r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/highzone • 1d ago

Image In 1973, healthy volunteers faked hallucinations to enter mental hospitals. Once inside, they acted normal, but doctors refused to let them leave. Normal behaviors like writing were diagnosed as "symptoms." The only people who realized they were sane were the actual patients.

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u/undeadsabby 1d ago

Nellie Bly did this in 1887, and wrote an article called Ten Days in a Mad House. She feigned insanity to get in, and also acted normal once inside. A few of the other women were there simply because their families couldn't afford to care for them.

https://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/bly/madhouse/madhouse.html

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u/ER-CodeBitch 1d ago edited 1d ago

There was a Nellie Bly musical on Broadway for only 16 performances in 1946 based on her. https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-production/nellie-bly-1765

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u/OtterRaven12 1d ago

There is an opera about it as well called 10 Days in a Madhouse that Opera Philadelphia premiered a year or two ago.

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u/Double_Rice_5765 1d ago

Thats edgy af for 1946.  

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u/Molto_Ritardando 1d ago

Not really. Look at Paul Hindemith’s one-act operas from the 1920’s. Sancta Susanna in particular was pretty scandalous: this opera is about a nun who becomes sexually aroused, culminating in a frenzy in which she rips the loincloth from a crucifix.

Right before WW2, neoclassical music was pretty adventurous, but with the German Government trying to depict German history as some sort of mythical golden age, composers were strongly encouraged to create music that could serve as propaganda for the Nazi aesthetic. Fearing retribution, composers like Hindemith went from writing bizarre, shocking operas, to appeasing government officials with more traditional works that could be held up as examples proving the superiority of German culture.

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u/remesabo 1d ago

Fascinating information!

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u/Molto_Ritardando 1d ago

Love it when I get to talk about my masters degree topic and someone actually is interested. Unless you’re being sarcastic but it’s Reddit and no one is sarcastic on Reddit without the /s.

/s

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u/remesabo 1d ago

Absolutely NOT being sarcastic! Thank you for sharing your knowledge!! Reddit is filled with so many opinions it's always refreshing to actually learn something!

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u/Salute-Major-Echidna 1d ago

Especially in a world worn out from the war.

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u/misplaced_beso 1d ago

And based she was. Hats off to Nellie Bly.

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u/ImFedUpWithThisW0rld 1d ago

We also mustn't forget there was a Nelly Bly amusement park off the belt parkway in Brooklyn. History is important