4,537 Comments for Pennhurst State School

I <3 Lynne...

finally a normal person....you are so right...

Just an idea,Motts why don't you take picture of the homeless and have them tell you there story and post it!!

that is one ugly building.

Yes Suffer the Children was Pennhurst.Its funny I remember watching that when it first appeared on the news and thinking who in their right mind would ever work there? And a few years later their I was. In some respects it was the best place I ever worked and also the worst.

Just a guess here... Isn't Pennhurst the institute featured in "Suffer the Children"? I can't remember now... If people were to watch that, without really paying attention, they would assume that the things that happened here were the fault of the staff. Or, if they heard about it second hand, but didn't see it themselves, again it was the staff... What they don't realize is that all throughout that documentary, everyone (including, refreshingly, the newscaster himself) pointed out that it wasn't the fault of the staff, it was lack of funding!

THAT, my darling bdhsnake, was why I gave you a caution and told you to go have a ciggie. :-)

Did these other institutions have lawsuits against them also? I'm sure they must have. How come everyone assumes the worst at Pennhurst? Is it the bits and pieces of documentation floating around out there? Geez its ridiculous. I wish you idiots could talk to many of the parents who had children there and were GRATEFUL for the care that they got. Not every parent at Pennhurst was involved in getting it closed down. The majority didn't want it closed because they were happy with the care their child received.My aunt and I were just having a discussion about group homes the other day. One of her elderly friends was concerned about a possible group home moving across the street. I told her to tell her friend she's better off having a group home with retarded residents than taking a chance on getting a so called normal family.

wow that was a long one

[CAUTION: RANT AHEAD. Please feel free to go out for a smoke or an extra sodee pop. Or three. <G>]

Danielle,

If you want to go somewhere that they will tell you only horror stories and make you think only bad things happened here, this isn't the place. Like anywhere, then and today, staff and administration did what they could with what little they were given by you, the taxpayer, assuming you can and do vote, even for the "little crappy elections" where issues like this are usually decided - that's what "bonds" are generally for - the things that most of you vote against because it would take three more entire cents out of your tax. There were no conspiracy plots to do harm or to torture or to kill or to maim. The people who ran the place and who worked here did what they did with what little they were given by the state legislatures that were backed by the taxpayers and the voters of the United States, in this case, Pennsylvania.

I am still fascinated, however, with so many people who come here looking for evil, assuming it resides outside themselves. I believe people with such a mindset should, instead, perhaps be looking inward.

Pennhurst was shut down for the same reason all other facilities are currently being shut down and/or downsized across the world (not just the US, y'all Yankee-types <G>). People have always been uncomfortable with people who are different, and many years ago they sent them away, outside the boundaries of where the "normal" people lived. Now some people are finally coming to realize that people with disabilities are not that different from you and me, and, in a number of cases, are much nicer company than you and me and have a hell of a lot more to offer than some of us. Therefore, we in the field are trying to do away with the prejudices of the very society that asked in the first place to have these folks removed from "civilized company" and placed far away - out of sight, out of mind.

The problem is that a lot of "normal" people don't want to have these folks living among them, even today, so until we get that attitude adjusted, rather than looking at Pennhurst you really need to be looking at your own personal neighborhood and see what you and your loved ones and friends are doing to make this a reality. Otherwise my friend, I can tell you for a fact that when you are pointing that finger you are only pointing it into the mirror, at yourself and your community. This is definitely one of the places in which, if you aren't part of the solution, you are definitely part of the problem.

Now, stop pointing fingers and go out and do some good for these folks. Push your Congress to make sure group homes get funding. Go volunteer some time in a nursing home or special education class. Send some cozy socks or an extra blanket to people who don't have much and who are needy. Sponsor someone for the Special Olympics. Find a shelter or somewhere to adopt and give your time and energy and caring, and quit playing "kick the dead horse" with a place whose major sin was not receiving enough attention or money or interest from a large number of citizens and legislators of the state of Pennsylvania.

[We now return you to your regular station in which we blame everyone for the problems of Pennhurst except those people who were actually responsible.]

Is that an old building out the window? Or just rotting curtains? Or what? I can't really tell for sure. I notice that as I go through all these galleries (and happily I have a long way to go yet) my favorite theme is what is outside the windows of interior shots (the view, basically). Some of those details, enlarged, would be beautiful photographs in their own right.

This was the perfect time of year to take these photos- beautifully dreary.
Belchertown State School also named buildings by letters: A (recreation building), B, C, D, E, F, G, K, L, and M. I'm not sure why there were gaps in the sequence. There were other buildings too, with more normal names (Tadgell Nursery, The Infirmary, The School Building, the Farmhouse, the "cottages (#1-9) etc. Later, after I left, all the letter -named buildings were renamed to appear more "home-like" (but nothing could ever make them home-like!)

Put up a facade of being something good and real? You mean, kinda like Disney? I wanna ride too!!!

If I'm reading correctly, and the stories arent just mere myths..I believe that this place didnt actually "help" any of the patients. In reality they put up a facade for the families and loved ones, but while inside they experimented on them to learn about their dissabilities, and what made them that way. I'm truely fascinated with this place, its looks and also the amazing stories that come from it. Im really curious to find out what truely happened here, and why it was shut down.

This picture is absolutely beautiful. There is a huge sense of lonliness and loss. Most people just look at this place as haunted, I see it as a sad history.