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    Ten Days in a Mad-House
    Ten Days in a Mad-House
    Ten Days in a Mad-House
    Ebook131 pages2 hours

    Ten Days in a Mad-House

    By Nellie Bly

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    About this ebook

    A courageous female journalist’s classic exposé of the horrific treatment of the mentally ill in nineteenth-century America

    In 1887, Nellie Bly accepted an assignment from publisher Joseph Pulitzer of the New York World and went undercover at the lunatic asylum on Blackwell Island, America’s first municipal mental hospital. Calling herself “Nellie Brown,” she was able to convince policemen, a judge, and a series of doctors of her madness with a few well-practiced facial expressions of derangement.

    At the institution, Bly discovered the stuff of nightmares. Mentally ill patients were fed rotten, inedible food; violently abused by a brutal, uncaring staff; and misdiagnosed, mistreated, or generally ignored by the doctors and so-called mental health experts entrusted with their care. To her horror, Bly encountered sane patients who had been committed on the barest of pretenses and came to the shocking realization that, while the Blackwell Island asylum was remarkably easy to get into, it was nearly impossible to leave.

    This ebook has been professionally proofread to ensure accuracy and readability on all devices.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherOpen Road Media
    Release dateOct 27, 2015
    ISBN9781480443846
    Author

    Nellie Bly

    Nellie Bly was born Elizabeth "Pink" Cochran. Her father, a man of considerable wealth, served for many years as judge of Armstrong County, Pennsylvania. He lived on a large estate called Cochran's Mills, which took its name from him. Being in reduced circumstances after her father's death, her mother remarried, only to divorce Jack Ford a few years later. The family then moved to Pittsburg, where a twenty-year-old Pink read a column in the Pittsburg Dispatch entitled "What Girls Are Good For." Enraged at the sexist and classist tone, she wrote a furious letter to the editor. Impressed, the editor engaged her to do special work for the newspaper as a reporter, writing under the name "Nellie Bly." Her first series of stories, "Our Workshop Girls," brought life and sympathy to working women in Pittsburgh. A year later she went as a correspondent to Mexico, where she remained six months, sending back weekly articles. After her return, she longed for broader fields, and so moved to New York. The story of her attempt to make a place for herself, or to find an opening, was a long one of disappointment, until at last she gained the attention of the New York World. Her first achievement for them was the exposure of the Blackwell's Island Insane Asylum, in which she spent ten days, and two days in the Bellevue Insane Asylum. The story created a great sensation, making "Nellie Bly" a household name. After three years of doing work as a "stunt girl" at the World, Bly conceived the idea of making a trip around the world in less time than had been done by Phileas Fogg, the fictitious hero of Jules Verne's famous novel. In fact, she made it in 72 days. On her return in January 1890 she was greeted by ovations all the way from San Francisco to New York. She then paused her reporting career to write novels, but returned to the World three years later. In 1895 she married millionaire industrialist Robert Seaman, and a couple years later retired from journalism to take an interest in his factories. She returned to journalism almost twenty years later, reporting on World War I from behind the Austrian lines. Upon returning to New York, she spent the last years of her life doing both reporting and charity work, finding homes for orphans. She died of pneumonia in 1922.

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    Reviews for Ten Days in a Mad-House

    4/5

    202 ratings21 reviews

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    • 3/5
      Nellie Bly is a reporter and has been asked to do a story on the women's Insane Asylum on Bellevue Island in New York. She prepares herself to appear and seem crazy. When she enters the institution, it is dirty and the food is really bad, the treatment of patients is bad. She is released after a ten-day period, but leaves behind women that were going to be in the Asylum for the rest of their lives. Some of those women were not crazy, and Nellie understood that.Good essay on the bad things that can happen to good people.
    • 4/5
      This little book was written by a brave journalist in 1887 after having voluntarily become an inmate in a notorious institution for the insane in New York, Blackwell’s Island, in order to ascertain the conditions there.First, she has to pretend to be insane, which she did when staying in a “home for deserving women”. She tells the true names of all the persons, mostly women, she encounters both before being committed to the asylum and when inside the institution.Nellie assumes the name “Nellie Brown” and does not find it difficult to be declared insane and eventually be banished to Blackwell’s Island.The conditions there were indeed atrocious: the inmates froze in their thin dresses (it was Autumn, and cold, and the heat was not turned on), they received nauseating, inedible food, were forced to take cold baths despite being physically ill, and were often beaten.Many of the inmates were by no means insane, but had ended there simply due to their poverty.Most of the nurses were cruel and the doctors were inept and refused to examine the patients’ state of mind in order to determine whether or not they actually were insane. However, there were a few kind people employed there.Prior to her committal to the madhouse, the author had an agreement with her editor that he would get her out in some way or another after ten days, and luckily this duly occurred.Subsequently, after the author’s report to the authorities of the appalling conditions in the institution, a trip was made to the island to investigate the place. I found this to be a shocking, though not surprising, account of the state of affairs in this asylum. I’m afraid that there may still be similar institutions in present-day USA where the conditions are not much better.
    • 4/5
      This reporter was amazing, I'm awed by the things she went through to get a story, and to fight against the patriarchy just to be a journalist! In spite of that, I only rate this 4 stars, because the writing was not very engaging for me, and I suspect that's largely due to the era it was written in, but even still, it was difficult to get through. However, it was much better than the film adaptation, so I do recommend reading it over seeing the film!
    • 4/5
      This is the book version of Nellie Bly's newspaper reporting from her 1887 experience in the Blackwell Island Insane Asylum in New York City. As a journalist for Pulitzer in the nineteenth century, it is a bit sensationalistic in parts (easy to forget that the medal for the best reporting today was funded by the sensationalism of yesteryear), but I had the curious feeling that the she was under-reporting the shocking bits. (She sensationalizes her preparations for getting herself admitted as insane, but only gives the highlights of her ten days in the asylum itself – in fact, more than half the book is just the getting there.) I was impressed by her tenacity and courage, and by her journalistic standards in not dramatizing her experiences further. Looking forward to reading the other book I have of hers: Around the World in 72 Days!
    • 5/5
      This is a very fast and engrossing read. It is the author's first-person account of her successful attempt to gain access to an insane asylum to see its inner workings. The original story was apparently published as a series of news articles in the late 1800s and then turned into a book. The book is highly readable and moves at a fast clip. It is a fascinating insight into both insane asylums and the prevailing attitude toward mental illness (and the relationship between mental illness and poverty) of the times. Nellie Bly is sympathetic toward the women incarcerated in the insane asylum and her descriptions of life inside are vivid, heartbreaking, and disturbing, but not altogether depressing, since Bly does find humor where she can. I have read historical accounts of hospitals where patients were locked up against their will, but this is probably one of the most accessible books on the subject. Despite the fact that the story is well over a century old, it is written in the clear and concise style of an unbiased journalist and does not feel dated.
    • 3/5
      Interesting read. I found the writing somewhat immature for a lady so well accomplished and respected. Would have liked more information at times, other than the doctor(s) asked me more questions and pronounced me insane. I felt the doctor's questions critical to the story. Easy read. Glad I read it. Hard to be critical of a piece of history we are lucky to have.
    • 4/5
      Short but inciteful. Not a lot of depth but who cares?! Interesting to see how investigative reporting was done in an earlier time.
    • 4/5
      Ten Days in a Mad-House by Nellie Bly was a complete gamble. I saw it as a free download on my Kindle and I snatched it up on a whim. This is the true account of a young female reporter who lied her way into the Women's Lunatic Asylum on Blackwell's Island in New York. Originally published as a series of articles in 1887, Ten Days in a Mad-House is shocking in its stark depiction of how 'insane' women are treated. Nellie describes women who are no more mentally deficient than she herself is (and once inside she asserted again and again her sanity and acted no different than she would had she her freedom). The horrific conditions of the facilities and the demoralizing treatment heaped upon them by the staff at the asylum were startling to say the least (and absolutely disgusting). After reading this small book, I decided to do a little research into Bly and discovered that beyond being an advocate for women's rights she was also an inventor and an adventurer. (She traveled around the world in a record-breaking 72 days!) This was a short little book that packed a big punch due to its subject matter and the passion with which Bly clearly had for improving the situation of those deemed 'mentally insane'. In those days, you could get rid of the unwanted women in your life by simply dropping them off at the asylum and saying they were 'crazy'. The vetting process was nearly nonexistent and any attempt to assert your sanity was dismissed offhand. I recommend this for anyone in the mood for a fast nonfiction book from a voice that is both intelligent and impassioned. 8/10
    • 4/5
      This is an exciting and haunting narrative made even more so by the fact that it is true (at least mostly, it is possible that Nellie Bly exaggerated a few things, but given the fact that we now know how poorly the mentally ill were treated back then I would believe most of it.) As a side note, I would like to say that the Librivox reader of this book is very good, though I do wish there was an afterwards or something to explain how the asylum closed (because I know that it did.)It pissed me off though because here is David Daleidon doing the same thing; going undercover to report on the corruptions of a big medical facility/institution and nobody does anything to fix the corruptions that he saw and reported. But I probably won't post this last paragraph because people on the internet are mean and hateful and love to start political arguments even though they know that the last time anyone was persuaded by an argument on the internet was, well, never.
    • 3/5
      Nellie Bly was a reporter in New York who convinced the courts that she was insane and got herself locked away at Blackwell's Island. Her expose of the conditions there led to increased care and resources given to the patients. What really shocked me about this piece was not the terrible treatment the patients endured, but how easily, and on what tenuous grounds, women were declared insane.
    • 3/5
      Interesting likely first work of undercover investigative journalism by a female. I have read enough of the era and the supposed "treatment" of persons with alleged mental illness not to be shocked. Bly's commitment and motivation to succeed as a female journalist outside of the society pages was groundbreaking. I had selected this book to satisfy a reading challenge requiring me to read a non-fiction book dealing with feminism or feminist themes; I admit I felt I was stretching it a bit, but in two "post scripts" Bly also went undercover at an agency for domestics and a factory to report on treatment of women in the workforce, so in the end, I am quite comfortable with my choice. I have a funny feeling though that a lot of historical fiction authors must use her work as one their research points....
    • 3/5
      Ummm, weird. Interesting and strange. Done in an afternoon. Not a hard book, just strange. Did I mention strange?
    • 3/5
      This book was very easy to read. Nellie Bly has a very conversational way of writing, she also does not get bogged down in needless detail. In this book she tells how she got the assignment and how she prepared for it. After she is committed, which was a rather quick and easy process, she details how her first day went. She then states that all her days were like that and proceeds onto the treatment, mis-treatment, abuse, conditions at the asylum. Her belief that there were women there that were not insane substantiated by her reports of their actions and conversations.After the section on the asylum, there is another short article on the working conditions of women, she refers to it as ‘white slavery’. Also very well written. I recommend this book.
    • 4/5
      I’ve watched the movie “One Who Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” and always thought the insane asylum is what made him crazy. This reading confirmed my theory. Rather sad and unfortunate but very brave of the author who indoctrinate herself into this experiment. I enjoyed the short chapters. This book is very different from anything I’ve read in the past but it consistently kept me engaged and left me with the question, What will happen next?
    • 5/5
      Even all these years later Bly's testimony of her experience is horrifying and powerful. This sort of reporting is the purpose of journalism.
    • 4/5
      Nellie Bly was a young journalist in 1887 New York City when she was asked by World magazine to go undercover to expose conditions in the Blackwell's Island Asylum for the Insane. She fabricated a new identity, took a room in a women's residence, and slowly began to exhibit signs of mental illness. Within days she was a patient in the asylum. While there she witnessed the unsanitary conditions, the rotten food, the physical abuse, the lack of any medical treatment, and the lack of any recourse for those placed there under false pretenses. Her editors rescued her after ten days. After The World published her article she was asked to testify at a grand jury about all that she had witnessed. Her story resulted in the city granting $1,000,000. for mental health care.I have known the story of Nelly Bly for years, but I had never read her story. I live on Roosevelt Island -- formerly Blackwell's Island -- where the madhouse in the title was located. My friend Judy is the Island historian. She has shown me papers in the Island archives about Bly and the asylum for the Insane. Judy also dresses up as Nellie Bly and gives tours to tourists. In December i decided to participate in the NewYearWhoDis challenge at Litsy. You switch lists of your favorite books from 2019 with another member. The list I received included this book. I thought it was long past time that I read the story in Bly's own words.
    • 4/5
      Ten Days In A Mad Houseby Nellie Bly2015Open Road4.0 / 5.0Nellie Bly was asked by WORLD magazine to have herself committed to one of the asylums for the insane in New York. Then, to write about it for their magazine. Feigning a mental illness, Nellie was admitted to Blackwell Island Insane Asylum, eventually, being taken to Bellevue. There, she saw patients being beaten and choked, refused water, and left to sit in the dark, punished for standing or moving. They were allowed to shower once a week. This was in 1887, and, unfortunately, many are still abused or denied basic needs to this day. It could explain why this book continues to be read, years after its first publication. Upon her release, she was summoned before a Grand Jury. Due to the case, $1,000,000 was given to the facility for improvements.Sad, hard to read, but very concise and honest. Quick but really deep read that tugged at my heart, for sure.
    • 4/5
      Startling True Story of Institutionalized CrueltyJune 3, 2019Format: Kindle EditionVerified PurchaseThis book tells the stomach-turning true tale of deliberate cruelty and indifference to the maltreatment of helpless women, some who were mentally ill, some physically ill, and some just poor. What I found most disturbing was the willingness of all the doctors to ignore their patients' complaints of mistreatment.Well done, Nellie Bly.
    • 5/5
      Well, this was a sobering read. It’s also really good, and it’s freely available online. Nellie Bly, an investigative journalist from the 1880s, had herself temporarily committed to an asylum for insane women in New York, in order to write a series of articles documenting the (mal)treatments that the inmates were subjected to. This book was a reissue of those articles to satisfy the high demand. Things start off amusingly, when Bly has to try and convince people to section her -- essentially, she shows up at a short-term lodging place for women and acts suspiciously, while pitying the kind people she is deceiving in the process. But once she is transported to the asylum, she puts on her journalist hat, acts completely normal, and records what is allowed to happen to her. It’s not pretty. The inmates are always cold (due to insufficient clothing, non-existent heating, and cold baths); the food is execrable; they are under constant threat of violence; and humiliations are frequent and issued with glee by the power-tripping staff. The maltreatment of the patients rises to the level of prison camp torture: they are deliberately and methodically kept in a state of sleep deprivation, malnourishment and under-stimulation. Worse: there is no way to prove their sanity, nor will the staff be even willing to listen. A diagnosis equals a sentence for life. Bly describes a typical day as she underwent them, which is a terrible enough ordeal, and adds other inmates’ stories and experiences -- which are worse (lifelong imprisonment for not speaking English? How xenophobic can your medical system get?). Bly uses no rhetorical flourishes; there is no need for jokes or cutesy asides: drily narrated reality is harsh and unforgiving and undermines trust in fellow human beings, if not in society at large. I knew 19th-century treatment of The Other was atrocious, but reading contemporary reports really drives home that message. The only good thing about Bly’s undercover stint is that, as a response to this exposé, the city of New York increased the funding (and, through increased inspections, the living standards) of its asylums. Finally: my edition of this book also contains two shorter articles, in which Bly goes undercover to secure a job as a maid, and works briefly as an inner-city factory girl. Those as well show off her on-point observational skills. Good stuff!
    • 4/5
      While this is a short book - it is a very important one. At the time of this writing, there were numerous reasons why women could be committed to places like Blackwells Island. Nellie Bly took on a dangerous mission in trying to find out how the mentally ill (and sometimes not mentally ill) of the Island were treated. What Nellie found was the abuse of those who needed the most help. Thanks to Nellie's bravery massive changes were made to the way the mentally ill were taken care of.
    • 4/5
      This is an exciting and haunting narrative made even more so by the fact that it is true (at least mostly, it is possible that Nellie Bly exaggerated a few things, but given the fact that we now know how poorly the mentally ill were treated back then I would believe most of it.) As a side note, I would like to say that the Librivox reader of this book is very good, though I do wish there was an afterwards or something to explain how the asylum closed (because I know that it did.)It pissed me off though because here is David Daleidon doing the same thing; going undercover to report on the corruptions of a big medical facility/institution and nobody does anything to fix the corruptions that he saw and reported. But I probably won't post this last paragraph because people on the internet are mean and hateful and love to start political arguments even though they know that the last time anyone was persuaded by an argument on the internet was, well, never.

    Book preview

    Ten Days in a Mad-House - Nellie Bly

    INTRODUCTION

    SINCE MY EXPERIENCES IN BLACKWELL’S Island Insane Asylum were published in the World I have received hundreds of letters in regard to it. The edition containing my story long since ran out, and I have been prevailed upon to allow it to be published in book form, to satisfy the hundreds who are yet asking for copies.

    I am happy to be able to state as a result of my visit to the asylum and the exposures consequent thereon, that the City of New York has appropriated $1,000,000 more per annum than ever before for the care of the insane. So I have at least the satisfaction of knowing that the poor unfortunates will be the better cared for because of my work.

    Nellie Bly

    CHAPTER I. A DELICATE MISSION

    ON THE 22ND OF SEPTEMBER I was asked by the World if I could have myself committed to one of the asylums for the insane in New York, with a view to writing a plain and unvarnished narrative of the treatment of the patients therein and the methods of management, etc. Did I think I had the courage to go through such an ordeal as the mission would demand? Could I assume the characteristics of insanity to such a degree that I could pass the doctors, live for a week among the insane without the authorities there finding out that I was only a chiel amang ’em takin’ notes? I said I believed I could. I had some faith in my own ability as an actress and thought I could assume insanity long enough to accomplish any mission intrusted to me. Could I pass a week in the insane ward at Blackwell’s Island? I said I could and I would. And I did.

    My instructions were simply to go on with my work as soon as I felt that I was ready. I was to chronicle faithfully the experiences I underwent, and when once within the walls of the asylum to find out and describe its inside workings, which are always, so effectually hidden by white-capped nurses, as well as by bolts and bars, from the knowledge of the public. We do not ask you to go there for the purpose of making sensational revelations. Write up things as you find them, good or bad; give praise or blame as you think best, and the truth all the time. But I am afraid of that chronic smile of yours, said the editor. I will smile no more, I said, and I went away to execute my delicate and, as I found out, difficult mission.

    If I did get into the asylum, which I hardly hoped to do, I had no idea that my experiences would contain aught else than a simple tale of life in an asylum. That such an institution could be mismanaged, and that cruelties could exist ’neath its roof, I did not deem possible. I always had a desire to know asylum life more thoroughly—a desire to be convinced that the most helpless of God’s creatures, the insane, were cared for kindly and properly. The many stories I had read of abuses in such institutions I had regarded as wildly exaggerated or else romances, yet there was a latent desire to know positively.

    I shuddered to think how completely the insane were in the power of their keepers, and how one could weep and plead for release, and all of no avail, if the keepers were so minded. Eagerly I accepted the mission to learn the inside workings of the Blackwell Island Insane Asylum.

    How will you get me out, I asked my editor, after I once get in?

    I do not know, he replied, but we will get you out if we have to tell who you are, and for what purpose you feigned insanity—only get in.

    I had little belief in my ability to deceive the insanity experts, and I think my editor had less.

    All the preliminary preparations for my ordeal were left to be planned by myself. Only one thing was decided upon, namely, that I should pass under the pseudonym of Nellie Brown, the initials of which would agree with my own name and my linen, so that there would be no difficulty in keeping track of my movements and assisting me out of any difficulties or dangers I might get into. There were ways of getting into the insane ward, but I did not know them. I might adopt one of two courses. Either I could feign insanity at the house of friends, and get myself committed on the decision of two competent physicians, or I could go to my goal by way of the police courts.

    On reflection I thought it wiser not to inflict myself upon my friends or to get any good-natured doctors to assist me in my purpose. Besides, to get to Blackwell’s Island my friends would have had to feign poverty, and, unfortunately for the end I had in view, my acquaintance with the struggling poor, except my own self, was only very superficial. So I determined upon the plan which led me to the successful accomplishment of my mission. I succeeded in getting committed to the insane ward at Blackwell’s Island, where I spent ten days and nights and had an experience which I shall never forget. I took upon myself to enact the part of a poor, unfortunate crazy girl, and felt it my duty not to shirk any of the disagreeable results that should follow. I became one of the city’s insane wards for that length of time, experienced much, and saw and heard more of the treatment accorded to this helpless class of our population, and when I had seen and heard enough, my release was promptly secured. I left the insane ward with pleasure and regret—pleasure that I was once more able to enjoy the free breath of heaven; regret that I could not have brought with me some of the unfortunate women who lived and suffered with me, and who, I am convinced, are just as sane as I was and am now myself.

    But here let me say one thing: From the moment I entered the insane ward on the Island, I made no attempt to keep up the assumed role of insanity. I talked and acted just as I do in ordinary life. Yet strange to say, the more sanely I talked and acted the crazier I was thought to be by all except one physician, whose kindness and gentle ways I shall not soon forget.

    CHAPTER II. PREPARING FOR THE ORDEAL

    BUT TO RETURN TO MY work and my mission. After receiving my instructions I returned to my boarding-house, and when evening came I began to practice the role in which I was to make my debut on the morrow. What a difficult task, I thought, to appear before a crowd of people and convince them that I was insane. I had never been near insane persons before in my life, and had not the faintest idea of what their actions were like. And then to be examined by a number of learned physicians who make insanity a specialty, and who daily come in contact with insane people! How could I hope to pass these doctors and convince them that I was crazy? I feared that they could not be deceived. I began to think my task a hopeless one; but it had to be done. So I flew to the mirror and examined my face. I remembered all I had read of the doings of crazy people, how first of all they have staring eyes, and so I opened mine as wide as possible and stared unblinkingly at my own reflection. I assure you the sight was not reassuring, even to myself, especially in the dead of night. I tried to turn the gas up higher in hopes that it would raise my courage. I succeeded only partially, but I consoled myself with the thought that in a few nights more I would not be there, but locked up in a cell with a lot of lunatics.

    The weather was not cold; but, nevertheless, when I thought of what was to come, wintery chills ran races up and down my back in very mockery of the perspiration which was slowly but surely taking the curl out of my bangs. Between times, practicing before the mirror and picturing my future as a lunatic, I read snatches of improbable and impossible ghost stories, so that when the dawn came to chase away the night, I felt that I was in a fit mood for my mission, yet hungry enough to feel keenly that I wanted my breakfast. Slowly and sadly I took my morning bath and quietly bade farewell to a few of the most precious articles known to modern civilization. Tenderly I put my tooth-brush aside, and, when taking a final rub of the soap, I murmured, It may be for days, and it may be—for longer. Then I donned the old clothing I had selected for the occasion. I was in the mood to look at everything through very serious glasses. It’s just as well to take a last fond look, I mused, for who could tell but that the strain of playing crazy, and being shut up with a crowd of mad people, might turn my own brain, and I would never get back. But not once did I think of shirking my mission. Calmly, outwardly at least, I went out to my crazy business.

    I first thought it best to go to a boarding-house, and, after securing lodging, confidentially tell the landlady, or lord, whichever it might chance to be, that I was seeking work, and, in a few days after, apparently go insane. When I reconsidered the idea, I feared it would take too long to mature. Suddenly I thought how much easier it would be to go to a boarding-home for working women. I knew, if once I made a houseful of women believe me crazy, that they would never rest until I was out of their reach and in secure quarters.

    From a directory I selected the Temporary Home for Females, No. 84 Second Avenue. As I walked down the avenue, I determined that, once inside the Home, I should do the best I could to get started on my journey to Blackwell’s Island and the Insane Asylum.

    CHAPTER III. IN THE TEMPORARY HOME

    I WAS LEFT TO BEGIN my career as Nellie Brown, the insane girl. As I walked down the avenue I tried to assume the look which maidens wear

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