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Just a few days ago, the temperature was hovering at 100°F and the humidity was locked inside the old Tuberculosis hospital building like a fever cabinet, making the boards on the windows swell and peel. There were no objects in here that dated beyond the mid 1970s. My flashlight scanned the darkness of a boarded-up ward and caught something glimmering in the middle of the long, narrow room. I walked up, wiping the steady stream of salty sweat that was not refreshing in any kind of way.
Two large glass jars were mounted upon a wooden base, along with two manometers (used to measure pressure) on the left side. One of the bottles still had a cap, where nozzles were located to hook various tubes into. It was also filled with a yellow fluid. Intrigued, I brought the apparatus into the shaft of sunlight that streamed in from a window whose board had fallen off.
Details could now be made out in the strong sunlight. The metal tag read Pilling Made Improved Robinson Pneumothorax Apparatus, although I had no idea what that meant. Large white chunks sat in the bottom of the jar, looking like some kind of preserved tissue.
I'm not sure what they are, or how they got there, as the holes in the lid seemed too small to let such viscous material inside. I would guess at the tissue being remnants of sputum (a mucus that forms inside the lung of a Tuberculosis patient), assuming the contents hadn't changed from the machine's last use. Perhaps the consistency and mass had changed over the forty or so years this jar has been sitting in the building...
Another apparatus was found in a bathroom nearby, oddly located next to a sign for a canteen. The liquid in this one was the same color, but free of any solids.
I've seen these devices before, but I never found out what they were used for. Armed with the name on the metal tag and some searching, I learned that artificial pneumothorax was a treatment for TB which intentionally collapsed the lung, giving it time to rest and heal. The process was also known as "resting the lung."
An incision was made into the chest and a specialized needle was inserted into the pleural cavity - a space that surrounds the lung and regulates pressure to expand and collapse the organ as we breathe. Nitrogen was then pumped into this cavity until the lung collapsed, which essentially squeezed the organ out like a sponge. Over time the lung would restore pressure by air being naturally absorbed into the body, and multiple pneumothorax treatments were required so the organ would remain collapsed for a sufficient amount of time. About thirty bottle refills were required to keep the lung collapsed for a year.
An interesting 1913 New York Times article is available to read, which describes the process in detail. Below is an illustration from the article that shows a Robinson's pneumothorax apparatus; the ones in the photos above are of an improved design.
After many trips to this hospital, poking around the outer buildings and observing, it was time to make our move. The goal was a series of ornate tuberculosis pavilions, erected during the early 1900s, and abandoned since the 1970s. They were watched closely however - and the consequences for trespassing were dealt with seriously. This required a careful initial approach in the dark... Tiled figures along the roof line winked at us in the moonlight as we crept through the shadows to a ...
by Jane Lerner via The Journal News
THIELLS — A blaze early Friday morning destroyed an abandoned building on the Letchworth Village property that had previously been the target of vandals. It took more than 100 volunteer firefighters from six local departments hours to extinguish the fire that engulfed the Jacobson House. The long-vacant residence had once been a stately home where the director of Letchworth Village, the state facility for people with developmental disabilities, lived. No one was hurt in ...
Most of the canvas straps still clung tightly to their large tubs which lined the basement room, despite the excessive sagging from thirty-seven years of disuse. Diffused rays of sunlight danced along the row of mummified bathtubs, yellowed with time and blackened with mold. A strange breeze wafted in from the dark, tiled morgue down the hall. There was no other place I wanted to be.
Continuous baths were one form of hydrotherapy used in mental hospitals beginning in the early 1900s. The technique was derived from German spa treatments, where people would spend from a few hours to a few days surrounded by flowing water. This treatment was used to induce relaxation in excited or agitated patients, as well as to relieve pressures from bed sores and other physical ailments.
The patient was placed in tub of warm or hot water (usually ranging from 92°F to 99°F) that would flow in through the sides and drain out the back. The temperature was regulated by an attendant at a control panel before it entered the tub, and another attendant would monitor the temperature and provide for any needs the patient might have. A canvas was secured across the top of the tub to maintain the temperature, and it could be used as a surface for eating meals, or to restrain violent patients without the use of a camisole (straitjacket). Patients were usually kept in the tubs for a few hours, and in some cases overnight.
Although these continuous bath treatments reduced the hospital's mechanical restraint figures, they required multiple skilled attendants; as overcrowding became a major issue, there simply weren't enough staff members to administer the treatment. Many shiny new hydrotherapy rooms sat unused in overcrowded hospitals during the 40s and 50s. The advent of shock therapies and chemical drug treatments phased hydrotherapy out quickly as a treatment for mental disorders.
The following is a set of continuous bath photographs taken by Alfred Eisenstaedt at Pilgrim State Hospital in 1936:
by EDMUND H. MAHONY via Hartford Courant
PRESTON — Fourteen years after the state closed Norwich State Hospital — and after spending as much as $10 million on its maintenance — the institution has fallen to such a state of ruin that parts of the architecturally stunning campus look as if it had experienced a natural disaster. The record of state expenditures suggests the damage was self-inflicted in some cases. When it closed the 482-acre campus and its 70 or so buildings in 1996, the state turned off the ...
The first signs of frost were appearing in the early November mornings. Another layer of fallen leaves had begun to pile up on the many layers already decaying on the disused paths and sidewalks of Norwich State Hospital. The air was sweet with the smell of the woods, which occasionally wafted in from the broken windows. We took a tunnel that ended in a basement, went upstairs, and worked our way back to the central portion of the hospital. We had arrived relatively late in the day and only ...
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This site is dedicated to documenting various abandoned places through both text and photographs; recording their transformations through time before they are demolished. The abundance of abandoned asylums and psychiatric hospitals in the New England area create the bulk of the locations here; these beautiful state funded structures are vast and complex, giving insight to both the humanity and mistreatment towards the mentally ill over the past two centuries.
In recent years, there has been a surge of redevelopment projects for these places, and states have been lowering land prices and pushing for bids to buy. Soon, all of these beautiful structures will fall down to meet their fate of becoming golf courses, condos and strip malls.
This project has been collaborated by myself, with help from many others, and all photographs and images are copyright opacity.us unless otherwise noted.
Do not email me for directions or information on how to enter these sites, otherwise your e-mail will be ignored. Comments, both good and bad, are welcome in the comment boxes underneath each photo, but inflammatory and "trolling" remarks will be deleted, and you will be banned from this site. Posting unmentioned location names will also be removed, it kinda defeats the purpose, no? With that all said, enjoy the site!
-Tom (Mr. Motts)
Archived Sites: Acme Coke Plant, Adonia State Hospital, Armorcast (Birdsboro Steel Foundry and Machine Co), Ashley / Huber Breaker (Blue Coal), Bannerman's Arsenal, Barnes Hospital, Beelitz Heilstätten, Belchertown State School, Bennett School for Girls, Berliner Bunkerwelten, Broadacres Hospital, Buffalo Central Terminal, Buffalo State Hospital, Camp Bluefields (Tweed), Central Islip State Hospital, Château de Mesen, Château de Noisy (Miranda), Cherry Knowle Hospital, Citadelle de Namur, City Methodist Church (Gary), Clairvaux Tuberculosis Hospital, Cliffside Mental Hospital, Clinique de la Faisanderie, Coal Brook Breaker Power Station, Continental Rubber Works (Hannover-Limmer), County Morgue, Crypt of Barons, Cynthia Lee Memorial Hospital, Dadipark, Danvers State Hospital, Demon's Alley (New City Village), Dever State School, Dixmont State Hospital, Eagle River Power Station, Eastern State Penitentiary, Eden Hall Chapel, Erich Wagner Kindersanatorium, Fort de la Chartreuse, Fort Marabout, Foxboro State Hospital, Franklin Power Plant, Fuller State School and Hospital, Gaebler Children's Center, Glenn Dale Hospital, Glenwood Power Plant, Gravesend Asylum, Great Barr Colony (St Margaret's Hospital), Green Hill State Hospital, Harperbury Hospital, Hartford Drive-In, Hasard Cheratte (Coal Mine), Haverford State Hospital, Heidelberg Thingplatz, Hellingly Hospital, Hendrik Monastery, Heptner State Hospital, Heusden-Zolder Coal Mine, Hewitt State Hospital and Prison, High Hills Developmental Center, Hinchcliffe Stadium, Hotel Sterling, Huy Mill, Irrenanstalt Weiler, Isolation Hospital, Jackson Sanatorium, Kings Park Psychiatric Center, Kingsley Psychiatric Hospital, Kokerei Zollverein, Königin Elisabeth Hospital, Krankenbunker "Breuning", Krankenhaus Eichelberger, La Crypte des Fleurs, Letchworth Village, Linfield Industrial Park, Linton State Hospital, Lungenkrankenhaus Thalberg, Malone Psychiatric Center, Manteno State Hospital, Margate State School, Marquette State Hospital, Mesa State Training School, Metropolitan State Hospital, Michigan Central Station, Middlewood Hospital Chapel, Mount Rose Cemetery, Mount Sinai Hospital, Normansfield Hospital, North Wales Hospital (Denbigh Asylum), Northam Manor Psychiatric Hospital, Northampton State Hospital, Northwood Asylum, Norwich State Hospital, NRL Satellite Facility, Old Essex County Jail, Old Saint Nicholas Coal Breaker, Peenemünde Army Research Center, Pennhurst State School, Philadelphia State Hospital (Byberry), Pilgrim State Hospital, Plymouth County Hospital, Pratt Greenhouse, Prora KdF Seaside Resort, Renwick Smallpox Hospital, Riverside Hospital (North Brother Island), Riverside State Hospital, Rochester Subway, Rocky Point Amusement Park, Roseville State Prison, Roseville State School, Ryhope Pumping Station, Saint Michaels State Hospital, Saint Remigius Military Hospital, Salesian School, Samuel R. Smith Infirmary, Sanitarium Joseph Lemaire, Säuglings- und Kinderkrankenhaus Weißensee, Severalls Hospital, SNCB Train Works, Staten Island Boat Graveyard, Stella Artois Brewery, Studebaker Stamping Plant, The Enchanted Forest, The Ladd School, The Pines Hotel, Thompson Mental Health Center, Université de Dubois, Usine de Senelle, Usine Terres-Rouges, Valmea Convent, Verden Psychiatric Hospital, Vineland Training School's Menantico Colony, West Middlesex Hospital, Western Center, Whittingham Hospital, Worcester State Hospital, York County Prison, York Street Jail, Ypsilanti State Hospital
