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That's just sad.
lexusdreamer
Fri 08-29-2008
OMG that is so awful!!! I imagine a lot of people did not want to be there but had no choice! How sad!
ACMommy28
Fri 08-29-2008
you think it's authentic? i suppose that if one were left in isolation, the wall would be the only means of conveying one's thoughts. but still....reaching out to the wall? were there any signs of previous explorers?
KBWS
Fri 08-29-2008
and i don't mean to sound as though i believe people were never held here against their will.
KBWS
Fri 08-29-2008
How heart wrenching. A voice that was probably never heard. It is like a whisper in a darkened hallway.
C-Note
Fri 08-29-2008
I'm not convinced that's authentic [as in, written by a patient]. More likely someone joking around after closure.

Surely anything like that written while the hospital was operating ould have been cleaned off or covered up? Hardly good PR for the other patients or visitors!
Seventh
Fri 08-29-2008
Sure, a number of people have been on the island after it was abandoned... whether or not they took the time to write all this stuff on the walls seem unlikely to me. There was a lot more scrawled out than what I captured.
Motts
Fri 08-29-2008
Well, i would have to agree...if i was dying i would want to be held in a hospital either
Josh
Fri 08-29-2008
very sad to see
Joe
Fri 08-29-2008
It could be real or otherwise; who's to know?
The vandals & punks who tour these places
after abandonment scrawl all sorts of epitaphs
on the walls. There's no way to know.
SkedAddled
Fri 08-29-2008
Man is sends chills down my spin it bring to mind the constantin and slave camps of WWII.

Are we no different today.....
Canada
Sat 08-30-2008
That is so so Sad.
Deb
Sat 08-30-2008
I think if it were real, (A) it would likely have been quickly painted over or cleaned up by the staff after being noted in the patient's files.

And (B) writing on a wall doesn't seem to be a very effective way of conveying a message like that; the only people who'd probably see it would be staff.

Then again, without seeing the message in context (like which room it was in, or the presence of the other messages that Motts says he saw), it's difficult for me to figure it out.
Krista
Sat 08-30-2008
Very sad if it is real...that is done by a previous patient. How sad it must have felt like esp if they had no hope. I do hope they did find there way back. Speaking of the last occupents that stayed here. Interesting Motts....
blue lamp
Sun 08-31-2008
Fake. Another explorer left it behind, I'm sure.
Daniel.ar
Sun 08-31-2008
This is very very real Daniel.ar writing on the wall.
Deb
Sun 08-31-2008
Wether it is or isn't authentic, the idea that is conveyed by the message still holds true in the spirit that this WAS a place that people didn't want to be.

Real or fake, the message is still haunting.
Mel
Mon 09-01-2008
Well Mel and Daniel ar. The writing on the wall is real not Fake. I seen it before with my own eyes.
Deb
Mon 09-01-2008
Really eerie. looks real to me, the paint is even peeling over the M in ME. I think if it were done later, they would have chosen a different area then one with previously peeling paint.
:D
Tue 09-02-2008
This isn't as sad as everyone is making it out to be. It is easy to believe this could be real since the last use of the facility was for drug rehab. I would think for at least the first few weeks no one wanted to be there. This isn't a case of baby being left there by a parent because they couldn't handle a sickness or mental deficiency.
Mike
Tue 09-02-2008
Alot of people are still being held aganist their will, this was so sad to me.
Raven
Wed 09-03-2008
you never know.
Jade Jean
Thu 09-04-2008
I agree with Krista, but would add, it would seem highly unlikley that anyone kept in seclusion would be given a sharp pencil or any instrument of any kind.
nivek
Mon 09-08-2008
real or not real , for me its still cry that no one bothered to hear and yea mayb its other explores makeing a mocking joke but.......what if it was lost memories of someone that had no way out , for me i think its real , nice job motts kepp it up
scars
Thu 09-18-2008
notice the caps and lower case letters?
i think if it wre more to date explorer's the probably would have wrote it haistely in passing-
maybe it's orignal ---just a theory
sundawg
Fri 09-19-2008
heLd hErE AgAinst My wiLL
sundawg
Fri 09-19-2008
Motts is right, there IS more than just that message that patients did write. Here is a link at another site where someone posted pics of old writings by patients near their art work, just scroll down the page a bit to the pictures of writings. http://www.bridgeandtu...versideart/index.htm

Again, great job Motts! Your work is far by my favourite, talented photographer and writer. Its good to see people like you with a real passion and respect for these things and to enjoy what you are doing.
gypsysnail
Sun 09-21-2008
For some reason I am lead to believe that a patient did not wright this.
I think Vandals did to be funny.
Cynder
Sun 09-21-2008
It's so terrible to be locked away alone in a room with no one but yourself to keep company even if you don't deserve to be there
Willow
Tue 09-23-2008
I work in a long term care facility for the mentally ill and developmentally disabled and just last week I saw a writing like this by a resident. TB patients were separated from their loved ones, Drug additcts were separated from their true love...It is more than likely a real note.
pegasus64
Tue 10-14-2008
sad words from a long lost soul never to be heard with human ears or given the true help the poor soul really needed
joy 1
Mon 10-20-2008
There is so much writing on the walls here... Nobody knows if it is all the same person, or several different people. Creepy, really.
Spickle
Thu 10-23-2008
It is really sad. I'm doing a research project right now about insanity, women, and the asylum in 19th century New York state, and it is alarming and saddening how many "sane" women and women in general were being practically dumped off at the asylums by husbands and other relations against their will.

It's just sad to see it still happening in such recent history.
marshmellow
Thu 12-04-2008
You must keep in mind that these people had a contagious diseses (TB, smallpox,etc..) Unfortunately for them they were in quarantine and could not leave.
Tom
Fri 12-05-2008
We've seen graffiti in these hospitals before and this looks absolutely NOTHING like that. Also this island doesn't see many visitors because of all the patrols (Riker's is like right there) so why bother writing all that is there is little chance of any gratification from someone reading it. I dont know, but i think it's real.
Kristiara
Sat 12-13-2008
:(
Apple
Sat 02-21-2009
I recently watched a program on the History Channel that went into some abandoned hospitals and prisons (it may have been an episode of the "Life After People" series), including this one. It showed some of the graffiti, including this one, and described the graffiti as having been done in the 1960s, when the hospital was used for drug rehab. it described this room as one used by patients during detoxification. Some of the other graffii shown included dates and neighborhoods where patients lived. I remember one that said "Greenpoint."
dme
Mon 08-17-2009
government funding guys mess up ones life make theirs better
asylum boi
Fri 10-30-2009
i remember i wrote that
catlady1956
Sun 08-08-2010
What else did you write?
JLL
Wed 09-01-2010
it used to be a detention center, too. so it might just be one of them...(not that we don't believe you, catlady)
colin
Tue 03-29-2011
Fake or not - this inspires a story for me to write. :)
kara
Fri 05-13-2011
i watched a ducumentry on the island and this was apperantly a drug addict that wrote this...one that was being treated there.
kitergrl
Sun 11-20-2011

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