RedHanded Episode 372 - Halloween Special Part 1: Pennhurst Asylum & The Mummy Next Door
Oct 24, 2024
Two chilling real-life tales are swapped: one traces the grim history, abuse, and persistent hauntings of a notorious asylum. The other explores a reclusive family, a mummified sibling, and the eerie blend of isolation, belief, and possible ritual that surrounds her death.
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How Eugenics Built Pennhurst
- Early 1900s eugenics and segregation created institutions like Pennhurst that removed disabled people from society under the guise of treatment.
- Pennhurst opened in 1908 as the Eastern Pennsylvania State Institution and swelled from 500 to over 3,000 patients, becoming self-contained and isolated.
The TV Exposé That Shocked The Nation
- Bill Bandini's 1968 TV series Suffer the Little Children exposed appalling neglect at Pennhurst, showing emaciated, naked inmates and children in cages.
- The reporting revealed conditions like patients lying in feces, chained cribs, and violence filmed over weeks.
Medical Abuse Used As Punishment
- Punishment at Pennhurst included deliberate medical harm and dental mutilation as behavioral control.
- Staff selected injections to hurt without permanent injury and dentists reportedly pulled thousands of teeth as punishment.