The Glore Psychiatric Museum

Today, I took a short little drive to one of Missouri’s spookiest museums.

Filled with artifacts and replicas of the horror that is the history of psychological treatment, the Glore Psychiatric Museum is a must see for people with a craving for the creepy.

As I entered the museum, I instantly realized that I was the only person touring at that particular time, which I originally thought was fantastic.  However, a few strange sounds and eerie exhibits into it, I found myself incredibly relieved to see more people entering.

I took a lot of pictures (I asked for permission, don’t worry), but there was simply too many fantastic exhibits to capture them all.  Please enjoy the images below and if you are interested in the history of the museum and its founder, George Glore, click here.

The First Floor

The first floor of the museum only had a small section of exhibits.  However, the feeling of cold and the emptiness of the building really set the tone for the displays that awaited me on the upper floors.

Original Staircase

This was the original staircase for the hospital when it was operational.  However, according to a note hung near the exhibit (not pictured) it was moved to this location for display.

Now, I know that this staircase is just a historical exhibit, but my “writer’s brain” (which was quite nervous at the time) took it as a metaphor.

I imagined a hopelessly ill mental patient of the past, constantly climbing the staircase of treatment, only to find a blank, white wall blocking his path to full recovery.

But hey, that’s just me.

The Second Floor

This floor was quite a bit more exciting/horrifying than the first.  Not only did I get to see the darker side of patient care past, but I was (un)fortunate enough to come face to face with a man with quite a terrible story to tell.

Enter Phineas Gage, the man who accidentally discovered lobotomies:

Quite a looker.

You see, Mr. Gage was a railway worker… who had a little accident.

Ouch

This accident was caused when a dynamite explosion forced a 13 1/4 pound metal rod (replica pictured below) through Gage’s skull!

Step aside, Vlad.

Poor Mr. Gage, though surviving the injury, suffered massive trauma to his frontal lobe and, as anyone who has taken a psych 101 class will tell you, that has consequences.

Gage suffered from bouts of rage and violent mood swings for the rest of his life, which led to him saying:

“Despite all my rage, I’m still just Phineas Gage.”

 

After shaking off the shock of Mr. Gage’s ordeal, I found myself intrigued by this lovely display of art:

Yummy

As I read the description of this display, I instantly realized that it was way more delicious than I had previously thought.

That’s because, all of the items in this picture were removed from a single patients stomach. Nice.

The items include, but are not limited to, nails, thimbles, coat hooks and buttons.

 

Next I traveled down what I like to call the “Hall of Horrors,” which was a hallway filled with terrifying recreations of past treatments, which led to a very large room, filled with even more dreadful devices.

Here we have an example of electroshock therapy, demonstrated by two somewhat-faceless horrors, which was used as a common treatment for mental patients:

Shock Therapy

And here is an actual machine used to perform these shock treatments: (if you look on top you can see a rubber biting “block”)

Shock Machine

Next, I saw a fever cabinet, which was used to treat syphilis buy warming a patient up with hot light bulbs inside of some kind of medical iron maiden:

I’ve got the fever!

Here, I got to learn about trepanation, which is the art of removing a piece of the skull in order to relieve pressure on the brain.

Trepanation Model

Here are some trepans, which are the tools used to bore the bones inside a patents head:

Trepans

As you can see, the one on the very top is just a rock.  Apparently, the practice of trepanation is fairly old.

Finally, I was in the giant room of doom, and here is what it had to offer:

Witch Burning

Solitary Confinement

This Guy

And finally:

The Devil’s Treadmill

Ok, so it wasn’t really called that.  It was, however, used to help someone “walk off” their mental disorder.

There were MANY more things to see on this floor, a lot of them very creepy, but if you want to see them, you need to brave this museum on your own.

The Third Floor

This floor was mainly about the “lighter” side of treatment.  It featured things such as art therapy, music therapy, work therapy and religious therapy.

There really wasn’t too much in the way of “horror” on this floor, except for this:

Patients Doll

This doll (which is pretty close to life-sized) was made by a patient with schizophrenia.  It was intended to be a self portrait of sorts, so….yeah…

The Basement

This part was basically as small as the first floor, but way, way spookier.

While it was mostly just old agricultural equipment, it also contained the morgue:

Meat Drawers

And of course, an autopsy room:

You ok?

The End

Thanks for checking out this post.  I really recommend that, if you liked what I presented, you check out the Glore Psychiatric Museum.  It’s located in St. Joseph, Missouri, at 3406 Frederick Avenue.

Don’t go alone if you don’t do well around unpleasant sights.