Thaindian News

By Meena Kar
Feb 2, (THAINDIAN NEWS) The Oregon State Mental Hospital has a long history. It was built in 128 years back, and has been the back drop of the classic film of 1975, “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”. The film portrayed the life and trauma of the patients who are kept in an asylum. Recently, Oregon State Mental Hospital has released the names and identities of those patents who died in the hospital between 1914 to 1970.

The remains of these patents are kept in the copper corroding canisters. The hospital, after so many decades, now wants to reunite the living members with the remains of these dead and forgotten patients. More than 120 people have already claimed the remains of their relatives who left their lives in the hospital, during that span of time. Don Whetsell, who happens to be one amongst the 120 people, claimed the remains of his grand father, Nathan McComber, who died in 1940. He said that he could not rest the moment he heard about it. He added that his grandmom would have been really happy, had she been alive. Mimi Stang, who came to claim the remains of her uncle, was surprised to see so many people, who still remember their late relatives, and want to pay an ode to them.

The old hospital was visited by a group of law makers in 2004. They came across these remains and that made them think about the renovation of this hospital, to equip it with better facilities and more stuffs to look after the patients, amidst a modern get-up, marked with more privacy and better hygiene. All those who still have not claimed their relatives’ remains can take them home from the hospital, after proving that they are either related through blood or by adoption.