Abandoned Fairfield State Hospital
Connecticut

There were only a couple of things on my list I didn’t accomplish during the holiday break from school. Visiting Fairfield State Hospital in Newtown, Connecticut, a lead from a nice person I met while exploring the Seaside Sanatorium, was one of those “to-do”s. I was told the grounds were easy to explore as they were now filled with dog walkers, runners and good folks using the community center housed in one of the revamped buildings. Upon arrival I saw this couldn’t be more accurate. The plentiful spread of abandoned buildings from the campus’s former use, the “cure of those unfortunate people whose minds have become deranged with strange fancies and who have lost control over their thoughts and emotions (source),” were very easy to examine freely and, as you’ll see, very easy to peek my head into strategically broken windows to take some glorious interior shots with my beloved fish eye. Most entryways had signs requesting I not get closer than 15 feet, but there were no such signs on the windows. Wink.

So what that I had recently spread a tape measure out to 15 feet in my apartment to count how many of my footsteps would equate to this measurement for parking purposes? My gorgeous new camera feels like a legit license to explore, like it dismisses me as a serious but harmless photographer who is not up to no good. I’m not. I just like capturing light hitting various things, especially abandoned mental institutions.

The ornate details of Fairfield’s colonial buildings deserved the best light. I shuffled all my weekend intentions so that I may have better light. Because though I most enjoy cemetery photography when there is a gauze-like fog or complete overcast, sunshine is best for abandoned place photography in my humble opinion. For one, it creates a contrasting lively backdrop for decay while illuminating its texture. And for two, it streams powerfully into crevices and pours through the many cracks–the classic urbex shot. But enough of my jabber, I am really pleased with so many of these pictures. I hope you like them too.

Because there are several active municipal buildings within the Fairfield complex, notice how maintained the grass is. This is another part of the ease of exploration.

My favorite buildings were the smaller cottages…

…because the windows are at my eye level and I could sneak many peeks.

Lots of coffee cups.

Can I renovate this place and live here? NewSylum is a CT-based brewery that is building a taproom in one of the abandoned buildings. Perhaps the complex needs a vegan bakery? Hmm, what Health Department grade would I get?

This building was fenced off, but at Fairfield–every fence has an opening somewhere. What you cannot see from these shots is the committee of vultures that were taking residence in the attic window up there. (I had to look up what to call a group of vultures. From 20 Fun Facts About Vultures: A group of vultures is called a committee, venue or volt. In flight, a flock of vultures is a kettle, and when the birds are feeding together at a carcass, the group is called a wake.)

Lovely porches

Some of my favorite shots…

Some prankster was here

Curtains, part 1

Curtain, part 2

This patient building had all barred windows. It was the creepiest.

Long exposure is difficult without a tripod. This was totally dark to my naked eye.

Asphalt art

<3 (Taking it back to AIM when there was no such thing as emojis! “When I was your age I had to type ‘less than 3’ to show my love!”)

Thanks Fairfield for a wonderful afternoon of picture taking. I’m so thirsty I can drink this decades-old Diet Pepsi I saw in one of the buildings.

And before I leave you, one of my favorite songs about mental institutions–and I oddly have many having grown up captivated by psychology and mentally deranged peers and boyfriends. If I was a part of another time, I’d likely be burned at the stake or institutionalized for sure, so here’s to time. And all it allows me to be. Mostly… free.