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10 Wilmington Place (Southern Ohio Lunatic Asylum)
The Southern Ohio Lunatic Asylum, a sanatorium in which a melting pot of the state’s criminally insane, daft and demented were housed, was later effectively named the Dayton State Hospital, ultimately named 10 Wilmington Place, which completely “derails” past notions of the previous named building, and has now become a retirement home for the elderly. “It must be remembered that popular thinking at this time had by no means entirely removed from “insanity” its ancient association with demons, spirits sin and similar mythical phenomena. Neither was it generally considered in the category of illness and hence the afflicted were viewed with an admixture of curiosity, shame and guilt” (INSIDE D.S.H 2). The author is conveying that there was a misconception toward the afflicted that they were not only insane but also demonically possessed, hence the obscurity of the patients due to curiosity and shame by the community. In such films as House on Haunted Hill in which certain archaic medical experiments were performed on patients that once were housed there; as a challenge a group of people were offered money to spend the night in a house thought to be haunted by former patients years ago. This movie concept is in accordance with the author’s statement about popular thinking and public views.
“The Ohio Legislature in 1852 acknowledged the existence of a lunacy problem by authorizing the construction of two new asylums to supplement the one existing, and so came about the origin of the Southern Ohio Lunatic Asylum, now more usually referred to as the Dayton State Hospital” (INSIDE D.S.H 1).On July 7 1852 ,the board met in Cincinnati and again on July 8, 1852 they held a meeting Dayton...
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...uilding Get Ok." Dayton daily news 07 Jul 1957,
16. Print.
“INSIDE D.S.H”. (No publication) 1950. (Local History Room). Print.
Jones, Jack. "Statute Would Clear Way For Housing For Elderly." Dayton daily news 08
Jan 1982, . (No page number).Print.
"Meet the owners." 10 Wilmington Place. 2010.10 Wilmington Place, Inc, Web. .
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"Tower comes down." Dayton daily news 19 Mar 1971, . (No page number).Print.
"10 Wilmington Place." Assisted Living Today. 2011: (No page number). Web.
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Woodward, Alice. The Beginning of 10 Wilmington Place. . (No Date), (Local History
File, Dayton State Hospital). Print.
Wolfe, Mary. Dayton State Hospital Begins Second Century. . 2.5 (December, 1955):
11-14. (Dayton Collection Pamphlets, Local History Room). Print.
During the 1960’s, America’s solution to the growing population of mentally ill citizens was to relocate these individuals into mental state institutions. While the thought of isolating mentally ill patients from the rest of society in order to focus on their treatment and rehabilitation sounded like a smart idea, the outcome only left patients more traumatized. These mental hospitals and state institutions were largely filled with corrupt, unknowledgeable, and abusive staff members in an unregulated environment. The story of Lucy Winer, a woman who personally endured these horrors during her time at Long Island’s Kings Park State Hospital, explores the terrific legacy of the mental state hospital system. Ultimately, Lucy’s documentary, Kings
So, in the 30s and 40s they used to send tuberculosis patients to the [Glenn Dale] hospital for treatment. [normal relaxed tone] Eventually it was converted into an insane asylum and it became notorious for its treatment of patients. The staff experimented on the patients and locked them up all day. One day, all the patients revolted and the doctors ran out of the hospital and boarded up all the doors and windows. [talking faster] The patients were left inside to die and the hospital was abandoned. The insane still wander the halls. Today, if you sneak in the hospital you will be chased by the ghosts of the patients and catch tuberculosis. My friend went there and swears he saw a ghost watching him from the shadows, and he won’t go near that place anymore [gestures with hand in horizontal motion]. The cops arrest anyone they catch trespassing, but they say the cops won’t go in the hospital after you if you need help.”
"To feel a sense of belonging, you need to accept yourself and be accepted by others."
The Beechworth Lunatic Asylum, also known as the Mayday Hills Lunatic Asylum, is located in Beechworth, a town in Victoria, Australia. Located just a few hours away from Melbourne, Beechworth is the second oldest institution in Victoria. It is also one of the most haunted buildings in all of Australia. Mayday hills was founded in 1867 and closed in 1995 after 128 years of operation. Since it’s closing, it has now been transformed into a hotel and conference center for La Trobe University. It was the fourth psychiatric hospital to be built in Victoria, making one of the three largest. The Beechworth Lunatic Asylum was home to patients, as well as prisoners. Over 9,000 people died on the property. With all those tragic passings, no wonder it’s
The film gives a historical overview of how the mentally ill have been treated throughout history and chronicles the advancements and missteps the medical community has made along the way. Whittaker recounts the history of psychiatric treatment in America until 1950, he then moves on to describe the use of antipsychotic drugs to treat schizophrenia. He critically summarizes that it is doctors, rather than the patients, who have always calculated the evaluation of the merits of medical treatment, as the “mad” continue to be dismissed as unreliable witnesses. When in fact it is the patient being treated, and their subjective experience, that should be foremost in the evaluation. The film backs up this analysis with interviews of people, living viable lives in the town of Geel, Belgium. I would recommend this film to anyone interested in the history of medicine and specifically to those examining mental illness. It provides a balanced recounting of historical approaches to mental illness, along with success stories of the people of Geel, Belgium. And although I had to look away during the viewing of a lobotomy procedure, I give credit to the power of the visual impact the footage
The first hospital was built in a quiet farming town later named Kings Park. In 1885, officials of what was then the city of Brooklyn established the Kings County Farm on more than 800 acres to care for the mentally ill. Kings Park was only a small part of what would later become a giant chain of connected mental hospitals on Long Island, each with over 2,500 patients at one time.(Bleyer,2)
“Peoria State Hospital? What’s that? Oh is that the Bartonville Insane Asylum haunted house? That place is scary!” This is what pops into many people’s mind when they think of Peoria State Hospital. Peoria State Hospital, PSH, is not just a scary haunted house; it is a very important part of history. PSH was one of the first mental health facilities of its kind. Peoria State Hospital is considered a pioneer in the treatment of mentally ill patients due to the innovative treatment methods it used. PHS influenced mental healthcare not only in Illinois but across the entire United States as well. This facility became terribly downtrodden in its later years due to the launch of new local facilities and programs and the degradation of the buildings. Toward the end PSH was eerily similar to the hospitals they sought to replace. Peoria State Hospital marked a major turning point towards the improving of mental healthcare by helping people with and curing, their mental illness not only in Illinois, but in the entire country (Bittersweet).
...he Hospital for the Criminal Insane.” Poets.org. Academy of American Poets, 1997-2003. Web. 11 Mar. 2014.
In the 1800’s people with mental illnesses were frowned upon and weren't treated like human beings. Mental illnesses were claimed to be “demonic possessions” people with mental illnesses were thrown into jail cells, chained to their beds,used for entertainment and even killed. Some were even slaves, they were starved and forced to work in cold or extremely hot weather with chains on their feet.
For much of the United States’ history, problems with private hospitals refusing to treat people without financial means and transferring them to public hospitals existed. Many patients who were in serious medical crisis did not survive the journey or many died soon after. This proved that these transfers can be detrimental to the emergency victim’s health.
Movies and shows like, “Girl Interrupted” and “American Horror Story: Insane Asylum” portray hospitals in a way that has truth to it, however they portray the people in a negative way. It has become more known to society that the hospitals that the mentally ill are subjected to living in are not a good place to be. However, the stigma that mentally ill people are dangerous and cannot overcome their illness is still widely
For many decades the mentally ill or insane have been hated, shunned, and discriminated against by the world. They have been thrown into cruel facilities, said to help cure their mental illnesses, where they were tortured, treated unfairly, and given belittling names such as retards, insane, demons, and psychos. However, reformers such as Dorothea Dix thought differently of these people and sought to help them instead. She saw the inhumanity in these facilities known as insane asylums or mental institutions, and showed the world the evil that wandered inside these asylums. Although movements have been made to improve conditions in insane asylums, and were said to help and treat the mentally ill, these brutally abusive places were full of disease and disorder, and were more like concentration camps similar to those in Europe during WWII than hospitals.
The early history of mental illness is bleak. The belief that anyone with a mental illness was possessed by a demon or the family was being given a spiritual was the reason behind the horrific treatment of those with mental illness. These individuals were placed into institutions that were unhygienic and typically were kept in dark, cave like rooms away from people in the outside world. The institutions were not only dark and gross; they also used inhumane forms of treatment on their patients. Kimberly Leupo, discusses some of the practices that were used, these included may types of electro shocks, submitting patients to ice bath, as well as many other horrific events (Leupo). Lobotomies, which are surgical procedures that cut and scrape different connections in the brain, were very common practice. They were thought to help cure mental illness, but often ended up with more damage than good.
Another man involved was the Dr. John Galt he himself worked at one of these insane asylums as the superintendent of the Eastern State Hospital in Williamsburg. Although there was a stream of terrible abuse in the asylum and prison movement towards the sick and insane he was one of the few that treated his patients with care he had very little use for restraints and preferred a calming medication. He was also the first influence in
To begin, the stereotypical views on psychiatric institutions are understandable due to the history of these facilities. When the idea of a mental institution was first introduced in 1700s American society,