Our idea of adventure today might be a road trip to a new destination, or simply getting on a terrifying roller coaster. However, what we envision never seems to include what we watch in movies, like going undercover and spying on an enemy, or traveling around the world in the least amount of days as possible. For journalist Elizabeth Cochrane Seaman, also known by her pen name Nellie Bly, these almost impossible events became realities as her career offered her these kinds of opportunities.1 Even though these assignments seem thrilling, Bly not only completed them of her own free will, but did so to help others by informing the public of various unacceptable behaviors that people were treating others to behind closed doors. There was no doubt in her mind that she would pass up an opportunity to use her gift as an exceptional reporter to liberate those being mistreated who had no voice to be heard. In one of Bly’s early assignments, she willingly allowed herself to be treated as one deemed to have a mental illness. In the 1880’s, she personally experienced the horrors that mentally ill patients went through. in order to have personal insight on the matter.
Bly was still new to journalism and in 1887 editors rarely hired women, so when Joseph Pulitzer’s New York World, a leading newspaper company at the time, offered her the opportunity to investigate an insane asylum, she did not hesitate to accept.2 Bly had so much confidence in herself that she had little doubt that she would be able to pull off the act of being insane. The asylum was located in New York on Blackwell’s Island, where it was known to be easy to get in, but nearly impossible to get out. She had read previous documents about the mistreatment of the mentally unstable and assumed they were all over dramatized; however, she knew little of what she would soon come to experience firsthand.3
Bly started this journey with seventy cents and a single promise from her editor that he would get her released after she spent ten days in the asylum on Blackwell’s Island, even if that meant exposing her identity.4 Bly first began by checking herself into a boarding house for women, and with some acting under her cover name Nellie Brown, she staged an encounter with the police. This soon led four doctors to claim she was insane, and soon after, Bly found herself riding in an ambulance on her way to Blackwell Island.
Once settled into the daily routine that doctors had for the patients at the asylum, Bly began to notice what was occurring within the facility. What happened behind the walls of this mental institution consisted of common mistreatment, such as having few heaters so everyone was freezing, forcing patients to shower in ice cold baths, and feeding them very small portions of food with repulsive tastes.5 The treatment became worse as the attendants were abusive and this misconduct was slowly integrated into part of the day-to-day procedure at the asylum, which Bly had to cooperate with.6 However, she was not alone, as she met other women in the institute that did not have any mental illnesses either, but had been checked in because of miscommunication and other various reasons.
The women Bly encountered each had their own story and explanation for how they ended up in this horrifying mental hospital. One woman specifically had no need to be there, but since she mostly spoke French, she was unable to tell the doctors her story, and because she was crying in fear of never being released, the attendants choked her. Bly recorded many cases such as this one, when women would be hurt and nobody would speak up and change it. The injures towards one of the women resulted in a black eye, and when the doctors asked about it, the nurses claimed she entered the facility with it. Many others shared with Bly the details of the abuse they encountered, including Mrs. Cotter:
Then they tied my hands and feet, and, throwing a sheet over my head, twisted it tightly around my throat, so I could not scream, and thus put me in a bathtub filled with cold water. They held me under until I gave up every hope and became senseless. At other times they took hold of my ears and beat my head on the floor and against the wall. Then they pulled out my hair by the roots, so that it will never grow in again.7
As promised, Bly’s editor got her out of the asylum ten days later, and soon after, Bly was able to share the outrage she discovered on her assignment with the world.8 Bly became that needed voice the patients in Blackwell’s Island Asylum were lacking, leading to a contribution of one million dollars per year towards caring for those with mental illnesses in New York City. This dreadful news had shocked the public and had given Bly the publicity she needed to boost her career. Yet she did not stop there. Bly continued with her passion of reporting and went undercover in places such as women’s prisons, and later traveled to the front lines during War World I.9 During Bly’s profession as a journalist she changed the views that individuals had towards the poor and helpless and how they should be treated in the hopes of having a future in which all people would be given the respect and dignity they deserve.
- Richard Ernsberger Jr., “Nellie Bly: Fearless Reporter,” American History 50, no. 2 (June 2015): 77. ↵
- MasterFILE Premier, August 2017, s.v. “Nellie Bly,” by Keira Stevenson. ↵
- Nellie Bly, Ten Days in a Mad-House (New York: Ian L. Munro, 1887), 1. ↵
- Nellie Bly, Ten Days in a Mad-House (New York: Ian L. Munro, 1887), 3. ↵
- Nellie Bly, Ten Days in a Mad-House (New York: Ian L. Munro, 1887), 13. ↵
- MasterFILE Premier, August 2017, s.v. “Nellie Bly,” by Keira Stevenson. ↵
- Nellie Bly, Ten Days in a Mad-House (New York: Ian L. Munro, 1887), 14. ↵
- Jean Marie Lutes, “Into the Madhouse with Nellie Bly: Girl Stunt Reporting in Late Nineteenth-Century America,” American Quarterly 54, no. 2 (2002): 218. ↵
- Richard Ernsberger Jr., “Nellie Bly: Fearless Reporter,” American History 50, no. 2 (June 2015): 77. ↵
77 comments
Caroline Bush
Interesting article! I didn’t know much about Nellie Bly before reading this article but after reading this I have a newfound appreciation for her work. Its inspiring to see how much dedication and work Bly put into her uncovering of the truth. I would have been terrified to go undercover in a mental asylum and at the mercy of the hospital staff but Bly had an insane amount of courage. Overall this was a very interesting article that I really enjoyed reading about.
Miranda Alamilla
Even at a young age, I have always had a certain interest in asylums. Reading this article made me kind of change my view on them though. My interest in asylums grew from horror stories and horror pictures, but this article points out how this certain asylum on Blackwell’s Island (which I’m sure isn’t the only one) mistreated their patients and kept them in cruel and harsh environments. This article was very well put together and I really enjoyed it, great job!
Destiny Flores
Participation observation, some would say, is a science. And to do it in such a scenario, like an asylum, is complete devotion. I have much respect for Nellie Bly, because I don’t think I would be able to pull off not only getting myself into the asylum, but handle the treatment once I was in there. Her work went on to gain a lot of attention and hopefully make asylum life much better. Great article.
Carlos Sandoval
I found this article to be very interesting and well written. There is no way that I could ever go into a insane asylum. I did not know that the patients would get mistreated. None of these people have are able to speak up against it because no one is willing to listen to them because they are labeled as “crazy”. I do not know how she had the power to endure all of that mistreatment and not do anything back to them.
Timothy ODekirk
This article was extremely interesting to me. This reminded me of something straight from “American Horror Story” or something like that. This story intrigued me such to an extent, that I might think of writing about something like this in the future. I have to give it to Nellie Bly for her outrageous boldness and courage to willingly enter that insane asylum. I would not have done that. In general, I find insane asylums quite disturbing; in fact, they really creep me out. However, that dose not stop it from intriguing me as much as it does. This was a fantastic article and I recommend a lot more people to read this about Nellie Bly’s courageousness and of insane asylums.
Timothy O'Dekirk
This article was extremely interesting to me. This reminded me of something straight from “American Horror Story” or something like that. This story intrigued me such to an extent, that I might think of writing about something like this in the future. I have to give it to Nellie Bly for her outrageous boldness and courage to willingly enter that insane asylum. I would not have done that. In general, I find insane asylums quite disturbing; in fact, they really creep me out. However, that dose not stop it from intriguing me as much as it does. This was a fantastic article and I recommend a lot more people to read this about Nellie Bly’s courageousness and of insane asylums.
Hanadi Sonouper
This was a very interesting article, especially from a journalist perspective, because they are able to showcase what it is really like in these horrific places that they are placed in. I give Nellie Bly an immense amount of courage because she demonstrates will power to undergo the life of documenting her experience at an insane asylum. I give her a lot of credit for having a brave career to uncover and document all, during this particular time period not many individuals were allowed to speak of the harm that was that was being done. The terrible treatment and abuse that the patients received was cruel and unfair punishment, instead of being taken care of for their illnesses they were mistreated.
Edgar Ramon
This is a very interesting article, it’s horrible what happened in insane asylums back in the days. I can’t believe anyone out of their own free will would accept to be thrown in there for even a couple days, but Ms. Bly isn’t every one else. I can only imagine the people who were wrongfully checked into the asylum, who seemed crazy trying to explain their ways out of it. Also every time I hear, see, or read anything having to do with asylums, I immediately think “Batman” or the “Joker”.
Anais Del Rio
It’s courageous how someone can go into an insane asylum of their free will for the sake of the mistreated. I think because of her report, insane asylums later reformed because the people were now aware how terribly mistreated to the point of abuse and some patients were not even insane. Just because the people there were unbalanced it did not make them less than a human and less deserving of safe treatment.
Auroara-Juhl Nikkels
To know that what you’re about to walk into is a place of unbelievable conditions and abuse, and to do it so quickly and with no hesitation, is truly amazing. Bly was brave. She is a hero to those who were being abused in mental asylums. It is crazy to think that there were women who were not even mentally ill in there, being abused and basically tortured. I’m not sure how anyone thought this would cure people, if that is what people even thought they were trying to do. It seems to me that people who worked there were mentally ill themselves.