4,537 Comments for Pennhurst State School

this is interesting... maybe the other side of the shelves were damp due to some other jack ass breaking a window and letting the rain in. this is a historical building where many aphalling (i hope that's spelled correctly) and cruel things happened. i hope that in the future, people have more respect for such a landmark as this.

i've been doing some extensive research on pennhurst, and if this is where i think it is, it's on the 2nd story of the school building. that room should be on the north west side. if any of you have any questions regarding this...oddity, e-mail me at supraboy2491@yahoo.com

I thank god Pennhurst is closed. I worry that with the waiting list for services being so long the state may try to open large care facilities in the future.

That's the first time I heard that one. Too funny!

Bzzzz-Bzzzz!

'SIGH"!

Can't forget the electric chairs . . . . .

Thanks, I must check out that book. As I said above not all people do become violent--many just go into memory but a few like the bath tub case my cousin-in-law told me about) can become violent. One way or another what a sad illness. :-

I will check out the book though. If you want to read more about this place Pennhurst) check out this link. This was written by a patient:

http://www.disabilitym...docs/1681.htm?page=1

this room was used for electric shock therapy..i just got back from visiting pennhurst. it's so creepy at night. we got caught by a cop but he let us go. pennhurst wasn't just a place for severely retarded people, these people were tested on..acid in the 60s and 70s, various drugs, electric chairs...it was shut down because things were leaking out people were gradually finding out all the shit and torture the patients endured..my grandfather headed the committee to shut it down. creepy shit

Before it was called PTSD,the term shell shocked may have been used.I dont think everyone gets violent.Some retreat inside of themselves.PTSD is said to cause Multiple Personalities.There was a book written by a woman who was diagnosed with had M/P.Her name was Trudy,the books title is When Rabitts Howl.

Tell me about it William. I've heard that back in the 1800s most mental hospitals were full of soldiers who had PTSD although back then no one knew what it was yet. I would say PTSD is one of the most frightening illnesses because the person can behave normally in most settings and then something triggers the bad memories and they lose control. Most of the time peole can just get lost in memories but in certain PTSD cases (as my cousin-in-law's example above proves) they can actually become violent due to fear. It takes a very special kind of person to help people with these problems.

If you go back,not that long ago,many of these places had 2 and 3 times the capacity they were designed for.It is said that Danvers State Hospital at one time had 2,500 patients.Can you imagine what that could have been like?There was not alot of effective medications.When a person goes high,the adrenilan takes over and you could have someone with super human strength.It could take 4 or 5 men to restrain a patient.At that point all that could be done was give the patient medication and put them in restraints.Hopefully they would calm down.Thats a pretty tough job.

PTSD can be horrible.I once worker with a man who did 2 tours in Viet Nam.Sometimes we would talk about the war and you could see him change and for a minute he was back in the war.

Nice shot motts, hey dude that projector was knocked down and has been distoryed. my friend and I tryed to pick it up and place it bak , however it was way to heavy.

Thanks girljay, it's so nice to hear that once in a great while someone "gets it" I too have noticed that some posters don't stick around for the discussion. But that's ok. There's always another misguided person that will come along and pick it up with another ridiculus comment. I'm just grateful that Lynn has the patience to try and set them straight. I ran out awhile ago.

Thanks Lynne,
Cracked ribs? Ow! It is really amazing that some people think everyone who worked in these places were awful people. You, as staff, put up with far more abuse than the patients do and really, as you said, many times the patients can't help themselves. You care so much about people who wouldn't survive anywhere else.

I don't know if I've mentioned this before but my cousin's wife is a nurse at a mental hospital and she said that some of the worst cases she's seen are PTSD cases. She knew man who had PTSD from his childhood (abusive home life) and he was the most seemingly normal person ever--except when he thought he had to go into a bath tub. He was fine with showers but he didn't like tubs because when he was 8 his stepdad tried to drown him in one. I was told that if he got put into a room with a tub he could actually panic and become violent thinking that he was 8 again and the people trying to calm him down were actually his stepdad. PTSD is a bad illness.

I suppose that, to a degree, people are right when they say that in the past bad people worked in these places and bad things happnened there but, I'd be willing to wager, there were more good than bad people working at these places and in today's world it's almost all good.

Maybe the world is growing up, nevertheless, they have a gem as long as they have you Lynne. :-)

Thanks for answering so many questions on here.