Pennhurst State, The Forgotten Hell

reply to post by ghostsoldier78


Yes, you'd think that after the images and experiences from the holocaust, we'd never see another Human looking the same way again, yet here, in Pennhurst we see exactly that.

I mentioned it and I've seen the comparison mentioned in other places.

When will we learn?

The extermination of the Jews was a programme to control them. This same method occured almost throughout the life of Pennhurst. People locked away and forgotten, sterilised and then used, abused, starved, chained up and left to rot.

It's very sad to know that we humans are capable of such acts. It's sad to know that we can show so little compassion towards other humans (and other living beings).

Star and flag to the OP for bringing this to ATS. We all need to remember this and to speak out should we ever come across something similar.

On a light note: The ghost videos are freaky, a definite "must watch".

[edit on 23-3-2010 by Frontkjemper]

Ghost Adventures is a show I watch regularly. There are other facilities like Pennhurst out there that were shut down due to neglect or accusations of abuse.

Linda Vista Community Hospital in East Los Angeles is one of those places. The hospital is shut down now but, as you see on the show, is easily one of the most haunted places on Earth because it had a very dark history of neglect and abuse by the doctors. Another is the Preston Castle mental hospital, another very haunted location due to horrific conditions prior to the shut down of that place.

The Ghost Adventures crew seeks out these places because the extreme amount of negative energy exerted on that particular place has left its mark throughout time and there are usually what they call "trapped souls" within the halls of such places.

Seeing these images in the videos - it's heartbreaking and utterly inconceivable how people can treat other people like this.

[edit on 23-3-2010 by sos37]

It also makes you really wonder what is going on elsewhere in the world in countries and cultures not near as fortunate as our own.

I remember seeing this episode on Ghost Adventures. It's absolutely disturbing. You have to think of the thousands/ tens of thousands of people that died there and wonder how haunted the place might still be. The activity that the Ghost Adventures crew captured was interesting but it wasn't the full extent of the activity. They might have even been ther during a lull in the activity usually present. If this kind of thing happened to you, would you haunt the place? I would..

You almost envision the real Penhurst in another dimension with the thousands of dead people still walking around wondering why noone's coming to help them. Above all, this is what frightens me about Pennhurst.

-ChriS

reply to post by Extralien


Excellent post!!!!

Mistakes we don't examine, we are deemed to repeat.

All beings deserve love and respect.

ALL.

Will someone tell me who does the music to this video please?

reply to post by ofhumandescent


From the videos 1 and 2, at the end credits, number 1 is Spinebelt, number two is Nine Inch Nails.

And you're right..we cannot forget this place and its history. Like so may other places we are constantly going over the same troubles. We are not learning from our mistakes.

Some of us are learning very fast, yet others seem to not want to change anything.

reply to post by BlasteR


The whole place has that kind of feel to it. Just from the original NBC documentary and the photos people have taken, you get this strange emotion. As if none of it is real.

It reminds me of that film "Silent Hill"
i155.photobucket.com...
www.iwatchstuff.com...

It's a poor comparison to something that actually happened but your remark sparked the memory of the film.

[edit on 23-3-2010 by Extralien]

I currently live about two miles from the old pennhurst. Growing up I always wanted to go check it out, as I have know people that have.

Not too long ago I looked it up online and found some old handwritten nursing lists, documenting many patients and their illnesses along with prescribed treatments.

Many of the patients threw or played with their own exrement according to this list. Many were prescribed powerful drug cocktails, while a few on the list stated electroshock therapy.

Like others have said, in that time people didn't want to deal with raising somone with certain conditions. After doing this research though, I personally came to the conclusion that the mysticism of pennhurst being this evil human torture laboratory was just not true.
Testimonials of other long time employees claim that it was a nice pace and were saddened by its closing.
All in all though it is still hard to draw a conclusion as to what all went down.

reply to post by Extralien
It reminds me exactly of Silent Hill.

Good reasoning!

reply to post by Mailman


Thank you for posting. One gets a lot more from some one in the area.

Take a walk there and report back your "feelings" please?

Thank you.

reply to post by Mailman


You can tell from the size of the institution and the old photos that this place wasn't intended to be a torture facility. From the older photos, it looks as if they really did help a lot of the children there as there were music programs, bands, groups - amazing what staffing and money can do for a place. Then the footage from that piece in 1968 - what that showed was facilities that were crumbling and should have been condemned, malnourished patients, lack of care providers.

It's so spooky and heartbreaking at the same time watching that piece.

I live a little less then a couple of minutes away fro this place... it is creepy and apparently full of ghosts....

reply to post by greatpiino


The guy who owns the lot is a cheap jerk. He is selling off the land so "Pennhurst: Institute of Fear" can be built. Yes, He IS making it into a haunted huse place.

Links:
www.kyw1060.com...

www.realtvaddict.com...

Even though one can in no way condone the actions taken by the staff, certain things must be taken into account. Today, it is a common occurrence for clinical psychologists to experience a numbing of emotions after dealing with patients for a while. And in their case they are seeing people who are mentally stable enough to go about a semi-normal life one at a time. In a place like Pennhurst, the patients far outnumber the staff and they suffer from problems much worse than the average person that sees a clinical psychologist. So, it is understandable that after working at Pennhurst for a while it could potentially make you completely emotionally dead. It is easy to condemn these people after the fact and label them things like psychopaths, but try to put yourself in their shoes. You work at a place where you are surrounded by people who don't have a grasp on reality and they're probably not going to get better no matter what you do. Do you actually think you'd be able to go in there day after day and think that what you're doing is actually making a difference? Once again, I am in no way condoning the acts that took place there, but odds are these people were not as soulless as we would like to believe.

It's just terribly sad.

The lack of funding, being understaffed/overworked. Makes for an environment where people aren't given the amount of care they need.

This also puts ALOT of stress on the caretakers, who by most accounts had good intentions at first (we really will never know), perhaps turned into more stressed out people in this environment.

I'm not makeing excuses for any atrocities commited by the staff against the residents here, but people even with the best intentions have thier breaking points.

I've seen middle class mothers crack under ALOT less stress and end up shaking a child to death.

Again no excuses, but the real criminals was the state, and the government. Due to the understaffed, and underfunded prison for the mentally handicapped they created.

It's just all so very sad.

You guys all have interesting details to add and Im sure theyre all true in many ways. I just wanted to come here and say that in the past few months Ive been getting the ugly feeling that these 'asylums' arent what theyre cooked up to be. I mean how could the answer to a mentally ill person to be to lock them up and drug the mlike guinea pigs? These places resemble concentration camps to the very extent of the word.

That linik somebody provided with a letter from one of the patients is quite horrifying and actually does bring me chills to my spine. Im suprised those ghost hunters were actually allowed permission onto the property.

Sad thing is, all those peoples isolated and tormented feelings still linger onto the property, gives me the uneasy feeling that they were never helped.

S&F

Thanks for sharing... good way to expose the truth of the atrocities.

Just the other day I wondered if places like these still existed in the US and how they are even getting away with it. When I was young I heard of the orphaniges in Romania who torture children and have always felt bad for them. As well as the people that were deemed as "freaks of nature" that are locked in basements and signed over to the state. I've had conversations with people before who worked in institutions(mental health care professions and even ones who had their stay), about how these places really still do exist in the US. So, am sure they have to still exist in Europe and other places. The people who are locked away in them, because they are considered 'monsters' by their pshysical apperances,and the mental illness that comes with it. Not only are they very sick, but treated very badly.

[edit on 23-3-2010 by dreamingawake]

Originally posted by topsecretombomb
You guys all have interesting details to add and Im sure theyre all true in many ways. I just wanted to come here and say that in the past few months Ive been getting the ugly feeling that these 'asylums' arent what theyre cooked up to be. I mean how could the answer to a mentally ill person to be to lock them up and drug the mlike guinea pigs? These places resemble concentration camps to the very extent of the word.

That linik somebody provided with a letter from one of the patients is quite horrifying and actually does bring me chills to my spine. Im suprised those ghost hunters were actually allowed permission onto the property.

Sad thing is, all those peoples isolated and tormented feelings still linger onto the property, gives me the uneasy feeling that they were never helped.

S&F

You have to remember that Pennhurst was started in 1908. Back then society's answer to mental retardation was to isolate the mentally challenged from the rest of the population so they didn't pose a threat. I think it's safe to say that retardation wasn't fully understood then, at least not like it is now. It's human nature to fear what you don't understand. But even in 1908 I'll bet this wasn't the optimal solution - it was probably the best option they had without actually killing them.

Whether it was the residential schools for Indian children or the Duplessis orphans in the province of Quebec, thousands of children died cruel and painful deaths.

Another one you may not know about is www.lincolnparkmkultra.blogspot.com...



[edit on 24-3-2010 by wdavidb]

[edit on 24-3-2010 by wdavidb]

My weak spot is children. I just can't stand to see children suffer by means of abuse, exploit or neglect, regardless of whether it be family neglect or societal neglect. It breaks my heart to realize that many of these/those children never experienced the love, comradery and/or affection that a family, dysfunctional or not, can offer and I can't help but to think of my own children and how devastating it would be for them to experience even a fraction of this emotional devastation. Sadly, this kind of tragedy is not confined to Pennhurst or even eras past, as this is happening to thousands of children even as I type.

I think that families who shrug their children off to the streets or state when they don't give birth to what is hoped for, should be executed where they stand and buried in an unmarked shallow grave, just like the stain on humanity that they are. You shouldn't be having children if you can't care for whatever the result of your efforts may bring. Many scum-bags use the excuse that it's too hard or too difficult so they would rather the children suffer unimaginable emotional suffering because they feel a little too inconvenienced to take care of their own or take the time out to show affection. To me, this is one of the worst crimes imaginable, right up their with child sex crimes and the central banking fraud (about on the same moral level of a lawyer). I do realize that some of the children need care that can't be provided in a home setting but that surely shouldn't stop a parent from visiting their children at every available moment so that these children realize that they are not alone. Children need love an affection as one of the most important aspects of a healthy child-hood, both mentally and physically, while loneliness is one of the most dangerous and saddening aspects to a slow and miserable mental torture through neglect.

My own family has discussed either adopting a special needs child or a child form a less fortunate situation than our own. I know this may sound a little cliche but if we can help only one child, then that is one child that would get to experience the love and affection that s/he would otherwise not have the pleasure of experiencing. We have been looking into it for around a year now but will take some time to come. As a family, we need to make sure that our priorities are straightened out enough to accept another member without the slightest waver. I wouldn't want to speculate as to whether we will succeed or not because it will all depend on whether we, as a family, can afford both the mental and physical resources required for such an endeavour. For now, I'll just try to do what most of everyone else does for the moment, and not think about it as it truly is very sad. I'll just try to block it out of my conscience until a time comes when I can effectively do something about it, even if my efforts are extremely small.