4,537 Comments for Pennhurst State School

That isn't a candy striper outfit...it's a uniform. They have different uniforms in every building they all seem to be the same though. Short sleeve dress with a colar. Red&White, Plain blue, Navy with white pinstripes. Those are the uniforms I've seen so far.

Spring City I see what you're talking about.

I've been up to Pennhurst in the past month twice and I didn't see anyone. We heard dogs at one point and police sirens another time and it scared us to death but other than that I haven't heard or seen a thing of security. Just a no tresspassing sign.

My grandmother is like a case worker and she worked with two retarded older women. One black and one white. They both went to pennhurst as children. The white woman had not scars or any sign of abuse. The black woman had scars all over her back and she was raped. My grandmother also visited pennhurst in 1977. She doesn't like to talk about it but she told me what her teacher told her "This is what they're letting you see...now imagine what they aren't."

Twug I must agree. I've visited pennhurst twice now and have only gone into one attic and that's in I think Vinc or Union the one with the halloween costumes. Does anyone have a photo of the attic stairs with a boarded over top and then there is like a square hole at the top to go into the attic. I saw it on my first visit and I refused to go up there.

mikeymisery....there aren't that many buildings anymore past brown drive shit is still active. The main cluster (Admin, Whitman, Tinicum, Rockwell, Dietary, Devon etc) is basically what you can explore. I went up there just this Friday. It's incoated in fucking weeds. The admin building is terrifying. We walked the wrong way while trying to leave and ended up infront of that....scariest thing ever.

Phantom you have both good points and bad points. I love seeing tags through out the buildings because you get to see who has been where. I saw that you were apparently at that abandoned highway...or maybe you are the only one with the tag Phantom. Well you scared the hell out of me when i saw what you wrote. "Do not meddle with the phantom for you are crunchy and taste good with catsup" You scared the hell out of me with that, i thought that you might actually still be in there.

Just remember taking things leaves nothing for the next urban explorer looking for history and a beautiful photo.

I'm not sure which report you're speaking of, but in her defense this could have been a staff bathroom, or in a building that did not need to be as safe and secure.

Many of the patient bathrooms there seemed to have a few stalls, not singular like this one.

This goes againts the report the ladies accounts of the 48 hours she spents in Penn Hurst. She said there were no mirrors in the bathrooms. Only in the hallways. This is clearly a bathroom. So, how much more of her accounts are true and how much are false.

This particular building is set off the main campus and lies in close vicinity of the active national guard area; it hasn't been as traveled as the other structures and is not wide open. I don't think many of the items they have left in there hold much value, or are able to be taken easily (try carrying this thing out!)

ok good, i was wondering....... lol

What I do find weird is that they would store anything in there.... I mean, they know that people sneak in all the time, theyre not exactly doing anything to secure those buildings, so why would they put anything of any value inside of them? Pennhurst has always held a weird interest for me... and it only gets weirder.

In recent yrs I was introduced to a 58 yr old woman who lived at Pennhurst from age 8 to 23. She since lives on her own, with state subsidizing, and a case worker, who virtually does nothing to assist her. Appreciating her walk thru life and present situation, I have stayed friends with her. I enjoy her company, have her to my house occaisionally for dinner, the day, take her places - she can't drive. She definitely was one of the residents that could almost have been on her own, and when Pennhurst closed - was and has been. Probably because of her level of ability, she fortunately wasn't exposed to the supposed horrors. She just stated last nite that she liked it there as she wasn't as lonely, had 3 meals a day prepared for her and activities to be attend. She has a picture of herself in her apt in a "quilt-making" class.She said it was sad and scary when it closed, but she's also proud to have proven she has been able to exist on her own.

I went for my very first time with my friends and we went into a room that looked like it was for kids my friends are all into ghosts and i didnt belive at all untill that night as we were leaving the place my friend and i where in the back we both turned around amd saw a little girl standing in a door way i ran like hell and ill never go back again and yes now i belive

My dad lives right across the river from Pennhurst. It is kinda behind an army reserve base so the MP patrol around it. Close to pennhurst the are building an old folks home for veterans. I just saw one of the former patients Saturday who now lives under the Spring City bridge.

This argument is ridiculous. In response to all those moralizing about the legality or morality of taking stuff from these places: Anyone who visits these places has already broken the law and is by definition a trespasser. The people responsible for these institutions now, in most cases either state governments, or developers, are concerned primarily, if not exclusively, with protecting themselves from liability when idiots lose a finger in the suction machine, or from someone burning the place down. Taking trinkets from most of these places while not agreeable, particularly if you consider yourself an "urban explorer" is not graverobbing, and most of the contents of these buildings (for example abandonded state property that has already been cleared out) while emotionally significant to some, will be destroyed in the relatively near future anyways. In my opinion, while it would be preferable for these places to remain undisturbed, calling out people like phanton for being a thief is ridiculous when everyone who visits these places are at least his equal in breaking the law, and in all likelyhood, it is the mere visitation of these places that places the current caretakers under stress and requires police or private protection - they are there to keep people out in the first place, not simply to make sure someone doesn't run off with moldy office supplies.

Move over Katie, I'll join you!