INTRODUCTION
Before you see what’s left of the Eastern Pennsylvania State Institution for the Feeble-Minded and Epileptic, the tree line driveway leads you back into time. The way is bumpy, the road narrow and curved. Timeworn streetlamps speak of a bygone era, a past forgotten.
Pennhurst is a huge complex. The brick buildings are massive, forbidden. Grass and weeds encroach and twist over old playground equipment. Vines cling to broken windows. Concrete walkways lead to the various named buildings, over twenty-five in all. Beneath it all there is miles of underground tunnels, once used to transport patients - both dead and alive.
Pennsylvania State School and hospital was built in 1908. It was intended to keep out society’s misfits, the mentally ill and epileptics. It was designed to run as a society as itself and keep away the different from the rest of humanity. Children of all ages lived in Pennhurst. Lived their entire lives there and grew to adulthood. One would wonder as to what that life consisted? What compassion did that child receive? Were they ever loved?
Pennhurst is haunting, beautiful in its own way. Its tainted history draws me in. I want to know more of the past and the present.
In the fall of 2011, I worked in the Mayflower building from September to November. It is said to be one of the most haunted buildings in Pennhurst. It has been the source of several paranormal shows.
The following is a detailed account of what I find in the Mayflower - see. Does the dead have a message for us all? Or just for me?
