What is our fascination with old, rundown insane asylums? Or better yet, why are we so fascinated by the idea of lunacy?
This fascination is nothing new. In fact, people used to go and visit the asylums when there were people in them. For instance, The Carbon Advocate (July 20, 1874) made a public announcement about a ball being held at an asylum:
“THE INSANE — For many years it has been the custom to have balls and other entertainments for the insane at our Almshouse. The patients seem to enjoy these little attentions, and several of them have been materially benefited by them. Every week during the season at least one ball takes place, and so attractive have they become that crowds of visitors attend. The chief physician is Dr. D.D. Richardson, to whose kind treatment and scientific acquirements the present improved condition of the department is entirely due. On Friday the last ball took place, and there will be no more until the cold weather in the autumn.”
Are we confronting our fears when we visit the old asylums? Are we daring ourselves to face off with the possibility of feeling a bit insane ourselves? Why do we continue to search out the latest bits of history from local and haunted asylums?
1. Bad Things Happened
When getting a tour of an asylum, we learn about the horrible experiments conducted within the walls. We learn about decaying bodies being found, patients found murdered, and the torture devices used on patients. We shiver and are thankful we weren’t alive during those times.
2. They Make Us Question Our Own Sanity
There is always the possibility that you aren’t all right in the head, either. Stupid shit could get you locked up in the asylum back in the day. Today is not much better, and people are often placed under observation because of their behavior. When visiting an asylum, it is like a mental challenge to yourself. Could you have been placed in this facility? Are you totally sane?
In The New York Herald (July 04, 1844), there was an announcement of a speech to be given at a local asylum. The public was invited to go and see, plus watch the lunatics within:
“AT THE INSANE HOSPITAL.—We have heard that a singular genius by the name of John Dever proposes to deliver a Fourth of July Oration to the lunatics on Blackwell’s Island to-day. We know not whether it be a hoax or not. Go and see.”
3. Ghosts
Whether or not you believe in ghosts, run down asylums are certainly the perfect atmosphere for them. For those who are sensitive to their environment, a tour through an asylum will leave you in chills and feeling unnerved. Remove the silly ghost hunting shows from your mind and ask yourself if you think you could really spend the night inside an old asylum. While I remain on the fence about ghosts, I know that every bump in the night would scare the dickens out of me. I wouldn’t make it through the night in an old asylum.
4. Mistreatment of Patients
When a patient was placed in the clutches of the lunatic asylum, all his rights were surrendered. Anything could be done to him, with or without his consent. Doctors performed cruel and deadly experiments on the patients. Patients were raped, beaten, and starved. Some were placed in cages and kept in the dark for years. Some were strapped into place, their skin growing up and over the restraints. Boredom was a real enemy. If a person was sane before going in, he was insane by the time the asylum was through with him.
5. Fear of No Control
That brings us to the next great fear that affects many of us: the loss of control. As “free” individuals, we decide when to eat, go to the bathroom. what to wear, and we can make numerous other decisions throughout the day. When admitted to the asylum, we lose all of those choices and little freedoms. We must ask permission to do anything, including go to the bathroom. When bathing, we are humiliated and forced to conform to the hospital’s schedule — and that is IF the asylum has bathing facilities. We can no longer choose our meals, who we talk to, or what we do in our free time. Upon entering an asylum, you are no longer your own person and all freedoms are lost.
6. Our Fear of Being Forgotten
One of the saddest results of being admitted to one of the old asylums was that family quickly forgets about you. Many times, it was the family that put the person in the asylum: shunned and forgotten. Husbands who were sick of their wives would have them committed and their marriage annulled. The women would go inside the walls sane, but after the torture and the medical “treatment”, would soon become insane. No one would visit, fearing their own sanity, and the committed would pass away into obscurity. Nobody wants that for themselves and yet it was the life story of thousands upon thousands of people.
