The Lawn – Sam Robinson

I find the Lawn interesting as from accounts i have heard it is haunted but contrary to popular belief that mental homes where barbaric places, the Lawn was not and yet it is reported to be haunted which would be an automatic assumption of an asylum. The Asylum was known for being at the front of pioneering work to help the mentally ill, with trees planted around the building to protect the patients from the gases of the city.

“There have been many reported sightings of ghostly figures, including those of children, roaming the corridors and grounds of the Lawn. They are said to wander round looking lost dressed in white robes. There are claims that these apparitions seem to be looking for something that the observers cannot see. Some have even reported hearing loud crying and wailing emanating from within its walls. Could these be the sounds of the troubled former inmates? A ghost hunting team spent a night in the building and spoke of seeing a table move on its own and of contacting a spirit called Francesca, apparently a former inmate who was there only because she had given birth to an illegitimate child. The other members of the group experienced crying and feelings of sadness. The group reported electrical problems with their equipment when inside the buildings and also recorded sounds of tapping on the table.” (http://hauntedhistoryoflincolnshire.blogs.lincoln.ac.uk/lincoln/the-lawn/)

“The buildings stand in grounds of 8 acres which were deliberately planted with trees to shield the patients from “poisonous miasmas” which came from the industrialised parts of Lincoln.
The Asylum, led by Dr Edward.Parker Charlesworth (see bio) pioneered new ways of treating mental illness, without the use of restraint and barbaric methods to control patients” (http://www.itsaboutlincoln.co.uk/lincoln-lunatic-asylum.html)

One thought on “The Lawn – Sam Robinson

  1. Good reflection on your drift Sam. It’s also good that you have started to reference your material, continue to do this and perhaps now include some of the theoretical and practical information from Mythogeography and the Pearson texts. The stories of the patients could be interesting, especially if told through the ‘fictional/factual combination’ of historical stories and your creative thinking. How might you use the audio recordings to tell these stories? What sort of performance could you take the audience through?

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