4,537 Comments for Pennhurst State School

ok im confused...if people are watching these patients why are they getting hurt...and if the did get hurt why wouldnt you take them to a reg hosp. not a room...

its funny how in some pics things are left behind...all that heavy equipment..they had time to take that 3 floors up and out of the building but they didnt have time to take a fan..or a projector?..think about it

things had to be really bad at penn hurst for them to leave valuable things behind..i wonder why they were in such a hurry to shut the place down..why leave things behind if they are useful?..makes me wonder what really went on

i can just imagine how many little feet walked down those steps

Yeah, I echo Zodiac's thanks for the better link to STLC. I guess El Peecho's pirate version must have come from some seriously degraded tape or an early home recording (did they have VCRs in 1968?) It's so much more shocking in colour and being able to understand a lot more of what is being said. Suddenly Pennhurst doesn't actually look all that different in some of Motts' photographs to the way it did in 1968.

And yes, in another place and time, and like more people than I can bear to think about, I could have possibly been an 'almost' too (didn't know the term for it...) since despite having a higher-than-average IQ I was disruptive, an outsider socially and have suffered from lifelong depression. At times I was probably virtually unteachable. My girlfriend, well she's dyslexic, comes from a fragmented background and as someone else put it ' doesn't test well'. She's also incredibly smart. She was actually threatened as a teen by social workers that she'd be taken away and put in a 'home'. Whatever that was meant to imply...

I can sympathise much more with the majority of staff at these institutions (of course there are always a few sadistic sickos) having seen the documentary - the issue seems to overwhelmingly be about lack of money (as always) and overworked people trying to do their best in impossible conditions. I'm amazed some of the staff of these places didn't end up having breakdowns and winding up in an institution themselves...

That pretty much sums up how I feel, NurseCarmen. The only time I'd ever even consider taking something is if I knew the place was going to be knocked down within the next week or so - and that nothing in the builidng would be salvaged. Even then, I wouldn't want to take something significant, just a relic that represents the place to keep its memory alive even after the structure is gone. That really depends though, I would probably never take anything even so. But there are certain things I wouldn't like to see destroyed.

http://www.actionsquad.org/code.html

Here's the Code of Conduct from an Urban Explorer site in Minneapolis. They say it well:

NO THEFT
Action Squad is not about profit. While on a mission, we frequently come into contact with power tools, laptop computers, and other expensive and easy to carry equipment. In seven years of Action Squadding, we have never stolen such an item.

Why is this important?

1) Theft obscures and dilutes the purely adventurous spirit of true Action Squadding.
2) Stealing on Action Squads would cause us to experience far greater penalties if we
were ever apprehended.
3) Thefts would result in increased security, making return trips impossible or ill-advised.


NO VANDALISM
Action Squad does not tolerate destruction of property. Smashing things, arson, sabotage, and graffiti are all banned activities while along on an Action Squad. This rule is vital for the same reasons as the anti-theft rule.


RETURN THINGS TO THEIR ORIGINAL CONDITION
There's a theme emerging here, yes?


AVOID BACKTRACKING
This rule has a less practical justification. Quite simply, you've already been behind you. Leaving an Action Squad by simply retracing your steps is boring! So seek an exit other than the way you entered whenever possible.


KEEP LIGHTS TO A MINIMUM
The primary reason for this is to minimize the chances of getting caught due to someone catching a flash of light peeking out of a dead factory window or out of a steam tunnel vent, etc, but hell, it's also more fun to explore when the whole place you're exploring isn't lit up like a doctor's office.


NO DRINKING
We climb the sides of buildings, descend ladders hundreds of feet into tunnels, and balance along high up ledges. It's hard enough to do this sober. We don't want people to be drinking before or during an Action Squad because we don't want to have to haul your pickled corpse all the way to civilization, and would rather not have to explain how you died to the authorities.

It's also no fun when someone has been drinking and they don't tell you about it, and then they crash an electric steam tunnel car into your knees and pin you to a pipe because they hit the wrong pedal. Trust me on this one.

Ahhhh. The good old days, when a fan could lop a finger right off.

If that last one was Shoggoth's playroom, this one must be Cthulhu's. That green thing *does* kind of resemble him if you tilt your head and squint...

Sallie, I don't think Pennhurst was ever a beautiful place. The structures themselves look wonderful but inside I think it truly was the 'pit of despair'.

Check out El Peecho's Pennhurst site for some rather disturbing images of what it looked like in use (late 70s).

i think it would of been a beuatiful place, but with time and decay it makes it look a nightmareish place :-)

*that* is a spooky shot.

so much sadness abd horror

Excuse me.. I do live close.