Does madness leave an imprint?
Do disturbed vibrations emanating from emotions gone awry or from traumas, linger on over the years, even after the physical source has long since departed? Does madness leave its own imprint on the ether and in the land? It would seem so.
After considerable psychic research in well-known institutions where the emotionally disturbed were once ‘treated’ or locked up, it transpires that the essence of human disturbance needs to be pacified even after death.
Bedlam, or the Royal Bethlem Hospital of London, is where they say it all began. There is hardly a soul in the world today who has not heard of the famous institution for people labelled ‘insane’ by a heartless society. Its origins can be traced back to the mid-1200s when, interestingly, it was a priory for the Order of the Star of Bethlehem. Its first site was where the present-day Liverpool Street station now stands, though subsequently it has moved locations.
It was about a hundred years after, that mentally-ill patients were admitted and records say that in those days the most common remedy was chains and restraints. In the 18th century, the public could go and view the Bedlam inmates for a penny — a small price for grotesque entertainment. The current Imperial War Museum’s site in London was once the central portion of Bedlam. Even today, while it is a hub of comings and goings, there is a certain hollow silence within the walls, and one never really knows whether the man going past is all there in substance.
There have been instances of paranormal activity being reported at Bedlam’s old site. On one occasion, they say the CCTV at the Liverpool Street station caught an image of a man in white overalls at the entrance of one of the train tunnels in the early hours of the morning when the station was closed. When people went to investigate, there was no one there. And even before the station was built on the site, they say piercing screams could be heard, which many reportedly attributed to a former inmate, Rebecca, who was buried without the customary coin in her hand.
Today, Bethlem Royal Hospital is a leading institution in mental health care and a research centre.
The State Lunatic Hospital at Danvers in the United States was erected in 1878, just north of Boston. Situated on Hawthorne Hill, it was a beautiful place, but a place with a history. Danvers was originally Salem Village, and Hawthorne Hill was home to John Hawthorne, a fanatical judge of the Salem Witch Trials. It is rumoured to be the ‘birthplace’ of lobotomy, which was extensively used to keep the more severely ‘disturbed’ in check. It is indeed strange that a site of witch-torture should have been the building spot for a lunatic asylum, and one where such drastic means to handle insanity were used.
(To be continued)
The writers are well-known Wiccans who endorse the concept of ‘white magic’
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