July
18, 2006
I had the opportunity to take
a little tour of The Ridges. I work up here every day, but
there are lots of parts of the buildings that are closed to
the public. I had been in several of these areas before, but
I had never seen the stain.
In the late 1970s, a patient
named Margaret wandered into an abandoned ward of the hospital,
and got locked in. Hospital staff searched for her, but did
not find her. After she realized that no one was coming for
her, Margaret took off all her clothes, folded them neatly
on the windowsill, and laid down on the floor with her arms
crossed over her chest. There she died, and was not found
for a few weeks. Her body decomposing in the direct light
from the windows created a stain that cannot be removed.
I've seen many pictures of
the stain before, but it was entirely different to see it
in person. It's really sad, and also creepy. We also visited
the basement, the attic, the alligator room. I hope they rennovate
the entire Ridges some day, because these buildings are incredible.
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