Inside an abandoned, horrifying operating theatre at Pennsylvania Hospital

THIS is the eerie site where surgeries were performed without any anaesthesia or electricity more than 200 years ago. It was an unimaginable ordeal.

Surgical Amphitheatre was used from 1804 to 1868, and for many years there was no electricity. Picture: Courtesy of the Pennsylvania Hospital Historic Collections, Philadelphia

“OK GUYS it’s getting dark, let’s close this body up before we lose the light.”

These are words you would never want to hear uttered in an operating theatre. However, 260 years ago, back in the early days of surgery at Pennsylvania Hospital in Philadelphia, US, it wasn’t uncommon to have to shut up shop (literally!) when the light started to fade.

In the years before electricity, surgeries were performed here on sunny days between 11am and 2pm — a very limited window of time. But the worst part was that until the 1840s, surgeries were even more hardcore — there was no anaesthesia. Yep, let that one sink in for a minute.

These days curious travellers can take tours inside the hospital, and as you make your way through the halls of the historic wing you can almost hear the wails and screams that would’ve rung out from the theatre.

Screams would have been common here. Picture: Courtesy of the Pennsylvania Hospital Historic Collections, Philadelphia

Back then the most common procedures included amputations, resetting broken bones, removal of tumours or other masses and hernia operations — and yes, all were done without anaesthesia or sanitary conditions.

Restrains used on mentally ill patients. Picture: Courtesy of the Pennsylvania Hospital Historic Collections, Philadelphia

Stacey C Peeples, Curator and Lead Archivist at the Pennsylvania Hospital Historic Collections, said there was simply little that could be done to ease the pain back then.

“The use of liquor, laudanum (an opium-based painkiller), a tap on the head with a mallet were common ways to relieve the distress of surgery,” Peeples said. “Don’t forget that medical students were observing, so you’d have an audience throughout the ordeal!”

A trainee nurse. Picture: Courtesy of the Pennsylvania Hospital Historic Collections, Philadelphia

Peeples says the hospital is an incredibly significant medical history site.

“Pennsylvania Hospital is 263 years old,” she said. “There’s been incredible progress in medicine, from administering anaesthesia in surgery to robotics. Visitors here learn about surgical techniques of the past, about medicine, and about the role of physician in the 1800s.

“Our amphitheatre was the first in the nation — so surgical technique was very important here, and that continued through the centuries. In fact, soldiers were sent here during the American Civil War as a recognition of our surgical skills.”

Preparing a patient for an xray (left) and an operating room in 1929 (right). Picture: Courtesy of the Pennsylvania Hospital Historic Collections, Philadelphia

The hospital has welcomed many notable physicians throughout history, including Thomas Bond, Benjamin Rush, William Shippen Jr (one of the first professors of surgery and midwifery in the US), Philip Syng Physick (who pioneered the stomach pump), William Bartram (a famous botanist) and John Syng Dorse (wrote the first surgery textbook).

Preparing for surgery in the 1950s (left) and an apparatuses used to feed infants (right).

Main attraction for visitors to Pennsylvania Hospital include the colonial and federal architecture, a collection of fine art, and (of course) learning about the crude health care and medicine in the 18th and 19th centuries.

An operation in the 1980s. Picture: Courtesy of the Pennsylvania Hospital Historic Collections, Philadelphia

These days you don’t have to wait until the sun comes out to visit the surgical amphitheatre — you can visit on weekdays from 9am to 4pm, guided tours are required for

groups over five people and need to be booked 48 hours in advance. Click here for more information.