4,537 Comments for Pennhurst State School

rich,

im very sure there where staff that cared very deeply for their patients. I know that i do. It sure isnt the pay that keeps me going back to the hospital every day.

It looks like the release from suffering, walking away and just... disappearing.

Again, that contrast between public beauty and squalor behind closed doors.

What Barbara said. Such an incongruous thing to have in a dark and threatening basement. I can only hope it was dumped here after the place closed but seeing some of the other images here makes me doubtful. Motts, I'm new to your site (stumbled across it tonight whilst googling around for an abandoned mental institution in my city in the UK) but your images are incredible and convey the 'feel' of these places in a way mere words never could. Your work is vital in making sure that people who'd never consider setting foot in a derelict building see these places for what they are - the good and bad side.

Why am I even up looking at this site at 4am? Now I have to go to bed with unwanted images of this horrible place etched into my mind. How can something so seemingly picturesque and innocent as a fairground carousel take on such a sinister appearance? The horse and elephant look positively evil for some reason. Were these.... things meant to calm those who had to live here, or to add to their considerable torment? This picture and the previous one have, for some reason, affected me in ways I didn't think I could be touched. Rich.

This has to be one of the most truly hideous places I've ever seen. What kind of sicko puts a play area deep in a basement (in a building where there are plenty of windows and open spaces) then 'decorates' it with horrible pictures of some nightmare monster? I doubt these kids were so regressed or retarded that they were incapable of being scared shitless by that thing - it could almost give me nightmares even now (I'm 25 years old). And the worst of it - these kids didn't have the comforting arms of their mom or dad to hold them, tell them it was OK when they woke screaming in the middle of the night. I feel so unbelievably sad - and angry - for them I want to cry.

This looks as though it was only abandoned yesterday. The fabric is still clean and unrotted, the paintwork and flooring bright. It makes it more poignant that decay hasn't yet begun to return this to nature, and it's easy to imagine the child who once occupied it. The long shadow cast is unsettling...

I'm intrigued as to why there would be a TV camera lying around in a psychiatric facility...

I remember seeing pictures on another Pennhurst site (the one with the court case photos on it, linked from another comment here somewhere) of these full-size cribs in use. One with a half-naked girl in, another with what looks like a teenager or adult restrained by ankle straps. I'm a sceptic and wonder if most of the horrific stories about what went on at these places are nothing but urban myths and sensationalistic journalism, but there's still something incredibly sad about the whole situation. I wonder how often these kids got a cuddle or affection of any variety from the overworked, underpaid staff...

it's depressing that there wasn't even an attempt to give these people a modicum of privacy. Some of the older children and teenagers must surely have been sufficiently self-aware to feel shame and embarassment at being on display to staff and fellow patients 24/7. I wonder how many youngsters grew up here when today they wouldn't have to.

Whoa. This is hard-hitting. What a truly horrible image. Cliched though it sounds, I wonder what became of those who last played with these items - I can only hope their story had a happier ending.

Makes me wonder if any of the patients are now homeless , and may have come back here to live,they would know how to get around in the place, and be free to come & go . no restraints.

In reading Jon's post all I detect is pain. I suspect he has not the capacity for gallows humor. Jon, I'm sorry there is so much pain in your life, but those of us that work in the medical have to use gallows humor as one of our defense mechanisms.

It is the operator's end of a TV camera. The big T-bar in the center is for switching lenses; it rotates the lens turret on the front of the camera. Date it to the late 60's - early 70's.

I spent some time in an "insane" asylum, which is still in operation. Broughton in NC. Most walls are white accept in the old parts or unused parts of the hospital. Restrooms are pink in the "class'"area.(both men and women) Other parts have murals painted by patients. Has seperate buildings fior different degrees of mental illness. Those are divided by male and Femaie . Each ward has seclusion rooms and one person rooms with observation windows. Other wise they are rooms that sleep 5 to 6 people. The main entrance has the history of the hospital as well as artifacts(old tools to "heal" patients. Used to be completely self sufficient. It is rumored that parts are haunted. You hear lots of noises. The walls echo rather than silence the other parts. There has been talk of it closing. It would definatley be worth exploring. After all we call it the mountain retreat.