Comments
Off the Beaten Path

rusty

yeah, over this year I did a huge research project on these kinds of schools (primarily the Fernald State School), so lucky for me I got to interview both Fred Boyce and Michael D'Antonio (plus a few more.)
Talking to Fred Boyce is really depressing. Most of the people I talked to that were directly involved with the school wanted to forget what happened and never talk about it. But after he was let go from the school, Mr. Boyce spent his entire life trying to tell the world what happened to stop it from repeating its mistakes. Even when he was in the school, his goal was to shut down the institution forever. When he joined the science club (a group of children that were fed radioactive oatmeal for experimentation purposes. They did not know there was radiation in their food.) he believed that he was going to show the researchers how bad Fernald was so they could save him and all the other children. Not the case.
Two days after we interviewed him, I recieved a phone call saying that he had been moved to the hospital because his cancer was getting much worse. Now, I don't even know that he is still alive.

Location: Pennhurst State School  Gallery: The Sadness

Rotunda

Rusty

I got in to the rotunda. I nearly fell throught to the basement. but what was on the otherside was awesome.

Location: Worcester State Hospital  Gallery: Silent Creatures

Foetus

rusty

I have a lot of sources on Pennhurst, Fernald and just eugenics in general, so if anyone wants some links to read up on stuff like that, you can e-mail me at tfielder_nhd@yahoo.com

Location: Pennhurst State School  Gallery: Forgotten

Path

rusty

I really like how the photo is clearly black and white, but the sky still looks blue.

Location: Pennhurst State School  Gallery: The Sadness

Foetus

rusty

He was the lawyer for the Pennhurst Case, here is his website, http://www.ferleger.com/pennhurst.htm

Location: Pennhurst State School  Gallery: Forgotten

Foetus

rusty

yeah, I got both of those already, and a whole lot more. And my interview with David Ferleger explained about the Lynchburg Colony.

Location: Pennhurst State School  Gallery: Forgotten

Foetus

rusty

nah, I'm doing a documentary for National History Day about the Pennhurst and Fernald State Schools in the eugenics movement and found this website while looking for interviews. I'm from Colorado.

Location: Pennhurst State School  Gallery: Forgotten

Adminstration Drive

rusty

If you go to Pennhurst now, you see names on the buildings like Quaker Hall or Store Building. But according to Mr. Ferleger, the buildings were called A, B, C etc. but they changed the names in the middle of the court case. I guess they wanted people to get the impression that they wern't so impersonal.

Location: Pennhurst State School  Gallery: The Sadness

Ancient Room

rusty

Hey Motts, did you find any of the rooms with viewing windows?

Location: Pennhurst State School  Gallery: Forgotten

Tub

rusty

After the Pennhurst lawsuit, they kind of closed it down in a hurry, some of the photographs that I have seen have chalkboards with writing on them.

Location: Pennhurst State School  Gallery: Forgotten

Foetus

rusty

You lucky people, I cant go to Pennhurst because I live halfway across the country.

Location: Pennhurst State School  Gallery: Forgotten

Violet Light

rusty

Pennhurst was always dirty. Because the childern were not taken care of, it was not uncommon for a patient to walk around covered in their own filth.

Location: Pennhurst State School  Gallery: Forgotten

Basement Gym

rusty

yes hrm, they had a barber shop, they also had a mourge pretty close to it to.

Location: Pennhurst State School  Gallery: Forgotten

Theater

rusty

Dosnt the military own Pennhurst? Until they sell the land of course.

Location: Pennhurst State School  Gallery: Forgotten

Safety Chair

rusty

While reasearching Pennhurst and Fernald, I saw a few photos of chairs like that. A few to many of them actually had seatbelts on them in order to restrain the students, they even had a padded chair shaped like a cylander with a hole in it where they shoved the children into so they couldnt move.

Location: Pennhurst State School  Gallery: Forgotten

Ceiling Light

rusty

Well, Pennhurst did run on its own. They made their own food, they had to store drinking water in big metal containers, they even had their own mourge....I dont see why they should'nt have their own electricity.

Location: Pennhurst State School  Gallery: Forgotten

Small Staircase

rusty

by far one of your best shots

Location: Bennett School for Girls  Gallery: Close Calls