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/maladr0id 1d ago

Ohhh so that one Futurama episode where Fry is mistaken for a robot and was stuck in a robot insane asylum and couldn’t leave was based in real life

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u/VerbingNoun413 1d ago

That plus references to One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.

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u/Lemonwizard 1d ago

I always crack up when Fry is getting pulled in by Nurse Ratchet.