4,537 Comments for Pennhurst State School

Say, Phantom...did you happen to ask yourself, as you were stealing it, what that machine in your living room was used for?

...wash your hands...

cruiser, you're my new favourite can opener...cans of whoop-ass that is, good work.

I love the colours in this pic....if you're eyes followsthe wall down the hallway the colours kind of falter from the blue/green to more of a brown rust and then BAM!...pitch black....scary

WOW, the intellectuals are returning.
*swoons*

the "EXIT" light must remain on.......it's a safety feature in all buildings...also Federal law.........they're hardwired to the buildings main incoming power lines prior to running thru building circuit breaker boxes. That confirms the power is still active at this entire facility.

The sad thing......the people who "think" they feel spirits or "ghosts".........enter the building INTENDING on experiencing a "paranormal" event....simply by the fact that the building would lappear ominous enuff and the history of the facility would preface an "encounter".....thus......pre-programming their minds for such an occurrence. Kinda like........"well look at the place, the history.....there HAS to be ghosts here....so I know I'll see one". Simply walking thru a doorway and creating air disturbance....then rustling dust or debris.........instantly that COMPLETELY NORMAL circumstance becomes a "ghostly contact" in the pre-programmed mind !! Anything that would or could create a sound....air rushing thru a hole in a roof or wall.....degradation in action(debris falling from ceiling or walls)....instantly becomes misinterpreted as a "paranormal experience". Leyman terms........"it's all in your head" !!!

IF......major IF......there were "spirits" or "ghosts" of the children society cast away here.........do you, for a moment, believe that spirit would want to languish in the same spot that was such a dispicable and horrific episode during its physical life ?? Again......IF....if there are spirits trapped here......will anyone really know ?? Unless Dr Venkman brings in his "ectoplasmic residue collection" team.......the paranormal science is still a bit of a "crystal ball" approach to discovering truth in "spirits trapped on Earth". Until a ghost walks up to you, in a place such as this, taps you on the shoulder and says "Hey, Im a ghost...just to prove that we exist"......it is and will continue to be.... conjecture.

Don't forget to read about the Lynchburg Colony if you are covering eugenics. One of the best books out there on the eugenics movement is called "War Against the Weak." I highly recommend it. Also, a great website on the history of the ID/MR/DD field is the Disability History Museum at:
http://www.disabilitymuseum.org

nah, I'm doing a documentary for National History Day about the Pennhurst and Fernald State Schools in the eugenics movement and found this website while looking for interviews. I'm from Colorado.

The proportions look too big to be a head, especially for a child. Unless it's the ghost of Cher's son in "Mask". I agree with Ilaynay. Quit searching for somthing that isn't there.

I'm curious anonymous have you ever experienced anything out of the ordinary in Pennhurst?

yes, we (PA army national guard) use one main building activily and have been since six months after it was first abondoned. amandaJ doesnt know what she's talking about, police dogs do train there but only on the weekends at certain times in the year. TRUST ME, i've been doing running PT and some german shepard barks at you through his cage. What's nice though is that when you run you loop around the whole place. You should see how it is in our area of the building. Since we came in right after it closed we continued to use it's things. The showers in our sections still have the original curtains on them (we dont use them) and the soap in the soap dishes is still "penncor" brand (yellow with age of course).

no no no, i'm in the PA army national guard and 2 units and a recruiting station are there. Only some buildings are constantly occupied (very interesting since it's all maintained in there just like it used to be) but many others are used for urban combat training hence a few lights here and there. I can't tell you how many things go "bump" in the night there or you think you saw something.

its wierd to see a chair in the room just sitting there. i couldnt imagine having nothing to do but sit and stare outside wondering when im going to get to go outside

This picture, and all the others, are beautiful to me. I would love to go exploring in one of the buildings. This one looks like it came out of a scary movie.

It is scary to think as a child growing up i lived right down the street and i too could have been a resident there since i was a troubling child i am only glad times are different. Thank you for letting me get an inside look of what could have been my hell...

i currently work for the resource center in New York where 8 out of 12 of my residents came from the willowbrook state school in staten island. To know what these guys went through and to see them now and the happiness our staff brings to them is the greatest pleasure i have in my job. Yeah most of them that lived in willowbrook had MR but a great majority of them were placed there bc the birthing doctors and/or peds. claimed that they would be a burden or not make it when in faact more than half of them did not belong there. It is just a shame that they had to go through such hardship when is wasnt needed bc they are very much human as we are and u would be amazed at how smart they are and how little credit they get.

Those tire tracks are fairly recent it seems, were they from a security patrol?