Lunatic Asylum
http://flickr.com/photos/skanko66/sets/72157606932571136/We didn't get a chance to get inside,the cops got us before we could find a decent way to break in. But there are still some decent shots.
greystonelunaticaslyum
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17 commentsReplies
Skanko said, (98 days ago)
hah i know. all i could picture was someone scrawling that on the door as they were being evicted from the building. or some 14 year old thinking that would be cool to scrawl his favorite band on an abandoned building. you know, spreading the word.
Skanko said, (98 days ago)
it was such a nice day out the place actually looked kind of gorgeous from far away. but every window you looked in just got fuckin creepier and creepier. its too bad they are tearing it down.
Little p said, (98 days ago)
dude- I can't believe they're tearing it down!
i wish i was ridiculously wealthy- i'd totally buy it. it would be an awesome movie set
Little p said, (98 days ago)
i watched some special about an asylum- a historical place, where the doctors really wanted to incorporate the idea that sunshine was a good form of therapy- they even had a sunny hallway they would take the patients to in the winter time- where it was fucking freezing and they would bundle them up, etc - just so they could access natural sunlight, etc...
i gotta find what place that was
Little p said, (98 days ago)
read this:
The Greystone campus itself was once a self-contained community that included staff housing, a post office, fire and police stations, a working farm, and vocational and recreational facilities. It also had its own gas and water utilities and a gneiss quarry, which was the source of the Greystone building material. Below the building, a series of tunnels and rails connect the many sections. Its self-sufficient design is a testament to the legacy of the asylums of its era. Like the layout and interior of the building, the Greystone grounds with rolling greens, lavish gardens, and fountain features were designed to aid in the treatment of the mentally ill.
i've never really thought about the significant, constructive influence that the management of mental illness has on so many branches of societal development
Little p said, (98 days ago)
the building i was thinking of was the Kirkbride facility- it was in it's turn-of-the-century period when they really focused on that sunlight theory
Skanko said, (98 days ago)
@little p - its like an entire compound, its HUGE. buildings EVERYWHERE. thats what makes it difficult b/c some are still in use. and the state dept really keeps an eye on it.
the kirkbride building i BELIEVE is the one we were hanging out around. at least i think. we didnt even get to cover a third of it yet.
the cops were really cool and they told us if we spoke with administration they might give us permission to go back. hopefully we can sweet talk them into letting us inside.
Skanko said, (98 days ago)
we didnt get very far. i don't even know how long i could have spent there, it would take DAYS to really get everything .
Little p said, (98 days ago)
you know, the hospital i was thinking of actually wasn't Greystone, it was the Athens Lunatic Asylum in southwestern ohio- it went up in the 1870's and wasn't a kirkbride building, but was modeled after his idea supposedly by Olmstead who also designed central park- i couldn't figure out why so many asylums were going up east of the mississippi during the late 1800's until i got to the part where they told us it was due to all the civil war veterans and their ptsd - I'm from nashville, and the local large insanity institution that was always threatened to us as kids was Cloverbottom Asylum which opened in the 1920's. supposedly dorthea dix visited tennessee a few times and was always appalled at how medieval our insane asylums were.
man, the south is fuckin' dangerous.
Skanko said, (98 days ago)
wow thats a place id like to see. ive seen other kirkbride buildings or ones modeled after them over the past week after i decided to go to this place, and some of them are absolutely incredible.
bold as love said, (98 days ago)
I LOVE urban exploring. I want to go check that building out, the photos are awesome. My photostream is from Milledgeville State Hospital in Milledgeville, GA. Over 30,000 people are buried on the property. The history of the hospital is very interesting.
http://flickr.com/photos/playcrackthesky/sets/72157600916589235/
lamebrains said, (98 days ago)
HAHA! Skanko, those are great. I went to Frelinghuysen Middle School right down the street. They used to have air raid sirens now and then sound off at noon and when were had recess we always though it was a warning that a crazed patient had escaped.
AWESOME!
The building was INSANELY huge, and beautiful. The cops were pretty cool they just made us leave, but they did take our license numbers and photographs so if we DO go back and get caught they will prosecute us.