Glenn Dale

       We didn't want to leave Crownsville, but some people in the distance were pointing at us, and we decided to play it safe. We walked back up the trail through the woods, past all the farm buildings, right through the main campus, and back to the road. We got back in my car and regrouped. It was only the afternoon, but we still had to drive to Glenn Dale, find a place to park, and then make our way to the grounds without being seen by security.

       After grabbing some coffee, we drove to a nearby neighborhood and parked. We had driven around the area to scope out access points and where security was posted. The place was simply enormous. There were several main buildings and a ton of smaller ones. There was no way we'd have time to explore them all in the time we had, so we decided to exclude the biggest building. We figured it was probably the most thoroughly vandalized and destroyed, and it was right across the street from the security trailer (there is definitely a permanent security presence there). We had more than enough left to explore. We decided to take the long way around the back of the facility, through some woods and high grass. The sun was beginning to set, but we were illuminated enough to want cover. We emerged, unseen, at the rear of the old asylum.

Our first glimpse of Glenn Dale State Hospital

       We didn't see any obvious way in. We walked around the grounds, hoping we would find an easier way than a window.

We found a hole in one of the doors in the arch; that was our entrance and exit.

       We saw an old disused road leading to some buildings and a decrepit water tower, but we decided to make our way to the roof of this main building while we still had some sunlight. We entered through a small hole in a door and turned on our flashlights.

Reception Area

The elevator shaft

I wanted to get a shot of the inside of the elevator. Luckily, Rich pointed out to me that it looked like it was hanging by a thread. The four-story plunge that would have resulted if the cable snapped did seem a little risky.

On every floor of the hospital were these utility catwalks. There was interesting machinery on the other side, but the walls were rotting so severely we didn't feel safe making the trip. The last thing we wanted was to fall into the bowels of this old place.

Nothing in the drawers.

 

Without our headlamps and flashlights, we wouldn't have been able to see much.

The Operator? Those slender legs of his would go down with one swing of a crow bar...

Every patient apparently had a locker. Many of the names were still legible.

 

Even when this place was in operation, these rooms probably weren't that great.

Another dark hallway. Walking into the blackness is more fun than you'd think.

We found a stage. There was what looked a dressing room adjacent to it.

One thing you quickly learn when you go poking around abandoned buildings is that the people who tag the walls of these places really like penises, racial epithets and gangs. These places have a strange kind of beauty and the graffiti seems to take away from it.

       It was a lot of fun taking pictures around the old asylum. Unfortunately, our camera ran out of battery. Once again, we had nothing but our phones to take pictures with, and these were running out of battery too. We decided to hit the basement, then go right up to the roof. From there, we'd take the overgrown road to the water tower.

This is the ramp to the basement. The shadow is Rich's police baton.

When we found this jersey, Rich remarked it was "a trash player in a trash place." We both had a good laugh.

We made our way up to the roof. The balcony was covered in the bricks of a collapsed wall.

 

 

 

       We had been exploring the main building for about 2 hours. We camped out in a doorless room on the roof for a little while. The sun was fading fast and we prepared ourselves to explore the rest of this huge, dead place without the comfort of daylight. When the wind started to gust, we made our way down the stairs and onto the derelict road. There were black, ornate street lamps lining the road which hadn't lit up the path for decades. We got to the first building on the road and went around back to look for an access point. We climbed up some broken stairs and looked inside: everything was completely collapsed and inaccessible. We made it up the concrete steps but all the wood that had comprised the bulk of the building lay in a jumbled heap on the ground. We left and went to the next building.

 

This shot, though not of the best quality, gives a clear illustration of what I mean when I say "inaccessible."

       The next building we encountered on our way to the water tower was completely locked up. We got in by squeezing through a small hole in a window that led to the basement. We made our way upstairs, but the floor up there was too decayed to support us.

       My phone died the next time I tried to take a picture. Rich's phone only had a small amount of battery life left. We were disappointed that we couldn't document the entirety of what now lay before us: the water tower, what looked like a factory and a massive garage. The water tower's main pipeline had an open door, exposing the rusted interior. Without a proper camera, though, it was impossible to get a good shot in that darkness. In the end, we only had enough battery life left to take these eight pictures.

Before we entered the factory, we went into its enormous smokestack. Neither of us felt like making the climb.

There were several machines like this inside.

We found these huge clothes washing and drying machines.

Some of the heavy machinery in that place looked like it was used for manufacturing.

       After that last picture, Rich's phone died. We decided to explore the garage before we left. The place was huge, big enough to maintain a fleet of vehicles. Among the sights in there were the creepy remains of a Christmas party. A Christmas tree stand and some decorations were scattered around the floor and in boxes. When we had enough, we left Glenn Dale and made our way back to my car.

       Glenn Dale had been fun, definitely worth a trip back. We still wanted return to Crownsville, so we stopped for a coffee break. We recharged ourselves and our phones, and bought some more batteries for the camera. After a short time, we drove back to Crownsville with the intent of entering the main building.