Another awesome gallery, Mr. Motts. Thanks!

@autoguy: I know of a woman who spent 20+ years at Willard simply for having Cerebral Palsy. It's scary to think of all the ppl that were committed to such places for so long and so little.

I think ppl are forgetting there are varying degrees of insanity. These well-dressed men were obviously not as bad off mentally as the 'typical' patient.
These shots are good promotion of the 'nicer' side of asylums.

I have a hard time accepting that this was a patient cell with that dangling light fixture in it. Hmmm...

@ Norway: There is way more debris on the sides right next to the walls. The critters (zombies!) took the easiest route. lol.

Look how well dressed they were. Not very realistic was it.

The two side windows maybe were blocked due to being broken and it was easier/ cheaper to block them than repair?

Yeah, I think it's pretty obvious the 'before' shot was posed. I can just imagine them getting their 'best' patients to sit for these old shots. Makes me a bit sad for some reason.

Motts' shot is better. IJS. =]

The before pics leave me with the feeling they were 'posed' for the benefit of positive publicity. Everything and everyone is too tidy and well-behaved. Definitely not realistic.

Great shot.

Lol Larry, You are just warming up for a part in the next Grumpier Old Men sequel.

Looks like a tranny.

Beautiful shot.

Makes me wonder how many ppl died from heat exhaustion working there. No a/c in the old days and the temps must have gotten incredibly hot.

The old shot is interesting. If they had doors blocked like that today, they would be cited for blocking egress even if there is another exit in the room.

Where's Geraldo when you need him.

Has a very Gothic feel to it. Very nice.

The brick was painted. The paint has come off and shown the red brick underneath in places. Makes for very colorful shot.

The green cracked paint reminds me of an easter egg shell. Great pic.

I think it would have been better if she was barefoot in these shots, but I'm sure it would be difficult to get anyone to walk in there with no shoes on lol. Very pretty work.

I need to stop reading the comments. I love the photography and history on this site, which is what it 's supposed to be all about, isn't it?

Belittling strangers due to their personal beliefs/ interests is 'not cool'. We all have our own opinions, but aren't we all here to pay respects to this wonderfully talented photographer? He is taking us on historical adventures most of us would never have a chance to partake in ourselves. Thank you, Motts.

No one knows what happened unless they were there to witness it in person. You can't blame people for being curious after they are force-fed stories about abuse and neglect in such institutions by the media.

Unfortunately there is a mentality amongst those that work in health care that if a resident's behavior is annoying to them then it must be to the other residents as well and must be silenced--even a simple whimper repeated 20 times. The majority of the time those drugs are used for the purpose of keeping residents quiet. It's selfish and sadly still common today. Walk down a hallway in any nursing home and you will see residents lined up in their wheelchairs, leaning over, drooling and obviously drugged to the gills.

Wallpaper.