After Dark: Myths, Misdeeds & the Paranormal

Episode: Inside the Victorian Asylum

Date: January 5, 2026

Hosts: Anthony Delaney & Maddie Pelling

Overview

In this insightful episode, Anthony and Maddie delve into the shadowy history of the Victorian asylum, dissecting the reality behind its mythical status as a symbol of both progress and repression in 19th-century society. They explore how asylums emerged, their legislative and societal context, their representation in media and literature, the lived experiences inside them, and the legacies and reforms that continue to shape our attitudes toward mental health institutions today.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Origins of the Victorian Asylum

• Context: Maddie details the evolution from unregulated 18th-century asylums to the more systematized Victorian model.
• Key Developments:
  • 1796: William Tuke founds The Retreat near York, introducing “moral treatment” and “non-restraint” practices ([03:04]).
  • 1808: County Asylums Act allows – but does not require – counties to build facilities for the poor with mental illness (“pauper lunatics”) ([05:18]).
  • 1845: Lunacy and County Asylums Act makes it compulsory for every county and borough to have an asylum ([05:53]).
• Notable Quote:

  “The difference...between 18th and 19th-century asylums is in the 18th century, it's kind of the Wild West...no inspectors, no regulation, no way of keeping tabs on how people are being treated. So inevitably, you get some absolutely terrible situations.”
  — Maddie, [03:04]

2. Cultural Imagination & Literary Tropes

• The Asylum as a Cultural Symbol:
  Victorian asylums were feared and sensationalized, showing up as settings of horror and repression in popular novels.
• Examples in Literature:
  • “Jane Eyre” (1847): Bertha Mason, the “madwoman in the attic.”
  • “The Woman in White” (1859): Anne Catherick, the wrongly accused escapee.
• Societal Fears:
  The threat of being institutionalized, especially for women (the “hysterical woman” trope), was deeply ingrained in the Victorian psyche ([07:17]–[08:56]).
• Notable Quote:

  “Everyone has a sense of how horrendous the asylum can be and how dangerous it can be, and that it’s a threat hanging over a lot of people—mostly, it’s important to say, in the 19th century, women.”
  — Maddie, [07:26]

3. Exposés and Real Life Inside

• Investigative Journalism:
  Maddie spotlights Nellie Bly, the American journalist who voluntarily committed herself to an asylum to expose its horrors ([10:18]):
  • Violence, rotten food, freezing baths, rats.
  • Bly’s reporting led to investigations and public outrage.
• Notable Quote:

  “She talks about the absolute release of tension when she can come out of the asylum...and her horror and her sorrow in not being able to take...the unfortunate women who lived and suffered with me in there.”
  — Maddie, [11:01]

4. Admission, Escape, and Existence

• How People Were Admitted:

  • From 1853, a medical certificate and a local official’s order required, but susceptible to abuse and corruption ([12:39]).
  • Asylum care was expensive, so poorer families often relied on workhouses—a grimmer alternative.

• Daily Life in the Asylum ([21:07]–[29:09]):

  • 6am Bell: Patients woke up, washed, and were inspected.
  • Compulsory prayer service and simple meals.
  • Therapeutic employment:
    • Men: farm work, carpentry, tailoring.
    • Women: cleaning, cooking, laundry, knitting.
  • Recreation: Games (chess, cards), musical entertainment, and access to gardens ("airing courts").
  • Locked in at night; little privacy or autonomy.

• Visual Transformation:
  Later Victorian images depict order and calm, in contrast to earlier chaos (the stark “before and after” of Bedlam) ([18:29]–[20:45]).

• Notable Exchange:

  Anthony: “Is that realistic though? Like, take me through a typical day in this asylum. Is this what we're seeing?”
  Maddie: “Inevitably, this isn't going to be as close to reality as we would like, but it gives a sense...of the kind of structure and formality and calm that the 19th-century asylum tried to put in place.”
  — [21:01]–[21:07]

5. Gender, Class, and Power

• Disproportionate Impact on Women:
  Gendered diagnosis (“hysteria”) meant women were more readily institutionalized; men with mental illness were “feminized” in discourse ([32:58]).
• Class Divide:
  The wealthy could pay for private care and had legal recourse; the poor faced the harsher workhouse or public asylum systems ([13:18], [14:41]).

6. Reform Movements and Legal Change

• Campaigners:
  • John Percival, son of the assassinated UK Prime Minister, was confined but escaped and became a reformer. He co-founded the Alleged Lunatics’ Friend Society, championing legal aid, external inspection, and stricter admission requirements ([31:09]–[32:26]).
• Late Victorian Legislative Reforms:
  • 1890 Lunacy Act: Further tightened oversight of psychiatric admissions and restricted proliferation of private asylums ([37:40]).
• Persistent Stigma:
  Despite reforms, public fear and negative PR endured:

  “There are reforms that come into place at the end of the 19th century that try to change this idea a bit...but whoever’s in charge of what were asylums’ PR need to be fired because that hasn’t broken through. Still negative PR.”
  — Anthony, [40:54]

7. Legacy and Lingering Fears

• Continuity of Cultural Anxieties:
  Popular sayings (“Don’t act daft or we’ll send you to Cheddleton!”) highlight the ongoing fear and threat of institutionalization, even into the 20th century ([34:28]).
• Modern Parallels:
  Fear of being “put in a home” persists today, reflecting enduring suspicion and concern about institutional care ([36:51]).
• Institutions and Trust:
  The hosts reflect on their own lack of trust toward institutions—especially those entwined with religion ([39:48]), and how this skepticism colors public memory.

Memorable Quotes & Moments

• “The difference...between 18th and 19th-century asylums is in the 18th century, it's kind of the Wild West...no inspectors, no regulation...”
  — Maddie, [03:04]

• "She [Nellie Bly] is so intrigued by the idea of the asylum and particularly the treatment of women that she fakes insanity...She writes a really famous article called Behind Asylum Bars, and it's kind of a wake-up call."
  — Maddie, [10:18]

• "If you look good, you're fine inside. Like if you look good, you're fine."
  — Maddie, [21:07]

• "Asylums and workhouses start to coalesce in the imagination...but there is a distinction, and there's an increasing distinction."
  — Anthony, [14:24]

• "People throughout human history get mental illness and they need help and they need treatment...these institutions provided something akin to that. Possibly for the minority who were lucky enough to probably recover on their own."
  — Maddie, [39:05]

• "The thing that persists the most is the fear...whoever's in charge of what were asylums' PR need to be fired because that hasn't broken through."
  — Anthony, [40:54]

Noteworthy Timestamps

• 03:04 — Evolution from 18th to 19th-century asylums and moral treatment
• 05:53 — Compulsory construction of asylums after 1845
• 07:17–08:56 — The asylum in popular culture and literature; threats to women
• 10:18–11:11 — Nellie Bly’s undercover investigation and exposé
• 13:18–14:41 — Corruption and class-based differences in asylum admission
• 18:29–21:07 — Visual and experiential contrasts: the changing image of Bedlam
• 21:07–29:09 — “Typical Day” in the asylum: routines, gender division of labor, and access to pets and gardens
• 31:09–32:26 — John Percival and the emergence of patient advocacy/legal reform
• 34:28 — Stubborn legacy of public fear of asylums
• 37:40 — 1890 Lunacy Act and late-century reforms
• 39:05–40:54 — Hosts debate the real utility of the asylum and discuss cultural legacies

Tone and Style

The tone is conversational yet scholarly, frequently peppered with wit, pop culture references, and candid personal asides. Both hosts are careful to historicize outdated language, reflect on their own cultural biases, and balance the horror and empathy at the heart of the asylum’s history.

Summary

The episode paints a nuanced portrait of the Victorian asylum—not merely as a site of repression and abuse, but also as a product of its time, shaped by shifting understandings of mental illness, the push for social reform, gender and class anxieties, and the enduring power of myth. The legacy of these institutions, both good and bad, lingers in modern attitudes toward psychiatric care, showing how history continues to haunt the present.

For more:

• Listen to the episode for the full array of stories, laughter, and haunting details.
• Further reading: Nellie Bly’s “Ten Days in a Mad-House” & John Percival’s memoir.
• See also previous “After Dark” coverage on George III and Spencer Percival.