...and i was just about to ask what the hell those were...

ah, the eloquence of the essex graffiti "artist"....

i love this whole gallery, but i especially love this pic.

i couldn't say why, mind.

another twisted fairytale....

that's an incredible picture motts. like something from a dark fairytale.

ooh! i've been really looking forward to this gallery - this hospital is only 30 minutes down the road from me. sadly it seems i'm either too late or i'm going to have to get a move on to see it in real life....

yes!!! because the best way to hide the reasons for people dying is to have a morgue where you can perform autopsies and establish the cause of death!!!!!!

durrr.

johnny mac - i know what you mean. this place seems very, um, sterile? motts - did it feel that way to you?

the pentacle (point upwards) has nothing to do with satanism. it represents the five elements - earth, air, fire, water and spirit. in wicca, only the quarters are invoked (spirit is sort of taken as read). you won't find pentagrams in wicca or paganism - satan is a christian conceit and, for pagans, is as far removed from the belief system as god.

happy solstice, btw.

*smirks*

torture! all of it!

seriously tho, i've just read "Mad in America" and it's extremely thought-provoking. the thing that comes across throughout (and yes, some of the treatments seem startling in today's context) is that every treatment was designed IN AN EFFORT TO HELP PATIENTS. misguided or not, there it is. and a lot of it was - i don't think anyone would try to deny it. the road to hell and all that...

fascination with the past and maybe learning something from it - sick? hmmm. from what i've read byberry has been empty and abandoned for a very long time. vandalism is nothing new, and i'm not condoning it at all. but curiosity and the desire to explore? that's just human nature and you'll never change it. if people never think about the past they are doomed to never think about things beyond their current frame of reference, and to me that's the sad thing. and, um, since a mother who cares has commented a fair bit, i suspect they are pretty curious themselves. armchair UE doesn't make you superior, you know.

right. i'll shut up now.

was freud's mum hot then?

it's ok though keith - the nightmares subside after a week or two.

i did have a night the other week where i had to sleep with the tv on though. stupid overactive imagination.

course you did feds. and what antique store WOULDN'T want an old, dirty, rusted drinking fountain from a disused psychiatric hospital? i'm only surprised you didn't get more for it.

bugger.

i think lynne was trying to emphasise the impact of the shot without heading down the insane serial killer/creepy ghost/lost soul/slasher movie cliche...i'm sorry, <i>route</i>.

just my opinion

*crosses fingers and hopes html tags work otherwise this will look stupid*

charming! thanks for your insightful comment, j

i know i'm way, way late on this one, but i really don't get what the sharp cereal professor has to do with cerebral palsy.

now, if sam had quoted from "skallagrig" i might have understood better....

we were there last june. the cenote where they allegedly sacrificed people gave me nightmares.....fabulous place tho. couldn't go to the riviera maya and not visit.

can't sleep, clowns will eat me

what with having tb and all, i very much doubt that anyone was gagged, let alone tied and caged.

lynne? over to you....

it's like the view from the top of the main pyramid at chitchen itza (um..only not, obviously). what's that builing over to the left?

this reminds me of somewhere (I have no idea where) in oxfordshire, uk. i stopped for a smoke there on the way home once when i was a motorcycle despatch rider and i haven't thought about it since until i saw this picture. weird.

?????

.....................