A while ago, Error posted his theory as to why he thinks Mary stayed at Brookhaven. This brought up some good points, as I think parts of it seem possible. (Relevant links can be found below, by the way.)
The photo of the hospital in the Historical Society was “built in response to a great plague that followed a wave of immigration to this area.” That explains a lot. ERROR says the greater security on higher floors suggests that the bottom floor may still be used for general patients. I disagree. This is pretty normal in psychiatric hospitals; the less-problematic patients are either on the lower floors or in the inner wings, and the more disturbed patients are higher up or in outer wings with added security.
He says Mary was sent there, rather than to Alchemilla, because she was mentally ill. I don’t disagree that she was depressed; I disagree that depression would’ve been her reason to be in any hospital. The depression was a result of her physical, terminal illness. Patients facing terminal illness may well become depressed. However severe the depression, it was secondary to and a result of the illness, so I’d still think she’d be in a regular hospital. If she needed psychiatric attention, the hospital could have a doctor come from elsewhere if they didn’t have a staff psychiatrist. And I don’t think she was actively suicidal, she just may have wished she were dead. This is actually fairly common in people who are facing death anyway, and who may be in great pain. I think it was Elizabeth Kubler-Ross who wrote that such patients go through the grieving stages, just as if they were losing a loved one, but for themself. Such patients are coming to terms with the fact they may die, or for those who aren’t, they may be grieving the loss of the way their life was before they were sick. What I am saying: If Mary was depressed, it’s understandable, almost expected, but she’d still be in a hospital where they were equipped to treat the terminally ill.
ERROR: “Mary wasn’t always hospitalized at Brookhaven. In actuality, she was there very briefly—one week at the most.”
It would almost seem plausible to me, except for what I just said above. Mary is not a teenager making “suicidal gestures.” She’s also not a depressed person slitting her wrists or saying she’s going to kill herself, and for these reasons I don’t think the NMHA guidelines have any relevance here. They don’t address the reason. The depression probably doesn’t just stem from a chemical imbalance; it stems from the fact that SHE IS DYING. That’s pretty depressing for many people.
This also implies that Laura had a specific reason for coming to Brookhaven. Mary told Laura in her letter that I won’t be in this hospital anymore, which, to a little girl, especially, would imply I’ll be at another hospital.
This is a good explanation for Laura coming to Brookhaven, indeed. However, I don’t think it suggests Mary was actually in Brookhaven. “Not in this hospital” could also mean “not in any hospital” or even “dead.”
If Team Silent didn’t want people to believe that Mary spent anytime in Brookhaven Hospital, they wouldn’t have left so many clues suggesting it—whether anyone feels they’re blatant or not.
I don’t disagree that Brookhaven has a meaning, I just don’t think that meaning is necessarily that Mary was there. As Xuchilbara pointed out, the game is about James and suggests James has a reason to be there. It may also suggest that James is delusional, rather than Mary being depressed.
Read his thread here.
Read Xuchilbara’s response to it here.
Read the SHC thread discussing these matters here.
