Fortress

Half-razed and deteriorating, the old Kirkbride building at Buffalo State Hospital has stood silent for decades, save for the sound of bricks tumbling from the crumbling facades every few years. Signs of life reappeared in 2006 however, after $100 million was invested to save the neglected building from impending demolition. In a last-ditch effort to see the place before the interiors were completely gutted, we made a trip to Buffalo just for her.

The hospital was majestic and impossibly huge, stretching into the darkness of the night just as I remembered it. Security was beefed up with the addition of a K9 unit, but work on the building had scarcely begun. Letting our eyes adjust to the darkness, we began to walk the pitch black violent wards once more.