Erics' stumbling through photography thread

[AllBlack05S]

One from today:

Hey Adam can you tell me what this building is/was used for? (on the Elgin Mental Health grounds)



and if you want to see what you can do with the raw file Jon its here

[Elmo187]

i don't know if you know this already, but the Elgin Mental Health Center is actually well known for the unaccounted for murders of patients by patients. very creepy place. ALOT of paranormal activity has been caught in that place.

[LSixer]

OMG, how did you get into there? I thought they still had security on the grounds.

That is the old laundry building, I cannot remember when (or if for that matter) they stop using it. I worked at EMHC from 1991 to 1993, as I was there, they began tearing down old center. THAT was a damn shame. Old center was built (approx, I may be off a year or two) at the beginning of the civil war. That place was a abandon/urban explorers dream. As I began there, they were in the process of fencing it off to keep patients and explorers like me out of there due to safety reasons. Aaron is right, old center was like spook central if you believe in that. They had torture chambers (not officially labeled as such) where they did experiments on people in that building. Both outside and in side it was a very beautiful (architecturally speaking) building.

Anyway, if you want to see some shots, I dont think there are too may though, google elgin mental health center and drill down to old center, or just center building.

EDIT:
IIRC, that building in the photo was designed that way to act as a sort of radiator to dispell heat. That place was like HELL in terms of heat. Again, if I remember corerctly, several people died there from heat exhaustion. Near the end, they had the actual patients doing much of the work because no employee wanted to go in there, at least in the warmer months.

[AllBlack05S]

Just drove on and drove back there. We were heading back to the building with the huge smoke stacks and spotted the radiator. 

Noreen works for a Nursing magazine we could always claim we were scouting shooting locations for a story if the popo stopped us.

[LSixer]

A picture in front of the forensics building may have been cool, but, I am sure the security dregs would have been all over that one. That is the high security building, they house the "criminally insane" there.

I have a story about that place that at the time was hysterical, but, in hindsight, it is now more sad. Gotta tell it anyway.

WARNING!!
This short story may not be appropriate for the fairer sex, you have been warned.

I was on call one day in that building, I was the local computer tech and sometimes that meant going onsite to fix workstations that were acting up.
When I was there, in a ward not far from me I heard a huge fuss, screaming, obceneties, etc .... from a female patient. This was not unusual, it just didnt happen frequently when I was there.
Apparently, one of teh female patients had received a gift of a barbie doll and was enjoying it when the staff decided they needed to take it away. Not sure I remeber why that was, there must have been a reason, the staff there was not typically just a bunch of assholes, maybe it was for her safetly, who knows. Anyway, obviously, she had a difference of opinion about the confiscation of her property and was prepared to put up a stink. Shortly the screaming and obceneties stopped and I managed to speak with some of the staff who was leaving the ward. It seems in an effort to keep her doll from the staff, she shoved barbie head first into her female sex organ, note "head first". So in an effort to remove the embbeded doll the staff encountered a wee problem. Barbie had become a wall anchor of sorts inside of this woman. Picture doll going in head first, up PAST the arms. Now, barbie decided that she would spread her arms out upon egress of the woman ... oops. Yes, it was eventually resolved, but, it was certainly one of the more memorable days I had at the old EMHC.

Sorry if this offended anyone, but, no plastic toys, nor in-patients were harmed (much) in the making of this story.

A question for Melissa. Does Michael stiil work at the EMHC facility? I thought he did at one time.

EDIT:

I found a couple of pics of the old center building. Here is the link.

http://www.asylumprojects.org/tiki-browse_gallery.php?galleryId=109&offset=0

[A4Jon]

Eric, that's a nice shot. I just packed up my PC this morning, we're headed down to Florida for three weeks. I'll take a look at it when I get down there. Anything in particular you want done to it?

[AllBlack05S]

Nah I made some slight adjustments to it myself was just curious to see what the raw file in your hands would turn out like. Do not under any circumstances spend time inside on a computer fucking with photos. Save that for when you get back.

Have a great trip.