Monday, 03 September 2012
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XANGA I NEED YOU
Okay xanga friends. I need some advice.
You know Halloween is coming up and I really like scary stuff. A friend of mine has invited me to go to Pennhurst Asylum. Where they have a huge haunted house, fully loaded with lobotomies performed with chainsaws. In case you haven't heard of it, it was a place for mentally incapacitated children that the state of Pennsylvania ran, that ended up in some sick circumstances. (see video, watch the first 2:50. The rest is just current pictures)
"After comparing the zoo to pennhurst, one must get the impression that societies animals are more important then societies children".
Now since I know about the history of Pennhurst, because of my knowledge of psychiatric issues, I am incredibly hesitant to go, because I think they are really trying to make a huge buck off of some serious suffering, since the state does still own the property and I can't seem to fathom why they are making a mockery of a HUGE fuck up on their part. Should I just shut up and go, and stop being such a whiney, political correct sissy pants, because I never go out with friends ever? Or should I stand my ground?
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Comments (18)
If you find it offensive because you have personal experience with the kind of things they are making a buck off of, then don't go.
Never do anything that compromises your principles especially if it is just to go along with the crowd. Walk in a different direction and let everyone go in the new direction or follow their path.
^^I agree with ShadowRunner81.
Maybe use this as a chance to educate your friends. If it were me I'd still go since no one is being actively being hurt by you going.
I have mixed feelings. I never thought about the mockery aspect of haunted houses when they portray mental institutions. It does feel kind of wrong to have it there, but I am not sure it is any less wrong than having the same scenarios at a sorority house. I love haunted houses so I think I'd probably go.
I agree with Shimmer - since no one is actively being hurt by you going, I say go - and use it as an opportunity to educate your friends if you'd like!
Agrees with everyone above. If it makes you uncomfortable, then don't go.
If you wanted to make a real political statement, do something effective and volunteer at a mental institution or in a special education classroom or something that results in something real happening. Not going to this to be politically correct serves no function if it is all just talk. Good luck in making your decision.
If it makes you uncomfortable, don't go. There are other haunted house places in Pennsylvania you could go to. I went to Jason's Woods before and liked it. Maybe you could suggest to your friends about going there instead, or someplace else that is like it.
What TiredSoVeryTired said, is about what I was going to say. You should go have fun with your friends and if they think lobotomies with chain saws are funny, or Ellen DeGeneres and Portia De La Rossi performing a penectomy with a meat cleaver for that matter, is funny, then have a laugh BUT disabled people really need our help, it would probably be very gratifying to have the time and energy to bathe the nonverbal autistic young people and adults, and help people with cerebral palsy with physical therapy. Etc. I'm interested in a peculiar way with whether disabled people have sex lives and all my life I was fascinated with blind people, polio patients, cerebral palsy patients, etc. Used to get books about them from the library all the time when I was in 3rd or 4th grade, 5th grade, 6th grade, I remember my mother screaming at me and beating me with a book! "GIRLS' BOOKS!!! GIRLS' BOOKS!!!" I also used to chase police cars and fire engines and ambulances around town on my bicycle.
@TiredSoVeryTired - I do volunteer at a mental health recovery place. It's not inpatient, because you need certain certifications for that, but I do CBT instructions for people with severe mental illnesses.
@Shining_Garnet - I've been to Jason's woods and Eastern State, Jason's woods was okay, but Eastern State was in it's first years and I heard it's gotten better since, so maybe I'll go there again.
The photos aren't that shocking. The wards seem crowded but clean. I remember nursing homes in the 1960s and '70s that were much worse.
It is kind of irreverent, though, to use the place as a haunted house. It's like making a theme park out of the Auschwitz camp.
You could picket, but it probably wouldn't get the message across. It's probably too late to cancel and would seem like censorship.
I'd go, take notes so I could describe it accurately, and plan an effective protest or cancellation next year.
There's a potter's field cemetery near me on county-owned land where the county farm for the indigent used to be. Recently, the county almost expanded its landfill/dump onto it until a son of one of the buried indigents raised hell. The landfill board said they had forgotten it was there.
They found a few old markers lying around.
@dingus6 - The state of Pa was sued millions of dollars for the treatment of these children which were compared to that of orphanages in Romania. Children locked in cribs their entire lives, tied to beds for sometimes years with nothing more then torn fabric, disease and infections were widespread, a fighting ring between severely handicapped children with anger problems. Did you see how sickly and malnourished some of those kids were?(1:42) Left on the ground to their own vices, unable to walk? They were soaked in feces and urine.
A nurse who was in on the investigation gave these reasons for the last deaths before the final one.
Many inmates were Sterilized and could not reproduce. There was no age
limit to those admitted, although the school was advertised for
children. There were 4 Superintendents within a year and a half.
# Seclusion wards were on M-1, U-2, K-1, K-2, V-2 and I-2
# One patient was burned by a hot bath
# One patient was thrown out of a window
# One patient stole of a bottle of Thorozine, drank the entire bottle and died the next day
# One patient was hung on the porch which began the Investigation of Pennhurst
It's a tragic story. I'd feel a bit uncomfortable there, knowing the asylum's history. If you feel as if you're compromising your principles by going there for a scare, than don't go. Make a statement. Do what you feel is right for you.
P. S. cool profile pic.
I understand your issue with this, it'd be like hosting a bunch of ghost tours and haunted houses in Hiroshima- a place of tragedy that deserves respect. I have similar issues with recent video games using Chernobyl as a battleground and place where the goal is to violently kills mutants...I think it is completely disrespectful in light of the terrible accident that happened there. All that said, it is up to you. No matter the reason you choose to visit a place like Pennhurst it is no doubt going to be creepy, so it is up to you to draw the line for what you would consider a visit that would still be respectful or one that is simply a mockery.
@LastStopCrazyTown - Lol thanks, I see you love a doggy too!
@blonde_vampire - that was kind of my take... like having a haunted house where a disaster has happened is just a disaster.