I liked photo #7 with the assortment of all the toothbrushes (the colors of which lead me to believe the asylum in question probably has only been closed perhaps a dozen years). Some of the hallway shots reminded me of the dorm I lived in my first two years of college. (It was a ratty, ghetto dorm, but we were proud of it. They’ve since completely remodeled it; I’ve not seen the after, and I’m not sure I’d want to.)

Unlike many abandoned asylum pics I’ve seen, most of these didn’t inspire creepiness or melancholia, just a sense of the inevitability of all things.

His main asylum of investigation was the former Danvers State Asylum, outside of Boston, which is now being turned into condominiums.

John Gray has chronicled his explorations, and included a history lesson on the Danvers facility:

http://www.danversstateinsaneasylum.com

I remember driving by Danvers in the early 60s when I was a child and thinking “If Alfred Hitchcock did a film about the Addams Family…”

full of creepy derelict buildings/hospitals mmmmmmm

(Can you tell I used to live on Staten Island?)

It’s weird to think they abandoned the place — once the top tuberculosis hospital in the country — because the drug treatments developed there had supposedly made such hospitals unnecessary. Now we’re looking at an increasingly nasty resurgence of drug-resistant tuberculosis.

If you’re taking photos on Staten Island, have you found the abandoned graveyard? I know how to find it if I’m driving. I just now looked for it using Google Maps in satellite photo mode, and I believe it’s just south of Richmond Terrace between Alaska Street and Van Street, some blocks east of Clove Road. I found it one day while I was waiting for my car stereo to be fixed at the auto repair place on the other side of Richmond Terrace. You go up what looks like the front walk of a now-vanished house. Wear trousers, sturdy shoes, a long-sleeved shirt, and bug repellent. I strongly recommend taking one or more friends along.

The graveyard was unfenced when I was there, and had obviously not been taken care of in ages. Tombstones had been tipped over or picked up by tree roots. Brush, weeds, and sapling trees were growing everywhere. The slope down toward the backyards of the houses along Alaska Street was eroding, and some of the householders had re-established their property lines by marking them with random chunks of tombstones that had washed down.

Someone told me a couple of years ago that the graveyard had been cleaned up, but I’m not sure they were talking about the same one. If it’s still there and still in dilapidated but accessible condition, you should be able to take some interesting photos.

(And now that I’m thinking of it, I should tell Forgotten NY about it as well.)

There are 2 in the area; both have been fenced off in recent years. An organization called Friends of Abandoned Cemeteries has been sprucing up the island cemeteries.

It’s a virtuous act, though it’s frustrating for photographers.

Motts @ opacity was a huge influence of mine, and actually took me up to MA to see a few asylums (we missed Danvers) a couple of years ago. Cool guy. Amazing photographer.

For those interested, I’ll be showing 12-13 new pieces in a group show with my friends Brian Holliday and William Francis.

DERELICTIONS

@ the Rite Spot Cafe
2099 Folsom St, SF

Opening reception this Sunday April 6th, from 6-9.

http://hospital.apoka.com/

…and of 99 Rooms:

http://www.99rooms.com/

There’s something ghastly appealing about abandoned buildings. The design firm “Belief” used to have a video too, I’ll post a URL if I can find it…

There is always a heavy air in these places, ghosts? Maybe. In my hometown there were two mainstays who hung out in the place weekly Graffiti writers and Occult practitioners. So you could always find empty cans or mutilated animals strewed about. Fun!

Pics are not as high quality, but I think the ones of the Mental Institutions are creepier as they are taken at night.