I visited Trans Allegheny Lunatic Asylum this past October and took the first floor tour. The buildings and grounds are spectacular. The link below will take you to an article that appeared in the LA Times that does a better job than I could explaining the horrendous treatment patients received. I encourage you to read it. The Asylum has a very interesting and disturbing history. The reasons you could be admitted to the hospital were quite disturbing as well. Some of the things you could cause you to be admitted are: Asthma, Bite of a rattlesnake, Cold, Dog bite, Female disease, immoral life, laziness, masturbation, and being a woman. You were left there until family came to get you or you died.
The sister of John F. Kennedy was taken to the Asylum at the age of 23 to undergo a Lobotomy. She was probably the first mentally retarded person to undergo a prefontal lobotomy according to sources. Doctors told Joseph Kennedy that a lobotomy, a medical procedure in which the frontal lobes of a patient’s brain are scraped away, would help his daughter and calm her mood swings that the family found difficult to handle at home.
The moment you step inside, the atmosphere changes. The air feels heavier and I was overcome with sadness as I saw the dolls of former residents and the artwork that they had made themselves. Some of it very disturbing.
Staff members say the are touched regularly, things are moved and they hear noises all the time. I didn't encounter anything paranormal myself that day but I did get a photograph that appears to have an older man looking out the window. Is it a spirit? We will never know. I can tell you there was no one on that floor and the figure appears transparent. You decide. I've posted it in my webpage. I have circled the face in the image. You can find it in the pictures here: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.260708517345769.63156.241333602616594&type=3
I visited Trans Allegheny Lunatic Asylum this past October and took the first floor tour. The buildings and grounds are spectacular. The link below will take you to an article that appeared in the LA Times that does a better job than I could explaining the horrendous treatment patients received. I encourage you to read it. The Asylum has a very interesting and disturbing history. The reasons you could be admitted to the hospital were quite disturbing as well. Some of the things you could cause you to be admitted are: Asthma, Bite of a rattlesnake, Cold, Dog bite, Female disease, immoral life, laziness, masturbation, and being a woman. You were left there until family came to get you or you died.
The sister of John F. Kennedy was taken to the Asylum at the age of 23 to undergo a Lobotomy. She was probably the first mentally retarded person to undergo a prefontal lobotomy according to sources. Doctors told Joseph Kennedy that a lobotomy, a medical procedure in which the frontal lobes of a patient’s brain are scraped away, would help his daughter and calm her mood swings that the family found difficult to handle at home.
The moment you step inside, the atmosphere changes. The air feels heavier and I was overcome with sadness as I saw the dolls of former residents and the artwork that they had made themselves. Some of it very disturbing.
Staff members say the are touched regularly, things are moved and they hear noises all the time. I didn't encounter anything paranormal myself that day but I did get a photograph that appears to have an older man looking out the window. Is it a spirit? We will never know. I can tell you there was no one on that floor and the figure appears transparent. You decide. I've posted it in my webpage. I have circled the face in the image. You can find it in the pictures here: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.260708517345769.63156.241333602616594&type=3
