Daybreak

omg i love this pic! awsome ness

Absolutely stunning. You must feel so fulfilled finally getting to this place and taking such beautiful pictures for your memories. Great work!

So, Motts, we are talking condos and apartments and such?

Are those grounds tours still going on? I'd love to see this place in person!

thank you for the wallpaper- finally found something that i liked on my computer screen! thanks for the inspiration, there is not enough to be found in the world.. especially for free. it will come back to you..

thats a great shot, kinda creepy arn't the graves over where the fog is?

Hey did you get inside the building?
If so how?
I'm currently doing research on the building and am dying to get inside it before it is torn down.
please contact me.
Poisonousxbeauty@aol.com

All the pictures are amazing, I have always facinated by the hospital. In the mid 80's I had a family member who was put in Danvers State Hospital, the person didn't belong there. She had a really bad drug problem and my family had the priest get involved and he said he found a place for her, well when she got there she realized it wasn't a rehab it was a mental hospital, first night she was hysterical begging my family to get her out of there because she wasn't crazy, We think the priest put her in there on purpose, anyway, my family had to meet with all the head people of the hospital and they had to convince them that she wasn't insane that she was a drug addict and they thought the hospital was a rehab, after a few hours of convincing they released her to my family. Its good to know that she really wasn't crazy but she told us some crazy stories of that place.

What a terrible story Anon.

I think that many people's persistent, negative impressions of large institutions stems from their frequent use as 'dumping grounds' for those that respectable society didn't want to see in the early / mid 1900s. Pregnant teens, those suffering from various physical disabilities or just disruptive children from poor families all ended up in these wards. As one example, apparently Pennhurst was full of deaf and blind kids who were misdiagnosed as educationally subnormal and who would live full and productive lives today.

I can't imagine experiencing some of these places as a barely-aware, severely retarded person let alone as a relatively 'normal' person shoved in one for whatever political or social reason. fifty years ago myself, my girlfriend and many of those I know and love would have very likely lived out their lives in such places. That's a sobering thought indeed.

Let's just say she did sober up.

OMG - part 2

Great shot - Whilst capturing the spectacular architecture, the towers and arches assimilate the shape of the parking bays indicated in yellow on the ground, while in general the place seems very alone, the city lights in the background offer a contrast between the famous/infamous asylum now prohibited from human contact and the glow of civilisation seen beyond.

cool colors

Wow so many colors.

The architecture and the photo are breathtaking.

My mother signed herself into Danvers State twice in the late 50's early 60's. I was told she had nervous breakdowns. She told us about being given shock treatments and some horrible things she saw in the tunnels going from one bldg. to the next. I went up there a week or so ago just out of curiosity. I didn't know they were arresting people. Some guys in a truck waved at me as they were leaving. I thought I was going to be sick. I remember my father telling me to look up and wave but I couldn't see her. She must have been in this building. I wished I had brought a camera. Thanks for these pictures

Such a good photo -regretable that everything in the picture from being a piece of history is now history- those wings have been torn down....

Man, that breaks my heart. Danvers is the architectural grand-daddy of them, even surpassing the Michigan facilities, in my eyes. :-(

Lynne,
WOW! You might be right. I definitely respect your opinion. Kirkbrides are my favorite buildings and to choose a "Grand Daddy" or an "Above the rest," that's just way too tough. I will say Buffalo State, Worcester, and Greystone are up there with Danvers architecturally.

I have this photo as my wallpaper on my computer at work. I get so sad when I see this and know it no longer exists. Bye the way, I noticed recently that a brick from the demolition was going for $26.00 on e-bay. Some things never fail to amaze me.

To rich_edwards 79.
You have hit the nail right on the head.
Too true.

MOTTS:
What a terrific photo. I'm head over heels
for all those colors. How do you get them to turn out like that?
I do some stuff with slide film processed as C-41. I get some great colors like that.
Any tips?

My God!!! Motts this is some picture. How can i frame this?

Reminds me of peter Pan!!!!

I've go tthis on my computer as a wallpaper. I'll email you and tell you how to do it.

Thanks so much. I want to frame this and put this in my office.

This photo has been the wallpaper on my computer here at school for a few months now. I absolutely love the colors<3

Ha! Poor Janice became corn-fused and typed her name as "Tom Tom"! I was getting a little corn-fused there myself 'til I figgered it out - I thought Tom Tom was typing back and forth to himself! 8`-)

I don't know how Tom Tom got in where my name usually it, but you are right, I am definitely corn-fused. But maybe Tom Tom does type back and forth to himself!! He's quite a guy!

Yea!! We all have Issues!!!!!

...aha!! proof that multiple personality disorder does exist!! Lynne you may make medical history with this revelation....right up there with the likes of Walter Freeman.

As long as I can practice a little Walter Freeman on some of the people who bug me. ;-)

P.S. Here is my all-time favorite shot of Doc Freeman. I b'lieve this was taken in Washington (the state).

http://www.23nlpeople.com/media/lobotomyfreeman.jpg

Lynne, Those pictures were absolutely horrifying! Multiple personality disorder, my foot.

I now have this picture, my absolute favorite, as wallpaper on my home computer. I can never, ever forget this place!

MOTTS
whats does white balance do for digital photography?

If that's the G through J buildings in the mist. You're looking over the historically male wing of the hospital. Not being critical just sayin is all... Sorry I'll go now ...sit in my corner

Danvers is beautiful on the outside, but what about the things that happened on the inside? Very scary. Danvers had so much patient abuse. My grandmother witnessed a nurse picking a patient up by their hair once. See what I mean?

"tis what I live for that and Guinness occasionally

I have been in it, around it, on top of it, and find it the most beautiful of buildings.The use of it was not what was intended. Dr. Kirkbride tried to help the mentally ill with fresh air, farming, and relaxation. We got in the way with greed and stigma. That was their home. They are in the cardboard boxes now, parks, gutters, etc. And their illness is no different than someone with cancer or heart disease. It's biologically-based and affects the brain. We need to help them, not fear them.

this is a beautiful picture, it almost makes me what to be there

I lived next to this building at the Ferncroft Condos... moved there from Calif and went to art school in Beverly. I used to drive up there from time to time. It was still occupied. One time in the fog (like in the pic) I saw a kid about 14? with red hair and an Indian headdress creeping up the hillside toward the graveyard I think... it was definitly a place to feed an artists "eye".

It's hard to believe they would destroy most of that building; it could all have been converted to apartments like the center 1/3 is now. I just came from the Avalon Bay webcam and noticed that the scaffolding around the tower. The webcam is in the rear of the building, and the view of the tower is not so good. It would be wonderful to see some photos from the front of the building. The new roof is on the building now and it looks exactly like the old roof. From the outside the building will look like it did in old times.

Worked for a salvage company this building is extravegent and intriguing and would love to kno more and see if theres a tour rgcg2005@comcast.net

this is so beautiful i could almost use this as my wallpaper on my computer

there was no reson for them to nock it down it was fun livig there

Samantha you lived there??? :)

nah..prob not. she's just messing with yur freakin mind. such a loser.

This is my absolute favorite location and favorite photo on this site(forgive me if i have said other photos were this time I do mean it). This photo reminds me of when I would walk to school on a brisk Massachusetts morning. Breathtaking!

Ever since I read the book "Project 17" I always wanted to go into ward J and A.

A misty morning surrounds the beauty of this mysterious castle.

PARKING LOTS????/ WERE THEY EVN INVENTED THEN??????