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Thursday, June 16th 2011

11:03 AM

Main Building Photo... Finally



After years of searching I had all but given up. That is until a few weeks ago when I finally found a Stereoview photograph of the administration section of the Main Building. Until finding this little gem I had never seen an actual photo of the administration section. I was starting to wonder if any photo ever existed. Now that I have this photo, my search continues for a photograph of the entire Main Building before the demolition of the administration section in 1893. Click on the image above, or this link to see the full size photo.
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Thursday, May 19th 2011

11:44 AM

Main Building 3D Model Project



Yesterday afternoon with some inspiration from a fellow state hospital enthusiast I decided out of the blue that I was going to try my hand at 3D modeling. So I downloaded Google SketchUp and after a short amount of time I had started to create a 3D model of the Main Building. I have never done this before, so I'm pretty much just learning as I go. I'm going off of photos of the original blue prints for the building that I took at the Pennsylvania State Archives as well as the few lithograph and other images that I have of the building. I'm building it to scale thanks to the dimensions written on the blueprints. So the model I'm building really is 680 feet long and four stories all. Though I am having to do a bit of estimating on things like the dome and portico since there are no written dimensions for those features. Since the Main Building was demolished so early there are no known photos of the building, at least none that show the whole thing with the administration section in tact. So eventually I hope to get this 3D model to the point that it will basically be a simulated photo of the entire building, but one step better since I can look at it form any angle. I will be posting progress photos in the forum.

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Wednesday, May 18th 2011

10:00 AM

Join us on Facebook!



I have created a City on the Hill Facebook page. I will be posting website and hospital news and updates on the page. It is also open to anyone that wants to contribute to it, so if you work at the DGS Annex, if you are a former HSH employee, doctor, or patient, or just have an interest in the hospital, don't hesitate to head on over to Facebook and check out the new page. Please feel free to upload your own photos and talk about anything related to the former hospital.
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Wednesday, May 18th 2011

9:44 AM

Website Updates

I'm continuing to slowly get all the building pages updated with new photos and history. On Tuesday I finished work on the Boiler House and Laundry building page. Be sure to check out the new contemporary photos from my visit last year. It was very cool to explore and photograph such and old building, and one of a handful that still remain standing from the time of the Main Building.
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Wednesday, May 11th 2011

2:57 PM

Staff & Patient Photos



I have created a new page dedicated to staff and patient photos. Special thanks to Patricia for sending me some great employee photos!  SEE THE PHOTOS HERE


I have also created a new banner for the website (if you didn't notice already). I tried to brighten it up a bit, let me know what you think!
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Monday, May 9th 2011

10:56 AM

Cemetery Information

I have created a new page for all information pertaining to the hospital cemeteries. I have received much help over the last few months from the caretaker at the Harrisburg City Cemetery and due to the amount of new information I have decided the cemetery information needed a dedicated page. Unfortunately I'm still missing much hard information on the two cemeteries located on the former hospital property. Much of the information I have has been pieced together using key dates and bits of information I have found or have been told by former employees. If you have any more information on the cemeteries please don't hesitate to email me or post on the message boards.

Click here to see the new cemetery page.
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Friday, February 25th 2011

9:34 AM

City on the Hill Forum



Introducing the new City on the Hill message board! I have been contemplating adding a forum to this website for quite a while now. I have been receiving emails from former patients, staff, and those with a general interest in the hospital ever since the website went online. I'm hoping that this forum will create a place where everyone can feel comfortable to connect and discuss anything and everything that has to do with the hospital. This is your forum! So please don't hesitate to head on over, register, and start posting!

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Thursday, January 27th 2011

11:24 AM

Main Building Interactive Map




Be sure to check out the new Main Building Interactive Map that I just added to the website this morning! It's easy to use, just click on a highlighted section of the building and see a photo of that area.

CLICK HERE TO START USING THE NEW MAP

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Friday, January 21st 2011

7:26 AM

New Submitted Photo

Special thanks to Justine that took the time to send me this excellent photograph taken February 1998 showing the discharge ward, E3 West in the Eaton Building.


Click on the image to visit the Eaton page and see the larger version.

I'm also still hard at work on continuing updates including new photos, new photo galleries, and building histories. I'm also creating a new section for patient and employee stories. I already have several great stories to post. If you have any stories to share of your time at the hospital please don't hesitate to email me.

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Thursday, December 16th 2010

2:49 PM

New Updates

  

I have finally gotten some free time to update a few more building pages with new photo galleries and new photos.

Updates and new photos have been made to the Chapel, Convalescent Buildings, Hilltop Building, and the Hospital for Physically Ill.

Be sure to check out all the new contemporary photos, especially the ones of the morgue elevator in the basement of the female Convalescent Building!

Many more updates to come...
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Monday, December 13th 2010

7:43 AM

What did you think of The Morgue?



For those of you that were able to stay up to see "The Morgue" episode of Ghost Lab Saturday morning... what did you think? Please feel free to post your comments about the show.

Personally, it played out exactly like I expected it to. If you believe in ghosts and spirits then you probably feel what they "discovered" was exciting. But in my opinion you can manipulate audio to make it sound like anything.

If you missed the episode you can watch it on YouTube. Click to view part1 part2.

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Wednesday, December 8th 2010

7:53 AM

HSH Ghost Lab Episode to Air on Saturday


This is a bit late, but the Harrisburg State Hospital episode of Ghost Lab will be airing this Saturday morning at 2:00am. The episode has been titled "The Morgue". Remember to set your DVRs Friday evening so you don't miss it!


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Thursday, November 4th 2010

1:44 PM

Ghost Lab Pulled from Thursday Nights



I have been informed today that the Ghost Lab series has been pulled from its 10pm time slot on Thursdays on the Discovery Channel. Starting on Saturday November 20th new episodes will start airing again... at 2:00am (est)! According to an email correspondence, they do not know in what order the episodes will be airing, so keep an eye on your DVR and TV guides if you were looking forward to seeing this episode. I'm not sure what this means for the show and it's employees, typically the Friday night time slots are where shows are put to die, so I'm not sure what to make of this ridiculous time slot. If this is the end of the show I wish all the Ghost Lab crew and employees good luck.
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Wednesday, October 20th 2010

7:58 AM

Ghost Lab Season Two Started



Season two of Ghost Lab started last night on the Discovery Channel. The official air date for the HSH episode has still not been posted, but knowing that it will be the fifth episode should land it around the second week in November.

In other news...
Sorry for the lack of updates over the last few months, I have been quite busy with personal things all summer and hope to be getting back to my websites in the coming weeks.
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Monday, September 27th 2010

3:09 PM

Ghost Lab Behind the Scenes Photos



Some behind the scenes photos from the Harrisburg State Hospital episode of Ghost Lab have been posted on their Discovery Channel website. I still don't have an air date for the episode, but it shouldn't be too far away now.

Click here to see the photos!
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Wednesday, June 16th 2010

8:55 AM

There Are Ghosts in Here?



Maybe. But one thing is for sure, Ghost Lab was at at the former hospital campus back on May 23, 24, and 25th. They were filming for episode 205 which will air during season two on the Discovery Channel. I know for sure that they filmed in the Eaton Building, the tunnels, and the Morgue. As for if they actually found anything substantial, I guess we will have to wait to see the show.

I personally do not believe in ghosts or paranormal activity, perhaps because I have not experience anything in person. I have also been a long time non-supporter of these types of shows. I do believe that they put state hospitals and institutions in a bad light. These hospital were truly trying their best to help people during a time period when very little was known about mental illnesses. Like so many things that starts out with a great idea, the state hospital system did go through some bad times thanks to budget cuts and over crowding. But these hospitals were certainly not dungeons, torture chambers, or places of crazy medical experiments. Sure we can look back at some of the treatment methods now and wonder what doctors were thinking back then, but 50 years from now doctors will be saying the same exact thing about modern treatments. Medicine is about experimentation and trial and error. One day people will probably think treating cancer with radiation was crazy, but that is modern medicine.

Ok, sorry for the rant. Of all the shows out there I do believe that Ghost Lab is the more serious of all of them. I do hope that they portray the hospital in a better light than those "other shows"... aka Ghost Hunters... have with other state hospitals. I look forward to seeing the episode when it airs. Once I know of an exact air date I will post it. Feel free to leave your comments.
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Friday, June 11th 2010

2:10 PM

New Morgue Page & Cemetery Info

 

This afternoon I published a new building page for the Morgue, previously it was on the Other Buildings page with a few others that I don't have much info on. Over the last couple years I have accumulated more and more info on the morgue and thanks to my last visit to the hospital in May I now have interior photos of the building. So I figured it was time that the morgue building deserved it's own dedicated page. I have also included the cemetery information on the new page as well.

Click here to see the new morgue page!

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Monday, June 7th 2010

3:23 PM

New Updates

 

I have made changes to two building pages as part of the continued over haul of the website.

Changes to the Administration Building page include many new interior photos from a recent visit. I have also increased the size of all the existing contemporary photos to match the size of the new ones.

Changes to the Eaton Building page include a new photo gallery, many new interior photos from a recent visit, and a new history write-up. As with the Administration Building gallery I also increased the size of all the existing photos.

Many more updates to come...
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Friday, May 21st 2010

1:36 PM

Please excuse the mess...

I'm about half way done a pretty major over haul of the City on the Hill website. Last week I introduced the new history section and now I'm currently working on the individual building pages. I'm adding new history to some of the buildings and creating new photo galleries with bigger photos. I think the new photo galleries will be easier to navigate since you can now scroll from picture to picture by clicking the "next" link rather than having to constantly use your browsers back button and click on the next photo. If you want to see what the new photo galleries look like I have completed the updates to the Administration Building and Main Building pages. I have also created new pages for the Dix Museum and a Contact page. Other updates in the works is a better Media page and a new page for artifacts from the hospital.

I also have an entirely new website currently in the works. Keep an eye out for it late this summer. If you want a sneak peek you can see it HERE.
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Friday, May 14th 2010

9:14 AM

A Major Website Update

I have just published a major update to the history section of the website that I have been working on for over two weeks. The new history section replaces the old one page brief history of the hospital with a much expanded history. It now includes much more information on the hospital during the twentieth century as well as treatment of the mentally ill prior to the creation of the hospital. I also tied in the history of the Main Building so you can now read all the way from the founding of the hospital to it's closing by simply clicking on the "Next Page" links. There are also new pages dedicated to key figures that influenced the hospital as well as a page dedicated to the former superintendents.
I hope everyone enjoys the new history section as it is something that I had been wanting to expand for quite some time and it certainly wasn't an easy over night project.

Click here to visit the new history section!
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