Day room inside an ancillary building, circa 1932, at a Tennessee State Hospital.
Photo: "Keeper"
Decaying desk drawers inside a former State Psychiatric Hospital in Tennessee.
This building was constructed in 1932 and has been abandoned for the last few decades.
Photo: "The Wheelchair"
Western State Hospital, Tennessee
Oh blue hour. You quietly tease us with a 15 minute dance twice a day. I wish you could stay a little bit longer. You make the peeling paint even more glorious, bask a historic building so beautifully in a blue glow and make everything seem more peaceful...
Photo: "Seclusion Doors"
These seclusion rooms are located on the first floor, basement level, of the Polk Building, or K Building, at the Western State Hospital in Tennessee. These rooms contained two doors, the first has an open window with a metal covering. The second is a solid wood door with a glass window. This allowed nurses to check on patients but kept the noise to a minimum.
Photo: "Patient Names"
Patient name cards covered in dust, discovered inside the Polk Building at the West Tennessee Asylum for the Insane.
Photo: "Thurs Hearing Clinic"
Inside the 1930's era Polk Building at the West Tennessee Hospital for the Insane.
Photo: "New Growth"
Nature always wins.
Photo: "Growth"
Vines creep into a patient room at the psychopathic building at the former West Tennessee Hospital for the Insane.
(Print - http://smu.gs/1f0YBTy )
Photo: "K Building"
The Polk Building, or K Building, at the Western State Hospital in Tennessee, formerly known as the West Tennessee Hospital for the Insane, was constructed in 1932 as a psychopathic facility with 400 beds for patients.
(Print - http://smu.gs/1iHWfHu )
Photo: "List By Number"
This label maker list of names and what I believe to be phone extensions was found on the wall inside the nurse's station at Polk Building of Western State Hospital in Tennessee.
(Print - http://smu.gs/1nXdhoZ )
Photo: "Therapy Tubs"
I'm heading out of town for the holidays today, but I experienced a burst of photographic inspiration and dug into the albums from my May 2013 trip to the South this morning.
Here's a shot from inside the Polk building at the former West Tennessee Hospital, designed for psychopathic use and constructed in 1932 to aid in overcrowding. These tubs were part of a hydrotherapy program for patients, which involved covering the tubs with heavy fabric (you can see the securing points on the side of the tubs) to trap steam, only allowing the person's head to be outside the tub.
(Print - http://smu.gs/1jtXi1R)
Photo: "Label"
Medical bottle inside an operating room cabinet at the former West Tennessee State Hospital, recently known as Western State Hospital.
Photo: "Crawling"
Windowsill in a patient room of the 1930's-era Polk Building at the former West Tennessee Hospital for the Insane.
(Print: http://smu.gs/17QQQYo)
Photo: "Lost Stories Inspire Me"
Tonight, I was a guest on a Google+ 'Hangout On Air' where we talked about inspiration. I shared this photograph and explained how finds like this are what drive me to continue photographing forgotten places. Not only do I enjoy the beautiful architecture, but I strive to document the stories that aren't being told; stories about patients, employees and visitors to all these empty spaces.
The suitcases have been sitting in the attic of the West Tennessee Hospital for the Insane' for decades. When patients were admitted, they carried one suitcase of items to the hospital. Some contained curlers and hair brushes, others contained photographs and letters from loved ones, but all of the suitcases you see here were never returned to the patients and these stories remained lost inside this attic forever.
Photo: "Stats"
Medical equipment inside a former psychiatric hospital in Tennessee.