Project 365: Day 3
Today (Sunday), my boyfriend and I went out to try our new metal detector. We had middling success in terms of finding anything to dig up - we were actually getting too many hits as opposed to too few - but as I was driving us to the next place I thought might be a good candidate, a town park, I passed a rarely-taken road.
"Actually," I said, "I pass this road all the time, and I've never been up it. I've heard there's like an old abandoned hospital or something up here." My boyfriend was enthusiastic to check it out, so we drove up the tidy but lonely road, flanked on one side by a bike path. As we came around a corner, this came into view.
It's the last building standing of the Metropolitan State Hospital, the Dr. William F. McLaughlin Building. It's creepy to the Nth degree: on the porch, two windows have been torn open, one wide enough that a person could climb in through the window, were they so inclined. We looked through the window and could see the old fluorescent lights still in the cieling and a big metal file cabinet lurking hunched against the far wall. My camera battery was nearly dead, but my boyfriend pulled out his phone to take a few additional photos.
"Argh," he said after a few minutes. "My phone just went dead. Completely dead. It had full battery life a minute ago. Now it won't even turn on. I think my phone might be shot - even when the battery is used up, it will still boot up slightly, but then just shut down again, and I'm not even getting that. I've got nothing at all." I suggested that the camera function might have drained the battery, but he shook his head. "I've only taken 3 pictures, and the battery was fully charged. I took photos and video with this for over 2 hours at the KISS concert, and it didn't drain the battery very much. I think the phone just crapped out - and this was an expensive phone!" He's only had it for about six months or so.
It was getting late, so we hopped back in my car to return to my place, which is only about a mile and a half from this abandoned hospital remnant. Halfway home, a cheery chirruping noise chimed out from my boyfriend's pocket: he pulled out his phone, now fully functional, with nearly full battery life, which had apparently booted back up again of its own accord.
"Ok, now that?" I said, "Is really really eerie."
I've read a rumor that the building is to be torn down to make way for a golf course - ugh.
"Actually," I said, "I pass this road all the time, and I've never been up it. I've heard there's like an old abandoned hospital or something up here." My boyfriend was enthusiastic to check it out, so we drove up the tidy but lonely road, flanked on one side by a bike path. As we came around a corner, this came into view.
It's the last building standing of the Metropolitan State Hospital, the Dr. William F. McLaughlin Building. It's creepy to the Nth degree: on the porch, two windows have been torn open, one wide enough that a person could climb in through the window, were they so inclined. We looked through the window and could see the old fluorescent lights still in the cieling and a big metal file cabinet lurking hunched against the far wall. My camera battery was nearly dead, but my boyfriend pulled out his phone to take a few additional photos.
"Argh," he said after a few minutes. "My phone just went dead. Completely dead. It had full battery life a minute ago. Now it won't even turn on. I think my phone might be shot - even when the battery is used up, it will still boot up slightly, but then just shut down again, and I'm not even getting that. I've got nothing at all." I suggested that the camera function might have drained the battery, but he shook his head. "I've only taken 3 pictures, and the battery was fully charged. I took photos and video with this for over 2 hours at the KISS concert, and it didn't drain the battery very much. I think the phone just crapped out - and this was an expensive phone!" He's only had it for about six months or so.
It was getting late, so we hopped back in my car to return to my place, which is only about a mile and a half from this abandoned hospital remnant. Halfway home, a cheery chirruping noise chimed out from my boyfriend's pocket: he pulled out his phone, now fully functional, with nearly full battery life, which had apparently booted back up again of its own accord.
"Ok, now that?" I said, "Is really really eerie."
I've read a rumor that the building is to be torn down to make way for a golf course - ugh.