pegasus64 I too could picture someone there mourning their loss. Head down, staring blankly at the floor...sometimes I think this is what the inside of my head must look like, a lotta dim with a little beacon of light....

Location: La Crypte des Fleurs  Gallery: Moisture

pegasus64 I work in a long term care facility for the mentally ill & developmentally disabled adults. I read the linked article and it gave me chills. I too carry a lot of keys in my job. I am not direct care, but I hook my keys on a belt loop on my jeans and they jingle when I walk. I never thought of the effect of that sound. I do know that sometimes, it seems that just our keys and name tags seem to seem to be the only thing that separates staff from residents...

Location: Gaebler Children's Center  Gallery: Control

	pegasus64 I work in a long term care facility for the mentally ill and developmentally disabled and just last week I saw a writing like this by a resident. TB patients were separated from their loved ones, Drug additcts were separated from their true love...It is more than likely a real note.

Location: Riverside Hospital (North Brother Island)  Gallery: Typhus

	pegasus64 The art deco architecture and the tapestry brick design are amazing. I wonder if anyone has those skills now days...

Location: Riverside Hospital (North Brother Island)  Gallery: Typhus

pegasus64 The facility I work at used to bring all the residents outside once a day...rain or shine...and let them sit. It was thought to help with their "conditions". That was before my time, though. They tore down the old institution that was built in 1898...it became too dangerous...but I always wished I could have seen it in it's "glory days". It was know then as the Trempealeau County Asylum and you can still find some pictures of the old building.

Location: Manteno State Hospital  Gallery: What Little Remains

	pegasus64 They used to put residents in tubs of ice water for hydrotherapy...sometimes they put them in a tub with some type of cover on so only their heads stuck out. We had one client that used to spin in the tub ala the exorcist...

Location: Manteno State Hospital  Gallery: What Little Remains

	pegasus64 I like to read the posts before looking at the picture. Then I already have a picture of it in my mind...and yes, it does look like someone really wanted out of there...or really wanted whatever was in there...

Location: Manteno State Hospital  Gallery: What Little Remains

	pegasus64 I still can't get the sound of shuffling feet, gurgling drool, and the cries of an insane mind out of my heart whenever I see these bleak pictures. Not that the picture is bleak...but once you entered these "hallowed halls" life as a "normal" person was over forever.

Location: Manteno State Hospital  Gallery: What Little Remains

	pegasus64 must have built during the aesthetic movement....

Location: Manteno State Hospital  Gallery: What Little Remains

	pegasus64 The ascention...only there is no savior in this place...

Location: Manteno State Hospital  Gallery: What Little Remains

	pegasus64 It made supervision of the "clients" much easier. Now something like this would never be allowed because of client rights...a much needed improvement in the care of chronically mentally ill and developmentally disabled.

Location: Manteno State Hospital  Gallery: What Little Remains

	pegasus64 The rantings of an unbalanced mind...

Location: Manteno State Hospital  Gallery: What Little Remains

	pegasus64 Beds as far as the eye can see, despair piled up to the ceiling, big windows that let in the sun but don't let out the depression, no such thing as privacy...misery loves company...but these people would have preferred not to have the misery.

Location: Manteno State Hospital  Gallery: What Little Remains

	pegasus64 Can't you just feel it...feet shuffling along from one place to another. This was not a place of joy..,

Location: Manteno State Hospital  Gallery: What Little Remains

	pegasus64 Actually, you can stack large amounts of sheets, towels, or underpads in these. I work in a facility for the mentally ill, but we don't use these any more.

Location: Verden Psychiatric Hospital  Gallery: The Other Wing

	pegasus64 In the facility that I work in, rarely is someone "chemically" restrained. You can't even put someone in a wheelchair by a table because the table can be considered a restraint. Chemical, mechanical, or hands-on restraint is used sparingly and only to prevent injury. In fact, the resident has more rights than the staff do.

Location: Gravesend Asylum  Gallery: Thorazine Dream

	pegasus64 Was this person hurting herself or are they just make-up? Just think, if she really was a "cutter" she would have been locked up in that place a few years ago.

Location: Northampton State Hospital  Gallery: Cupid's Demise

	pegasus64 Yes it is, we had to install one in the facility where I work. It isn;t so much feeling like a cage, but now they can't jump....

Location: Kings Park Psychiatric Center  Gallery: The Quad

	pegasus64 Story after story, room after room of misunderstood people. At one point in time, you could get anyone committed with just a signature. I can almost see the lost and lonely people locked away "for their own good". Tragedy...simply a tragedy...

Location: Kings Park Psychiatric Center  Gallery: Group 2 and Some Building 93 Exteriors

	pegasus64 Waiting for a performance starring the Lobotomy Choir...

Location: Kings Park Psychiatric Center  Gallery: York Hall (Building 80)

	pegasus64 Psych beds should have no springs, and the mattresses have to be totally sealed.

Location: Kings Park Psychiatric Center  Gallery: Wisteria (Building 15)

	pegasus64 The facility where I work has a cemetary. In fact, they just buried a resident there in the last couple of years. Had to get special approval though, because there hasn't been a burial there since like the 1930's. One of our staff did go through and "plot" the cemetary and take notations on names/graves/locations because we do sometimes get relatives looking.

Location: Marquette State Hospital  Gallery: Cold and Empty

	pegasus64 The box on the gurney is a standard bedside nightstand. The bar on it is to hang a towel/washcloth on. We still have some in the facility where I work, and in fact, I have one in my office I use for storage.

Location: Northam Manor Psychiatric Hospital  Gallery: Creep

	pegasus64 clever shot,but in all reality, the chain probably had nothing to do with restraining a patient.

Location: Northam Manor Psychiatric Hospital  Gallery: Creep

	pegasus64 So who was the main act...the lobotomy choir?

Location: Ypsilanti State Hospital  Gallery: Occupational Hazards