Athens Lunatic Hospital in Athens, Ohio: Lynn Mariello
When was this “asylum” opened and what did it look like? Did if follow Kirkbride’s design?
The asylum opened in 1874 which set originally on 141 acres of land and the building followed the Kirkbride’s design housing 500 patients. The building looked of a beautiful Victorian style which consisted of 853 feet long, about 60 feet wide which was built from bricks. Inside the building itself, it housed four floors allowing for high ceilings and a magnificent tiled entryway. One wing was the male wing and the other wing was dedicated to women. Over time the number of patients grew increasing the need for more buildings and more land. It is said that is housed 78 buildings on now over a thousand acres of land. These buildings included Kirkbride’s design of moral treatment allowing the patients to garden, farm, a dairy, an orchard, a Tubercular Ward, a ballroom, three cemeteries, and a plant to generate steam heat, etc. It all sat on a landscape with hills, trees, lakes, spring, and even a waterfall. The name of the Athens Lunatic Hospital changed numerous times throughout the years and was donated in 1990 to Ohio University and is now called the Ridges which now houses a museum.
https://www.legendsofamerica.com/oh-athensasylum/ https://www.legendsofamerica.com/oh-athensasylum/
What was this institution's original intend?
The original intent was to service Civil war veterans, children, homeless, criminals like Billy Milligan. All these individuals who suffered from some sort of mental illness to even physical illness. Their intention was to follow all the other successful asylum hospital and stay on the up and up. Athens was known for their lobotomy often times doing as many as twenty a day. They also used electroshock therapy, restraints, hydrotherapy, and even drugs. Their vision was moral treatment were being outdoors in the sun and fresh air may help, farming, gardening, and even cooking were all parts the patients would play to benefit them in their treatment.
https://www.legendsofamerica.com/oh-athensasylum/
Who were the patients there? Do narratives of their experiences exist?
The age range of patients fluctuated however there were two patients who stood out. Billy Milligan and Margaret Schilling.
Upon doing some research I was unable to find out how long Margaret had been at Athens but there are a couple different stories of what happened to her. One of the stories says she was playing hide and seek and other patients and the nurses and she made her way into a locked room which was barely used. It is said the nurses became preoccupied and forgot to look for the remaining ones who were seeking. The nurses the next day realized she was missing and looked for her for numerous days. Some say she was trying to escape Athens and some say she was able to roam free on the grounds even though she was mute and deaf but never came back. 42 days later and she was finally found by a maintenance man. She had died and her body laid on the floor with her clothes folded neatly beside her. When they removed her body, an image of her body and the strains of her hair stained the concrete floor and is still visible today.
Billy Milligan was placed at the Athens because he was declared insane by a judge after he had robbed, I believe kill and raped three women. All different occasions. It is said the Billy was arrested due to a fingerprint he left behind. Billy started to show different personalities such as voice changes, mannerism change, and other thoughts that he had what is now called a multiple-personality disorder. He was the first American to be able to use this as his defense for his crimes. It was discovered over time that he had 24 different personalities which were male, female, each had a skill and need which was being divided all by another personality. He went through numerous hospitals including Athens a couple times and was finally released on his own. By the year 2000, he had vanished from society after his books and movies, and not even his family had seen him in years. He died of cancer at the age of 59 in 2014.
What was the patients’ experience like in that institution and did that change over the course of the institution’s history?
The experience in the institution was that of the moral treatment where each staff was trained and managed well. Over time, their numbers increased which also increased the buildings to allow more patients. The patients then were starting to become malnourished, treated poorly and even abuse occurred. The hospital was not changing with the times and they started to lose their patients and had to close their doors in 1993.
Did the institution, its serves, and patients change over time?
Due to the high volume of patients that were overusing the hospital, the service did change over time. It became so overcrowded that it would leave 50 patients to one nurse who would skip some of her patients or restrain them in order to keep up. Even though with research around The Athens, it was not stated how horrific the patients were treated and how even how they may have died.
How many people lived, worked, and died there?
In the beginning, Athens housed a little over 500 patients which would increase over the years to 2,000 patients and again decreasing to 300 patients. Upon research, it is not indicated how many worked for Athens. Yet, 1930 patients are buried upon their three cemeteries. 700 are said to be women and 959 are said to be men, all marked by numbers on the headstones.
https://m.martianherald.com/most-haunting-abandoned-mental-asylums-america/page/3
Where bad conditions ever exposed to the public? How?
Since the overcrowding of the hospital, there surely may have been some bad conditions. Some seemed to have been closed down or locked to keep wandering eyes away. As the years went on and numbers grew, patients started to die and were malnourished. It is not stated how the conditions were in the facility however I can only imagine they were not that great. This could be why they started to lose patients as the buildings were slowly dying and no longer effective. It closed down because the numbers were low, and they no longer had the staff to occupy the need.
Would you have wanted “treatment” in this institution?
I believe at first I would have wanted to stay in this place where they worked with you and encouraged the moral treatment. Being able to do work you are good at and treatment that could be beneficial however I am still not keen on the whole lobotomy thing, water therapy, or even the electroshock therapy. It may have been someone effective back then, but I am still not totally sold on it today.
Resources:
Alvarez, R., Moyer, S., Scanlan, L., & Gillis, A. (2018). The Athens Asylum Was at the Forefront of Treatment in the 19th Century. Retrieved July 2020, from https://www.neh.gov/humanities/2018/summer/statement/the-athens-asylum-was-the-forefront-treatment-in-the-19th-century
Jeb Phillips, T. (2007, October 28). Multiple-personality case of Billy Milligan still fascinates. Retrieved July 2020, from https://www.dispatch.com/article/20071028/NEWS/310289729
Middleton, P. (2019, January 08). The Stained Floor Left By The Body Of Margaret Schilling. Retrieved July 2020, from https://anomalien.com/the-stained-floor-left-by-the-body-of-margaret-schilling/
The Permanent Stain of the Ridges Asylum. (n.d.). Retrieved July 2020, from http://www.weirdus.com/states/ohio/abandoned/ridges_asylum/
Says:, I., Says:, T., & Says:, M. (2020). Haunted Athens Asylum for the Insane, Ohio. Retrieved July 2020, from https://www.legendsofamerica.com/oh-athensasylum/
Lynn, great job with you post. I liked how you were able to find information about two patients. I was unable to find any narratives on the asylum I chose. Do you know if they were able to find out where Billy was or what he was doing prior to his death? I find it interesting he was in and out of Athens and had done a horrific crime yet he was released and his whereabouts were unknown.
ReplyDeleteLauren, I believe he did get into a little trouble with the law including robberies but nothing too serious as they released him. He laid low and out of society, not even talking with his family who were also concerned. Not sure about his whereabouts as I was unable to find anything about it. I was curious too.
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