4,537 Comments for Pennhurst State School

I went to the haunted house and it was stupid. Pennhurst itself was amazing would like to go back and see the place with out the haunted house there.

Beautiful Shot----makes me think of hope!

wow.

It is important to remember that many of the treatments we use today for ADHD patients were not available when these children were in this institution.
Families were told to place their child in this type of institution by their trusted family Dr. Then they were told not to visit them because it would cause problems for the child who was trying to get used to the place they lived. The attitude toward this type of child was far different than it is today.
Even today the system fails. I worked with an RN that cared for her profoundly retarded and physically disabled daughter. She took the best care of that child. When she reached 21 this nurse looked into placing her in a group home so it would become her lifestyle so there would be no transition issues when she and her husband were no longer available to care for her. They were required to sign documents that named the State of OH as the child's guardian. The
staff told the parents to stop visiting. Less than 6 months after being placed in a home this girl passed away from pneumonia. I was working in the ER when she came in and the group home had called and told us to ignore the mother and father of this child because they had no legal standing. After my friend had cared for her daughter for years and fed her slowly and carefully because she had trouble swallowing. She had warned the group home that her daughter was prone to choking and developing an aspiration pneumonia. Such a sad situation. My friend just kept saying: I thought I was doing what was right for her. So even in the new revamped care situations problems occur. We haven't got it right yet. I have my fingers crossed that we will get it right someday soon.

is this room metal ? is that rust on the walls ? what tha hell is it i wonder ??

Just saw the episode of Ghost Adventures (travel channel) I was horrified at the stories of the "treatment" the residents received. But the part that really made me sick was when the Dr related that it was POLICY to pull all of a resident's teeth if they were biters. Can you imagine? I think the majority of the staff did the best they could with what was provided. Caring for dependant patient's is very difficult. And to care for ones that can not help themselves at all is overpowering. During nursing training as part of my pediatric rotation, I was assigned to a private facility for profoundly mentally and physically challenged patients. The facility is immaculate, each patient gets a bath every day. They are dressed in clean clothes and gotten up. It is the best example of what this care should be like. But we also took a field trip to a place that was very much like the Pennhurst of the news tape.
Before you make nasty/silly/juvenile or hateful comments, just think a minute about how much care was needed by every resident on a daily basis. The reality is daunting.

wow, what a wierd feeling i get when i look at this picture ! great shot mott !

blindfolded, it would not surprise me if this were correct. just watching and listening to the videos of, i dont believe nothing that man said, just his demeaner really disturbed me.......

p.s. i c the shawdowy figure too !

lmfao, win.....thats just too funny !!

the "walking man" in the pic may be a product of lighting, but it certainly looks eeriely real to me.... wow....

the "skylight" at the top actually kinda looks like a door.... with 2 windows on either side of it, as if u were to walk up to the front door of an older house. most of them had the door in the middle, with the 2 windows on either side of the door, and 2 small square windows at the top...oh, and btw, i c the face as well !!

Phantom, It's your conscience! I hope all those helpless souls that suffered there came with your newly aquired machine and haunt your dreams at night. I wish you could fix the machine so that it could suck the life out of you. YOU HEARTLESS BASTARD!

I am writing a book about my mentally retarded brother that was put in Petersburg Training School in Petersburg Virginia. He was more than abused, he was tortured. Raped in a mop closet several times by a Mr. Williams, a black man that worked there. This certainly appears to be an isolation room. When I was five I was lifted up by my Father and peered into a small window in the door. My Brother was in a padded room that was 6x6 in size. Why I was shown this I have no idea. I am 50 and it still haunts me. I am looking for other families that may have insight to the atrocities these children of God endured.

Must've been a popular room on taco night.