Thursday, January 8, 2009

Halloween Party Of The Century

When I was around ten years old, a few of us would ride our bikes to some abandoned mental hospital buildings. It was a pretty far ride and I sometimes wonder how my mother was ok with the fact that we'd disappear for such a long time. Especially when she knew where we were headed. The place was pretty run down and pretty dangerous. Thankfully I was a chicken and wouldn't go in too far. Maybe my mother knew that, but I doubt it.

My brother and I and a few friends would head up there in the summer. Young trees had swallowed the place up and it always seemed so quiet and hot and still as we approached the main lobby. Inside it was moist and chilly and smelled like wet wood and damp concrete. And there always seemed to be a low steady breeze blowing out from deep within the building. We'd poke around a bit, never going too far in. We saw the patients' rooms - tiny dank rooms that looked smaller than prison cells. Way smaller. Never bumped into any older kids or teenagers, but we always feared them being in there. We'd stumble upon spray-painted decorations - obscene things, foul words, and the occasional pentagram. I always wondered who exactly painted pentagrams in urban ruins. I still do.

I remember one year, and this is embarrassing and chill-inducing, planning a Halloween party at the ruins. We had NO INTENTION WHATSOEVER to actually follow through with this, but I remember loving the act of planning it out - imagining a bunch of us in costumes with paper decorations strung up and plastic pumpkins spread about.

Summer ended. Halloween passed. The buildings were demolished.

These are photos of the main structure that we never ventured to (it was on the other side of a major bike-unfriendly highway). This was demolished a couple years ago. But it looks a heck of a lot like the sub-structures where we'd hang out, and plan our stupid party.



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6 comments:

crudedoodle.com said...

all the makings of a horror movie: your halloween-party-at-an-old-loony-bin idea.

Anonymous said...

i bet just being inside that place was a thrill in itself. to sit there and think what went on in that place in tnat time period. did you ever try to go to it at night?

Rot said...

Never did the night thing.
That would have been pretty incredible.

The Captain said...

When I was a kid we use to play around an abandoned cannery with a super dark and scary basement.

I wonder if the kids today get to enjoy doing things like this, the way we got to?

JHMDF said...

15 year old mall rats that think Slayer and Manson worship satan draw Pentagrams.

A couple years back, there was a concert held at a abandoned prison....a bunch of pretty big metal bands played. Dont remember what state it was in.

bean said...

i love it when you tell these stories.