...

Stairwell to hell!

Funny thing is,I am writing this in a room a lot like this.I have been here since Jan. 2007. Real easy job.Schedule some service calls,keep track,answere a phone occasionally.But mostly I play on the Internet.
I am payed to play on the Internet. The boss loves the Internet.
Only the boss,his son and me.They do service calls for computers and printers.Servers,cabling.People also bring thier laptops and comps. in here.But we also fix typewriters,and this messy place is filled with IBM selectric II's & III's that people have forgotten and abandoned.
We also do old mechanical typewriters.They are fading,hard to get parts & ribbons but we still get a steady stream of customers.
My brother the pipe organist can still take out his old metal T/W (non-electric klunker) and do 60 words a minute.He was shocked to see so many selectrics here.If we refurbish them they sell for $400 a piece.

I am a big fan of respecting the site, and respecting the explorers who will come after you. Nothing like walking into a place like this and finding something amazing. You know that feeling you get when you find it? Why steal the object and thus that feeling from the next explorer?

You are a tagger right? taggers have a code. You do not mess with another guys tag. You respect it. How is it you can be a tagger, and an explorer and have no respect for the groups you claim to be a part of through your words and deeds?

Come on man, seriously. Just leave these places intact. Leave the graffiti for the kids. In a sense in my opinion you are no better than a vandal who smashes the windows because you are destroying something.

Is graffiti an art? To some sure, but you are working on a canvass that we all own and frankly I think we owe it to EACH OTHER to keep it clean. Because in THIS case the canvas is much more beautiful than any work of art you could place on top of it.

Many adults do not want to be pitied, and many may not want our help. I think what some of you vocal types are forgetting here is the context. Most of the references here are about children, disabled children. Who in fact DO need us to look after them. Especially those in a place that was well known for poor conditions.

Please throw your soap box out and come down here wit the rest of us, the air is "thicker".

Came across this site tonight, as I've been home sick with a cold. First off, Motts (finally figured out who ran the site), nice work on these photographs. Usually places like these are visually forceful in their own right, but you take it one step further and capture the art in them. Bravo. Second, and this is probably a very morbid question and I admittedly did not read to intro to this hospital, but was this a hospital exclusively for children, because those morgue freezers look very small. I'm 6ft 250, and I doubt I could fit one leg into one of those.

I like the elephant!

Motts that picture is just beautiful. I am stunned.

hey Lynne, My mom was a nurse and I could see how worn out she was. Where she worked they were understaffed and she offten took on jobs that were for like 5 or 6 nurses. So I can see where you are coming from. I was even with my mom while she worked and it isn't an easy job. Just wanted to thank you lynne and I learn a lot from you

Motts I think you are wonderful that you don't take things and the respect you show to these buildings is amazing. Just wanted to say thank you for an awesome site

A long time ago,before I heard of VCR's,or even Pennhearst,a local news station showed some footage of life inside
Pennhearst.
I don't know about all of the children there,but some of those shown didn't even seem to be self-aware.
Some had giant flat heads and couldn't feed themselves mashed potatos.Others were bent in half and swayed rapidly from side to side like a bobbin in a machine.Still others had holes in thier limbs that were healed
so you couldn't tell if they were born that way or something else happened.
I'm not saying these children don't deserve love or help but-come on!
I had a aunt who worked briefly for a 'rehab' center where they kept the 'worst of the worst',some with thier hind legs twisted around thier neck.When rules change,funding is cut and families don't care what can you do.
None of thes institutions were built to hurt people,but as with anything some will be treated unfairly while others should have been dealt with more firmly.
As for the buildings, when you take the life out, a certain sadness settles in...........

this shit is crazy

These pictures are weird scary looking and spooky.