Is this true or an urban legend?

comradebunny · Feb 20, 2009

By brother-in-law just related a story to me that I found interesting as an idea for a one-act play. Problem is, I don't know if it is true or not.

The story goes that when a mental asylum for the criminally insane caught fire years ago (how many I'm not sure) and burned to the ground, the doctors and nurses escaped but left the prisoners inside. The head of the asylum said it was too risky to let them out to roam freely is the chaos of the event, so he let them burn to death. He was put on trial, but aquitted.

Has anyone heard this story before? Is it an urband legend? Is it true. If it is try, does anyone know where this happened? I'd love to do some research on it.

Thanks for your time and input.

awatkins · Feb 20, 2009

Google is your friend.

Plug in the pertinent search words and see what pops up.

KikiteNeko · Feb 20, 2009

I never heard that story before, but it kinda makes sense. What WOULD you do if an asylum burned down? You can't just let a bunch of mentally derranged people roam free.

Oh wait.

Our present court system does just that.

Fullback · Feb 20, 2009

Where do you think politicians come from?

Soccer Mom · Feb 20, 2009

I tried checking snopes, but didn't find anything on it.

zenwriter · Feb 20, 2009

Here's a somewhat similar case I found online:

http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2001/08/06/asylum_fire010806.html

veinglory · Feb 20, 2009

Yes I think you would let patients suffering from mental illness out of the building. That seems like an easy question to answer. For a start the great majority would be no danger at all (those with mental illness being, on average, less violent than thiose without), and the staff and facilities (e.g. perimeter fence, transport vans, physical and chemical restraints) should be equipped to deal with those who are.

comradebunny · Feb 20, 2009

Not quite zenwriter, but interesting. Thanks everyone for the input.

P.S. I did Google it first and was unable to find anything. I came here hoping someone could steer me in the right directions..

scarletpeaches · Feb 20, 2009

This is similar to a film I saw recently - actually it was a book first. But I won't name it in case folks haven't seen it yet.

comradebunny · Feb 20, 2009

veinglory said:
Yes I think you would let patients suffering from mental illness out of the building. That seems like an easy question to answer. For a start the great majority would be no danger at all (those with mental illness being, on average, less violent than thiose without), and the staff and facilities (e.g. perimeter fence, transport vans, physical and chemical restraints) should be equipped to deal with those who are.

According to his story, these were violent, criminally insane people. Those that would attack and kill others. So, the doctor thought it better to let them die. I like the moral question implied by the situation.

It reminds me of the background story for the Jackel in the remake of "Thirteen Ghosts", although that inmate ran back into the fire and would not leave the asylum.

comradebunny · Feb 20, 2009

scarletpeaches said:
This is similar to a film I saw recently - actually it was a book first. But I won't name it in case folks haven't seen it yet.

Could you PM me?

scarletpeaches · Feb 20, 2009

If you're sure I won't be Queen of teh Spoilerzes!

firedrake · Feb 20, 2009

We have a similar thing around here.

We have several prisons (including Death Row) about 10 miles away. One of the locals told me that, in the event of a Nuclear War, the Air Force has clearance to bomb the prison complex to stop prisoners from escaping.

veinglory · Feb 20, 2009

I would question the authenticity of a deliberate decision not to let people out and so choosing a deliberate certain loss of life over a transient danger. But the scenario of locked doors and fire is a fairly common one.

http://cms.firehouse.com/web/online/News/Neglect-Blamed-For-Over-50-Deaths-in-Blazes-at-Two-Russian-Hospitals/46$52440
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~sooty/seacliffe.html

Ol' Fashioned Girl · Feb 20, 2009

I googled 'asylum + fire' and it popped up first listing.

ChaosTitan · Feb 20, 2009

It also sounds a bit like what happened in the film "The House on Haunted Hill."

comradebunny · Feb 20, 2009

scarletpeaches said:
If you're sure I won't be Queen of teh Spoilerzes!

No problem. I can handle spoilers.

veinglory · Feb 20, 2009

comradebunny said:
According to his story, these were violent, criminally insane people. Those that would attack and kill others. So, the doctor thought it better to let them die. I like the moral question implied by the situation.

The idea of having a psychiatric facility full of people who are actively murderous at any given moment and completely uncontrollable outside of their ward is innately implausible to me. I think you would quickly be in deep water re: stereotyping of the mentally ill. I think the only dilemma would be who to prosecute for failing to appropriately treat or house these people and putting them all together in one place.

veinglory · Feb 20, 2009

Ol' Fashioned Girl said:
I googled 'asylum + fire' and it popped up first listing.

http://disstud.blogspot.com/2009/02/february-10-stratford-co-insane-asylum.html

Nothing suggests a deliberate choice there to me. The patients were general intake (depression etc) and the staff noticeably incompetant. The conclusion being institutional failing rather than a dilemma.

Ol' Fashioned Girl · Feb 20, 2009

Typical story being embellished as it rolls along.

veinglory · Feb 20, 2009

I would expect so.

comradebunny · Feb 20, 2009

veinglory said:
http://disstud.blogspot.com/2009/02/february-10-stratford-co-insane-asylum.html

Nothing suggests a deliberate choice there to me. The patients were general intake (depression etc) and the staff noticeably incompetant. The conclusion being institutional failing rather than a dilemma.

Why the heck didn't I do that? *bangs head on keyboard*. That situation was horrible and I agree the staff was incompetent. Thanks for the nugget of info.

TheRealFnShow · Feb 20, 2009

scarletpeaches said:
This is similar to a film I saw recently - actually it was a book first. But I won't name it in case folks haven't seen it yet.

I think I know what film you mean, as I'm guessing it's the same one I thought of almost immediately when I read this thread.

I can't say if It's true or not, but would be an interesting thing to write about and explore those involved.

50 Foot Ant · Feb 20, 2009

firedrake said:
We have several prisons (including Death Row) about 10 miles away. One of the locals told me that, in the event of a Nuclear War, the Air Force has clearance to bomb the prison complex to stop prisoners from escaping.

Hahahhahhaaaa...

Actually, prisons, being a concentration of people that the Soviet Union considered "cannon fodder conscription population", were targeted with secondary and tertiary strikes. The logic behind this, is the invasion following a nuclear war scenario (unless it was a MAD scenario, in which case the prison was targeted for other reasons) the Soviets considered prisons a viable source of disposable infantry, as well as the prison being an easily hardened fortress that required a minimum of conversion and already had a paramilitary staff.

So, no, our Air Force didn't have orders to target prisons in the event of nuclear war, the Soviet Union was going to blow them off the map.

Aschenbach · Feb 20, 2009

Horror fans know that inmates of asylums for the criminally insane are indestructible. You could leave them in the fire and they wouldn't die anyway. They would just sneak out of the ruins, slightly chargrilled, and start cutting up the local teenagers.

Is this true or an urban legend?

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