Truth In Destruction

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Truth In Destruction Documenting American Ruins Since 2007

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A postcard combined with a contemporary view of the female refectory in Building 23 at Norristown State Hospital in Nor...
10/11/2026

A postcard combined with a contemporary view of the female refectory in Building 23 at Norristown State Hospital in Norristown, Pennsylvania.

Most state psychiatric hospitals separated the sexes for a multitude of reasons. Separate dormitories, separate medical facilities, and separate dining halls were the norm. Norristown was no exception, and its semi-aboveground connecting hallways allowed the patients easy access to their meals from the wards. Following years of downsizing and restructuring of units, the female refectory stands silent today, utilized for the storage of decades of medical detritus.

A view of what at one time was the world’s largest steam turbine inside the former Richmond Generating Station in Philad...
09/30/2026

A view of what at one time was the world’s largest steam turbine inside the former Richmond Generating Station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Circa 2009

A view through a window into a courtyard in the former Kirkbride building at Taunton State Hospital in Taunton, Massachu...
09/29/2026

A view through a window into a courtyard in the former Kirkbride building at Taunton State Hospital in Taunton, Massachusetts. Circa 2009.

One notorious patient at Taunton was serial poisoner “Jolly” Jane Toppan. Jane was a nurse who was found not guilty by reason of insanity after murdering 31 people with a lethal mixture of morphine and atropine. Following her commitment to Taunton, Toppan declared that she would be cured and released within 10-15 years. She spent the remaining 36 years of her life in the wards of the hospital, ironically living in tremendous fear of being poisoned as she aged. She was buried in a pauper’s grave at a nearby cemetery following her death at the age of 84.

A view of the cooler in the pathology building at the former Hudson River State Hospital in Poughkeepsie, New York. Circ...
09/28/2026

A view of the cooler in the pathology building at the former Hudson River State Hospital in Poughkeepsie, New York. Circa 2024

Select views from the former Allentown State Hospital in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Circa 2016.Established as Pennsylvania...
09/26/2026

Select views from the former Allentown State Hospital in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Circa 2016.

Established as Pennsylvania’s “State Homeopathic Hospital for The Insane” in 1912; Allentown’s initial mission focused on treating mental illness through rest, a calming environment and alternative medicine rather than typical psychiatric care. Over time, ASH would shift its direction of care to a traditional model, and the hospital reached a peak population of over 2,100 patients by the mid-1950’s. With the advent of psychotropic drugs, Allentown’s admission rate would decline over the following decades before the hospital fully closed in 2010. It would remain vacant for a decade, incredibly well secured with full utilities before the state decided the mothballed buildings were no longer needed. Demolition was completed by the end of 2020

Abandoned Children’s Psychiatric Hospital. 2021
09/24/2026

Abandoned Children’s Psychiatric Hospital. 2021

A view of the elegant lobby of the Congress Theater in Chicago, Illinois. Circa 2021
09/24/2026

A view of the elegant lobby of the Congress Theater in Chicago, Illinois. Circa 2021

A view down the main corridor at the demolished SCI Greensburg medium security prison in Greensburg, Pennsylvania. Circa...
09/24/2026

A view down the main corridor at the demolished SCI Greensburg medium security prison in Greensburg, Pennsylvania. Circa 2023.

Dead Wonderland.Abandoned Amusement Park.
09/22/2026

Dead Wonderland.

Abandoned Amusement Park.

A 2022 view of the catholic chapel at the former Central Islip State Hospital in Central Islip, New York. It has since b...
09/19/2026

A 2022 view of the catholic chapel at the former Central Islip State Hospital in Central Islip, New York. It has since been renovated into NYIT’s College of Osteopathic Medicine Family Healthcare Center.

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