Manicured

OK, the rotunda is the section I was referring to several pix back.

ok i kinda get the feeling if you went in you went ment to come out :(

whoa! this building is so gorgeous!

I know that this is really pretty late in the game. But the other building in the back that you speak of, was a children's ward.

Thats the building my mother was working in back in the 80's when my family had just moved to Worcester.

She was given a tour before the fire wiped out so much. I regret her memory doesnt work the same way as mine.

She does however remember that there were still chains like you'd expect for animals down in the tunnels that linked the buildings.

My father who was also given a tour, spent his time in the Air Force running a psych ward, and was also offered a job at WSH when they moved up here.

From the people who worked there, the round buildings had held cages suspended from the ceilings in the beginning of the hospital's life.

Anyways, late in the game, but still, I do love this site, especially for a better look inside our hospital. I've only been in the outer most buildings.

Thanks again,
Wizid

Wizid - Do you have any idea what the suspended cages and chains were for? I'm quite curious.

In the beginning, WSH was not a very pleasant place and patients were allowed to be restrained by any means possible. The cages were quite possibly restaint mechanisms.

youngin,

Which beginning are we talking about? The original Worcester asylum (early 19th century) or this particular campus (late 19th century)? Either way, I would imagine that methods for restraining violent patients back then were relatively crude and they did the best they could. Because it seems cruel compared to modern mental healthcare doesn't necessarily make it abuse.

At least, that's the vibe I picked up from your comment.

Navi, you are correct. Here's a quote from "Disordered Minds" by Norman Dain (1971). "In 1839 [Galt] made two copies of the sixth annual report of the new Worcester (Massachusetts) State Hospital, which had the reputation of being the leading public mental institution in the United States." (p. 60)

I've been inside that Building before (Recently while it's all boarded up & shit...) I've researched it a lot too...my father works near there in Worcester & my aunt was admited to the new Worster State Hospital.....an old guy who said he's worked @ worcester state since the mid-70's told me that it was originally built (as an insane asylum) in the 1860's, when they used to perform serious surgical brain alterations to try & modify behavior of people & Lock some of the really bad-bad-insane people with no hope of recovery in chains to the wall in the cement Dungeons down in the Basement of that place....

I worked at WSH 54-56. the bldg behind the rotunda back then was living quaters for male employes. there was no section for children in 56. no one younger than teens was there & they were on regular wards

the build is pretty nice to have around 'thier alots of history around the site'they should make moveies out of their 'to make more money;for the state

This part is almost like a mansion!!!!!!!!!! I would buy and live in it

Coolest Place in MASS

This structure is huge...even with part of it gone!

Brain sugery is still a treatment in Psychiatry, e.g. for nontreatable epilepsy. And fixation is sometimes necessary to protect the stuff and the patient himself.
As Navi mentioned, it does not necessarily mean abuse or torture.

the cages from the ceiling were used to spin people in. normal people would get dizzy, the "insane" wouldn't.

i found that out 10 minutes ago simply by reading the intro page of this location.

There's nothing like this on the west coast, which is a real bummer. So thru your photos I explore....thanks.