Nice mold, that's healthy too.

Ohhhh, (sigh).. enough with the game references, Don't you guys appreciate the history, (and yes, the pain, suffering, & just possibly a shred of decent history too), of these places? The beautiful architecture? The wonderful artistry of Motts' photos? the things to be LEARNED here?
Why does (most) everyone's mind automatically jump to the fictitous horror of the gaming/film world, gore, death metal, the desire to destroy and 'tag' these places? I used the word juvenile before and expected to get my ass jumped for it, and told how high and mighty I was acting... (probably still will), but can't we read a little of the homepages first about what the intentions of this site are? The comments get so stale. Resident Evil, Silent Hill, Saw, secret burning of bodies, canabalism, abuse of patients for the 'fun' of it, what sick fantasy is next? Really it's getting so old and silly and takes up so much room for such empty commentary. Don't hate on me, just be realistic. It get's to sounding so dumbed down. I'm not pointing a finger at you N8, either, so don't jump on me - TOO many people leave these same, empty comments.
can we start getting back to comments about the sites/pictures?

I don't know on that one. it looks like it's made of steel or something and lookt at the building, it looks like an outbuilding, and the dirt (?) floor? and lack of spacing? do you really think they'd stack live humans up in 'locked cribs' like this Charlie? It does look like some kind of livestock keeper to me. Just my two cents.

the Pieta by Michaelangelo

Wow, jonna....I see it... yeah..

100% AGREED! Video games, Horror movies, Goth music, Slasher stories.. someone will tell me to get off my high horse, but why does everything have to have such a juvenile twisted image automatically attached to it?

David S, I live near Coors Brewery in the USA and have had a tour there more than once and we wre told just that about the term hopper coming from the storage of hops in them..

I think about that often too Dave> Motts says he uses appropriate masks for aesbestos etc. but I think about all the other ppl. who talk about breaking into these places like it was nothing. There are so many dangers, not to mention it is often private property. I'm not preaching; do what you will - it's just something to think about.

tried and Lynne, I think you BOTH offer many vaiid points. I wish we could stop all of the arguing, esp. when it gets kind of personal & hurtful, no (?). Both of you seem sincere and this is such a delicate subject, will the system ever be the ideal place for those needing help, probably not. Sad but true. I just wish the fights wouldn't get so personal here. Of course we wish the best for those who are ill, hurting, and in need *and* also for those who struggle to take care of them. I pray that a facility would never knowingly hire a neglectful or abusive worker as well, but...
I don't know, said my bit. Sorry. I should not have gotten in the middle I am sure..

No, it's severely lacking a good coat of KILZ over all of the "tags". Destruction for the sake of what?

And tried, again, I do understand what you are saying. i feel for you, for all patients, not just the buildings. I was locked up more than once b/c I was at the end of my rope - watching my young mother die a long drawn out death from bone cance after losing her leg, losing my job, way overly self medicating myself out of my mind, getting a DUI, they called the cops b/c I said I was goign to off myself and they locked me up for 2 weeks, treated me like a moron. They made me color pictures from a coloring book with crayons, finger paint, and all sorts of juvenile shit like that. There was ONe decent guy there who took me seriously and knew I was basically having a nervous breakdown and a life of clinical depression, that i wasn't "crazy" he pretty much told me if I ever wanted out I had just better play along, take the meds (against my will and better judgement) and colour the damn pictures. The people there stunk like piss, ATE the crayons, tolds massive lie after lie like Jon Lovitz on SNL and I DID not belong there. It was SO demeaning. But that was the new, "modern" SYSTEM. It's all the SYSTEM, and if I wanted out I had to play along. It did a hell of a lot to break my shitty self esteem doen even more. I feel for you, and i can still feel for these poor old structures, they have a soul too, just think what those walls have seen.

Well, tired, I sympathise with you, to a lesser degree, fortunately. i have had my own experiences in places - yes, better than these, but if the buildings are not preserved, or turned into sterile condos with no sense of what went on there..... history is forgotten, and you know what they say about forgetting hostory and being doomed to repeat it. These places should be saved, many of them are archetectural masterpieces, and if horrors occured there, people should also be made aware of that sad history as well.

This place is truly amazing, I know, someone will remind me of the 'sad, evil' history it likely has, but you can't deny how sad it is that there is no pride left in construction these days either. if for no other reason than to give the patients a pleasant environment to live out their days in. no pride or craftsmanship at all anymore. This looks like something you'd see in Rome. Tsk Tsk if they let it go to pot.

Wow, amazing. any updates on this place? Another condo complex in waiting to be sure....

You know what, I take that all back - I can't be ho-hum about it. The more I look at that page, honestly, the more it truly pisses me off. I do wish they let the old bldg. just go with it's dignity and it's (and my) memories. I am really getting so tired of this nouveau riche BS, they drove me out of my home city - NY - and this is really pathetic. I mean read that last paragraph on that page; how SMUG.

Ohhh nooo... more unaffordable, sterile, condos? what a terrible, terrible shame. Well, I suppose the only redemption there is if it keeps some semblance of this beautiful place intact as opposed to it just dissapearing. Sigh. The rich get richer.... and they want to live in the old "lunatic asylum", lol, I guess, somehow, it's fitting. (????) Jeeze, it just doesn't make any sense, lol.

There used to be a strange octagonal little tower structure, I'm thinking I hadn't been there since '87, '88, '89, maybe - do I have the wrong place or is this little bldg still there? I used to love to look at it from across the river, esp. when they lit it all up. What a beautiful bidg. i believe it was also called Welfare Island. That's what I always knew it as. Maybe I had that wrong too?

when I left the Bronx in the early 90's alot of abandoned bldgs had boarded windows with the window shade thing painted on them. I think it was a feeble attempt at making the area look less "menacing"?