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Report - - Holy Tree Hospital, USA April 2017 | European and International Sites | 28DaysLater.co.uk

Report - Holy Tree Hospital, USA April 2017

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mookster

grumpy sod
Regular User
Every so often a location comes along that slaps you in the face and puts it's hands down your pants for a little rummage. Somewhere that surprises you so much it becomes an instant favourite. I had been on the road with three of my friends - well two friends and one now ex-friend (long story) - on my last weekend in the States and one of them suggested this place. I had never even heard of it before but he said he'd been before and it was a cool spot. I trust him implicitly and he didn't let me down with this one!

This building is just one part of a much larger, very active site. It was originally a monastery but undertook a role as a hospital and retreat in later years, eventually closing around a decade ago although I'm certain the church and the retreat part has been closed a lot longer. It's a stunning building that I wish I'd taken some outside shots of, but I forgot like normal.

The building is a peculiar shape, dominated at one end by a huge church, and there is a secondary chapel on an upper floor. Parts of the building are modernised and still have power so the lights all work, and parts of it are sat in a gorgeously decayed state with loose floor tiles that raise a racket under every step. To top it off the basement contains one of the coolest artifacts I've ever seen - something that was on my photography bucket list and would make the youtube video bellends have kittens.

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Yes, that is an Iron Lung. For the youngsters out there an Iron Lung is the colloquial name for a negative pressure ventilator, used to enable Polio sufferers to breathe normally. This one, although covered in stupid marker pen scribbles, is pretty much complete. Once the Polio vaccination came about, Iron Lungs became almost completely redundant although they can still be used in a handful of scenarios. As such pretty much all of them were broken up for scrap and destroyed, with the surviving examples confined to medical museums and, very very rarely, abandoned in hospital basements. There was another abandoned hospital in the north-east area which had a trio of them for years but they were removed and are now in a museum, which I suppose is a good thing but bad as I missed them!

Thanks for looking :)

 

Yorrick

A fellow of infinite jest
28DL Full Member
Never seen an iron lung. heard of them. It conjures sad images

Depends on your spin. Polio wasn't nice, but these saved countless lives.

There was another abandoned hospital in the north-east area which had a trio of them

I remember seeing a few reports from (I think) @Rookinella from (I think!) Lincoln and Strathacro with some more modern, boxey looking ones. This is a beauty mate, and with all the glass and rubber intact it's very rare. It looks like its just missing the headrest.
 

mookster

grumpy sod
Regular User
I remember seeing a few reports from (I think) @Rookinella from (I think!) Lincoln and Strathacro with some more modern, boxey looking ones. This is a beauty mate, and with all the glass and rubber intact it's very rare. It looks like its just missing the headrest.

I remember seeing some old old photos from both of those with the Iron Lungs, oh to be able to have seen them with my own eyes.

I'm surprised it's still intact, other than the inane anti-instagram scribbles on it. Although it's hidden deep in the bowels of the basement and took us a good while to find even with my friend who'd been before so I guess not many idiots make it that far.
 

Calamity Jane

i see beauty in the unloved, places & things
Regular User
Depends on your spin. Polio wasn't nice, but these saved countless lives

I remember seeing a few reports from (I think) @Rookinella from (I think!) Lincoln and Strathacro with some more modern, boxey looking ones. This is a beauty mate, and with all the glass and rubber intact it's very rare. It looks like its just missing the headrest.
 

Calamity Jane

i see beauty in the unloved, places & things
Regular User

True Yorrick. The sadness I guess is from ive known a few people affected by polio and seen the limps they have all got, heard there stories of recovery etc. It just seems like a sad but necessary ( as you sad) piece of equipment. With Polio cases re emerging I wonder if same technique would be used. I know we all have been vaccinated now, but I did read last year of a few cases :(
 
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