The hospital first opened its doors in 1904 in Norwich, Connecticut. It was built in an idyllic location chosen for its therapeutic properties overlooking the River Thames.
The Norwich Insane Asylum was built isolated from civilization, which worked to its benefit as it began to grow during its early years sprouting new buildings that accompanied the original construction (see aerial view of the hospital here). These new construction projects included patient wards, staff cottages, laboratories and workshops. All of the structures were interconnected by a large network of underground utility tunnels. These tunnels transported electricity, hot water, and patients to various areas on the grounds. The hospital remained self-sufficient, almost like a small town, with its own power plant, pump house, working farm, kitchen, theater and church.
Over 3,000 patients and 1,000 employees were residents on the asylum grounds in the 1950’s.
Slowly patients began to leave Norwich State Hospital due to deinstitutionalization and it permanently closed its doors in 1996. Since then time has basically stood still on the property with a few exceptions. Currently there is talk about converting the grounds into a theme park, but nothing has been set in stone.
After a long tedious drive we leave the car in a commuter parking lot close to the buildings. Ever the vigilant group of explorers we notice a State Trooper making his rounds and dive into the forest for cover. Luckily we outsmarted the police yet again and after regrouping walk along the Thames River for a few hundred feet. We finally see the abandoned pump house looming in the distance and decide to make this our entryway into the campus.
This site has a reputation for being well guarded, well patrolled, and does not take kindly to trespassers. I am always on edge when exploring across the Atlantic and the numerous “State Property – No Trespassing” signs that litter the grounds did not bode well for my paranoia. Instead of exposing ourselves above ground to security and prying eyes, we decided to take the underground route through the utility tunnels.
Using the tunnels we explored many buildings without ever being forced to go outside. This method of travel was soon confirmed to be the safest. On our first attempt to venture outside we were only a few feet away from a security officer in a black uniform. Fortunately he didn’t look our way and we quickly receded back into the tunnel network. For a while we hid in the abandoned theater so we could look around the campus without being seen.
This encounter with security dampened our spirits and made our visit a whole lot shorter than we would have liked. We made our grande exit through the empty chapel, this allowed us to avoid walking back through the forest. As we were walking back to the commuter lot to pickup our car we noticed the State Trooper had been watching us as we suspiciously walked down the road. I wonder where we went to and were coming back from?!
Archive document introducing a new therapy (click to enlarge):
Special thanks to Dr. Bob for sharing the old postcards.
Hahahahahahaha I drove by cedarcrest yesterday. I want to go back there again soon.
I am in fairfield county, in stratford, up comming explorations include Shakespear theater, remington, knights hospital, cedarcrest, johnsonville, and holy land usa..... this years hopefulls
as for kettle, not in that bad shape 1 wing top floor gets flooded in rain other than that it would not take much to rehab it into a working hospital or old folks home (already has a senior wing) it was a childresn hospital at first, bryan down the street close in the 70's from what I found on the last trip and kettle's looks like 70's design. but hey the historical society says it not worth saving, who am I to say any of those run down POS buildings can be saved. and hey connecticut can always use another golf course, maybe we can atract some good upstanding citizens like Tiger Woods.
I heard on your birthday you got trashed on o'dules.. Must have been a blast lol. Contrary to popular belief they don't serve booze at Norwich.
So my birthday was Friday and I want to go exploring at my favorite place in the world. Who wants to come?
Took a look at your FLickr page..Seems that you and I have explored a few of the same places..Are you New Haven county? just wondering.
Kettle may seem like a piece of shit now that group after group has gone in and smashed shit..Kettle is Massive..With lots of goodies from Admin. If you go back in to the hospitals history there was a point in time where Admin was transferred over to Kettle. Things such as physicians logs and patient files have been found in said area. Along with furniture displaying the state emblem. Not the most amazing architecture in the world..however the building does have it's history. Also..There are a few people on this forum who have had personal experiences in Kettle..Myself included.
Russel also is in terrible shape..The building with the largest hospital feel to it..has obviously not taken to well to neglect. Walking into the dark hallway you get hit in the face with the smell of mold from the carpets of the community room down the hall..You hear running water through every elevator shaft and most rooms have a pond in the center of them.
The list goes on and on for damage and decay..especially the theater at this point is completely in habitable. I no longer suggest anyone make their way over there at this point. However..you have to remember..Every inch of the hospital has some sort of history..Otherwise we wouldn't be sitting here talking about the buildings. Norwich was full of old and out-dated medical equipment and gurneys..hair filled mattresses and over-sized brown medicine bottles..that's what attracts (me) .. Other's think it's some kind of pride filler when they can go in with friends and throw a desk through a window or light a fire in a building that housed TB patients..It makes no sense to me..
Admin is actually the least interesting at this point..It's empty..the fireplace is gone and the rooms nearly resemble an empty office building..The staircase that was at one point amazing has been cluttered with shit from TV shows..people cave their names into the information desk etc..it's just not that nostalgic anymore..Im not saying I dont still have my love for the site..Cuz i do. ..But it doesnt feel abandoned any longer..with more and more people going in and the attention to the site from town and state officials..It's just lost it's glory for now.. I said it before..it's time to let her relax..We all (for the most part) have been there and have memories and photo/video sets to remember her by..
Thanks Ken. To be honest I thought Kettle was admin, based on judgements given from different people. Thanks for clearing that up. The admin building is the only one worth saving, Kettle is a piece of shit
?
you don't know what building is admin, is that what you are saying?
well anyway for those who dont know which building is what, scroll up to the pic "hospital grounds map" and click on it go ahead theres no virus there, ok now dead center of the map.... you see admin with awl to the right and salmon to the left. now you've got it
now click on the google ad... wait where did the google ad go? oh well i tried....
now if you want a compareison go to google maps and type in norwich ct, scroll south untill you see where Rt 12 and Rt 2 meet, now click satilite view, ooooo how perty. now grab the little man in the corner and drag him down to rt 12 just in front of admin. now turn the angle and presto (sorry JPT i had to say it) there is where the alarms are..........
ken
ps dont get mad that I gave away the location
Some people really piss me off. They don't know what building admin is. What building is it?
I have completed my tour of NSH here is the final set. in a few days I will post another list of what is in what set
here is the final set www.flickr.com
ps here is the july summery and states where the alarms are and that power is not connected yet to admin www.preston-ct.org
there will come a point when my attention will wonder from nsh, its not that I dont care its just the reality of the situation, the way these projects work is a committee is formed and the try hard for free to do something that can get the hired on a project that is indirectly attatched to the project they are working on. if you read back this place and meny more like it have been on the brink mant times, I hope what will happen is it takes a while to contract abatement and the PRA losses funding.. we can hope
with out letting the cat out of the bag but preston does not own the whole property, there is a section that is still owned by the state because norwich did not get involed in this deal
I suggest people who are intersted in what goes on start reading I have read all the part info on the pra, finance board and anything
an example of what can go worng for preston, they set there budget this year to have $0 extra, that means if thay have any problems they have nothing to cover it, they will have to take a loan out or pull money from other projects, this from a town who just had a fuel oil leak in a basement of a school. they are still going with the vote on the 13th to lower the education budget to the state minimum.
if you live in preston and vote yes your children whill suffer from the budget cuts, if you vote no your mil rate is going up, don't forget kent borner cried to the board about there budget and gave him more and raised the mik rate...... hope you like golf
Don't feel bad..I too was posting excerpts from the town meetings..It is a good source. JPT tends to follow most of the stuff I don't seem to read tho..
As far as the motion alarms.."someone I know" ..had a bit of a run in with them. The only noticeable part to the system is the speaker outside of powerhouse. Being that the only area of travel that night was theater to powerhouse..obviously this is where one sensor is placed.
Im going to break down for a second..and some fellow UE are prolly going to bash me for this..but honestly..Being a regular I have the right to say it. It's time for it..I believe that NSH has it's fate set in stone..there is no going back on it at this point. My last two trips down I have seen more and more destruction of property and just pure disrespect for the place. Spraypaint and smashed glass and things that were always left "the way they were" are just a mess..My first trip there I saw the hospital for what it was..some vandalism was present but things were still amazingly abandoned..Seems to me that recent explorers have lost respect for the site. I'm not saying that UE are responsible for everything..or anything..However..I hate going to places and seeing this shit everywhere..it ruins the feel of the place.. If putting alarms in will keep a few rookies out..GOOD. ..the place needs it's silence. A good UE can get around all this. A vandal with a bag full of sparypaint will have a harder time.
I apologize, I dont generaly read minutes of Town Meetings. I basically hate political stuff, as I feel most politicians are either crooks or mentally challenged, or pompous condescending a-holes. And reading what our elected things are doing to us only infuriates me, and I dont need the additional aggrivation. But i see what they have listed there with regards to motion sensors. In a drafty, abandoned series of buildings. Because they got a grant. A grant to install montion sensors in buildings they plan to demolish.
See why I dont read this stuff? Makes Monthy Python skits seem reasonable!
Anyway, I'd still like to know what the reporting capability of the unit is- to sound an on-board alarm, or send a signal back to some central location, a "silent alarm" so to speak. I would imagine some nefarious vandal will soon discover these grant provided devices, and either render them inoperative, or abscond with them entirely. Since a goverment contractor provided allen wrench is worth over $9000 in 1980s dollars, and a toilet seat is worth $13k in the same time frame, I would imagine the value of these little gems in 2010 monies would be truly astronomical!
Thank God there is no grant for the collection of cat foreskins, or Kettle would be filled to the rafters with Preston provided feline bris residue!
No offence intended to our Jewish friends out there.
Okay, Have fun, I'm outta here till Monday. Go forth, Ye Intrepid Urban Adventurers, and seek ye unseen wonders behind yon crumbling battlements of NSH.
ok I'll be the only one who reads this crap.
motion alarms... now I know your asking yourself how does he know this crap.......... reading
www.preston-ct.org
Just hadda stick my tongue-in-cheek two cents worth in!
What type of alarms? Movement sensors, door closure proximity switches? How are the powered? Do they have battery back-up? How does the signal work, does it simply scream to alert security to the presence of an intruder, or does it send a signal to a central location?
And why would they feel a need to "protect" a certain area? What is in there that the powers that be feel justifies the addition of alarms? I suppose it could be an insurence issue, they get a % off if they have working alarms. God Knows they cant be getting a rake-off for smoke detectors! Or maybe after Ghost Hunters went in, it sparked interest in the local kids to go and explore.
I'm REALLY surprised someone hasnt already torched the hell outta the place. I undertand there is a lot of brick and not that much to burn, but still there has to be quite a bit of wood and wire. I know years back, the DOC used the place for drills extracting/rescuing inmates from smoke filled rooms. With the recent rash of arson, I would have bet NSH would have been a target.
Mikey: People dont post info here about entrance/exit, ways to get about, etc. Cant tell who will be reading it.
This is in fact true..They did a terrible job with the alarm installation..I don't see them lasting very long at all..However an FYI is to stay the fuck away from the powerhouse
Hey, would it be okay to go in still? What would I have to look out for to not get caught, or alerted.
Where do people usually park as well....
I will be going soon, just need to know what to look out for.
according the there meetings they installed 2 alarms, where I don't
JPT, your right it was a bad compareison but Ithink you kew what I mean and I think I played the joke out by now. I am not a resident of preston. I actualy live about 60mi away and have a good time keeping my own town on there toes but thats a whole other story playing out on a differt board.
Megan, I was at undercliff a few months ago pics and video in my same flickr just click on sets. about getting in, just realize its ownd and maintaind by child services and there offices is on the same road, stateies drive though all the time but if you like the woods now is the best time of year, contact info below for more info.
I haven't made it to seaside yet, hoping to finish NSH soon to move on to others
nsh12345 if you think that was a waste of $$$$ what do you think about installing power to admin and putting the panel under a leak from the outside.....
Ok-alarms....I heard about them and that there would be three, without getting specific; does anyone honestly know if there are more than just three?
Seaside is open to the public...its very nice there and you can get into the bldgs easy if you want...
I have a couple more to ask about. Undercliff in Meriden? Has anyone been there recently and what is security/access like? And do you know any other in the area that I could hit before I leave on the 1st?
I moved to New Mexico recently but I am in western mass for the month and I wanted to hit up all the places I have not been able to while I still lived here. Judging by the comments on here, it seems like I should take Norwich off the list since they are cleaning it out and have security everywhere?
What about Seaside? Is that still pretty accessible? I would love to get one of these knocked out. I was out in Belchertown at the state school the other day for my last visit. Beautiful place. I'm pretty sad I will not be able to go again!
alarms are now in various buildings, good job wasting more money.
Why dont you throw you (magicians top) hat into the ring? As a non- resident, I dont believe I am eligible, but it would surely be fun to go into one of those meeting with a copy of Roberts Rules, along with the town and state charter defining how these meetings are to be run, and take them to task for this.
I must say, as an amatuer magician, I am a little offended that you are using magic as an analogy to politics! Its an open secret that magic is all misdirection, and tricks, and 90% patter to build and deliver the illusion of something that to the sesnes seems impossible. Where in politics, its ...well, yeah open secret about misdirection.....tricks, yeah, probably more than Copperfield has in his repotoire.....but the patter, the verbal BS that lead you to believe things that arent.... yeah, guess thats there too....Okay, where did you say that ace went?
At least magician is an honorable profession- we got politicians beat there! And when we trick you, you applaud and enjoy it.
I would liken them more to prostitutes- the get paid to screw with you, and make you feel good. And months after they are gone, you find out what little "surprises" they left you with!
in a nut shell
the meeting started with an interesting start, because the PRA is a year old and the officers are to to last only a year this meeting was supposed to elect new members
Kent Borner opens the meeting by asking for nominations for his job chairman, let me start with out of the 11 members of the board only 7 graced there time for the meeting.
so Kerry Gentry started nominations with...... Kent Borner no other nominations. nominations closed.
the vote
Allyn Brown - for Sandy Ewing – abstained Kerry Gentry – for Jim Bell – abstained Linda Riegel – abstained
for those of you who don't know how this political crap works, for means you want the motion, agents means you don't want the motion, and abstained means you don't care at this time and the vote is dismissed.
With 11 board members and only 2 for on record the motion is mute and needs to be addressed again until a vote of at least half the members for or against the motion, good time for every one to go on vacation.
Keep an eye on the ace of spades in the middle.
Next order of business Kent Borner asks for nominations for vice-chairman they all stare into space
one would think no one wants to be in charge but don't worry I am sure this was all orchestrated before the meeting
Kent Borner then tells the group we need to assign a temporary chair person until a vote can be redone with all the board members present. So Sandy Ewing decides now is a good time to announce she will be missing the next few meetings (the ace is on the left right now I am sure of it) this is a clever way to get on the record that all the board members will not be there for a while and someone need to leds us.
So the cards are shifted around and a motion is made to elect a interim chairman who is not Kent Borner, motion carries 6-0
Kent decides to tell the group it is best to remove himself and constraint on the e-mails he has been receiving that basicly says the current officers are doing a bad job (OK I believe this was a mistake and he was silly for putting that on record) and feels it would be best if he not referee the election processes. Kent then decides he would be chairman again if that's what the group wants. (OK now I have lost the ace, but at least I know why) (what this does is when the vote is 10-0 for him to chair then how could they possibly object to this the board must think he's doing a great job)
to make sure I have lost the ace here's what you do. Sandy Ewing says she whats Kent to intrem chair, Kent says that is what was just voted on and passed and can not happen.
Tim Bowles from the peanut gallery speaks out if turn who is not on the board, and no one stooped him says he would hate to see all this blow up like it seems it can and basicly asks if Kent would consider staying on as interim chair (now a few of you who clicked an read the link above are saying “but Tim Bowles is a selectmen and has the right to enter meetings” and you right but scroll up you will see he not on the roll as a member or a guest or and invited guest. This is a ploy for the PRA to say all this is on record and Tim was there and nothing inappropriate was done. But if your not there in an official capacity then you are just another citizen talking out of turn. (don't worry if this post is discovered they will alter the minutes to cover it up)
Kent proposes a new motion to allow him to interim chair but someone else run the meeting for the elections no later than august 1, 2010, motion carries 6-0.........
nominations for Kent to be interim Chairman, motion carries 5-1, does not show elections and who said no (this is another no no all votes should be taken for the record to show who was ageist
TADA
the rest of the meeting is the usual
lets put gutters under the electric panel because of the water, genius
Jim Bell attended a work shop and stated there is a grant available for up to $200,000 with a 100% match this means if they get this grant they have to match it so $200,000 need to be matched by the city to get the money, (this would wipe out there budget, it has to come from there budget, you can't use the other grants to pay it and there is $0 surplus in the city budget and I doubt they are going to get a loan for it)
meeting for 7/1/10 with manafort if kyle is right they did not come to terms
freedom of information act complaint from previous meeting needs to be addressed by 7/8/10
thats the first time I've heard about a golf course but does seem like something they are planing. just like the PRA to have a hidden agenda. if you don't mind me asking the copper thefts that were being ignored, do you remember which building it was and what they were jacking?. and I have to ask what was good ol Kent taking pictures of?
as for the budget the link is below, I would not posts fact I could not back up, I think you all know that. yopu can see this is directly from the preston web site.
I have been a resident of Norwich for 13 years, and I was not aware that they had blamed the copper thefts in an attempt to get rid of the buildings. A friend of mine recently paid a visit to the hospital and did find security outside a building while thieves were inside, hoarding copper. My guess is as good as yours as to the reason why security wasn't doing anything about it. I ran into Kent Borner a few weeks ago on the property while he was taking pictures. He told me that cleanup would begin within the month and that a resort and golf course would be erected on the site, with few remaining buildings. What really surprises me is the budget numbers. Why would there ever need to be 2 separate budgets for this project, and where did those numbers appear from? I believe your numbers are accurate to the fullest extent, what I was really trying to say is the 123,00 came out of nothing in a matter of a fiscal year.
I like your table idea but I believe a house of cards is more like it. Besides magicians prefer cards, while their keeping you distracted over here, what are they're really doing over there. The collapse of the tunnels was done to limit movements, the days when you could get in and go through 80% of the complex was way over advertised. Dropping the tunnels did not stop movement it just makes you come out of hiding. Those of you who have seen the tunnels know what I mean. They had the companies for abatement narrowed down to 2 and manafort had to be the most expensive because they were talking fencing, barriers and security for the length of the contract. Plus they want the same company to knock the buildings down when they are done. And for some reason they think they can find someone for free.
More cards in this house is the blaming of the copper thefts to get the buildings knocked down, this was no easy feat. They had to get approval from the historical society to get this and they must have taken some deal to let them do this. I know a few things that was supposed to happen was pictures where to be taken of all the buildings and all the paintings done by former patients were to be collected to be put somewhere of everyone to enjoy. This has not happen yet.
What was the point of the article blaming some past security guards for copper thefts? I would keep an eye on Preston if I was Zimmerman.
The addition of power and alarms makes me wonder why, sure they will need power to redo admin but why pay to have it brought right into the building why not do what contractors do and put a meter on a temporary pole like all construction companies do. This would have been much cheaper and way more practical. Then they installed it in a spot that leaks water on it. The alarm is completely retarded because when they start redoing the inside they will have to disable it to get around it.
The trick here is also to keep an eye on what the pretty girl is doing off to the side because she is some how helping the magician. There was a few resent votes by the towns Board of Finance in respect to what is supposed to be education. To scheduled meeting was canceled and closed to the general public a special meeting was held on the 24th. In this meeting the mil rate for the town was changed to 19.24mil, the mil rate has fluctuated do to the reassessment of the properties. in 2007-08 the mil rate was 26.36, 2008-09 lowered mil rate to 17.98, while this seems good and looks great on a politicians platform what they don't tell you is assessments went up. 2009-10 raised to 18.96, and again raised this year as stated before. The reason for the special meeting to lower the education bill to $10,020,032? This for a town that does not have a high school.
Looking over at the other pretty assistant the budget has cuts across the board except for a few areas which are important town officials pay and a huge increase in the board of finance budget from $6,550 to $57,575 all I can say is WTF is all that about. How can you make cuts on everything and give yourself raises?
The budget for the NSH I find interesting
the budget for the committee that is called former Norwich state hospital property redevelopment committee that list like this 2007-08 $0 2008-09 $0 2009-10 $123,800 20010-11 $466,050
on the budget listed Pilot for State hospital and property funds list like this 2007-08 $242,897 2008-09 $264,318 2009-10 $190,056 2010-11 $190.056
if I was a resident in the town I would be asking why is the hospital double dipping? How can they have two budgets? Granted nobody ever reads these things because most people claim to not understand them, but to break it down anyone from Preston, your taxes are going up again, the budgets have been cut unless you are a town elected employee, the hospital is getting 2 budgets the one the had to obtain the property and the one they created last year to do something with it. One advantage to living in Preston, if you need your construction done the building inspector only makes $25,934 a year so I bet hes a cheap payoff, and the zoning enforcement officer only makes $8922 this year so I guess you can put just about anything on your front lawn......
..This still hasn't stopped the (state) or (town) from quietly kicking the legs from underneath the table..You'll see 5 town dump trucks come in and the next week or so there is something in the paper..or someone here posts talking about how "omgz did you guys see that the tunnels are collapsed" ..Think about it.
Most tables have four legs..kick one out..the table might stand but is no longer structurally sound.. They will continue to do so untill the buildings fall in on themselves..making it so there is no "need" for asbestos abatement etc etc..If it "collapses" ..there was just nothing they could do.. It's all part of the plan that is under the table at those town meetings.. They talk in code.
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