Northampton State Hospital – Trip 2

After my first trip to NoHo I was hooked.  Returning only a few weeks later, the day was unseasonably warm and fog was forming from the melting snow.  I started in the North Infirmary but towards the end of the day I became determined to get inside the Kirkbride, if only for a few minutes.  Finding an unlocked door, a cold wind smelling of, “abandoned” puffed out as soon as I cracked the opening.   I figured that this was due to the unusual weather, but on subsequent trips I realized that NoHo always seemed to “breathe” in and out.  Along with the creaking and clunking of the decay progressing throughout the structure, it gave NoHo a sense of being alive that I have never experienced in a single abandoned building since.  It was such a unique, beautiful, fun place and I miss it terribly.