America is littered with abandoned State Hospitals - big institutions similar to our asylums over here which housed thousands of patients each. Most of them are partially active but have parts which are closed and derelict, it just becomes a matter of first working out the ones which do indeed have exploration potential and second how to go about exploring them. Working out if you can legally be allowed on site - in some the grounds have been designated public parks so you're able to walk freely around the outside of the buildings, in others you're barred from all entry. Then it becomes a matter of working out how to get to the derelict parts. Are there service tunnels? Areas hidden from view of active buildings?
This particular State Hospital is a big unknown. Nobody explores the abandoned parts of this facility for some reason. As such we had very little prior knowledge of what to expect, other than one target building in mind at the edge of the site. We parked in the front car park and studied the large sign stating the campus rules - no weapons or drugs, watch out for traffic, that kind of thing - and nowhere did it state 'private property no trespassing'. This boosted us a little as we knew we should be able to wander the grounds without too much hassle. We started up the hill in a kind of indirect route to the building we knew was abandoned, noting where active buildings and other seemingly abandoned parts were located and after about five minutes found ourselves where we needed to be. Heading around the back out of sight we made our way to an area hidden from view of everywhere except the active boiler house and managed to find our entrance which obviously had been open for some time but nobody had been in and out thanks to the thick undergrowth blocking it almost completely.
Because nobody really explores this campus, the building is almost completely untouched by idiots. What we had was a building with at least two decades of natural decay and nothing else, the only slight downer was that the contents of every room had been placed in rooms on the ground floor for storage (and then forgotten about presumably!). We had our fill of this building and not wanting to push our luck headed off, doubtless there are other things to discover here but it's one for a return in the future.
Thanks for looking, more here https://www.flickr.com/photos/mookie427/albums/72157680335581973
This particular State Hospital is a big unknown. Nobody explores the abandoned parts of this facility for some reason. As such we had very little prior knowledge of what to expect, other than one target building in mind at the edge of the site. We parked in the front car park and studied the large sign stating the campus rules - no weapons or drugs, watch out for traffic, that kind of thing - and nowhere did it state 'private property no trespassing'. This boosted us a little as we knew we should be able to wander the grounds without too much hassle. We started up the hill in a kind of indirect route to the building we knew was abandoned, noting where active buildings and other seemingly abandoned parts were located and after about five minutes found ourselves where we needed to be. Heading around the back out of sight we made our way to an area hidden from view of everywhere except the active boiler house and managed to find our entrance which obviously had been open for some time but nobody had been in and out thanks to the thick undergrowth blocking it almost completely.
Because nobody really explores this campus, the building is almost completely untouched by idiots. What we had was a building with at least two decades of natural decay and nothing else, the only slight downer was that the contents of every room had been placed in rooms on the ground floor for storage (and then forgotten about presumably!). We had our fill of this building and not wanting to push our luck headed off, doubtless there are other things to discover here but it's one for a return in the future.
Thanks for looking, more here https://www.flickr.com/photos/mookie427/albums/72157680335581973
