The journalist who sneaks into a psychiatric hospital and finds a terrible discovery: “How are they going to get me out?”

Many people say they witnessed supernatural events. However, some of the stories look like fairy tales, almost straight out of a horror movie and are only possible in a cinematic context. Also enjoy o . programs Videos in which a man or woman obliviously enters an abandoned house with a video camera And a flashlight that searches for ghosts or other things that are impressive to the human eye. Nellie Bly, an American journalist, is part of this group.

The woman immortalized her experience after being in a mental hospital for ten daysA period in which he witnessed very horrific and sinister events. The drama began when famous journalist Joseph Pulitzer asked: “How are they going to get me out when I’m there?” The editor responded with a clear, concise and concise word: “I don’t know, but we’ll get you out.” This answer was Bley’s introduction to the world he entered that year, 1887, when he was 23 years old.

As an immigrant with economic and psychological problems, the young woman infiltrated Blackwell Island Psychiatric Hospital for Women, in New York, United States. Already inside the place, he began to write what would be his future book, Ten days in a mental hospital. In this he narrated in detail the treatment they gave to the patients of that mysterious place.

He recounted in the introduction: “When the carriage was carried through the beautiful countryside to the refuge, I felt the satisfaction of having achieved my goal. She was a little overwhelmed with an expression of despair in the faces of my comrades.

At the time, she was unaware of the suffering of other women, who could not contain their suffering from having to be admitted to a psychiatric hospital. Later he realized the site he had entered. The first thing he saw at his entrance was the deteriorating physical and mental condition of the patients, who were victims of all kinds of abuses.

“What a crazy, mysterious thing. I have seen patients whose lips were forever sealed in silence. They live, breathe and eat. Human life exists, but there is something that the human body does not need, but cannot exist without, and has disappeared,” he said. In addition to a brief description of the place, Bly also raised his impressions of it, Since he witnessed horrific events regarding the treatment the patients receive.

Later, she told an anecdote in which a roommate was shivering from the cold, while the nurses slept with sheets, that she had a seizure that made her lose consciousness. In view of the situation and the journalist’s allegations, one of the attendees said: “Let it fall to the ground and it will learn its lesson.”

This remained forever in the mind of Bly, who, in the midst of his work, could not believe the mistreatment of the patients. Many boarding schools did not have economic stability, so they did not have a roof over their heads, they were begging in the cold streets of New York in the 19th century. After 10 days of confinement in the sanatorium, He came out with a notebook full of records of his experiences revealed by his literary works. However, the court summoned her to explain how she managed to trick the police into entering that horrific place.

The publisher also wrote several books and articles on the working conditions of American women at the time. For example it was a newspaper article New York worldwho, publicly and aware of the racial situation in his country, titled “Nelly Bly tells us what it means to be a white slave”.

In that article, She denounced the working conditions of women who work at the Lower East Side factory in the Big Applewhere he also did field work as in the asylum.

His level of relationship with the New York media made him receive a lot of criticism from his male colleagues in various media in the country. The clearest example of this is the journalist Erasmus Wilson, who did not approve of women practicing the same profession. In her words, she found it “brutal for a woman to work outside the home.”

However, Bly’s denunciations paid off. Thanks to her reports, books and articles in the media, there has been significant progress in terms of living, working and health conditions of women in the country. In addition, their demands gained strength from the growing intent to legitimize the legal vote of American women.