Welcoming

i live 10 minutes from here. this place scares me the stories i have heard from people who worked there really make me wonder what kind of world we live in

Sande...I live about a half an hour away from this place...I haven't heard that many stories...all I heard was that when they closed the place down that all the patients were let go and now living in the neighboring city (starts with a P)

sande, so do i. what town? i live in Linfield

Pottstown? Thats were i live, haha. And i wouldnt doubt it, either. I sometimes wonder about the people around here...just mosying the streets looking like they have nothing better to do...

I used to live on Bridge St. on the 300 block. About 2-5 minutes away from Pennhurst.

I live in phoenixville. There are alot of people living there who were in pennhurst.

Ive been to pennhurst 3 times and the third time i was just to enter the administration but we heard something creeping and coming down the steps from inside the building

This picture, and all the others, are beautiful to me. I would love to go exploring in one of the buildings. This one looks like it came out of a scary movie.

I live down the street from Pennhurst, the "city" could also be Parkerford. It's a tiny village now, but it was considered a lot larger back when Pennhurst was still "thriving."
Back before all the security and before the end of the road was closed, my dad and I drove through the complex and these buildings are absolutely beautiful.

Dude this pictue if freaky!

Erin,
For reference, how long ago was it when you could drive through this facility? It would have been good to have seen all these places before security moved in as well as the deterioration.

Peat Moss,
It was maybe 6 years ago. Even then, it wasn't in the best condition, but the vandals and vagrants really hadn't started destroying it yet. The security by way of National Guard has been there since before my dad and I drove there.

i like going to pennhurst but watch out for security they can be tough to get away from unless you knwo what ur doin

this is a breath taking picture to me, I love how a empty building can speak volumes by the look and ware of it!

I live in Chester Springs and I went to the hospital with a friend last summer and it was freaky as hell. Lots of bad energy. We saw a man riding a bike around the place, it was like he was in a trance. Weird.

i was just in this building today...a little creepy... its got underground tunnels and it is SO dirty now... there's seriously like a half inch of dirt that fell from the ceiling on the floor...

I drank in that bell tower a good 3 times. Its a good hike to get up there though.

Yeah i live far away from it but gosh. its scares the crap out of me..I mean really the patient abuse and ehhh it sounds creepy...but has anyone ever been in there after it was closed down???

I remember hearin stories of Pennhurst as I grew up, my step mother worked there and so did my mothers best friend. I asked my mom again the other night after finding the site and doing a ton of browsing if the stories were true. She only works were "Pat worked nights and everything you heard is probly true." Love to get up there and see the place

Sorry about the poor grammer I should prof read

I live in Pottstown and I have been in there many of times. I myself have been asked to leave by Military Police and even arrested once for beeing on the property. There is an evil presence in the facility. I have heard the stories and I have seen the pictures but nothing says of the darkness that surrounds that place. I have documents from inside and have seen photos from the files inside. Creepy place filled with misunderstanding, anger, and confussion. I believe there is a dark history that even the government doesnt want people to know of.

I remember going to Pennhurst to fix copiers in the fall of 1980. It was a creepy place then. I remember hearing people screaming. One afternoon as I was rummaging around the back of my station wagom for parts one old gent pushing an even older gent in a wheelchair asked me "Do you have anything good to eat in there?". One misty morning as I was aproaching the grounds I remember seeing 3 or 4 patients walking around a field in a daze. They were all listening to transistor radios... weird...

Was just there today 11/19/06 the center Dome no longer has copper (?)on it, mostly a wooden skeleton.

We were there two nights ago 11/23/06 (thanksgiving). I love Pennhurst. I've been inside a couple of times, examining more and more of the facility each time I go. I am obsessed with the story that lies behind Pennhurst. I spend hours researching the story, but can you blame me? This is such a fascinating (but disgusting) story of what happened to these patients. However, when we were there on Thanksgiving we were absolutely scared out of our minds. We went in the administration building (pictured above) and did our thing but on the way out we realized there was a truck outside in the driveway, a truck that hadn't been there when we entered. We heard footsteps and we tried to escape. It seemed like everywhere we went those footsteps were right behind us. We finally made it out and we went to the road and a police car drove down the road. Thankfully we all made it out safely and un caught, but I must warn those that enter.. be careful, be smart, and be safe. Be kind to Pennhurst. Let others experience it without the damage of others. If it keeps getting damaged then they are more likely to tear it down sooner than later and no one that loves Pennhurst and it's history wants that to happen.

ANYONE. when you enter through the admin. building go straight.. and you end up @ the dietary. theres a room filled with a bunch of medicine bottles. go through that.. and you find a door that wont budge. we have tried getting in. i mean we really havent used force but every way in is completly bolted shut. one door is even bricked up. does anyone have ANY idea what could be in there? im so curious.. i love going up there i think im there at least once a week & its killing me not knowing what is behind those doors

what are these stories/history? it sounds really interesting.

I think Pennhurst is so fascinating. I have some family that lives in Royersford, and I'd love to go visit them and see Pennhurst.

As far MARMAR's comment is concerned, there could be patient records hidden behind those bolted doors. I'm sure that the institution never fully emptied itself of all its records. Instead of spending the effort to actually remove the records, they probably just put them all in one room and locked the door so that when explorers inevitably came 'round, they didn't stumble upon the records and tell someone in an authority position.

I've been in that room with all the medication bottles. It's sooo freaky!! I tried to open that door as well, and I was also very curious as to what could be behind the door, but I'd never dare trash the door. Pennhurst is way too beautiful to damage. Has anybody been in the morgue?? It's in a house sized building near the dietary, and it goes back sooo far. The room is really small, and there's 3 body freezers in the room. You get the weirdest feeling in that room.

MY SON and other family have been there also... and brought back pictures too... I ALSO DO research on the unknown as a writer... i have to add to this picture... if you look close at the window on the far bottom right? a man with dark hair and the window on the top right? a naked woman ... okay on to the next pic... i an writing a book about abuse and children of the world... YES THEY SPEAK HERE... PEACE TO ALL.

I just think the very saddest thing about these old abandoned places is that people's very LIVES were abandoned behind these walls. What about the beautiful souls of these poor trapped people? What if they were actually AWARE on some level of their minds what was happening to them? God, what despair. To think that these pitiful people were forced to waste their entire lives within the confines of these horrible hellholes. I hope the ones who died here are in a much better place now. God rest their poor souls.

i wanna go to pennhurst soo bad but everytime i go someone pussy's out i love that place and would love to hear someone or something back there it would scar me but thats the whole point of going for a fucking thrill yeah oo yeah by the way i live right in pottstown and im definay going soon again~~~~~!!!

WE WALKED RIGHT IN THIS BUILDING. I WOULD SUGGEST U WEAR A MASK BECAUSE THERE IS ALOT OF ASBESTOS

NOTHING SCARY ABOUT THE PLACE. MAYBE EVERYONE INTERESTED SHOULD HAVE BEEN THERE WHEN IT WAS OPEN. OF COURSE THERE WAS ABUSE BY SOME OF THE WORKERS BUT THERE WERE ALOT LIKE MYSELF THAT LOVED MY JOB THERE. IT WAS A BEAUTIFUL PLACE IN ITS DAY. AS FOR THE COMMENT ABOUT THE CLOSED DOOR--I SERIOUSLY DOUBT ITS ALL THE RECORDS BECAUSE IF A RESIDENT WAS TRANSFERED HIS OR HER RECORDS WOULD TRAVEL WITH THEM.
WHEN I WAS YOUNG I TOO HEARD ALL THE STORIES BUT IN THE 70'S WHEN I NEEDED TO WORK I WENT THERE AND IT WAS NOTHING LIKE THE STORIES WENT. IT WAS THE BEST JOB I EVER HAD AND I MISS MY CLIENTS VERY MUCH. THEY WERE LIKE YOUR FAMILY BECAUSE YOU SPENT SO MUCH TIME WITH THEM.

i live in spring city and i hunt there and i walked through all the buildings and even some of the tunnels you guys herd shit that wasnt even true about this placce... both of my grand moms were secretarys there and they said rumors got around and no one knows how pennhurst really is so stop with the rumors they aint true your all beat!!!

i was in this building last night...it was nuts...i went in with abunch of friends...really scary...we also went into the power plant, if you go about 2 or 3 floors down it reeks of gasoline...we couldnt breathe down there....scary stuff..

I love the admin building at Pennhurst. It looks so sad and derelict.

As an investigator for a paranormal research group i have been trough this building along with most the others many times. When you wallk up on this place in the middle of the night with nothing more than a flashlight to guide your way, it is like something out of a horror movie. Even after seeing the place several times, my mouth still drops every time i see it. As for it being haunted i cant really say one way or the other. I havent personally experienced anything so far but i still have much investigating to do. No matter how many times you go to this place you always find something new.

I saw this building once, in the early 50s when my mother took me to visit two men she knew (family secret - they were her brothers). At the time it was beautiful! I was only between 3-5 yrs old but I recall how lovely it was - my "uncles" sat with us on rolling, grassy hills. They both played guitars and sang while a crowd gathered around.

I also want to comment that mental institutions were a "catch all" for the shame that families felt and/or for their inability to care for their "damaged" family member. Some people "dumped" the family member (as many do today - take a lvisit to some OPEN Veteran's Hospitals and nursing homes). Abuses ran rampant then and in too many cases, still do.
What truly IS frightening is not these vacant, dilapidated buildings, but the human hearts that were so hard and cruel to allow such human suffering when the buildings were "alive". Even more frightening are the people "outside" the institutions who are far more dangerous, and they are NOT retarded.

My mother takes care of two former Pennhurst patients....they have a collective I.Q. of about 50, but they'll never forget their 40+ years in that place.

You know there are or used to be a bunch of missle silos up near Pennhurst, right?

I went there not too long ago with a group of people.
We found some slightly terrifying things. In a branch of the main building, it smelled like urine and the floor was dirt--there was lots of weird graffiti talking about a "phantom." In the hallway there was a missile--a real steel missle, about 14 feet long, as well as a crate full of old gas masks. I heard that some other people found a box of RPGs while we were there but I don't know. Definitely one of the weirdest places I've ever been. I'd like to go back sometime actually, though.

so many people do drugs or other things in there like party. its a shame....

such a shame that there nocking it down :(

ive lived here 15 yrs just discovered this place by accident what a shame,there is activity there saw them redoing a blg. for something compost????

their NOT knocking it down

PEOPLE THAT LLIVED AT WILLOWBROOK AND THIS PLACE SHOULD GIVE THE CHANCE TO TO TAKE THERE ANGER OUT AND DO WHAT EVER IT IS THAT THEY WANT TO TO THE PLACE NOT FARE. I WISH I COULD GET 2 HOURS TO THROW ROCKS BURN IT DOWN AND WILLOWBROOK TO AND TAKE MY ANGER OUT ON IT. BUT SENCE I CANT I WILL DO SOMTHING TO MAKE SURE THIS DOESNT HAPPIN AGIN. IF U GO TO YOUTUBE AND TYPE IN BULGARIA ABANDON CHILDREN U WILL THIS KIND OF SHIT HAPPINS TODAY.

i miss you, my love <3

I am sitting here reading all this and watching a show on A&E called extreme paranormal, these guys are at this very place and calling up spirits of the children that were held there. Really freaking scary to me!! Did they do really bad things to those that were housed there? I was told that is why it was closed, the autorities found out what bad exsperiments they were doing and closed it down.

I worked with some of the people that lived here are were moved out to the community. Good folk with issues who doesn't have issues? As a teen this place was the coolest place to sneak into on the weekend! Creepy, old, run down, and great for scaring you friend! I really like the tunnels that echo as you walk. It always sounds like someone is following you. I only have good fun memories of this place and that is how I want to keep it!

can u still get inside the building or is it blocked off, is there security?

I've been to Pennhurst State School once. What i do know now is that the complex is being renovated for a haunted house for 2010's Halloween. Said to be the scariest haunted house the country has ever seen due to it being in an actual haunted location. I've been in and out of this place (with the exception of the tunnels - no flashlight, bummer!). It truly is an amazing place. I hope that we don't see it go anytime soon like it's predecessor Byberry, neighbor Haverford, and the mother of them all, Danvers.

how much security is there can you just walk in??

we have found a way few ways in and you have to be really careful no matter how you go in .i have been here over 30 times and only once were there when there were a few other people on the grounds ,we heard them and hid till they were gone .but that was the only time .this building has to be the 2nd scairest on the grounds the worst on is whitman hall ,we had alot of activity there already and it is really creepy .

this looks like a haunted house set right out of a movie! WOW! VERY!!!!! frightening, it also reminds me of the Haunted Mansion at Disney World that creeps me out too! both are very elegant and imposing!

wants to go soon! needs help tho never been.

I saw that place on TV when I was watching NBC 10 News 2 weeks ago. It's pretty neat stuff!!! They showed a 10th grade girl who lived next door to the place (and is obsessed with it), and she was on the news, and old clips! After seeing that story on the news, I wanna visit here in person!!!

If yoy missed the news story, here's the link: http://www.nbc10.com/v.../4294108/detail.html

The video on the intro page was shown on NBC10 news.

Could anyone tell me if this place is still standing and not cleaned up? I heard that this is going to be a Halloween attraction, is that true?

Here is more history on this place for those of you who don't know,

Pennhurst State School, a live-in facility for people with mental and physical disabilities, was surrounded by controversy from its earliest days. In 1908, the state of Pennsylvania built the school as an asylum for patients with special needs. This complex, first known as the State Institution for Epileptics and Feeble Minded, was filled with adults and children with varying disabilities. From its very beginning, the school's history of mistreatment and abuse was quietly underway.

Behind Closed Doors
Over 10,000 patients crossed through the doors into Pennhurst, residing in one of the many buildings in the school's network. Overwhelmed parents dropped off their children who were mentally retarded or autistic, hoping the school would provide for them. Sadly, many of these children were abandoned to become wards of the state. While some patients could care for themselves, many more suffered from severe disabilities. Those patients who couldn't care for themselves became the school's most vulnerable victims.

Despite the high number of patients requiring special care, the state provided the institution with meager funds. There were very few doctors, nurses and orderlies available to meet the patients' needs. Many patients spent their days and nights trapped in metal cribs in horrid conditions. Others were so desperate for human contact that they went to great lengths for attention by injuring themselves or even smearing themselves with their own feces in hopes of a bath.

Cruel punishments were common at the facility. Overworked staff responded to unruly patients by drugging them into submission or chaining them to their beds. Other residents were isolated for such long periods of time that they regressed and lost their will to speak, fight or even to live. One particularly harsh rule chastised patients for biting. When a patient bit someone the first time, he or she was reprimanded. But if it happened again, the patient was sent to a dentist who would pull all of his teeth. Thousands of teeth were removed in a rusty dentist chair that still sits in the tunnels beneath the Pennhurst complex.

The Shuttered Institution
Not all of the residents were abandoned by their family members. When loved ones came to visit, they were appalled to find their children bruised and uncared for. Even in 1912, there were reports on the poor quality of treatment. But it was quickly apparent that outsiders could do little to help, and patients continued to suffer from abuse, rape, even death at the hands of staff and other patients. Society continued to turn a blind eye to the horrors of this state-run institution.

Changes started brewing at Pennhurst in 1968 when Philadelphia television news reporter Bill Baldini produced an expose on the institution. "Suffer the Little Children" uncovered the atrocities and created a sympathetic public. This exposure led to a massive lawsuit. In 1977 Pennhurst's patients achieved a small victory when the school was found guilty of violating patients' constitutional rights. While this decision couldn't undo the past, it certainly made progress for the future.

The facility closed its doors in 1987, and the network of buildings was neglected and left to the tortured, sad spirits. Today caretakers of the property believe that the buildings and underground tunnels are haunted by the angry spirits of patients who suffered and died here. There are reports of slamming doors, footsteps and sounds of vomiting coming from otherwise empty rooms. Some witnesses have seen the spirit of a little girl roaming the buildings, perhaps waiting to tell her own story of sorrow and neglect.

Thanks for that facinating story alisha! I wish all these sad stories were not true, but alas, we can not deny them. BTW, did you ever see the episode of Ghost Adventers where they do a paranormal investigation of Pennhurst?

Hey this place was investigated by a ghost hunting team, it was on t.v. Not
TAPS but this other guy. I didn't get to see the whole show but it made me look up pennhurst. Neat place, if you're into creepy abandoned buildings...which I am!!

A couple of the girls that gave the guy info on Pennhurst's history and these awesome tattoos of pennhurst buildings, one had the boiler room or something but they looked really cool!

and El Peecho's website has a LOT of info! History, photos, documents, it's pretty cool.

I watched the show tonight on pennhurst..was wondering if Motts helped to film this.....

Alisha, did you see that special NBC 10 News report I posted up???

TAPS is at Pennhurst now doing and investigation and the Lionsgate will be filming a Horror movie on the property as well

Hi I saw this place again on CBS news yesterday, and I heard they're turning it into a haunted house attraction for 2010's Halloween season, opening on September 23rd. Did anyone else see that news report????

There's a thread about this in the forum of this site. Very interesting, with lots of links.
Check it out, ilovehorseyrides:
http://www.opacity.us/...ex.php?topic=12566.0

The site doesn't work, KING_OF_SKULLS.

Ive herd tons of stories about this place and it makes me wonder how people can be skeptic about super natural happinings nd what not.

I saw this place on TV again this morning on Channel 6 at 6:05 AM. The haunted house thing is opening tonight.

Mylo, this place is gonna be a Halloween attraction. It was on TV this morning.

Hey everyone... I saw this place on TV twice last night: once on Channel 27 at 10:41 PM, and again on Channel 6 at 11PM. The haunted house officially opened last night. Admission is $25. I wanted to go, but my family were all to scared to go with me. (I thought it was pretty cool.)(They were freaked out by the clips that were shown on TV last night. They didn't want to go to the one at Eastern State, also. Eastern State's closer to my house than Pennhurst. Eastern State's about 17 minutes from my house and Pennhurst is about 43 minutes from my house). Also, Eastern State has free admission. If anyone can take some pics of the haunted house, that'll be cool. Both are open on weekends until Halloween.

I meant Channel 29

I went to the haunted house and it was stupid. Pennhurst itself was amazing would like to go back and see the place with out the haunted house there.

Lucky you Pookie! I live too far so I didn't go here.

After viewing the video of the pus-suckers who turned this place into a "haunted house" attraction, I am appalled. WTF are these idiots doing turning a place with this history into a God Damn Disney World? Such disrespect for those who lived & worked here. Why don't they organize a fun dive into the USS Arizona? Geez!

I agree Larry D, a place like this should be shown at least some respect!

I agree as well. Did any one read the the graffiti in the Haunted House film clip?? A spot on the wall of one of the tunnels says "Opacity.us killed Pennhurst thanks ass"! Wth...?

Yep. I went back and looked for it. Sure enough, there it was. I love it. =8-o

Forget that fake haunted house crap. I know the place is haunted and want to see the real deal!

So many homeless people in the world and this amazing building is falling into decay. What a waste.

Vous acceptez chichi et affecté à hauteur du genou en daim bottes en cuir avec le compte de fourrure pour l'hiver apt fashion.<a >longchampcher2012.com</a>