The Real Arkham Sanitarium

Danvers State Hospital: A Slide Show

It is true that I have sent six bullets through the head of my best friend, and yet I hope to shew by this statement that I am not his murderer. At first I shall be called a madman—madder than the man I shot in his cell at the Arkham Sanitarium. —The Thing On the Doorstep

I was first alerted to the existence of Danvers State Hospital by Donovan Louck's Guide to Lovecraftian Sites in Massachusetts. It was a psychiatric hospital designed on the Kirkbride plan by Boston architect Nathaniel Jeremiah Bradlee.[1] As Loucks points out, there are a couple of fleeting references to it in Lovecraft's stories:

Before long I was pretty nearly a devotee, and would listen for hours like a schoolboy to art theories and philosophic speculations wild enough to qualify him for the Danvers asylum. —Pickman's Model

You can bet that prying strangers ain’t welcome around Innsmouth. I’ve heard personally of more’n one business or government man that’s disappeared there, and there’s loose talk of one who went crazy and is out at Danvers now. They must have fixed up some awful scare for that fellow. —The Shadow Over Innsmouth

Perhaps more interestingly, Danvers was originally known as Salem Village, site of the original witch trials, and along with the adjoining city of Salem, forms the principal inspiration for Lovecraft's legendary town of Arkham. Thus, Danvers State Hospital is a likely inspiration for Lovecraft's concept of Arkham Sanitarium.

I had a long talk with his doctor, banker, and lawyer, and finally took the physician with two specialist colleagues to visit him. The spasms that resulted from the first questions were violent and pitiable—and that evening a closed car took his poor struggling body to the Arkham Sanitarium. I was made his guardian and called on him twice weekly—almost weeping to hear his wild shrieks, awesome whispers, and dreadful, droning repetitions of such phrases as “I had to do it—I had to do it... it’ll get me... it’ll get me... down there... down there in the dark... Mother, mother! Dan! Save me... save me...” —The Thing On the Doorstep

I was fortunate enough to briefly visit the grounds of Danver State Hospital in 1997, before most of it was torn down. Recently I took the opportunity to revisit it in memory, by reworking my snapshots into more atmospheric photo-engravings. I hope you enjoy the results. Click any of the images below to start the tour. Be sure to press the audio play button if you want a more mind-bending experience.

Footnotes

[1.] Wikipedia contributors, "Danvers State Hospital," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/ w/ index.php? title=Danvers_State_Hospital& oldid=1013805486 (accessed November 9, 2021).

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