A farewell tour of "Cuckoo's Nest" hospital in Oregon

SALEM, Ore. — The Oregon State Hospital's "J" building, made famous in the 1975 Jack Nicholson film, "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," was opened for a weekend tour to visitors. State employees guided about 200 people through vacant, decaying sections of the building and the sprawling tunnels under it, where some psychiatric patients had to live.

Many of those who got in Saturday considered themselves lucky to get a detailed, inside look at a Salem landmark that earned a niche in cinematic history.

"It was a once-in-a lifetime opportunity," said Vickran Harinau, who came from Seattle with a friend for the hour-long tour.

"A lot of times, these kinds of tours can be very perfunctory, but they really put their heart into making it interesting and informative."

Visitors got a chance to ask questions to Dean Brooks, the retired hospital superintendent who gave movie makers permission to film "Cuckoo's Nest" inside the hospital.

Harinau said his favorite part of the tour came deep inside the J Building, during a stop at a long-dormant shower room where organizers displayed a hydrotherapy machine, a key prop in the movie's climactic scene.

The Oscar-winning movie based on the novel by Oregon author Ken Kesey starred Nicholson as a rebellious mental patient. After he is left docile by a lobotomy, another patient, angered and empowered by his friend's demise, hoists the heavy hydrotherapy machine over his head and throws it through a screened window, clearing the way for his escape.

At least 600 more people have said they would like the tour but it is not certain that the Department of Human Services will be providing another chance. "Right now, resource-wise, I don't know how we can possibly continue to do tours," said Jodie Jones, a DHS official. "The demand is so great that one more day isn't going to do it. Then where do you stop?"

Willamette University freshman Halley Arneson said she felt a desire to watch the movie again. "This really brought it to life," she said. "I really want to watch it now."

She said she was surprised to learn that about 3,800 patients were packed into the psychiatric facility during the 1950s, compared to about 600 today. During the hospital's peak population, excess patients had to be housed in the hospital's tunnel system.

The tour had been planned as a reward for historical preservationists who got the hospital placed in the National Register of Historic Places. Parts of it date to the 1880s.

To satisfy activists, state officials agreed to incorporate parts of J Building into plans for the new hospital on the same grounds.

The front sections of the J Building, including its distinctive tower, are to be preserved. The rest will be demolished to make way for a 620-bed state-of-the-art facility scheduled to be completed in 2011.