March Madness: Bedlam Asylum, Pt.2
Last time on YouTube Digger, we began to look at history’s most notorious insane asylum, Bethlehem Royal Hospital in London (now in Kent), better known as “Bedlam”. It’s unknown how the nickname came about — since the modern word Bedlam is from the asylum’s nickname and did not exist before the asylum. Perhaps that was the best way some of the locals or unlucky inmates could pronounce it.
Conditions inside Bedlam were hopeless and despairing, very similar to a castle dungeon. The only medication you got was a thump on the back of the head and possibly a bucket of cold water. Although the original Bedlam was shut down before photographs, written letters from visitors still survive. They point out that if you weren’t mad by the time you enterred Bedlam, you definately were after a couple of days.
So, what was Bedlam like? Well, when we can;t find out from documentaries or history, we turn to the movies. Perhaps the most accurate is this scene from 1992’s Dracula, which was a very bizarre movie, but had a brilliant performance from singer Tom Waits. The guards wearing the cages had to wear those devices to protect their heads from inmate’s attacks.
Another place to mine information from is folk music. A traditional English ditty is called “Mad Tom o’ Bedlam”. There were so many poverty-stricken mentally ill in England that they all were eventually given the nickname “Tom o’ Bedlam” (no matter what the sex of the person). I know I heard that hurled at me when I was homeless in England. This is a live clip of Jolie Holland performing:
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