This Hotel Has A Dark Secret

Pssst. Come here. Wanna know a secret?
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~REFERENCES~
[1] Brianna Melchione. “An Appointment with Dr. Joseph DeJarnette: An Analysis of a Leading Eugenics Advocate and How his Legacy has been Rewritten, 1906-1943” (2016). Masters Theses 119, James Madison University commons.lib.jm...
[2] Wolfe, Brendan. “Buck v. Bell, 1927 (2023).” Encyclopedia Virginia encyclopediavi...
[3] Amanda D. Brocato. “The Campaign for Eugenics in Virginia: The Influence of Dr. J.S. DeJarnette” (2008). Augusta Historical Society, Augusta Historical Bulletin Vol. 44, Page 110-114
[4] “Poe v. Lynchburg Training School and Hospital, 518 F. Supp. 789 (W.D. Va. 1981).” Justia US Law. law.justia.com...

[@Skelly57]

Jesus Christ that is concerningly fast how you went from "cool hotel" to "oh God oh fuck the Nazis"

[@theshenpartei]

It’s escalated very quickly way to quickly and next time if you check into a hotel in the dark side of Virginia you might be just walking into a place of evil and dark

[@thejason755]

The look on his face changing as he was reading the wiki was just perfect

[@paulastiles5507]

@@theshenpartei Virginia has some *very* messy Jim Crow era history. Like, worse than surrounding states and worse than you might think for a border Mason-Dixon Line state.

[@warped_rider]

Confederate Nazis at that.

[@Skelly57]

@@warped_rider The worst kinds of Nazis

[@br1qbat]

Always striking [but not surprising] that every Eugenicsist assumed they, naturally, were in the elite end of the gene pool.

[@AtunSheiFilms]

True. Although interestingly DeJarnette and his wife never had kids.

[@TheArkman360]

@@AtunSheiFilms hmmmmm 🤔

[@warwatcher91]

@@AtunSheiFilms Honestly that's a good thing in my view for a number of reasons.

[@TSmith-yy3cc]

Always the chinless, bean-phrenologied mfers.

[@SOOKIE42069]

@@AtunSheiFilms i'd guess any embryo that took auto-terminated the moment it overheard its parents chatter

[@howardlanus8467]

Honestly this is really what evil looks like. The mustache-twirling, cackling megalomaniac is a caricature meant to entertain us with the melodrama and reassure us that we know what evil looks like and that we would never fall prey to it. In reality, evil cloaks itself in benevolent intentions and pseudo-logic, allowing it to do its work from under our noses insidiously and secretively. Not only does this make it harder to battle, but it makes it so that we can lapse into evil ourselves.

[@TheWildmanden]

The road to hell is paved with good intentions. No sane person consider themselves to be fundamentally evil.

[@howardlanus8467]

@@TheWildmanden Sad but true, as is the old adage: the only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing. Everyone wants to believe they are doing good, which can make it harder for them to recognize when they are doing harm. They may simply refuse to acknowledge it.

[@LadyTylerBioRodriguez]

I agree. Although I will note that people of the first type absolutely exist. You can find some historical figures so repulsive and so open about it, that a film critic would say they are one dimensional cartoon characters.

[@howardlanus8467]

@@LadyTylerBioRodriguez Who would you list in that first category? I'm asking because I'm not sure how we can differentiate between those merely claiming to have a benevolent motive and those that genuinely believe they do. Based on the description, the first group I think of serial killers like the Zodiac killer but I could be way off.

[@artsman412]

"The greatest evil is not now done in those sordid "dens of crime" that Dickens loved to paint. It is not done even in the concentration camps and labor camps. In those we see its final result. But it is conceived and ordered (moved, seconded, carried, and minuted) in clean, carpeted, warmed, and well-lighted offices, by quiet men with white collars and cut fingernails and smooth-shaven cheeks who do not need to raise their voice." C.S. Lewis. 1960.

[@mrswb]

He wrote of the Germans, "... They are beating us at our own game." holy shit

[@alun7006]

Nazi German segregation was modelled on the US.

[@LadyTylerBioRodriguez]

This is a real I'm the bad guy speech.

[@dclark142002]

My friends, the US goal during much of the war against Germany...was merely to end the war. We had no serious interest in ending Nazi rule...until common soldiers discovered the concentration camps and basically DEMANDED an end to such horror. The US government knew about the final solution for years...but didn't care.

[@LylWren]

He said the quiet part out loud and proud fuck

[@Goran1138]

Nazis never hided the fact, that they are planning to "clear living space" on the East from "wild uncivilized savages" for "superior race". And that American example is their blueprint. "Volga will be our Missisipi" they are said, lol. The only problem with this plan was the fact, that those "savages" answered not with spears and arrows on this time, but by hordes of new green T-34.

[@mnk9073]

"Babe, let's stay in the grand old hotel that used to be a victorian asylum ran by a confederate nazi doctor followed by a prison and sleep in one of the treatment rooms/cells." B-Movie couple about to get haunted at least. Aaand apparently Atun-Shei.

[@burninsherman1037]

I'd stay there. I love exploring old creepy places, and so far I haven't been possessed, flung across a room, killed, or driven mad. Have been haunted, but I'm pretty sure that one was just in my house to begin with.

[@TheOlsonOutfit]

At least he had a very brave protector.

[@paulastiles5507]

@@TheOlsonOutfit The Power of Cute compels you!

[@justabitofamug6989]

Me to my partner while watching this video lol

[@pauly260]

I once stayed at a ranch that had eighteen cowboys. I still have nightmares.

[@BrandonF]

The scariest hotel I've ever been to had strange splotches on the bed, a dog roaming the halls, and a thick smell of smoke. Not sure which has the darker secrets.

[@eX1st4132]

Well Atun-Shei brought his dog with him to this hotel and used to smoke, so I'll let you come to your own conclusions, Mr. Brandon F (the F standing for fossil fuels of course)

[@CivilWarWeekByWeek]

Every hotel has a dark secret so I hope this one doesn't involve a dark light

[@theshenpartei]

How many haunted hotels are there in the America

[@Cemi_Mhikku]

Black light bad ain't got shit on this joint.

[@Dalek15]

69th like haha

[@thedamnyankee1]

@@theshenpartei Zero.

[@dr.sweetchat6769]

9/10 the dark secret is how the hotel treats its employees...also it's pronounces Stanton.

[@iammrbeat]

Yep, Buck v. Bell was never overturned. The 1920s was a...strange decade. Come to think of it, the 2020s are quite strange as well.

[@theshenpartei]

New video idea perhaps

[@iammrbeat]

@@theshenpartei I already made the video!

[@LKMNOP]

Having lived through six decades I could tell you that they're all strange. It's because they involve humans and humans have not changed since the first time they decided to form a society. There's always people that are going to come up with unacceptable ideas that they preach as acceptable.

[@emperortaizong3464]

It would be intresting too see you cover the history of eugenics in america in its entirety. It's a topic that is rarely discussed and i think that people should know more about it.

[@antonnurwald5700]

A tall order, but I would very much like to see that too.

[@burninsherman1037]

I'll third this opinion.

[@cervanntes]

Put me down for this topic as well. When I mention the US eugenics programs of the past people rarely believe me.

[@silvesby]

It's terrifying how few people know about it. Definitely would make an interesting if not upsetting video

[@theothertonydutch]

@@antonnurwald5700 Free real estate!

[@thrandompug2254]

As someone with fairly severe mental health issues, listening to this video was kind of hard. The idea that I simply shouldn't be allowed to have children is something that scares me, because it's something that I've thought about myself in my low periods. We need to bring attention to our horrible past and confront the ideas that hurt so many people.

[@RRW359]

It's not as much the idea that I shouldn't have kids that scares me but the idea that I shouldn't be given the chance to see if I will be a value to society or not.

[@LizbetNene]

Yeah, I completely agree. As much as the stigma of mental illness is being challenged, there's a lot of work to do. We are still treated like a burden by the state and like an embarrassment in a lot of areas of society. I think there is some strength to be found in the fact that we are a distinct community with a history that can be learned from.

[@johndelagarza361]

If your issue is a hereditary one perhap IVF with genetic screening could help make sure it isnt passed on.

[@RRW359]

@@johndelagarza361 Why? I know this is cold but I think people should have a real discussion about if it's better to not let someone exist or let them decide on their own to take their life into their own hands if they think things are bad enough.

[@milesedgeworth132]

@@RRW359 If it's hereditary then it's your responsibility to take as much precaution as possible not to affect your offspring. They do not have a choice in being yours. You have to do right by them if you truly love your child. .

[@soxbigdog]

I used to work at the Chamberlain Hotel on Fort Monroe in Virginia. It was always rumored to be, and I did believe it to be, haunted. It was weird because the owners at the time never wanted us to talk about it, and discourage us from talking about it with guests. Until things started to go poorly financially and to drum up business they tried to feed into it.

[@paulastiles5507]

I work at a children's science museum in a former tobacco factory. Pretty much everyone who works here has had multiple experiences, though I don't think the patrons ever see anything. The whole building is haunted AF.

[@IhadToputAnameinHereSomewhere]

Worked for a small hotel in Central California wine country that had a similar story. It was a gigantic farmhouse/stagecoach stop originally, and there were for-certain several fight-related deaths according to local historians. I never saw anything, but at least three guests who claimed to be "sensitive" to such things all swore they'd felt things or heard voices in two particular rooms. The manager and owners absolutely refused to give it any credence even when offered a deal by an also-ran ghost hunting program.

[@SplendidCoffee0]

Interesting how they flipped as soon as the money flow slowed.

[@soxbigdog]

@@SplendidCoffee0 Yeah, we would have people call and ask about the hotel being haunted and we were always supposed to ignore them, but towards the end, they tried to cash in and even made flyers to promote the legends surrounding the hotel.

[@wellesradio]

I worked at a cemetery, and a couple of mortuaries. I can tell you some sad stories, but not about ghosts because ghosts aren't real. Of course when I tell people that I didn't experience ghostly sightings, they always act like I'm the one who's crazy or not "aware" enough. I'm plenty prone to paranoid fear, mild auditory or visual hallucinations, faulty memory, and rationalizing my experiences. Just like everyone else. The difference is that I understand just how our minds act under such conditions. Funny how when I stopped believing and started reasoning, the ghosts went *poof*.

[@ecothunderbolt257]

Other youtubers will try to hide their boxers off-screen. Atun-Shei meanwhile: I'm here in my jammies with my dog Saul, and I'm gonna casually address you from bed about how the hotel I'm staying in sterilized people.

[@Bshmjdsdyk]

Atun-Shei thirst trap

[@AtunSheiFilms]

*Sal. Though come to think of it, it would be pretty badass to give cats and dogs biblical names

[@DonnieDaniels]

​@@AtunSheiFilms I named mine Numbers.

[@compscijedi]

@@AtunSheiFilms All of my cats have been named for historical rulers or leaders, both Biblical and non-Biblical, from Cleopatra and Catherine to Hezekiah and Hannibal

[@moxiebombshell]

@@compscijedimy sister names her pets regular people names... It's all fine until I'm yelling into the yard, " GODD@MMIT SAMANTHA IF YOU DON'T GO OUT IN THAT RAIN & PEE, I'M PUTTING YOU IN YOUR BOX FOR THE NIGHT" 😅

[@briangarrow448]

I have a grandfather who was committed to a long term “state hospital “ during the 1940’s. He was a respected veterinarian with a successful business who was mysteriously committed and my family has no records of the reasons for his commitment. His subsequent death and burial on the hospital grounds are mysterious and problematic for me and my siblings. How did a respected member of the community, one who had multiple news interviews printed in local newspapers go from a Chamber of Commerce board member to a virtually anonymous grave in less than 8 years? I hope to find out more information as I continue to ask questions about his case. Definitely not going to visit the facility at night, by myself. Dog or no dog. I’m creeped out already.

[@dawsonbarrett8906]

My sincerest condolences.

[@LKMNOP]

Did he ever cross someone politically? We have seen local corruption in politics. That police chief who rated the newspaper offices and the homes of them where the owner's mother died a day later from a heart attack due to the stress comes to mind.

[@LizbetNene]

Ooft. As someone with a long term mental health problem, this one hit hard. We might not be sterilized any more, but we're still treated like a burden by the state and a nuisance by a lot of society, something to be kept out of polite conversation. Things are getting better, but there's a lot of work to do. I really appreciate your insightful and honest look at the history. Your content doesn't usually hit this close to home for me, but I'm grateful for the compassion you bring to your work.

[@blair5475]

They would have loved to experiment on you before the 70s

[@LKMNOP]

You forgot being blamed for crimes out there. Anytime we have a shooting or a mass shooting everyone says the person must be mentally ill. No, they made a willing choice to do what they did. Plus, there are people who are evil which has nothing to do with mental illness. So tired of everyone claiming mental illness for all the wrongs in the world. Some people are very happy to do wrong and they're Definitely not mentally ill.

[@caseyguccione5978]

As a lab biologist with a genetics degree, I can say comfortably that eugenics is the biggest black eye in the history of my profession. If you read documents from public health and medicine from 1900-1945, keep the eugenics craze in your mind because large numbers of influential doctors ascribed to the idea.

[@timothyswag3594]

It is definitely a black stain on the history of medicine, too. This is coming from someone studying medicine.

[@LordNinja109]

Hey, my wife and I were just discussing, what about people who are choosing not to have kids due to issue "x/y/z/all of them"? *I would just like to say that I believe everyone has the right to have or not have kids for whatever reasons they deem fit* Anyway, we have seen a few friends take this route and we were discussing how this would or wouldn't affect any real rates of mental or physical health in the general population correct? I do think that people have more awareness of potential mental and physical health issues that families may have and be predisposed and I do think that bodily autonomy is much better, I just don't see this really affecting anything though rate wise.

[@LordNinja109]

@@Treblaine Bud, did you even read what I was asking?

[@LordNinja109]

@@Treblaine Did I talk about validity? Again, read what I wrote, I'm not talking about consent or not consent, and if you are the geneticist who I'm trying to talk to about how personal decisions affect population, why add your two cents that *HAVE ZERO TO DO WITH THE QUESTION AT HAND*?

[@blair5475]

@@timothyswag3594 I don't think so. I feel Eugenics theory can definitely take us to the next level of evolution, far greater than where we already at. 20th century scientists just didn't have the proper methodology to make results effective. I have some immoral ideas on how it can be made possible, for the greater good of mankind, I just need to find a government that can give me permission and fund my project.

[@afamiliarfriend]

I've been to Staunton hundreds of times and passed by this building just as many times. I never knew exactly what it was. My grandmother called it the old asylum and I remember her making it very clear it was not a good place to be back in the day. Thanks for sharing this history, and thanks for the effort in pronouncing Staunton correctly.

[@JuniperJadePR]

There are plenty of videos out there of UrbEx people & ghost hunters just walking around the property before the hotel renovation happened. Seeing it fixed up that way definitely does lead one to have some conflicting feelings (which could be the subject of it's own video essay) but it's still fascinating to see the inside of the place & imagine what the living conditions must have been like back when it opened.

[@paulastiles5507]

The usual story is that when these institutions were first opened, they were cutting-edge, compassionate medical treatment and definite improvements on previous approaches. The problem was that they quickly became overcrowded, understaffed and underfunded, and did not keep up with the times. Also, the people running the institutions usually had way too much power and way too much ego, so they would engage in these bizarre and horrendously evil experiments that were profoundly harmful to their patients. But yeah, initially, Staunton probably looked much like it does now. Which just adds to the unsettling feeling.

[@FloridatedH2O]

Literally had our "informed consent" lecture as part of our surgery rotation in medical school yesterday, and good ole' AS makes a very topical video. Nice timing!

[@thcrimsnfckr666]

7:40 that hits pretty close to home since I'm from California which has more or less forgotten it's insanely f*cked up history especially with how we treated people in asylums and a lot of other insane stuff like literal sponsored Nazi events by the Nazis being held in L.A., Oakland, San Francisco, Sacramento, and San Diego in the 30s and 40s I think every state in the union and county has its own horror story just that some are more advertised then others

[@00muinamir]

Yeah, California didn't actually stop coercing people into getting sterilized until the 90s, IIRC.

[@barrag3463]

The saddest thing to me about how many asylums turned out is that they were usually designed to be places of refuge and serenity where the patients would be able to recuperate peacefully and be in a calm and controlled environment. That's why many of the very old asylums were built as such grand and beautiful buildings, and why they were often built as "resorts" in rural locations (well, rural at the time). Hell that's why they were called "asylums" in the first place. Unfortunately, they almost always ended up becoming overcrowded, as these facilities built with the idea of patients not staying on a long-term or permanent basis got filled with people who either needed long-term treatment or were outright dumped off at the asylums, and that alone meant that there would never be enough resources or people to run asylums properly or give people the care they needed. Even more unfortunately the response by society in general has been to just give mental healthcare less funding and shut hospitals down altogether, instead of trying to fix overcrowding or truly find better means of care.

[@foxdurham784]

The history (and current reality) of forced sterilization bothers me so much for very personal reasons. I had a bilateral salpingectomy (removal of both fallopian tubes) because it was something I desperately wanted and needed. And even then, it was one of the toughest decisions I've ever faced. I can't stomach the idea of someone forcing that on someone else any more than I can stomach the idea of someone forcing childbirth on me. I mourn deeply for all the people who've suffered this in the past, and I stand with all the mostly indigenous and immigrant women who continue to be forcibly sterilized. This sort of coverage is why this is one of my favorite historytube channels.

[@Randomstuffs261]

6:54 "Jennifer, that guest is walking down the stairs talking about Eugenics to his dog again"

[@panqueque445]

My man was a eugenicist while sporting a face that screamed "I'm both inbred and also my mom got drunk while she was pregnant"

[@John-qv5ux]

Behold, the master race

[@thelordandsaviorgigachadrr888]

His eye terrify me

[@mordrsnajgel8700]

My highschool in Sweden was in an old asylum. I did som reading as-well and was likewise shocked. According to one of my teachers there were old abandoned bathtubs in the basement that were used as a kind of shock therapy with ice cold water, when the school moved in. I don´t know about the truth of them finding the bathtubs but from what I read those treatments really did occur in the 30s and 40s. Just reading the old name and description of the place gave me shills. So many words now used as insults were actual medicinal terms. "Idiot" being one example

[@klisterklister2367]

Vilken skola var det??

[@tilenjeraj2684]

I have epilepsy, I had problems with similar minded physiologists. In her 50 years of career she destroyed thousands of lives by simple words to children’s parents “your child will never succeed in his/her life because of epilepsy”.

[@angelachouinard4581]

I'm sorry you were subject to that. Might as well have said you were possessed by demons. Anyone who writes off a child like that is evil. whether they realize it or not.

[@LKMNOP]

I worked with someone who had epilepsy. We just all knew the signs of when something was coming and took the correct steps. They were a fantastic researcher. I would hate to think that someone would have said that this person wasn't worthy to live. I know my life would have been less without knowing them both personally and what I learned from them in research. Taking even one person out of the formula changes the formula and not always for the best.

[@tilenjeraj2684]

@@LKMNOP In what field do you work?

[@vodyanoy2]

These are my favorite kind of Atun-Shei videos. I love these dark history uncovered videos.

[@jollyjohnthepirate3168]

My grandfather suffered from epilepsy and it became a family secret. Fear of what might happen if the state found out about his illness and the reactions of his neighbors made him never seek treatment. Sadly this secret killed him. He suffered a seizure while working for the C&O railroad striking his head on the rail. They carried him home to die in his bed.

[@antonnurwald5700]

So HE was the "beating us at our own game" guy! I've heard this quote before but didn't know who said it.

[@eze8970]

In the UK, in London, the current Imperial War Museum, used to be a lunatic asylum called Bethlam, nicknamed 'bedlam', which is where that name/term comes from. The hospital can trace it's roots back to the late 1300's for dealing with the 'insane'. Thank you Atun-Shei for highlighting the history of the buildings all around us, compelling & disturbing in equal measure! 🙏🙏

[@Lucasp110]

The Royal Psychiatric Hospital of Our Lady of Bethlehem still exists. Turned 830 years recently

[@chrisball3778]

It's a disturbing fact that in the early 20th century Eugenics had supporters across the political spectrum, from the far right to left-wing progressives. Opinion only really began to turn against it after WWII and the Nazis exposed what the idea could mean if it was taken to its logical conclusion. It's really not too hard to see it becoming a popular idea again in certain circles. I remember a controversy a few years ago about an organisation that was paying people with addiction problems to get sterilised. Even a thin veneer of consent was enough to make a lot of people defend it.

[@sylviamontaez3889]

looked it up and It's called project prevention. Utterly awful

[@Jaydee-wd7wr]

While they deny it profusely, I would argue Eugenics is the end goal of hate groups like Autism Speaks. They can hide behind “just giving parents information” but the implications of what they want with amniotic testing is pretty clear.

[@MrGksarathy]

At least on the left, there were as many prominent opponents as there were supporters. Most working class groups and unions were obviously anti-eugenic.

[@ambatuBUHSURK]

And then Japanese came in and were like: f eugenics, we'll just experiment and torture anyone and anything we can!!😭

[@aribantala]

The old adage of "Everyone's gangsta until they put a human on the testing table"

[@FrostRare]

“It’s like makeup on a corpse”. Okay! Whipping out these poetic analogies faster than this guy whips out his sterilization needle.

[@jtgd]

When the place you’re staying at has 3 degrees of connection with Adolf Hitler

[@redmoonrecordings]

I grew up local and the whole campus always gave me the creeps. Knowing this extra context though really makes my skin crawl.

[@tombriggs7765]

Man, this video was bone-chilling. It's scary how popular eugenics was back in the 19th and early 20th century among the science world. I bet there's a lot more stories like this that haven't been brought to light yet.

[@Wintermute01001]

10:21 reminded me of this: "As sure as I know anything, I know this: They will try again. Maybe on another world, maybe on this very ground swept clean. A year from now, ten, they'll swing back to the belief that they can make people... better. And I do not hold to that. So no more running; I aim to misbehave." - Malcolm Reynolds, Serenity

[@EU_Red_Fox]

Thanks Sal for sniffing out this amazing story. We know the brains behind this operation. I really enjoyed you digging into the history and through that expanding on other topics. It kinda wakes me up to how do much of this happened in our not so distant past and some continues to.

[@greatalexander6489]

What alarmed me the most was that the US Supreme Court said that this law was fine...

[@alun7006]

I mean, given their recent track record it's not particularly far-fetched...

[@greatalexander6489]

@@alun7006 Indeed. And a proof that we people never take lessons from history.

[@LcdDrmr]

@@alun7006 Especially considering that "choice" is what they're hell-bent on depriving all of us of now.

[@PL-VA]

People thought it was fine. Mental illnesses have been vastly misunderstood and horrific attempts (seen from today's perspective) were done trying to correct and bring mentally ill people "back to normal". Lobotomy, electroshock, leeches and worse. As @Atun-Shei Films indicated, they weren't being evil on purpose. It was based on good intent from their perspective even though we look at it now not understanding how anyone with a sound mind could think like this. And it wasn't just in the US, Germany etc. this was going on. Humans can be quite evil on a global plane. The real evel comes when you add politics to it with what we saw in Germany decades before WWII and in this case. That's the really scary part.

[@xx_isabel_the_wolf_xx3869]

This comment aged like wine

[@Jim-the-Engineer]

You mentioned the notorious Buck v. Bell Supreme Court case - you were only 50 miles north of where the Virginia State Colony for the Epileptics and Feebleminded was, in Madison Heights, VA (across the river from Lynchburg). That was where Carrie Buck was held and sterilized against her will by DeJarnette colleague Dr. Albert Priddy. The facility remained operational, though under a different name since 1983, until 2020 when the facility was abandoned. There are plans for redevelopment, so if you want to go gawk before it's bull-dozed and replaced with a WalMart, (or maybe turned into a hotel!) go soon!

[@ZenobiaofPalmyra]

The only good walmart ever built.

[@michaeldebellis6171]

A fantastic video on a terrifying subject, can't help but feel you're cursed to always find things that comes back to the confederacy

[@vitordan23]

Oh thank god you’re back, it’s been rough

[@antonnurwald5700]

That is so true

[@mereisnotonfire]

As someone from Virginia with family in Staunton... I try not to think about this place too much. But it's not easy to ignore how popular eugenicism was in the U.S.

[@rvanderjagt5944]

You should stay at The Villisca Axe Murder House in Villisca, Iowa. You can spend the night there, too, and as the name indicates, the owners are very transparent about what kind of lodging it is! Great content as usual, BTW

[@theshenpartei]

Oh that would be a cool video

[@Tien342]

Fun fact a porno flic was filmed there

[@LadyTylerBioRodriguez]

Meh. Places where people got murdered are dime a dozen. Places that are hotels run by American nazis that represents a dark period in science, well that's unique.

[@englitob]

@@Tien342 They left that part out of the tour I took there!

[@Tien342]

@@englitob Yea it was called private society

[@aidanfarnan4683]

"Oh cool, a spooky hotel, I wonder what interesting story will be revealed..." Atun-Shei proceeds to spit out a quarter hour on the chilling banality of very real evil.

[@jamesgasik3424]

I'm sure the owners of the hotel will be thrilled he stopped by!

[@jeffreygao3956]

I think evil is more petty.

[@astrolonim2032]

Another brilliant video from Atun-Shei. A criminally underrated channel. I sent your Daemonology and King Phillip videos to my university’s history professors when I took relevant classes. Hoping you continue to make such great content and get the recognition you deserve.

[@Maxislithium]

I want to stay at that hotel so badly now. I lived next to an asylum growing up, and it's a collage now. I know about the sealed underground tunnels on the property. I always wanted to know what went on in those rooms below ground that they tried to seal up. The students don't even know the tunnels are there any more. They are such beautiful and haunting buildings.

[@johnmccarron7066]

I mean, say what you will about the blandness of a Holiday Inn Express, but the likelihood of one being a former orphan-torture factory or eugenicist death mill or mildly to moderately low.

[@PaulMcElligott]

…but never zero.

[@conall9415]

You are definitely the type of person to: 1. Decide to do some light reading on the history of the building you are staying in. 2. Somehow end up in a historical building that's an important part of the history of oppression, eugenics and the post-Confederate southern states completely by chance. 3. Decide to take the chance to teach us about that history. 4. Refer to yourself and your dog as "us" and "we". 5. Take said dog to do some exploring at one o'clock in the morning to find remnants of the past still visible in the doors and walls of the building.

[@dclark142002]

The scariest trip into Wikipedia I ever made was covering non-voluntary medical experimentation...where the vast majority of the entries cover events that occurred (may still be occurring) in the United States. Highly recommended reading for anyone who wants to see what our government has been proud to accomplish.

[@paulastiles5507]

I once found a book called "The Nazi Doctors" on the shelf at a bookstore. Picked it up, opened it at random, read about half a page, closed the book, put it back on the shelf, and just walked away.

[@paulastiles5507]

@@BurntPlaydoh Nah, I already know about those. And as a Templar historian, if you're believing every conspiracy theory that comes along, I strongly urge you to stop eating Playdoh and reevaluate.

[@paulastiles5507]

@@BurntPlaydoh It's classic conspiracy theory playbook to pick an actual fact (ex.: the Abu Ghraib abuses), attach a conspiracy theory to it, start treating the conspiracy theory as proven fact, attach another conspiracy theory to the first conspiracy theory, and keep on going. This is how we go from there being a pizza parlor in DC to a conspiracy theory that lizard people in the federal government are running a child pornography ring out of the basement (that doesn't exist) of that pizza parlor. Every time someone starts telling me about some big global conspiracy to do whatever (which always, magically, involves super-powerful Jewish bankers somehow), I just go, "Mm-hmm," and file it away as a new variation on all the other crazy I have filed away for my research. But hey, thanks for adding to it. FYI, I served in the Peace Corps in West Africa back in the early '90s. You'd be surprised what I know about how the U.S. operates overseas. You give our government *far* too much credit.

[@paulastiles5507]

@@BurntPlaydoh Yes, it is entirely possible to give *way* too much credit to those organizations if you've never worked with them, especially overseas. Funding does not equal competence. If believing that the U.S. Government and military are all-powerful worldwide is what helps you sleep at night, well, you do you. Also, we don't need to have "blacksites" around the world when we can just rendition people (American citizens, even) to the governments there and let them work them over. Totally legal and has been done a lot since at least the beginning of the Cold War.

[@paulastiles5507]

@@BurntPlaydoh Funny how, in all of your rants, I don't see any actual experience in this area. Makes it easier to ignore such flights of fancy. Bye, now.

[@MateoGarcia-os2yy]

You have a true talent for audiovisual arts. But most importantly, you are a master storyteller.

[@nandayane]

As trained scientist I appreciate this video looking into this dark chapter of science and American history. Many program required an ethics in science philosophy course exactly for this reason, to pound into us that science is not immune to insidious biases.

[@HistoryBoy]

More high quality entertainment. 😁 Haven’t yet watched this video but the record of this magnificent channel speaks for itself.

[@petermann673]

At the end of the montage of eugenacist wikidiving and the "Huh." there was a youtube ad beak. I fucking lost it at following all that with a Domino's pizza ad. 💀🤣

[@jtgd]

0:44 when a hospital closes in the 1970’s, expect some morbid reason

[@oscarnewman1374]

it is so much creepier to express eugenics is poem form

[@TheBrunohusker]

First of all I love that you are exploring such fun places and are finding the real history about them. Not just silly ghost hunter style crap or legends with no basis in fact. Secondly, I love how this shows the banality of evil. This doctor obviously wasn’t a horror show villain but more normal. Sadly these views were normal and such people thought nothing of eugenics, and even people like W.E.B DuBois and Margaret Sanger thought nothing of eugenics, even if in DuBois’ case it was used against his fellow African Americans. It’s all the more sad because of how normal it was. Thanks for this.

[@liamb5697]

I just found this channel a couple days ago and I'm very glad I did. Thank you for all the work that goes into these projects, they are some of the best and most well produced on KZbin.

[@PaulMcElligott]

It’s hard to be truly horrified when Sal is so adorable, but holy shit. 😲

[@wanderinghistorian]

I knew from the thumbnail it was going to be an old Asylum, but dang. "There's no nice way to put your boot on someone's neck." - Atun-Shei, 2023

[@timothysmall720]

Thank you for making this. As someone who has numerous mental illnesses, it's scary to think how bad things used to be for us. Although, there is still a long way to go.

[@Seal0626]

1:06 "is" had me thinking this was going in a very different direction.

[@knotsbygordion]

Virginia: "We're the best at eugenic sterilization!" Canada: "Hold my beer, eh?" This isn't a joke, my country has a nightmare of history carefully not mentioned.

[@PeterPan54167]

To be fair to Virginia back then, they rejected him for a good long while, it took till the Great Depression for him to gain any real power. Also when WW2 was about to heat up the Virginia state government quietly had him removed although he still practiced.

[@grayjayvideos4219]

I live in a relatively small town in Alberta and our biggest piece of history is a giant mental asylum, that was original a First World War hospital but after the war it became an asylum that did the same thing, lots of un consensual sterilizations. My dad worked there for a while but once he discovered the sterilizations he quit

[@grayjayvideos4219]

2,800 people were sterilized before the practice was discontinued

[@atheisticgreyblob3284]

2:57 You actually had me sweating.

[@chrish9698]

Positively bone chilling! A great example of truth being not only stranger but outright more horrifying than fiction. Another great video!

[@mrblack9330]

This is seriously one of your best videos, and that's really saying something given your consistent high quality

[@thelovewizard8954]

There's a Western State Hospital in my hometown of Lakewood WA that's still going. It similarly has a dark history and one of the old buildings (now demolished) was said to be haunted.

[@davidfwooldridge3430]

Boy, that dude was a monster. That must of been very exciting to dig into.

[@mendacii9391]

What a nice surprise of a video. Thanks for the interesting history lesson!

[@antlerbraum2881]

You were in Staunton VA? Holy shi I grew up right nearby! Never knew about this actually…

[@georgebardsley7129]

He’s like a Man in the High Castle character but real

[@mpsmith47304]

Hey Andy... great vid! I visitied that hospital about 10 years ago when it was still abandoned and spooky while visiting a cousin in Staunton!

[@MarkZimmerman1776]

I've never heard of this hotel until now.This has to be one of the most horrifying histories for a former mental hosiptal/hotel i've ever heard.Other than that,great video.

[@shakespeareanstudent]

I went to Stanton for grad school. I drove by the Western State Hospital all the time. The locals gave me some tantalizing whispers about its history, but I never knew how dark it was until now.

[@stephenthomas00]

Yeah that opening basically had my eyes slowly widen the more I read, with the final words being ".....Oh.....". Honestly can say I have a feeling of dread after watching this. This may seem off topic a little, but everytime I read or listen to stories like this, of indiviguals who believe the way to a "better society" is to weed out the ones they see as a burden or desease that could spread. Always has me saying to myself the quote "One man's Utopia, is another man's Dystopia".

[@MichaelLlaneza]

Well, you sure kicked over a rotten log with this one. Good stuff, one of your best.

[@JulianSildenLanglo]

Lunatic Asylum? I'm already going to guess that the dark history is abuse and lots of it.

[@theshenpartei]

Yes a lot of dark history including one of the worst genocides in world and human history.

[@Sableagle]

It's the USA. *Any* building older than 60 years has a dark history of abuse and lots of it, especially the ones older than 160 years.

[@Josep_Hernandez_Lujan]

My mother used to work at one. In Belgium. Still has has dark stuff going on; In the lowest basement of the facility, there's a place with cells for the "criminally insane" There's one patient there now. She's extremely violent. She's in a small room, no windows (its underground). Strapped to her bed. Wearing a diaper. Has to be sedated to feed, clean and take care of her wounds. (if you spend most of your strapped to a bed you will get sores) Her crime was cannibalism though. She got pregnant. Had the baby at home and ate it. She is very aggressive. My mom always refused to enter that room. Even with sedation she'd try to bite nurses. And I mean BITE. She also doesn't really talk. She can talk. But she yells mostly. My mom says it is the most fucked up thing she ever saw. (Sorry for my English, it's my third language)

[@theshenpartei]

@@Josep_Hernandez_Lujan don’t worry about it

[@connorbranscombe6819]

@@Sableagleuh do you think that’s unique to the USA? Wait till you read the history of literally any other place of earth.

[@covertautumn]

The ocasional clips of a little dogs roaming the halls alongside you is a great contrast to the history of this place. Awesome video!

[@blizzardhero1375]

Yes yes, dark past and all - but Sal's cuteness is more important. More Sal in videos please. Wait what was this video about again? Probably about Sal. :P

[@theturkeychild]

I was primed and ready to tell you it's pronounced 'stanton' lmao. But also my jaw was on the floor when you passed that obvious cell door with a hotel door handle on it. What a trip of a video

[@dariusthurman8835]

Even though I lean more Right Libertarian, as a fellow history nerd I have thoroughly enjoyed your content. In particularly your Checkmate Lincolnites series.

[@LouisianaDread]

Love your content and it was great meeting you man!

[@DieNextInLINE]

Ever since I watched one of your videos that talked about how Nazi Germany took a lot of their ideas from early 1900's American policies, I've been extraordinarily unsettled by current political wishes of returning to the "Good Ol' Days". Watching this shows how many things in America have extremely, dark, and horrific histories that we pretend don't exist. There are people arguing in this day and age, that women on social programs should be sterilized so as not to "burden the system" by birthing more "undesirables". Our ignorance of these events have caused us to ignore the hate and evil that has been present just underneath America's skin and allowed that hate to surge back into mainstream popularity. Keep up the good work, Atun-Shei. And while "Checkmate, Linconites!" has remained your most popular series of videos, I hope your other creations get as much love because they're filled to the gills with great information.

[@jed-henrywitkowski6470]

We all hit rough patches in life, some folks just get them harder than others. I'm glad they let you have a friend and continue to do your KZbin channel! I wish you a speedy recovery. Lol.

[@theVeronaPicker]

Holy crap! I live just a few miles outside of Staunton in Verona! Wow, what an amazing episode! Thanks man for showing off some of my local history, yeah western state is kinda bonkers. All of us around here knew what went down there, we all kinda joke that we’ll send grandpa to western state cause he’s kinda losing his mind.

[@mrquinnley5563]

this channel is so great, i’d love to see more vids like this

[@Josway37]

I love Atun's faith in his audience. Of course I didn't believe he just casually turned the judgemental end of a lens onto himself before proceeding to nonchalantly happenstance his way into researching the horror-storied past of an absent-mindedly selected accomodation, chosen entirely because it didn't have a number in the name. But did I gleefully surrender to him the benefit of my doubt as he beckoned me into a sort of macabre found-footage-like short film? You bet your closet full of dark historical costumes I did.

[@vcuheel1464]

When I was in medical school, I did a rotation at Central State Hospital, a similar facility in Petersburg, VA that is still open. Thanks for this very informative video!

[@jokerrfox354]

I had to learn this the hard way. my partner and I visited staunton and this place was one of the very few places that still has vacancies and we didn't do research and we had the SAME REACTION Everything was great until I picked up that same sheet and looked it up out of curiosity. As someone who has a Autistic brother, i was horrified. We also stayed in the basement and it was clear that it was a former cell. I felt so guilty that I wanted to pray for the souls harmed here in the chapel that was marked on the map. But alas the chapel was still abandoned staunton as a town is beautiful tho. I think we went shortly before you did judging by your footage

[@AzathothLives]

That is one cute doggo. Glad you have a top tier travelling companion.

[@Alex-cw3rz]

It's like something in a horror film

[@Josep_Hernandez_Lujan]

Getting Resident Evil vibes from the place (the old games, not the movies)

[@ArakDBlade]

You know most people dont even bother to write a quick blurb on TripAdvisor. Then there's this guy. 🤣

[@etaylor495]

This is just the mental palate cleanser I need after watching Razorfist's lost-causer video yesterday.

[@rudi_tabootie]

that guy is such a fucking tool

[@therabbi9848]

That vid was just awful

[@antonnurwald5700]

I have no idea who Razorfist is. Care to update me? Thx

[@vodyanoy2]

@@antonnurwald5700 He's a white supremacist heavy metal commentator on KZbin who celebrates Abraham Lincoln's murder in one of his newest videos. Just look up "Rageaholic Lincoln" and you'll find the video. Vlogging Through History did a reaction on it and debunked most of what he said.

[@antonnurwald5700]

@@vodyanoy2 urgh, nasty. Thanks for the info

[@GB-ez6ge]

4:18 I was expecting Jack Nicholson to spring out withan axe but no, it was just you with a cell phone.

[@VaderTheWhite]

I looked at his Wikipedia page and was disturbed by the fact he "continued to advocate eugenics after the Nazi Holocaust was exposed at the end of World War II."

[@Rednecknerd_rob9634]

Even more disturbing, there's still people who believe in and will defend Eugenics.

[@KidnapSix]

Keep this series up! Staying in historical places! I love it.

[@charlespentrose7834]

Imagine being in a situation where your options were imprisonment or sterilization.

[@goblinspoons]

The line there is no nice way to plant your boot on someone's neck is gonna be sticking with me. Great video, thank you. Eugenics is so much nightmares and something that... haunts me.

[@wulfleyn6498]

Well that got really dark really quick.

[@antonnurwald5700]

Right. I was like: this was fast! One Google search, bam.

[@caedo7090]

Interesting tidbits! This video was very well put together and informative. I could feel the history talking to me through your voice, it whispered and cackled, laughed and roared. I could feel it coming through the screen to me, all around me… behind me… through me… I love the editing, the video gave me chills 😂 P.S. That is one adorable fellow explorer good sir.

[@grapeshot]

A lot of Motel 6s have dark secrets. Like the ice machines always breaking down. They don't want anybody knowing about that.

[@RealJugLY]

Jesus im so happy i stumbled across your channel this is quality content bro!