Joe Nickell, PhD, is CSI’s senior research fellow. He is author or editor of some forty books.
In the Middle Ages in Europe, the mentally ill—or those considered so—were kept in various settings, ranging from benign monasteries to “fools’ towers” where apparent madmen were housed. In London, the Priory of Saint Mary of Bethlehem evolved into a hospital (now six centuries old) that cared for the poor and aged and “lunatic.” Bethlehem, often shortened to Bethlem, yielded its derogatory nickname Bedlam. Synonymous with “madhouse” and “turmoil,” it became infamous for unenlightened “treatments” of the mentally ill.