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Aspie1
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24 Jul 2005, 12:44 pm

I've been hearing about an urban legend. Let me know what you think.

There a place called Cuba Rd. in Barrington, IL (a suburb northwest of Chicago). It runs through a very underdeveloped area. It has nothing but farmhouses, farms, and a forest preserve. The houses are extremely large, with driveways about a mile long, and they stick out like sore thumbs in the middle of creepy-looking farms. In the forested section, there are many old-growth trees, which hang over the road, forming a tunnel, rather than growing straight up.

The legend is as follows. There used to be a mental hospital in the area I described. It was built sometime in the late 1800's. Mental patients were herded into boxcars, carried for many miles on trains, and dropped off in front of the hospital. In the hospital, the patients were brutally mistreated: just picture Guatanamo ten times worse (I hope the comparison didn't offend). The mistreatment continued for as long as the place existed. Sometime in the mid 1900's, the hospital was torn down; no trace of the building remains. Its foundation was left in place, due to the high cost of taking it out. A large farm now occupies the site.

During the day, the farm looks like your typical vegetable field, with nothing special. However, at night, many people have reported seeing shadows (the wording of the legend is "shadows", not "ghosts") moving around the farm, talking to each other, yelling out in pain, or just walking around in somber silence.

I usually don't buy into these things, but since this involves a mental hospital, where aspies sometimes end up due to being misunderstood (especially in the times that hospital existed), I find this legend quite eerie. What do you think of all this? Post your replies.

Take a look at the site right here:
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=%22cuba+r ... &t=h&hl=en



anbuend
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24 Jul 2005, 1:00 pm

I don't know about ghost stories, but I do know that there's something really unpleasant in a lot of those places. Call it "vibes" or whatever, even a lot of staff will admit to it. I think some people get used to it, and some people notice it more than others, but there's a definite "feel" about them that's bad and that for all I know lingers. (This is one reason I think such places are an incredibly crappy place to put anyone who's really hallucinating.) I was nearly bowled over by it the last time I visited a place like that, I'd been away from it long enough to forget about that part. Something to do with long-term concentrated misery, I guess. Not sure if it sticks around or if it's just an artifact of what's going on while they're running, though.


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24 Jul 2005, 1:02 pm

Sounds like an X-Files episode I saw once.



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24 Jul 2005, 1:10 pm

Oh, and the Guantanamo comparison doesn't seem all that offensive. When I heard about the torture going on in Guantanamo, my first thought was a lot of group homes/psych wards/"schools"/"community programs" I'd seen. And I always wondered why Guantanamo gets the attention it deserves, and these other things, with rare exceptions, don't.

(Of course then I read a book called The Dynamics of Torture which explained quite clearly why they don't, and why torture in general is the least-prosecuted crime no matter who it's happening to, among other things because of the high social status of the perpetrators and the low social status of the victims.)


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24 Jul 2005, 6:16 pm

Quote:
Sounds like an X-Files episode I saw once.


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25 Jul 2005, 3:08 am

Aspie1 wrote:
(the wording of the legend is "shadows", not "ghosts")


When I was younger, like 30 years ago, I used to see "shadows" in the family home, thats how I described them to my folks, before I "learnt" that people do not talk about these things....

I still remeber lying in my bed, facing the wall with the window in it, and seeing shadows of a person walking in the room, only the light was out, so how could a shodow be on the wall, more so the wall with the window in it and curtuians drawn, at night? a room on the second floor? No way baby, shadows are ghosts...

Some times an aspie memory is a curse too...



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25 Jul 2005, 3:12 pm

I haven't heard that one. That's a cool one.

Ghosts come in many different forms, but shadows are specific. Just like most ghosts are not shadows, most shadows are not ghosts. Shadows are blank forms, and in many cases shadows can be psychic memories imprinted upon an areas as opposed to actual spirits that move in the area.

I'm not sure where in Barrington this location would be, but it is interesting to note that a line drawn from barrington to the "Archer Ave" ley line to be perpendicular leads to a point that is the interchange of I-55 and Pulaski.

(Not that this means anything. See Robert Anton Wilson's description of the mystical significance of the number 23.)


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Aspie1
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26 Jul 2005, 11:07 pm

anbuend wrote:
Something to do with long-term concentrated misery, I guess. Not sure if it sticks around or if it's just an artifact of what's going on while they're running, though.


PaulB wrote:
Shadows are blank forms, and in many cases shadows can be psychic memories imprinted upon an areas as opposed to actual spirits that move in the area.


Those shadows are probably there because a part of the hospital is still sitting there underneath the farm. During its times (late 1800's to mid 1900's), the hospital was a place full of misery. Since a part of the hospital (e.g. the foundation) remained, so did the remnants of the misery that took place in it (e.g. the shadows). So nowadays, the hospital (the above-ground part, at least) may be gone, but the misery remains.



Aspie1
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09 Aug 2005, 11:40 pm

Sorry to double-post, but I felt like resurrecting this thread. I'm starting to get into the paranormal stuff, and I'd like to know if any other aspies feel the same way.



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10 Aug 2005, 6:42 am

In Northampton Massachusetts there is a state hospital which has been declared a historical site. It has been around since the 1800s, and was closed only recently. There are people here who worked there and who were interred there.
You could go there, drop someone off and get them committed without much trouble.
A lot of people think its haunted.
An artist went there and wired the place to play music for a few days.
A former mental patient went there and occupied the place as a protest for a number of days.
The police patrol it on a regular basis because its such a good place to squat.
There are a lot of websites about what happened there.
Based on my knowledge of this place, and places in New York (I grew up there) where the mistreatment was legendary, I would believe it. And I bet there are people who remember what went on there.
In fact, I think I'll check it out...


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Neuroman
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10 Aug 2005, 7:10 am

I did some research.
I don't think it was a hospital.
Take a look at this site:

http://www.slimpictures.com/ghoststories.htm

It has, toward the bottom of the page, an aerial photo of the site.
The foundation is too small. Most hospitals of that time were huge buildings where people were warehoused and yes, mistreated.
It is located is a wealthy area. It is unlikely the rich people would have put up with an asylum in their area. Also unlikely that any railroad would have run anywhere near there. In all the sites I visited I never saw mention of railroad tracks.
Finally, unless there was some scandal it is unlikely that a hospital would have existed for such a short time. It is more likely that it was a mansion and something scandalous happened there. According to the above site, the building was burned as part of a fire department exercise.

Most of the sites I visited did agree that the area is haunted. Interestingly enough, the type of phenomenon that occurs there (a ball of light follwing cars) also occurs at some haunted mental hospital sites.


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Aspie1
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10 Aug 2005, 11:37 am

Neuroman, I know what you're saying.

There was a place called White Memorial Cemetery. It's located farther west than the area I described. That's the most notorious place on Cuba Rd. The hospital (or whatever else it was) was located on the intersection of Cuba Rd. and Rainbow Rd. It was built and torn down long before suburban sprawl occured, and Barrington became a wealthy area. During the times the hospital was there, the modern-day Barrington had almost nothing in it. That's why it was originally chosen as the site for the asylum.

Then again, I could be wrong. If so, thanks for the correction. But here's a site that talks about an asylum on the same location.
http://www.cngmpictures.com/MSF/articles/1102.htm



abetz02
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14 May 2011, 3:33 pm

Hey guys,
I grew up in the town of Barrington. I never heard about any mental hospital. But, there is plenty of talk about the orb at the cemetery of Cuba rd. Also, there is a completely different story for Rainbow Rd. The local story was that a group of gangsters on the lamb were held up in the house off of Rainbow Rd. When the cops came in to get them there was a bloody shoot out. There were a couple families that tried living there afterwards, but only had short stays there. Until one family in the 70's lived there, and were found murdered in the basement. Supposedly the police never recovered their heads, and there were all sorts of satanic writings on the walls.
Ten years ago, my girlfriend and I went out there to check it out. Besides being difficult to find, you drive down a long creepy drive way that is eroding from neglect. The house is locked and abandoned, and there is a carriage house off to the side. Everything is falling apart. When I was in High School, it was a place to go smoke weed and freak each other out.



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14 May 2011, 4:16 pm

There is no valid material evidence to support claims of 'ghost' sighting.


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14 May 2011, 6:04 pm

I think that is very interesting and shame they tore it down. I find abandoned buildings interesting. Now I wish I knew the name of the place so I can read more about it and look at old photos of the place.



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14 May 2011, 6:15 pm

Sophist wrote:
Quote:
Sounds like an X-Files episode I saw once.


Random Comment Alert:

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Ditto!

To the OP: The truth is out there somewhere!