In 2008, I wrote a blog post about Weston State Hospital in West Virginia, the hospital, though long closed, was bought and the owners were planning to use it for events such as “Psycho Path” dirt bike races, "Hospital of Horrors" haunting tours in October, and a "Nightmare Before Christmas" tour. They even renamed the hospital the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum.
Fast forward to 2010, and something very similar has happened.
Pennsylvania’s historic Pennhurst Center, once the focus of landmark litigation that sparked nationwide changes in treatment for people with intellectual disabilities, opened last night as a Halloween-themed haunted house attraction over the protests of disability rights advocates.
Advocates had unsuccessfully sought an injunction to prevent the opening of the “Pennhurst Asylum” show on the grounds of the property, once known as Eastern State Institution for the Feeble-Minded and Epileptic.
Even before the injunction was denied on Friday afternoon, advocates called for a boycott of the attraction, which references historic abuse and neglect of the institution’s patients and features a “registration nurse” who tells visitors what the asylum’s “doctor” has planned for them. Here is a video of what is in store for visitors:
The crumbling facility was closed in 1987 in the wake of a federal lawsuit alleging years of abuse and neglect. The suit, which spawned years of appeals and three U.S. Supreme Court rulings, alleged that residents had been beaten by nurses, strapped to beds, left naked or alone and drugged into stupors. At the time, the closure of the 600-acre facility was hailed as a civil rights victory.
Pennhurst property owner Richard Chakejian said said he and his crew are “just trying to pull off a fun, orderly event and we’re excited about that.”
Sorry, but none of this sounds like fun to me...
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ReplyDeleteI can just picture groups of disgusting people with their friends beating their chests like I saw people in high school doing, saying "heh guys guys I get to play a retard" then continuing to make grotesque noises that those who work with people with disabilities wouldn't recognize I'm sure, at least I don't notice any similarity in the noises with my limited hearing and hearing aids. I would say they should protest when it's open, but they would have to be very careful with their signs because I could just see the disgusting pigs who run this saying oh no it's apart of it, that happened. This makes me want to go and smack this man and then, take all the wonderful resilient people with disabilities who HAVE suffered abuse and neglect (though thank God the number is less than years past but still too high) and say this is what happened to them. Is it fun? funny? Is it game?? Ugh. These people disgust me.
ReplyDeletedeafDalya
You know, I love a good haunted house... and having one with a fairly realistic back-story is a wonderful idea... HOWEVER... There is simply no need to do it at the disadvantage of actual people who were actually "tortured"... I find this sick, demented, and socially unacceptable.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Patrick haunted houses are fun, but this... I watched another video on youtube after that one you linked. One that had actual historic photographs of the patients at Pennhurst. Some of them looked like holocaust victims, they were so skinny.. I think I'm going to be sick now.
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