January 11th, 2008
Second Life for Danvers? Sort of…
There’s a location in Second Life modeled after Danvers State Hospital. It’s called Ryder Asylum. If you’re a Second Life user, you can teleport there from this page. You can also rent rooms in the Kirkbride.
I got a little excited when I heard about this, but after going through the trouble of downloading Second Life, getting acquainted with the interface, and visiting the location, I have to admit it was a bit of a letdown. Whoever put this together chose only to build what’s left of the Kirkbride in real life. An opportunity to recreate the famous Danvers Kirkbride building in all its former glory appears to have been missed. Still, it’s impressive that someone did all that work. It probably cost them a bit of money too.
The Grey Gables, Bonner Medical Building, and Our Lady of the Hill Chapel are also there, as well as a few other structures.
Even though it’s somewhat disappointing, I do like that somebody went through the trouble of building a virtual Danvers. It would be great if more Kirkbride buildings were reproduced as well. If anyone is aware of any others in Second Life, please let me know.
Must of been a lot of work. I’m almost tempted to download Second Life just to walk around the property again. Are most of the buildings on the hill re-created? I see the Bonner, Gables and Our Lady Chapel. These are nice additions but I agree, more of the Kirkbride would of been better.
There are other buildings on the hill, but nothing that I recognize as being part of the original hospital.
It’s worth checking out if you’ve got a few minutes.
This was made by a guy named Equino Faulkland. You can read more about it here:
http://www.secondlifeinsider.com/2007/05/12/ryder-asylum/
Thanks for the info, Michelle.
Stood for well over 100 years, torn down for condos. What a shame…
I wish I had gotten the opportunity to explore it. All that history, beautiful architecture, gone forever. Ugh, really burns me up…