Look at it this way folks. New life rising from the ashes of the old.

The exploration stuff is largely moot now. Most of the buildings have been torn down. I understand the bitch the people at the bottom of the hill had. Would you want strangers parking on your street, crawling through your yard, just so they could sneak into a place that is off limits to the public anyway? I think not..

Trust me I worked there. Unless you really wanted to take a chance with asbestos exposure,or collapsing stuff, you'd wouldn't want to go just to party. The place wasn't in all that good a shape when it was closed. It couldn't have gotten better over the years.

Through the good offices of a friend of a friend. I recieved a brick from the Kirkbride Building. It's a memento I will treasure.Between my father, an aunt, myself, and my wife, we have worked at Danvers State for over a hundred total years. If I included me ex mother in law and father in law the toal jumps up to nearly 175 years of service at Danvers Stae Hospital. For many nostalgic reasons I am saddened to see the tearing down of a place where family members have served for many years. I hope the new developers show some respect for the place and preserve as much of the place as it is safe to preserve.

I've personally been to many of the places pictured in the gallerys. By the way Mr. Mott you did an outstanding job with this gallery. You treated the place right. Going on the developers will have the devils own time getiing rid of the tons of asbestgos contained in the property. It's everywhere

Just out of the picture, is the Protestant chapel,Nurses home,and the Grey Gables. Did anyone notice,while driving north on Rt.1, that an aircraft arrow and North were painted on the Back side of the Nurses home roof.

The Kirkbride building was in use up through 1980 anyway. It might have been shut down for good in 1982> A friend who was in the National Guard,told me that they used to use Danvers State to sight in their weapons during weekend drills at the Nike Base. The Nike site would be located just to the left side of the picture on one of the hills in the middle distance

I can tell you if this is the third floor, the door to the ward is not the one that was first installed there. The following story occured after the fire. We had moved to the 1st floor, because the annex on the 3rd floor was toast basically. (Kinda neat lighbulbs had melted in their sockets.)

A patient had broken the 3rd floor door lock in an escape attempt. It was our job to watch the door as well as the patients. Several colleagues and I decided screw this noise. Lets find us a door. We went out got some tools and went an stole the 3rd floor door and hung it on the 1stt floor . We then brought the 1st floor door up to the 3rd floor and rehung that door there. The way we looked at it, it made the floor a more secure floor.

That may not the geri-chair from the film. I'll wager however this snapshot was taken on the floor the movie was shot on. Great picture

Not a hydro therapy tub. Hydro therapy tubs had spots to anchor a canvas top to the tub so the Hydrotherapy patient could be kept in the tub. And so the staff doing it would not be innundated by water.. All the floors had bathtubs. . Regular bath tubs. That I believe is one of them. Hydro was carried out on a specific floor in the hospital,which one escapes me, one of the destroyed buildings I think. Helluva picture though

Clothing went on the shelves, most likely,and the drawers were used to put in the items painted on them, so there would be a stockpiles. Bugler tobacco made a fortune off asylums. "Rollies" were a form of currency. ""Tailor Mades" (brand name smokes) were the Benjamins for the patients

This is a picture of the J (2 or 3) ward. It's gone now. Back in the day, beds were lined up on both sides of the hallway. Beyond the nurses station desk is a dining room/kitchenette. Beyond that, is a service elevator that meals were delivered on. Directly across the hall from the desk are the seclusion rooms. The solarium is just behind the desk you see where the light 's coming from.

My friend Drew and I tried to get a look at the place yesterday, but it is all fenced in with the gate locked and an NYPD cruiser positioned inside the gate...what's up with that?