Pennhurst State School and Hospital: My Date with the Dead
- Melissa
- Sep 22, 2015
- 4 min read
***DISCLAIMER***
What you are about to read is my own personal account of what I experienced when I visited Pennhurst State School and Hospital, or today known as Pennhurst Asylum. The pictures (with the exception of the above) were all taken with my cell phone. It is neither my intention to scare anyone, nor to attempt to either prove or disprove the paranormal. The opinions expressed in this blog are solely my own. If you would like the background history of Pennhurst and it’s paranormal activity feel free to watch the following link from “Haunted History” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Znsj38jGCU4
Background History:
I will be the first to admit that until I had ordered a new text book for my Genetics course about 12 years ago I had never even heard of the word “Eugenics” nor was I aware that it was practiced for over 60 years in the Unite
d States. I was shocked when I learned of how the mentally and physically disabled were referred to as “imbeciles,” “idiots,” and “feeble-minded” and placed into institutions to be separated from the general public. The idea was that these individuals were deemed as “unfit to reproduce” and it would be for the good of society to have them placed somewhere where they could not interbreed and pass on their “imbecility.” Many of these individuals were forced to undergo tubal ligations or vasectomies as were set forth by the Sterilization Laws at the time. It wasn’t long before many of these institutions became overcrowded which led to an inability of the staff to keep up with patient care. Many patients were neglected or abused; sometimes by the staff, sometimes by other patients. Because of the issues that arose from this “selective breeding” practice many people began to see the study of genetics as taboo because at the time the field became directly linked to Eugenics.
Many other countries were also practicing Eugenics at the time, including Germany. Not too many people saw a problem with forced sterilizations and the removal of people deemed by society as “unfit to reproduce” until Hitler came to power. Hitler’s problem was that he took the practice of Eugenics a step too far; he did not just sterilize people, he exterminated them. First starting with the “feeble-minded” then targeting specific groups. When word spread of the holocaust people were mortified, not just at Hitler, but they started pointing the finger at America. People started to compare Americans to the Nazis; they felt it was only a matter of time before people were not just sterilized, but also terminated in the United States. In typical American fashion, we lifted up the proverbial rug and swept Eugenics underneath. We did not rewrite laws, we did not offer any services, help, or apologies to those who were deemed “unfit,” we simply just pretended as though the Eugenics movement never happened. I am often left to wonder that had it not been for Hitler would we still be practicing Eugenics today? This idea led me to generating a debate among my students regarding whether or not we should revisit the practice of Eugenics, and if so, how should it be governed.
So what does this have to do with a paranormal investigation at Pennhurst you may ask. As luck would have it I was bored one night a few years ago (which hardly ever happens because the phrase “down time” rarely ever applies to me). Since I had nothing better to do I began surfing through my Direct TV guide to see if anything interesting was on. I stumbled upon the H2 (History Channel 2) network, which much like Eugenics I had no idea that such a thing even existed. History was never really my favorite subject and I am not ashamed to say that I am learning more about history from “Drunk History” than I ever retained from high school and college courses combined (no offense to my history teachers – it wasn’t that you were boring, just the subject bored me). When I saw that there was a show called “Haunted History” I thought it might be worth checking out. The paranormal always intrigued me as a child (I think I can blame my father for introducing me to the “Twilight Zone” at a young age for my interest in the strange and unusual). So I grabbed a snack and settled in.
The episode I just so happened to tune into was called “The Lost Souls of Pennhurst.” Five minutes into the show they mentioned the term Eugenics. I damn near choked on my food because I got so super excited. The nerd in me was like “HOLY SHIT!!! I cover this in my genetics course!” I watched intently and in shock as this practice that I never knew existed became the focal point for paranormal activity just an hour from where I reside. I shared the story with my students and did some research on Pennhurst, but at the time it was not open to the public. I made it a bucket list item to perhaps one-day visit the abandoned campus just to see it with my own eyes to really believe that a place like this could have existed. Try as I might, I could not get a copy of the show at the time, but had mentioned something on Facebook about it.
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