Schizophrenia

In my "Transience" section, I just listed a set of photos I loosely call the "Schizophrenia set". Some people have been curious about this set, so I wrote this up to explain what they are about. <p>

<p>My therapist told me about the site. It's on the grounds of a V.A. hospital. She told me that there was a soldier from (I think) WW1, who spent most of his life there. He was schizophrenic, and had carved up the trees in the woods. She said there was a lot of conspiracy stuff and that the gentleman believed that Hitler was sending messages through his teeth. I was fascinated, of course, so went looking. It was winter when I found them, and there was snow on the ground. They were carved up just as she had described, with a lot of religious sayings, and a lot of other things that didn't make a lot of sense. The trees have spread as they've grown, and his words are illegible in many places. Other trees have died, leaving maddening fragments of his ramblings left standing. I thought there were just a few trees, a small section of forest perhaps.<p>

<p>However, each time I went back, I found more and more of them. The carvings run along the woods for at least a mile long, and I have yet to discover how far back. I've found dates from the 1930s to the 1960s. I guess the guy had a lot of time to kill. My therapist told me that he was a sort of trustee.. that they had him do errands around the grounds. (She used to work there) Of course today we wouldn't dream of giving a knife to a psych patient, but this was a different time and he was a soldier. He was disturbed but not violent. He was paranoid, and he carved over the natural knots in the trees to enhance them, so they look like eyes. When you stand back in the forest surrounded by these trees, you see eyes everywhere. Some of his carvings are rather high up, so I'm assuming he climbed the trees.<p>

<p>The more I found, the more intrigued I became. He wrote of Fort Leavenworth and the Baltimore police and many things of a religious nature. He speaks of "St. Callendar" on numerous trees but I have yet to discover who he's speaking of. I couldn't find the Hitler trees at first... I found trees with writings about "Red Russia" and various political leaders, but not the bit about his teeth.<p>

<p>Not long ago, I went to a new section and found one tree that spoke of "white slavery". Nearby was a tree that was so carved up it was hard to decipher due to the sheer volume of carvings. The carvings go round in circles and all the way around the trees. On this tree he spoke of Hitler and radio waves, so I thought I must be close. He also wrote that there was no communist Russia (?) and spoke of the number of the beast. I believe this section of forest was done during a particularly bad spell of his. I'm trying to document as many of them as I can find, but I have yet to discover the end of them. I've thought of writing a book about it, because I find it fascinating, and the photos are quite dramatic. However, being disabled, I can only examine so much of the forest at a time, so it's taking quite a while. It's really too big of a job for one person, but I do not wish to alert anyone to their presence.<p>

<p>I think it's a real shame that some of the trees are already lost. There is no hunting there, of course, so there is a rather large herd of deer living in the forest. Among these deer is a piebald deer, which is mostly white. (see photo!) The first time I saw him, he was standing across from a sign that read "Biomedical Research Lab" or something very similar. :) However, allowed or not, I fear that someone will kill him because he is so beautiful. :(<p>

<p>To me the trees are like a puzzle. They are his letters to the world and each one reveals a bit more about him. Unfortunately, pieces of the puzzle are missing so I get a maddening half view of him. The trees are hard to photograph. As I've said, much of the writing has spread so much its illegible, and many of the trees are completely covered with writing. When it's damp, the trees turn black with moisture and photos are no good then. I've found that black and white shows the carvings off the best so that is how I present them. I may add a few more to the current collection. I hope you enjoy them and comments would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for reading!<p> <p>Here is part 2! http://www.1000markets.com/users/forgottenbeaut... Julie