dan.the.donut
Abandoned AmericaA dental office in the hospital at the abandoned Forest Haven developmental center (vertical photo, click to enlarge)
Gallery and info: https://www.abandonedamerica.us/forest-haven-developmental-center
The newest Abandoned America podcast, released today, covers Forest Haven's horrifying history of abuse and neglect. Listen to it on Spotify via this link or look it up on your platform of choice: https://open.spotify.com/episode/2IsE3VCtU7x2WL8OLEHNBo?si=939efc00738340c9
Forest Haven: A Fatal Legacy of Neglect
Listen to this episode from Abandoned America on Spotify. Forest Haven was a developmental center in Laurel, Maryland for children and adults with developmental and intellectual disabilities and chronic illnesses that was the site of what was described as "the deadliest known example of institutional abuse in recent American history." Today Forest Haven lies abandoned and mostly forgotten, but in this episode we'll explore how profound and often fatal neglect shattered lives of residents for decades, and why it was allowed to continue for years after some of the facility's most horrific injustices were brought to light. Show Notes: https://www.abandonedamerica.us/forest-haven-a-fatal-history Forest Haven photo gallery/podcast text on Abandoned America: https://www.abandonedamerica.us/forest-haven-developmental-center Support the podcast on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/AbandonedAmerica --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/abandonedamerica/support
Bob Davidson@wa7iut you don't even know. This place sounds like it was a nightmare even for the dentists, if you read the write-up I did on it
@AbandonedAmerica
I’ll check it out. Our high school psychology class (circa 1972) visited the Oregon State Mental Hospital in Pendleton. It was straight out of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.
It’s probably part of Abandoned America by now.
@wa7iut I believe that one is gone now. And yes, that's where One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest was filmed. Wish I could have got there to photograph it.
NerdGirlInVR 💜🇺🇸🌎🐘💜@AbandonedAmerica listened to this episode this morning. Wow! What a horrifying place! We need to constantly be reminded that we as a country did this to the MOST vulnerable people.
Thank you for presenting it with care and as much dignity as you could provide. I'm going to the albums on the website to check them all out!
One of my top 10 podcasts 💜 definitely recommended listening 👍
@NerdGirlInVR thank you so much, I really appreciate it. I was so stressed about this episode, just trying to ensure it had the appropriate honor and respect. It just blows my mind that humans do this stuff to each other, no matter how much I learn about it it never stops surprising me
@AbandonedAmerica it really struck home for me as well. All the talk coming from the right about putting the #unhoused and #IDD (Intellectual and developmental disabilities - thank you for the updated terminology too) in places like this again.
It didn't work out great the first time, I highly doubt they would put any care or humanity into it with another go round.
We forget too quickly. Keep up the good work!
Christopher Brown@AbandonedAmerica That appears to be a defunct torture robot.
Darryl Ramm@AbandonedAmerica Is it safe?
@AbandonedAmerica Oh well Marathon Man dentist jokes did not seem so funny after listening to the excellent podcast about Forest Haven and awful abuse of patients. https://www.abandonedamerica.us/forest-haven-a-fatal-history
@darryl_ramm I appreciate you acknowledging that. I struggle sometimes to know how to respond to jokes about certain places bc I know they're not mean or ill-intentioned but using this as an example, this place just makes me really sad. I don't think it's really a thing you or anyone else needs to feel bad about at all. But I do appreciate that you listened to the podcast and can see why this place is so heart wrenching too ❤️
Brian Dear@AbandonedAmerica You know Mastodon has hit the mainstream when you rush in, all cool and knowing, to reply with an increasingly-obscure-except-to-movie-fans “Is it safe?” movie quote, and you discover someone else has already replied with that. 🙄
@brianstorms Marathon Man, I'm guessing? I haven't seen that in like 20 years so it's lost on me anyway
@AbandonedAmerica yep Marathon Man, an almost…gulp… 50 year old film
Dawn Tåke 🌙 
@AbandonedAmerica
That not much worse than the place I last went to. Plastic over the windows, neither elevator working, etc.
I don't go there anymore.
Ben@AbandonedAmerica Old dental chairs look so spooky. This one is from a prison in Chiayi, and while the inmates were probably happy about it, it does spark some horrible (movie-induces) images.
(More images and full Story here, it’s not abandoned but nicely restored: https://bensahlmueller.com/chiayi-4-ghosts-of-the-past/)
@b3n interesting architecture to that place. Fascinating to see how another culture approaches the very old subject of incarceration
Calamity Caitlin@AbandonedAmerica PERFECTION 😍😍😍
Hasufin@AbandonedAmerica OFC it was in Laurel. Why do they always do horrible things in Laurel?
Random thought: you know about the Forest Glen Women's Seminary?
@Hasufin yes, I have heard of that one though never been there. That's apartments now though, isn't it? And - what else did Laurel do??
@AbandonedAmerica Not all apartments, just some. There are still some untouched, and quite overgrown, structures. I've been twice, once when the unused areas were being tended and once not. But there's still unrenovated buildings. And impressive overgrown statuary. Delightfully creepy.
@Hasufin oh, cool - I remember reading about that place and wanting to see it almost 20 years ago. Glad they kept some things as is
@AbandonedAmerica "kept" is overstating it; it's more "no one has bothered to destroy it". At least so far. I'll have to find my old pictures. That said, the apartments were made by renovating the buildings, so they kept much of the structures. Actually looks pretty nice.
@AbandonedAmerica As for Laurel... well, the asylum is the big thing, but I think there's industrial contamination and a few other unpleasantries. I think it's just that Laurel is convenient to DC but not so close as to be visible.
@Hasufin ah, right. I don't know much about the area other than what's immediately surrounding Forest Haven, which tbh is more than enough
Bob@AbandonedAmerica That image alone brings back some less-than-fun memories. I hated my childhood dentist.
Shirley@AbandonedAmerica looks painful