1,830 Comments for Buffalo State Hospital

Not "if", Mr. Motts........when.

Such a foreboding countenance, I wonder, has anyone ever been able to slip inside and capture what that beast looks like from the inside?

creepy, for some reason wheen chairs scare me

*shudders*

Like the door in my nightmares....

Send me an email (motts at opacity.us) for pricing and info.

Creepy!

I just love it! Can I have a print? *wink*

Blinding!

I'm seriously disturbed by this *shudders*

*gasp* Amazing!

Spok, when originally designed, these places weren't designed to be scary or to punish those within their walls. The Victorians were comitted to rehabilitation and believed that removing the mentally disturbed from the vast overcrowded cities of the era and allowing them to recuperate in attractive buildings in the countryside was the most effective means of accomplishing this. Hence the sprawling, wooded grounds and incredible architecture of the 19th and early 20th century buildings.

Psychiatry was in its infancy and the emphasis was very much on 'reform' - contrast any Kirkbride with a prison of the same era, the architecture of which undeniably suggests punishment and brutality (and deterrence!) It was only later that the asylums became overcrowded through lack of funds and changing attitudes towards the mentally ill.

But bear in mind these places were built not to punish but with the intention of helping people get better - based on the limited knowledge of the time. Keep that in mind and suddenly beautiful Gothic spires and stained glass windows don't look at all out of place.

I relatively little of asylums and institutional care methods (perhaps Lynne or Anna can fill in the gaps!) but the Victorian and Edwardian periods are something of an interest of mine.

Those random stain glass windows almost seem like something installed just to appease the 'good' patients.

It appears to me that they are racing in slow motion.

If you look closely, it looks like a head-and-shoulders-shot....of a devilish clown, wearing a weird hat, with a devil-may-care smile...and his hands over his eyes like he's laughing uncontrollably.....