4,081 Comments for Norwich State Hospital

I absolutely love all of your work! I've recently visited a few places you've been to. This past wekend I went to Norwich and the security was absurd!! But it made it sooo much fun dodging them! We had to hide in a bush for a half hour while a guard paced back and forth across the road! I didn't get a lot of pictures because we were hididng but it was a blast!
www.niminity.smugmug.com

I think the old architects were really on to something when they specified so many large windows to let in sunlight. Not just for seasonal affective disorder (which wasn't recognized at the time) but for the general curative aspects of light. I remember one winter when I had a horrible case of bronchitis, but because I thought I might be pregnant (it turned out I was), I didn't want to take medications. It lingered for a couple of weeks. Then there was one of those too-rare days of perfect blue sky in the winter. I spent the day on the sofa with the sunlight pouring onto me from the window, and by evening my symptoms were gone. I know it's probably just a coincidence, but it did happen. And now the news is filled with stories of how we've become so aware of the dangers of UV rays that most of us are Vitamin D-deficient, and the doctors are recommending more time in the sun for children, just like Dr. Spock (the baby doc, not Spock from Star Trek) did all those years ago. I feel sad when I see new schools with those tiny energy-efficient windows that make them look more like prisons.

When a person with mental illness is charged with a crime, their mental state will be evaluated. If it is found that their thinking is so distorted that they did not know the difference between right and wrong at the time of the crime, they can be found "not guilty by reason of insanity." Different states use different terminology, including things like "guilty but insane," "not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect" or "not guilty by reason of diminished capacity" (this one usually applies to a person with mental retardation). After such a verdict, the person is sent to a forensic psychiatric unit instead of to prison.

I don't think anyone should infer something sinister about an incinerator. Most large hospitals (psychiatric or general) have them.

What parts of Dan's (the first Dan) comments are not true? At the risk of "pretending to be an expert," I feel the need to clarify an earlier comment I made elsewhere on this site. I mentioned three incidents of violence involving people with mental illness. I don't want anyone to think that violence is common, or that most mentally ill people are violent. We ALL have the potential to become violent . The episodes I mentioned were noteworthy because of their rarity, not because they were typical. Those few events happened in the course of 25 years of work, and contact with hundreds of patients. Most days had no violence, and most of the "violence" that did occur was very minor and very brief, and involved no real danger.

I really don't understand what some people find surprising about there being a beautiful fireplace in a psychiatric hospital. Would it be surprising in a hospital for people with cancer or heart disease? Does having a mental illness destroy one's ability to recognize and appreciate beauty? I think I must have read the comments wrong, and not recognized facetiousness.

"Crazy people?" I'll just leave it alone... I've done group activities with people who have Alzheimers, and sometimes using a familiar toy or other object gets people talking and sharing memories, and from there you can help them better understand the present. Look at how many people saw this picture and immediately said, "oh, I had one of those!" Or it might have been used in play therapy, if some of the patients were young children. Or it came from a visitor's waiting room, or an employee's child forgot it after visiting the employee at work. There are so many possible explanations, and no reason at all to find it "weird."

I have a current update about the hospital property for those that are not from the area. The most recent development agreement has fallen through. It was going to be luxury shopping, condos and a golf course. If there is not something in process by the end of the year, the property is going to have to be turned back over to the state.

2nd an 3rd shift sleep all night you can just walk on this sight trust me

that is in the awl building an that is my night stick really

I choo choo chooose you!

now thats just fucking weird. why would you have a train just chillen in the middle of an abandoned hosptial???
did the crazy people enjoy playing with childs toys? alrighty then.

reminds me of the titanic

its like they just left all the sudden. its kind of weird.
i was looking at all these pictures on the internet and found this. i really want to go there and check this whole shit out.
it must have fucking sucked to have to be locked in one of those things.
scaryyyyyyyyyy.

"He who is transplanted still sustains"
(Qui transtulit sustinet)
This is Connecticut's state motto.