1,944 Comments for Worcester State Hospital

most likly a laundry shoot

id like to know if anyone else has been in any of the buildings and their expiriences.

Its Amazing this stuffs still in tact!

Now this is what i think of when i think "old hospital"

i happened on this site looking for pics of
it. my father worked there, as a young man an attendant, older as a fireman[ keeping the huge boilers running. he worked there for 30 yrs.
i used to play there as a young girl or visit while dad worked. the tunnels & sub tunnels fascinated all us kids. As did the patients over the years. later when i was older i worked as an attendant when they tried de-institutionalizing the ppatients. the older people were patients my father and mother had also taken care of when they worked there.
as did several of my family members.
rich in history this place is, good in some ways not so pleasant in others
as to the nature of why they may have been there. it for me was a pleasure and a mystery, and sad all at once.
a beautifull place all in all, structurally and placement. a good deal of people
there did make it back to the world,
so many stories , so many lives affected.
it was an honor for me to assist in any small way i did. i do hope they keep whats left. so many stories to tell.....

p. s. Grafton state was quite interesting
in how it worked also.

i love the lamp post...

The remaining buildings have not been destroyed yet and there are several incredible exaples of this acitecture still present behind this clock tower... So NO its not true. They are not raized yet.

Navi, you are correct. Here's a quote from "Disordered Minds" by Norman Dain (1971). "In 1839 [Galt] made two copies of the sixth annual report of the new Worcester (Massachusetts) State Hospital, which had the reputation of being the leading public mental institution in the United States." (p. 60)

youngin,

Which beginning are we talking about? The original Worcester asylum (early 19th century) or this particular campus (late 19th century)? Either way, I would imagine that methods for restraining violent patients back then were relatively crude and they did the best they could. Because it seems cruel compared to modern mental healthcare doesn't necessarily make it abuse.

At least, that's the vibe I picked up from your comment.

In the beginning, WSH was not a very pleasant place and patients were allowed to be restrained by any means possible. The cages were quite possibly restaint mechanisms.

I work near here, and being able to see it portrayed is very nice. I was informed by an old employee that the passageways need not be narrow, there are underground catacombs that serve as connections between the buildings. From what she has told they are very haunting and eerie.

i've been there and it's kinda freaky if your drunk.

you could see people that injured walkining up the stairs freakishLY

I have asked my source to do more digging and find the truth of the matter. The rumor I'd heard prior is that a new "state of the art" hospital was going to be built on the grounds of Westborough State Hospital. The source say no it's Worcester. I'm checking.

I hope your source is 100% right Big Ed, would hate to see this beauty go too.