Well, now you can, courtesy of me.

This hospital is still in operation, although many of its wings have been shut down and allowed to decay (as evidenced by the photos).  There is a general world-wide shift away from traditional mental health hospitals towards community care and psychiatric wards that are associated with general hospitals.  There are many very good reasons for this transition.   

I have always been fascinated by mental institutions (I’m in love with McLean hospital in MA) and have a general interest in the history of mental health care in the US and abroad.  I know this is a bit odd. 

While I was in Northern Ireland, I snuck into this hospital and took some photos.  It was strange, because so much of it was abandoned, but then I’d go through a door and see several patients playing cards or singing along to someone with a guitar, but then I’d exit through another door into an abandoned hallway.  It was very eerie and no one even once asked me what I was doing wandering the halls with a camera.  For obvious reasons, I didn’t take photos of the patients, but hopefully some of these set the scene.

This is all part of my project and I was supposed to get a guided tour, but scheduling didn’t work out, which is a blessing, I think.  If I had had a guide, I doubt I would have been allowed to take pictures, and the experience would not have been nearly as spooky and bizarre.