Cafeteria From Balcony

How recent is this? The first three times I've been, those fixtures were still hanging in the air, with a chair hung from one of 'em. Then, last time, they were down like they are here.

My Father was the administrator of the hospital from 1952 to 1978. Every Thanksgiving and Christmas I use to go with him to this caf. where he met with and wished every table a happy holiday. It wasn't much but I remember most of the patients stood up and wished him something in return. It ment something to them.

Is there any left over lunch? lol

Today's menu...
-Paint Chips
-Stagnant Water
-Debris

for dessert:
asbestos pie
lead paint cake
toxic dust cupcakes

naw man i just went there and they have been down for a while

im going to sleep here soon

Out of curiousity. I worked at Walter E. Fernald School almost across the street. This place was the most horrendous place that I ever worked in my long 35 year career in mental health. The Wallace building was no more than what would find in Auschwicz, or Buchenwald during the second world war. Brutality ran rampant and their were no controls. The stench in the basement of that building just cried of horror.

i was there yesterday. me and my friends went inside n stuff. checked out the rooms. ALL beaten up n the walls n roofs were peeling. but the most messed up thing we saw was in the playground. we went to the playground of the hospital, and we were pointing at things wit our flashlights. then we poined at a wall next to a door leading to the caff. we read a grafitti and then 2 mins later we pointed to the door again by accident it was wide open. the same door. like sumone went by and opened it. one of the guys went to check it out and it was the door that led to the caff. its was serouisly messed up

How do you get in now? arn't all the windows boarded up?

Hey, guys, thanks for the funny comments. Even though these pictures can be depressing, you make me smile.

I love reading the comments.eerybody is so interesting.

i think some of you guys are liars.

My brother was a cook for this hospital. I remember this cafeteria well. Very sad to see it like this.

I remember going here in summer of 2002 but i cant remember if the chandeliers were up or down. It was also around 1am so it was dark. Private tour for about 6 of us from one of the guards.

I first started working in the mental health field right at the time the class action lawsuits were being settled. Some of the regulations in the consent decrees seemed so silly. Not silly=trivial, but silly as in "why in the world does that have to be codified? It's just common sense!" such as the rules that residents have their choice of clothing and food. I gradually came to understand why it was necessary, that there had been a time, not very long ago, when people being treated for mental health concerns did not have even these most elementary choices. One thing that I was taught to think about, when evaluating the amount of choice and self-determination a resident had, was how many doors the person went through in a day, and compare that to how many doors I went through. That's because in the institutions patients often spent entire days without leaving their ward (mostly because there were only a couple of aides for a large number of patients, and it's easier to maintain order if the group stays in one enclosed space). Despite all this, I still believe it was the system that failed, resulting in abuse and neglect. It was not someone's malicious intent to abuse people (aside from a very few, but you find a few of those people in every situation where one person has power over another). There was not enough space, not enough money for adequate staff/materials/maintenance, not enough training, and most importantly, not enough public support. Every superintendent's report I've ever read contains a list of things that need to be done to make life better for the patients, and a plea for the legislature to appropriate the required funds. People with mental illness just didn't matter enough.

I'm glad we've learned to care for the mentally ill. This site is what makes me want to be a mental adie or something of the sort. Love the balcony shot, reminds me of shakspere.

I used to work for a Mobile X-ray company and performed X-rays at the Fernald School across from here that whole area is creepy. I also performed X-rays up the street at another old hospital turned rehab facility. Awesome photography, love your site!

I remember watching A Civil Action-it was the first campus activity I went to in college (fall '02)

My dad's father used to work in the boiler room at the other hospital down the street, because of his job my dad lived in a farm house between the Met State and the other hospital. My dad grew up around the Met State and has told me numerous stories about how people would sit on the balconies screaming for help, though since they were considered "Crazy", no one would investigate. I know a lot about the tunnels that ran between both hospitals and I've heard their still in existence today. I'm only in my teens, so i have never been in the run down Met State, but many of my friends live in the now finished Avalon Apartments that are made from the original buildings of the Met State. A lot of weird unexplained things have happened when I stay over my friends, I wouldn't recommend going there.

I would of loved to see this place.Only I think it is no more.This place looks so run down.I feel so bad that they would just leave places to rot like this.

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!