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Iva Stanley | all galleries >> Galleries >> A Look Inside Abandoned State Mental Hospital > Why?
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Why?


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Maria Mongillo 10-Jan-2018 22:57
Very intriguing photos. Thank you for sharing and narrating, it gave me a sense of being there, as well.
The stories behind such places are fascinating, mostly because their histories have changed the present.
I especially loved the letter, "What Was My Purpose". It was beautifully written with a true sense of compassion.
The photos and notes gave a glimpse inside the heart of the artist.
Your sincerity and warm heart shined through.
Thank you for sharing.
Maria
Theresa 07-Aug-2014 15:48
I remember going to this facility when I was a little girl. My grandmother worked there. Some of the pictures look familiar (particularly the hallways). This facility is not a prison now; only a couple of the buildings are being used as a workhouse for people who are serving short term sentences and under Huber Law. It is a beautiful area and the first institution build for mentally ill individuals. While working on my Psychology degree, I researched the horrible things that happened in these buildings. It was not a road to rehabilitation and when institutions such as this one closed, it led to the challenge of deinstitutionalization (a whole new problem). Many of the people who were released from these facilities ended up in prison or dead. It's sad how such a beautiful place can have such a horrifying history.

Theresa
Marilyn 18-Jul-2014 21:39
Fascinating photo journal. Thank you for sharing it. I remember those days, and still see the bones of the abandoned hospitals, telling stories still.
Jo 07-Mar-2014 22:09
I've been there. I've visited ones there. When I was young their telephone number was 22. Dial 22 foe east Gardner. My mother used to tell us young kids. If we were acting 'crazy". It's 22 for you. Everyone said it then. It was way out in the woods on dirt roads then. Very scarey when we were young. Now a prison.
Vicky 28-Nov-2011 16:15
Thank you for sharing your photo journal. I have just spent the past three weeks in a mental hospital and am very concerned that I will be committed to a permanent facility for bi-polar/schizophrenia/suicidal tendencies, etc. I just want to stay home.....
Nelly 17-Sep-2011 06:07
I just read a book Called Story of Beautiful Girl and loved it tho it was sad it also made me wonder what other stories are out there of residents and what happened to them.I am glad that disabled people have been allowed into main society are more respected and given real things to do.
Juli Spencer 10-Sep-2011 00:33
I worked at this hospital in 1970. When I watch a movie that has an abandoned mental hospital in it i wonder about this place. What happened to the patients that I knew and took care of. The people I worked with.I never looking it up on the pc.till now. I am sorry it closed because they were mistreating people there. I never did and the people I worked with never did. I lived in the nurses dorm. I walked thur that tunnel on snowy days between the nurse building and the main building. The f ward was also down in the basement where they held the criminal insane patients. Thank you for the picture they are very good. and very sad at the same time.
Imelda Higgins 31-May-2011 07:13
Great pictures and a very touching note ("What Was My Purpose?")! I also had people from my childhood that taught me compassion and I'm thankful for that. So many people in our society could care less about people at all, much less people with special needs. What a great site. Thanks for sharing!
lyndalrs22-Nov-2010 05:17
PS~ re the Guest post that said these institutions had ''swimming pools, theatres, tennis courts,'' etc... that may be, but in my 2 years in the very large and imposing State Hospital #3 in Nevada, MO, I never saw a swimming pool, a tennis court, nor a theater. Among the few ancient online photos I have found of the place where I was institutionalized, I was stunned to see pictures of an outdoor auditorium, an occupational therapy sewing room, an OT woodworking shop, an OT cooking school room, and a LIBRARY! I NEVER saw any of those things, not even before being put on the maximum security ward as punishment for running away. Were they no longer there by the 1960s? OR, were they only for "show?"

THIS is what we inmates had to do all day, everyday... 1. pace the floors, 2. look out the heavily screened windows at the trees, 3. sit in hard wooden rocking chairs, or 4. watch tv. I, however, could not bear to watch tv, because it was all about people living lives of Freedom, falling in love, getting married, having a family ~ things I believed I would never have. So I rocked in the rocking chairs, I paced the hall, and I gazed out the windows. (We weren't allowed on our beds during the daytime hours, regardless of how drowsy the thorazine, et al, made us feel; we had to nap on the hard wooden rocking chairs.)

I'm sorry if I'm bursting anybody's bubble, but this is the way it really was. There was nothing to read, OH how I would have loved to read!, there was no music, no tennis, no swimming, no theater, and no OT classes to learn how to cook, sew, or work with wood. Yes, we DID iron our dresses occasionally, though! It may sound strange to think that we cared about things like wrinkles, but I never stopped caring about how I looked, even though no one ever saw me, other than my fellow patients and the ward nurses and an occasional doctor. When I looked in the mirror, I saw me, and that somehow mattered to me, at the age of 14, 15, and 16. Even now, at age 57, it still matters to me, how I look. But I now have a wonderful, loving Best-Friend-Husband who sees me every day.

ANYWAY ~ you know what the dissenters remind me of? They remind me of people who cling to their beliefs that animals don't really feel pain, or cold... are any of you old enough to remember when we Caucasian children were told that people with different colored skin weren't fully human, they were much more like the animals, who don't feel pain, etc~?

Ignorance is Bliss, right?! I will say it again, though, I don't know what the perfect answer is. There are many very ill people who NEED to be hospitalized, to keep from having to live on the streets. What do we do for them? COMPASSION would be a place to start.

Lynda
lyndalrs22-Nov-2010 04:35
Hello Mrs. Stanley,
These are compelling photos, particularly for me. When I was 14-16 years old I was a patient at a state mental asylum in the town of Nevada, Missouri. This was in 1967-1969. Insane Asylum #3, as it was called, was built in the 1880s, closed in 1991, and torn down in 1999. At the time it was constructed it was the largest building in the state of Missouri. During my almost 2 years of incarceration, the thought of that tremendously huge, imposing, over-crowded building ever being torn down was unimaginable.

I had (& still have) PTSD, which was unknown and unnamed until the mid-1970s. Back in the 1960s you were either sane, or crazy. If you were crazy, the answer was to lock you up and throw away the key. That is no exxageration! My first psychiatrist at the institution, a Dr. Conn, told me that 97% of the inmates there would never be permanently released. When he saw the look of shocked disbelief on my face, he told me to ask the other inmates on my ward how long they had been there, if I doubted his word. I did ask, and the shortest answer I got was 8 years!

Believing that my life was over at tne age of 14 ~ although I had never committed a crime, never hurt anyone, nor ever tried or threatened nor so much as WANTED to hurt anyone ~ I ran away from the asylum, the first chance I had. Several hours later I was recaptured and placed on the Maximum Security ward, along with the criminally insane. There I witnessed numerous assaults, 1 suicide, 1 murder, and was myself assaulted, raped, and nearly murdered, in seperate incidents. So, no, it was NOT a happy place to be, not for a minute.

However.... it is true that there are many people who are far too mentally ill to function on their own, or even to remain in the care of their non-professionally-trained families, IF they even have families. These people need SOMEWHERE to live! Sadly, I don't know what the ''perfect'' answer is. Improving the facilities, as some of the posts here have suggested, would be far better than closing them all down.

How many of the homeless that you see on our city streets are mentally ill? I would say probably the vast majority are. My heart aches every time I see a homeless person, knowing that, but for the grace of God, I would be in their shoes.

More than 40 years have passed since I was in the mental institution, but the memory of those interminably long two years of my life still haunt me. I am now, at age 57, writing a book about my experiences. I have a blog that I'm using to journal as I write my book; that url is:http://behindthefaceofcomplexptsd.blogspot.com/

I found your site in doing online research for my book, trying to find photos of the institution where I was incarcerated. I've found only a few pictures of the Nevada, MO, hospital, and all of were taken decades before my time. Your photos, though, are very evocative of the institution I remember.

I hope you will check out my blog. I would love to hear from you, Iva.

God Bless,
Lynda
Guest 07-Feb-2010 00:02
Your photos are very good, however you mention abuse and torture, I am sure that happened but not as much as everyone thinks, in researching these abandon inst. they had swimming pool, theatre's, tennis courts and gyms. etc. There are some cases that could not be handled anyother way than to be strapped or locked in a room. These pictures are very nice compared to say, Pennhurst State Hospital they really show abandonment. Good Job
Bryon 27-Jan-2010 05:39
Hi Iva,
I enjoyed your photos of Central State. I worked many years at Richmond State while Central was open. Like the third guest post commented , there is plenty of good and caring people that worked and still do in these institutions. Yes, there are some bad things that happen, some due to just the progress of mental health care thoughout the ages. Many patients lead very happy lives in these hospitals and cannot cope with life on the outside.
A couple of comments on your photos, the ironing board, patients were always encouaged to do for themselves unless not physically able, so they would iron their own clothing and be taught in OT to iron as well. The "wheel chair" is actually a feeder chair as you mentioned in the dining hall, would only be used for feeding purposes with a removable tray. The parkay floor probably buckled simply as a result of moisture and water intrusion, parkay floors easily do this. Wonderful photos though, look forward to more
Tanya 18-Jan-2010 18:36
Thankyou for sharing this. The pictures are amazing, and the in-tact condition of the place is as interesting as it is fleeting.
P.S I want to hug Frankie and tell him I like his doll.
Amanda F. 12-Dec-2009 20:47
I find the photos very beautiful from an artistic standpoint. Abandoned buildings have always fascinated me because I know that they were once inhabited by many people and every wall and piece of furniture have a story to tell. Sometimes the stories are obvious and other times, I like to guess. Wonderful site!!!
Guest 14-Aug-2009 04:52
the thing about institutions is that it does become a home for the patients... i work in a maximum-secure, all-male forensic hospital that was built in the '30s, and it is so rich with history. naturally, there are unfortunate situations that have occurred throughout the years, ghosts that roam the corridors and hang out in patient rooms, staff that have exploited their 'powers', but we do a great job of providing services, activities, outings (when appropriate), and CARE, that would be completely absent from the patient's life if the were to be suddenly and unexpectedly released into the community. it's a simple fact... there are NOT enough resources in the community to adequately ensure these patients stay on track, and that their basic needs are being met. people who criticize the mental health system tend to speak from a position of ignorance, not experience. it is a shame that facilities are being closed, and the common thread is that the buildings are in disrepair, or government doesn't want to continue to put money into the system, so what to do? "download them into the community!"
just another example of the mentally ill/ not criminally responsible/ incapable, vulnerable bearing the brunt of our society
Cheryl 26-Feb-2009 03:45
What a great site. It's just interesting to know how/what mental institutions are all about. I would love to know when you go back with more "light" and more "people"! LOL
Guest 14-Jan-2009 20:56
Hi Iva--
Thank you so much for your photos. I am fascinated by abandoned psychiatric hospitals, maybe partly because I am challenged by major depression. The Fairfield Hills Hospital, in Newtown, CT, particularly fascinates/bothers me because my children actually played soccer tournaments on their fields, even as there were still patients there! Every time I see it or another hospital that has been left I always look at it and imagine all the lives that must have lived there and how they left their selves behind, even as they had no idea that they were doing it. Because I have been in modern hospitals, I wonder how all those people felt, being either subhumanly or simply as a number. How many impressed the staff as a genuine human being? Anyway, for me, I am not sure there can ever be enough photos or books to honor and tell the storiess of the people who lived in these buildings.
michael 30-Jun-2008 04:47
for Ian... I have never known or heard of a person wanting to return to any institution after being offered a life in the community that we all take for granted. The horror stories are frequent, and while bad things can happen anywhere, the true horror is the day after day of being deprived of your right to live and participate in a community where you choose in a home of your own.
michael 30-Jun-2008 04:46
for Ian... I have never known or heard of a person wanting to return to any institution after being offered a life in the community that we all take for granted. The horror stories are frequent, and while bad things can happen anywhere, the true horror is the day after day of being deprived of your right to live and participate where you choose in a home of your own.
Jill Jaynes 26-Oct-2007 18:01
I am doing a school project on Central State and I was wondering how you were able to get permission to go into the tunnels, or did you? I thought about just sneaking in. Where is the entrance into the tunnels located at? Any help you could give would be greatly appreciated!!!!
grace 30-Sep-2007 13:38
hi- i absolutely loved your photos! i am very interested in abandoned mental institutions plus- i live quite close to central state. Having visted it yesterday, i can relate to most of your photos (i like to peek around the campus). I also really enjoyed your explanation of your purpose. It is great that you were able to have the honor of meeting those very nice sounding people. i just wanted to thank you for your photo journal-- it REALLY makes you think.
Jazmin 22-Sep-2007 22:32
Hey, the weird thing is we have a cross country meet on these grounds every year. I was there just today and were always amazed looking inside the windows, there was even a chair stuck in a wall which really caught our attention. To bad there taking it all down and we won't run there anymore. During a warm up the girls and I ran into an open door to a building that looked to be boreded up but we were to scared to go in, not because of the building but the cops all around. Anyways now im VERY interested in this place, im going to order the movie over it tonight too!
Tami 31-Jul-2007 19:00
Your photos are very interesting. I've spent a great deal of time in Indy in the last two years and had seen these buildings many times without knowing what they had once been. I'm amazed that there isn't more graffiti. So many of these abandoned hospitals are just wrecked because of vandals, but it seems in pretty good shape, relatively speaking. Thanks very much for the photos.
mark 18-Jul-2007 04:18
great photos! a friend of mine who is a photographer recently gave me some absolutely amazing photos of central state. after looking through dozens of photos from his visits and hearing him explain in detail what this place is like i became very intrigued. having recently moved back to indy (i had no idea this place existed!) i had to drive by just to look at it, gave me chills!! maybe one day i'll venture in! thanks for sharing, mark
Leila 18-Apr-2007 23:18
I love your pictures. I am a psych major and stuff like this is so interesting...post mor epic pleaseee
guest 03-Apr-2007 15:51
I am a psychology student in New York State. I came across your photo journal while doing research for my final paper. I am to research a mental institution and ALL of it's details. Your journal really excited me...but the title of the institution is not there.....
Guest 23-Mar-2007 23:48
i really enjoyed looking at these pictures
Viktorya 22-Mar-2007 18:32
I really enjoyed looking at your pictures
I am very interested in these abandoned buildings
and I always try and just imagine the things that went on in them
The imagination sure can come up with spooky thoughts.
Though I believe most of what I've come up with to be true
which is the horrible thing about it
Those mental patients being abused
Its horrible
And i guess its good so many of these institutions were shut down
Dee 13-Jan-2007 22:52
Your pictures of the hospital are great and they do tell a story, I do feel sad and know there is a lot more to learn, Do hope you do go back.. The doll in the trash will stay with me
Ian2 07-Dec-2006 00:24
I hope you will visit the hospital again soon, I am interested to see what other pictures you come up with.
John Darwell 30-Jun-2006 07:50
Hello
Thought the hospital images fascinating. Interesting that iconography of place looks very similar no matter where in the world it is. Maybe to do with form and function? Anyway you may like to check out my site at www.johndarwell.com > Images/Projects > A Black Dog Came Calling. Also look at Melancholy Objects images as there are many similarities at work. Be interesting to bring all this work together at some future point.
Best
John
Mindy 01-Apr-2006 09:21
I loved your photos. they were spooky and really told a story. thank you
paul howlett new zealand 23-Mar-2006 11:44
i like your pictures they convey a real story about a place which once was full of life and maybe other things.
i carry my camera with me most of the time as you dont know what you will find
keep up the good work
Mr. Mantis 27-Nov-2004 04:50
I enjoyed your pictorial.
Very spooky atmosphere in that place.
Great photos, and I loved the captions.
There certainly are plenty of history and mysteries
found within those walls...
Ian 12-Sep-2004 17:03
I liked all of your pictures, they really do convey a story. However I would imagine that there were positive stories to come out of this institution as well. Psychiatric hospitals like general hospitals have a casualty rate,(in general a great deal higher) its just a few patients in so called "mental " institutions happen to occasionally pass away in dramatic circumstances.
Am looking forward to your next lot of photo's.