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Here's the treat I promised all of you. Pretend it's Saturday because that's when we actually went on our adventure. So, it's time to go. Go where you ask? To the annual tour of the Willard Mental Asylum, of course. I can hear you all hooting and hollering with excitement. Me, too. I've been so anxious for this day to arrive. You can (and need to) Google "Willard Mental Asylum" to get the history about this wild and crazy place. If you go to "images", you can see pictures of this old nut house.
Willard opened for the insane in 1869. It closed in 1995. Part of it now is a prison and a children's center. When I was growing up in Hornell, N.Y., anyone who acted the slightest button off was told "You're going to Willard, You're going to Willard!" Thousands of people lived at Willard for most of their lives. Willard is located on Seneca Lake (the deepest lake (618 feet) entirely within New York State) in the town of Ovid. The town of Willard is adjacent. There are 11 Finger Lakes (can you name them?). Seneca Lake is one of the main five (fingers) Finger Lakes. Wineries
Aimee, Sara & Lory
In front of one of the condemned buildings line both side of the road going up along the lake to Ovid. If you stopped at all of them...you would be super drunk and would have to sleep in your car or along side the road. Obviously, our goal was to get to the funny farm. No drinking allowed now. Move on!
Besides all of you, our daughter, Lory, and granddaughter, Sara, and her friend, Aimee, boarded our transport vehicle that would take us to our special destination. Having never been here before (hah! You probably thought I had spent some time here, didn't you?) we didn't know what to expect. Well, none of it was what I expected. They stated there would be unlimited tickets ($10 each) for two tours: 9:00 & 1:00. We decided to go on the later one and arrived around 11:30 AM. As we came closer to the grounds, the narrow, outside road way was packed on both sides with hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of cars. Cory drove on and entered the actual asylum grounds. Million more cars parked all over. We just parked at the first place we could with no idea where we had to go for tickets. All we
knew was we had to find a building called Camp Edgemore. Finally, after some inquiry, we began walking along the roadway and past some of the solemn, worn, brick buildings. Thank goodness, Cory remembered to bring my walking stick or I'd still be sitting in the car. After a good hike, we found the place to get our tickets. We are given thin, rubbery bands to wear denoting we had paid. There was a chicken bar-b-que going on but you had to have purchased your food ticket way ahead of time. We didn't so we only could sit and smell the wonderful aroma, drool and swallow our spit as consolation. The line for the bathroom was bigger than ride lines at Disneyworld. Good we had nothing to drink! Spit doesn't hydrate you much.
A mega, huge crowd gathered for this afternoon tour that was a 3 hour walking tour. Ouch, my knees! One volunteer had a map of the grounds but had no idea what buildings we would be going in. There was an atmosphere of disorganization filling the air. Finally, someone called out and said for us to break into groups of 50 and go with our guide.
Old Buiding
A piece of beauty amongst devastation Our guide had a military-like uniform on so I figured we were good with her.....WRONG! First, our group started out and there were over 100 people in it. The guide didn't speak loud enough so we couldn't hear everything she said. She must have been a marathon walker because her pace was like a cheetah. We ran up and down hills, flying past boarded up buildings and finally coming to an abrupt halt so she could whisper something about what building we were going in. I was half dead before we reached the first building. Fortunately, it was the hospital but of course, abandoned. At least, I didn't have to run through it. It was not all that old so it was like going through just an abandoned community hospital. I wanted to see the rooms where the old tubs were located that they put the patients in, filled them with ice and kept them there until they settled down. How about where they did the electro shock therapy or the lobotomies? Nothing. Rats!
Back outside and into the 10K again, we jogged up another steep hill only for the guide to realize she had missed a building and
Map of the grounds
Collapsed Side Wall we had to retrace our steps......Nooooo. I can't do it! Okay, off to the morgue...down hill but what's this? Another group was lined up to go in and the wait would be an hour! Help! So, back up the bad hill we scurried (near death now) and came to another building. It was the recreation hall: a stage, a balcony, a game floor....nothing exciting and certainly not all that old. Only good thing here was we could use a bathroom without a mile long line. Enough, get moving!
Onward to the morgue. Dragging along behind this group that had dwindled to about 30 people, we finally reach the morgue and stood in line to get in. Several people mentioned something about needing tickets for this tour? Many people just ignored that fact and joined a group...no one checked nor cared! Sure! At least, the morgue looked dirty and grooly (my word). It showed the coolers where they keep the bodies. It was the nurses job to make sure there was enough ice packed inside to keep the bodies cool. A light in the window of the morgue would come on if the coolers needed more ice. There was the
Afternoon Crowd
Waiting for 1:00 tour old embalming/autopsy slab table. Last but not least, Speedy Gonzolas whipped us over to the children's center. It was this place that the "ticket money" was going to. I didn't even bother to go in...it is new and being utilized at present. But what about all the old dormitories and building the kept all these wackos years ago. All off limits...all condemned.....no entering. Rats, Rats, Rats. And that was the end of the tour...just over an hour. What happened to a 3-hour tour? I couldn't have survived it anyway. My walking stick had worn down to the size of a peg! One explanation was that on the morning tour which had over 3,000 people.....some of the ticket holders got upset and pried their way into the condemned buildings and destroyed stuff inside......what would be there to even destroy? Then they got up near the working prison and took pictures of some the prisoners. The prison guards had to call for back up to try and get the people off the grounds by closing of roads, etc. We were supposed to see the fire hall (big deal) but it got closed also. Once back to our car (oh, thank God), Cory
Newer Sign
Entrance into Hospital drove around the grounds and past some of the original, old buildings until the police stopped him.
We left the grounds and drove just down the road to the Willard Cemetery where over 5,000 patients are buried. Noooo.....another big hill to climb but we made it. Not much to see once there (everyone was below ground): only a few monuments for some Civil War men who ended up in Willard. They had had a ceremony earlier for the grave digger that buried most of the people residing here. He was a patient of Willard and they gave him a little shack to live in at the cemetery. The cemetery was divided into sections: original, Jewish, old Protestant and old Catholic. Could have been more but I couldn't walk any further. Calling for a gurney!
And that ended the highly anticipated tour of Willard Mental Asylum. What a disappointment. At least, I could see in the photos on Google some of the buildings and equipment used at this torturous facility. Keep in mind: we won't go again. You can hold your unhappy comments about this surprise adventure. I can hear it in your sighs and moans. Live and learn....right?
Private Room
Sara & Aimee in a 4 bed ward Best part of the day was dinner at Olive Garden. Glad it ended on a good note. Crazzzzzzzy! Just Crazzzzzzy!
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