I have enjoyed your website for years now, I just have a what some might call "morbid" fascination with abadoned buildings and hospitals in particular. Slow days at work I enjoy looking pictures of abandoned buildings and your site always tops the list. Last year my sons and I visted Eastern State Penn on our vacation to Philly, my 8 year old son became fascinated with it and spends time on the internet looking at pictures of it and Alcatraz, last night I showed him your site and he spent hours (they are on spring break this week) looking at the pictures of all the locations you have shot. He is now hooked just like his mom. Thank you for the amazing work you do.

Ijust found your site i love old things i have just joined the computer age and i am 69 years old you have opened a whole new world for me now i want to find out more about this site thank you

I love your site. There are a few places in the Memphis area this I would love to see you photograph. What an eye you have!

I find this site and others lke it as fascinating as the next person.
For me they have a differrent meaning. My mom was a patient in 2 of these state hospitals in NJH..Greystone and Marlboro. I have horrifying childhood memories of visiting her at these places.
It is my sense that the souls of the folks who suffered in state hospitals, sometimes llinger in the wreckage of these buildings. For that reeaon, these places are hallowed ground. As much as i like to look at the pics people sneak into take, I know things are often getting damamged etc.

Pleae bear in mind that some of us have had loved ones in places like these., They arent asumesent parks for things to do with crazy people. Real people, will real lives lived , and sadly some died here.
May their souls rest in peace.
Diane Hart

I just found your site this morning and it is absolutely fantastic!! I have always loved old, abandoned buildings, places, etc. (espically psych hospitals) and I am beside myself with glee as I make my way through your website. It is nice to know there are others that share my passion for this sort of thing.

i frist saw pennhurst on ghost adventures and has been amazed ever since being handicaped my selfe i could imangin what the patinet went throug i can do things on my own so luckly i was not put in a place like pennhurst

Through all of your seemingly magnificent travels, have you had any paranormal experiences?
Do you believe in the paranormal?

I heard about this place off of the show Paranormal Activity and couldn't believe that a place like this was even made. I was appalled by what they discovered and experienced at this place and by the interviews they took from people who were actually children who had to grow up there. I'm happy they shut it down.

Thank you for your Photos.I really enjoy them Emensely

This is a great site. Once I get money I will donate. Also everywhere is amazing that u take photos of. Who ever does the photos is amazing at it.

Hey, I love this site, I really do.
It gives me a chance to escape into my mind for a bit...
Was wondering if you will do any galleries of anywhere in Italy? I'm from there :)
Also, I want to make a donation, but it will have to be in £, not $ because I live in the UK.
G

Just stumbled across this page.. Love the pics.. Jealous that here is Australia there arn't to many places like that not completlely abandoned anyway.. Loved it.. Cant wait to Travel across to America and do a massive Ghost Town, Asylum, Haunted, etc Tour of my own!

I don't know what to say. I just recently discovered this page but I have already fallen in love with it.. I have always been fascinated by old decayed places or places that seem to have been abandoned for a long time, but I did never imagine that there were so many others that had the same intrerest!
I really admire your photos all the time you must have spent creating this website, and I hope you will keep this site going for a long time!
I wish you all the best in your future adventures!
You are the best Motts!
Love from Sweden

An article in today's New York Times about Michigan Central Station:http://www.nytimes.com...n.html?th&emc=th

I have been following your work for the past couple of years and I find each piece so hauntingly beautiful. As a fellow artist I appreciate your photography so much, you definitely have a gift for taking the dark and dilapidated and making it a work of art. Keep up the good work and i'm going to keep showing everyone I know :]

I googled newark st jail where I was a visitor back in 1967, when I saw the photo of the interior cells and tiers I almost fell to pieces, I spent 27 days in that hell hole. I am now in my 60s, and I remember it like it was yesterday While I was there there was a rumor that dustin hoffmans father was once a inmate , I believe in the 1950s. After driking the saltpeter laced coffee it took me years to be able to drink a real cup of joe.
Is there anyone else out ther who was a resident of newark st back in the 60s?

i was a patient there for being a stubbon child 1958,i remember running away from there in the winter.they caught us and put us in seclusion,a mattress on the floor,not let us have visitors for a month.

These photos are so haunting. My mother was a TB patient at the Plymouth County Hospital for several years as a child - she left when she was 9 years old. She and I visited the hospital in the early 80's and she showed me some of the areas she remembered. The room with the stage was where the ambulatory patients ate their meals, and my mother used to go up on the stage and sing and dance for them (as only a child can!). In the winter they wore only sweaters outside - they often sat on the open upper portch for several hours at a time. They were so conditioned to the cold weather that they didn't need heavy coats. In her 2 years there her mother was only able to afford the carfare to come and see her a couple of times, so she was truly alone. Some of the nurses took her under their wings - others not. She remembered the day a nurse locked her in a closet for some minor childish infraction... and then forgot about her for several hours! Some of the older men were frightening to her. There was a grove down the hill from the hospital where the patients would go for fresh air. My mother was assaulted by some of the men in that grove. I had heard her stories about the hospital my whole life, and so was glad to have found it for her. Our vsit put her childhhood experience in perspective for her, the adult, and she was finallly at peace about it.

What are the chances that any records from that far back might still be in existence - or on microfilm, etc.?

mej

I was hospitalized as an adolescent four times in three hospitals inside of four years, 1970-73. All in Michigan, they were: Mercywood Hospital, Ann Arbor; Pontiac State Hospital (twice); and Ypsilanti State Hospital. So it was with great interest that I viewed your photo presentation of Ypsi State. I was fifteen the first time around, back in 1970, my initial stay was at Mercywood for five months. Unlike the state hospitals, it was almost posh by comparison. One thing I recall from Ypsi State was the overabundance of Kellogg's Pop Tarts in the cafeteria, must've been because of its proximity to Battle Creek. Can't help but wonder what has happened to the patient records of my time spent in the various hospitals. My stay in Ypsi State was brief compared to the others, but it was the last time for me, I believe I was eighteen at the time (I'll be 55 in April). Some of the patients in Ypsi were scary, not so much because they were mentally ill, but rather because they had criminal backgrounds. Thanks for the tour, nice photographs.

This website is incredible, your photography and exploration of these places is truly breathtaking. I have been drawn to this website for a longtime,I would just like to say thank you for your appreciation of these places and the work you put into this site.

I spent many of nights with friends at Glenn Dale hospital many years ago. I took 2 boxes and filled them with papers(patient files) many of them had T.B. or mental disorders. On the way out we were stopped by police I told them I was doing a report on the hospital so they let me take the papers I am now 39 yrs old. My mom told me she still has the files boxed up in the attic. I must say on more then 1 occasion strange and unexplainable things happened while we were roaming its halls!

Love this website.... I just had a question.... why are you unable to disclose the name and location of certain sites?

Does Any know if you can go inside Pennhurst an explore the area or can you only stand outside it an look at it? does anyone know?

I stumbled upon this website when conducting research for my first college research paper. I immediately fell in love with the beautiful photographs of these ghostly shells of buildings. I have always had an appreciation of abandoned buildings (and broke into a few in order to get a better look.) Seeing somebody produce a website that isn't dedicated to giving the exact locations to keep vandals away is nice, otherwise I fear that kids will take advantage of these abandoned areas for who knows what. It's a shame we loose these historical landmarks to chain companies such as Wal-Mart or to businesses looking to renovate them. With these photographs they can live forever, a tribute to all of those who lived in these beautiful places. I have been looking through your galleries Mr. Motts, and I was wondering if you had ever stumbled across any asylums in Milton Ma. It was recently featured in the movie Shutter Island (starring DiCaprio.) Apparently they gutted most of one building but I am friends with a security guard who says that one building has been laying undisturbed with many artifacts still inside it. I cant speak for its authenticity, I have yet to look into it, but if your ever looking for another location it would be nice to get some photos of; they are preparing to demolish it in a few years. Please keep up the fantastic work, what your doing is truly amazing. Your skill is evident as a visual/corporate communications major I appreciate the skill behind each shot.

i was there in 1947 for thirty days observation , i was on west 3.
i was sent there again from lyman school for boys in westborough ,this time i was put on west 1 and then transfured to d 3 whare i spent about eleven months ,i was then returned to the lyman school