A Series of Unlikely Coincidences

The Easttown Ledger from late summer, 1895

After the fire at the asylum, things seemed to remain relatively quiet, until this issue of The Easttown Ledger pointed out (whether on accident or on purpose) that it was anything but. The story at left continues about reconstruction efforts at the Norristown Asylum for the Criminally Insane and how the bodies of the Sinister Seven and Dr. Anastasia LeBoux were never recovered. There was however a hole so large at the back of the ward that it was structurally unsound after the fire. Two other articles seem to stand out even more. The first is about a series of disappearances in the community. The article announces that the fifteenth occurred the day before, but alludes to the fact that there may have been more. At the time, there would not have been missing persons reports filed for those living on the streets or otherwise "undesirable" as the article calls them. And in "unrelated" news in the same article, it seems that a number of corpses disappeared as well, from both graves and morgues.

As if all of that wasn't odd enough, another article discusses the theft of medical equipment from a local branch of the University of Pennsylvania Hospital. A large amount of equipment went missing, but the strangest part is what happened to the security guard.

A security guard working at the location was hospitalized after being attacked during robbery, suffering severe injuries to his head and neck. Speaking to investigators, John Clyde said he was assailed by two very large men dressed in black, wearing strange masks and goggles. Clyde was expected to make a full recovery, but later died in hospital after doctors say he took a very unexpected turn for the worse.

Illustration of the
suspected robber that
attacked and killed a
security guard.

Medicine was a very fickle thing in the 19th century, but it seems strange that a patient would have such an unexpected turn of events after he was able to give an account of his assailants and was expected to make a full recovery. Stranger still is the illustration that was published in the paper itself: a masked man wearing goggles. Very uncommon for someone committing a simple robbery. I can't help but feel that the image itself looks very familiar.

My video from my trip to the mansion, along with more will be coming up tomorrow.
-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