My wife and I were in Staunton, VA, and we drove by former Western State Hospital -- some of which was converted to apartments and/or condominiums -- and the DeJarnette Sanitarium, named for Joseph DeJarnette, the director of Western State Hospital from 1905 to 1943 and a vocal proponent of racial segregation and eugenics, specifically, the compulsory sterilization of the mentally ill.
I snapped some pics, and to be honest, it was all very creepy!
I snapped some pics, and to be honest, it was all very creepy!
Western State Hospital (pictured above), called Western State Lunatic Asylum in its early years, was a hospital for the mentally ill. It admitted its first patient on July 24, 1828. You can read about that patient HERE, and you can learn more about Western State HERE.
Below: Miscellaneous shots of Western State. NOTE: Slide shows do not always work on androids, so the pictures are best viewed on a laptop, an iPhone, or an IPad.
Below: Miscellaneous shots of Western State. NOTE: Slide shows do not always work on androids, so the pictures are best viewed on a laptop, an iPhone, or an IPad.
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| By Emily Dickinson: One need not be a Chamber – to be Haunted – One need not be a House – The Brain has Corridors – surpassing Material Place – Far safer, of a Midnight Meeting External Ghost Than its interior Confronting – That Cooler Host. Far safer, through an Abbey gallop, The Stones a'chase – Than Unarmed, one's a'self encounter – In lonesome Place – Ourself behind ourself, concealed – Should startle most – Assassin hid in our Apartment Be Horror's least. The Body – borrows a Revolver – He bolts the Door – O'erlooking a superior spectre – Or More – | In Emily Dickinson's poem at the left, she stated "One need not be a Chamber -- to be Haunted." Still, I suspect the chambers and the hallways of the Western State Hospital (above) and the DeJarnette Sanitarium (below) are haunted. If walls could talk. The pictures in the slide show below are from Atlas Obscure, HERE: |
Just down the road from the Western State Hospital is the DeJarnette Sanitarium. Founded in 1932 by Dr. Joseph DeJarnette, the sanitarium was a private unit for middle-income patients that operated separately from the government-supported state hospital.
From Atlas Obscura: "DeJarnette was a respected doctor among the white Virginia elite at the time, but his career would ultimately be defined by his strong support for eugenics, specifically the forced sterilization of the mentally ill and others he deemed 'defective.'" More info is HERE.
From MadInAmerica.com: "“Though Dr. DeJarnette’s sterilization practices were heinous, they weren’t the worst of his work. He used the inmates in his asylum as guinea pigs in various experiments. These included blood transfusions between patients on opposite ends of the psychiatric spectrum, such as taking blood from a hyperactive patient and injecting it into a depressed one. He also used extreme x-ray exposure as a method of sterilization, which almost certainly would have left its patients with adverse side effects."
From Atlas Obscura: "DeJarnette was a respected doctor among the white Virginia elite at the time, but his career would ultimately be defined by his strong support for eugenics, specifically the forced sterilization of the mentally ill and others he deemed 'defective.'" More info is HERE.
From MadInAmerica.com: "“Though Dr. DeJarnette’s sterilization practices were heinous, they weren’t the worst of his work. He used the inmates in his asylum as guinea pigs in various experiments. These included blood transfusions between patients on opposite ends of the psychiatric spectrum, such as taking blood from a hyperactive patient and injecting it into a depressed one. He also used extreme x-ray exposure as a method of sterilization, which almost certainly would have left its patients with adverse side effects."
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