What could be better ...or what could be worse? How about a REAL haunted asylum?
Welcome to Madness:
Pennhurst Haunted Asylum
...being held on the grounds of a former state mental health facility in Pennsylvania (Rhymes with Transylvania!). The cells were real, the infirmaries were real and the abuse was...
too real to be mocked for mere amusement some health experts say;
For History or Haunting?Critics argue that a haunted house on the grounds of an asylum where great pain was endured is an affront to the many tens of thousands of people released from similar institutions nationwide since 1969.
Every year around this time, mental health advocates say they find themselves contending with a bevy of groups wanting to turn old asylums into haunted houses.
Even though most organizers don't intend to offend, such events reinforce old stereotypes and make a mockery of serious health problems, said Mike Fitzpatrick, executive director of the Arlington, Va.-based National Alliance on Mental Illness.
"We don't do entertainment projects like that for cancer or heart disease," Fitzpatrick said. "This whole sort of trend to have haunted asylums is both discouraging and very, very inappropriate."
At Pennhurst, advocates say they think it's important that the site and its history be remembered — but not like this.
"When we closed Pennhurst, we were trying to end abuse and mistreatment and the stigma," said J. Bruce Hulick, executive director of ARC of Philadelphia, an advocacy group for people with disabilities. "Make it a dignified remembrance, not an amusement."
But Chakejian, who's had a relative treated at an institution in Philadelphia, said his project will help bring the site back to life. He estimates his group will evenually pour at least $2 million into preserving the buildings at Pennhurst.
He's also tried to address at least one of the concerns by changing the name of the haunted house event from "Pennhurst Institute of Fear" to "Pennhurst Asylum."
The event, with an admission price of $25, is slated to start Friday and run on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights through Nov. 7.
