Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Table


I went for a walk in the woods and came across this table. In the woods. A long, looooong way away from any houses. With a bag on it.

Yep.

I was actually in the woods behind the former Second State Hospital for the Insane, which has been razed and is now the site of a Wal-Mart. (I always joke that it has the same clientele, only with less interesting architecture.) I was looking for a purported cemetary on the grounds that has some historical info that I'm interested in.

I've always felt very strongly about the old hospital. For one, it was a ginormous building, and extremely creepy at that, with all its Gothic architecture and dark, stone walls. Old, creepy buildings make my inner goth happy. :) Also, I feel a connection to the patients. Being (1.) an opinionated woman who can't seem to smile and look pretty and not speak until I'm spoken to, and (2.) also suffering from moderate depression (see #1,) I probably would have been labeled "insane" in the days before anti-depressants and women's rights. It happened to a lot of women who were considered to be "difficult" by their families, and my husband would be glad to tell anyone who will listen that I am, indeed, a difficult one. I'm not sure if he would have had me locked up, but I'm really glad not to be living in an era when that sort of thing happened all the time.

I wanted to find the old State Hospital Cemetary, to read the dates and gather info because I'm a nerd like that. Unfortunately, it got too dark before I got far enough into the woods to find it, but I did come across a lot of strange things -- ruins of old houses and farm equipment, gates that go to nothing, furniture sitting out in the middle of the woods... It was an interesting hike, just finding these things and wondering what stories the trees could tell if they could talk. I probably don't want to know. Nah, who am I kidding? I love local history, no matter how creepy. I would love to know!

The old asylum both fascinates me and terrifies me at the same time. Someone should write a book about it. Someone who isn't me... but I would love to be a proofreader/test audience if anybody's interested. Anyone? Anyone? Bueller.... Bueller...

4 comments:

MountainLaurel said...

Sounds like a great walk! I'm fascinated. Makes you wonder.

Susan Chipley said...

Wow! What a story, and what a photo. That's awesome. Did you look in the bag?

Susan Chipley said...

This morning, I'm still finding myself laughing about this: "I always joke that it has the same clientele, only with less interesting architecture."

That is so funny!

Charleston Catholic / Clay Center Project said...

Heeheeheeee! But it's so true!!!

No, I didn't look in the bag. It looks like the sort of bags you see at construction sites, so it's probably a sandbag or bag of concrete powder or something. I hope.