I got the pictures up from Emma's play on Thursday night. Looks like it was damn funny.

Cindi is gonna cringe about this:

There is an old mental hospital/institution really near my house that has been shut down for years and years. It used to just be kind of an afterthought for people around here, the fences were high and the place seemed secure enough. No one really knew anything specific about the place, just that a lot of kids lived there that weren't fit to live anywhere else. Over the years it's become delapidated and vandalized, though a lot of people I know wouldn't be caught poking around there for any reason. It's scary looking, and has that "insane asylum" stigma attached.

Well, they're in the process of tearing it down to put in a SuperTarget. I've always wanted to go up there and take some pictures, but the fence still seemed pretty much intact and there are No Trespassing signs all over the place. Seriously though, I don't even like driving by that place at night. It's really creepy.

So anyway, the other night I decided that I better go up there and get some pictures before the whole damn thing is gone. A lot of the buildings have been leveled already, but a few are still standing. I parked across the street and had to find a place in the fence big enough to get through. Once I got in there, I was so overcome with fear it was all I could do to just snap a few quick pictures. I could not make myself go around to the back of the building, or to venture too far from the road. I could have actually gone inside the place if I wanted to, but that was not an option. Scawy!

I played around a bit with the light and color to get the best effect. Most of the pictures came off the camera completely pitch black, and some have been lightened up to 600%. The first picture of the whole building has what appears to be 2 little eyes in the far left window. I didn't put them there.

The pictures from Ridge Home and Emma's play are both up at Scrapblog. Go take a look.