Pennhurst Insane Asylum, Pennhurst State School and Hospital

 

Location: Spring City, PA Map

Operational: 1908- 87

 

Haunted and Weird

Europe

Dyatlov Pass
Frangokastello
Balestrino
Oradour-sur-Glane
Fabergé's House
Carnac
Grebnebo
S'yani
Poveglia Island

North America

Saint Elmo
Ohio State Reformatory
Museo Leon Trotsky
Paricutin Volcano
Waverly Hills Sanatorium

Africa

Loropéni

Australia

Port Arthur Penitentiary

 

History of Pennhurst State School and Hospital

Creation
In 1903, the Pennsylvania Legislature authorized the creation of the Pennhurst State School as the southwestern part of the state did not have a center to accommodate epileptics. At six years the center and had 1,146 people. Legislation directed half the residents of nearby mental hospitals and asylums to go to Pennhurst, raising the number to 2,627 in 1910. The legislation stated that the buildings would be divided into two groups, one for the educational and industrial department, and another for the cleaning or asylum department. The institution also mandated that there be more than 500 patients, with room for additions.

Design
From 1903 to 1908 the first buildings were built on 10,000 square miles on Crab Hill in Spring City, Pennsylvania, near Chester County on what is known as the lower campus. The buildings were divided by letters:

Wing 'F' was the women's dining room, 'G' the kitchen and storeroom, 'H', 'I' and 'K' were a 'Cottage for Girls', 'N' was the men's dining room,' P' was the wing for teachers and assistants, while Q', T', 'U' and 'V' were a "Cottage for Boys", the 'R' was the school, the 'W' was laundry and sewing , and the 'X' was the roundhouse.

The 'P' building was used as an interim administration building until the institution's opening in 1918, along with the opening of the 'L' and 'M' buildings the following year. In 1921, housing for employees was created, and in 1929, the Assembly building was completed and functioned as a gymnasium and auditorium. The lower campus buildings were marked with letters such as 'F', 'I', 'K', 'P', 'Q', 'R', 'N', 'U', 'V', 'T' , 'W' and 'X' with names assigned later in the 1960s (see below). In 1930, the first buildings on the upper campus, also known as the Woman's Colony, were completed and named Pershing, Buchanan, Audubon, and Keystone. Capitol Hall was built after World War II along with Devon built at the bottom of the campus. Horizon Salon opened later in 1971.

The older buildings, designed by Phillip H. Johnson, were two-story, and made of red brick, terracotta, and granite trim. They were connected by tunnels and over the tunnel there were footbridges for the transportation of the residents with a steam system of pipes, and they were distributed in the 5.7 km² of the campus. The buildings were designed to provide a large number of small rooms with two to three beds, a couple of small dormitories with eight to ten beds, and a large daily exercise room. George Lovatt was the architect of several of the buildings built after 1937.

The central administration building has a front portico and a copper dome in the center of the roof. The hospital building was connected to the Whitman and Wilson I and Wilson II buildings (workers' housing) via tunnels, which in turn was connected to the powerhouse.

Service
On November 23, 1908, the first patient was admitted to the hospital. Four years later, Pennhurst was full but not because of the mentally ill, but because they welcomed anyone, so there were also immigrants, orphans and criminals. <<It went from being a center for epileptics to a foster home>> assured one of the workers of the 'P' building. The branches of industry that the residents were assigned to were shoemaking and shoe repair, farming, laundry, housework, sewing, working in a bakery, butchering, painting, and working in the shop.

Residents are classified into mental categories; one building was for morons and imbeciles, another for the insane, etc. They were also classified by their physique, whether their health was good or malformed, and into dental categories of teeth sound, poor, or treated when admitted.

Among the diseases that were in Pennhurst, were strabismus, vision or hearing defects, silence, semi-mute, imperfect language, paralysis, epilepsy, blindness, abnormal gait, imperfect comprehension, deformity of the face, head, limbs or feet, head microcephaly or hydrocephalus and offensive habits.

Closing
In 1968, conditions in Pennhurst were exposed in a report made for a regional television channel by correspondent Bill Baldini; titled: "Leave the Children". In 1983, nine employees were indicted on charges ranging from beating patients to stealing belongings given to them by their relatives. The Halderman case, which resulted in the closure of the institution, widespread abuse to a patient is also detailed.

A class action case was filed against Pennhurst State School for the benefit of their patients. Among the plaintiffs was psychologist Henry Herbert Goddard. The case was heard by District Judge Raymond J. Broderick, who in 1977 ruled that the conditions of the institution violated the constitutional rights of patients. Pennhurst State School was finally closed in 1987. Its 460 patients were discharged or transferred to other facilities in a process known as "deinstitutionalization" that lasted several years, and treatment plans were discussed with each patient's family.

Halderman case
The allegations of abuse led to the first lawsuit of its kind in the United States, a federal class action lawsuit, known as the Helderman case or Halderman v Pennhurst State School and Hospital. The complainant asserted that developmentally disabled in the care of the state have a constitutional right to appropriate care and education. Terry Halderman Lee had been a Pennhurst resident, and upon her release a lawsuit was filed in federal district court on behalf of her and other Pennhurst residents. The complaint alleged that conditions at Pennhurst were unsanitary, inhumane, and dangerous, in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, and that Pennhurst used cruel and unlawful punishment, in violation of the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments, as well as the of Pennsylvania Mental Health and Retardation Act of 1966 (MH/MR). The District Court ruled that some of the patients' rights had been violated. Ultimately, however, the US Supreme Court struck down the ruling based on the Eleventh Amendment principle to the United States Constitution that federal courts cannot order state officials to comply with state laws. .

Pennhurst today
Since 1999, Pennhurst has been commonly known as a habitat for spirits and ghosts. The American television series Ghost Adventures, which investigates the most paranormal places in the United States, traveled to Pennhurst State School and Hospital in 2011 and did an episode on campus. Also the Ghost Hunters series investigated the paranormal phenomena of Pennhurst. Other series like Celebrity Ghost Stories, dedicated to the same paranormal field, have reported on this place.

 

Eugenics in Pennhurst Hospital

Pennhurst School and Hospital appear at the time when eugenics become quiet popular in the Western World. Eugenics is a "science" of genetic composition of human population. Its theory stated that who were not smart enough or strong enough should be simply segregated from the rest of society to prevent breeding. Few decades later this World view will massacre millions of untermenschen (sub- human in German) in concentration camps, but in the early century it was a fairly noble and acceptable theory. Many patients were forced to relocate here and subsequently castrated or sterilized.

 

Patient who came to Pennhurst sanatorium came for different reasons. Some were stuck here by court order, others were brought by relatives or guardians in hopes that medicine will cure all problems. There was no definite distinction between mental retardation and psychological deviation. Many kids with fairly high IQ, but violent or harmful tendencies were brought to the same classrooms as kids with very low mental capacity. Obviously this made things only worse allowing these deviations to take full turn. The doctors were less than empathetic toward their patients. Chief Physician of Pennhurst State School and Hospital Henry H. Goddard once said:

 

Every feeble-minded person is a potential criminal. The general public, although more convinced today than ever before that it is a good thing to segregate the idiot or the distinct imbecile, they have not as yet been convinced as to the proper treatment of the defective delinquent, which is the brighter and more dangerous individual.

 

Suffer the Little Children (1968)

 

Pennhurst TodayToday part of Pennhurst Hospital is transformed into Veterans State Hospital, but many part of the former school are still in the same condition as they were before. Many ghost hunters and urban explorers come here for the thrill. Much of the former artifacts are still in place. You can find even patient’s folders with their histories. However police can arrest and fine you if you get caught. Although it rarely happens and in most cases they will just throw you out. Ghost Haunting in Pennhurst HospitalPennhurst Hospital Complex is believed to be haunted by spirits of people who either perished there or once worked here. Below is the list of some of the most haunted places in the hospital.

 

Quaker Hall of Pennhurst Hospital

Quaker Hall was reserved for the violent patients of Pennhurst. Needless to say violence and sadistic abuse was prevalent here. In theory this part of the asylum was meant to separate aggressive members of the small semi- independent community. Here they would learn to cope with their pattern of aggression and violence. Once they would rehabilitate it was expected that they would move to other parts of the complex once they cease to pose any threat to themselves and others. However in reality overcrowding made this dream virtually impossible. Stronger patients would pick on weaker ones and understaffed nurses either couldn't or wouldn't do anything about it. Over time violent patients became worse as their tendencies were left unchecked.

It is part of must see buildings in the Pennhurst Asylum. The most common apparition that is seen here is a that of a woman standing in a white gown in front of the window. Attempting to locate or catch this "prankster" left ghost hunters baffled as the buildings was empty upon further inspection. Many also people claimed to have experienced violent outburst of unseen force that pinched, hit and harmed visitors and ghost hunters.

 

Mayflower Hall of Pennhurst Hospital

This is another part of the Pennhurst Hospital that is famous for ghostly activity.

 

Candy land of Pennhurst Hospital

Influx of new patients and lack of proper funding forced administration of the complex to improvise with the buildings they already had. Some one came up with a bright idea of housing patients in the basement of some of the buildings. One of the most famous of such new additional rooms is a place called Candy Land. It is covered by murals intended to entertain children or those who were stuck intellectually at a level of a child.

 

Philadelphia Hall of Pennhurst Hospital

Philadelphia Hall is famous for a ghost of a forceful and aggressive male. Some reported hearing commands from unseen spirit. Others heart direct threats towards unwelcome visitors. It is widely believed if these are not just the voices in people heads, it must be the voice of an orderly "Clark" that still sticks around to push patients around. People who visited Pennhurst asylum reported several violent encounters with this entity.

 

Pennhurst Insane Asylum

So much for patient confidentiality