The Lab

haha my friend had sex there!

That's gross and disrespectful. Hopefully your friend got a nice case of teatnus or at least an STD.

oh my god, hopefully there was protection!!!!

There is SO much glass in the lab, a couple stupid friends of mine wore sandals and got nasty cuts.
having sex there is the most disgusting thing i have ever heard of.

I'm not sure if anyone knows what building it is, but it seemed like an office of some sort. anyways, hanging from some of the beams on the ceiling, there were these beautiful delicate mobiles. some of panda bears, flowers, paper ships[the most amazing] and quite a few of them were hot air ballons.
in addition it looked like there was some sort of clinic there as well, we found external male catheters [they look like a condom, with a short plastic tube at the end] on a bloody towel. sickening.

read the book "HIV, a Journey to the Source of AIDS". this book references Letchworth Village as one of the first sites for live polio vaccine trials in the US. the lab could have received funding from other sources (like the researcher and manufacturer) in exchange for using their residents as test subjects.

PS: This pictoral history is FASCINATING! Thank you!

i saw those mobiles, "sam" is talking about. i wonder if they were made by the patients?

I went there tonight and was in this room very creepy at night but a cool place.

Ummm ... regarding funding -

Letchworth Village WAS a state facility, operated under the auspices of the Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities. I worked there for 9 years and am still employed by OMRDD in a group home.

Ummm..... regarding research

Yes, much research was done at Letchworth regarding the causes of Mental Retardation - in the interest of learning how to reduce and prevent the number of future cases, as well as to understand more about those who were afflicted. One of the most famous scientists in the field, Dr. George Jervis, conducted his work there.

Me and a bunch of my friends went to letchworth last night, we were looking for the old boys side which we heard was haunted, sadly we couldn't make heads or tails of which building was which... if anyone has information that could help us it would be much apprecited... u can e-mail me at sducky22@gmail.com thanx

Dr. Jervis opened a clinic on Long Island. Some of the Letchworth staff work there. I am currently in the field in upstate NY and work with individuals who lived at Letchworth.

can someone say resident evil

I work in a group home on staten island, where thousands of people who have mental retardation reside. We also have a George Gervis Clinic, which is in I.B.R (the institute for basic research). Apparently, he was a great guy. Staten island was also home to Willowbrook, like Letchworth, was an institution that abused and tortured thousands of disabled persons. My patients lived at letchworth and willowbrook, and believe me, it scarred them for life.

THIS IS NOT A JOKE!!! THESE POOR PEOPLE WERE TORTURED,BEATEN AND RAPED! I WENT THERE THIS PAST WEEKEND TO SEE THE PLACE AT NIGHT WITH FRIENDS AND I FELT SO BAD AND SAD,HOW CAN YOU TREAT PEOPLE THIS WAY? I WANT TO KNOW IS WHY ARE PATIENTS CHARTS LAYING ALL OVER THE FLOORS WITH THERE PERSONAL INFO.ON THEM? ONE CHART READS IS WHY ARE THEY FINDING BRUISES ON THIS PATIENTS BODY? EMPLOYERS PAYSTUBS WITH THERE SOCIAL SECURITY NO.ON IT ECT...I DID NOT FEEL SCARED THERE WE WERE THERE FOR OVER 3 HRS,AND ALL I FELT WAS SADDNESS!!! THAT PLACE NEEDS TO BE BLESSED BY A PRIEST AND LET THOSE POOR SOULS REST IN PEACE.MY ONLY QUESTION IS DID THE DOCTERS AND THE STAFF EVER GET IN TROUBLE FOR THE CRUEL ACTS PUT ON THOSE PATIENTS??? THANKS TO GERALDO RIVERA GOING THERE IN 1972 UNDERCOVER HE HAD THAT HELLHOLE CLOSED DOWN EVENTUALLY AND WON A PEABODY AWARD.THAT PLACE IS NOT A JOKE!!! PEOPLE TALKING ABOUT HAVING SEX THERE,GROW THE FUCK UP,WHAT IF YOU HAD A LOVED ONE THERE? HAVE SOME LOVE IN YOUR HEART,TORTURE AND BEING RAPED AND BEING BEATEN AND BEING COVERED IN YOUR OWN FECES AND BEING STARVED AND BEING OPERATED ON WHILE YOUR AWAKE IS NOT FUNNY...DO SOME MORE RESEARCH ON LETCHWORTH!! O AND I WOULD NOT GO BACK UNTIL YOU FINALLY MATURE!!!

whoa..take a breather there. totally agree but i'll less the caps and anger

this wasnt part of an office though, its off the morgue in the basement. it was so cold down there, i felt like my soul was being strangled; it was so odd

woah budddyy..calm down. dont waste your tme on immature people to tell them that. we all know its sad, but seriously..calm down.

You all need to gain the facts about letchworth, understand why, who the people were, and how they were treated. I'm not saying wrong things didn't happen, I'm saying you need to gain the facts about what happen before creating rude statements. By the way go during the day instead of the night time just maybe you will feel a difference.

Very cool to hear from people that have firsthand experience working here, or with people that lived here. You must have some fascinating stories to tell!

wow, nothin like sex on a cold abandoned lab tabel with the smell of mildew :)

my friend took a shit there! :D

I agree with Toni

I've been there now a total of 5 times now and this past Saturday was my best visit by far. I caught alot of evidence on my digital recorder. I'm not just talking about some banging here and there (which we did hear) but actual voices talking. One of our friends quite a few times thought she was hearing things but i didn't hear anything....not until I got home and listened to all of the 2hrs I recorded....I thought that was the last time I was visiting but because it turned out to be the visit with the most evidence, I'm sure I'll be going back again...soon =] This place is definitely haunted.

to the guy who wrote ""my friend had sex there"' Y u couldn't get any

it's defentlyy hauntedd becausee i honestlyy went there withh 2 fo my friends and i brought my dog with me and sonn after we went in my dog justt started burging butt i wasn't really paying attention to him till we go to up to 2nd floor and when we enter a room and we hear breathing close to us and we just all run outt .......

I go to Letchworth all the time. I was there today in fact taking pictures. I go there almost every weekend to photograph the buildings and have TONS of pictures from almost every building in the entire village.
I love your pictures. Let me know if you wanted to see some of mine.

Luckycldh@aol.com

Sounds like an extrordinary place to visit. With respect, of course.

Toni, Valium. Look into it.

I don't know what might have went on before the 70's but I worked there from 1975 to 1989 and it was one big family! The residents were treated well, went on trips to Jersey Shore, picnics, amusement parks, etc. Alot of employees even took the residents home for a visit. Letchworth got a bad rap due to things we really dont know about in years prior. It was a great place to work and for the years I worked there with more federal regulations and programs implemented these people were being taken care of. Alot of the footage you saw from Geraldo looked bad but even when I started working there there was more to know than just seeing the footage like when he showed one resident rocking back and forth naked. That resident was in my cottage and no one could keep clothes on her. She would strip everything and that was what she did, rock. Geraldo made it seem like he was so concerned for these residents but when he came later on when I worked there and came in my building I saw first hand what his whole purpose was, publicity for him! You should have seen how he reacted when one of the residents put her hand out to him! He had a total look of disgust on his face! Geraldos a media pig and took this story for all it was worth for himself! No one can speak on this place unless you actually worked there! Sad day when it closed for thousands of people who had gotten attached to the residents!

i heard the lab building was burned down

...burging butt??...and glad you commented, Donna. Very good points. Kudos.

My sister was a patient of Dr. Jervis. She was retarded due to PKU. Thanks to Dr. Jervis she stayed on the special diet and is still living at home-never institutionalized. She is now 57 years old. We used to travel from New Jersey every 6 weeks for a visit to him at the lab in Letchworth.My parents were responsible for having the law passed in N.J. for mandatory newbown testing for PKU.

As a child I played with children at Letchworth as most of my family worked there. grandmother cooked there. Mother worked in M cottage. They wore clothes, had sheets. Mom use to hire girls from there to help with ironing, housework. Grandfather had one of the men once a week, paid him plus gave him bags of soda, snacks, etc. to take back. Same guy, cannot remember his name.
Mom use to say you could hardly keep them out of each others bed. You would do your checks and have to get them separated and in their OWN beds.
She said many of the "girls" in her cottage were put there by their rich families= lesbians, boy-crazy, just acting out. Remember the US really did not have a policy for mentally ill until the 50's.
While the infirmary she said was terrible. and the worse, I remember "Bruno" running up and down the road "driving" holding his steering wheel. You could not wave to them if they waved to you because they would follow you home.
Also, while apparently there were atrocious things done to some patients by some of the facility attendants, doctors, nurses, etc., there were also crimes perpetuated on some in the neighboring community by male patients. cannot say what for the respect of my deceased family member, but use your imagination. sort of like a letchworth gang banger. I get homesick looking at these pictures. Used to bowl at letchworth, went to the halloween party, christmas party, and play with the kids (hey, I was a kid! too)

Hi JpAnn,
What you describe is familiar. The lack of policy is meant to cover for the fact that people just dumped family members they found embarrassing. Doctors willingly and often would sign papers if paid to,
The Follow you home remark should be more obvious to you as an adult but if it isn't the simple fact is people like that lack positive human contact and emotional interaction. Seeing a positive sign they go after it by instinct. This is how so many abused kids continue getting abused, they unknowing pursue kindness which makes them vulnerable to the unscrupulous.