I was on Ward D from 1970-1973. My parents didn't have a say in the medication regimen I was on, nor could they take me out. I was civilly committed under the new law (at the time) M.G.L. Chapter 123.

I love this site the pics and the comments on them are awesome! As I was a patient in the eighties (stupid drunken crap I pulled cutting, etc.) this site has inspired me to wite a story thanx for the facts I couldn't find a contact link so I leave this comment here.

Hey you good people at opacity.us I'm a 44 year old writer when I was a younger fellow I had some drug and alcohol problems and wound up doing two stretches one month a piece (I tried to commit suicide while I was drunk and high) at Met State I swear some of the things I saw there (This was back in the early eighties) frightened me bad enough to make all my little hairs stand on end! I love this site it's giving me some good background for a story I'm writing about the place. Thanx again!

I recall the Ladd school from the early 1970's. my grandmother worked and lived there in an apartment on the grounds. this was a sad and depressing place for many unfortunate souls. My grandma was named Jennifer Lee Bvtler.

WAIT... i thought this was a home for kids that have behavioral issues??? what a morgue doing there?

How can this not be a wallpaper?! Fantastic Shot Sir!

all power statoins are on the grid from the panel it looks like the settings are in srtand by mode i sujest you dont touch any thing wires exposed are more likley to be live and remember a power station is not like house current ther up in to 100's of thousends of volts till they go to the transformer wher it is dropped can you say BBQ?

all power statoins are on the grid from the panel it looks like the settings are in srtand by mode i sujest you dont touch any thing wires exposed are more likley to be live and remember a power station is not like house current ther up in to 100's of thousends of volts till they go to the transformer wher it is dropped can you say BBQ?

Went there tonight, much bigger than i thought

Love this shot!

Recently done some research on Asylums and read a lot about Denbigh great to see some photos

is it true that police guard the hospital? if so why? i mean whats the reason for it

Be careful on the insides of the buildings. There is a lot of asbestos, a lot of contaminated IV tubing as well which were used on the patients. There have been air samples done of the area which picked high counts of Radon and contaminated construction metals as well. I would be careful, as it is not worth picking up an airborne contaminant just to see the place. The state police and Suffolk county police patrol there regularly. Also, there are still many deep wells which are contaminated and are uncovered. Be careful you don't fall in. Finally the EPA did a lot of research on the bugs and whatever nighttime moths or animals that frequented the area, and those who were affected had photo phobia. Not sure of the cause of that. Be careful around the contaminated construction metals, as they can cause an air borne type of meningitis which is dangerous. So honestly, my thoughts would be to not enter the buildings and I would stay off the property. I had a list of all the contaminants at the site only because that is the type of work I do, most of them were low, the higher counts were the infectious fertilizers on the property.

Creepy? yes, but an important part of how we got to be the person, the soul we are today.

Thank you so much Mott's. P.S. It's important we take on and get to see things of a dim past to help us reccollect what we have today.

this girl died at the peak of World War I. must've been haunting for her to live her last few years seeing as germany was pushing through the french countryside around this time.

These big pot that you see are not mixers, they are steam jacket kettles for cooking. Large institutions were heated by steam from huge boilers from a central heating plant - or sometimes two. The steam was then piped all over the grounds to heat all the buildings. In the food service kitchens, expecially those that fed a large amount of people, the steam was used for cooking. The pots are double walled with a space in between. When the steam valve is turned on the steam - over 212 degress - would fill and circulate in the space inside the pots. The food was put in the pot and that is the way it was cooked. It is very efficient system. In newer places today that have access to steam, they use the same technology only on a smaller scale. I worked at Marquette University and a lot of the older kitchens have these same pots...some even larger. Likewise, I worked at Briggs & Stratton's main kitchen and they have 4 pots that are bigger that these.

These large kettles are not mixer, but Steam Jacket Kettles. The kettles have an inner and outer shell and hot steam is pumped in the space between the shells to cook food. units like these, although more modern, are still in use today.

Bob

I have some news, the Dr. Blood's House of Horror on Sportland Pier, Wildwood, NJ was just torn down. It was inactive since about 1983. Now I hear this house of horrors at Rocky Point will come down. When was the last year this ride operated? 1995? All the great dark rides are going away. And these two at Rocky Point and Wildwood were built by the late Bill Tracy. I guess the New England area has practically no dark rides anymore. They tore down the Kastle Frankenstein at Salisbury Beach two years ago. Rye Playland, NY still has all it's dark rides. Wildwood, only has a few left, Dante's, Pirate's, Jersey Junkyard, Zombie World, Den of Lost Thieves, Golden Nugget SBNO.

I wonder if they tore the house of horrors down yet? There was a fire at the park last October 06 and the mayor ordered the remaining buildings razed including the house of horrors. Good thing you got pics of the inside in case it does come down. It's a shame that no one appreciates this stuff anymore and the powers that be who are clueless about the rarity and history of this stuff would rather see it come down (can you say "eyesore"?) and build expensive homes there that mean nothing to us park/haunted dark ride fans. A shame that Bill Tracy's work such as this is/could be lost over liability fears. Oh well, Rye Playland still has dark rides. Ocean City, MD still has a Bill Tracy Haunted House ride built 1962 and a Pirate's Cove walk-through built by him, too. There's a few others around including Waldameer's Erie PA Whacky Shack ride and Pirate's Cove walk built by Bill in 1970, 1972 shortly before his death. The Erieview Park Ohio Fright Zone was moved to Conneaut Lake Park for 2007 because Erieview closed for good and auctioned off the rides last October. Fright Zone was built by Bill Tracy in 1963 as Haunted House at West View Park, Pittsburgh which closed 1977 and Erieview bought the ride and moved it in 1979 to Erieview rebuilt it as a one level and renamed it Fright Zone. Now it will live on at Conneaut in a different building.

it was a teaching hospital and one of the best , in it's day

this is where you went to have your baby.

OMG LOL I was 8 years old and fell up these stairs

is this the walk up to the sliding board?

WoW I remember all of these pictures as if I were a child again Little toot use to ride around that lake and on top of the little mountian that is in the lake you would get dropped off there climb it and use a twisting sliding board to get back down I have pictures of this on sunny days from 1968 , this photo is Surreal to me!

Very Erie Picture , But beautiful