Cuckoo's Nest mental hospital finds unknown remains

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'Cuckoo's Nest' mental hospital finds unknown remains

A mental hospital in the US state of Oregon is trying to identify the cremated

remains of 3500 patients that were hidden in a storage room for decades.

They were discovered in 2004 in what was called " the room for lost souls " .

The hospital has published the names and birthdates of patients who died between

1917 and the 1970s online in an attempt to locate family members.

All but 4 canisters of the remains have been identified.

The hospital - a run-down, 128-year-old facility - was used in the filming of

the Academy Award-winning movie One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest in 1975.

Almost three decades later, a group of politicians touring the hospital

accidentally happened across the remains. The[y] vowed to improve the state's

mental health services.

Since that time, surviving relatives of deceased patients have come forward to

claim 120 of the canisters of remains.

" Already these remains have done so much to bring us so far in such a short time

in how we deal with mental health, " said Oregon Senate President .

The hospital also came under fire in 2008 after authorities discovered mice,

toxic paint, asbestos, outbreaks of scabies and pneumonia, and 400

patient-against-patient assaults in one year.

It has since been closed and the patients moved into new, state-of-the-art

hospital.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-12330505