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Rez Halyard

i can definitely see the need to post something like this, to assist committed patients in having some structure to their existence. I left school for a while after becoming very messily depressed and breaking down. After returning home I became quite a reclusive shut-in for quite some time, remaining in my room, mostly in the dark, a year of fitful sleep and not much movement. literally. i experienced significant muscular atrophy. it was easy to lose touch with it all, to forget what day, what month it is, and to even be disturbingly hazy on the year.

Location: Haverford State Hospital  Gallery: SSDD

Halo

Rez Halyard

lol halo - "Legend has it people in this facility were murdered in the halls, their lifeless bodies furiously humped by by a man wearing a suit that covered his entire body. he spoke in a child's voice, shouting bizarre insults like 'noob'."

Location: Buffalo Central Terminal  Gallery: Baggage

Halo

Rez Halyard

umm... IS this a video game reference? the picture itself refers in no way to the game halo, rather the aura around the figure resembles a halo in the literal sense of the word. Yet another picture in this set is entitled 'x-box,' whose flagship franchise is the halo series. my guess: its a literal reference that is very aware of the other pics title, making it a reference to both really.

Location: Buffalo Central Terminal  Gallery: Baggage

Pit Of Oblivion

Rez Halyard

wow. i realize i'm discovering this thread very late, but i feel compelled to commend and agree with Lynne. In another thread in the Pennhurst section (of the pic of the basement w/ the painting of the many-eyed thing) I used the example of Facilitated Communication to illustrate concrete evidence of the "witch trial" mentality, which I agree is just as harmful as taking advantage of the defenseless. It's also quite disturbing, as the witch hunters, in a perverse way, really seem to want those stories of abuse to be true, as if to fulfill some masochistically romantic fantasy of trial endurance that they have. Just know that there are rational people out there who aren't blind to the benevolence and hard work of mental health professionals.

Location: Pennhurst State School  Gallery: The Sadness

Weaponry

Rez Halyard

we in the psych community use those to sink sea org vessels, though that's an old variant. the new ones never leave survivors, which sucks because we used to get to go out there in runabouts and shoot them ourselves.

Location: Pennhurst State School  Gallery: Forgotten

Still Waiting

Rez Halyard

that wheelchair has his own one-man show

,,,is what that looks like.

Location: Pennhurst State School  Gallery: Forgotten

Candy Cane Dungeon

Rez Halyard

I think we should all remember that these places didnt look exactly like they do now during their heyday, by any means, and there is a tendency for caregivers and 3rd parties to imagine scenarios of abuse in situations such as these, and dare I say, perhaps exagerrate the ubiquity of such incidents. its this very same imaginative mindset that fuels interest in these very pictures themselves (thematically I mean.).
This tendency is actually proven through psychological experiment: in the facilitated communication fiasco involving the alphabet boards and the autistic patients, with the caregivers "assisting" their communication manually. In reality, the caregivers were subconsciously controlling the "conversation," much like the way it is actually you operating the Ouija board. Many caregivers reported detailed accounts of incest and abuse, supposedly confided to them by their autistic patients. Families were ripped apart by these accusations, the greater majority of which were proved false via forensic science and psych research. And all along It was merely a particularly interesting form of transference on the part of the caregivers. Facilitated Communication is now largely considered pseudoscience.
im not saying abuse didnt occur. not at all. but it is important to keep a sober mind regarding all this. the history of mental health wasn't entirely a bacchanal of sadism, and like civilization in general, it's gotten more and more humane over time.

Location: Pennhurst State School  Gallery: Forgotten

Thorazine Dream

Rez Halyard

besides, that shrink sucked, he never wanted to listen to what i had to say, the act of which is like a fucking stethoscope to a shrink), and he got his doctorate in fucking Cabo San Lucas for chrissakes (one of those places). so eff him.

Location: Gravesend Asylum  Gallery: Thorazine Dream

Thorazine Dream

Rez Halyard

ECT is still used in the US for major depression, rarely, and very humanely (anesthesia, etc.), as a last resort. and it works. i've observed it first hand. seriously. there's some short-term memory loss and the year in which the treatments are administered became hazy at best and blank at worst (much of it), along with sporadic memory loss of previous events, but if nothing else has worked, it beats the alternative. at my worst I've also been "threatened" with it, though i'd call it more of a "strong suggestion." i was younger than the person i know who had it done, and as beleagured as I was, I couldn't let go of the very memories that plagued me. I know that doesn't make much sense, pragmatically speaking, but that's kind of the point. but i stand by my decision. fact is, it is the patients decision, this isn't cuckoo's nest or requiem for a dream (whose source material was written in the 70s). wasnt always that way tho.

Location: Gravesend Asylum  Gallery: Thorazine Dream

Come Get Your Meds

Rez Halyard

I'll have a chlorpromazini, thanks.

Location: Roseville State School  Gallery: Open Sores

Overgrown

Rez Halyard

you know the lawn needs mowin when there are fucking TREES growing out the top of your HOUSE!

Location: The Enchanted Forest  Gallery: Through the Fog

Mirror

Rez Halyard

on the paper it says "turn around" and nothing (relatively) unusual is in the reflection of the mirror. then you turn around and it's Dracula! RUN!!! YOU'RE SURROUNDED BY DRACULAS!!!

Location: Isolation Hospital  Gallery: Quick Run

Food Facts

Rez Halyard

fact: bits of glass are yummy food.

Location: Isolation Hospital  Gallery: Quick Run

Sludge Monster

Rez Halyard

thats no lightning, or a flashlight, that's the bioluminescent flagellal limb of the muck monster!!! RUN!!!

Location: Isolation Hospital  Gallery: Flooded

The Tubes

Rez Halyard

ah, symmetry.

Location: Isolation Hospital  Gallery: Flooded

Pollepel

Rez Halyard

the architectural beauty is absolutely ruined by that garish smear of text splayed across the facade. makes for a great photo, though.

Location: Bannerman's Arsenal  Gallery: The Island

Personal Effects

Rez Halyard

game... blouses...

Location: Foxboro State Hospital  Gallery: Endless Halls

Cop

Rez Halyard

CHEESE IT, it's the FUZZ!!!
srsly tho i wonder what the cop would do if you started droppin stuff. would they go in and investigate, or be like, eff that?

Location: Foxboro State Hospital  Gallery: Endless Halls

Quagmire

Rez Halyard

haha! EMS here beat me to it. well, thank you EMS, i really wasnt looking forward to typing 'giggity' that many times. now i can just copy and paste! gotta go! Giggity Giggity Giggity GONE!!!

Location: Riverside State Hospital  Gallery: Rhythmic Soundscapes

A Hand

Rez Halyard

ok guys very funny, now give jesus his hand back.

Location: Riverside State Hospital  Gallery: Gatherings

Standing Tall

Rez Halyard

"What is this?"
"Wow! What a mansion!"

Location: Riverside State Hospital  Gallery: Night

Well Hung

Rez Halyard

yeah that was obviously put there after the fact by adventurers/thrill-seekers/no-good teenagers in order to scare other adventurers/thrill-seekers/no-good teenagers, seeing as they often go to places like that at night. im from bayonne, nj and a bunch of us crazy teenagers went to explore the old seaview hosp in staten island once. we slipped in through a downed section of chain-link fence, soon surrounded by forest. not long on our trek into the grounds did we happen upon another group of youths lying in wait in the shrubbery. one would jump out, brandishing a machete, in order to scare those passing thru. another had a video camera. they declined on playing the joke on us, and i can't help but suspect it may have had something to do with several members of our party who were both formidable in appearance, or black, or both. thats not meant to be offensive, btw. lol offensive would be to say that the black guys were integral to our HMSEWS: Horror-movie-scenario early-warning system. if one of them buys it, we know its time to leave.

Location: Danvers State Hospital  Gallery: Tiptoe

Late Summer

Rez Halyard

I like session 9 so much because it's the only film i've seen that replicates (albeit not entirely) 'the shining's way of creeping you out without relying on the use of darkness, and instead using the well-lit emptiness to inspire fear. that said the outside of the building's are not scary at all. the oldest buildings at Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass. look just like that, only they're kept in pristine condition. for those that will miss the Danvers buildings, try visiting the Holy Cross campus, it could give you an idea of what Danvers looked like in its heyday. And for the complete "insane asylum" experience, go there on St. Patrick's Day, which is right around the corner.

Location: Danvers State Hospital  Gallery: Dreary Skies

Spire

Rez Halyard

cool only a few thousand? ima put one in my backyard, which will then cease to be my back yard and will become... my spire. From its peak i shall remain ever vigilant, and justice shall return to the streets of Gotham...

Location: Danvers State Hospital  Gallery: Dreary Skies

Soaring Over the Asylum

Rez Halyard

oh, and no, gargoyles would be tacky and cliche, hardly befitting a building of science.

Location: Danvers State Hospital  Gallery: Dreary Skies