So approximately 4 years ago  around May in the evening,  I took my boyfriend who had recently moved to Vancouver to go see the grounds of Riverview Hospital (the largest mental institution in North America). There are several buildings throughout the 1,000 acres of Riverview. You’re normally not supposed to drive through there but we did anyway. There are security guards that drive around the grounds so we decided to park the car somewhere & we got out. We stumbled upon the West Lawn building. West Lawn is located at the core of the hospital grounds, right beside the active (Riverview still houses several hundred patients) Centrelawn building , which has the pharmacy in it, again meaning more security in that area of the Riverview grounds. The West Lawn building was built in 1913 & was closed in 1983. [Pictured here in 1915] the building was fenced in, so we hopped the fence & took pictures of the building & its boarded up windows. The whole building omitted this creepy aura. We wandered around this huge building for a while, taking more pics. the building was well sealed, with the first 2 floors boarded up almost entirely & then we discovered a window that was boarded up but was slightly loose.So we ripped it off & entered into the basement of this building…

The building, overall, was in quite a state of decay. everywhere, roof tiles and flooring was coming apart and it was almost impossible to find a wall with no peeling paint. The bottom floor was a complete shambles, with most rooms falling and/or torn apart.

Broken glass and other things littered the floors in lots of places. The constant crackle of broken light bulbs underfoot echoed through the halls. Some sections on the bottom floor had been painted all silvery, most likely from when they had done filming in here years ago ( before they stopped access to the building due to the asbestos and deterioration of the building in general).

Please keep in mind when you see these pictures that we did not have any source of light besides the light coming from my boyfriend’s digital camera. I swear this place was haunted.

“West Lawn Building – This building is no longer used for Patient Programs“

This is where we crawled in.

Self-Portrait!

What I think is an elevator…

We should’ve been wearing these, the musty smell & presence of Asbestos was incredible.

I seriously shrieked when the flash went off & I saw what this hallway looked like.

Seeing this made me realize it really wasn’t the greatest idea to be in there without masks

Don’t call Rick, he probably doesn’t work there anymore

This was at the very top floor.The floor was severely decayed. We had to test it first before walking on it. I was so scared that I was going to fall through the floor. This giant room with tiny little rooms. All the doors were labeled with room numbers such as “A. 4.A” as above. The rooms were smaller than a closet. You could not lay down. The thought of people being locked up in there blows my mind.

You guys need to realize we were walking through this in the PITCH BLACK & stupid me was wearing flip flops!

Little crosses hanging on the wall

Hazardous materials suits, hmmm

Tell me how to get to the Tunnels…I want to go!

We were in there for maybe a total 40 minutes, it would’ve been longer but we were quite unprepared, I was wearing flip flops, we had no light, no masks & our lungs/eyes started to really burn. We had plans on going back & exploring the tunnels but that has never happened…yet?

Seriously, what a thrilling experience!

I’m in love with Aritzia’s Spring/Summer ‘10 Lookbook. It’s getting me so excited for the warmth! Usually hot weather means less clothing & more skin and that can sometimes be a very scary thought, especially if you haven’t been to the gym in a while but this season is featuring a lot of loose, over-sized clothing, just what I love. Among my fav: harem pants, which I call poo-pants, it takes some serious skill to pull those off, I like them not only because are they extremely comfortable, they also tend to hide my ghetto booty.  Cropped shirts, best believe I’ll get those abs back for the summer so I can wear those!

Here’s some of my favourite looks:

Love this military-inspired jacket. I have one similar already but you can never have too many!

Cropped, slouchy, off-the shoulder & acid wash, what’s not to love?

This colour of grey to me sums up comfort. I also adore the shorts but I could never wear them.

More military inspired clothing & poo pants!

Love, love, love this!

Pockets in a slouchy black dress, I’m sold.*All images from aritzia.com.

Now I’ve got the shopping bug bad and it’s that time of the year where the tax returns are piling in, I’ll try my hardest to be good and pay some bills but I just might treat myself to one or two of these items!

Last week I had all four of my wisdom teeth out and was staying at my parents’ house. While I was there my sister came to visit and we were on the computer and she showed me some pictures and articles she had looked up on post mortem photography from the Victorian era. I have seen and heard about it but it wasn’t something I was extensively knowledgeable about, so I decided to look it up and read a bit more about it and found some of the most disturbing yet fascinating photographs.

I guess in the Victorian era it was extremely expensive to have your photo taken. Only the very rich could afford to. So when a family member died, especially a child, it was then normal to have their picture taken alone or even with family (!) to preserve their memory. They’d even go as far as making them look alive in the photographs by putting them in poses and by painting pupils on their closed eyelids.

Can you imagine being this little girl?

If you look closely you can see the stand propping the girl in the middle up and her eyes look painted

“Mother could not part with only daugther, Miss Jeanette Glockmeyer daughter whose above photo was taken 9 days after death” Creepy!!

What a strange custom, I can’t even imagine having to dress up your dead loved one and posing with them. So eerie and intriguing at the same time. I am quite glad we don’t do this nowadays though!