Thursday, 27 October 2011
-
A dangerous lunatic has escaped from the hospital for the criminally insane
We all love scary stories. And we've all heard some variant of the scary story that Bill Murray tells so eloquently in Meatballs.
So I understand the fascination with abandoned asylums. Especially during the Halloween season. They truly are haunted places. But the people who are confined in state institutions are not "dangerous lunatics". And most of them do not need to be confined. I have spent more than thirty years helping to get people out of these hellholes. And the ghosts that I see in such places are all too real.
(photos from Christmas in Purgatory, by Blatt and Kaplan, archived at the disability history museum)
So I was pleased to read in the news today that one of those abandoned institutions, one that I know all too well, an institution that has been closed for more than a decade, its developmentally disabled residents now leading productive lives in the community, is finally being torn down. I realize that some of the ghost hunters, urban archaeologists and local historians are disappointed to be losing the old buildings, but for myself, I look forward to the day that the grounds will become 250 acres of parkland.
-
recommend
- recs 3
-
email
- sent 0
- like
Related Posts
Post a Comment
- Back to doahsdeer's Xanga Site!
- Note: your comment will appear in doahsdeer's local time zone: GMT -05:00 (Eastern Standard - US, Canada)
Comments (8)
I wonder how many of the current residents will stick around.
It's true. I heard this story from my cousins in Oakland in the summer of 1966.
Thank you for helping to get people out of those hellholes and on to a better life. The ghosts and demons in those places are all too real.
When I was getting my BA in Sociology we visited many of these homes, hospitals, asylums, etc. I was amazed at how many people were there just because their families wanted nothing to do with them, or thought Down's syndrome (etc.) was an embarrassment to the family. This is one of my soap box issues...but I'll stay off the box right now...I'll just say it's a shame we don't do a better job in our world of caring for and helping victims and those who can't help themselves.
GREAT post and love the clip!
HUGS!
250 acres of new parkland is always a good thing!
Bravo to new park land! New Jersey's topography is so beautiful, if put to proper use. People also need to be celebrated and revitalized, to the greatest extent possible..
You are doing a wonderful service, Jeff. Happy Halloween.My mom was in John Sealy when Dad was in the Navy, three times in Terrell State Mental Hospital when I was a kid, then two times in Woodlawn in Dallas and once for Electroshock treatments in Methodist Medical Hospital in Dallas. Through all of that I can easily believe the horror stories and it didn't seem to help her. But I am not surprised...in Terrell there was one doctor for 150 patients. Basically all they did was to put them out of harm's way and treatment was pretty much medication only.
How wonderful that the hell hole is being torn down.
Whenever I hear of such places my mind wanders back to the old stories of people being "put away" for others to take over their estates. Scary thoughts.