Oppose the use of Pennhurst Haunted Asylum as a haunted attraction

The Pennhurst State School and Hospital was shut down after two Federal District Court rulings in the 1970s declared forced institutional confinement of citizens with intellectual disabilities unconstitutional and recognized their right to proper care and education.

Pennhurst is regarded as the epicenter for the modern disability rights movement and its closure was a model for de-institutionalization efforts across the world.

After years of tossing Pennhurst around, unsure of what to do with the property, a sale was finally made to Pennhurst Associates in 2008.

Soon thereafter, Pennhurst was added as a member of the International Sites of Conscience, a worldwide network of "Sites of Conscience" – historic sites specifically dedicated to remembering past struggles for justice and addressing their contemporary legacies.

Recognizing Pennhurst's significance and the serious threats to its future, Preservation Pennsylvania also named it one of the Commonwealth's most endangered treasures for 2008.

Pennhurst has undergone a struggle amid controversy and striving to do the right thing for one-hundred-and-five years (1908-2013) and continues to do so.

A haunted attraction called 'Pennhurst Asylum', "the scariest haunted attraction in America," has again opened ticket sales to the public, in spite of previous objections to this tasteless exploitation of people's misery. This haunted attraction is disrespectful and demonstrates a complete disregard for the struggles Pennhurst and those involved have faced to transform the site into a place of Conscience.