So I finished reading "Ten Days in the Mad-House" which is Nellie Bly's account of her time at a women's insane asylum at Blackwell's Island in New York. It was written in the late 1800's so I was a little worried that it would be a hard read but it turns out Nellie Bly has a very modern voice.
I always thought that Nellie Bly had herself committed but she actually went as a request from her editor to find out the conditions in the institution. Her main concern, as was mine, and my friend Carol's, was how she'd get out after the 10 days. How do you explain to someone that you're not crazy? Especially when you're dressed in someone else's pajamas and sitting next to some chick who thinks they're Marie Antoinette? "Oh, I agree, she's completely nuts. But I'm not. Trust me." Well, the editor, and the newspaper's lawyer, assure her that they'll get her out and she agrees to go which makes me question her sanity and now we're in a bit of a Catch-22 but anyway.
So here's what it took to get oneself committed in the late 1800's. For the first 24 hours, all she did was wander into a boarding house claiming not to remember anything and that she lost her suitcases. Well, there's me committed. After 2 or 3 times of walking into a room and wondering why I came in or a 5 minute walking tour of a parking lot looking for my car, and Bob's your uncle, I'm clearly crazy. After that, she never lied about anything. Oh, I take that back, when asked if she was from Cuba, she said, "uuuuh, sure." So 24 hours into her investigative journalism assignment and she's in front of a judge and sent to Bellevue Hospital for evaluation. Now, based on my extensive viewing of Law & Order, I know two things, 1, there's no way in hell you'd get in front of a judge within 24 hours in this day and age and 2, Bellevue is where they send the crazy people.
So far she's batting 1000. The ladies at the boarding house think she's crazy, the cops think she's crazy and a judge thinks she crazy. She ends up at Bellevue where there are 5 other ladies being evaluated. One is recuperating from an illness, not crazy (been there), another isn't talking (been there too), a couple don't have a male guardian (so far so good) and the last doesn't speak English. 3 out of 4, and I'm still on my way to the Nut House.
Now the last one interests me, because I couldn't decide if it would be better to speak English and know what was going on or not speak English and have no clue. Sure it would be terrifying to not know what the hell was going on but you would still have some hope that everything would be straightened out eventually. If you spoke English, you'd know exactly how fucked you were. Po-ta-to, Po-tah-to, I really couldn't decide.....
So where are we....48 hours in and now a couple doctors and several nurses are all convinced she's insane. Keep in mind she's speaking and behaving rationally and not lying about anything. The evaluation of her mental status consisted of a handful of questions, a check of her pulse and eye dilation, and some bozo measured her head. I think it took three days for her to end up on Blackwell Island. Maybe four. Either way it was Not. Enough. Days.
By now, her biggest problem was that she'd barely slept. She forced herself to stay awake at the boarding house so that she would appear more convincing. After that, it was similar to today in that you're trying to sleep in the hospital but the damn nurses keep coming in a waking you up. Add in the actually crazy people making crazy noises and anyone would be climbing the walls. "WOULD SOMEONE SHUT HER UP! NO, I'M NOT CRAZY BUT SHE'S BEEN SINGING BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY FOR THREE HOURS. AND I CA..STOP IT...IT'S NOT ME..I'M NOT CRA...AAAAAHHHHHHH" And they throw away the key. Of course Nellie is still concerned that someone will 'discover' that she's not really nuts, bless her heart.
Needless to say the conditions were horrific, the staff was horrific and the 1800s in general were horrific. I did see a light at the end of the tunnel when one lady was released because her husband showed up to take her out. He didn't have paperwork or anything. "Oh, you want her? Fine, take her. We've got plenty more where she came from." How long before someone showed up to get me because they couldn't find the car keys? 2 hours? 3 hours? And I'd probably be pissed off and refuse to leave, "Why can't you just leave the keys in the dish? I don't know why this is so difficult? You walk right past it!" "What do you mean you don't know where the vacuum cleaner is? We've lived in that house for 4 years! Do you really want to stand there and tell me that you never vacuumed? IN FOUR YEARS?" "Have you fed the dogs even once?" "Forget it, I'm staying. I don't care how many people have worn these pajamas...jesus chri....." and I storm off, muttering and waving my arms.
Like a crazy person.
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