I've known for a while that empty houses (or buildings in general) die. May sound a little harsh, put that way, but it's true. If you've ever been in or seen an abandoned house/building, then you know what I mean. It's such a fascinating phenomenon that you can find multiple websites dedicated to abandoned buildings. One of my favorite is Opacity.

 

I discovered Opacity a number of years ago, forgot about it for a while, and then revisited the site about a month ago, and have been obsessing over it ever since. Part of that is because of my fascination with abandoned building, part is due to the subject of many of his photo journals, and part of it is the mystery that bugged the snot out of me for about a week until I answered my questions.

 

As you know, I'm a stickler for research. One of the elements of Opacity is that the owner, Tom Motts (aka Mr. Motts), often uses pseudonyms when dealing with locations that are either still partially in use, or where anonymity, for preservational reasons, is desired. One such, and the reason for my recent obsession, he dubbed "Fuller State School and Hospital." "Fuller State School and Hospital" was an institution for the developmentally disabled, and, as such, catered primarily to children. Having quite quickly discovered the identity of one of his other pseudonymous listings, I felt sure I would quickly discover the identity of this one also...I was mistaken. In what would be several days of abject mental anguish, the only thing I discovered quickly, was that, despite the information he had provided on the site, there was at least one other possible locations this could be.

 

And that added to my determination to find out the identity of this particular location. As you can read on the "Fuller" write-up, this institution was ultimately closed do to gross abuses of the patients. But what I found was that "Fuller" was by no means the only institution closed for abuse.

 

Using the scant information Mr. Motts provided, I set about scouring the internet for any children's institute that was closed in 1991. The first I discovered was Laconia State School in New Hampshire. Laconia State, also closed in 1991, was, like "Fuller," a "school" for the developmentally disabled, and, like "Fuller," closed for abuse. In fact, it was something of a dirty little secret for New Hampshire, and has spawned a documentary movie entitled, "Lost In Laconia," (highly recommend watching the movie; if it doesn't immediately begin, click the play/stop button until a "play" button appears in the video window).

 

I checked Opacity to see if Laconia was one of the named locations and found it wasn't. But I refused to believe this was the correct institution until I found photographic proof...and it wasn't forthcoming. None of the images of Laconia interior looked like those of "Fuller." So I went back to the drawing board. I searched "children's hospital," "state school and hospital," "developmental disability school," and so on. I searched for lawsuits for the correct years and hospitals that closed in 1991...But all the images that were returned were wrong.

 

Honestly, I don't recall what search parameter I used when I finally found a website that gave me my answer; the place I was looking for was Forest Haven Asylum, in Laurel, Maryland.

 

 

Now, maybe you're wondering why I'm giving you all this back story...I'm doing that because of what I really want to present, and that's some basic search strategies that can help you find your rotting asylum, or even your long lost great grand uncle.

 

So, stay tuned for the next installment.

Okay, so I've been absent for a while...long enough that some of you probably thought I'd given up on this blog. Not so, I've just been dealing with an inordinate amount of stress lately; partly due to violating my own rule on accepting Facebook friend requests from management.

 

Ha ha ha yeah, that didn't go so well. But that's all in the past and I'm hoping that my new "freedom" will allow me to get back to regular posting.

 

But part of my problem here is knowing what to focus on. I've gone over some basics as far as what to buy and what not to buy, so is there anything specific you would like me to focus on, or explore more fully. If not, I'll just ramble on about nothing...