Metal

Lovely lighting! <3

Do you see her?

Yes I do, looks like she is smiling!

Is ther fire damage here,Motts?

I began work in a psychiatric hospital in 1968. I retired in 2005 from the same hospital where I'd first began. I was not there all those years, but worked in various institutions for psychiatric, forensic, and other locked-up populations. These are the images that were our daily reality, only the paint was newer, less chipped, and the halls were buzzing with people. However, there was always this haunted feeling. Many thought it was truly a presence, but so much human suffering in a place leaves it's mark. The people and their struggles are not a mass of nameless debris like produced by oil spills, but an infinitely varied and rich blend of fantastic individuals, some being heroic in the midst of their sufferings. The number of compassionate workers, too, if often overlooked because the bad news spread, the daily thousand and one kindnesses to the afflicted were unnoticed except by the souls deep inside these places. Now, growing old, I wish I were strong and able to go back into the fray, to offer support and encouragement to the afflicted. God knows they are the forgotten. When they were in these buildings, THEY felt this sense of abandonment long before the buildings were abandoned. I remember my first day at work walking down a hall like this, thinking, "I'll die here!" I did not, but I cannot ever leave these halls, ever.

Roy from what I've read from your comments I'm sure
you were one of the good ones.

she does look very happy

Roy thanks for your thoughts....its good to hear from workers or former patients at these hospitals.....I work in the medical field but in a private Dr's office doing records. So my job is totally different from what you expericenced in these places. I'm sure all the things you could tell us could fill a book. I appreciate your stories & its important to not forget those patients.....no one wants to be forgotten.....so maybe with your stories and those of us that go through these pictures that Motts has provided.....at least 'we' don't forget those that called these places 'home'......it makes me sad......but if we forget the past we are doomed to repeat it.......let us never forget.......

well said Roy and blue lamp!!

Disturbing but interesting, Also this picture screams album cover for a death metal band.

Very beautiful and so ugly at the same time.

I know whose gonna get nightmares tonight .. ;)

While it's a wonderful photo, I cannot see the 'she' that others are referring to. Is there a woman's face within this photo?