Eerie scenes of America’s abandoned hospitals, asylums and psychiatric facilities captured in chilling new photo series
THESE haunting photos reveal the crumbling remains of America’s abandoned asylums.
The collection includes the private mental hospital where celebrities such as Marilyn Monroe, Zelda Fitzgerald and Truman Capote were treated.
Another notable location includes the cells of an American asylum that once held murderer Charles Manson.
Canadian photographer Matt Van Der Velde captured eerie scenes from disused hospitals, asylums and psychiatric facilities across the States.
The autopsy theatre and morgue of Dr Walter Freeman, known as the 'Father of the Lobotomy', is also shown.
Matt, a veteran who suffered PTSD, released the images as part of his book Abandoned Asylums.
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Matt from Niagara Falls, Ontario, said: "Like everyone, I am not immune to mental illness and depression is something I've always unashamedly carried around.
"I feel a direct connection to each and every image I've taken.
"In a different time and a different place, it could of been me institutionalised.
"The motivation for the book came from an urge to reveal that these once incredible institutions are now sitting in a decrepit state, and destined to the fate of the wrecking ball.
"They hold incredible historical, social, and architectural value, and I believe the worst thing we can do as a society is remove every trace of them, or pretend they never existed.
"Ignorance is what ultimately fuels stigma, and the book features approx 20,000 words of history examining the evolution of psychiatry and how these places came to be and why they failed.
"I approach the subject with a sensitivity, and hope the readers realise that these places were not 'terrible places run by terrible people' - although certain exceptions do exist.
"The book touches on it all, the good and the bad."
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