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John Elder Robison | profile | all galleries >> The State Hospital tree view | thumbnails | slideshow

The State Hospital

Both my parents were inmates here, at different times, in the 1970s. It's been closed almost 20 years but walking the grounds today you may still meet former inmates, wandering around.

This place stars in my brother's book, Running With Scissors, and makes an appearance in my own story, Look Me in the Eye

These pictures were taken a few years ago. Many of the structures shown have since been torn down. They were full of asbestos and hazardous chemicals, and seemingly beyond redemption.
Behind the friendly sign the buildings are boarded up and crumbling
Behind the friendly sign the buildings are boarded up and crumbling		 The entrance was grand, like an English country home, but the guests came chained in the backs of trucks
The entrance was grand, like an English country home, but the guests came chained in the backs of trucks		 They let them out under the portico, and smiling guards with names like Hoss, Junior, and Tiny herded them inside
They let them out under the portico, and smiling guards with names like Hoss, Junior, and Tiny herded them inside		 Guards watched from towers and the windows all had bars
Guards watched from towers and the windows all had bars
It's all dark and boarded up now, but it was dark and locked up when it was open
It's all dark and boarded up now, but it was dark and locked up when it was open		 They brought them out the back here, and loaded them into trucks
They brought them out the back here, and loaded them into trucks		 Block 7, a bright and cheery place to live
Block 7, a bright and cheery place to live		 The afternoon sun shines on a porch where inmates once sat and raved
The afternoon sun shines on a porch where inmates once sat and raved
They looked at the sky from behind steel screens
They looked at the sky from behind steel screens		 The nursery
The nursery		 Building 1, North. The better cages had windows.
Building 1, North. The better cages had windows.		 The big house
The big house
They did the lobotomies in this building, way out in back
They did the lobotomies in this building, way out in back		 The warden lived here
The warden lived here		 The back side. Every now and then one would get out onto the roof, but the slate was slippery and it was a long way to fall
The back side. Every now and then one would get out onto the roof, but the slate was slippery and it was a long way to fall		 There was a spiral staircase, and you could jump four floors down the middle
There was a spiral staircase, and you could jump four floors down the middle
The dead ones were stored behind the red door till the ground thawed in spring
The dead ones were stored behind the red door till the ground thawed in spring		 The worst ones lived underground
The worst ones lived underground		 This was one of the newer, kinder gentler looking buildings
This was one of the newer, kinder gentler looking buildings		 Some of the keepers had their own houses on site
Some of the keepers had their own houses on site

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Jen 03-Jul-2008 04:43
I grew up in Northampton not far from the state hospital and I used to love to sneak around up there and look in the windows. I don't know for sure if there was a " Nursery" but I can say that while peaking in the window I saw one building that had a few old dolls and toys on the floor covered in years and years of dust. In many of the windows you could see things left behind years ago as if they just locked the doors and walked away. You could see the " rooms " which looked more like cells with beds that were attached to the walls and doors with just one small tiny window in it. These were tiny little rooms. There were infact under ground tunnels which they brought the residents from one building to another in. I don't know about them living down there. I have an uncle who spent a great deal of time there in the 60's and can say that it was not a place that helped him at all with his mental illness and we are sure his stays there purhaps made him much worse.
Michele 05-Nov-2007 02:36
I have been enjoying your photos ever since I discovered them from your business site, as well as on the Amazon page. Thanks for sharing your interests, photos, and story. The world is a better place when people share information!
Bee 05-Oct-2007 14:20
Thanks for putting these pictures up. My dad and mother worked at the State Hospital when I was growing up. My dad was the head forman at the carpenter shop. My mother worked on the 9 or 7th ward of the hospital. Brings back memories.
Janus 23-Sep-2007 03:29
Thank you for posting these pictures. We can all stand to learn about history,mental illness, and prejudice in its many forms.Unfortunately people will be in denial, or become defensive. As someone who lives with Autism and struggles of mental illnesses,prejudice,etc, I wish there were more voices like yours being listened to in our culture.
Thanks again.
Have a great day!
janet 23-Sep-2007 02:05
Thanks for pics,read your brothers books.Work and have lived on mental hospital grounds.Not as bad as some people think.We really do care for the people we take care of.
Guest 19-Sep-2007 14:45
A lot of us Smithies used to poke around in the old hospital after classes. It is unfortunate that the buildings are being torn down.
Guest 15-Jul-2007 04:15
"The lobotomy"building was actually a canteen and bowling alley.There was no nursery.The "guard towers"towers were roofs over the chimneys.The loading dock was for supplies and groceries.The dark building was a vehicle maintenance garage.
kanani 15-Jun-2007 00:49
This is truly sobering stuff. This is the stuff that my husband's mother denied ever taking place in his own family or her own. Didn't find out until we read her diaries. And then it was only a cursory mention. But it was a key that opened up a window of understanding for me. So in a way, it was a good thing --though most of my husband's family still refuses to admit or deal with it in their own broods.

Great photos, by the way. Some day this will all be gone, and you'll have documented it all.
Polly Kahl 14-Jun-2007 12:40
Interesting how old prisons and old asylems look so similar.
Brooks Rownd 14-Apr-2007 07:42
Thanks for posting pix. I never got up there to look at it when I lived in Noho.
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