Gennie

Normally, I'd frown upon something like this - writing on the walls of an abandoned building, that is. I must make an exception here, though; it's just too beautiful.

There's a story regarding the person that wrote all that for a photo shoot or something. Brain fart. Does anyone recall what it was?

Oh my gosh! That's just......just wow. I had a dream once that included a room like this (minus the tubs). Interesting idea someone had (rushes to check the link about Gennie..)

OK, just checked the link. Not sure the nudity was necessary (just caught my eye), but I'll read further.....

Here's some info, the

Gennie Messages

mantenostatehospital dot com/gennie/index.html

for a piece of art - I have to say I love this.
I'd much rather these old buildings be used for something, even just an art project - than be left to rot away and be destroyed entirely by vandals and scavengers.
Imagine these rooms opened up as walk-through galleries. would have been a great way to make money for Mental Health charities or whatever.

Sort of has the feel of a horror movie.

Very interesting.

Does this have to do with the Gennie that I learned about in Human Development in college? She's pretty famous... shit I better read more into this before commenting.

Thanks for this never herd of Gennie. Loved those photos too.

This is a perfect shot Motts. To me, very somber...

It is an incredible shot, but I am sorry I dont find this to be art (the writing on the walls). I find this to be someone with alot of time on their hands and extra paint.

This looks like a set for a pretty weird movie or music video.

I have to say thats a very interesting read. So I'm guessing that Gennie was a patient there right? As much as her records or info should be private...it is interesting. I would've liked to have been that girl naked for those photos though...she must have been frozen. Ugh!!! Plus the paint all over her. Interesting concept for pictures and getting a persons story across. Nice photo again Motts!!!

great shoot very very creepy

I normally frown on graffiti, but this has a poetic quality that I admit really adds to the room.
It doesn't look like much has changed over the years!

some background info on gennie -
http://www.kirkbridebu...php?f=18&p=10009

oops, sorry, i hit refresh :-(

Kind of "Dark City" ish, yes?

I am not that familiar with urban exploration, I just like looking at all of the pictures. But I am curious: Isn't one of the cardinal rules of u.e. not to disturb the buildings? I think that this project is beautiful, but is doing something like that looked well upon in the urban exploration community?

Lovesick?

i was in this room......and never saw writing like this

alone with my madness.... i sat and imagined how i would feel standing in the middle of this room alone. Pretty amazing..

PLEASE READ THE GENNIE PILARI STORY BEFORE YOU COMMENT
The woman in the pictures is naked, because thats how defenseless she is in the grips of a psycological problem, and a state structured system. This building is now the story of this poor damaged womans life. Like more than a few that I knew from my young life. They ended up in ELGIN, or MANTENO, when their families FELT they could no longer take care of us, or if we had become too much of an "embarrassment". We used to joke about it , "Who would be the next to give up the MANTENO CRY' (the scream of an anguished, mentally confused young woman) . All of the wonderful, knowledgable, men who ordered those treatments had one thing in common. The letters " Dr." after their names. They all took the same oath, but to many of them it was just a game, and a subject for their next report. "Did you see that last one jump when the juice hit her?"
ENOUGH

THIS ONE IS FOR MISS RENEE DVORACEK, ELGIN, "CLASS OF 1972"

Her name is GENNIE PILARSKI. Sorry !

Psychodelic... I shiver while I look on the photo...

exellent photo.
someone had lots of time on there hands.
must have taken ages.
truly fantastic.

Great shot!

maybe my high school art class could do something like this, minus the vandalism, but the pic is a pneunominal ( yeah spelled wrong) shot

The photo evoked a powerful response emotionally, before I read the story. I have heard of ice bath treatment and the stark mad writing combined with 4 baths made me think of that. This is one instance where the decay and abandonment of such a place is a good thing. The story behind it is horrific, even more than the image conveys. What it describes is nothing short of torture, just as bad as anything I have heard of from the holocaust. Taking a sane, normal person and systematically, legally abusing them until they lose their mind is something from the worst nightmares of society. Thank you for sharing such a powerful, thought-provoking image.

:( The link did not work

Oh my. I looked up her story. :(

That poor woman's life is what horror stories are made of. Slowly losing one's self to the callous actions of inept "experts", academically interested in the case with no concern for the person. Her torture and the ultimate destruction of her being over decades is just horrific, almost beyond imagining.

its sad to know that these walls are now repainted after someones hard and dedicated work was put into them.
It was their way of telling Gennies story, shes a woman ill never know & never forget.

omg how could thay do that to her :( so horrid and yet thay thought it was normal

my heart is heavy and filled with sorrow for gennie. the mind is boggeled by the thought of someone doing this to another human being. Gennie is but one that we know about I'm sure there are many more

Thank you for the link NOVOCAINE.

This is beautiful and eerie all at the same time.

Wow...The writing on the walls in this place makes it look like it was ment to be there.....

I can't believe that article is from late 08's.
The crowding of facilities for senile care is indeed walking towards similar abuse.

And I do wonder if those physicians back then, even if they had a good intention, actually had any empirical data to back up their experiments. Especially EST. What could they believe a charge like that would do the brain's electrical patterns?
I take it they didn't publish it in periodicals...

I've been in these buildings also, and i've read a lot about the hospital.

For all of you that think this was vandalism, it wasn't. the paint was not put on the walls while the buildings were abandoned. gennie's story is all throught one building and was written on the walls by gennie herself. she was one of the patients that was checked into the state hospital because she was abandoned by her family, and the state sent her there. she had no mental issues when she was first checked in. if you walk through the building, each one has the doctor's comments and a bit of gennie's own thinking after each one of her 14 shock therapy treatments. she was given the treatments because she was shy and the doctors found it to be a mental issue because she didn't talk. but in all reality, who would talk much if they were a sane person in a mental hospital?

gennie's building is one of the 3 of 60 buildings that are still left standing and haven't been renovated.

as for if they had intentions behind their treatment, probably, but it was most likely experimentation. the average amount of people that died from treatment in this hospital while it was open was 36 per month.

I was there last weekend. The room has now been painted over, and the tubs are gone. All that remains is a bit of the writing on the bases where the tubs were.

As a side note, I had a great aunt who often checked herself into Manteno. Although she did not like the electroshock treatments she received, she was quite happy there and felt very safe.

How very very sad. Wonder how many more suffered the same fate. Her story is heart breaking.

absolutely fascinating...............but I dont understand what Jen means about the words having been written by Gennie...it was an artistic project, right? *confused*

Well, I read the story that was linked and thought it was very interesting. I know there were probably thousands like Gennie, but to have just her story gives you sight into the inner workings of a mental institution. I don't like the writing on the walls, that to me is desecration of what was once a fine institution. I however think Gennie's story should be made into a movie, as precise and exact as possible with no exaggerations. At least then her story will be forever known. Anyone know where she's buried? I'm assuming Chicago or nearby. But does anyone know of the cemetery or grounds where she is?

Yes they're pretty and yes I get the meaning. But everyone...EVERYONE who has broken into those buildings did so without the express permission of the owners. The artist, while well intentioned, did NOT have permission to paint all over those walls. It IS vandalism.

O god if i dont have a good shower at the end of the day i cant go to the bathroom

so i take it that gennie didn't write on the walls. The stary is facinating.

wow i just read the story on it & it was amazing, very sad. youve inspired me so much in photography ive been on this site for hours! i live not too far from here & im thinking about going there to see if its ripped down or not.

I grew up in peotone,the next town over. I had heard stories of the place, but nothing like ginnies.its mindblowing!

Its been a long time since i've been there (about 10 years or so) but I recall wandering through vast underground tunnels that connect the buildings. There were a number of these rooms that had a series of these tubs. The other rooms that seemed odd to us were the ones with rows of what looked like barbers chairs. I also recall exiting the tunnels that adjoin the buildings through a man hole in the street.

eerie messages from a lost patient

Well, this sorta takes the fun out of it. I had seen this before on abandoned but not forgotten, and I thought a rogue patient had accomplished this before the place closed in 1985.

I showed the ABNF photos (mentions nothing about the Gennie projects) to my wife, a psych major, and she FREAKED!

On the other hand, it does make a lot more sense that it wasn't a patient who had done this, as after years of decay it wouldn't appear so bold and clean.