Fire at the Norristown Insane Asylum Leads to Unexpected Deaths

Clip from the Easttown
Ledger detailing preliminary
information on the Norristown
Insane Asylum Fire in 1895.

No sooner then I've learned about the Sinister Seven, I discover that all of them died at the same time! As reported by The Easttown Gazette in the summer of 1895, "the conflagration killed seven patients and one doctor." And who was the one doctor? Anastasia LeBoux. I  may be the only one, but it seems like more than a coincidence that seven of the asylum's most dangerous inmates and their doctor were all killed in one night, by a mysterious fire that left no bodies. I'm still not certain how Von Weren is connected to all of it, but I'm certain that he is in some way. I've been pouring over both his journal and LeBoux's medical notebook, trying to find some clues to what was really going on.

On a separate note, I plan on going into the mansion to conduct an on-scene examination sometime this week. It's important to remember that the historical research and on-scene research are both very important parts of the same coin. Without a full picture, there isn't much to be proved. I'll be conducting video and EVP recordings, along with temperature and barometric measurements. I'll be sure to share my findings as soon as I can analyze the data. Hopefully something will turn up!

-MS

Norristown Asylum for the Criminally Insane: An Early History of Trouble

The Norristown Asylum for the Criminally Insane, completed in 1879, is historically known for being the first hospital to allow female physicians to practice within its walls. This is largely because they kept male and female patients separate from one another. Although after checking with the hospital, I was unable to find any record of a Dr. Anastasia LeBoux (the one mentioned in Von Weren's journal) ever having worked there. Obviously very progressive, especially for the time, it seems some of the staff may have been too progressive in other ways. Not the least of which was experimentation on patients. It is unclear to what extent these experiments were conducted or degree of severity. There was at least one that became publicized in medical  journals at the time, which I will not go into any more detail on, as it is quite discomforting.

Another incident took place in the summer of 1883, as seen in this New York Times article titled, "The Insane Asylum Murder". On July 5, a patient was severely beaten by one of the hospital attendants. Exactly one month later, that patient died from "blood poisoning" as a direct result of his previously sustained injuries. Conveniently, the resident physician for the male ward failed to report the incident to the board because he was, "very busy at the time and [he] forgot it." A $500 reward for the capture and conviction of the attendant, who evidently disappeared, was offered.

Jumping to the present for a moment, the hospital is still running today as Norristown State Hospital and has one of the few forensics units (used to hold and evaluate some prisoners before trial) in the state. It should be needless to say, but the hospital, and the practice of treating mental health in general, has come a long way since then.

Back to the past, it seems possible that Von Weren could have gotten involved with the hospital in some way, with his surgical background. However, I don't have any definitive proof of that and can't really see how or why.

I'll leave you with some photos from the hospital:

Conservatory

Kichen

Female Infirmary

A Cold Welcoming

A postcard featuring the administration building at the
Norristown Asylum for the Criminally Insane.

It seems that after Von Weren's wife died, no one saw or heard from him for months. With no one daring to go near the house, people may have very well believed that he had died of grief. His journal remained untouched, with the next entry jumping to March 27, 1895. Here, he reflects on a speaking engagement held at the Norristown Asylum for the Criminally Insane (now called the Norristown State Hospital). It is unclear why he was asked to speak at the hospital, since his research (as far as I know) did not include psychology and did not seem to have an practical relation to the field. Here is Van Were in his own words:

Wednesday, March 27, 1895 

I was requested to speak at the Norristown Asylum for the Criminally Insane. Leading up to the event, I received several letters from a Dr. Anastasia LeBoux, which at first I dismissed without reading. Then, a single letter became two, then three, until I was receiving five letters nearly every day from the woman. Finally, I relented and opened one of the envelopes, as to avoid clogging my chimney. Dr. LeBoux, as it turns out, has long followed my work and saw potential applications for it at the hospital, though I cannot imagine how. 

Skeptical, I agreed to speak at the hospital. In a small room, I spoke to a crowd of no more than a dozen disinterested psychologist (a profession of which, I believe, is of no profession at all). It was, indeed, quite the cold welcoming. Though I planned on immediately returning home, Dr. LeBoux cornered me before I left. We spoke at length about the work she was doing at the hospital and how she believed that even the most criminally insane patients could be "rehabilitated to further usage," given the correct treatment. It seems my research may have found a new, practical purpose, that may serve my own personal endeavors as well.

This all makes me wonder what the doctor had been doing in the intervening months. I'm sure dealing with grief, however to have such an abrupt change and a "new, practical purpose" seems very odd. Hopefully it will lead to something more. I'll share more history on the hospital itself for next time.

-MS