The Gold Room

OK, I know the gold paint HAD to be after-the fact, but that just looks WRONG!!!!!! Of course, I also find the arrangement of the tubs a bit odd, too. Motts, have you ever seen another place with FOUR tubs in the same room? I know you said "odd arangement" before, but, more than one?

Pimp my tub!

Van Gogo: lol. :-). Just needs some little gold-balled fringe around the edges....:-)..maybe some gold velvet cushions inside....."but seriously, folks"....;-)

These are not the ritzy looking tubs I'd want to sit in. 0_0*

"Put that in you pipe and smoke it... Mr. Donald Trump!"

They used to put residents in tubs of ice water for hydrotherapy...sometimes they put them in a tub with some type of cover on so only their heads stuck out. We had one client that used to spin in the tub ala the exorcist...

Youve heard of golden showers.... thats all i can think of.. it started out as a funny thought but then.......

Weird.......nice shot, but....weird stuff!

is this where the Howells from Gilligan's Island took their bath?

No privacy again. I wonder if they had more than one patient in each of those tubs? That would seem very strange really. Ice baths. Ugh. That is suppose to help a patient? Sounds totally cruel to me. I'm sure staff was present. Unfortunately sometimes the staff can make issues worse instead of being helpful. What a shame really.

the tubs might not be painted they might be copper

Which is worse...taking a dump next to someone with little to no privacy or taking a bath next to someone with little to no privacy....given the choice I would have to go with the bath...at least the smell there would be CLEAN - - either prospect is pretty dismal

looks like ice in the tub

Very, very interesting! The brick walls and the gold-tone tubs evoked a dark, molancholy atmosphere to me.

As to the gold-tone, I think someone, or another photo group, came in and painted the tubs. If you look closely, you can see the white porcelain down under the head of the tub, just above the pedistal of the tub on the far right.

Same again for the top left tub, they did not paint the backside under the edge.

The area just above the dirt-covered bottom of the nearest tub, you can see where the paint stopped.

No ice baths - sorry - don't know where people come up with that stuff but it's not physiologically possible to put someone in a tub of ice and have them survive for more than a very short time. This is especially the case for people with chronic mental health issues who usually also had accompanying health issues and who would not have been able to survive exposure to freezing water for more than a few minutes. Remember to read up on your physiology 101 before believing that people were put in ice baths. Sounds dramatic, very sensational, makes some peoples' pulses race to think about the "abject cruelty of man against man", but sorry - didn't happen. But I am sure some of you will be happy to know that other cruelties did in fact exist and were actually documented. I prefer that people rail against things that actually happened rather than strange urban legends like this one.

These were most likely hydrotherapy tubs and yes, when hospitals had populations of 6000 to 8000 folks and before psychotropic medication drugs were invented, that was one of the few therapeutic interventions that did a little bit of good.

Look up continuous hydrotherapy under Google books, for the book "Hydrotherapy" by Guy Hinsdale from 1910, and see pages 289 and 290. This used to be state of the art therapy and yes, many people were in baths at the same time in the same room. Different era, different techniques, different theories of what was happening and how people should be treated, no drugs available, no funding, overcrowded hospitals.

Maybe those were hydrotherapy tubs.

DSH - you think?......

Lynne, actually I just read that some places did perform ice baths. I imagine that most of the time they were used to subdue a patient who was particularly "unruly". So it isn't an urban legend. Maybe Manteno State Hospital didn't use the method, but there were some places that did.

the same photographer girl that did the Gennie bathroom also painted this room. you can see it soon after completion here:
http://kristynvinikour...tal/slides/gold.html

I did q quick search on "ice baths in mental hospitals." The links I came up with mostly just repeated references to past treatment practices that "included submerging patients in ice baths until unconscious" or "horrible medical practices like ice baths." There were no references that actually described or recommended ice baths. In some sources the reference was "ice bath," while in others it was "ice-water bath." In a survey of treatment history, I found a reference to William Tuke, who established the York Retreat in England in the nineteenth century and "discouraged ice baths." One book included a poem with the lines
"I was raped by orderlies, gnawed on by rats, and poisoned by tainted food.
And I survived.
I was chained in padded cells, strapped into straitjackets, and half-drowned in ice baths.
And I survived." (Farmer, 1972)

So I think we have an urban legend, that started with some truth (water that felt cold to the person in the bath), and then was made much more sensational than it ever was in reality. There is a big difference between "ice" and "ice water." "Ice water" is a general description used for cold water. If I get into a swimming pool with a water temperature of 85 degrees, I'm going to complain that it's "icy." The poem above may have a degree of poetic license--"ice bath" creates a much more vivid image than does "cold bath."

(BTW--and DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME--ice water does have legitimate medical uses. Putting one's face in very cold water is one home remedy than can be used to "shock" one's heart back into sinus rhythm in cases of specific arrhythmias, but ONLY under the direction of a cardiologist.)

Oh...I'm sorry....it looks like Quinnifer has "left the building." Which is really too bad, because you guys aren't just funny, you are FULL of useful information, too! Amazingly beautiful photography and useful information on one web site! I think I may swoon! :-)Thanks again guys!

JoniG--WAIT!! Don't swoon until we can rummage around in one of these storage rooms and find an old matress to put behind ya! (We'll try to find the least moldy one...;-))

....."mattress"....:-*....

Gold paint after the fact.

First they would secure a person hand and foot to a bunk or gurney.
Next they'd cover the individual with wet
rubber mats.Onto the mats they'd pour ice.
But only for a while.
Then they would put warm water on the
person.Repeat the process.
Cold,warm,cold,warm..this would make
them sleep.You'd sleep too.

This is paydirt right here Motts, the stuff we search for.

xtrerme tub makeover anyone!

Here is a link, *Ice* cold baths were given, besides all the other torturous treatments.
http://www.mental-health-abuse.org/

The tubs look like they are made of Brass

I don't normally subscribe to the eye-for-an-eye mentality but in Jenny's case I defer...May God rest her soul.

I'm so sorry - I just realized I mispelled Gennie's name.

WOW !

Lynne- why do you think you know everything about everything? We DO use COLD BATHS in the US. I cant say where I work but we do. What do you think these tubs are for, just bathing?

You are saying you keep people in bathtubs full of ice and ice water for many hours, sometimes days? Even though people die after an hour or so because that's what human bodies do after that amount of exposure? I don't know everything about everything, but I do know that being in ice/ice water for multiple hours will kill a person. If you don't know that and you are doing this, either you are fairly unaware of what is happening in your facility or you must have one hell of a mortality rate. :-)

http://www.ussartf.org/cold_water_survival.htm

ive heard stories about ice baths, i was under the impression that they were used in the same way as ECT (Electro-Convulsive Therapy), where with ECT you put an electrode to each temple to induce a fit, so basically it is just like rebooting a computer, and oddly enough i have met PATIENTS who swear by this therapy so it must work for some people, on the otherhand i hava whitnessed patients having dramatic deterioration to there mental health as well but its a last resort with alot of patients once all meds have been tried.

But apparantly ice baths had the same effect but they didnt have the same anisthetics and muscle relaxants when they were in use, so it was branded as un-ethical(obviously). They were not kept in the bathtubs for a long period of time, maybe just submerged for a few seconds so it shocks the system just like ECT.

oh and i have worked in many diffirent areas of mental health from Max Security, Med Security, IPCU, to acute admissions and rehab and i can GUARANTEE they do not use this approach anymore within the western world. Along with mechanical restraints and strait jackets. All nurses are trainned to deal with patients in a perfectly ethical and dignifying manner. Its ashame that the knowledge of mental health was so small in those days, compared to what we know now and the approaches we can use to benefit a larger recovery rate for service users.

Bathtime, children!!!

I just saw the photo of Kristyn Vinikour's, she has painted the whole room......I dont know why but it made me angry. Anyone else feel the same?
see link above by steponme

serenityjane - i know what you mean, her last work with genie i could understand and brought a story to our attention but again i was left feeling where do we draw the line with vandalising old beautiful architecture even if it has got a seedy past.
once captured on film i feel she should have cleaned it off. the same with this. these buildings are a time capsule into the past and should be protected from ruin to show to future generations to tell the stories of the past good or bad!
where do we draw the line between art and vandalism? banksie, Kristyn Vinikour, an unknow tagger?

Kirtsen, yes exactly! i am an artist and found the project fascinating in itself , but just how dare she paint and write all over the walls, its not hers. In our day and age of technology all she had to have done was take some shots and superimpose whatever she wanted by use of photoshop or some other software.....the message still would have gotten across!

those tubs were actually used as a type of treatment for mental illnesses a patient would be placed in a really cold tub and then in a really hot tub to shock the senses

I don´t think that this is vandalizing. Not only because it has a strong meaning behind it (at least the Gennie project), but also because it is easy removeable, as Kirsten said. I am definitely not for destroying the charme of old buildings with graffiti, and I especially do hate tagging - it is not only ugly and meaningless, and writing his own name in every room rather reminds me of a dof peeing at every corner he sees. But this is different: It´s art, not damaging old buildings.

wow this is amazing omg.

I have been in three NFL locker rooms on tours and every one of them had several freezing cold water tubs in the training rooms. One of the tour guides said they were used to relax tight muscles. All I could think of was that Sienfeld episode
*shrinkage*

Oh "long time, first time"

Seriously addicting site, Mr. Motts. I have done some exploring in the 7 states I have lived in through the years and understand your passion. I am currently living in Arizona, and have dates with a few sites around my area. Please keep up the highly interesting {and addicting} work.