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A review by khoar
Ten Days in a Mad-House by Nellie Bly
4.0
Written in 1887, this is the story of what journalist, Elizabeth Cochran Seaman, experienced when she went undercover in Blackwell's Island Lunatic Asylum as the "insane" Nellie Brown.
What an undertaking! What a phenomenally brave woman! Ms. Seaman is asked by her editor if she thought that she could fake insanity in order to get into the lunatic asylum and expose what goes on inside. What followed was something straight from the pages of a horror story.
How crazy is it that all she had to do was act a little confused and stare into space to be declared insane. There were no real attempts to locate family, no attempt to diagnose some underlying medical illness - just a court appearance, a short exam by a medical doctor and she was off to "the Island". How many people with epilepsy, autism, Down's syndrome, etc., ended up in asylums? Were people, like myself, who suffer from migraines included in those unlucky enough to be declared insane? How many young women or wives were carted off to the lunatic asylum when they argued, refused to conform, refused to marry a man chosen by her family? Once inside, Nellie encountered several women has suffered a plight that was way too common - a completely sane woman who finds herself in a lunatic asylum where no one will listen to her arguments of why she should be released.
How brave and trusting Ms. Seaman was to believe that her husband would come for her after 10 days, that she would end up on Blackwell's Island where he would be able to find her and that he would, indeed, be able to get her released. And how crazy it is that all he had to do was tell the directors that she was sane and, just like that, she was free ....
As a result of her investigative reporting on the conditions inside Blackwell's Island Lunatic Asylum, the New York City allocated an additional $1,000,000 per year to the care of the insane.
A great read.
What an undertaking! What a phenomenally brave woman! Ms. Seaman is asked by her editor if she thought that she could fake insanity in order to get into the lunatic asylum and expose what goes on inside. What followed was something straight from the pages of a horror story.
How crazy is it that all she had to do was act a little confused and stare into space to be declared insane. There were no real attempts to locate family, no attempt to diagnose some underlying medical illness - just a court appearance, a short exam by a medical doctor and she was off to "the Island". How many people with epilepsy, autism, Down's syndrome, etc., ended up in asylums? Were people, like myself, who suffer from migraines included in those unlucky enough to be declared insane? How many young women or wives were carted off to the lunatic asylum when they argued, refused to conform, refused to marry a man chosen by her family? Once inside, Nellie encountered several women has suffered a plight that was way too common - a completely sane woman who finds herself in a lunatic asylum where no one will listen to her arguments of why she should be released.
How brave and trusting Ms. Seaman was to believe that her husband would come for her after 10 days, that she would end up on Blackwell's Island where he would be able to find her and that he would, indeed, be able to get her released. And how crazy it is that all he had to do was tell the directors that she was sane and, just like that, she was free ....
As a result of her investigative reporting on the conditions inside Blackwell's Island Lunatic Asylum, the New York City allocated an additional $1,000,000 per year to the care of the insane.
A great read.